Nicolas II, le Dernier des Tsars de Russie
The Tsar, the Tsarina and the Tsarevich. And a few steps behind, in their white dress, the four grand duchesses, the four daughters of the tsar. Image of a happy family that war will soon sweep away. The year is 1912. The time for processions and parades is coming to an end. Russia would find itself engulfed by the storms of World War I. The Tsar is a weak and indecisive character, quite unable to hold the bar firmly. Nicholas, Niki for family and friends, is above all a good father, very attached to his children, and a good husband, passionately in love with his wife. Niki and Alix’s correspondence and diaries, almost entirely preserved, tell at length about this love which will prove fatal. Endless petitions and hearings. I only got to spend a few minutes with Alix. All these hours that work steals from me, I would love to spend them with her. I am undecidedly happy with Alix. Nicholas. I could never have imagined that such happiness could exist on Earth, such a perfect union between two beings. I love you. These words sum up my whole life. Alix. Nicholas II had neither the stature nor the ambition to be tsar. This shy little man only aspires to a peaceful life. But whether it suits him or not, his destiny imposes on him to reign as an autocrat over immense Russia, heir to a power that the Romanovs have been passing down for three centuries. And which, in turn, he will have to pass on to his son Alexene. Niki and Alix will have love and violence as their constant companions. Their love and the love they have for their children will blind them to the violence of the outside world. And the revolution will finally put them all to death in a Siberian dungeon. Nicolas was marked at a very young age by a bloody tragedy. He was barely 12 years old when his grandfather Alexander II, returning to his palace in a carriage. After a review of the imperial guard, is the victim of an attack. Mortally wounded, The Tsar was hurried to the Winter Palace. A cousin of Niki, Grand Duke Sandro, was present. It was horrible to see. His left leg torn off, the jagged right, countless head and facial injuries, one eye closed, the other expressionless. My father led me to Grandpa’s bed. “Look Dad, it’s your little sun”, he said. Grandfather half-opened one eye, tried to smile. He recognized me. Nicholas. This attack, this bloody victim, will continue to haunt Nicholas all his life. His father became Tsar under the name of Alexander III and Nicholas, Tsarevich, Crown Prince. THE TSAR is the supreme symbol that unites all parts of this immense empire. He holds his power from God alone, unbridled power, without limit. At our place, on the wall, There were icons and a portrait of the tsar. The Tsar, it was the image of God on earth, icons, those of God in heaven. Our prayers were addressed both to the Tsar and to God. The whole family did this. How could Nicholas suspect that the magnificent edifice of tsarism was beginning to crumble, that its foundations collapse A crowd of courtiers and servants have woven a protective cocoon around the Romanovs, preventing them from seeing what is happening outside. The sumptuous palaces in which they are confined are nothing other than comfortable and gilded prisons. The Tsars were builders. Peter the Great did not hesitate to found a new capital, Saint Petersburg. Open window on Europe. Catherine II and her successors built a multitude of sumptuous palaces, making the imperial court the equal of the most magnificent. The magnificence of the Romanovs is proverbial. All the more so since they make it a point of honor to settle all the expenses generated by their bloated courts and their countless palaces from their personal coffers. But their pocket is wide and deep. One sixth of the world’s land is owned by the Romanovs. And their cheek is so heavy, that nothing seems to be able to change. Yet, The old world is agitated by explosive contradictions. In this empire, so diverse, the races, religions, social classes are separated by insurmountable barriers. At the very top, a propertied class settled with a clear conscience on its privileges. Down, an oppressed people who begin to grumble against their masters. Margot Tracé was the daughter of a textile magnate and she knew the man who held back as a child. Large dinner parties at the house brought together up to 600 guests between the Winter Garden, which was immense, and the adjoining dining room. There were palm trees and other trees everywhere. Later, we were asked “What happened when the palm trees reached the ceiling?” My sister replied “We raised the ceiling. No question of cutting down the trees. We let them grow.” I did embroidery in the houses of the nobility, or among general officers and wealthy people. People felt sorry for me, especially the cooks, because I was only 7 years old. I was going to embroider the coats of arms on the linen. 14 hours of sewing per day. I stayed hard at work. And I can sew for 14 hours non-stop. An arrogant and idle nobility, immense fortunes, Such is Russian high society, only concerned in Moscow as in St. Petersburg, to hold his rank and spend the time receiving balls. Nicolas shares this carefree life. He is pursuing some studies, Russian history and literature, foreign languages, English, French, German. But the important thing, It’s about showing up at the opera. When the season is in full swing, between New Year’s and Shrove Tuesday, there are around twenty different shows per month. This is the time when Mussorgsky and Tchaikovsky triumphed. At the end of the show, it happens that the Tsarevich sends his aide-de-camp, guest, singer or ballerina at dinner. This is how he met Mathilde Kshesinskaya in the spring of 1890. She is 17 years old, he is 21. Their budding romance is quickly interrupted by the Tsar, who sends his son on a trip. A nine-month journey around the world that will take him to Europe, in Africa and Asia. Last step, Japan. Nicky is accompanied on his journey by a cousin, Prince George of Greece. My grandmother’s brother, Prince George, Nicolas accompanied him. He was walking around in a rixot, when suddenly a disoriented Japanese man rushed at Nicholas and struck him on the head with a saber. Told me the story years later. I took my cane and broke it on this Japanese man. In his diary, Nicholas, by incubator, just notes “I don’t blame these kind Japanese people. How could I blame them for anything, those who showed me so much regret? In July 1891, on the way back, Nicholas stops in the city of Tobolsk, in Siberia. He has plenty of time to admire the cathedral and visit the city, and of course, He is the governor’s guest. 26 years later, He will return to this same dwelling. It was there that after his abdication, He will be kept prisoner with his entire family. The cement of the Russian Empire is the caste of officials. They owe everything to tsarism and are strongly attached to maintaining the regime as it is. But their children do not necessarily share these conservative views. Like Alexander Ulyanov, son of a Simbirsk civil servant who was hanged in 1887 at Schlussenberg prison, near St. Petersburg, for attempting to assassinate Tsar Alexander III. The city of Simbirsk, where Alexander Ulyanov was born, is located on the Volga River, 1500 km from St. Petersburg. He studied at this school, whose director, curious coincidence of history, is called Kerensky. His son, Alexander Kerensky, will be called upon to play a major role in the fall of tsarism. But he will not be the most illustrious revolutionary produced by this school. The year we paint, Alexandre Oulianoff, His younger brother Vladimir completed his secondary studies at this school. Kerensky, his master, awarded him the gold medal for best student and wrote the following assessment in his school report. Very deserving student, called to the greatest future. A prophetic appreciation, This young man, so well regarded, will one day be called Lenin. Kerensky and Lenin would each lead one of the successive revolutionary movements that would bring down and then destroy the Romanov dynasty. In 1891, while staying at his residence in Gatchina, a 900-room palace near St. Petersburg, Nicolas confides in his diary “I dream of marrying Alix Hache one day. I’ve loved him for a long time and I think the feeling is mutual.” Alix Hache is a very shy little German princess from the East Armstadt branch. His family calls him Sunshine. Nicholas had met her seven years earlier at the wedding of Alix’s sister and Grand Duke Sergei, uncle of the Tsarevich. He would not see her again until 1894, on the occasion of another princely wedding in Germany, where he represented his father. For ten years, Nicholas waited for a favorable opportunity to officially ask Alice to marry him. In his diary, He underlined the date of April 8 three times. I wandered around all day in a kind of fog, having trouble realizing what was happening to me. Nicholas. They didn’t stay together long. She leaves for England again, he returns to Russia. And from there, letters, a flood of letters. Each one writes to the other, each day. Here are Alexandra’s letters, full of love and tenderness. They used charming and tender diminutives among themselves. Orphaned at the age of 6, Alix was taken in and raised by her grandmother, Queen Victoria. A strict Victorian education. Alix was not the granddaughter of Queen Victoria for nothing. Actually, She was his favorite granddaughter. And later, She behaved as expected. For example, her taste once empress, for Knitting meetings at the Divine Palace. The great ladies of the Court were not fond of this sort of thing. The good society of Saint-Étienne-de-Lourdes was cultured, elegant, loving, life. This shy character, stiff, looking like a British pastor’s daughter, was below everything for her. In 1894, when the two young people became engaged, Alexandra is 22 years old. She naively convinces herself that her love will be stronger than all obstacles. That same year, during the Imperial family’s vacation in Crimea, Alexander III falls seriously ill. He died in October. The succession fell to Nicholas. He is 26 years old and does not feel at all ready to ascend the throne. He confides his worries to his sister, Grand Duchess Olga. Nicky was desperate. He kept telling me he didn’t know what would become of us all, that he did not feel fit to reign. This inability was not his fault. He should have been prepared for his duties. And he hadn’t been. Grand Duke Sandro, Nicolas’s brother-in-law, also evoked the distress of the young tsar. Niki asked me. “But what am I going to do, Sandro? What will happen to us? To me, to Alix, to my mother, to Russia? I’m not ready to become tsar. I never wanted to be.” The whole family gathered at Livadia Castle to reign over the deceased emperor, and the Office of the Dead is celebrated in the palace chapel. In our immense sadness, The Lord has given us a bright and peaceful joy. At 10 o’clock this morning, Alix was consecrated. Nicholas. Indeed, Alexandra, arrived in haste from Germany, agreed to convert to the Orthodox religion, An obligation imposed on every future tsarina. In less than 24 hours, Young Nicholas finds himself Tsar of all the Russias and his young fiancée Alix takes the name Alexandra Fyodorovna. A month later, they will be married. Our wedding seemed to me like an extension of the funeral liturgy around the deceased tsar. One detail aside, I wore a white dress instead of black clothes. Three months later, Alexandra is pregnant. The couple chose to settle in Tsarkoye-Selo, the village of the Tsars, a small village near St. Petersburg where the Alexander Palace stands. Their first child, born in the fall of 1895, is a girl named Olga. The succession to the throne is not assured, But for now, the imperial couple has other worries. The coronation was to take place in Moscow in May 1896. The splendor of the ceremony will be recounted in a magnificent color book, today a collector’s item. The procession, in which all the members of the Romanov family and representatives of all the royal and princely lines of Europe to which they are related, took their places, walks for a long time through the immense reception rooms of the Kremlin. A film captured the moment when Nicolas and Alexandra descend the grand staircase. The red staircase. This is the first filmed document of such a solemn ceremony. Famous at the Cathedral of the Assumption, built in the 15th century, The religious service will last five hours. Alexandra writes to her sister. “I wasn’t tired at all from the ceremony. I was transported by my mystical union with Russia. Here I am, a real Tsarina. Breasts of the Heavy Imperial Crown fashioned for Catherine the Great, Nicholas finally appears before his people. The bells of the countless… The Moscow Church resounds to celebrate the new tsar. THE Coronation celebrations will continue for a week, where Moscow is in jubilation. To mark his paternal concern for his people, The Tsar will hold a grand feast, where enamel cups engraved with his coat of arms and an abundance of food and drink will be distributed. On May 18, a huge crowd, nearly 500,000 people, gathered for a huge banquet on Kodenka Field, outside Moscow. A terrible accident is about to occur, one that Nicolas will never be able to forget. The crowd gathered throughout the night at the Kodenka. At dawn, A huge stampede caused a disaster. I learned to my great sadness that 1,300 people had died. trampled. All Moscow was there. Later, I spoke with one of the survivors who was 10 years old at the time. I had been dragged into the turmoil and had to climb over shoulders and heads to get out alive. But there were many casualties. My father was there. He was less than 20 years old at the time and he remembers it as the most horrible thing he had ever experienced. The screams, chaos, He was upset. In our family, We kept a dented cup. Child, I didn’t understand why I kept such a cup. Later, I understood that it was a relic, that this cup had suffered the same fate as the thousands of people who had died there, crushed, or remained disabled for their entire lives. Commemorated in a Moscow cemetery, This catastrophe could in no way be attributed to Nicholas. But it’s him, the new tsar, who will bear the blame, as well as his wife Alexandre. In the following five years, The Tsarina will give birth to three new children, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Only girls, no male children, no heirs to the throne. 1900, St. Petersburg celebrates the new century. I was coming home late that night, or rather at dawn, it was 4 o’clock in the morning, and we celebrated the New Year. Passing by the Winter Palace, I saw a man on a balcony. It was the young emperor lost in thought. I had a feeling that our paths would cross one day. Alexander Karensky, in 1917, Kerensky will send Nicholas II and his family into exile in Siberia. But the most violent attacks against the Romanovs came from a newspaper published abroad, Iskra, The Spark, led by Lenin, refugee in Switzerland. Lenin revealed his intentions towards the Tsar’s family, and everything. In 1903, at the second congress, We discussed the abolition of the death penalty. A voice was raised, who meant that it also concerned the Tsar, which will not be executed. Lenin was present at the congress, and he supported a notion that the Tsar should be arrested. From the beginning, The Bolsheviks wanted the Tsar executed. Of course, Nicholas II was just now unaware of Lenin and his Bolsheviks, who were so violently hostile to him. That same year, in January, A lavish celebration is being held in St. Petersburg. It is held in the Hermitage Theatre, in the Winter Palace. This will be the last grand costume ball held at the Romanov Court. The Grand Duchess Olga described this celebration. We all wore 17th century court costumes. Niki wore Alexei’s clothes, the second Romanov Tsar. Embroidered with gold and silver, Alix looked dazzling in a brocade dress, studded with gold threads. Her earrings were so heavy that they couldn’t tilt her head. During that night, We felt like we were reconnecting with our family’s glorious past. But the pomp and the celebrations are not to the true taste of the Apérien couple, never as happy as in a small group. Another testimony reported by Olga Zinoviev’s son, maid of honor to the Empress. She was always uncomfortable in the presence of the Empress, Because she always seemed uncomfortable around her bridesmaids or the ladies of the house. She was borrowed from everyone, to be shy, blushing, all the time. Solitary by nature, Alexandra will gradually find herself isolated from Russian high society and closely withdrawn into her family. Soon, While they are installed in the Peterhof Palace, near St. Petersburg, Great happiness will be given to Nicolas. In July, an unforgettable day, where the Lord has shown us His immense goodness. At one o’clock in the afternoon, Alix gave birth to a son, whom we named Alexei. The Tsar’s happiness will be short-lived. September 8. We are very worried, Alex and I. Our little Alexei started bleeding this morning. without any apparent cause. The baby had hemophilia, a legacy from his great-grandmother Victoria and passed on by Alexander. It was rare at the time for hemophiliacs to reach adulthood. The family tragedy will soon be compounded by a political drama. This happened on January 9, 1905, which will be called Sanglou Sunday. A march was organized to the Winter Palace to deliver a petition to the Tsar, demanding political reforms. This is an unprecedented demonstration in Russian history. My mother wanted to see, and my father and she went to the Winter Palace. In the gardens, next door, There were kids who had climbed trees to get a better view of the march. Despite the peaceful intentions of the protesters, the authorities are panicking. The Cossacks charge with their whips. Soon, The troop is ordered to fire. They raised their rifles so as not to shoot at the crowd, but in the air. Stray bullets hit the kids in their trees, and one of them fell like a wounded bird at my mother’s feet. He died instantly after his work. The troop is ordered to fire. Second salvo on the crowd. The radical press is unleashed against the Tsar. On January 9, or the next day, We read in the DESSA newspapers that the Tsar was tracking at a ball. That day, at the Winter Palace. This is obviously false. The Tsar, as a precaution, was kept away from the demonstration and was in his palace in Tsarkoye-Selo. January 9. A disastrous day. The troops were forced to fire in several places in the city. And there were many injured and killed. Lord, how painful and sad all this is. Nicholas. But the damage is done. We all knew in Odessa what had happened in front of the Winter Palace. And we nicknamed the Tsar Nikolashka, the Bloodthirsty. I, too, began to hate the Tsar. Nicholas was not the only Romanov targeted by the revolutionaries. February 4, only three weeks after Bloody Sunday, The Governor General of Moscow is the victim of an assassination attempt at the gates of the Kremlin. This governor, This is Grand Duke Sergei, both uncle and brother-in-law of Nicolas. He and his husband are often at the side of the imperial couple in major ceremonies. The day of the attack, His wife is there, wanders, distraught over the remains of her husband, saying “Poor Sergei, he who had a horror of blood. She then decides to withdraw from the world. She will found a convent of which she will become the base. She lived there until 1918, date on which it will be sent to Siberia. It was no good being a Romanov. A year ago, Russia found itself engaged in a disastrous war with Japan. Following tradition, The Tsar blessed the troops going into battle. But they did not know where they were being sent, nor why. And for nothing. Japan, for us, was so far away that we were unaware. Even of its existence. We had no idea what this land was, This island, this nation. Japan is so far away, in fact, that it will take the Russian Baltic Fleet six months to reach the Sea of Japan. It was destroyed in one day at the Battle of Toshima, the anniversary of the coronation. The Tsar’s reputation sank along with his fleet. The gossips immediately said that upon learning of the disaster during a game of tennis, the Tsar would have been content to say. “Who continues the game?” I was at the palace when the telegram arrived. Alongside Niki, with Alix, He turned pale and Alix started to sob. That day was a day of mourning at the palace. Olga Romanov, in the summer of 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt offers his good offices. Helping to Talk Peace is taking place in Portsmouth, Hampshire. An honorable outcome is found. But the little “Japanese monkeys”, as Nicolas calls them in his journal, humiliated the Russian bear. Peace has been achieved, but at a very high price. Civil peace will be even more difficult to restore. In the spring of 1905, insurrectional hotbeds have been lit everywhere. In the summer, There was the Battleship Potemkin revolt. In St. Petersburg, factories are closing one after the other. Soon, in October, the strike is general. The 1905 revolution is underway. The troops were called in, and their intervention only hardened the strikers’ determination and the demands of the most radical. Soon, the Empire of the Tsars was tottering. The emperor had to make a choice, or try to crush the opposition by massively intervening the army, or make concessions to conciliate the moderates. He decided to turn to the moderates. He believed that crushing the opposition by bringing in the army would only be a temporary solution. Even Grand Duke Nikolai Nicholas’s uncle and leader, the armies supported the move towards a constitutional monarchy. The Emperor was very hesitant to sign the constitutional manifesto I had submitted to him. One morning, Grand Duke Nicholas entered my office in a state of great excitement. He brandished his revolver, saying “I will go and find the Tsar, where he will sign your manifesto in my presence, where I will blow my brains out.” “Right now.” Sergei Witt For Nicolas, To sign a document that reduced his power was a betrayal of three centuries of autocracy. Only, that was it, or disappear. On October 17, in the Salon of Honour of the Peterhof Palace, Nicholas II signs a constitutional manifesto guaranteeing public freedoms and establishing an assembly elected by universal suffrage. By establishing the first Russian Parliament, the Duma, Nicholas II and his entourage hope to have gained time. But this promise of liberalization only increases the appetite of the radicals. At the beginning of 1906, Nicolas writes to his mother “Dear Mother, What a shame to go through such a crisis in front of the whole world. But it is God’s will and I must bear all these troubles until their end.” All hopes now rest on this Constitution, which finds a gateway to democracy. And in April 1906, The Tsar and the Tsarina go to the Winter Palace for the ceremonial inauguration of the first Duma. After taking the main staircase, the procession gathers in the Grand Salon Saint-Georges, where Nicolas says a few words of welcome. He has fulfilled my fervent hope of seeing my people happy and of passing on to my son a more powerful and enlightened state. Russia finally has its first authorized political parties and its first parliamentary contests. The Tsar remains the Tsar. But he will be no more. The absolute monarch, the autocrat. For my grandfather, it constituted, if not a revolution, at least a radical change. The transition from autocracy to more or less constitutional power. In any case, without the possibility of returning to autocracy. It was the Russia of tomorrow. But the government is not used to a constitutional regime. When the Duma displeases, Totsard, the Duma is dissolved and a new one is convened, which we hope will be more accommodating. Stolipin, the Prime Minister chosen by Nicholas II, is a strong man. Who does not hesitate to hang terrorists. Stolipin’s tie becomes infamous. As early as 1906, The revolutionaries tried to bring him down. A package loaded with explosives rips open his house, But Stolipin escaped unharmed from the attack. Five years later, while accompanying the Tsar and the imperial family on an official visit to kyiv, Stolipin, that we see here in the procession, will be killed at the Opera the same evening, before Nicolas’ eyes. He turned his face towards me and made the sign of the cross in the air with his left hand. His right hand and uniform were stained with blood. Olga and Tatiana saw everything. Tatiana cried a lot. Grand duchesses are very dear to their parents, but they must give precedence to Alexei, the presumed heir. Him, follows his father everywhere, while his four sisters close their hands. In the family, they are referred to by a collective name. Otma, formed from the initials of their four first names, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Olga has her father’s character, honest and well-intentioned. But it’s Tatiana who makes Nicolas walk by the nose. His sisters call him the commander. Maria is more traditional, affectionate and loving children. Anastasia is mocking and charming. She loves antics. And young Alexei, and the darling of the whole family, is of course a little too spoiled. Every summer, Nicolas’ greatest joy is taking his family on holiday to the Crimean coast. He had the Livadia Palace rebuilt. And it was there that in the fall of 1911, A grand ball is given for the 16th birthday of Grand Duchess Olga. Olga wears her first evening dress and a set given to her by her parents, a pearl and two diamond necklace and a matching brooch. All of Russian high society, who spend their summer holidays in sumptuous villas in Crimea, were invited. It is permissible to forget worries and tears for a moment. The trembling images of the cinematograph now bring to the crowds the splendors of the imperial family. In 1912, The imperial regime celebrates with renewed pomp the centenary of the victory over Napoleon. The time is prosperous and peaceful. Industrial production increases and technical progress spreads to all corners of the Empire. But there is one area where progress is not fast enough. Hemophilia is still not known how to treat. The summer of 1912 would be the last in which little Alexei played like a normal child. Soon, we will no longer be able to hide our briefcase. This incurable illness of the crown prince threatens the future of the entire Romanov line. Soon, Nicolas and Alexandra will postpone their hope. On a single man, Putin Pass. But resorting to this healer will prove worse than the disease. Nicolas and Alexandra’s first four children were girls. Finally, in 1904, the imperial couple experienced the joy of having a son. The heir to the throne has decided that Nicholas will be better prepared for his future role than he was. And Alexei, still very young, already takes part in many official ceremonies. He is living proof of the longevity of the Romanovs, an example for the whole new generation. We learned French from the same textbook as Eugene Romanov. There was his picture on the card page. And it was an incentive for us, at the time, to think that we had the same schoolbook as Prince Eric. How not to succeed And of course, We all spoke French very well. The Crown Prince usually wore a sailor suit and I was dressed in the same way. We were the same age and I always looked up to him. It was fashionable then to dress like him. But Alexei’s presence hides a terrible reality. He was born with an incurable disease, hemophilia, which people died of before reaching adulthood. This hemophilia, a hereditary disease, was passed on to him by his mother, And she can’t forget it. When the child is born with this disease, It was known that it had been passed on to him by his mother. She, who had so hoped for a son, Here he is at last, and he is a hemophiliac. That’s what Twit said. Nature had given the Tsar four daughters, as if to tell him “be careful, don’t try.” From that moment on, he only thought of one thing, he survives and reigns one day. Alexei’s illness will play a fatal role in the fate of this family. In their dismay, Nicolas and Alexandra are ready to cling to any hope of recovery. The first mention of a savior for their son appears in Nicholas’s journal. It dates from 1905. We met a man of God. His name is Gregory, originally from Tobolsk. This man of God, It’s Rasputin. When he arrives in St. Petersburg, his reputation as a hypnotist, of mage and healer preceded him. The Tsar and the Empress were intrigued by this man my grandmother had brought to them. My grandmother and her sister saw him as one of those typically Russian healers. They thought it might be interesting for the Tsar and the Empress to know him. They never imagined it would become such a close relationship, so exclusive. For Nicolas and Alexandra, Rasputin was the very image of a tsarets, these holy men of the Russian tradition. And it was God who sent him to them to answer their prayer. My mother played with the Tsar’s son in Crimea as a child. She was three years older than him. She remembered him as a boisterous and lively child, who wanted to participate in everything and who was forbidden from doing anything. Because we were so afraid. Fear that he will fall and suffer another hemophilia attack. The poor sailor who was watching him was having a hard time. During the Imperial family’s vacation in Crimea, Alexandra loves to organize large charity parties. And she expects the Tsar and the Tsarevich to play their part. Large white tents had been erected and I found myself just a stone’s throw from the crown prince. He was a very mischievous child. There was a lottery and he was the one who had to take the prizes into bags and give them to the winners. He searched with his hand, then said “there is nothing, I can’t find anything” while the bags were full of prizes. Or again, Oh, my, it’s so heavy, I can’t catch it. To make fun of an old man to whom he ended up handing a bottle of champagne. As I grew up, Alexei is increasingly threatened by his life-threatening hemophilia. It is then, when doctors recognize their impotence, that the mysterious healer entered the scene. In defiance of official medical science, Gregory Rasputin, by his mere presence and soothing words, was doing good to this sick person. For the Tsarina, Rasputin becomes the only lifeline his son can cling to. However, Public opinion is rejecting him more and more violently. My father saw him rush to a balcony where he engaged in a form of unambiguous exhibitionism. He undertook, I don’t know if anyone intervened to interrupt him, to expose his genitals. By saying, apparently, This is what runs Russia. That’s how it is. In St. Petersburg, his bad reputation is notorious. Newspapers publish photos with explicit captions. A Romance Among the Romanovs, or the Family Circle. These photos most often show him surrounded by women. It is they, above all, who admire him and are captivated by his magnetism. But in fact, He is rarely in St. Petersburg. He spends a lot of time in Siberia, in his native village of Prokoskoye, between Tyumen and Tobolsk, where his wife and three children live. In his village, his reputation is also execrable. Very early, he was accused of stealing horses, to rob girls and especially to drink like a fish. Hence his nickname Rasputin, of the Russian Rasputnik, the debauched. His enemies took advantage of his absences from the capital to denounce his conduct. Armed with compromising photos, Ruziansko, the President of the Duma, requests an audience with the Tsar. “I told him, This is the man who is responsible for watching over the Tsarevich. I beg you to banish this dubious character from court.” The Tsar had a long time. Then he finally said, No, That’s a promise I can’t make. My grandfather didn’t like Rasputin. He knew everything about him. He had peeled back his life. He had the means to do it. For him, he was an evil spirit and also, Of course, an imposter. A tragic character who was never a monk. Even if Opéry’s share is screwed. But the Empress is convinced that God sent him to save her son. And this concern for the life of her child will make her turn more and more towards religion. In August 1912, the cathedral that she had built near the imperial residence of Tsarkoye-Selo was inaugurated with great pomp. It is named Feodorovsky Cathedral, after the Empress. She will now spend many hours there praying for her son. This cathedral still exists, shell, abandoned and dilapidated, which evokes Alexandra. In outside the narrow circle of intimates, Alexei’s illness is carefully concealed and the couple, imperial… Hides his worries in the whirlwind of official receptions. This obligation to keep up appearances is very heavy to bear. Nicolas and Alexandra are careful to protect their privacy. They love nothing more than family life, far from the formalism of the court. Nicolas loves life in the great outdoors, skating, tennis. He enjoys playing ball games or racing with the officers of his guard. But his true passion, It’s photography. He could tirelessly photograph and rephotograph his family members. These thousands of photos, nicely classified in albums, have survived the entire duration of the Soviet regime and are carefully preserved in the Moscow archives. Nicholas II’s contemporaries said that if he had not been Tsar, He could have made a very good photographer. Here are photographs from the inauguration of the Fyodorovsky Cathedral. And that, it was their favorite game, Make mountains of snow. Every evening, It was his favorite moment. He would sit down to sort, stick its posts and label them, with his whole family around him. Autumn 1912. Nicolas goes on holiday with his family, far from Saint Petersburg, at Spala Castle, Lithuania, formerly the royal hunting ground of the sovereigns of Poland. The vast park is ideal for outdoor activities, but Alexei is rarely allowed to participate. However, His father sometimes takes him canoeing on the lake. On one of his occasions, He twists his foot while jumping into the canoe and falls. A hemorrhage immediately occurs. Severe bleeding from one leg to the nose. Doctors are brought from the capital, but he declares himself powerless. Bleeding cannot be stopped. And Rasputin is far away. Over there, at his house, in Siberia. Pierre Giliard, Alexei’s tutor, realizes that the situation is serious. But even to him, we don’t say everything. I was in the corridor leading to Xeille’s room. I heard moaning, and I saw the Tsarina rushing and stomping in my direction. She had a completely lost look. As if, often, in these moments of despair, Nicolas writes to his mother. The worst time was between October 6 and 10. Poor Darling suffered terribly. Spasms of pain that came back every quarter of an hour. I could hardly bear to stay in the room, but I had to take over from Alix, exhausted from watching over him every night. For the first time since Alexei’s birth, official bulletins will give information on the health of the Tsarevich, recognizing that he is seriously ill. Alexandra, desperate, sent a telegram to Rasputin to return from Siberia. The answer comes back, also telegraphed. “God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. Your little one will not die. Don’t let the doctors harass him too much.” The day after receiving this telegram, the bleeding stops. For Alexandra, it’s very simple, There was a miracle. From this date, Rasputin’s power over the Empress will only increase. February 1913, The Romanov Dynasty celebrates its 300th anniversary at the head of the Russian Empire. This is the occasion for the imperial family to undertake a long journey across the kingdom which takes them to Moscow in May. He There were calls to go and greet the Tsar. And I went there. I climbed a tree and saw the Tsar and the Tsarina, accompanied by riders. Parades through Moscow. They were waving loudly to the crowd. Everything was white and gold. The procession was led by the Tsar and the Tsarina. And I was surprised to see that the Tsarina was so much bigger and more imposing than the Tsar. THE The pomp and splendor of the tercentenary barely conceals the reality. The succession to the throne is threatened. The legitimate heir is not fully recovered. Everywhere, during parades and ceremonies, we see him being carried by a guard. The truth can no longer be hidden from the people. In the early summer of 1914, The imperial yacht sets sail for its traditional annual cruise. This will be Nicolas and Alexandre’s last peaceful vacation. June 28, 1914, A pistol shot fired in Sarajevo at Archduke Ferdinand of Austria will set all of Europe ablaze. The complex game of alliances risks triggering an inevitable cascade of ultimators. If things get worse between Serbia and the Austrian Empire, Russia will be forced to come to the aid of its traditional Slavic allies, And Germany will be able to go to war against Russia and satisfy its desire for expansion to the East. Pushed by William II, Austria declares war on Serbia on July 28, Germany to Russia on August 1. It is a real fratricidal war. William II is Alexandra’s cousin Germanus and a more distant cousin of the Tsar. Nicholas II could not believe in 1914 that a war could break out in Europe. They had known each other since childhood. Guillaume was in a neighboring room when Nicolas declared himself to Alexandra. And young man, William himself had been in love with Alexandra. It was hard for him to believe that his dear cousin Willy would deliberately start a war that would turn Europe upside down. But family ties no longer count in the interests of empires. The two cousins will soon be on opposite sides of a deep divide. And the Russian people will soon suspect the Tsar’s beloved wife of being a German spy, source of all the country’s misfortunes. Nicholas learns that Germany has declared war on Russia while he is in Tsarkoye Selo. The Empress begins to sob, as his confidante Isa Bueveden tells us. She was the Empress of Russia, a Russia that was dear to him deep in his heart. She told me during the war. “Russia is the land of my husband and my son.” I love this country with all my soul. THE the day after the declaration of war, The crowd presses in front of the Winter Palace. When the Tsar arrived, We all headed towards the Winter Palace. We wanted to see him and hear what he would say. People carried the portrait of the Tsar and crosses. The reservists had taken out their uniforms, mothballs, and everyone sang “God save the Tsar.” It was the official anthem. We went to a balcony that was above the emperor’s. And we saw it appear. And everyone has the square. Everyone knelt down and sang. “Holy, God, protect the Tchar!” “Holy, God, protects it Tchar! » Nicolas appears on the balcony. He is upset. During 20 years of reign, He dreamed in vain of this communion with the Russian people. But he gets it because the country goes to war. A telegram arrives shortly after. Sent from Siberia by Rasputin. “Stop Dad from going to war. War would be the end of Russia. And your end. Everyone will perish.” Reading it, The Tsar bursts into tears. Then he gives the order for general mobilization. “If the icon…” People brought icons with which they touched the wheels of the wagons. Everyone was crying and we, the soldiers, We told ourselves that we hadn’t seen anything of life yet and that we were going to die. As soon as someone was mobilized, everyone gathered around him to comfort him. And accompany him when he leaves. We drank to his health, we played music, with harmonicas and accordions. The last war, fought by Russia ten years earlier, had ended in defeat and the spectre of revolution. The secret police, the Ocrana, is suspicious. Opponents of the war were exiled to Siberia. Aladouma, the Bolshevik deputies, tries to turn the Assembly against this war for which the country is not prepared. They are accused of treason and imprisoned. Facing the modern and well-equipped German army, the Tsar’s troops, although more numerous, are not competitive. To order them, Nicholas named his uncle, Grand Duke Nicholas I, perhaps hoping that his great size made for a great general. The emperor was the smallest of the entire Romanov line. Unfortunately, he had inherited his mother’s genes. While, on his father’s side, all great horned owls measured between 1.90 m and 2 m, were less than 1.70 m tall. My grandmother, His cousin Germaine, told me that he had told him who can accept Anna’s orders But whatever his personal worries and doubts, the Tsar, far from the Lord, intends to do his duty and he travels to the front to boost the morale of his troops. The Patriots refused to allow the capital to bear a Germanic-sounding name any longer, and it was decided to rename Saint Petersburg “Petrograde”. The news from the front is not brilliant. Russian troops achieved some successes against the Austrians, but they were severely beaten by the German army. To the modern weapons and equipment of the Germans, The Russian army has nothing to offer but the bravery of its soldiers. The Fensive was a nightmare. We had orders to attack in waves. Our wave was decimated. There were four others behind. In front, There were also many Germans. It was… Man against man, Either I kill you or you kill me. And the horses continued to gallop, trampling men to the ground. And the riders now turned to the left, sometimes on the right. And we, poor, infantrymen, We had to finish the work. Dying, crippled or simply injured. The wounded are flocking to the major cities, particularly the capital. From the beginning of the war, Alexandra decided to take nursing courses. And accompanied by her two daughters, They put themselves at the service of the wounded. The Tsarina oversaw the establishment of 85 new hospitals in the Petrograd region alone, and even decided to install a hospital annex on the ground floor of the Winter Palace. And the three women insist on treating the wounded themselves. The wounded didn’t like dealing with her because she had no experience. After their departure, the bandages often had to be redone, which was painful. Alexandra’s letters to her husband speak at length of the suffering she encounters daily. Almost nothing left of a man, broken into so many pieces that it would be better to let him die, And yet, we hope to save it. Terrible to see. I don’t want to say more, it’s all so sad, but the woman and mother that I am feel immense pain. We have more than 600 letters from her in the archives. In two-thirds, one was written during the war. She wrote up to two or three a day. Niki and Alix wrote in English, the language in which they communicated best with each other. And their long separation only amplified the intensity of their love. Niki, My sweet love, on this anniversary of our engagement, my most tender thoughts go out to you, filling my heart with boundless gratitude for the intense love and happiness you have given me since that unforgettable day of twenty-two years ago. May God help me to repay you a hundredfold for your kindness. Yes, in truth, I doubt there can be many wives as happy as I am. Alex. My beloved ray of sunshine, When I read your letters, my eyes are misting with tears. I see you lying on your couch and I listen to you sitting in my armchair, under the lamp. I don’t know if I would have been able to endure all these trials if God hadn’t decided to give you to me as my wife and friend. I send you and the children a big kiss. Yours forever, your Niki. In May 1915, the Russian army captured Perejnils, an important stronghold in Poland. The victory, celebrated with enthusiasm, would be short-lived. The following months saw a succession of defeats. to ease her husband’s worries held back at the front, Alexandra begins to take a closer interest in public affairs. She got into the habit of consulting Rasputin, “our friend” as she calls it, on the appointment or dismissal of key executives. First target, Grand Duke Nikolai, uncle of the Tsar and commander-in-chief of the armies. “I beg you, my angel. “I have no confidence in Nicolas Chat. I am obsessed with what our friend says, and I know that it would be fatal for us and the country if he were not listened to.” “You know Nicolas Chat’s intense hatred for Grégory. We no longer know who the emperor is today. Nicolas Chat takes care of everything and makes all the decisions. At the end of August 1915, Nicholas convenes the Council of Ministers and informs them of his decision to dismiss Grand Duke Nicholas. Transfer Uncle Nicholas’ command to another, It would have been perfectly normal. The mistake was to take this high command himself. But it responded to a mystical inspiration. He wanted to be the sacrificial victim, the lamb sacrificed to the God of war. He wanted to have his share of the tragedy experienced by the Russian soldiers. My beloved ray of sunshine, Thank God, It’s all over. And here I am with this new responsibility and new on my shoulders. What a joy to think that my little wife is there to support me when I am far away. Ah, if you had agreed to do it a long time ago. There was a very deep relationship between them, a very strong physical bond. They were truly two lovers. And because of this, he had complete confidence in his judgment and wisdom. But the poor woman was lost. My tender beloved. We have fought great battles for our country and the Crown, alone with courage and determination. We are at the beginning of the greatest glory of your reign. Our friend says so, and I am deeply convinced of it. I I am close to you forever and nothing can separate us. Your wife, Alex Nicolas is held at the front. Power in the capital is now in the hands of the Empress. And in the shadow of it, Rasputin’s influence is becoming increasingly heavy. The headquarters of the Russian army has been relocated to Mogilev for security reasons, not far from Moscow. Little Zarevitch was sent to join his father, a kind of apprenticeship in military life. Nicolas, in his letters, reassures his mother. “We like to sleep side by side. We say our prayers every night. And I read your letters to him. He kisses your signature. His presence is a joy and comfort to everyone here.” For months, The Tsarevich is well. But all of a sudden, in December 1915, He suffered a very violent nosebleed, and immediately returned to the Empress and to the prayers of “our friend”. Rasputin is now settled in Petrograd. He occupies a relatively modest apartment at 64 rue Gorokovaia. At the beginning of winter, I was walking with my husband along Gorokovaia Street. All of a sudden, I didn’t feel well. I fainted and fell to the floor. My husband, worried, told me “Who is he?” What’s wrong? Turning around, He met the gaze of a peasant with a long, bushy beard. My husband immediately guessed it was Rasputin. He made a… Such sexual power that it could make you lose consciousness, even if you are behind them. With the Empress, his conduct is that of a respectful and devoted man, And she is convinced that the debauchery of which he is accused can only be slander. Taking advantage of Alexandra’s trust, he tries to intervene more and more, especially in job assignments. People, like my grandfather, who was governor of St. Petersburg, received notes from Rasputin’s hand. They all started the same way. “Dear friend, Please appoint Mr. So-and-so to the position of… And there, whatever was going through his mind. Governor Zinoviev threw his notes in the trash. And it is likely that these interventions had no real influence on ministerial appointments. What really mattered as far as Rasputin was concerned, it is not his real power, but the one that Russian society attributed to him. How was he perceived and in what way? This contributed to destroying the prestige of the dynasty, This is what is important in the course of the Russian Revolution. If Rasputin seriously damages the Tsar’s reputation, It is war that threatens him most, By weakening the loyalty of the subjects of his vast empire. Soldiers, at the front or hospitalized, receive letters from their families describing their misery. Nicolas Isachik, Finally, would read to the illiterate soldiers the letters he received from them. For example, they were told that Ivan had also been mobilized, that the cow had to be sold, that the horse was too exhausted to work, that there were no more men in the village, all torn away to go to the carnage. And that women worked the land alone and worked like animals. Life was too hard. Nothing to eat, more clothes, no more oil to light the lights. The Tsar, the little father of the people, tries to keep his holes’ morale up. But his morale, to him, weakens as bad news arrives from behind, The shortage, the strikes. On his face, we can read the trace of his anxieties and his solitude. He raised his hand to greet us. But in his eyes, I read, How to say, A terrible despair. As if he were asking us, what should i do Often, at church, I saw icons that reminded me of the DEER. The same look of resignation, even today, I see him again in front of me. In December 1916, Rasputin writes to the Tsar. I have a feeling I’ll lose my life before January 1st. “Tsar of the Russian land, if you hear the bell ringing which will tell you that Gregory has been killed, know this well. If it was your relatives who plotted my death, then no member of your family, that is to say both your children and your close relatives, will not live beyond two years. They will be killed by the Russian people. Gregory. » In Petregrade, Rasputin’s alleged interventions are fuel for the Tsar’s enemies. And finally, A Duma deputy has the courage to say out loud what others think. Quietly. Vladimir Purishkevich is, however, an ardent monarchist. The Tsar’s ministers are puppets whose strings are tightly held by Gregory Rasputin, this evil genius of Russia, of the Tsar and Empress Alexandra, the German. Who was allowed to occupy the throne. The Tsar’s refusal to rid Russia and himself of this corrupt man is pushing the country into an abyss from which there will soon be no escape. Nicolas’s relatives feel the urgency to act. His cousin Germain, Grand Duke Dimitri, decides to take up the challenge. If the Tsar refuses to end Rasputin’s influence, he will take care of it. A plan is drawn up by Prince Yusupov, one of the richest and most extravagant men in Russia, but unsuspected as a murderer. Puritschkevitch will be part of the freezing and will provide the murder weapon. The date of the execution is to be set by Grand Duke Dimitri. Great figure of the court, His first free evening is December 16th. An appointment is made for this date. Yusupov manages to lure Rasputin into his palace under the pretext of a “fun game” and he drags her to the basement. Puritschkevich recounted the rest of that terrible night. The conspirators believed they were dealing with a demonic creature. Poisoned with cyanide, beaten with violent blows, hit by three bullets at close range, he continues to breathe. To be sure of having completed their work, The conspirators decide to throw his body into the diva. Rasputin’s absence is quickly noticed. Alexandra writes to her husband from Tsarkoye-Selo. My tender and dear love, You can imagine my feelings and fears. Our friend is missing. I cannot and will not believe that he was killed. God have mercy. The anxiety is immense. But I am calm and I cannot believe it. Come quickly. The body will be found three days later. One of his boots was discovered on the Petrovsky Bridge, prompting the police to search the river. The autopsy will not detect any traces of poison in the blood, nor water in the lungs. Rasputin died of his gunshot wounds. Alexandra is inconsolable. She requested that Rasputin be buried in Tsarkoye Selo Park to be closer to her through his spiritual presence. As Nicolas tries to comfort his distraught wife, can he himself forget Rasputin’s dark prophecy? Tsar, of the Russian Land, If your family plotted, my death, not one of yours will remain alive more than two years. Gregory. In October 1916, The five children of Nicholas II visit their father at the headquarters of the Russian army, Last moment of family happiness for the Roman dynasty. In less than two years, Nicholas and his family were executed. At the end of 1916, The situation of the Russian army is dramatic. The presence of the Tsar at the head of his troops was not enough to give them victory. And even God, called in for help, cannot turn the situation around. In the back, we lack everything, and the government is unable to cope. Alexandra, Who, in the absence of the Tsar, conducts business more and more disastrously, is held responsible for all misfortunes. More and more, we realize that this German woman is a spy in the service of the Kaiser. This is obviously false. But if she had been, She could not have done more harm to the Romanovs and to Russia. The revolt is rumbling and Petrograde is a boiling cauldron. At the Alexander Palace, where it is installed, The Empress does not just manage state affairs. She tries to communicate some of her enormous energy to her husband. How I wish I could breathe a little of my will into your veins. Be Peter, the Great, Ivan the Terrible. Crush them all with your stature. Remember How the Tsars Ruled. For so long, I hear say, Russia loves to smell the knout. It’s in the nature of Russians. Above all, don’t laugh, Big Nigo. I fight for the greatness of your reign and the future of Alexei. We must pass on a powerful country to our baby and refuse to be weak out of love for him. My darling, I thank you tenderly for your severe reprimand. I read it with a smile because you seem like a child to me. Yes, It’s true. I want you to be my eyes and ears in the capital while I’m away. When I happen to think about what might happen, my head is bursting. Your poor, weak man. Nick. Nicholas decides to spend the Christmas and New Year holidays in Petrograd. He only wants to see his family and a few close friends, including a follower of Alexandra, Liliden. Every Thursday evening, A small Gypsy orchestra was playing in the Red Room. The Empress was sitting by the fire, staring into the flames. She looked unusually sad. I whispered anxiously. Madam, why such sadness? Tonight she turned around and looked at me. Why am I sad? Lili, I don’t know, I feel like my heart is going to break, right? only his heart. The Romanoff Empire is about to burst. People were talking among themselves, in the street, in the trams, everywhere. We kept telling ourselves that all our difficulties came from the Tsar’s court. The Tsarina was a German, so a tai. In the capital, the rumor grows. Alexandra Drogue, the tsar, she makes him drink. That’s why he’s out of his wits. Actually, Nicolas is exhausted. And like every time he makes a decision, this one turns out to be bad, It is better to decide nothing at all. The family began to suspect that the Tsar had somehow abandoned the base. Internally, he had already abdicated, probably six months before his real abdication. He no longer believed in himself. His anxieties of all the Tsar’s relatives, Grand Duke Alexander, Sandro for his relatives, Vincent Acts as interpreter for Nicolas. For the first time in history, a revolution originates not from the base, but the summit. It is not the struggle of the people against power, but the struggle of power against the well-being of the people. To this, Nicholas II, Tsar of all the Russias, replied. I was born on May 6th, Feast of Job, the unfortunate. I am ready to carry my cross. The Tsar’s ministers and members of the Duma fear that this passivity will lead to their collective downfall. An opinion shared by the President of the Duma, Mikhail Rodzianko. My grandfather loved the Tsar so much that he kept his portrait on his desk at all times, depicting his streets. And he considered him a friend. The only problem, it was that he had inherited, no doubt maternal phallines, a kindness that often translated into the inability to be energetic. The revolution is near, but it will not be the work of the Bolsheviks. Lenin is still in exile in Switzerland. It was there that in January 1917, He speaks in front of a group of workers. The room was almost empty. When it comes to concluding, Lenin said “There are revolutionary currents in Europe.” The prospect of a socialist revolution, somewhere, is still far off. We, the elders, we won’t see her. The youngest among you, Yes, they have some. Lenin delivered this speech on the anniversary of Bloody Sunday, starting point of the aborted Revolution of 1905. As he speaks, Strikes and demonstrations are multiplying in Petrograd and will soon come to a head. On the revolution of 1910. A request was made to the factory management, demanding increases. If they were refused, we would start the strike. And that’s what happened. Bad weather, The cold made the situation worse. In February, The boilers of 1,200 locomotives freeze and explode. Transport stops. In Petrograd, Famine sharpens the anger of the people. This is the moment that Nicholas chooses to leave the capital and return to the front. He arrives there on March 8. The same day, The hungry crowd takes to the streets and loot the shops. The next morning, on the way to school, I walked past a destroyed bakery. The sign was torn off. The dislocated door hung all the way outside. The windows were broken. Underneath under, papers everywhere. The day later, The Cossacks, traditionally loyal to the Tsars, make a pact with the crowd and promise the leaders not to use their weapons. The revolution is at the door. Alexandra Affolé writes to Nicolas “Yesterday there was unrest on Nevsky Prospect.” Hungry people stormed bakeries. One of them was completely looted. The Tsar, beside himself, cables to his ministers. I order that these disorders in the capital be put to an end tomorrow. They are intolerable in times of war with Germany. The answer will come quickly. In the square where Nicholas had inaugurated a statue of Alexander III a few years earlier, his father, The revolution, which had been brewing for days, explodes. The soldiers fraternize with the crowd. There were two horses lying dead across the street. Everywhere, Shop signs bearing the Tsar’s coat of arms were either lying on the ground or being torn down. This is the revolution, he said. The coats of arms on the gates and balconies such as the double-headed eagle, symbol of autocracy, People started pulling them out and trampling on them. My younger sister didn’t like it at all. She was 7 or 8 years old and her dream was to have a living room and host receptions. I told him, and now There will be no more worldly life. And you won’t have a living room. Working Russia was marching towards power, without knowing it. Ruling Russia had lost it. Without realizing it. Alexander Kerensky. Kerensky will be Minister of Justice in the Provisional Government, which will be formed. There was a group of soldiers surrounded by civilians. They lined up in front of us. They wanted to know our intentions towards the imperial family. They demanded severe treatment. I declared that the most dangerous would be kept in prison. But that it would never be up to the crowd to decree the law. I insisted that any bloodshed be avoided. Isolated in his palace, far from the capital, The Empress is above all concerned about the Measles which has struck four of her children. It must be said that at the time, it was a serious illness. My love, darling. Now Olga and Alexei also have measles. Olga’s face is covered in pimples. And baby has more in his mouth. He coughs a lot and his eyes are watering. Nicolas announced his return and Alexandra will stay up all night waiting for him. But in vain. Lili Dène recounted the Empress’s dismay. When the Empress was told that the Tsar had been delayed, she said “Maybe it’s because of the blizzard.” and she turned on her side. Anastasia, worry, asked me. “But Lily, “The trains are never late?” I hope Dad comes soon. On the night of March 13, Nicholas decides to return to Tsarkoye-Selon. But the railway line is blocked by the insurgent soldiers. They decide to head towards Pskov. The only major city on the route, still held, it seems, by loyal troops. On Friday, March 1, the Tsar’s train arrives in Pskov. Nicholas hopes to gain the support of his generals. Even they will abandon him. Russia is not yet ready to abolish the monarchy, but Nicholas is discredited and must leave. His uncle, Grand Duke Nicolai, will take care of telling him. I consider it my duty as a loyal subject to beg you on my knees, to save Russia and your heir. Step aside. “And pass the crown to your son. There is no other solution.” During this time, the Duma has, on his own authority, invested a provisional government. And she sends two of her members, MPs Gouchkoff and Chulgin, to collect the abdication of the tsar. Initially, Nicholas had to abdicate in favor of his son. But, in the act, finally signed, his renunciation of the throne was made in favor of his brother, Grand Duke Michael. THE March 15, Nicolas, note in his journal “All around me is betrayal, cowardice and deceit”. The same day, Although still unaware of her husband’s abdication, Alexandra writes to Nicolas “My precious adored angel, light of my life, my heart breaks knowing you are alone far away, with all this anxiety to bear, and without news of each other. The Tsar decided to make this change in the order of succession on the advice of Dr. Fedorov. He believes that Alexei’s health will never allow him to reign. This is why Nicolas chose his brother Michel to succeed him. During this time, the two representatives, Shulgin and Gouchecoff, came to report on their mission to the Duma. Soldiers gathered around them to find out how the abdication had gone. The abdicate in favor of Grand Duke Michael. Why not? Alexei No, My son is sick. I don’t want to abandon him. We will go to Crimea to grow flowers. In Petrograd, The news of the Tsar’s abdication was greeted with general jubilation. When the Tsar’s abdication was announced, everyone rejoiced. I remember my father telling us, we’re going to toast the champagne. It was not that we were happy about his abdication, but the power would change and it would be better. I remember the crowd in the street. Everyone was kissing each other. It was said that this was the end of autocracy. There was going to be. The republic, freedom, legality. When my grandfather heard that the Tsar had renounced the throne, not only for him, but for his son, he turned pale. He started crying and said, what do you do, Russia is finished. No one bothered to inform the Tsarina. In Tsarkoye-Selo, She finds herself almost alone with her children. Water and electricity were cut off. At the same time, she learned of Nicholas’ abdication and Grand Duke Michael’s renunciation of the throne. From now on, There are no tsars at all anymore. This is Pierre Giliard, the Swiss tutor, who will announce to Alexei his father’s abdication. You know, Your father has decided to no longer be Tsar. He looked at me in astonishment, trying to read from my face what had happened. What do you mean ? And who will be tsar now? I don’t know. Maybe no one. There was a silence and he said… But if there was no Tsar to rule Russia when Nicholas finally arrived in Tsardom, the Palace had been invaded by the revolutionary guards. The reunion of the two spouses was not witnessed, and there is no trace of it in their diaries. The imperial family is now imprisoned in the castle, and guards patrol the grounds, part of which has been reserved for Nicholas and his family to stroll. Unmila’s housekeeper Krasina often took Unmila and her two sisters for walks not far from the castle. There was a man dressed in khaki like a soldier who was removing snow from the paths. I looked at him and thought, but he is not a soldier, It’s the Tsar himself. It was impossible for the Tsar to clean the paths in his garden. I asked, but what is he doing This is not the Tsar. My housekeeper replied to me, ” If, it was filed. This is the Revolution. He is a prisoner in his palace. He is not allowed to go out.” So he does this as an exercise. I was very surprised, as a little girl, to see the Tsar dressed in an old, not very clean coat, without decoration, nor shoulder pads. Years have passed, But at 90, I still see the Tsar’s expression. There was so much pain, of pain and tears in his eyes. This forced stay in Tsarkoye-Selo is not too painful. Both a form of house arrest and actual incarceration. Nicolas and his family are doing… Against bad luck, good heart and organize their little country life with good humor. Pierre Gillière’s diary is full of details about those weeks. Following their measles, The Grand Duchesses had their heads shaved on the orders of the Empress. And they wore hats or scarves on their heads at all times. I wanted to take a picture of them. SO, at a sign from Olga, All four of them took off their hats. Very amused at the idea of being photographed like that. And what their parents would think. But what to do with the Tsar? The best thing would be for him to be welcomed abroad, where he has so many family ties. Obviously, not in its cousin, the Keser, with whom Russia is still at war. But why not in England? George V. is also his cousin. Political asylum begins with being granted. Then, Difficulties arise. In In England, public opinion was up in arms against the Tsar and his German spy wife. An absurdity, Of course. She was no spy and she was much more English than anyone else. But that’s what we thought. George V, in 1917, is very worried. Threats are rising against the monarchy, to the telesocialists and the working class. He does not want his dynasty to be linked to the Romanovs, hate each other and abandon them. George V. withdraws his offer, signing his cousin’s death warrant, so to speak. I do not intend to criticize King George V for canceling his invitation to Zahar. Besides, I am convinced… And my grandmother told me repeatedly that the Tsar never intended to leave Russia. He would have left only if his wife had asked him to. Waiting for, Nicholas II and his family remained prisoners in Tsarkoye Selo. But the world didn’t stop turning. Russia is still at war with Germany. It is in the best interest of the Russian Revolution to grow. She agrees to let Lenin cross German territory by train to return home. His arrival in Petrograde in April 1917 was carefully staged by the Bolsheviks with a red flag, standing ovation and bouquet of flowers. I went to meet Lenin at the Finland Station. It was Easter Saturday. Maria, his sister, showed us a telegram saying “The time has come, This evening, 11 a.m. » She asked “How are we going to bring people together to welcome him as they deserve?” And he was told ” Everything is fine, The soldiers are on leave. He will tell them at the meetings that Lenin is coming. Lenin’s strength is to say and repeat what the crowd wants to hear. And what the Germans, letting it pass, hoped he would say. Lenin proclaimed “We must have peace.” Peace and Earth for all. You soldiers, Nearly 200,000 people went on strike. You won’t have to go back to the front if you support the Bolsheviks. It was all for him. Who would have wanted to go into raw and dangerous trenches rather than stay in the capital? But Lenin is still only a street agitator. The strong man was Kerensky, who took the lead of the provisional government. Soon, the latter is threatened with being overwhelmed by the Bolsheviks, who vigorously demand the execution of the Tsar. Kerensky has no sympathy for Nicholas II, but he feels responsible for his safety. I had the thankless task of informing the Tsar yesterday that he had to leave. I told him “The Bolsheviks are after me. Soon, They will be after you.” Contrary to what I feared, He took it calmly and expressed a desire to go to Crimea. But I chose Tobolsk, in Siberia, because away from the railway, I knew the governor’s house, comfortable enough to decently accommodate the imperial family. The imperial family left Sarcoye-Cello at dawn on August 14. The convoy is important, about twenty people, in all, more male and suitcase. Nicolas recorded this departure in his journal with his usual conciseness. “It was already daylight. We drank tea. And at 5:15, Kerensky gave the signal to start. The sunrise was superb. We left Tsarkoye Selo at 6:10. The journey will be long. Four days by train, two additional days on a paddle wheeler. Arrival in Tobolsk took place on the evening of August 20. Nicolas knows the city where he spent a few days, 25 years ago. He returns to the governor’s house, where he had been staying, in Kordzarewicz. From now on, this building will be his prison, and that of his family. We looked at everything, from cellars to attics. Several rooms have an unpleasant view. Afterwards, We visited the so-called garden. Null. The feeling of being a prisoner is much stronger than in Tsarkoye-Seland. In Petrograd, the situation is evolving quickly. The Bolsheviks, masters of the street, the Kerensky government paid on November 7, And in the night that follows, he storms the Winter Palace, symbol of tsarist power. This one poorly defended by a regiment of women and a unit of young officers, the cadets will be easily taken. There was no real assault. Yes, The palace was attacked, but without bloodshed, Because the cadets, All children in fact, threw down their weapons and surrendered. The man tasked with capturing the Winter Palace was Vladimir Antonov-Oseyenko. My father called it a sting operation. That’s why there were practically no casualties. He could have been killed with his sailors. But nothing happened. Power fell like an overripe fruit. The only traces of the fighting were a few scratches on the walls and a broken window. Kerensky manages to flee Petrograd. From now on, Lenin and the Bolsheviks are the masters. They want to stop this war as quickly as possible. The demoralized Russian soldiers deserted en masse, fraternize with the Germans. Peace must be achieved and it will be achieved at a very high price. Soon, Civil war rages. In the south, a white army is formed, which will be opposed by the Red Army, raised by the Bolsheviks. In Tobolsk, Echoes of civil war and the disintegration of Russia begin to arrive. Pierre Giliard, who accompanied his ward to Siberia, note in his journal “For the first time, I heard the Tsar regret having abdicated.” He is pained to realize that his renunciation was in vain. I hear it. Mumbling, “shame” that Russia is committing suicide, and to say that they called the Tsar a traitor. Tobolsk is far from the theaters of operation, But the revolutionary doctrines gradually won over the guards responsible for watching over the prisoners. They have formed themselves into committees and their supervision is becoming increasingly fussy. I do everything myself. I knit socks for Alexei. Niki’s pants are covered in patches and repairs. The girls’ underwear is in tatters. We are no longer allowed to go for walks, if not in front of the house, inside the fences, But it still allows you to get some fresh air. I think the fate of the Romanovs was sealed from the moment the Bolsheviks took power. The new regime came through a coup d’état. Right away, The Bolsheviks negotiated peace with the Germans. To Brest-Litovsk and abandon everything that Russia had conquered in growth. From there, civil war was certain. And this civil war was going to provoke a brutal reaction from Lenin and his party. At that moment, There was no hope for the Romanovs. They were doomed to die. In addition to everything, Alexei, who is going to be 14 years old, is the victim of a new hemophilia crisis. He will never walk again. He is terribly thin and yellow. I sit with him all day. Yesterday, He told me “Mom, I want to die. It’s not death that scares me, That’s what they’re going to do to us here.” Bolshevik power is now established in the Kremlin. It was from there that the new instructions concerning the prisoners were sent at the end of April 1918. The Romanovs are told to prepare to leave Tobolsk, but without telling them where they are going. The few faithful who share the fate of the imperial family have been installed in a building on the other side of the street. Among them, Dr. Botkin and his daughter Tania. Shortly before Easter, a present is given to Tania, accompanied by a handwritten note. And the date, it’s 1918, if signed O.R. Olga Romanov. And the date 18, that is to say it is Easter 18, It’s a few days before leaving for Yekaterinburg, and that’s three months before death. Easter, Christ ascended into heaven. My dear Tania, Here are two eggs from our parathos. It is so sad that we cannot be together. Tender kiss, Olga Romanov. Listen, so there, we touch on the great drama that marked my mother, because my mother, I believe, is the last person to have seen them all alive. So she had this window that looked out onto the house, where they were locked up, and she saw them all get into the sleighs. She saw her father getting into the sleighs, and gave him a big wave, And he never saw him again. On April 30, 1918, The train in which Nicholas and his companions were boarding arrives at Ekaterinenburg station, a city entirely acquired by the Bolsheviks. There, They are immediately taken to the center of the city, to the house of the Merchant Hypatieff, which was given the disturbing name of special purpose house. For power, Bolshevik, The Romanov family is cumbersome. The civil war is raging, The White troops are not far from Yekaterinburg and are advancing. Furthermore, The Kaiser has made it known that he is concerned about his cousin’s fate. This is where Zhurovsky comes in. designated as commander of the special purpose house. He will carefully and secretly prepare the massacre. He chooses the place where the corpses will be transported and has the sulfuric acid delivered to him with which they will be sprayed. Alexandra continues to keep her diary, miraculously preserved. In 1918, there are a few words from his daughter, Tatiana, on the cover page. To my dearest mother, all my best wishes for a happy new year. May God bless and protect you. Your daughter who loves you, Tatiana. Alexandra dated the pages of her journal in advance and this little notebook went until the end of the summer. But the last page written is that of July 16, the 3rd of the calendar. A gray morning after a beautiful sun. Tatiana began reading a verse from the prophet Obadiah. “Even if you soar as high as the eagle, and even if you build your nest among the stars, I will make sure to bring you back down,” said the Lord. I played besigue with Nicolas, in bed at 10:30, 15 degrees. On July 17 at 1:30 a.m., Zhurovsky bursts into the rooms and orders everyone to go down to the basement. The eleven prisoners, that is, the imperial family. Plus Doctor Botkin and three servants, are led into an empty room where they find themselves facing eleven armed men. Two witnesses, Zhurovsky and one of the guards, Medvedev, left statements that tell what happened. Pavel Medvedev. All the members of the imperial family were lying on the ground, very severely wounded, their blood flowing profusely. I, Yakov Furovski, I killed Nicholas myself, Alexandra Ferodovna died immediately, Alexei and three of his sisters were still alive. They had to finish them off; they wanted to bayonet one of them. But the bayonet didn’t manage to pierce her. undressed her and found a corset. Bullets had made holes in it through which diamonds could be seen. The heir to the throne was still alive. And he moaned. Zhurovsky shot him two or three times. He stopped. Immediately after, A telegram is sent to Moscow to announce, in agreed language, that the execution has taken place. We got rid of Nicolas and his family was sent to safety. Hoisted into trucks, The corpses are transported to the disused mine shaft spotted by Zhurovsky. The bodies are cut into pieces. And plunge into sulfuric acid before being thrown down the well. The following night, Urovski, fearing that these allies had come and been spotted, retrieved his remains to bury them. A little further away, in the greatest secrecy, they would remain there for half a century without anyone knowing. a week later, White troops take Ecaterine-Enbourg. Too late. Officers and soldiers will only be able to pay their respects before the portraits of members of the imperial family. And the liquidation of the Romanovs will not stop there. In a few months, Eleven other members of the family will be executed. Michael, Nicolas’s brother, Ella, Alexandra’s sister, and nine uncles and cousins. Today we know that the order to execute Nicholas II, his wife and children came from the Kremlin summit. Lenin, Trotsky and Smerle. Lenin, Trotsky and Sverdlov devised a clever plan, allowing the Yekaterinburg Soviet to liquidate the family under the fabricated pretext of various plots designed to free them. And I have written proof of it. For example, Goloshchekin, Head of the Supreme Soviet of Yekaterinburg, went to Moscow twice before the execution. To meet Lenin, Sverdlov and others. Everything was premeditated. There is nothing fortuitous about the assassination of Nicholas II. The truth, The execution must therefore have appeared to be an initiative of local Bolshevik officials, even though they had acted on precise instructions from Lenin. This truth, Lenin did not want it to spread. And he hid it from high officials of the regime, like Adolphe Joffé. In 1918, My father, Soviet ambassador to Berlin, was informed by Moscow that former Tsar Nicholas II had been executed. He asked for it back and the rest of the family. And he never got an answer. The question was avoided. A few times later, Dzerzhinsky, The head of the secret police, passed through Berlin and my father questioned him. Why have my requests never been answered, while everyone, from the Kaiser to Alexandra’s lesser relatives, ask me questions? Dzerzhinsky replied to him, These are special instructions from Lenin. Let’s not say anything to Joffé, He will have less trouble hiding the truth there in Berlin. For more than 50 years, The whole affair remained a mystery. Even the exact location where the remains were buried was unknown. Until 1979, where secret research located an old collapsed bridge not far from the night pit. One morning at the beginning of May, We came here at dawn to make sure we weren’t seen. Some planks were moved and human bones were discovered buried shallowly. We were there, several, at the time the bones were discovered. It was a terrible shock. It was terrifying to see, because the remains had been burned by sulfuric acid. The bones were black and greenish. This pile of increases froze us with horror. Three skulls were found almost immediately. Then we turned into this vlit. And skulls. We have them identified. In 1991, The bones were officially dug up again this time. Two skeletons were missing. Could we still consider that these were indeed the bones of the imperial family? Only answer without appeal, Compare the genetic structure of these bone tissues with that of tissues taken from close relatives. In 1994, Queen Elizabeth is on an official visit to Russia, on the very day of the hundredth anniversary of Nicholas II’s accession to the imperial throne. We visit the Peter and Paul Fortress, where all the Romanov Tsars are buried. Her husband, Prince Philip, one of the closest living relatives of Nicholas II and Alexandra, will give a blood sample for the decisive DNA analysis. The result was positive. He proved, with 99% of certainty, that the exhumed remains were indeed those of Nicolas, of Alexandra and three of their daughters. However, two bodies were missing, which will help prolong rumors that there were survivors of the execution. But all this matter is now in the past, as the current head of the family, Romanoff, says. 18 people from our family were murdered. And at least 30 million Russians also died during this period. SO, us. The Russians, Russians today, Russians of yesterday, the reds and whites of yesterday, We must agree to forgive all the mistakes made by all of us. This would be truly important for Russia. We must turn the page and face what really matters. For Russia, the future. Let’s forget the past.
La famille Romanov exerça le pouvoir en Russie pendant 300 ans, un empire fantastique qui s’effondra en 1918 dans la violence de la révolution. Avant que leur monde ne s’écroule, les Romanov : Nicolas, Alexandra et leurs 5 enfants menèrent une vie enveloppée de mystères.
Au centre de leur histoire se profile, notamment, l’ombre d’un homme mystique, sulfureux et charismatique : Raspoutin.
Aujourd’hui, de nombreuses informations sont devenues accessibles, fermant la porte à des années de spéculation sur le rôle de Raspoutin, l’assassinat de tous les membres de la famille et la réapparition d’Anastasia.
De rares films inédits, des correspondances, des témoins et une grande quantité de documents photos donnent un portrait dramatique et détaillé de cet épisode sanglant de l’histoire de la Russie…
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Слава УралСовету! Подвалу Ипатьева Слава!
🇨🇵 France Yonne 👑⛪ Salut ! Vos vidéos sont beaucoup mieux réalisées que les documentaires de France télévision. Le 5/9/2025 j’ai vu un documentaire de la télé française d’état sur la chaîne 5 sur les commanderies des Templiers en France, c’était nul.
Septembre 2025
🇨🇵 France Yonne 👑⛪ Salut ! Grâce à internet je sais que l’armée russe a vaincu militairement Napoléon Bonaparte, les soldats russes sont restés en France de 1814 à 1818. Les professeurs ne me l’ont pas enseigné à l’école et au collège.
Septembre 2025
Перевод на русский где аудео
Au nom de la Révolution, tuer des familles de nobles ne constitue pas une avancée progressiste.