In 1894, succeeding his father Alexandra III, Nicholas II ascended the Russian throne. He was destined to become the last emperor not only in the great Romanov dynasty, but also in the history of Russia. In 1917, at the proposal of the Provisional Government, Nicholas II abdicated the throne. He was exiled to Yekaterinburg, where in 1918 he and his family were shot.
The Bolsheviks feared that enemy troops might enter Yekaterinburg any day now: the Red Army clearly did not have enough strength to resist. In this regard, it was decided to shoot the Romanovs without waiting for their trial. On July 16, the people appointed to carry out the sentence came to Ipatiev’s house, where the royal family was under the strictest supervision. Closer to midnight, everyone was transferred to the room intended for the execution of the sentence, which was located on the ground floor. There, after the announcement of the resolution of the Ural Regional Council, Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their children: Olga (22 years old), Tatyana (20 years old), Maria (18 years old), Anastasia (16 years old), Alexey (14 years old), and also doctor Botkin, cook Kharitonov, another cook (his name is unknown), footman Trupp and room girl Anna Demidova were shot.
That same night, the corpses were carried in blankets to the courtyard of the house and placed in a truck, which drove out of the city onto the road leading to the village of Koptyaki. About eight versts from Yekaterinburg, the car turned left onto a forest path and reached abandoned mines in an area called Ganina Yama. The corpses were thrown into one of the mines, and the next day they were removed and destroyed...
The circumstances of the execution of Nicholas II and his family in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16-17, 1918, as well as Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in Perm on June 10 and a group of other members of the Romanov family in Alapaevsk on July 18 of the same year were investigated back in 1919-1921 N. A. Sokolov. He accepted the investigative case from the investigative group of General M.K. Diterikhs, conducted it until the retreat of Kolchak’s troops from the Urals and subsequently published a complete selection of case materials in the book “Murder royal family"(Berlin, 1925). The same factual material was covered from different angles: interpretations abroad and in the USSR differed sharply. The Bolsheviks did everything possible to hide information regarding the execution and the exact location of the burial of the remains. At first, they persistently adhered to the false version that everything was fine with Alexandra Fedorovna and her children. Even at the end of 1922, Chicherin stated that the daughters of Nicholas II were in America and they were completely safe. The monarchists clung to this lie, which was one of the reasons why there is still debate about whether any of the members of the royal family managed to avoid a tragic fate.
For almost twenty years, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A. N. Avdodin was investigating the death of the royal family. In 1979, he, together with film writer Geliy Ryabov, having established the place where the remains were supposed to be hidden, dug up part of them on the Koptyakovskaya road.
In 1998, in an interview with a correspondent for the newspaper “Arguments and Facts,” Geliy Ryabov said: “In 1976, when I was in Sverdlovsk, I came to Ipatiev’s house and walked around the garden among the old trees. I have a rich imagination: I saw them walking here, heard them talking - it was all imagination, a mess, but nevertheless it was a strong impression. Then I was introduced to local historian Alexander Avdodin... I found Yurovsky’s son - he gave me a copy of his father’s note (who personally shot Nicholas II with a revolver - Author). Using it, we established the burial site, from which we took out three skulls. One skull remained with Avdodin, and I took two with me. In Moscow, he turned to one of the senior officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, with whom he had once started his service, and asked him to conduct an examination. He did not help me because he was a convinced communist. For a year, the skulls were kept at my house... The next year we gathered again in Piglet Log and returned everything to its place.” During the interview, G. Ryabov noted that some of the events that took place in those days could not be called anything other than mysticism: “The next morning after we unearthed the remains, I came there again. I approached the excavation site, and believe it or not, the grass grew ten centimeters overnight. Nothing is visible, all traces are hidden. Then I transported these skulls in a service Volga to Nizhny Tagil. It started to rain mushrooms. Suddenly a man appeared out of nowhere in front of the car. Driver -
The steering wheel turned sharply to the left, and the car skidded downhill. They turned over many times, fell on the roof, and all the windows flew out. The driver has a small scratch, I have nothing at all... During another trip to Porosenkov Log, I saw a series of foggy figures at the edge of the forest...”
The story associated with the discovery of remains on the Koptyakovskaya road received public outcry. In 1991, for the first time in Russia, an attempt was officially made to reveal the secret of the death of the Romanov family. For this purpose, a government commission was created. During her work, the press, along with publishing reliable data, covered a lot of things in a biased manner, without any analysis, sinning against the truth. There were disputes all around about who actually owned the exhumed bone remains that had lain for many decades under the deck of the old Koptyakovskaya road? Who are these people? What caused their death?
The results of research by Russian and American scientists were heard and discussed on July 27-28, 1992 in the city of Yekaterinburg at the international scientific-practical conference“The last page of the history of the royal family: results of the study of the Yekaterinburg tragedy.” This conference was organized and conducted by the Coordination Council. The conference was closed: only historians, doctors and criminologists, who had previously worked independently of each other, were invited to it. Thus, adjustment of the results of some studies to others was excluded. The conclusions that scientists from both countries came to independently of each other turned out to be almost the same and with a high degree of probability indicated that the discovered remains belonged to the royal family and its entourage. According to expert V.O. Plaksin, the results of research by Russian and American scientists coincided on eight skeletons (out of nine found), and only one turned out to be controversial.
After numerous studies both in Russia and abroad, after labor-intensive work with archival documents, the government commission concluded: the discovered bone remains indeed belong to members of the Romanov family. Nevertheless, the controversy surrounding this topic does not subside. Some researchers still strongly refute the official conclusion of the government commission. They claim that the “Yurovsky note” is a fake, fabricated in the bowels of the NKVD.
On this occasion, one of the members of the government commission, the famous historian Edward Stanislavovich Radzinsky, giving an interview to a correspondent of the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, expressed his opinion: “So, there is a certain note from Yurovsky. Let's say we don't know what it's about. We only know that it exists and that it talks about some corpses, which the author declares to be the corpses of the royal family. The note indicates the place where the corpses are located... The burial referred to in the note is opened, and as many corpses as indicated in the note are found there - nine. What follows from this?..” E. S. Radzinsky believes that this is not just a coincidence. In addition, he indicated that DNA analysis is -99.99999...% probability. British scientists, who spent a year studying fragments of bone remains using molecular genetic methods at the forensic center of the UK Ministry of Internal Affairs in the city of Aldermaston, came to the conclusion that that the bone remains found near Yekaterinburg belong to the family Russian Emperor Nicholas II.
Before today From time to time, reports appear in the press about people who consider themselves descendants of members of the royal house. Thus, some researchers have suggested that in 1918, one of the daughters of Nicholas II, Anastasia, passed away. Her heirs immediately began to appear. For example, Afanasy Fomin, a Red Ufa resident, counts himself among them. He claims that in 1932, when his family lived in Salekhard, two military men came to them and began to interrogate all family members in turn. Children were brutally tortured. The mother could not stand it and admitted that she was Princess Anastasia. She was dragged out into the street, blindfolded and hacked to death with sabers. The boy was handed over to Orphanage. Afanasy himself learned about his belonging to the royal family from a woman named Fenya. She said that she served Anastasia. Besides everything, Fomin told the local newspaper unknown facts from the life of the royal family and presented his photographs.
It was also suggested that people loyal to the Tsar helped Alexandra Fedorovna cross the border (to Germany), and she lived there for more than one year.
According to another version, Tsarevich Alexei survived. He has as many as eight dozen “descendants”. But only one of them asked for an identification examination and trial. This man is Oleg Vasilyevich Filatov. He was born in Tyumen region in 1953. Currently lives in St. Petersburg, works in a bank.
Among those who became interested in O.V. Filatov was Tatyana Maksimova, a correspondent for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. She visited Filatov and met his family. She was struck by the amazing resemblance eldest daughter Oleg Vasilyevich Anastasia with Grand Duchess Olga, sister Nicholas II. And the face youngest daughter Yaroslavna, says T. Maksimova, is strikingly reminiscent of Tsarevich Alexei. O. V. Filatov himself says that the facts and documents that he has suggest that Tsarevich Alexei lived under the name of his father Vasily Ksenofontovich Filatov. But, according to Oleg Vasilyevich, the final conclusion must be made by the court.
...His father met his future wife at 48 years old. They were both teachers in the village school. The Filatovs first had a son, Oleg, then daughters, Olga, Irina, and Nadezhda.
Eight-year-old Oleg first heard about Tsarevich Alexei from his father while fishing. Vasily Ksenofontovich told a story that began with Alexey waking up at night on a pile dead bodies in the truck. It was raining and the car skidded. People got out of the cabin and, swearing, began to drag the dead to the ground. Someone's hand put a revolver into Alexei's pocket. When it became clear that the car could not be pulled out without a tow, the soldiers went to the city for help. The boy crawled under the railway bridge. He reached the station by rail. There, among the carriages, the fugitive was detained by a patrol. Alexey tried to escape and fired back. All this was seen by a woman who worked as a switchman. The patrolmen caught Alexei and drove him towards the forest with bayonets. The woman ran after them screaming, then the patrolmen began shooting at her. Fortunately, the switchwoman managed to hide behind the carriages. In the forest, Alexey was pushed into the first hole he came across, and then a grenade was thrown. He was saved from death by a hole in the pit where the boy managed to sneak through. However, a fragment hit the left heel.
The boy was pulled out by the same woman. Two men helped her. They took Alexei on a handcar to the station and called a surgeon. The doctor wanted to amputate the boy’s foot, but he refused. From Yekaterinburg, Alexey was transported to Shadrinsk. There he was settled with the shoemaker Filatov, laid on the stove together with the owner's son, who was in a fever. Of the two, Alexey survived. He was given the first and last name of the deceased.
In a conversation with Filatov, T. Maksimova noted: “Oleg Vasilyevich, but the Tsarevich suffered from hemophilia - I can’t believe that wounds from bayonets and grenade fragments left him a chance of survival.” To this Filatov replied: “I only know that the boy Alexei, as his father said, after Shadrinsk, was treated for a long time in the north near the Khanty-Mansi with decoctions of pine needles and reindeer moss, forced to eat raw venison, seal, bear meat, fish and as if bull's eyes." In addition, Oleg Vasilyevich also noted that hematogen and Cahors were never transferred to them at home. All his life, my father drank an infusion of bovine blood, took vitamins E and C, calcium gluconate, and glycerophosphate. He was always afraid of bruises and cuts. He avoided contact with official medicine, and had his teeth treated only by private dentists.
According to Oleg Vasilyevich, the children began to analyze the oddities of their father’s biography when they had already matured. So, he often transported his family from one place to another: from the Orenburg region to the Vologda region, and from there to the Stavropol region. At the same time, the family always settled in remote rural areas. The children wondered: where did the Soviet geography teacher get his deep religiosity and knowledge of prayers? A foreign languages? He knew German, French, Greek and Latin. When the children asked where their father knew languages, he answered that he learned them at the workers' school. My father also played the keyboard very well and sang. He also taught his children musical literacy. When Oleg entered Nikolai Okhotnikov’s vocal class, the teacher did not believe that the young man was taught at home - the basics were taught so skillfully. Oleg Vasilyevich said that his father taught musical notation using the digital method. After the death of his father, in 1988, Filatov Jr. learned that this method was the property of the imperial family and was inherited.
In a conversation with a journalist, Oleg Vasilyevich spoke about another coincidence. From his father’s stories, the name of the Strekotin brothers, “Uncle Andrei” and “Uncle Sasha,” was etched into his memory. It was they, together with the switchwoman, who pulled the wounded boy out of the pit and then took him to Shadrinsk. In the State Archive, Oleg Vasilyevich found out that the Red Army brothers Andrei and Alexander Strekotin actually served as guards at Ipatiev’s house.
At the Research Center for Law at St. Petersburg State University, they combined portraits of Tsarevich Alexei, aged from one and a half to 14 years, and Vasily Filatov. A total of 42 photographs were examined. The studies carried out with a high degree of reliability suggest that these photographs of a teenager and a man depict the same person at different age periods of his life.
Graphologists analyzed six letters from 1916-1918, 5 pages of the diary of Tsarevich Alexei and 13 notes of Vasily Filatov. The conclusion was as follows: we can say with complete confidence that the studied records were made by the same person.
Doctoral student of the Department of Forensic Medicine of the Military Medical Academy Andrey Kovalev compared the results of the study of the Yekaterinburg remains with the structural features of the spines of Oleg Filatov and his sisters. According to the expert, Filatov’s blood relationship with members of the Romanov dynasty cannot be ruled out.
For a final conclusion, additional research is needed, in particular DNA. In addition, the body of Oleg Vasilyevich’s father will need to be exhumed. O. V. Filatov believes that this procedure must certainly take place within the framework of a forensic medical examination. And for this you need a court decision and... money.
Despite the fact that the royal family in Russia was an example to follow, many rulers hid terrible secrets from the people. Every king and queen had sins behind them, which admirers of the royal family try not to talk about. This post will tell us about these terrible secrets.
Mikhail Fedorovich (from 1613 to 1645)
The first of the Romanovs was crowned king at the age of 16, and at that time he could barely read. The next year, by his decree, they hanged him in Moscow. three year old son Marina Mnishek - allegedly the grandson and heir of Ivan the Terrible, to whom certain cities managed to swear allegiance. This was after the severe Troubles, and fear of new possible impostors forced the elimination of the competitor publicly.
Alexey Mikhailovich (1645-1676)
The father of the future Emperor Peter the Great was a religious maniac, sometimes he prayed for six hours in a row and dealt with those who missed church service: without asking the reasons, he ordered them to be thrown into the icy river.
Peter I (1682-1725)
History describes many terrible scenes when Peter showed himself to be violent, inhumanly cruel and inadequate to the point of madness. Here are just some facts. Streltsy executions. 26-year-old Peter personally chopped off heads in front of a huge crowd and forced each of his retinue to take up the ax (unless the foreigners refused, justifying themselves by saying that they were afraid of incurring the hatred of the Russians). The mass executions actually turned into a grandiose show: the crowd was poured free vodka and they roared with delight, expressing devotion and love to the dashing sovereign. In a drunken stupor, the king immediately invited everyone to be an executioner, and many agreed.
Lifetime portrait of 44-year-old Peter, artist Antoine Pen:
“The Morning of the Streltsy Execution”, Vasily Surikov:
Death of Tsarevich Alexei. In acute conflict with his eldest son, Peter forced him to abdicate the throne and began to zealously investigate his misdeeds, for which he specially created the Secret Chancellery. 28-year-old Alexei was sentenced to death for treason and, after the verdict, was tortured in prison: in the presence of his father, he received 25 lashes. According to some reports, this is why he died. And Peter the next day noisily feasted, with an orchestra and fireworks, on the occasion of the anniversary of the Battle of Poltava.
“Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei in Peterhof”, Nikolai Ge:
“Maria Hamilton before execution”, Pavel Svedomsky:
Execution of a mistress. The very next year, Peter sent his ex-lover, one of the most beautiful ladies-in-waiting at court, Maria Hamilton (Gamontova), having learned that she twice caused miscarriages and strangled the third baby. Although at that time she was already living with someone else, the king, apparently, suspected that the children could be from him, and was furious at such “murder.” At the execution, he behaved strangely: he picked up Mary’s severed head, kissed it and calmly began to lecture the people on anatomy, showing the organs affected by the ax, after which he kissed the dead lips again, threw the head in the mud and left.
Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740)
The niece of Peter I, like himself, was a great hunter of entertainment with the participation of dwarfs and “fools” - court jesters. If many of them were indeed distinguished by their wit, then the inventions of the empress herself, which brought her into wild merriment, were rather obscene. Once, for example, one of her favorites, Italian violinist Pietro Miro, nicknamed Pedrillo (Petrillo, Parsley), laughed off an attempt to ridicule him ugly wife, declaring that his “goat” is pregnant and will soon bear “kids.” Anna Ioannovna immediately came up with the idea of putting him into bed with a real goat, dressed for laughs in a peignoir, and forcing the whole courtyard to bring them gifts. Pedrillo, who pleased his mistress, became richer by several thousand rubles on that day alone. “Jesters at the Court of Empress Anna Ioannovna”, Valery Jacobi (Pedrillo on the left, depicted with a violin; in the center of the picture in a yellow caftan the famous jester Balakirev jumps above everyone else):
The Empress generally adored all kinds of obscenity, especially gossip and stories of a pornographic nature. Knowing this, specially selected girls were sent to the court who were capable of conducting such conversations and inventing more and more new stories with juicy details.
Elizaveta Petrovna (1741-1762)
The daughter of Peter I was known as a beauty from childhood and did nothing but have fun and take care of her own appearance, remaining almost uneducated. She had never read and even as an adult did not know that Great Britain was an island. Most of all, Elizabeth was interested in masquerades and especially the so-called “metamorphoses,” where all the ladies had to appear in men's attire, and the men in women's attire. Moreover, the empress was convinced that her court rivals had ugly legs and that in men's leggings everyone except her was making a mockery of themselves. One of the successful rivals, state lady Natalya Lopukhina, who was considered a beauty, was “mercifully” saved by Elizabeth death penalty, ordering instead to flog him with a whip, tear out his tongue and exile him to Siberia. Officially, Lopukhina was arrested and tortured in the case of a political conspiracy, but unofficially it was the empress’s revenge for the repulsed gentlemen and ridicule in her youth.
Natalya Fedorovna Lopukhina, engraving by Lavrenty Seryakov:
Finally, Elizabeth doomed the legitimate heir to the throne, appointed before her death by Anna Ioannovna, to a terrible existence. Emperor Ivan VI was only a year and a half old when Peter's daughter staged a coup and secretly ordered him to be thrown into prison, forever separating him from his parents and protecting him from human contact. The “famous prisoner,” as he was called after the strictest ban on mentioning his name, was stabbed to death by guards at the age of 23, already under Catherine II.
Catherine II (1762-1796)
33-year-old Catherine overthrew and arrested her own husband and second cousin Peter III, the relationship with whom did not work out from the very beginning. They got married when she was 16 and he was 17 years old. According to one version, he was infantile almost to the point of dementia and avoided marital debt, allegedly not knowing what to do in bed with a woman. According to another version (and Catherine admitted this in her biographical notes), he did not love her and made no attempts to get closer. At the same time, he openly took mistresses and even planned to marry one, but died under unclear circumstances 10 days after his deposition.
Coronation portrait of Emperor Peter III, Lukas Conrad Pfanzelt:
Meanwhile, Catherine herself was made unhappy by her unhappy marriage greatest mistress on the Russian throne. She gave birth to her first child, the future Emperor Paul I, only in the 10th year after the wedding, which gave rise to rumors that he was not from Peter, although he looked like him. The empress had two more children from different lovers, and she gave birth to one in complete secret from her husband - in order to distract the emperor and take him away from the palace, her faithful valet started a fire in own home.
Modern painting “The Triumph of Catherine”, Vasily Nesterenko (after right hand from the Empress her famous favorite Prince Grigory Potemkin)
The “depraved empress” took her last favorite at the age of 60: he became the 21-year-old nobleman Platon Zubov, whom she enriched unspeakably and who, five years after her death, participated in the murder of her son Paul I.
Platon Aleksandrovich Zubov, artist Ivan Eggink:
Alexander I (1801-1825)
Catherine's 23-year-old grandson came to power as a result of a conspiracy against own father: he was convinced that if Paul was not overthrown, he would destroy the empire. At the same time, Alexander did not allow murder, but the perpetrators - officers inflamed with champagne - decided otherwise: in the middle of the night they struck the emperor with a powerful blow to the temple with a golden snuffbox and strangled him with a scarf. Alexander, having learned about the death of his father, burst into tears, and then one of the main conspirators said in French: “Stop being childish, go reign!”
Alexander II (1855-1881)
Having ascended the throne, Alexander, who had previously lived in a happy large marriage, began to have favorites, from whom, according to rumors, he had illegitimate children. And at the age of 48, he began secretly dating 18-year-old Princess Katya Dolgorukova, who years later became his second wife.
Their extensive erotic correspondence has been preserved - perhaps the most frank on behalf of the head of state: “In anticipation of our meeting, I am trembling all over again. I imagine your pearl in the shell"; “We had each other the way you wanted. But I must confess to you: I will not rest until I see your charms again...”
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
The most terrible secret was and remains the death of the family of the last Russian emperor. For many years after the execution in the basement without trial or investigation, the Soviet authorities lied to the whole world that only Nikolai was killed, and his wife, four daughters and son were alive and well and “transported to a safe place where nothing threatens them.” This gave rise to popular rumors about the allegedly escaped princesses and Tsarevich Alexei and contributed to the emergence of a huge army of impostor adventurers. In 2015, at the insistence of the Church, the investigation into the death of the royal family began “from scratch.” A new genetic examination has confirmed the authenticity of the remains of Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and three Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia, found near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Faces of Nicholas II and Princess Anastasia reconstructed from the remains:
Then they began to compare them with the genetic materials of Alexei and Maria, found in 2007. The timing of their burial depends on the willingness of the Church to recognize the remains
According to some information, the Romanovs are not of Russian blood at all, but came from Prussia; according to the historian Veselovsky, they are still Novgorodians. The first Romanov appeared as a result of the interweaving of childbirth Koshkins-Zakharyins-Yurievs-Shuiskys-Ruriks in the guise of Mikhail Fedorovich, elected Tsar of the House of Romanov. Romanovs, in different interpretations surnames and names, ruled until 1917.
The Romanov family: a story of life and death - summary
The era of the Romanovs is a 304-year usurpation of power in the vastness of Russia by one family of boyars. According to the social classification of feudal society of the 10th – 17th centuries, boyars were called large landowners in Moscow Rus'. IN 10th – 17th for centuries it was the highest layer of the ruling class. According to Danube-Bulgarian origin, “boyar” is translated as “nobleman”. Their history is a time of unrest and irreconcilable struggle with the kings for complete power.
Exactly 405 years ago, a dynasty of kings of this name appeared. 297 years ago, Peter the Great took the title of All-Russian Emperor. In order not to degenerate by blood, there was leapfrog with its mixing along the male and female lines. After Catherine the First and Paul the Second, the branch of Mikhail Romanov sank into oblivion. But new branches arose, with an admixture of other bloods. The surname Romanov was also borne by Fyodor Nikitich, Russian Patriarch Filaret.
In 1913, the three-hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated magnificently and solemnly.
High-ranking officials of Russia invited from European countries, they didn’t even suspect that a fire was already heating up under the house, which would go to waste last emperor and his family just four years later.
At the time in question, members of the imperial families did not have surnames. They were called crown princes, grand dukes, and princesses. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, which critics of Russia call a terrible coup for the country, its Provisional Government decreed that all members of this house should be called Romanovs.
More details on the main reigning persons of the Russian state
16-year-old first king. The appointment and election of essentially inexperienced in politics or even young children and grandchildren during the transition of power is not new for Russia. This was often practiced so that the curators of child rulers would solve their own problems before they came of age. In this case, Mikhail the First raked to the ground " Time of Troubles", brought peace and brought the almost collapsed country back together. Of his ten family offspring also 16 years old Tsarevich Alexei (1629 - 1675) replaced Michael in the royal post.
The first attempt on the life of the Romanovs by relatives. Tsar Feodor the Third dies at the age of twenty. The tsar, who was in poor health (he could barely endure the coronation), meanwhile, turned out to be strong in politics, reforms, organization of the army and civil service.
Read also:
He forbade foreign tutors, who poured from Germany and France to Russia, from working without supervision. Historians of Russia suspect that the tsar's death was prepared by close relatives, most likely his sister Sophia. This is what will be discussed below.
Two kings on the throne. Again about the childhood of the Russian tsars.
After Fyodor, Ivan the Fifth was supposed to take the throne - a ruler, as they wrote, without a king in his head. Therefore, two relatives shared the throne on the same throne - Ivan and his 10-year-old brother Peter. But all state affairs were run by the already named Sophia. Peter the Great removed her from business when he learned that she had prepared a state conspiracy against his brother. He sent the intriguer to the monastery to atone for her sins.
Tsar Peter the Great becomes monarch. The one about whom they said that he cut a window to Europe for Russia. Autocrat, military strategist who finally defeated the Swedes in wars of twenty years. Titled Emperor of All Russia. Monarchy replaced reign.
Female line of monarchs. Peter, already nicknamed the Great, passed away without officially leaving an heir. Therefore, power was transferred to Peter’s second wife, Catherine the First, a German by birth. Rules for only two years - until 1727.
The female line was continued by Anna the First (Peter's niece). During her decade, her lover Ernst Biron actually reigned on the throne.
The third empress in this line was Elizaveta Petrovna from the family of Peter and Catherine. At first she was not crowned, because she was illegitimate child. But this matured child carried out the first royal, fortunately, bloodless coup d’etat, as a result of which she sat on the All-Russian throne. By eliminating the regent Anna Leopoldovna. It is to her that her contemporaries should be grateful, because she returned St. Petersburg to its beauty and importance as a capital.
About the end of the female line. Catherine the Second the Great, arrived in Russia as Sophia Augusta Frederick. Overthrew the wife of Peter the Third. Rules for more than three decades. Having become Romanov's record holder, a despot, she strengthened the power of the capital, expanding the country territorially. Continued to improve the architectural design of the northern capital. The economy has strengthened. Patron of arts, loving woman.
A new, bloody conspiracy. Heir Paul was killed after refusing to abdicate the throne.
Alexander the First took over the government of the country on time. Napoleon marched against Russia with the strongest army in Europe. The Russian one was much weaker and drained of blood in the battles. Napoleon is just a stone's throw away from Moscow. We know from history what happened next. The Emperor of Russia came to an agreement with Prussia, and Napoleon was defeated. The combined troops entered Paris.
Attempts on the successor. They wanted to destroy Alexander II seven times: the liberal did not suit the opposition, which was already maturing then. They blew it up in the Winter Palace of the Emperors in St. Petersburg, they shot at Summer Garden, even at the world exhibition in Paris. In one year there were three assassination attempts. Alexander II survived.
The sixth and seventh attempts took place almost simultaneously. One terrorist missed, and the Narodnaya Volya member Grinevitsky finished the job with a bomb.
On the throne the last Romanov. Nicholas II was crowned for the first time with his wife, who had previously had five female names. This happened in 1896. On this occasion, they began to distribute the imperial present to those gathered on Khodynka, and thousands of people died in the stampede. The Emperor did not seem to notice the tragedy. Which further alienated the lower classes from the upper classes and prepared the way for a coup.
The Romanov family - a story of life and death (photo)
In March 1917, under pressure from the masses, Nicholas II terminated his imperial powers in favor of his brother Michael. But he was even more cowardly and abandoned the throne. And this meant only one thing: the end of the monarchy had come. At that time, there were 65 people in the Romanov dynasty. Men were shot by the Bolsheviks in a number of cities in the Middle Urals and in St. Petersburg. Forty-seven managed to escape into emigration.
The Emperor and his family were put on a train and sent into Siberian exile in August 1917. Where everyone who was disliked by the authorities was driven into the bitter cold. The place was briefly identified small town Tobolsk, but it soon became clear that the Kolchakites could capture them there and use them for their own purposes. Therefore, the train was hastily returned to the Urals, to Yekaterinburg, where the Bolsheviks ruled.
Red Terror in action
Members of the imperial family were secretly placed in the basement of a house. The shooting took place there. The emperor, his family members, and assistants were killed. Execution given legal basis in the form of a resolution of the Bolshevik regional council of workers', peasants' and soldiers' deputies.
In fact, without a court decision, and it was an illegal action.
A number of historians believe that the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviks received sanction from Moscow, most likely from the weak-willed All-Russian elder Sverdlov, and maybe personally from Lenin. According to testimony, the residents of Yekaterinburg rejected the court hearing because of the possible advance of Admiral Kolchak’s troops to the Urals. And this is legally no longer repression in retaliation against tsarism, but murder.
Representative Investigative Committee Russian Federation Solovyov, who investigated (1993) the circumstances of the execution of the royal family, argued that neither Sverdlov nor Lenin had anything to do with the execution. Even a fool would not leave such traces, especially the country's top leaders.
To house the Romanovs, a house belonging to mining engineer N.I. Ipatiev was temporarily requisitioned. Five service personnel lived here with the Romanov family: Doctor Botkin, footman Trupp, room girl Demidova, cook Kharitonov and cook Sednev. On the fateful day of July 16, 1918, the Romanovs and the servants went to bed, as usual, at 22:30. At 11:30 p.m. Two special representatives from the Urals Council came to the mansion. They presented the decision of the executive committee to the commander of the security detachment, Ermakov, and the commandant of the house, Yurovsky, and proposed to immediately begin to carry out the sentence. The awakened family members and staff are told that due to the advance of white troops, the mansion may be under fire, and therefore, for safety reasons, they need to move to the basement. Seven family members Nikolai Alexandrovich, Alexandra Fedorovna, daughters Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia, and son Alexey, three voluntarily remaining servants and a doctor descend from the second floor of the house and move to the corner semi-basement room. Yurovsky lined up the arrested in two rows, in the first - the entire royal family, in the second - their servants. The Empress and the Heir were sitting on chairs. The king stood on the right flank in the first row. One of the servants stood at the back of his head. Yurovsky stood face to face with the Tsar, holding his right hand in his trouser pocket and holding a small piece of paper in his left, then he read out the verdict. "Attention! The decision of the Urals Council is announced. “Before he had time to finish reading the last words, the Tsar loudly asked him again: “What, I didn’t understand?” Yurovsky read it a second time, last word He immediately grabbed a revolver from his pocket and shot point-blank at the Tsar. The king fell backwards. The Tsarina and daughter Olga tried to make the sign of the cross, but did not have time. Simultaneously with Yurovsky's shot, shots from the firing squad rang out. All the other ten people fell to the floor. Several more shots were fired at those lying down. The smoke obscured the electric light and made breathing difficult. The shooting stopped, the doors of the room were opened so that the smoke dispersed. They brought a stretcher and began to remove the corpses. The king's corpse was carried out first. The corpses were carried out onto a truck located in the yard. When they laid it on Princess Anastasia, she screamed and covered her face with her hand. Others were also alive. It was no longer possible to shoot, when open doors shots could be heard in the street. Ermakov took a rifle with a bayonet from a soldier and finished off everyone who was alive. When all those arrested were already lying on the floor, bleeding, the heir was still sitting on the chair. For some reason he did not fall to the floor for a long time and remained alive. He was shot in the head and chest and fell from his chair. The dog that one of the princesses brought with her was shot along with them. After loading the dead onto the car, at about three o’clock in the morning, we drove to the place that Ermakov was supposed to prepare behind the Verkhne-Isetsky plant. Having passed the factory, we stopped and began to unload the corpses onto carriages, since it was impossible to drive further by car. During the overload, it was discovered that Tatyana, Olga, and Anastasia were wearing special corsets. It was decided to strip the corpses naked, but not here, but at the burial site. But it turned out that no one knew where the mine planned for this was. It was getting light. Yurovsky sent horsemen to look for the mine, but no one found it. After driving a little, we stopped one and a half miles from the village of Koptyaki. In the forest they found a shallow mine with water. Yurovsky ordered the corpses to be undressed. When they undressed one of the princesses, they saw a corset, torn in places by bullets, and diamonds were visible in the holes. Everything valuable was collected from the corpses, their clothes were burned, and the corpses themselves were lowered into a mine and thrown with grenades. Having completed the operation and leaving the guard, Yurovsky left with a report to the Urals Executive Committee. On July 18, Ermakov again arrived at the crime scene. He was lowered into the mine on a rope, and he tied each dead person individually and lifted him up. When everyone was pulled out, the corpses were doused with sulfuric acid. It was decided to burn the corpses. But the person who took upon himself the responsibility to do this did not show up. There are also two statements: the corpses of Anastasia and Alexei were burned after all, and the corpse of the maid Demidova was burned by mistake. We had to hurry: the whites were approaching the city - they buried the corpses on the road, put two rails on top and drove over them several times in a truck. Already in our time - in last years researchers found the remains of the burial of the royal family and modern scientific methods confirmed that members of the Romanov royal family were buried in the Koptyakovsky forest. On September 20, 1990, the City Council of Yekaterinburg decided to allocate the site on which Ipatiev’s demolished house stood to the Yekaterinburg Diocese. A temple will be built here in memory of the innocent victims.
In 1998, on July 17, on the anniversary of the death, the remains of the Royal Family were solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
In 2000, the entire Romanov Family was canonized as innocent victims and became the Family of Royal Martyrs.
Nicholas I. (1825-1855). Under Nicholas I, the centralization of the bureaucratic apparatus was strengthened, the Third Division of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was created, and a set of laws was compiled Russian Empire, new censorship regulations were introduced (1826, 1828). The theory became widespread among the official people. In 1837, traffic was opened on the first Tsarskoye Selo railway in Russia. -d. The Polish uprising of 1830-1831 and the revolution in Hungary of 1848-49 were suppressed. Important side foreign policy there was a return to the principles of the Holy Alliance. During the reign of Nicholas I, Russia took part in wars: the Caucasian War of 1817-64, the Russian-Persian War of 1826-28, the Russian-Turkish War of 1828-29, Crimean War 1853-56.
Alexandra Fedorovna (Frederica Louise Charlotte Wilhelmina). . She led an active social life. For her grace and beauty at court she received the nickname Lalla-Ruk in honor of the heroine of the romantic poem by T. Moore (she is mentioned under this name in the draft version of Eugene Onegin). Her Russian language teacher was V. A. Zhukovsky, who called the empress “The Genius of Pure Beauty.” She was the patroness of the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society and the Elizabethan Institute. The Alexandria palace and park ensemble in Peterhof with a cottage in the English style was built for her. After the death of her husband, she inherited the Anichkov Palace and owned the manors of Ropsha, Kipen, Dudergofka, and Znamenka. She was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg. The Alexandrinsky Theater was named after her. Wife (from 1817) of Emperor Nicholas I.
Alexandra.
Alexander II (April 17, 1818, Moscow - March 1, 1881, St. Petersburg). (1855-1881). He carried out the abolition of serfdom and then carried out a number of reforms (zemstvo, judicial, military, etc.). After the Polish uprising of 1863-64 he switched to a reactionary domestic political course. From the end 70s Repressions against revolutionaries intensified. During the reign of Alexander II, the annexation of the territories of the Caucasus (1864), Kazakhstan (1865), and most of the Middle East to Russia was completed. Asia (1865-81). In order to strengthen influence in the Balkans and help the national liberation movement Slavic peoples Russia took part in the Russian-Turkish War of 1877-78. A number of attempts were made on the life of Alexander II (1866, 1867, 1879, 1880). He entered Russian history as Alexander II the Liberator. On March 1, 1881, Alexander II was mortally wounded on the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg by a bomb thrown by Narodnaya Volya member I. I. Grinevitsky. He died on the very day when he decided to give way to the constitutional project of M. T. Loris-Melikov, telling his sons Alexander (the future emperor) and Vladimir: “I do not hide from myself that we are following the path of the constitution.” Great reforms remained unfinished. (Married for the second time (1880) in a morganatic marriage to Princess E.M. Dolgorukaya (Princess Yuryevskaya), with whom he was connected since 1866, from this marriage he had 4 children).
Mikhail (1832-1909) Field Marshal (1878). Honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1855).
Nikolai (1859-1919) general from infantry (1913), honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1898). Monographs on the history of Russia, 1st edition. 19th century After the October Revolution, he was arrested and from 1918 in the Peter and Paul Fortress, where he was executed on January 30, 1919.
Nizhne-Selikamsk mine in Alapaevsk with several members of the royal family.
Maria Alexandrovna (Maximilian Wilhelmina Augusta Sophia Maria Princess of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse Louis II, wife of the Russian Emperor Alexander II (from 1841). (1824-1880).
Vladimir (1847-1909), infantry general (1880), adjutant general (1872), commander from 1881, and commander-in-chief of the guard troops and the St. Petersburg Military District from 1884 to 1905. On January 9, 1905, he gave the order to use weapons.
Alexey (January 2, 1850 St. Petersburg - November 1, 1908 Paris), naval leader, Admiral General (from 1883), Adjutant General (from 1880). In 1881 the Head was appointed. head of the fleet and maritime department. In this post he proved himself to be a lack of initiative leader, which contributed to the delay in the technical re-equipment of the Russian fleet and a decrease in its combat effectiveness. This was one of the reasons for the defeat of the Russian fleet in the Battle of Tsushima and in the Russo-Japanese War in general. Retired in 1905, he soon moved to Paris, where he died.
Alfred I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Edinburgh, full name Alfred Ernst (6 August 1844 – 30 July 1900), prince. Second son Queen of England Victoria. In 1874, Prince Alfred married Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.
Victoria-
Maria, Queen of Romania
Nicholas, Prince of Greece
Pavel (September 21, 1860), January 30, 1919, executed in the Peter and Paul Fortress along with three Grand Dukes, among whom was Grand Duke Nicholas.
Alexandra
William, Prince of Sweden Prince Lennart
Hohenfelsen (later Princess Paley), (Olga Valerianovna Pistolkors).
Alexander III (1881-1894). In the 1st half. 80s carried out the abolition of the poll tax and lowered redemption payments. From the 2nd half. 80s carried out “counter-reforms”. Strengthened the role of the police, local and central administration. During the reign of Alexander III, the annexation to Russia was basically completed. Asia (1885), the Russian-French alliance was concluded (1891-93). Not being the heir to the throne by birth, Alexander Alexandrovich was preparing mainly for military activity. He became crown prince in 1865 after the death of his elder brother, Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich, and from that time began to receive a more extensive and fundamental education. In 1866, Alexander Alexandrovich married his late brother’s fiancée, the Danish princess Dagmara. In the 1880-90s, Russia practically did not wage wars (except for the conquest that ended with the capture of Kushka in 1885 Central Asia), which is why the king was called the “peacemaker.”
Maria Feodorovna (Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmara), daughter of the Danish king Christian IX, sister of the English Queen Alexandra. Wife of Emperor Alexander III (since 1866). Patronized To Russian society Red Cross, Department of Institutions of Empress Maria, Orphanage, Alexander Lyceum and other institutions (more than 120). In 1882, on her initiative, the Mariinsky Women's Schools were created for low-income city girls. Honorary member of Kazan University (1902). Trustee of the Women's Patriotic Society, Water Rescue Society, Animal Welfare Society. Chief of a number of army regiments, including the Cavalry Guard and Cuirassier. In 1878 she was awarded the Red Cross insignia of the first degree for the care of wounded and sick soldiers during the period Russian-Turkish war. During the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, as the Dowager Empress, she had her own court, which played a prominent role in the social life of St. Petersburg. She lived in the Anichkov Palace. In 1917 - in Crimea. In 1919 she emigrated to Denmark. She helped charities and the Orthodox community in Denmark. Maria Feodorovna died in Copenhagen in 1928. She was buried in Roskilde Cathedral, the tomb of the Danish kings. In 2006, on September 28, she was solemnly reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Alexander
Felix Feliksovich Yusupov (1887-1957), married to the niece of Emperor Nicholas II. Organizer and active participant in the murder of G. E. Rasputin. Since 1917 in exile. Author of memoirs.
Olga . In 1901 she married Prince Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg and became the chief of the 12th Akhtyrsky Hussar Regiment. During World War I, she was a nurse and the head of the hospital, which she equipped with personal funds. She was awarded the St. George Medal, which was presented to her by the head of the 12th Cavalry Division, General Baron Karl Gustav Mannerheim. In 1916, having received a divorce, she married Nikolai Alexandrovich Kulikovsky. After the revolution she lived with the Dowager Empress in Crimea. Refusing to leave with Maria Feodorovna, she settled with her family in the Kuban in the village of Novominskaya. When the Red Army occupied Crimea, Olga Alexandrovna and her family went first to Belgrade, then to Denmark. Olga Alexandrovna was fond of painting and porcelain painting. Her paintings have been exhibited in Copenhagen, Paris, Berlin and London. Olga Alexandrovna’s descendants – the Kulikovskys (children from her second husband) now live abroad.
George (April 27, 1871 – May 28, 1899), from 1894 Tsarevich. In Abastumani, where he was sent for treatment, he built an observatory with his personal money, which has survived to this day. He died in Abastumani.
Mikhail, brother of Emperor Nicholas II, lieutenant general (1916). From 1899-1904 Tsarevich. In 1898-1912 on military service. During the 1st World War he commanded a cavalry division, a corps, and was an inspector general of cavalry. In 1917, after the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, he also renounced his rights to the throne. In March 1918, by order of the Council of People's Commissars, he was expelled to live in Perm. July/June 13th? in the vicinity of the village of Motovilikha, Perm province, was shot. His wife and son went abroad.
Sergei Alexandrovich, (April 29, 1857-1905), Grand Duke, son of Emperor Alexander II, lieutenant general (1896). Participant in the Russian-Turkish War 1877-78; Moscow Governor-General in 1891-1905, from 1896 commander of the troops of the Moscow Military District. Sentenced to death by the Social Revolutionary Fighting Group. The terrorists followed the prince’s movements around the city for a long time and explored his routes. On February 2, he, his wife Elizaveta Feodorovna and his nephews (children of V.K. Pavel Alexandrovich, his brother), Maria and Dmitry, who were in his care, went to the Moscow Opera House. On the way, the terrorist, Socialist Revolutionary Ivan Platonovich Kalyaev, was waiting for him, leaning against a garden lattice not far from the Nikolsky Gate in the Kremlin. Moiseenko stood nearby holding a tray of cigarettes in his hands. He had to signal Kalyaev that the prince’s carriage had left. He did just that. Kalyaev, when the carriage passed by him, ran out in front of the carriage, intending to throw a bomb, but saw a woman and children in the carriage, and did not throw a bomb. Then the terrorists moved the date of the assassination attempt to February 4, hoping that the prince would be alone on that day, as he would go to the governor’s house on Tverskaya.
On February 4, Kalyaev stood in the same place as two days ago. As soon as the Grand Duke's carriage caught up with him, he threw a bomb. There was a deafening explosion. A column of smoke and snow dust rising from the pavement hid the place where the prince's carriage had just been. When the smoke from the explosion cleared, the remains of a broken carriage and a shapeless charred mess appeared before the eyes of those present - all that remained of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. The coachman Andrei Rudinkin was thrown from the box, was seriously injured and died 2 days later. Policeman Leontyev and one of the prince's guards, Vinogradov, captured and disarmed Kalyaev.
Nicholas II, His reign coincided with the rapid industrial and economic development of the country. Under Nicholas II, Russia was defeated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, which was one of the reasons for the Revolution of 1905-1907, during which the Manifesto was adopted on October 17, 1905, which authorized the creation political parties and established the State Duma; The Stolypin agrarian reform began to be implemented. In 1907, Russia became a member of the Entente, as part of which it entered the First World War. Since August (September 5), 1915, Supreme Commander-in-Chief. During February Revolution 1917 March 2(15) abdicated the throne. WITH early years Nikolai felt a passion for military affairs: he knew the traditions of the officer environment and military regulations perfectly, in relation to the soldiers he felt like a patron-mentor and did not shy away from communicating with them, and resignedly endured the inconveniences of army everyday life at camp gatherings or maneuvers. Immediately after his birth, he was enrolled in the lists of several guards regiments and appointed chief of the 65th Moscow Infantry Regiment. At the age of five he was appointed chief of the Life Guards of the Reserve Infantry Regiment, and in 1875 he was enlisted in the Erivan Life Guards Regiment. In December 1875 he received his first military rank- ensign, and in 1880 he was promoted to second lieutenant, after 4 years he became a lieutenant. In 1884, Nikolai entered active military service, in July 1887 he began regular military service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and was promoted to staff captain; in 1891 Nikolai received the rank of captain, and a year later - colonel. On October 20, 1894, at the age of 26, he accepted the crown in Moscow under the name of Nicholas II. On May 18, 1896, during the coronation celebrations, tragic events on the Khodynka field (“Khodynka”). His reign occurred during a period of sharp aggravation political struggle in the country, as well as the foreign policy situation (Russian-Japanese War 1904-05; Bloody Sunday; Revolution 1905-07 in Russia; First World War; February Revolution 1917). During the reign of Nicholas, Russia turned into an agrarian-industrial country, cities grew, railways were built, industrial enterprises. Nikolai supported decisions aimed at the economic and social modernization of the country: the introduction of gold circulation of the ruble, Stolypin’s agrarian reform, laws on workers’ insurance, universal primary education, religious tolerance. Not being a reformer by nature, Nicholas was forced to accept important decisions, which did not correspond to his inner beliefs. He believed that in Russia the time had not yet come for a constitution, freedom of speech, universal voting rights. However, when a strong social movement in favor of political reforms, he signed the Manifesto on October 17, 1905, proclaiming democratic freedoms. In 1906, the organization established by the Tsar’s manifesto began operating. The State Duma. For the first time in Russian history, the emperor began to rule with a representative body elected by the population. Russia gradually began to transform into a constitutional monarchy. But despite this, the emperor still possessed enormous power functions: he had the right to make laws (in the form of decrees); appoint a prime minister and ministers accountable only to him; determine the course of foreign policy; was the head of the army, court and earthly patron of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.
Elizaveta Feodorovna (October 20, 1864 – July 18, 1918) (Ella of Hesse-Darmstadt), sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (from 1884), saint of the Russian Orthodox Church. In 1891 she converted to Orthodoxy. She participated in the work of the Orthodox Palestine Society, the chairman of which was Sergei Alexandrovich for a long time; together with him she visited Palestine for the consecration of the Orthodox Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem; since 1905 co-chairman of the Palestine Society. During the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. led a movement in Moscow to provide assistance to soldiers, as well as widows and children of the dead. After the murder of her husband on February 4, 1905, she disbanded the court and devoted herself to charity. In 1907 she acquired an estate in Moscow for the establishment of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent of Sisters of Mercy. On April 11, 1910, she took monastic vows as the abbess of the monastery. On her initiative, a hospital, an outpatient clinic, a pharmacy, a shelter for girls, and a free canteen for the poor were set up in the monastery. During the First World War, she became involved in providing assistance medical care soldiers and officers active army. After the February Revolution, she rejected the offer of the German Emperor Wilhelm II to travel to Germany. In 1918, she was arrested and thrown alive into the Nizhneye-Selimskaya mine in Alapaevsk along with other members of the Romanov family and her associate Varvara. After the occupation of Alapaevsk by the White Army, the remains of Elizabeth Feodorovna were taken to Chita, then to China and in 1921 buried in Jerusalem in the Church of Mary Magdalene. Canonized by Russian Orthodox Church (1990).
Alice of Hesse (daughter of Queen Victoria).
Alexandra Feodorovna, (Alice Victoria Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse - Darmstadt) Russian empress, wife of Nicholas II (from 1894).
Tatiana (born 1897)
Maria (b. 1899)
Anastasia (born 1901)
The turning point in the fate of Nicholas was 1914 - the beginning of the First World War. The tsar did not want war and until the very last moment tried to avoid a bloody conflict. However, on July 19 (August 1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia. In August (September 5) 1915, during a period of military failures, Nicholas took over military command [previously this position was held by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (the Younger)]. Now the tsar visited the capital only occasionally, and spent most of his time at headquarters Supreme Commander in Mogilev. The war exacerbated the country's internal problems. The tsar and his entourage began to be held primarily responsible for military failures and the protracted military campaign. Allegations spread that there was “treason in the government.” At the beginning of 1917, the high military command led by the Tsar (together with allies - England and France) prepared a plan for a general offensive, according to which it was planned to end the war by the summer of 1917. At the end of February 1917, unrest began in Petrograd, which, without encountering serious opposition from authorities, a few days later grew into mass protests against the government and the dynasty. Initially, the tsar intended to restore order in Petrograd by force, but when the scale of the unrest became clear, he abandoned this idea, fearing much bloodshed. Some high-ranking military officials, members of the imperial retinue and politicians convinced the king that to pacify the country a change of government was required, his abdication from the throne was necessary. On March 2, 1917, in Pskov, in the cabin of the imperial train, after painful thoughts, Nicholas signed an act of abdication, transferring power to his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who did not accept the crown. On March 9, Nicholas and the royal family were arrested. For the first five months they were under guard in Tsarskoye Selo; in August 1917 they were transported to Tobolsk. In April 1918, the Bolsheviks transferred the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg.
Elena Pavlovna (née Frederica-Charlotte-Maria) (1806-73), Grand Duchess, daughter of Württemberg Prince Paul-Karl, wife (from 1824) of Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich.
Beloborodov’s secret telegram to the Secretary of the Council of People’s Commissars, Gorbunov, dated July 17, 1918, reads: “Tell Sverdlov that the whole family suffered the same fate as the head, officially the family will die during the evacuation.” The story of the tragic death of the royal family today is overgrown with many legends, versions and opinions. It is probably no longer possible to completely reliably establish some facts, taking into account the fact that initially all the information was completely classified by the Bolsheviks and deliberately distorted. And in this article we only provide information from various historical and literary sources.
“On Lenin’s conscience, as the main organizer, is the destruction of the royal family: the former Tsar Nicholas II, who voluntarily abdicated the throne, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna and their five children - son Alexei and daughters Olga, Maria, Tatiana and Anastasia. Along with them, Doctor B.S. Botkin, room girl Demidova, servant Troup and cook Tikhomirov were killed. This monstrous act was committed in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg on the night of July 16-17, 1918" - Arutyunov A. A. "VLADIMIR ULYANOV (LENIN) Documents. Data. Evidence. Research".
At night, a detachment of Latvians, replacing the previous guard, received an order from Yurovsky, who had completed the appropriate training course in Germany before the revolution, to shoot all the prisoners. The abdicated Emperor, his wife, son, daughters and maid of honor were summoned from their bedrooms under the pretext of immediate evacuation from Yekaterinburg. When they all went out to the Latvians in a room 8 arshins long and 6 arshins wide, they were told that everyone would be shot immediately. Approaching the Emperor, Yurovsky said coldly: “Your relatives wanted to save you, but they failed. We will kill you now.” The Emperor did not have time to answer. Amazed, he whispered: "What? what?" Twelve revolvers fired almost simultaneously. The volleys followed one after another.
All victims fell. The death of the Tsar, Empress, three children and footman Troupe was instantaneous. Tsarevich Alexei was on his last legs, the youngest Grand Duchess was alive. Yurovsky finished off the Tsarevich with several shots from his revolver; the executioners finished off Anastasia Nikolaevna with bayonets, who was screaming and fighting back. When everything calmed down, Yurovsky, Voikov and two Latvians examined the executed, firing a few more bullets into some of them for good measure or piercing them with bayonets. Voikov said that it was a terrible picture.
The corpses lay on the floor in nightmarish poses, with faces disfigured from horror and blood. The floor became completely slippery... Only Yurovsky was calm. He calmly examined the corpses, removing all the jewelry from them... Having established the death of everyone, they began to clean up... The room in which the beating took place was hastily put in order, trying mainly to hide traces of blood, which, in the literal expression of the narrator , "shoved with brooms." By three (six) o'clock in the morning everything in this regard was completed. (From the testimony of M. Tomashevsky, data from the commission of I.A. Sergeev).
Yurovsky gave the order, and the Latvians began to carry the corpses across the yard to the truck parked at the entrance. ...We set off outside the city to a pre-prepared place near one of the mines. Yurovsky left with the car. Voikov remained in the city, as he had to prepare everything necessary to destroy the corpses. For this work, 15 responsible members of the Yekaterinburg and Verkhne-Isetsk party organizations were allocated. All were equipped with new, sharpened axes of the type that are used in butcher shops for chopping up carcasses. Voikov, in addition, prepared sulfuric acid and gasoline...
The hardest work was cutting up corpses. Voikov remembers this picture with an involuntary shudder. He said that when this work was completed, near the mine lay a huge bloody mass of human stumps, arms, legs, torsos, heads. This bloody mass was poured with gasoline and sulfuric acid and immediately burned. They burned for two days. The taken supplies of gasoline and sulfuric acid were not enough. We had to bring in new supplies from Yekaterinburg several times... It was a terrible picture,” Voikov concluded. - Even Yurovsky, in the end, could not stand it and said that a few more days like this, and he would have gone crazy.
Towards the end we began to hurry. They raked into a heap everything that was left of the burned remains of those executed, threw several hand grenades into the mine to break through the never-melting ice in it, and threw a bunch of burnt bones into the resulting hole... At the top, on the platform near the mine, they dug up the earth and they covered it with leaves and moss to hide the traces of the fire... Yurovsky left immediately after July 6 (19), taking with him seven large chests full of Romanov goods. He undoubtedly shared the spoils with his friends in Moscow.
One of the even more monstrous versions of last days The Romanovs are described in the historical chronicle of S. A. Mesyats “SEVEN COMMENTS ABOUT THE COMMUNIST PARTY” (Commentary 5 HISTORY OF THE KILLINGS OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY): “Shortly before the execution of the Tsar, the Bolsheviks committed a monstrous crime. They raped members of the imperial family, including the emperor himself. The boy Alexei was also supposed to be raped, but the act of pedophilia did not occur: Nicholas II, in order to save the prince, took upon himself torment and humiliation for the second time. This may seem incredible, and for a long time I myself did not believe that this was possible. ...But read the officially published “Diaries of Emperor Nicholas II” (M., 1991, p. 682).
There is not a word about the crime itself, but what do the entries from May 24 and 25, 1918 mean: “All day I suffered from pain from hemorrhoidal cones... Dear Alix (wife - S.M.) spent his birthday in bed with severe pain in the legs and other places!” The Emperor, neither before nor after this, does not express a single complaint about hemorrhoids, but this is a long and painful disease that lasts for months and years. And what is this “dr. places"? Why does the emperor even personal diary didn't dare name them? Why did I mark them with a meaningful exclamation mark?
After these entries, 3 days in a row were missed, although Nicholas II made entries daily for 24 years without missing a single day. This rule was not affected even by the abdication of the throne - an event that disrupted the natural course of events in imperial family and throughout Russia. (Perhaps the rapists tore out several incriminating pages from the diary: it is difficult to believe that the emperor’s punctuality was so unexpectedly violated). What so extraordinary happened on the 20th of May 1918? Since there are no intelligible answers to these questions, we are forced to accept that nightmare version.
Loading...
