The Murder of the Last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia: Alexandra and Nicholas II

Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 15, 1917. He initially named his son as successor, but his son was a hemophiliac teenager. Nicholas changed his mind and named his brother, Michael. One day later, Michael decided he did not want to take his brother's place. All of this had little significance because the Russian revolutionaries did not intend to allow a Romanov to rule Russia again. While the Romanovs were clinging to the last vestiges of tradition and royalty, the rest of the country was fighting over what would happen now that the monarchy had been overthrown. In the end, this would mean death for many of the Romanovs, particularly the tsar, tsarina and their children. Michael would meet his death as well.

Before Nicholas had even abdicated, his wife and children became prisoners in their palace. Nicholas joined them soon after and life continued somewhat normally (apart from their inability to leave) for some time. The last Romanov rulers may have longed for such a day when they could just be with their family, free from political responsibility, but it was marred by harsh questioning by the newly appointed provisional government and by the refusal of other countries to grant them asylum. The Romanovs were stuck in Russia, for better or for worse. It turned out to be worse, much worse.

In August of 1917, Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei were moved to Tobolsk, Siberia, where they were to stay in the Governor's residence. Just a few months later, the Bolsheviks overthrew the provincial government. Around the same time, Nicholas, Alexandra and Marie left with a supposed rescuer. Their train was intercepted by revolutionaries and the three of them were taken captive. They were taken to Ekaterinburg and imprisoned. Alexei and his three other sisters were reunited with their parents there in May.

During this part of the Romanovs' ordeal and after, they were mistreated by their captors. To what degree, no one is certain. There were rumors that the beautiful, innocent Romanov girls were cruelly raped by their captors. Whatever the case, they certainly were not treated like royalty any more. They were not allowed to leave the property and were threatened when they tried to look out the windows. The Bolsheviks could have been guilty of any number of cruelties. Their murder of Nicholas, his wife and children proves that.

On July 14, 1918, a group of Bolsheviks ordered the Romanov family and their last few companions into a cellar room. There, they recklessly shot at the family and their few friends. Some of them died right away, but others suffered greatly. The story goes that the Romanov girls hid jewels in their corsets, which kept the bullets from entering their bodies. Therefore, the men beat and bayoneted them to death on the cellar floor. The bodies were unceremoniously put in a truck and rather haphazardly buried in the woods. Rumor has it that one or more of the bodies are missing from that forest gravesite. This missing body is part of the story of Anastasia - the grand duchess who may have survived the brutal murder of her entire family.

Source

Kurth, Peter, Tsar, Little, Brown and Company, 1995