Nicholas II: Tsar of all the Russias. A Guilty Man?

by Kim Seabrook in History, June 20, 2009

Some people, will acquire for themselves a small footnote in history. For most of us this is not so. We will live our lives, die, and soon be forgotten, and everything we did, and said, and were, will die with us. The characters featured in this book, have all made their mark on history. They will not be forgotten, but will live on in time, in legend, in reality, and in myth. This book is not intended, however, to be a thorough examination of their life and times. It merely paints the picture. It is popular history, a short-cut to events.

Much of the content can no doubt be debated, but then history is not a science. It is interpretative and in a constant state of flux, and in history evidence does not serve as proof

Unlike the millions who have come before us and the millions yet to come the characters of which I write did not pass through time, they were captured in time, and for all time. They truly are the Prisoners of Eternity.

Imprisonment

The Tsar and his Family

The ex-Tsar and his family were placed under house arrest. The Provisional Government, now dominated by the ambitious young lawyer Alexander Kerensky, evacuated the Romanov’s to Tobolsk in the Urals, supposedly for their own safety. But the truth was they didn’t know what to do with them. The ex-Imperial Family were at first well treated retaining their servants and many trappings of the Court. Nicholas himself was confident that his cousin King George V, would grant him and his family asylum in Britain. It was a bitter blow when this request was refused. Kerensky’s determination to continue to prosecute the war was to have disastrous consequences. The catastrophic offensive of July, 1917, when the Russian army simply melted away, discarded their arms and went home, was to lead directly to the overthrow of the Provisional Government in October. The October Revolution and the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks changed everything for the Romanovs. The Bolsheviks were professional revolutionaries untainted by sentiment, to them the Romanovs were criminals and would be treated as criminals. As long as they remained alive they would be a rallying point for the forces of reaction. In April they were removed to the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. Here they were under constant surveillance and their every move supervised. They were denied luxuries such as cigarettes and coffee and forced to eat soldiers rations. The Romanov daughters were constantly the butt of sexual innuendo and were forced to endure lewd remarks and drawings. The Tsar himself, though, was treated with greater respect. By mid-July, 1918, the Czech Legion of the reactionary White Army was closing in on Ekaterinburg. Gunfire could be heard in the distance. The prospect of the Romanov’s being liberated sealed their fate.

Execution

The man who shot the Tsar

“We must shoot them all tonight” (Yakov Yurovsky) In the early hours of 28 July, 1918, Yakov Yurovsky, in charge at the Ipatiev House, sent for the Tsar’s doctor, Botkin, and ordered that he rouse the Royal Family. Earlier that day ten members of the Cheka, the Bolshevik Secret Police, had arrived at the house. Yurovsky informed the Tsar that they were being taken to the basement for their own safety. They were also to have their photograph taken to show the world that they were alive and being taken good care of. Once they had all gathered in the basement the Tsarina asked for a chair for herself and the Tsarevich. Chairs were provided, and the daughters all carrying small pillows gathered around their mother. As soon as they were all together, Yurovsky called in the Cheka execution squad and addressing the Tsar, announced that they were all to be shot on the orders of the Executive Committee of the Urals Soviet. No one among the Royal Family or the servants, who were also to be shot, uttered a sound. Pausing for a moment, Yurovsky then gave the order to open fire. Nicholas and Alexandra died almost immediately. The children, however, did not. They had sewn jewels into their clothing which prevented the bullets from piercing their bodies. So they were beaten, bludgeoned and bayonet to death. The last to die was the young Tsarevich who was dispatched by Yurovsky personally with three shots to the head. The bodies were then taken from the house to a nearby forest where they were placed into pits and doused in sulphuric acid in a crude attempt to dispose of the evidence. They failed and the remains were removed from the pits and thrown down a mineshaft before finally being being sealed in a tomb. It is very easy to feel sympathy for the Tsar and his family. They were, after all, murdered in cold blood without even the semblance of a trial and with no opportunity to defend themselves in open court. But it should also be remembered that the Tsar was the supreme arbiter of all things. He believed his power to be a gift from God. He cannot be divorced from events. The responsibility for military incompetence, social oppression, and domestic neglect was his. His culpability is without question.

Postscript

In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church, canonised the Tsar. He is now acknowledged as Saint Nicholas.

Those who died in the Ipatiev House

Nicholas II: Tsar of all the Russias. A Guilty Man?

Imprisonment

Execution

The man who shot the Tsar

Postscript

The Tsar of all the Russias and Family