The Fallen Czar
It took an incompetent ruler, a foreign queen, a mystical healer, and a starving nation to bring the fall of a three-hundred-year empire. The last Czar, Nicholas II, with his wife, Alexandra, and their children—Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei—were executed in July 1918.
The Russian power couple, Nicholas II and Alexandra, were one of the very few royals who married because of love. One historian described them as the only royal couple of their time to have shared a bed. Along with their five children, they were also one of the most photographed and filmed royals. Not only did they hire someone specifically for this purpose, but photography was a favorite pass time of the Czar’s. Some of the pictures, which are still available today, were taken by the last Czar of Russia himself.
The starvation of the masses and the devastation of wars lost led to a series of events that pivotally contributed to the fall of the Russian empire. One which always sparked interest was the event that began the Romanov’s special relationship with the Serbian peasant and mystical traditional healer turned holy man, Grigori Rasputin. It all started one night when the Czar’s only son, Alexei, suffering from hemophilia finally stopped bleeding after a visit from Rasputin. Politics in early modern Russia would never be the same again. Rasputin instantly became the Czar’s and especially the Czarina’s confidant; not only on issues which concerned their son’s health but also on how to run the country.
The peasant man was fortunate to have landed on the doorsteps of the royal palace, which in turn, helped him climb the social ladder and into the beds of women of the Russian elite circle. Rasputin—who believed that to achieve a higher spiritual level, one must sin—was legendary for his notorious sex life and exceptional sexual appetite.
Rasputin’s reputation with elite Russian women and his closeness with the Czar’s family led to speculations about Czarina Alexandra’s relationship with Rasputin. Rumors were fueled by the leak of affectionate letters she had written to him. The Czarina certainly held Rasputin close to her heart, but never between her legs, as historians have assured us. However, much like what happened to Marie Antoinette, the alleged sexual relationship was used against the foreign German-born and English-raised Czarina who was also the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, to justify the people’s discontent with their rulers and the nobles’ hatred of Rasputin.
It is somewhat hard to tell fact from myth when it concerns Rasputin as there is so much legend surrounding the man. Such an example is the legend surrounding his assassination in 1916 by the Russian nobles. The strong mystical man allegedly did not succumb to the poison in his wine, so the assassinators had to shoot him until he finally collapsed and died. In real life, the autopsy revealed he was not poisoned.
A year later, the Czar and his family were under Bolshevik house arrest and moved to different places until the fateful night of their execution on July 17, 1918, inside the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. There are many accounts of the life they lived during the time of their house arrest, including those revealed from the girls’ journals and letters, as well as from witnesses. In the earlier time of the family’s house arrest, the young male guards and the Romanov girls in fact were in friendly terms with each other. Maria, the Czar’s third daughter, was said to have had a thing with one of the boys. The boy who had a crush on Maria gave her a cake on her 19th birthday. He was removed and allegedly the other guards were immediately replaced by hardline Bolshevik guards.
The story of the Romanovs tends to end with the climax of their execution, the infamous execution that went all wrong. To the surprise of the firing squad, the children did not die of the shots fired at their bodies. Thus, other violent methods were employed, turning the execution into a blood bath.
Only later when disposing the bodies, the men understood why the children survived the initial shots. Jewels were sewn into their undergarments. Journals left by the children revealed that the girls had done this with aim of saving the Romanov’s jewels, but unintentionally the jewels had shielded them from the Bolsheviks’ bullets.
Actually, the execution was followed by another scenario gone wrong: the Bolshevik’s ill-prepared attempt to dispose of the bodies. The executors were drunk and brought only one shovel (yes, one!), and their truck broke down. Sounds like a joke, but nonetheless, a fact which is part of a history that wouldn’t be revealed until decades later.
-Some Thoughts from the Cappuccino Girl- (2021)
I've also written a post on the Romanovs on Blogspot: https://feministpassion.blogspot.com/2018/08/in-name-of-revolutionary-justice.html