how the tsar fell
The last Romanovs were as loving a family as any other, but Nicholas had very little expertise in government in spite of his title. Many Russians hated the tsar and tsarina. In 1905 Nicholas II attempted to expand his Empire in a war with Korea and Manchuria in the Russo-Japanese War. The tsar's army were defeated by the Japanese, (Brown). That same year the tsar's soldiers shot unarmed rioters outside the Winter Palace gates on what history called "Bloody Sunday." The unarmed rioters called for an end to the war and asked for civil liberties. The tsar's soldiers shot at the 200,000 rioters, killing at least 130, (Brown). This earned the tsar's name, "Bloody Nicholas."
Nicholas II tried to make amends with the Russian people by creating a parliament called the Duma (in America its called the Congress, in England its called the Parliament). The Duma gave the Russian people, especially the middle class, a voice in government. Democracy started to wane when the tsar took control of the military in World War 1, 1914. Because of the war, Russians were in poverty. The weakened state of Russia made it easier for the Bolsheviks to grow.
The Bolsheviks were a group of people who hated the tsar and formed the world's first Communist government. The Bolsheviks influenced the tsar to abdicate, which ended the Romanov dynasty entirely. The tsar abdicated March 3, 1916, (175, Beeche).
The day after Alexei's thirteenth birthday on July 31 1917 the family were forced out of the Alexander Palace by the tsar's own imperial guards, (175, Beeche). The family moved to Siberia to live under house arrest at the governor's mansion in Tobolsk. The family moved again in May 1917 to live in the Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg.
Nicholas II tried to make amends with the Russian people by creating a parliament called the Duma (in America its called the Congress, in England its called the Parliament). The Duma gave the Russian people, especially the middle class, a voice in government. Democracy started to wane when the tsar took control of the military in World War 1, 1914. Because of the war, Russians were in poverty. The weakened state of Russia made it easier for the Bolsheviks to grow.
The Bolsheviks were a group of people who hated the tsar and formed the world's first Communist government. The Bolsheviks influenced the tsar to abdicate, which ended the Romanov dynasty entirely. The tsar abdicated March 3, 1916, (175, Beeche).
The day after Alexei's thirteenth birthday on July 31 1917 the family were forced out of the Alexander Palace by the tsar's own imperial guards, (175, Beeche). The family moved to Siberia to live under house arrest at the governor's mansion in Tobolsk. The family moved again in May 1917 to live in the Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg.
Around Maria's nineteenth birthday, the soviet government wrote fake letters to the tsar, "with plans to rescue the family," that made the Romanovs cautious, (178, Beeche). Later in May the new commandant of the guards visited the Romanovs to take away the family's valuables so that the family could not buy their way to freedom (178, Beeche). This caused Alexandra to write in her diary that the girls had "arranged their medicines" the morning of July 16, 1918: a code word that meant the family jewels, or "medicines," were sewn into the girls' clothing.
Internal Russian civil war caused the Bolsheviks to murder the entire Romanov family, for fear that one of the children could take over in government. All of the Romanovs were murdered in a secret cellar room of the Ipatiev House by Russian guards on July 17, 1918. Today the Romanov family members are canonized saints and martyrs in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Internal Russian civil war caused the Bolsheviks to murder the entire Romanov family, for fear that one of the children could take over in government. All of the Romanovs were murdered in a secret cellar room of the Ipatiev House by Russian guards on July 17, 1918. Today the Romanov family members are canonized saints and martyrs in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Above: Tsar Nicholas II's own image on Russian coin from 1898 which reads, "By the grace of God, Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russians." Even though his people demanded democracy the tsar believed to be ordained by God to continue autocratic rule.