The Romanov Rule

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 When really delving into this topic, there are so many interesting stories and so much historical content that is involved, it’s absolutely fascinating.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

Blog 2: The Deteration of the Middle Class in the U.S.

Anthony Elkins

Dr. Mary Leech

English 2089

February 12, 2014

The middle class in the United States has been slowly deteriorating over the course of many years. Back in the 1950s and 1960s, families were able to have one source of income, which was typically the male, while the female stayed home with the family. In today’s world, that seems to be nonexistent. Nowadays, both parents work, and some still can’t make ends meet because of high taxation, and regulations from agencies like Environmental Protection Agency. Last year, the typical middle class house hold made fifty one thousand dollars; that was the average a household was making nearly a quarter of a century ago. Why is this happening, how is it effecting our economy, and how can it be fixed are some of the many questions that several Americans are asking.

We could all give an opinion on how they could get by on one income in the 1950s and 1960s, but for my article I’m going to focus on the lower portion of the middle class, according to the census bureau. If you made 35,000 dollars a year, would you consider yourself to be middle class? According to the consumers’ confidence index, “People in the group have actually become more pessimistic since 2011, in what’s supposed to be an economic recovery. For a long time it was a cliché that much of the US working class felt ‘middle class. Now it appears that a big part of the middle class- those households in the $35,000 to $50,000 a year bracket – feels poor.”  This seems to be the growing problem in America, but why?

 

The Growing Issue

The problem is that the dollar isn’t worth as much as it was when the economy was booming, and there isn’t as many jobs as there used to be. For example, the city of Cleveland used to be a big source for steel, and there was a huge factory called LTV that employed thousands of workers. They shut down in 2001 due to bankruptcy, and thousands of workers lost their jobs and health care. Many of the workers got some sort of illness from working in harsh conditions, and were without heath care, and people that had been working towards a great pension were now without a job, and pension. A city that was once one of the main suppliers of steel was now out of commission, and many families lost everything. https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2001/12/ltv-d27.html.  This is just one example of many that have happened in the country in the last ten years.

Another reason why the middle class is deteriorating is all the forced regulations by the government. For example, there is a mandate that all cars manufactured in the United States, as of 2015, have to be equipped with a black box. A new report form CBS says, “A recently passed bill will require all cars to come equipped with "black boxes" that record vehicle data. These Event Data Recorders (EDR), similar to their airplane counterparts, will record data such as speed, brake force and electrical systems monitoring. The days of a car crash being one driver's word against another look to be history.” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-law-mandates-black-boxes-in-all-cars-by-2015/. These devices may add an additional five thousand dollars to the price of the car, and when you only make 35,000 dollars a year, that is not affordable.

Taxing

Taxation is another huge factor in the deterioration of the middle class in the United States of America. We are taxed for just about everything. Every bill that you receive for the month has a small percentage that is taken out by the infamous Uncle Sam. For example, your cell phone bill. When you read everything that is being added up to make your bill, you’ll see that about three dollars and twenty-five cents is taken out every month from the government. That money goes to pay for the Obama phones that people who can’t afford cell phones get for free. I think that it is absolutely absurd that the government even offers free cell phones to people, it is not a basic necessity it’s a privilege. Paying for student loans is another aspect that completely cripples the middle class. With the shortage of jobs, when the students graduate, and aren’t able to find jobs, they aren’t going to be able to pay their bills.

The Bare Minimum

The typical American has many bills to pay every month. Just to name a few, a mortgage payment, car payment, car insurance, household utilities, cell phone, groceries, student loans, credit card, pet grooming, etc. Just for an example, the living wage calculator says that in Cuyahoga County, OH if there is two adults and one child, you have to make 33,831 dollars before taxes to be able to afford the basic necessities of life. http://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/39035 That is under what is considered to be middle class in the US, and under the average family size as well. This is before all the taxes that get taken out of their total income at the end of the year, and those numbers are high as well. Also, because of the shortage of jobs, most of what used to be middle class are now working at jobs that only pay minimum wage, or within a few dollars of it. 

 

Wrapping It Up 

So when you get down to the brass tacks of this, if you make upwards to 50,000 dollars, there is little money left for you to spend on something fun with the family; but if you make anywhere under 40,000, you won’t even have enough money to pay your bills, and a vacation is something that of a dream to you, and your family. Many people are asking what there is to do about this, but honestly there isn’t just one solution. Many things need to change in order for everything to go back to the way that it used to be; but as for right now, I guess we just need to tighten our belts and hold on for the ride.