Anthony Elkins
English 2089
Dr. Leech
March 13, 2014
The Romanov’s ruled Imperial Russia for three hundred
years, which is a great portion of Russian history. There are many reasons as
to why the empire fell, and also many stories and conspiracies as to how it all
happened. When really delving into this topic, there are so many interesting
stories and so much historical content that is involved, it’s absolutely fascinating.
Not many people know the whole true story on the Romanov’s because of all the
untrue myths that are told. Historians still have questions to this day on what
really happened on the night of July 16, 1918 when the whole family was
murdered, and the three hundred yearlong rule was finally put to an end. What
were they like, how did it happen, and what happened after are some of the many
questions that they are asking
Czar Nicholas II and his family
Czar Nicholas II was the last Czar to rule over
Imperial Russia. He was born in St. Petersberg on May 6, 1868. Nicholas was
never really trained on how to become a king, and this later served as a major
reason for his downfall, and the downfall of the Czar rule. Nicholas loved
Russia and the people of it, and was very proud of where he lived. He was also
honored to be ruling over a country that he loved so much. Nicholas was crowned
Czar on November 1, 1894, and then was married to Alexandra on November 26, 1894.
The one thing they wanted more than anything was to produce an aire to the
throne. Nicholas and Alexandra had
five children the first four were girls:
Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia.
Olga,
the oldest daughter, born in 1895, was fair, with
golden-brown hair and beautiful blue eyes. She was innocent, modest, sincere
and kind. She liked simplicity and paid little attention to all the lavish and
elegant things that came along with being a royal. She was most similar to her
father, whom she loved better than anyone else. She had a quick mind and
possessed the virtue of reasoning. According to her tutors, she had a
"crystal'' soul and a bright smile; inner joy radiated from her and had an
uplifting effect on those around her. Like her father, Olga deeply loved Russia
and the Russian people. She was once proposed to by a foreign price and
she refused because she was Russian and she intended to remain that way.
Tatiana, the second daughter, born
in 1897, was a tall, thin and elegant girl. She had a darker complexion than
the others. She was somewhat reserved, dutiful and pensive; she was often more
decided in her opinions than her sisters. She was a talented pianist and also
painted and embroidered well. Tatiana was her mother's favorite, having
inherited the Empress' nobleness and sense of discipline. The younger children
nicknamed Tatiana "the Governess” because she was so strict with them.
Maria, the third daughter, born in 1899, was strong, broadly-built and good
looking, with light gray eyes. She could paint and draw, and played the piano
competently. She was very fond of children and inclined to domesticity, and
would have made an excellent wife and mother. Maria had the rare quality of
being perfectly happy, and her radiant personality made everyone around
her feel the same way.
Anastasia,
the youngest daughter, born in 1901, was initially the tomboy of the family,
and she was much shorter than the others. She had a way of always making
everyone around her laugh, and was nicknamed the family comedian. There were
many conspiracies saying that Anastasia survived the horrible murder that the
rest of her family had to undergo because she had jewels sewed into her
clothing and the bullets bounced off of them. There were thousands of women
claiming to be Anastasia, and some were believed for a short while until they
were proved wrong.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “Those hopes were
bolstered with the 1991 revelation that nine bodies of Romanov family members
and servants had been found in a Yekaterinburg grave, but that a son and
daughter were still missing. Now, newly analyzed DNA evidence from a second,
nearby grave discovered in 2007 proves that the bones are those of two Romanov
children, ending the mystery once and for all.”
Alexis,
their fifth and final child was special. Born in 1904, and was already set to
be the next Czar of imperial Russia upon his birth. It was only until he was
about six weeks old when his life would change forever. Alexi was diagnosed a hemophiliac
when he was very young, and because of this, much of his life was sheltered and
very secluded. He was secluded and watched all the time because of his disease.
Hemophilia is a disease that prevents your blood from clotting, so even a
little fall that would be nothing to the normal person could be detrimental to
his lifer.
Rasputin
In
order to help aid Alexi, Rasputin, a so called monk, was hired by Nicholas and
Alexandra to help cure their son of his illness. It seemed to Alexandra, that
whenever Rasputin was around Alexis, he would be totally fine, almost like he
was healed. Rasputin was not a monk nor a saint, and he didn’t belong to any
religious sect. He was nothing other than a pilgrim that was jumping around
from place to place to see who he could con next.
It was believed by many
people that he could heal incurable disease because of his knowledge of the
bible, and his ability to perform hypnosis. It was very easy for Rasputin to
con Alexandra, and so he stayed for quite sometime in order to help with their
suffering child. Not so much time passed, and the rest of the Romanov family
started to see what a real con Rasputin was. Soon after, he was killed by the
family for being a fraud.
The Down Fall of the Czar Rein
As said on the History Channel website, “The
disastrous outcome of the Russo-Japanese War led to the Russian Revolution of
1905, which ended only after Nicholas approved a representative assembly--the Duma--and
promised constitutional reforms. The czar soon retracted these concessions and
repeatedly dissolved the Duma when it opposed him,
contributing to the growing public support for the Bolsheviks and other
revolutionary groups. In 1914, Nicholas led his country into another costly
war--World War I--that
Russia was ill-prepared to win. Discontent grew as food became scarce, soldiers
became war weary and devastating defeats at the hands of Germany demonstrated
the ineffectiveness of Russia under Nicholas.”
After all of this occurred, In March 1917,
revolution broke out on the streets of Petrograd (now St. Petersburg) and
Nicholas was forced to abdicate his throne later that month. That November, the
radical socialist Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power in Russia
from the provisional government, sued for peace with the Central Powers and set
about establishing the world's first communist state.
Civil war broke
out in Russia in June 1918, and in July the anti-Bolshevik "White"
Russian forces advanced on Yekaterinburg, where Nicholas and his family were
located, during a campaign against the Bolshevik forces. Local authorities were
ordered to prevent a rescue of the Romanovs, and after a secret meeting of the
Yekaterinburg Soviet, a death sentence was passed on the imperial family.
Late on the night of July 16, the family was order
to get dress nice quickly, so they could all go down in the cellar and take a
picture to make all the rumors go away saying that they were being tortured. As
the family, and their four servants that were with them lined up for this
picture, 12 guards armed came from behind and gunned down the imperial family. And that was the end of the Romanov rule.
Hyperlinks for text and pictures:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar/11/science/sci-romanov11
http://www.pravmir.com/article_101.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grigori_Rasputin
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/romanov-family-executed
