I left you last time on the not very cliffhangery cliffhanger that is the February Revolution of 1917. Nicky tried to stop the uprisings, mutinies and desertions that were occurring all over Russia by dissolving the Duma. Again. Unfortunately, when soldiers were sent in to sort out those who were rising against the Tsar, they joined the rebels and the Petrograd Soviet was created. The Soviet then informed Nicholas that he was going to have to abdicate, thus bringing a three hundred year dynasty to an end. Nicky also abdicated on behalf of Alexei, as he wanted to keep the family together and was quite understandably worried about his son if he was left as Tsar. Nicky's brother Michael was offered the throne but sensibly wouldn't touch it with a barge pole (George, the middle brother, had died of TB in 1899, so was mercifully spared the revolution.)
Therefore plain Nicholas Romanov and his family were sent to Tobolsk in Siberia by the Provisional Government (headed by Kerensky) and remained there until the October Revolution, also of 1917. Then, now that the Bolsheviks were in charge, they were transported to the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg where they would later meet their fate.
Meanwhile, back in England, Nicky and Alix's first cousin George V was all for rescuing his cousins and bringing them to safety in his country. However, as the government and his secretary reminded him, not only were the Russians unpopular in England (ever since the Crimean War of 1854-1856.....well we have long memories I suppose) but Britain needed to appease the new Bolshevik government, as the war was still raging and if Russia pulled out, that would leave Germany's entire army free to sweep around to the Western Front and even win the war. George was also understandably worried about his own throne, as Nicholas had lost his crown, but Willy was soon to lose his, as was the Emperor of Austria-Hungary and almost all the rulers of the German states. Therefore, no rescue came from England and, despite Willy's claims that he had planned to help, none came from any other countries either.
Therefore, Nicky, Alix, Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and Alexei, along with their doctor, a maid and other companions, were woken early in the morning on 17th July 1918 and told to go to the basement, supposedly to wait for a car to take them elsewhere. After a short wait, soldiers entered the room and made the family (including the ill Alexei) to stand and then Nicky uttered his last word - one of surprise: "What?" before he was shot, Alix had to watch her husband and others die before she was murdered before she could finish forming the sign of the cross and Alexei and the girls were shot too, but the girls had to be stabbed repeatedly with bayonets, as they had sewn jewelry into their underclothes to deflect bullets. Alix was stabbed so violently that one of her vertebrae was chipped.
Their bodies were taken to a mineshaft at first, but later they were removed and destroyed beyond all recognition with acid and then all but two children were buried under railway sleepers. Though these two bodies were not found for many years, in 2008 it was revealed that the bodies of Alexei and Marie had been discovered and identified.
Nicholas was 50 years old , Alix was 46, Olga was 22, Tatiana was 21, Marie was 19, Anastasia was 17 and Alexei was 13 when they were murdered. In 2000, all were officially canonised, along with Alix's sister Ella, who was also killed in the revolution, and other friends. They were also buried together in 1998 in St Petersburg, though without Marie and Alexei.
Though I generally try to make light out of situations, I would never do that with something so tragic, so this last post has been probably one of the more serious ones of the blog.
For more information on Nicky, Alix and the whole Imperial Family, go to http://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/, as it has full biographies of all the people I've mentioned and a whole wealth of other information.
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