The Terrible Story of the Last Tsar of Russia: The Life of Nicholas II - See U in History

nicholas ii was born on may the 18th or may the 6th in the 1868 julian calendar he was the last emperor of russia king of poland and grand duke of finland he is also known as saint nicholas the passion bearer by the russian orthodox church finally he was called nicholas ii emperor and autocrat of all the russias the son of alexander iii he ruled since the death of his father on november the 1st 1894 until his abdication on march the 15th 1917. during his reign he saw russia deteriorate from a world power to an economic and military disaster as head of state he approved a military mobilization of august 1914 that heralded the first fatal step toward world war one the revolution and consequent fall of the romanov dynasty [Music] in the late 19th and 20th centuries russia was the world's sixth largest country about 130 million subjects were spread over this area not only slavs but also balts jews germans georgians armenians uzbeks and tartars in 1891 the imperial government launched the construction of russia's largest railroad the trans-siberian railway a railroad that started in the center of moscow and stretched for 6500 kilometers at the time moscow was not the empire's capital as it lost the status when peter the great built saint petersburg in the early 18th century in the 19th century the russian autocratic regime had been going through a series of challenges but sarah alexander iii father of nicholas ii apparently knew how to make the system work the tsar was russia's government his power was absolute being accountable only to god power flowed from top to bottom throughout the empire alexander iii increased his authoritarian views after his father tsar alexander ii was assassinated alexander ii had reformist positions and thanks to this was murdered by a group of anarchists after this alexander iii took over the throne and started persecuting revolutionary groups in russia nicholas ii's mother was dagmar of denmark the younger sister of princess alexandra who married the prince of wales and became queen of england before she married dagmar took the russian name maria fedorovna the sarina was a woman beloved by the russian people nicholas was born on may the 18th 1868 followed by four other brothers thanks to his father's harsh and parched attitude nicholas found a safe haven in his mother nicholas was educated by tutors he had teachers of foreign languages history geography and a dance teacher in many ways the prince's education was excellent he had a remarkable memory and did very well in history he spoke french and german and his english was so good that an oxford professor could take him for an englishman in addition he enjoyed horseback riding dancing and shooting at 21 nicholas was a slender young man five feet seven inches tall sporting his father's squarish open face expressive eyes and his mother's charisma his greatest qualities were kindness goodness and friendship most of the time nicholas didn't have anything to do at all once he finished his studies and came of age asarovich's essential role was to wait as discreetly as possible for his turn to become tsar in 1890 alexander iii was only 45 years old thinking that he would continue to hold the throne for another 20 or 30 years he did not think of passing on his experience to a son to succeed him nicholas happily accepted the playboy role to which he had been tacitly appointed he attended the meetings of the imperial council but his eyes were glued to his watch at the first opportunity he ran away nicholas had a few girlfriends in his youth but his heartbeat faster for a tall golden-haired germanic princess named alex of hessa princess alex was the younger sister of the grand duchess elizabeth the 25 year old wife of grand duke sergey nicholas's uncle nicholas often went to his young aunt's house and when his sister alex arrived in st petersburg his visits became even more frequent self-possessed and shy alex was ablaze inside when she laid her stark blue eyes upon nicholas he was overwhelmed with emotion unfortunately she lived far away and hessed darmstadt and her parents hardly considered the marriage of a russian sarovich to an obscure germanic princess a possibility in 1892 nicholas wrote in his diary my dream is to marry princess alex someday i have loved her for a long time even more strongly and deeply since 1889 when she spent six weeks in saint petersburg the russian people certainly did not love the princess as much as nicholas did she made a terrible impression during her stay at her sister's house ill-dressed clumsy bad dancer awkward accent overly shy and nervous these were some of the comments about the princess society openly criticized the princess because they knew that the tsar and the sarina were openly anti-german and had no intention of authorizing this marriage through it all nicholas maintained his hopes of marrying his sweetheart he even went so far as to lose his way to see her and ask for her hand in marriage while he was still healthy alexander iii ignored his son's intentions but in the winter of 1894 the tsar contracted the flu and started having problems with his kidneys when his vitality started to decline at an alarming rate alexander suddenly had to think about how russia would manage without him so nicholas's parents allowed him to ask for alex's hand in marriage in 1893 nicholas was sent to london representing the family at the wedding of his cousin brother george duke of york later king george v to princess mary of tech it was his first visit to london as for his cousin george he and the sarovic look so much alike that even people who knew them mistook them for one another after the wedding nicholas visited windsor castle and had lunch with queen victoria the following year alex's older brother got married in coburg all the royal families sent delegates to this celebration nicholas would be the russian representative and he was not only going to stand for his country but he also had the country's permission to ask for his beloved alex's hand in marriage and so he did however the girl did not accept at first she was deeply confused by the idea of quitting her religion and adopting another alex's sister then talked to the girl and told her about her experience in changing religions saying that it was not unusual the next day alex decided to accept overjoyed nicholas wrote in his diary a wonderful unforgettable day today's the day of my engagement to my dear lovely alex early the next morning the engaged couple went to have breakfast with queen victoria and tell her the news victoria was delighted with the young couple after 10 days together nicholas returned to russia the young couple would marry in november 1894 the preparations were in full swing but a sad piece of news hit russia zara alexander iii died on november the 1st of that year at the age of 26 nicholas inherited the russian throne nicholas declared himself unprepared for the responsibility and asked everyone what he was going to do by late afternoon he was his imperial majesty sar nicholas ii the next morning solely in the presence of the imperial family alex was consecrated to orthodoxy when they returned to the palace tsar nicholas issued his first imperial decree proclaiming the faith the new title and the new name of the former princess alex of hessa the lutheran granddaughter of queen victoria became the truly believing grand duchess alexandra veodorovna the death of the powerful sarah alexander iii at 49 came as a surprise to all of russia the wedding had to go ahead of schedule at first the new sar preferred something more discreet to observe the morning period but his aunt and uncle told him that this wedding was a major event for all of russia and it had to be elaborate as possible for alex the wedding was nothing more than a mere continuation of her father-in-law's funeral rituals the wedding took place on november the 26th a week after the burial the day chosen was the birthday of empress mary now the widowed empress as the protocol for the occasion allowed a brief respite from mourning there was no reception after the ceremony and no honeymoon due to the morning the marriage that began that day proved to be perfect for the rest of their lives it was a victorian wedding externally quiet and conventional but based on intense and passionate physical love on their wedding night before going to sleep alexandra wrote in her husband's diary finally united bound for life and when this life is over we will meet in the next world and be together for eternity yours yours [Music] it was 1896 the 12-month morning period was over and the new sar was to be crowned in may in moscow the coronation of a russian tsar was strictly dictated by history and tradition so it was to be held in moscow the former imperial capital the city was buzzing besides the excitement the revelry and the banquets the coronation meant a three-day holiday pardon of prisoners and amnesty from fines and taxes the coronation ceremony lasted five hours after the long mass the formal anointing of the tsar and serena followed alexandra knelt and the metropolitan of moscow prayed for the tsar all present stood and only nicholas knelt and prayed for russia and her people after being anointed with holy oil nicholas took the oath to rule the empire and uphold the autocracy as emperor and autocrat of all the russias according to tradition nicholas was the crown himself and he did so he placed on his head the four kilo imperial crown made in 1762 for catherine the great after this alexandra was crowned in moscow the day after the coronation belonged to the people the grand duke sergey the city's governor general had made arrangements for the traditional open-air celebration attended by the tsar and empress in a nearby field the night before thousands had already gone to the field without even bothering to sleep beforehand by dawn 500 000 people were waiting many drunk suddenly a rumor occurred that there would be fewer wagons than expected and only those who arrived first would have beer the rush began the cossack squadron in charge of keeping order was pushed to the side men hurled each other stumbling into the ditches women and children run over by the surging and pushing human mass were trampled on the head and back noses and mouths were pressed against the ground thousands of feet continued to relentlessly trample the mutilated suffocated bodies the balance was thousands dead and wounded however a ball was to be given to the tsar that night at first he refused but his uncles persuaded him to attend tragically the tsar went to the ball something that the public took very poorly thousands of humble russians understood the tragedy as a harbinger of misfortune for the rain others said that the tsar was a ruthless man after the coronation the monarch was expected to travel on official and courtesy visits to other rulers in the summer of 1896 nicholas and alexandra went to vienna and then to england to visit queen victoria during this journey the tsar passed through france and renewed the alliance that had been made during the reign of nicholas's father it was the triple ontant being formed against germany at versailles marie antoinette's chambers were given over to alexandra for a night stay back home nicholas was thrust into in his own words the horrid work that i have dreaded all my life his mother still helped him in this task much more difficult for nicholas were his uncles alexander iii's four surviving sons vladimir alexey sergey and paul the uncle who caused nicholas no trouble it was not surprising that the uncles had such influence all were energetic and relatively young when the 26 year old nephew suddenly became sorrow the uncle's influence continued throughout the reigns first decade only when nicholas faced the barrage of the war against japan and the 1905 revolution did the uncle's influence began to weaken although he excelled in english french and german nicholas preferred to speak russian with his children and wrote to his mother that way he spoke and wrote english only with the empress whose russian was mediocre he preferred that his ministers also communicate using the russian language he'd like to read russian authors and had alexei the peaceful as his favorite tsar nicholas's main features as a tsar were acquired during those first years of his reign ascending unprepared to the throne he was forced to develop his administration as he governed because he had been influenced by several people in his family his enemy said that he had no will of his own to the chagrin of russian liberals who hoped that alexander iii's death would mean a change to the autocracy nicholas soon made it clear that he would respect his father's principles even before his coronation he was already pushing this idea even with the french alliance which he only became privy to upon taking the throne nicholas sought an international agreement for disarmament and world peace which led to the establishment of the permanent court of arbitration in the hog this proposal however dumbfounded europe they laughed at nicholas's face and didn't even bother to debate the proposal the first years of nicholas's reign proved to be a period of such brilliance intellectual and cultural achievements that it became known as the russian renaissance or the silver age the bustling of activity and new ideas spanned not only politics but philosophy the sciences music and the arts over these years the sars family grew rapidly at two-year intervals three more girls were born tatiana maria and anastasia along with the births there were both illnesses and deaths in the summer of 1899 at the age of 27 nicholas's brother grandu george died of tuberculosis in the fall of 1900 nicholas fell ill with typhoid fever himself in the crimea alexandra took care of him personally the moment nicholas recovered queen victoria died alexandra had wanted to participate in the wake in burial but she was pregnant with anastasia so she was denied permission another very important relative of the tsar was the kaiser of germany wilhelm ii he was eight years older than nicholas and became kaiser in 1888 six years before nicholas became tsar accordingly he had the advantage of experience was older and more vigorous for 10 years from 1894 to 1904 the kaiser man handled russian foreign policy influencing the young and susceptible tsar that did not turn out well for the tsar the main catastrophe was the embarrassing defeat to japan in a war back in those days every country had expansionist dreams and russia was no different wary of the union between russia and france wilhelm wanted to make the tsar interested in asia and so he made him look at japan in 1900 during the boxer rebellion russia temporarily occupied manchuria after that it went in search of the korean peninsula but japan regarded this peninsula as essential for its protection the russian breakthrough in korea made war against japan inevitable the japanese would have preferred a deal letting manchuria remain with russia and korea clear for themselves but the japanese ministers could not stand by and watch the russian advance people in russia took it for granted that if there was a war they would easily win it it was the beginning of a dream but it all went terribly wrong on february the 6th 1904 the war started japan suddenly attacked the russian fleet at port arthur they won the sea with this sneak attack to attack the japanese the russian had to travel a single 6 500 kilometer route via the trans-siberian railway having guaranteed the sea the japanese expeditionary forces were free to land wherever they wanted on the continent in saint petersburg nicholas was stunned by the disaster acknowledging that russia was powerless to win the war the tsar asked the united states for help in brokering a deal beaten and embarrassed by the japanese the russian giant tottered back to europe also russia was no longer the neighbor to be feared by the germans wilhelm felt he could count on nicholas's friendship and tried to get him to break the alliance with france he refused this and tried to drive his double cross friend away by 1905 he had lost a war and his country was quickly descending into revolution [Music] in early january 1905 news of the humiliating surrender sparked a wave of protests against war mishandling that swept the country in saint petersburg a small strike in the huge putilov steel work suddenly spilled over drawing the support of thousands of disgruntled and disillusioned workers the workers had the objective of marching to the winter palace and delivering a petition on the behalf of the russian people to the tsar besides liberation the petition specifically called for constituent assembly universal suffrage separation of church and state amnesty for political prisoners income tax minimum wage and an eight hour work day the tsar who was in sarcoia cello had been given no information about the march or the petition only on saturday night did nicholas learn about it on sunday morning january the 22nd 1905 the march began in a freezing wind with joined arms they walked peacefully through the streets in joyful streams the people gathered in front of the winter palace at two o'clock in the afternoon as scheduled there was not a single skirmish with the troops however without any warning and no sign of riot the soldiers opened fire the bullets hit men women and children the official death toll was 92 and many hundreds more were wounded the real number was probably higher this became known as bloody sunday the turning point in russian history it shook old legendary beliefs that the tsar and people were one and the same in sarcoia cello nicholas was perplexed to learn what had happened a painful day he wrote that night the ministers gathered and suggested disassociating the tsar from what had happened stating that the troops fired without an order nicholas refused to defame the army and instead decided to welcome some representatives of trade unions but bloody sunday was only the beginning of a year of terror three weeks later in february grand duke sergey nicholas's uncle and ella's husband was assassinated in moscow as the months passed the violence spread to every part of russia it was at this point that the sailors of the battleship potemkin mutinied and started bombing cities in mid-october 1905 all of russia was paralyzed by a general strike red flags waved through the cities in the countryside peasants stormed farms the soviets came into being overnight and a clever orator emerged as their leader he was leon trotsky a marxist member of the social democratic party the revolution was ready it only needed a spark only two paths were open to the tsar find an energetic soldier to crush the rebellion by force which would entail bloodshed or give the people civil rights freedom and a constitution this was not without risk but it would be the only way out at that point accordingly on october the 30th 1905 russia was converted from an absolute monarchy into a semi-constitutional monarchy a parliament the so-called duma would be elected it was not as liberal as england's constitutional monarchy but it was already a step during all the months of the war with japan and the 1905 revolution nicholas and alexandra had only one brief moment of utter joy on august the 12th 1904 alex gave birth to a baby boy the child was given the name alexei the boy was born weighing 3.6 kilos alexei named in so honor of tsar alexei nicholas's favorite was first born to a reigning tsar in russia since the 17th century it seemed a good omen a sign of hope six weeks later the imperial couple became apprehensive a hemorrhage appeared in alexey's navel months passed and alexei was already standing upright in his cradle starting to crawl and trying to walk when he stumbled and fell small spots appeared on his legs and arms within a few hours the spots would puff up and turn a bluish color underneath the skin the blood would not clot his parents horrible suspicion was confirmed alexei had hemophilia hidden from public view concealed in rumor operating from within this hidden tragedy would change the history of russia and the world the secret of alexei's disease was hidden and well kept within the inner limits of sarcoia cello the tsar city when the child sustained a grave injury there was little the doctors could do to make him better the child would lie in agony for days waiting for the disease to heal on its own only when rasputin arrived did things start to improve or so they thought rasputin was a siberian monk reputed to be a healer and a man of gold underneath his cloak of sanctity there was a shy man who indulged in luxury in his spare time however he was of lowly and peasant origin as he became quite close to the imperial family he encountered a great deal of opposition from the aristocracy rasputin started to follow alexei and live in the imperial family's inner circle whenever there was a problem or a worsening of his illness he would be around to cure the boy rasputin's closeness and influence caused several rumors to arise in society and since then nicholas alexandra and rasputin had the reputations on the line [Music] with the prime minister's help russia was finally entering the 20th century the absolute monarchy was being morphed into a form of government more responsive to the people's will to improve the situation from 1906 to 1911 russia had outstanding crops with the abundance of food the government raised taxes and maintained a balanced budget railroads were built and businesses were established press censorship was abolished and the government grew more liberal in the realm of religious tolerance to some marxists it seemed that the dream of revolution was dead and buried the successful partnership between the tsar and prime minister stoilpin was only ended in 1911 when the latter was assassinated coincidentally he had launched an inquiry against rasputin to probe the monk's conduct with the end of censorship the press openly spoke of rasputin as a shadowy mischief maker who controlled appointments in the church and exerted influence over the empress moreover rumors surfaced that the monk and the empress shared the same bed nicholas was greatly aggrieved to see his wife's name and honor dragged through the mud freedom of speech was something very new to them but it was off the radar to impose censorship again the prime ministers who took over the duma had to display their ability to the tsar to the deputies in the duma and also to rasputin attempting to confront the monk was a sure-fire resignation since alexandra's protection was all too strong until then rasputin had only wanted to live his life as a womanizer while trying to help alexander's illness however his behavior made the news the tsar's family and experienced politicians tried to keep him away from the empress it was then that he realized how powerful he was in politics a complaint to alexandra was enough and the next day his enemies would vanish from the map the empress defended rasputin so passionately that it was difficult for the people to disassociate the empress and the monk not wanting to set himself against his wife nicholas just accepted the situation in 1913 the golden world of the european aristocracy was at its zenith but the danger signs were already there for russia 1913 was a year of celebration the romanov dynasty had completed 300 years in power the tricentennial was an outstanding success as head of the family nicholas ii presided over the enormous romanov clan of cousins uncles nephews and nieces and they were a lot of work for the tsar something that eroded the image of the monarchy and the dynasty the year celebration was over and 1914 came with a bang in may the austrian archduke franz ferdinand was murdered it was the beginning of the great war initially nicholas hoped that the archduke's assassination would not lead to war weeks later it was rasputin's turn to undergo an attempt on his life but he recovered painfully the unexpected happened austria gave an ultimatum to serbia which in turn asks russia for help the classic russian role as protector of the slavs and nicholas ii's personal assurance of serbia's independence were part of the ongoing fabric of european diplomacy such a threat to serbia could only be interpreted as a challenge to russia's power and influence in the balkans the tsar sought to negotiate with austria but they refused he tried to negotiate with germany hoping they would broker a deal but they also declined with no settlement austria-hungary began bombing belgrade the capital of serbia on july the 29th in saint petersburg tsar nicholas gave the order to mobilize all russian military districts on the austrian borders nicholas also thought that the german kaiser did not want war however germany declared war on russia on july the 31st nicholas wrote of the kaiser he was never sincere not for a moment on the afternoon of august the 2nd 1914 at the winter palace the tsar issued a formal proclamation of hostilities crowds filled the streets from night to day a wave of patriotism swept over russia on august the 5th the german army invaded neutral belgium england declared war on the germans on the same date joining france and russia to form the triple antant an ancient tradition demanded that the russian sars commence their wars by going to moscow to ask for god's blessing on the landmark pillar a soros rule the kremlin a million people welcomed the tsar in moscow everything seemed fine and the population was euphoric but nicholas began to make mistakes in a gesture of nobility and moralism the tsar banned the sale of vodka throughout the territory while the war lasted the gesture when military expenses were so high was considered more noble than wise the sale of vodka was a state monopoly and earned a considerable percentage revenue for the imperial government and prohibition did not put an end to drunkenness in russia in a second burst of patriotism nicholas changed the capital's name the german name saint petersburg was changed to the slavic petrograd [Music] in numbers of soldiers russia was a colossus the normal pre-war military strength was 1.4 million but mobilization immediately added 3.1 million reservists there were millions more behind this initial mass russia was in every respect except the number of men ill-prepared for war the roads were utterly inadequate for every meter of russian road per square kilometer germany had ten industry was small arms and ammunition were limited and the country's geography left them stranded in the first few weeks the war went smoothly according to the german schedule during august the troops advanced through belgium and northern france keeping russia in the war was essential for the french as it split the german troops into two fronts for the french generals the key to france's salvation lay in getting the russian colossus moving it mattered little whether the colossus would find victory or defeat as long as the germans were diverted from the overwhelming onslaught on paris an early impulse of the tsar was to take over the troops on the front lines but he was quickly dissuaded to give up the idea however nicholas kept a close eye on the military and took alexei with him it was extremely difficult to get the empress to let alexei go beside certain troops father and son traveled through cities factories shipyards and hospitals for the most part everything was going well the disease remained under control and nicholas enjoyed the misleading calm and stability that often comes to parents and hemophiliacs but alexei had several crises during one of them the boy had to return home the bleeding stopped only after a visit from rasputin the russians noticed during the first clashes that the austrians were a much weaker enemy the germans were the problem by the end of 1914 with only five months left in the war one million russians a quarter of the army were dead wounded or captured there was no way to hide from the country what was happening at the front in less than six months optimism was superseded by pessimism and melancholy frightened and heedless of his advisors the tsar decided to take command of the troops and go to the front however the results continued to be terrible in 1916 russia lost 1.2 million men since the tsar was at the front alexandra was left in charge of the empire but rasputin was the one in charge since the empress listened to all of his advice in the early fall of 1915 alexandria feodorovna had been empress of russia for 21 years during this entire time she had shown little interest in politics and no personal ambition except in rasputin's defense it was rare that she spoke to the tsar about government matters all this changed when nicholas took command of the army the void left by him in the civil administration was filled by his wife it was not a formal regency it was almost a domestic breakdown of family duties lacking experience alexandra made several gargantuan mistakes and many of these blunders came from rasputin's directions who was tasked with choosing the good men and the bad men from the cabinet alexandra placed no importance on a potential minister's suitability or experience for the job it only mattered that he was susceptible to the man of god it was much more important that he liked rasputin than that he understood anything about ammunition diplomacy or food supplies although the function informally delegated by nicholas was only to supervise internal affairs alexandra had started to intrude into the area of military operations in his ultimate self-confidence rasputin soon went a step beyond asking questions about the army and started passing on instructions about the timing and location of russian attacks the empress said that his inspiration came to her in dreams while she slept although the tsar found it natural to allow his wife into military secrets he did not want her to pass them on to rasputin in his letters he asked her not to communicate the secrets to anyone but naturally she did not allow for this rule rasputin's intervention in military affairs was most evident during the 1916 great russian offensive this attack was claiming many lives and rasputin advised that it was better to go slowly because russia could not take so many losses from the front nicholas said that he would follow the plan from moscow alexandra thundered telling the offensive to stop even worse was the economy's ever-increasing ruin and the army's rebellion bit by bit feel was running out iron and copper for ammunition as well under the strain of his dual role as sarin commander-in-chief nicholas's health and morale began to suffer to retain control of the duma nicholas sacked the prime minister and alexander trepov took over one of his main goals was to push out rasputin by the end of 1916 some sort of change at the top was deemed inevitable many still hoped that change could be made non-violently that the monarch could be altered to provide the nation with a responsible government others felt that if the dynasty was to be preserved there would have to be a brutal purge on one point everyone agreed rasputin had to be removed finally he was assassinated on december the 17th 1916. [Music] as to be expected the impact of rasputin's death was less severe for nicholas than for alexandra upon hearing of the loss during a headquarters meeting the tsar immediately stood up and telegraphed i am horrified shaken to the core in the weeks following rasputin's death the tsar underwent a major nervous breakdown everyone was shocked by the tsar's appearance there were rumors that alexandra was drugging him in early march after two months of respite with his family nicholas mood began to improve he was optimistic that the army now equipped with new weapons from england and france could finish the war by the end of the year the basic problem was lack of food and fuel the city suffered more than the countryside of course petrograd farther away from the food and coal producing regions experienced even greater shortages the scarcity drove prices through the roof ironically in the winter of 1917 no serious plans for revolution were being made either by the workers or the revolutionaries living in zurich lenin felt isolated depressed and defeated nothing he tried seemed to work on thursday march the 8th as the imperial train was leaving petrograd to take the tsar to his headquarters the long silent red line suddenly snapped finding it no longer bearable to wait the people stormed the bakeries and held themselves on march the 9th a crowd took to the streets on the 10th most of the workers in petrograd went on strike huge crowds filled the streets carrying red flags for the first time and they cried down with war some 800 kilometers away poorly informed by the prime minister as to the seriousness of the situation thinking that the crisis was just yet one among the turbulent strikes that had plagued his entire reign the tsar remained in command of his troops nevertheless he issued an order that if necessary the truce be used to clear the streets the strikes and protests continued instead of making concessions the tsar sent reinforcements march the 12th was the turning point in petrograd by night power had passed to the duma the key to this dramatic turnaround was the mass defection of soldiers who were in petrograd by nightfall 66 000 soldiers joined the demonstrators early the next morning the tsar learned that his prime minister had been toppled events were in full swing at the duma it was decided there that the imperial order would be ignored and karensky would be in charge of the duma on that very day another parallel power arose the petrograd soviet all over the city the revolution was triumphant nicholas was shattered all the generals said he had only one way out abdication at first the tsar stepped down in favor of his son alexei but then he learned that the whole family would go into exile and alexei would be taken care of by someone else as a sar he was well aware that his son by right was heir to the russian throne as a father he could not admit to forsaking his son to strangers unaware of all the implications of his illness for the second time on that fateful day nicholas was compelled to make a dramatic decision instead of abdicating in favor of alexei he passed the throne to his brother michael age 39 michael was completely unprepared for this abrupt transformation however in agreement with the duma he decided to abdicate 304 years later the romanov dynasty was over the imperial family was eventually locked up in a kind of detention in the sarcoicelo palace upon seeing his wife again nicholas collapsed he laid his head in alexandra's lap and cried like a child in august 1917 karensky's government now holding the office of prime minister after laval's abdication moved the romanovs to tobolsk in the ural mountains claiming that this would protect them from the crescendo of the revolution there they lived in the former governor's mansion with considerable comfort on april the 30th 1918 they were moved to their final destination the ipati of house in yekaterinburg after the bolsheviks took power in october 1917 their conditions of imprisonment became strict and the discussion of putting nicholas on trial became more frequent nicholas followed the events of the october revolution with interest but without alarm he kept underestimating lenin's sacrifice but started to feel that his abdication had done russia more harm than good in the meantime he and his family occupied themselves with being cordial in yekaterinburg the tsar was banned from wearing epaulets and the sentries doodled obscene drawings on the fence to taunt his daughters on march the 1st 1918 the family was put out to eat soldiers rations which meant the departure of 10 devoted servants from then on butter and coffee were regarded as luxuries what kept the family going was the faith that someone would help them however for the bolsheviks nicholas ii's family and the emperor himself seemed to represent a hope for the white army made up of an alliance of anti-communists the tsar could even be considered the legitimate ruler of russia by the european nations if he remained alive the romanov family was executed on july the 17th 1918 exactly 103 years ago in this almost explosive context on that dawn sar nicholas ii his wife and all their heirs took part in a terrifying and absolute firing squad in her book the last days of the romanovs author helen rappaport reveals some of the most gruesome details of the sars family execution in total there were about 70 bullets fired seven for each shooter within a short 20 minute period according to the author it all began around midnight on july the 17th rushing to finish off the prisoners commander yakovirovsky demanded that dr eugene botkin the romanov's physician wake the entire family and properly dressed them the pretext given by yurovsky was to take nicholas ii and his heirs to a safe place which in fact was only a 30 square meter room for the romanovs the only thing left to do was to wait for a transport truck which would take them out of there but dead already after a few minutes of secrecy yurowski burst through the room's double door and sentenced nicholas ii reading the order of conviction drawn up by the euro executive committee the tsar was surprised but barely had time to ask any questions realizing the situation they were in serena alexandra and grand duchess olga tried to make a sign of the cross but could not finish their prayers with guns pointed at the family yurovsky commanded the firing squad to begin it was 20 minutes of pure terror with dozens of shots being fired at point-blank range the thunder bullets was so loud that some family sleeping in adjacent rooms woke up in the middle of the night nicholas ii was instantly killed with shots being fired at his chest alexei who was 13 years old was killed with only two fatal shots to the head however alexandra and some of her daughters were not victims of the firing squad but of a bayonet for example the grand duchesses tatiana 21 anastasia 17 and maria 19 carried several diamonds on their clothes which would have protected their bodies from bullets yet even though they were crouched against the wall maria and anastasia were killed within seconds while tatiana was shot in the head immediately after all the family members and their employees were reported dead the doors to the room were opened to allow the gunpowder smoke to dissipate the gun down bodies were then put into a truck which took them to their graves all the bodies were buried near the goronno urals railway line the pit where the corpses were buried was about 60 centimeters deep to make sure that the romanos would not be recognized their bodies were dipped in sulfuric acid and covered with quick lime it was the sars final end in january 1998 the remains excavated under a dirt road near yekaterinburg in 1991 were identified as those of nicholas ii and his family excluding one of his daughters and alexei the identifications carried out separately by russian british and american scientists using dna analysis agreed and proved conclusive in april 2008 russian authorities reported they had found two missing skeletons of the ramanas near yekaterinburg it was confirmed by dna testing that they belonged to alexei and one of his sisters on october the 1st 2008 the russian supreme court ruled that sarah nicholas ii and his family were victims of political repression and must be rehabilitated the romanov family was ultimately executed on july the 17th 1918 that early morning sar nicholas ii his wife and all of their heirs went through a terrifying and absolute firing squad the tsar's execution was made public immediately but the fate of the rest of the family was kept secret giving rise to countless speculations only in 1989 was the discovery of the romanov's remains brought to saint peter in paul's cathedral in saint petersburg in 1998. shortly thereafter the russian orthodox church proclaimed the canonization of the imperial family but this is still a very sensitive and controversial issue within russian society

Channel: See U in History / Mythology

Views: 631,894

Keywords: history, mythology, he Last Tsar of Russia, last romanov, last czar, romanov family, see you in history, history of russia, russian revolution

Id: sS6ErQefA9w

Length: 46min 58sec (2818 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 06 2022