Russia's last Imperial family

The story of the Romanovs held me captivated like someone reading a good who-dunnit. Unfortunately, in uncovering the last days of the Tsar and his family, I was left with a feeling of over-whelming sadness - not just because the story is a true historical event which has never brought the perpetrators to justice, but also because they were brutally murdered for no real purpose other than a mob-mentality display of political power.

Although Nicholas was an autocrat, he was not an evil man. Both he and Alexandra were very much in love and not only devoted to their family, but also genuinely to the welfare of their beloved Russia. Unfortunately, they were surrounded by people with ulterior motives and bad advice. Both the Tsar and his wife were very religious, but Alexandra did them no favours in the eyes of the Russian people (who already disliked her for her German origin) in placing her spiritual guidance in the hands of lowly peasant-come-healer, Rasputin. By allowing this scruffy and immoral man (there were many tales of his drunken and lewd behaviour within local taverns and brothels) to persist within the Royal court and have such a profound influence within it, false rumours abound that he was the Tsarina's lover. In truth, he was the only person able to alleviate the suffering of the Tsarevich during his frequent bouts of illness, and this to the Royal couple was truly a Godsend.

All of these factors provided the ground in which the seed of revolution could take root. When it came, the lives of the Russian people, both aristocratic and peasantry, would be changed forever.

In the first half of 1917, after the abdication of Nicholas II, the Imperial family, the Romanovs, were placed under house arrest at their family home in Tsarskoe Selo, by the Provisional Government under the supervision of Aleksandr Kerensky. Kerensky was the Minister of Justice, who later became Prime Minister in July 1917. On 1st August that year, the family left Tsarskoe Selo for Tobolsk, arriving 12 days later.

A month after this, Kerensky's government was overthrown by Lenin's Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks stopped all state aid for the royal household and, due to the lack of money, many servants were dismissed. Family jewels were all that they had left of their family's legacy, and later Alexandra and the girls sewed these into special corsets and under garments to hide them.

Bolshevik activists became jealous of the family's comfortable lifestyle in comparison to the suffering of the working classes under Russia's economic collapse during the ongoing World War. Armed detachments of Red Army guards were sent to Tobolsk to seize the Tsar from the care of Colonel Kobylinsky. Kobylinsky refused to hand over his charge and fighting began within rival factions of Bolsheviks. This fuelled an already volatile situation, and so, on 1st April 1918, it was decided by officials in Moscow to move the Royal family once again. Local Bolsheviks were against this for fear that the Tsar may be sent abroad and escape retribution for, what they perceived as, "crimes against Russia".

From Moscow, Vasily Yakovlev was sent to Tobolsk to handle the delicate matter of moving the Tsar. It had been decided the family should go to either Moscow or Ekaterinburg. During the trip, however, Yakovlev received word that should the Royals be sent to Ekaterinburg, then their execution would be guaranteed by local anti-Tsar Bolsheviks. Yakovlev decided on a plan to ensure the Tsar's safety. He would take the family away from Ekaterinburg and on towards Omsk. From there they would be taken to a secret location in the mountains.

On 26th April, due to Alexei falling ill, only Nicholas, Alexandra, Maria, Dr. Botkin (the Tsar's personal physician), maid Anna Demidova and a couple of servants boarded the train with Yakovlev. The rest of the Tsar's children would be moved after Alexei had recovered. When the train reached Tiumen, the travellers disembarked and boarded another waiting train. This train was to set off towards Ekaterinburg, but two stations past Tiumen another engine was waiting. The couplings were reversed and the party set off back past Tiumen towards Omsk.

The plan had worked well until the evening of 27th April when the train was approaching the outskirts of Omsk. The Ural Bolsheviks discovered the trickery and telegrammed Omsk, announcing Yakovlev a traitor and ordering for him to be stopped. Yakovlev received word of this just before reaching Omsk, where an angry mob awaited him. Despite a telegram from Moscow confirming Yakovlev had been acting under direct orders from the Central Committee, the Tsar and his family were sent back towards Ekaterinburg. Nicholas realised the danger they would be facing, knowing that the Urals were harshly against him. Yakovlev later described this event in his memoirs as "the last trip of the Romanovs".

The passing of the Imperial family from military professionals with codes of conduct pertaining to civilians, to hard revolutionists who despised the Tsar and all he represented, doomed the Romanovs. The men of Ekaterinburg had only one objective - to destroy Nicholas and his family. Members of his household who were loyal enough to stay with them would share his fate.

On 30th April, the family arrived at the Ipatiev House, known as the House of Special Purpose, in Ekaterinburg. The family were stripped of their imperial titles and afforded little respect or privacy. When joined by Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and Alexei on 23rd May, the authorities were eager to demonstrate the change in circumstances by forcing the Tsar's children to carry their own luggage from the train.

Although the guards did little to help the family in any way, they were more interested in other matters, chiefly getting drunk, to be overly abusive to their prisoners. This, however, changed when, on 4th July 1918, the guards and officers were replaced with an especially ardent group of Bolshevik supporters under the command of Yakov Yurovsky. These men were hardened non-Russian prisoners of war from the Austrian Empire, brought in specifically for the execution of the Tsar and his family.

In the early hours of 17th July, the Imperial family and their servants were ordered to assemble in a basement room "for protection". Given the seriousness of the political situation in the country and the constant resound of artillery in the distance, the entourage found nothing sinister about Yurovsky's request. After arranging the group into standing rows, a troop of armed men entered the room. Yurovsky stood in front of the Tsar and read from a piece of paper the order for his execution. He then gave the order for firing to commence.

Nicholas and Alexandra were the first to die. After a few minutes, firing had to stop because of ricocheting bullets and smoke from the guns obscuring vision. The silence was broken by groans from some of the bodies and Yurovsky ordered the men to use bayonets and rifle butts to finish off the remaining prisoners. Because of the jewels sewn into their under garments acting as shields, the Grand Duchesses took many stabs and blows before dying.

The bodies were then thrown into a waiting truck and driven to the Koptiaki Wood for burial. They were stripped of clothing and thrown down a mine shaft. Hand grenades were used, unsuccessfully, to collapse the shaft. Fearing their discovery, Yurovsky decided to destroy the corpses as much as possible to hide their identities. He ordered the bodies to be hoisted out of the shaft and burnt. This, too, was unsuccessful, and so another grave was dug and the bodies dumped inside. The men stove in the faces of the bodies and poured acid over them before finally filling in the pit. The remains of the murdered Imperial family lay undiscovered for 71 years, until in 1979 a group of geologists led by Aleksandr Avdonin and Gelli Ryabov uncovered the mass grave.

The bodies of 9 people were found at the Four Brothers site in the Koptiaki Wood. DNA testing showed that 5 were related family members. These were identified as Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana and Maria (given the age and size of the bones). The other four skeletons were attributed to Dr. Botkin, Anna Demidova, Ivan Kharitonov (the cook) and Alexei Trupp (a valet). This leads to the sixty-four million dollar question of the whereabouts of Anastasia and Alexei. And, of course, added credence to previous claims of persons alleging to be Anastasia and Alexei.

Did they survive? Or were they buried elsewhere? I believe these questions are the main driving forces in keeping alive the story of the Romanovs. Until we know for sure, this tragic tale of the last Imperial family of Russia will remain, as the song in Fox's animated movie "Anastasia" says, "a fascinating mystery".