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Even
after a century of the tragic death of the Russian royals, the Romanovs—Tsar
Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children— it is still one of the
most talked about political associated murder in history. Even though most of
the mystery surrounding the murder is considered solved, curiosity about the
royal family continues. This curiosity is hard to resist because of what the Tsar
himself had left us with—hundreds of black and white photographs of the
children playing, posing, and smiling, many taken with the Tsar’s own camera; as
well as the intimate love letters exchanged between the imperial couple. The
pictures and letters in a way tell their side of the story. They take us behind
the scenes of the economic crisis, war, and scandal which caused the fall of
the empire.
The Night of the
Murder
Most
of what happened in the early hours of 17 July 1918 was concluded from the
notes left by those who executed the murder. Among them were from Yakov
Yurovsky who led the assassination in the basement of the Ipatiev house in
Yekaterinburg, where the Romanovs, their attendants, and family doctor were
under house arrest. Sadly, it took longer to kill the Romanov children. They
did not immediately die of the gunshots fired by eleven Bolshevik troops—in
part due to the jewels they were safeguarding and had sewn into their undergarment.
At the face of such unanticipated complication, a combination of bayoneting,
stabbing, and shooting in the head were used by the executioners until the
children finally made no sound. The disastrous episode to gun down the whole
family took about twenty minutes, where smoke, screams, and blood filled the room,
and in which the execution became the brutal murder of the Tsar’s innocent
children, Olga (22), Tatiana (21), Maria (19), Anastasia (17), and Alexei (13).
With
the death of Nicholas II, the 1917 Russian revolution ended the 300-year Romanov
dynasty and started the pace for a society that took the women of Russia out of
the dark ages.
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| Olga (Pinterest) |
The Fall of the
Empire
The Revolutions
The
poor condition of peasants, low wages, strikes, poor working condition, as well
as violent suppression of uprisings instigated the 1905 revolution. However, the
revolution was short-lived and resulted in the establishment of the State Duma
(assembly), which Nicholas was forced to approve.
Condition
worsened with Russia’s continuous defeat in World War I. Strikes, riots, and
looting continued which led to the second revolution in 1917, the Tsar’s forced abdication,
and civil war.
With the death of Nicholas II, the 1917 Russian revolution ended the 300-year Romanov dynasty and started the pace for a society that took the women of Russia out of the dark ages.
In
the second revolution women workers played a pivotal role. Russia’s strong
patriarchal culture gave little room for women to engage in the public sphere
and instead left them with a life of serfdom in the home. However, with their
men fighting the war, urban women packed the factories to earn income, while
peasant women had to work the field on their own. Food shortages, rising
prices, low wages, and poor working conditions gave women workers who had to
tend to the household no choice but to fight alongside working men against the Tsar
and his regime. Women workers by the thousands took the streets and flock the
city during Women’s International Day in February 1917.
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| Tatiana (Pinterest) |
Following
the February Revolution, Vladimir Lenin returned from exile to lead the
Bolsheviks. Lenin led the Bolshevik coup in October which ended the Provisional
Government. Under Bolshevik rule, new laws on marriage and the family were
passed to eradicate the patriarchal family and the domestication of women.
Public nurseries and laundries were established and women gained the right to
vote. Laws prohibiting homosexuality were removed. Prominent female Bolshevik
leaders, such as Alexandra Kollontai, emerged.
But
throughout this time, the world questioned the fate of the imperial family. In
1919, the government only announced the murder of the Tsar and that the Tsarina
and children were taken to a safe place. Meanwhile, systematic elimination of
other remaining Romanovs had taken place. Those who had not escaped Russia,
were hunted down, arrested, tortured, and murdered.
It
was only until 1926 that the government officially confirmed the murder of the imperial
family. There were actually escape plans by relatives of the family in Europe
to save the Romanovs. If such plans had materialized, the Tsar’s innocent
children would have been saved.
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| Maria (Pinterest) |
A Man Called Rasputin
One
cannot talk about the fall of the Russian empire without mentioning the
legendary man called Rasputin. The close relationship the imperial family had
with the notorious Grigori Rasputin, a Serbian traditional healer, contributed
to the fall of the empire.
One
night, as the story goes, Rasputin came to the bedside of the Tsar’s hemophilic
only son and heir to the throne, Alexei, and stopped his bleeding. Ever since
this event, Rasputin became the Tsar’s family confidant. Pictures of the tall
and dark figured Rasputin with the Romanov children show that he was a regular
visitor to the palace.
It
was said that it was Rasputin who convinced the Tsar in 1915 that the Tsar should
be in charge of the army himself. A decision proved to be disastrous. During
the time her husband was on the frontline, the Tsarina was in charge of the
government. This would prove to be another disaster. The people, the
government, and Romanov relatives were convinced that this was due to the
influence that Rasputin had on the Tsarina.
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| Anastasia (Pinterest) |
Gossips
spread and stories were created as a campaign to bring down the German-born and
British-raised Tsarina, who was also the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. It
was rumored that Rasputin, well known for his notorious sex life in the circle
of elite women, was also romancing the Tsarina. Black propaganda of the Tsarina
in a sexual relationship with Rasputin was launched. The people used sex and
also her German origins to justify their dislike for her and their discontent with
the rule of the imperial family.
To
protect the honor of the Romanov family and end Rasputin’s intervention, nobles
plot his murder. It is interesting to learn that Rasputin who had the talent of
foretelling the future had warned the Tsar that if he was ever killed by the Tsar’s
relations, the death of the Tsar’s whole family and Russia would follow
shortly. The Tsar and his family were murdered almost two years after Rasputin’s
death.
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| Alexei (Pinterest) |
Nicky and Alix
Historians
believe that Nicholas II never really wanted to be Tsar. However, Nicholas
believed that it was his God-given duty to rule Russia. Nicholas was not a
statesman and had no talent for leadership. Ironically, the man called “Nicholas
the Bloody” as seen from the photographs was a family man, a loving father and husband.
Nicholas protected his family, so much so that he made them live in a bubble,
confined to palace life and ignorant of the impoverishment of the people.
Historians say his incompetence led to suffering and death of his people and
family.
Russia
suffered a great lost under Nicholas’ military command during World War I. Nicholas
was more of a lover than a fighter. The bulk of love letters written in English
between Niky and Alix—as they affectionately called each other—while the Tsar
was on the frontline, show how their love for and devotion to each other were unchallenged.
It seems that Nicholas thought that his abdication would save his wife and
children, but again, he was wrong.
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| Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra (Pinterest) |
Revolutionary Justice
The
Russian people remained in the dark about what happened to the Romanovs for
decades until the remains of five family members and the attendants were
exhumed from a secret burial place in 1991 and officially buried in 1998 in the
Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Petersburg. The remains of Maria and Alexei were found
later in 2007 and they have yet to be laid to rest. This year, the centenary of
the murder was commemorated by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church,
while crusades in Yekaterinburg on the night of the murder take place annually.
Even
without the rituals, photographs of the Romanovs and the love letters that had
survived the revolution have immortalized the family; bringing their presence
and insight into historical accounts.
Photographs of the Romanovs and the love letters that had survived the revolution have immortalized the family...
The
revolution that took the life of the Romanov children was justified by the
Bolsheviks as an “act of revolutionary justice”. This later proved to be all in
vain. After Stalin came into power in mid 1920s, Russia was again under dictatorship
and women as well as other marginal groups lost what they had gained from the
revolution.
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