The Main Directorate of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation has completed the bulk of research to identify the remains allegedly belonging to family members and people from the entourage of Russian Emperor Nicholas II. Reportedly, based on the genetic examinations carried out, it can be argued that in both burials discovered in 1991 and 2007, the remains of 7 people form one family group.
The last Russian emperor Nicholas II, members of his family and servants were shot by the Bolsheviks on the night of July 16-17, 1918 in the basement of the house of engineer Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg. On the night of July 18 in Alapaevsk, Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, princes John Konstantinovich, Konstantin Konstantinovich, Igor Konstantinovich and Prince Vladimir Paley were killed. Prince Sergei Mikhailovich was shot and thrown into a mine. The rest were thrown there alive along with him.
Personal data
Nicholas II Alexandrovich (May 6 (19), 1868, Tsarskoe Selo - on the night of July 16-17, 1918, Yekaterinburg) - Russian emperor, reigned from October 21 (November 2), 1894 to March 2 (March 15), 1917.
Full title of Emperor Nicholas II as Emperor from 1894 to 1917: “By God's favor, We, Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod; Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Chersonese Tauride, Tsar of Georgia; Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volyn, Podolsk and Finland; Prince of Estland, Livonia, Courland and Semigal, Samogit, Bialystok, Korel, Tver, Yugorsk, Perm, Vyatka, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novagorod of the Nizovsky lands, Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslavl, Belozersky, Udora, Obdorsky, Kondiysky, Vitebsk, Mstislavsky and all northern countries Sovereign; and Sovereign of Iversk, Kartalinsky and Kabardinsky lands and regions of Armenia; Cherkasy and Mountain Princes and other Hereditary Sovereign and Possessor, Sovereign of Turkestan; Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Stormarn, Ditmarsen and Oldenburg, and so on, and so on, and so on.”
Work history
Nicholas II received a good education at home as part of a large gymnasium course, as well as according to a specially written program that combined the course of the state and economic departments of the university law faculty with the course of the Academy of the General Staff.
Nicholas II's studies were conducted according to a carefully developed program for 13 years. The first 8 years were devoted to the subjects of the extended gymnasium course. Particular attention was paid to the study of political history, Russian literature, English, German and French, which Nikolai Alexandrovich mastered to perfection. The next 5 years were devoted to the study of military affairs, legal and economic sciences necessary for a statesman. The teaching of these sciences was carried out by outstanding Russian academic scientists with a worldwide reputation: N.N. Beketov, N.N. Obruchev, Ts.A. Cui, M.I. Dragomirov, N.Kh. Bunge, K.P. Pobedonostsev and others.
By the age of 23, Nikolai Romanov was a highly educated young man with a broad outlook, an excellent knowledge of history and literature, and a perfect command of the main European languages. His brilliant education was combined with deep religiosity and knowledge of spiritual literature, which was rare for statesmen of that time.
Nicholas II ascended the throne at the age of 26, earlier than expected, as a result of the premature death of his father, Emperor Alexander III. Nicholas, however, managed to quickly recover from the initial confusion and began to pursue an independent policy, which caused discontent among part of his entourage, which hoped to influence the young tsar. The basis of the state policy of Nicholas II was proclaimed to be a continuation of the policy of his father “to give Russia more internal unity by establishing the Russian elements of the country.”
In his first address to the people, Nikolai Alexandrovich announced that “from now on, He, imbued with the covenants of his deceased parent, accepts a sacred vow in the face of the Almighty to always have as one goal the peaceful prosperity, power and glory of dear Russia and the creation of the happiness of all His loyal subjects.”
In an address to foreign states, Nicholas II stated that “he will devote all his concerns to the development of the internal well-being of Russia and will not shirk in any way from the completely peaceful, firm and straightforward policy that so powerfully contributed to general calm, and Russia will continue to see respect for the law and legal order is the best guarantee of the security of the state.”
The model of a ruler for Nicholas II was Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, who carefully preserved the traditions of antiquity and received the nickname “The Quietest.”
Information about relatives
In appearance, character, habits and very mentality, the father of the last Russian monarch, Alexander III, bore little resemblance to his father. The emperor was distinguished by his enormous height. In his youth, he possessed exceptional strength - he bent coins with his fingers and broke horseshoes; over the years he became corpulent and bulky, but even then, according to contemporaries, there was something graceful in his figure. He was completely devoid of the aristocracy inherent in his grandfather and partly his father. Even in his manner of dressing there was something deliberately unpretentious. For example, he could often be seen in soldier's boots with his trousers tucked into them in a simple way. At home, he wore a Russian shirt with a colored pattern embroidered on the sleeves. Distinguished by his thriftiness, he often appeared in worn trousers, a jacket, a coat or sheepskin coat, and boots.
Unlike all his predecessors on the Russian throne, Alexander adhered to strict family morality. He was an exemplary family man - a loving husband and a good father, he never had mistresses or affairs on the side.
Nicholas' mother - Maria Sophia Frederica Dagmara, or simply Dagmar, daughter of Christian, Prince of Glucksburg, later Christian IX, King of Denmark, Princess of Denmark, in Orthodoxy - Maria Feodorovna, was originally the bride of Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich, the eldest son of Alexander II, who died in 1865. Since 1881 - empress, after the death of her husband in 1894 - dowager empress. Maria Feodorovna's Danish origin is attributed to her hostility towards Germany, which allegedly influenced the foreign policy of Alexander III. She was distinguished by exclusively liberal views. During the reign of Nicholas II, S.Yu. was patronized. Witte.
Personal life
The first meeting of the Tsarevich with his future wife took place in 1884, and in 1889 Nicholas asked his father for his blessing to marry her, but was refused. On November 14, 1894, Nicholas II married the German princess Alice of Hesse, who after baptism took the name Alexandra Feodorovna. In subsequent years, they had four daughters - Olga (November 3, 1895), Tatyana (May 29, 1897), Maria (June 14, 1899) and Anastasia (June 5, 1901). On July 30 (August 12), 1904, the fifth child and only son of the emperor, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich, appeared in Peterhof.
Contemporaries assessed the wife of Nicholas II differently. In particular, S.Yu. Witte wrote that Nicholas II “married a good woman, but a woman who was completely abnormal and who took Him into her arms, which was not difficult given His weak-willedness. [...] The Empress not only did not balance out His shortcomings, but, on the contrary, greatly aggravated them, and Her abnormality began to be reflected in the abnormality of some of the actions of Her August husband. As a result of this state of affairs, from the very first years of the reign of Emperor Nicholas II, vacillations began in one direction or the other and manifestations of various adventures.” A V.N. Kokovtsov gave her a completely different assessment: “In her mature age, already on the Russian throne, She knew only this one passion - for her husband, just as She knew boundless love only for her children, to whom She gave all her tenderness and all her concerns. She was, in the best sense of the word, an impeccable wife and mother, who showed a rare example of the highest family virtue in our time.”
Hobbies
The last Russian emperor was very fond of history, especially Russian. He had idealistic ideas about Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, that his reign was the heyday of Holy Rus'. He firmly believed in the ideas that, in his opinion, Alexei Mikhailovich believed in: devotion to God, concern for the Church, the good of the people.
In addition, he was always distinguished by his love of sports, and we can confidently say that he was the most athletic Russian Tsar. Since childhood, I regularly did gymnastics, loved to kayak, traveled several tens of kilometers, loved horse racing and participated in such competitions myself. In winter, he enthusiastically played Russian hockey and went skating. He was an excellent swimmer and an avid billiard player. He was fond of tennis or, as it was originally called in English, lawn tennis.
Enemies
In different years, depending on the situation, those whom he, guided by one or another consideration, removed from the throne and deprived of power, became the enemies of Nicholas, such as S.Yu. Witte, about whose death the emperor said: “The death of Count Witte was a deep relief for me.”
Companions
One of the reasons for the easy fall of the monarchy in February 1917 was the fact that the emperor had no people left on whom he could rely. Only two people sent news of their readiness to side with the Tsar - Khan of Nakhichevan, a Muslim, head of the Wild Division, and General Fyodor Arturovich Keller, a German by birth. This is what largely predetermined the renunciation.
Weaknesses
Nicholas's main weakness was his family. This is exactly what Grigory Rasputin took advantage of, becoming the most odious figure during the entire reign of the last Russian emperor. In some way that has not been fully studied, he could quickly stop the bleeding of the hemophiliac heir, which the best certified doctors could not do, and thus acquired great power: first over the empress, and then over Nicholas himself.
No amount of gossip could shake the monarch’s trust in the “man of God.” Attempts by close people to “open the eyes” of the queen by telling about the wild lifestyle of the “elder” outside the walls of the royal palaces, which discredited the Romanovs, ended disastrously for their initiators. Even the Empress’s own sister Elizaveta Fedorovna, the widow of the Tsar’s uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, who was blown up in the Kremlin by the Socialist-Revolutionary Ivan Kalyaev in February 1905, paid for this. After she spoke out about the dangers of appearing at Rasputin’s court, the tender friendship of the sisters came to an end. The same was the result of the attempt to talk about Rasputin, which was undertaken by Princess Zinaida Yusupova-Sumarokova-Elston, close to the empress.
As a result, in the last months before the February Revolution, the image of Rasputin became an important part of the speeches of opposition deputies in the State Duma. In particular, on November 1, 1916, at a meeting of the Duma P.N. Miliukov made a speech critical of the government and the “court party,” in which the name of Rasputin was mentioned.
Strengths
The stubborn and tireless will to implement their plans is noted by the majority of people who knew the tsar. Until the plan was implemented, the king constantly returned to him, achieving his goal. The already mentioned historian Oldenburg notes that “the sovereign, over his iron hand, had a velvet glove. His will was not like a thunderclap. It did not manifest itself in explosions or violent clashes; it rather resembled the steady flow of a stream from a mountain height to the plain of the ocean. He avoids obstacles, deviates to the side, but in the end, with constant constancy, he approaches his goal.”
In addition to a strong will and brilliant education, Nikolai possessed all the natural qualities necessary for government activities, first of all, a tremendous ability to work. If necessary, he could work from morning until late at night, studying numerous documents and materials received in his name. (By the way, he also willingly engaged in physical labor - sawing wood, clearing snow, etc.) Possessing a lively mind and a broad outlook, the king quickly grasped the essence of the issues under consideration. The king had an exceptional memory for faces and events. He remembered by sight most of the people he had encountered, and there were thousands of such people.
Merits and failures
The reign of Nicholas II is the most dynamic period in the growth of the Russian people in its entire history. In less than a quarter of a century, Russia's population has increased by 62 million people. The economy grew rapidly. For 1885-1913 industrial output increased 5 times, exceeding the rate of industrial growth in the most developed countries of the world. The Great Siberian Railway was built, in addition, 2000 km of railways were built annually. Russia's national income, according to the most understated estimates, increased from 8 billion rubles. in 1894 to 22-24 billion in 1914, i.e. almost 3 times. The average per capita income of Russian people has doubled. The incomes of workers in industry grew at a particularly high rate. Over a quarter of a century, they have grown at least 3 times. Total expenditures on public education and culture increased 8 times, more than 2 times faster than the costs of education in France and one and a half times in England.
Meanwhile, it was during his reign that Russia was first drawn into the Russo-Japanese War, which ended with the Treaty of Portsmouth in 1905, under the terms of which Russia recognized Korea as Japan’s sphere of influence, ceded to Japan Southern Sakhalin and the rights to the Liaodong Peninsula with the cities of Port Arthur and Dalniy, and then - into the First World War, the logical outcome of which were two revolutions in 1917, which led to the fall of the autocracy and the establishment of the Bolshevik dictatorship in the country.
Compromising evidence
In the fall of 1916, Russian liberals accused Rasputin himself, as well as his protégé Prime Minister Boris Stürmer and Empress Alexandra (and, therefore, even indirectly, the emperor himself) of Germanophile sentiments, which in war conditions was akin to accusations of treason. Nicholas II’s uncle, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich recalled: “For me, for my relatives and for those who often met with the empress, one hint of her German sympathies seemed ridiculous and monstrous. Our attempts to find the sources of these ridiculous accusations led us to the State Duma. When they tried to shame the Duma distributors of this slander, they blamed everything on Rasputin: “If the Empress is such a convinced patriot, how can she tolerate the presence of this drunken man, who can be openly seen in the company of German spies and Germanophiles?” This argument was irresistible, and we racked our brains over how to convince the Tsar to order the expulsion of Rasputin from the capital.”
Kerensky believed that "it would be inexplicable if the German General Staff did not use him (Rasputin)." He hated war and did not shy away from people who opposed it. In his retinue there were always different people, many of dubious reputation, and secret agents could easily penetrate this circle. Rasputin was so talkative and boastful that any agent could just sit and listen to him attentively.
The dossier was prepared based on media materials
KM.RU July 17, 2008
Professor Sergei Mironenko about the personality and fatal mistakes of the last Russian emperor
In the year of the 100th anniversary of the revolution, conversations about Nicholas II and his role in the tragedy of 1917 do not stop: truth and myths are often mixed in these conversations. Scientific director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation Sergei Mironenko- about Nicholas II as a man, ruler, family man, passion-bearer.
“Nicky, you’re just some kind of Muslim!”
Sergei Vladimirovich, in one of your interviews you called Nicholas II “frozen.” What did you mean? What was the emperor like as a person, as a person?
Nicholas II loved the theater, opera and ballet, and loved physical exercise. He had unpretentious tastes. He liked to drink a glass or two of vodka. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich recalled that when they were young, he and Niki once sat on the sofa and kicked with their feet, who would knock whom off the sofa. Or another example - a diary entry during a visit to relatives in Greece about how wonderfully he and his cousin Georgie were left with oranges. He was already quite a grown-up young man, but something childish remained in him: throwing oranges, kicking. Absolutely alive person! But still, it seems to me, he was some kind of... not a daredevil, not “eh!” You know, sometimes meat is fresh, and sometimes it’s first frozen and then defrosted, do you understand? In this sense - “frostbitten”.
Sergey Mironenko
Photo: DP28
Restrained? Many noted that he very dryly described terrible events in his diary: the shooting of a demonstration and the lunch menu were nearby. Or that the emperor remained absolutely calm when receiving difficult news from the front of the Japanese War. What does this indicate?
In the imperial family, keeping a diary was one of the elements of education. A person was taught to write down at the end of the day what happened to him, and thus give himself an account of how you lived that day. If the diaries of Nicholas II were used for the history of weather, then this would be a wonderful source. “Morning, so many degrees of frost, got up at such and such time.” Always! Plus or minus: “sunny, windy” - he always wrote it down.
His grandfather Emperor Alexander II kept similar diaries. The War Ministry published small commemorative books: each sheet is divided into three days, and Alexander II managed to write down his entire day on such a small sheet of paper all day, from the moment he got up until he went to bed. Of course, this was a recording of only the formal side of life. Basically, Alexander II wrote down who he received, with whom he had lunch, with whom he had dinner, where he was, at a review or somewhere else, etc. Rarely, rarely does something emotional break through. In 1855, when his father, Emperor Nicholas I, was dying, he wrote down: “It’s such and such an hour. The last terrible torment." This is a different type of diary! And Nikolai’s emotional assessments are extremely rare. In general, he apparently was an introvert by nature.
- Today you can often see in the press a certain average image of Tsar Nicholas II: a man of noble aspirations, an exemplary family man, but a weak politician. How true is this image?
As for the fact that one image has become established, this is wrong. There are diametrically opposed points of view. For example, academician Yuri Sergeevich Pivovarov claims that Nicholas II was a major, successful statesman. Well, you yourself know that there are many monarchists who bow to Nicholas II.
I think that this is just the right image: he really was a very good person, a wonderful family man and, of course, a deeply religious man. But as a politician, I was absolutely out of place, I would say so.
Coronation of Nicholas II
When Nicholas II ascended the throne, he was 26 years old. Why, despite his brilliant education, was he not ready to be a king? And there is evidence that he did not want to ascend the throne and was burdened by it?
Behind me are the diaries of Nicholas II, which we published: if you read them, everything becomes clear. He was actually a very responsible person, he understood the whole burden of responsibility that fell on his shoulders. But, of course, he did not think that his father, Emperor Alexander III, would die at 49, he thought that he still had some time left. Nicholas was burdened by the ministers' reports. Although one can have different attitudes towards Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, I believe he was absolutely right when he wrote about the traits characteristic of Nicholas II. For example, he said that with Nikolai, the one who came to him last is right. Various issues are being discussed, and Nikolai takes the point of view of the one who came into his office last. Maybe this was not always the case, but this is a certain vector that Alexander Mikhailovich is talking about.
Another of his features is fatalism. Nikolai believed that since he was born on May 6, the day of Job the Long-Suffering, he was destined to suffer. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich told him: “Niki (that was Nikolai’s name in the family), you're just some kind of Muslim! We have the Orthodox faith, it gives free will, and your life depends on you, there is no such fatalistic destiny in our faith.” But Nikolai was sure that he was destined to suffer.
In one of your lectures you said that he really suffered a lot. Do you think that this was somehow connected with his mentality and attitude?
You see, every person makes his own destiny. If you think from the very beginning that you are made to suffer, in the end you will in life!
The most important misfortune, of course, is that they had a terminally ill child. This cannot be discounted. And it turned out literally immediately after birth: the Tsarevich’s umbilical cord was bleeding... This, of course, frightened the family; they hid for a very long time that their child had hemophilia. For example, the sister of Nicholas II, Grand Duchess Ksenia, found out about this almost 8 years after the heir was born!
Then, difficult situations in politics - Nicholas was not ready to rule the vast Russian Empire in such a difficult period of time.
About the birth of Tsarevich Alexei
The summer of 1904 was marked by a joyful event, the birth of the unfortunate Tsarevich. Russia had been waiting for an heir for so long, and how many times had this hope turned into disappointment that his birth was greeted with enthusiasm, but the joy did not last long. Even in our house there was despondency. The uncle and aunt undoubtedly knew that the child was born with hemophilia, a disease characterized by bleeding due to the inability of the blood to clot quickly. Of course, the parents quickly learned about the nature of their son’s illness. One can imagine what a terrible blow this was for them; from that moment on, the empress’s character began to change, and her health, both physical and mental, began to deteriorate from painful experiences and constant anxiety.
- But he was prepared for this from childhood, like any heir!
You see, whether you cook or not, you can’t discount a person’s personal qualities. If you read his correspondence with his bride, who later became Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, you will see that he writes to her about how he rode twenty miles and feels good, and she writes to him about how she was in church, how she prayed. Their correspondence shows everything, from the very beginning! Do you know what he called her? He called her “owl”, and she called him “calf”. Even this one detail gives a clear picture of their relationship.
Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna
Initially, the family was against his marriage to the Princess of Hesse. Can we say that Nicholas II showed character here, some strong-willed qualities, insisting on his own?
They weren't entirely against it. They wanted to marry him to a French princess - because of the turn in the foreign policy of the Russian Empire from an alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary to an alliance with France that emerged in the early 90s of the 19th century. Alexander III wanted to strengthen family ties with the French, but Nicholas categorically refused. A little-known fact - Alexander III and his wife Maria Feodorovna, when Alexander was still just the heir to the throne, became the successors of Alice of Hesse - the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna: they were the young godmother and father! So, there were still connections. And Nikolai wanted to get married at all costs.
- But he was still a follower?
Of course there was. You see, we must distinguish between stubbornness and will. Very often weak-willed people are stubborn. I think that in a certain sense Nikolai was like that. There are wonderful moments in their correspondence with Alexandra Fedorovna. Especially during the war, when she writes to him: “Be Peter the Great, be Ivan the Terrible!” and then adds: “I see how you smile.” She writes to him “be,” but she herself understands perfectly well that he cannot be, by character, the same as his father was.
For Nikolai, his father was always an example. He wanted, of course, to be like him, but he couldn’t.
Dependence on Rasputin led Russia to destruction
- How strong was Alexandra Feodorovna’s influence on the emperor?
Alexandra Fedorovna had a huge influence on him. And through Alexandra Feodorovna - Rasputin. And, by the way, relations with Rasputin became one of the rather strong catalysts for the revolutionary movement and general dissatisfaction with Nicholas. It was not so much the figure of Rasputin himself that caused discontent, but the image created by the press of a dissolute old man who influences political decision-making. Add to this the suspicion that Rasputin is a German agent, which was fueled by the fact that he was against the war with Germany. Rumors spread that Alexandra Fedorovna was a German spy. In general, everything rolled along a well-known road, which ultimately led to renunciation...
Caricature of Rasputin
Peter Stolypin
- What other political mistakes became fatal?
There were many of them. One of them is distrust of outstanding statesmen. Nikolai could not save them, he could not! The example of Stolypin is very indicative in this sense. Stolypin is truly an outstanding person. Outstanding not only and not so much because he uttered in the Duma those words that are now being repeated by everyone: “You need great upheavals, but we need a great Russia.”
That's not why! But because he understood: the main obstacle in a peasant country is the community. And he firmly pursued the policy of destroying the community, and this was contrary to the interests of a fairly wide range of people. After all, when Stolypin arrived in Kyiv as prime minister in 1911, he was already a “lame duck.” The issue of his resignation was resolved. He was killed, but the end of his political career came earlier.
In history, as you know, there is no subjunctive mood. But I really want to dream up. What if Stolypin had been at the head of the government longer, if he had not been killed, if the situation had turned out differently, what would have happened? If Russia had so recklessly entered into a war with Germany, would the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand be worth getting involved in this world war?..
1908 Tsarskoye Selo. Rasputin with the Empress, five children and governess
However, I really want to use the subjunctive mood. The events taking place in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century seem so spontaneous, irreversible - the absolute monarchy has outlived its usefulness, and sooner or later what happened would have happened; the personality of the tsar did not play a decisive role. This is wrong?
You know, this question, from my point of view, is useless, because the task of history is not to guess what would have happened if, but to explain why it happened this way and not otherwise. This has already happened. But why did it happen? After all, history has many paths, but for some reason it chooses one out of many, why?
Why did it happen that the previously very friendly, close-knit Romanov family (the ruling house of the Romanovs) turned out to be completely split by 1916? Nikolai and his wife were alone, but the whole family - I emphasize, the whole family - was against it! Yes, Rasputin played his role - the family split largely because of him. Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna, sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, tried to talk to her about Rasputin, to dissuade her - it was useless! Nicholas's mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, tried to speak - it was useless.
In the end, it came to a grand-ducal conspiracy. Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, the beloved cousin of Nicholas II, took part in the murder of Rasputin. Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich wrote to Maria Feodorovna: “The hypnotist has been killed, now it’s the hypnotized woman’s turn, she must disappear.”
They all saw that this indecisive policy, this dependence on Rasputin was leading Russia to destruction, but they could not do anything! They thought that they would kill Rasputin and things would somehow get better, but they didn’t get better - everything had gone too far. Nikolai believed that relations with Rasputin were a private matter of his family, in which no one had the right to interfere. He did not understand that the emperor could not have a private relationship with Rasputin, that the matter had taken a political turn. And he cruelly miscalculated, although as a person one can understand him. So personality definitely matters a lot!
About Rasputin and his murder
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
Everything that happened to Russia thanks to the direct or indirect influence of Rasputin can, in my opinion, be considered as a vengeful expression of the dark, terrible, all-consuming hatred that for centuries burned in the soul of the Russian peasant in relation to the upper classes, who did not try to understand him or attract him to your side. Rasputin loved both the empress and the emperor in his own way. He felt sorry for them, as one feels sorry for children who have made a mistake due to the fault of adults. They both liked his apparent sincerity and kindness. His speeches - they had never heard anything like it before - attracted them with its simple logic and novelty. The emperor himself sought closeness with his people. But Rasputin, who had no education and was not accustomed to such an environment, was spoiled by the boundless trust that his high patrons showed him.
Emperor Nicholas II and Supreme Commander-in-Chief led. Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich during the inspection of the fortifications of the Przemysl fortress
Is there evidence that Empress Alexandra Feodorovna directly influenced her husband’s specific political decisions?
Certainly! At one time there was a book by Kasvinov, “23 Steps Down,” about the murder of the royal family. So, one of the most serious political mistakes of Nicholas II was the decision to become the supreme commander in chief in 1915. This was, if you like, the first step to renunciation!
- And only Alexandra Fedorovna supported this decision?
She convinced him! Alexandra Feodorovna was a very strong-willed, very smart and very cunning woman. What was she fighting for? For the future of their son. She was afraid that Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army in 1914-1915 - ed.), who was very popular in the army, will deprive Niki of the throne and become emperor himself. Let's leave aside the question of whether this really happened.
But, believing in Nikolai Nikolaevich’s desire to take the Russian throne, the empress began to engage in intrigue. “In this difficult time of testing, only you can lead the army, you must do it, this is your duty,” she persuaded her husband. And Nikolai succumbed to her persuasion, sent his uncle to command the Caucasian Front and took command of the Russian army. He did not listen to his mother, who begged him not to take a disastrous step - she just perfectly understood that if he became commander-in-chief, all failures at the front would be associated with his name; nor the eight ministers who wrote him a petition; nor the Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko.
The emperor left the capital, lived for months at headquarters, and as a result was unable to return to the capital, where a revolution took place in his absence.
Emperor Nicholas II and front commanders at a meeting of Headquarters
Nicholas II at the front
Nicholas II with generals Alekseev and Pustovoitenko at Headquarters
What kind of person was the empress? You said - strong-willed, smart. But at the same time, she gives the impression of a sad, melancholy, cold, closed person...
I wouldn't say she was cold. Read their letters - after all, in letters a person opens up. She is a passionate, loving woman. A powerful woman who fights for what she considers necessary, fighting for the throne to be passed on to her son, despite his terminal illness. You can understand her, but, in my opinion, she lacked breadth of vision.
We will not talk about why Rasputin acquired such influence over her. I am deeply convinced that the matter is not only about the sick Tsarevich Alexei, whom he helped. The fact is, the empress herself needed a person who would support her in this hostile world. She arrived, shy, embarrassed, and in front of her was the rather strong Empress Maria Feodorovna, whom the court loved. Maria Feodorovna loves balls, but Alix doesn’t like balls. St. Petersburg society is accustomed to dancing, accustomed, accustomed to having fun, but the new empress is a completely different person.
Nicholas II with his mother Maria Fedorovna
Nicholas II with his wife
Nicholas II with Alexandra Feodorovna
Gradually, the relationship between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law gets worse and worse. And in the end it comes to a complete break. Maria Fedorovna, in her last diary before the revolution, in 1916, calls Alexandra Fedorovna only “fury.” “This fury” - she can’t even write her name...
Elements of the great crisis that led to abdication
- However, Nikolai and Alexandra were a wonderful family, right?
Of course, a wonderful family! They sit, read books to each other, their correspondence is wonderful and tender. They love each other, they are spiritually close, physically close, they have wonderful children. Children are different, some of them are more serious, some, like Anastasia, are more mischievous, some smoke secretly.
About the atmosphere in Nikolai’s family II and Alexandra Feodorovna
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
The Emperor and his wife were always affectionate in their relationships with each other and with their children, and it was so pleasant to be in an atmosphere of love and family happiness.
At a costume ball. 1903
But after the murder of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (Governor General of Moscow, uncle of Nicholas II, husband of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna - ed.) in 1905, the family locked themselves in Tsarskoye Selo, not a single big ball again, the last big ball took place in 1903, a costume ball, where Nikolai dressed as Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, Alexandra dressed as the queen. And then they become more and more isolated.
Alexandra Fedorovna did not understand a lot of things, did not understand the situation in the country. For example, failures in the war... When they tell you that Russia almost won the First World War, do not believe it. A serious socio-economic crisis was growing in Russia. First of all, it manifested itself in the inability of the railways to cope with freight flows. It was impossible to simultaneously transport food to large cities and transport military supplies to the front. Despite the railway boom that began under Witte in the 1880s, Russia, compared to European countries, had a poorly developed railway network.
Groundbreaking ceremony for the Trans-Siberian Railway
- Despite the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway, was this not enough for such a large country?
Absolutely! This was not enough; the railways could not cope. Why am I talking about this? When food shortages began in Petrograd and Moscow, what does Alexandra Fedorovna write to her husband? "Our Friend advises (Friend – that’s what Alexandra Fedorovna called Rasputin in her correspondence. – ed.): order one or two wagons with food to be attached to each train that is sent to the front.” To write something like this means that you are completely unaware of what is happening. This is a search for simple solutions, solutions to a problem whose roots do not lie in this at all! What is one or two carriages for the multimillion-dollar Petrograd and Moscow?..
Yet it grew!
Prince Felix Yusupov, participant in the conspiracy against Rasputin
Two or three years ago we received the Yusupov archive - Viktor Fedorovich Vekselberg bought it and donated it to the State Archive. This archive contains letters from teacher Felix Yusupov in the Corps of Pages, who went with Yusupov to Rakitnoye, where he was exiled after participating in the murder of Rasputin. Two weeks before the revolution he returned to Petrograd. And he writes to Felix, who is still in Rakitnoye: “Can you imagine that in two weeks I have not seen or eaten a single piece of meat?” No meat! Bakeries are closed because there is no flour. And this is not the result of some malicious conspiracy, as is sometimes written about, which is complete nonsense and nonsense. And evidence of the crisis that has gripped the country.
The leader of the Kadet Party, Miliukov, speaks in the State Duma - he seems to be a wonderful historian, a wonderful person, but what does he say from the Duma rostrum? He throws accusation after accusation at the government, of course, addressing them to Nicholas II, and ends each passage with the words: “What is this? Stupidity or treason? The word “treason” has already been thrown around.
It's always easy to blame your failures on someone else. It’s not us who fight badly, it’s treason! Rumors begin to circulate that the Empress has a direct golden cable laid from Tsarskoe Selo to Wilhelm’s headquarters, that she is selling state secrets. When she arrives at headquarters, the officers are defiantly silent in her presence. It's like a snowball growing! The economy, the railway crisis, failures at the front, the political crisis, Rasputin, the family split - all these are elements of a great crisis, which ultimately led to the abdication of the emperor and the collapse of the monarchy.
By the way, I am sure that those people who thought about the abdication of Nicholas II, and he himself, did not at all imagine that this was the end of the monarchy. Why? Because they had no experience of political struggle, they did not understand that horses cannot be changed in midstream! Therefore, the commanders of the fronts, one and all, wrote to Nicholas that in order to save the Motherland and continue the war, he must abdicate the throne.
About the situation at the beginning of the war
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
At the beginning the war was successful. Every day a crowd of Muscovites staged patriotic demonstrations in the park opposite our house. People in the front rows held flags and portraits of the Emperor and Empress. With their heads uncovered, they sang the national anthem, shouted words of approval and greeting, and calmly dispersed. People perceived it as entertainment. Enthusiasm took on more and more violent forms, but the authorities did not want to interfere with this expression of loyal feelings, people refused to leave the square and disperse. The last gathering turned into rampant drinking and ended with bottles and rocks being thrown at our windows. The police were called and lined up along the sidewalk to block access to our house. Excited shouts and dull murmurs from the crowd could be heard from the street all night.
About the bomb in the temple and changing moods
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
On the eve of Easter, when we were in Tsarskoe Selo, a conspiracy was discovered. Two members of a terrorist organization, disguised as singers, tried to sneak into the choir, which sang at services in the palace church. Apparently, they planned to carry bombs under their clothes and detonate them in the church during the Easter service. The emperor, although he knew about the conspiracy, went with his family to church as usual. Many people were arrested that day. Nothing happened, but it was the saddest service I have ever attended.
Abdication of the throne by Emperor Nicholas II.
There are still myths about the abdication - that it had no legal force, or that the emperor was forced to abdicate...
This just surprises me! How can you say such nonsense? You see, the renunciation manifesto was published in all newspapers, in all of them! And in the year and a half that Nikolai lived after this, he never once said: “No, they forced me to do this, this is not my real renunciation!”
The attitude towards the emperor and empress in society is also “steps down”: from admiration and devotion to ridicule and aggression?
When Rasputin was killed, Nicholas II was at headquarters in Mogilev, and the Empress was in the capital. What is she doing? Alexandra Fedorovna calls the Petrograd Chief of Police and gives orders to arrest Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich and Yusupov, participants in the murder of Rasputin. This caused an explosion of indignation in the family. Who is she?! What right does she have to give orders to arrest someone? This proves 100% who rules us - not Nikolai, but Alexandra!
Then the family (mother, grand dukes and grand duchesses) turned to Nikolai with a request not to punish Dmitry Pavlovich. Nikolai put a resolution on the document: “I am surprised by your appeal to me. No one is allowed to kill! A decent answer? Of course yes! No one dictated this to him, he himself wrote it from the depths of his soul.
In general, Nicholas II as a person can be respected - he was an honest, decent person. But not too smart and without a strong will.
“I don’t feel sorry for myself, but I feel sorry for the people”
Alexander III and Maria Feodorovna
The famous phrase of Nicholas II after his abdication: “I don’t feel sorry for myself, but feel sorry for the people.” He really rooted for the people, for the country. How much did he know his people?
Let me give you an example from another area. When Maria Feodorovna married Alexander Alexandrovich and when they - then the Tsarevich and the Tsarevna - were traveling around Russia, she described such a situation in her diary. She, who grew up in a rather poor but democratic Danish royal court, could not understand why her beloved Sasha did not want to communicate with the people. He doesn’t want to leave the ship on which they were traveling to see the people, he doesn’t want to accept bread and salt, he’s absolutely not interested in all this.
But she arranged it so that he had to get off at one of the points on their route where they landed. He did everything flawlessly: he received the elders, bread and salt, and charmed everyone. He came back and... gave her a wild scandal: he stomped his feet and broke a lamp. She was terrified! Her sweet and beloved Sasha, who throws a kerosene lamp on the wooden floor, is about to set everything on fire! She couldn't understand why? Because the unity of the king and the people was like a theater where everyone played their roles.
Even chronicle footage of Nicholas II sailing away from Kostroma in 1913 has been preserved. People go chest-deep into the water, stretch out their hands to him, this is the Tsar-Father... and after 4 years these same people sing shameful ditties about both the Tsar and the Tsarina!
- The fact that, for example, his daughters were sisters of mercy, was that also theater?
No, I think it was sincere. They were, after all, deeply religious people, and, of course, Christianity and charity are practically synonymous. The girls really were sisters of mercy, Alexandra Fedorovna really assisted during operations. Some of the daughters liked it, some not so much, but they were no exception among the imperial family, among the House of Romanov. They gave up their palaces for hospitals - there was a hospital in the Winter Palace, and not only the emperor’s family, but also other grand duchesses. Men fought, and women did mercy. So mercy is not just ostentatious.
Princess Tatiana in the hospital
Alexandra Fedorovna - sister of mercy
Princesses with the wounded in the infirmary of Tsarskoe Selo, winter 1915-16
But in a sense, any court action, any court ceremony is a theater, with its own script, with its own characters, and so on.
Nikolai II and Alexandra Fedorovna in the hospital for the wounded
From the memoirs of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna
The Empress, who spoke Russian very well, walked around the wards and talked for a long time with each patient. I walked behind and not so much listened to the words - she told everyone the same thing - but watched the expressions on their faces. Despite the empress's sincere sympathy for the suffering of the wounded, something prevented her from expressing her true feelings and comforting those to whom she addressed. Although she spoke Russian correctly and almost without an accent, people did not understand her: her words did not find a response in their souls. They looked at her in fear when she approached and started a conversation. I visited hospitals with the emperor more than once. His visits looked different. The Emperor behaved simply and charmingly. With his appearance, a special atmosphere of joy arose. Despite his small stature, he always seemed taller than everyone present and moved from bed to bed with extraordinary dignity. After a short conversation with him, the expression of anxious expectation in the eyes of the patients was replaced by joyful animation.
1917 - This year marks the 100th anniversary of the revolution. How, in your opinion, should we talk about it, how should we approach discussing this topic? Ipatiev House
How was the decision made about their canonization? “Digged”, as you say, weighed. After all, the commission did not immediately declare him a martyr; there were quite big disputes on this matter. It was not for nothing that he was canonized as a passion-bearer, as one who gave his life for the Orthodox faith. Not because he was an emperor, not because he was an outstanding statesman, but because he did not abandon Orthodoxy. Until the very end of their martyrdom, the royal family constantly invited priests to serve mass, even in the Ipatiev House, not to mention Tobolsk. The family of Nicholas II was a deeply religious family.
- But even about canonization there are different opinions.
They were canonized as passion-bearers - what different opinions could there be?
Some insist that the canonization was hasty and politically motivated. What can I say to this?
From the report of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsky and Kolomna, pChairman of the Synodal Commission for the Canonization of Saints at the Bishops' Jubilee Council
... Behind the many sufferings endured by the Royal Family over the last 17 months of their lives, which ended with execution in the basement of the Ekaterinburg Ipatiev House on the night of July 17, 1918, we see people who sincerely sought to embody the commandments of the Gospel in their lives. In the suffering endured by the Royal Family in captivity with meekness, patience and humility, in their martyrdom, the evil-conquering light of Christ's faith was revealed, just as it shone in the life and death of millions of Orthodox Christians who suffered persecution for Christ in the twentieth century. It is in understanding this feat of the Royal Family that the Commission, in complete unanimity and with the approval of the Holy Synod, finds it possible to glorify in the Council the new martyrs and confessors of Russia in the guise of the passion-bearers Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra, Tsarevich Alexy, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia.
- How do you generally assess the level of discussions about Nicholas II, about the imperial family, about 1917 today?
What is a discussion? How can you debate with the ignorant? In order to say something, a person must know at least something; if he does not know anything, it is useless to discuss with him. So much garbage has appeared about the royal family and the situation in Russia at the beginning of the twentieth century in recent years. But what is encouraging is that there are also very serious works, for example, studies by Boris Nikolaevich Mironov, Mikhail Abramovich Davydov, who are engaged in economic history. So Boris Nikolaevich Mironov has a wonderful work, where he analyzed the metric data of people who were called up for military service. When a person was called up for service, his height, weight, and so on were measured. Mironov was able to establish that in the fifty years that passed after the liberation of the serfs, the height of conscripts increased by 6-7 centimeters!
- So you started eating better?
Certainly! Life has become better! But what did Soviet historiography talk about? “Aggravation, higher than usual, of the needs and misfortunes of the oppressed classes,” “relative impoverishment,” “absolute impoverishment,” and so on. In fact, as I understand it, if you believe the works I named - and I have no reason not to believe them - the revolution occurred not because people began to live worse, but because, paradoxical as it may sound, it was better began to live! But everyone wanted to live even better. The situation of the people even after the reform was extremely difficult, the situation was terrible: the working day was 11 hours, terrible working conditions, but in the village they began to eat better and dress better. There was a protest against the slow movement forward; I wanted to go faster.
Sergey Mironenko.
Photo: Alexander Bury / russkiymir.ru
They don’t seek good from good, in other words? Sounds threatening...
Why?
Because I can’t help but want to draw an analogy with our days: over the past 25 years, people have learned that they can live better...
They don’t seek good from goodness, yes. For example, the Narodnaya Volya revolutionaries who killed Alexander II, the Tsar-Liberator, were also unhappy. Although he is a king-liberator, he is indecisive! If he doesn’t want to go further with reforms, he needs to be pushed. If he doesn’t go, we need to kill him, we need to kill those who oppress the people... You can’t isolate yourself from this. We need to understand why this all happened. I don’t advise you to draw analogies with today, because analogies are usually wrong.
Usually today they repeat something else: the words of Klyuchevsky that history is an overseer who punishes for ignorance of its lessons; that those who do not know their history are doomed to repeat its mistakes...
Of course, you need to know history not only in order to avoid making previous mistakes. I think the main thing for which you need to know your history is in order to feel like a citizen of your country. Without knowing your own history, you cannot be a citizen, in the truest sense of the word.
The last Russian emperor loved port wine, disarmed the planet, raised his stepson and almost moved the capital to Yalta [photo, video]
Photo: RIA Novosti
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Nicholas II ascended the throne on November 2, 1894. What do we all remember about this king? Basically, school cliches are stuck in my head: Nikolai is bloody, weak, was under the strong influence of his wife, is to blame for Khodynka, established the Duma, dispersed the Duma, was shot near Yekaterinburg... Oh yes, he also conducted the first census of Russia, recording himself as “owner of the land” Russian". Moreover, Rasputin looms on the side with his dubious role in history. In general, the image turns out to be such that any schoolchild is sure: Nicholas II is almost the most shameful Russian Tsar of all eras. And this despite the fact that most of the documents, photographs, letters and diaries remained from Nikolai and his family. There is even a recording of his voice, which is quite low. His life has been thoroughly studied, and at the same time it is almost unknown to the general public outside the clichés from the textbook. Did you know, for example, that:
1) Nicholas took the throne in Crimea. There, in Livadia, a royal estate near Yalta, his father Alexander III died. A confused young man, literally crying from the responsibility that had fallen on him - this is how the future king looked then. Mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, did not want to swear allegiance to her son! The younger one, Mikhail, is who she saw on the throne.
2) And since we are talking about Crimea, it was to Yalta that he dreamed of moving the capital from his unloved St. Petersburg. The sea, the fleet, trade, the proximity of European borders... But I didn’t dare, of course.
3) Nicholas II almost handed over the throne to his eldest daughter Olga. In 1900, he fell ill with typhus (again in Yalta, well, just a fateful city for the family of the last Russian emperor). The king was dying. Since the time of Paul I, the law has prescribed: the throne is inherited only through the male line. However, bypassing this order, the conversation turned to Olga, who was then 5 years old. The king, however, pulled out and recovered. But the idea of staging a coup in Olga’s favor, and then marrying her off to a suitable candidate who would rule the country instead of the unpopular Nicholas - this thought excited the royal relatives for a long time and pushed them into intrigue.
4) It is rarely said that Nicholas II became the first global peacemaker. In 1898, at his instigation, a note on a general limitation of armaments was published and a program for an international peace conference was developed. It took place in May of the following year in The Hague. 20 European countries, 4 Asian, 2 American took part. This act of the tsar simply did not fit into the minds of the then progressive intelligentsia of Russia. How can this be, he is a militarist and an imperialist?! Yes, the idea of the prototype of the UN, of conferences on disarmament, arose precisely in Nikolai’s head. And long before the World War.
5) It was Nikolai who completed the Siberian railway. It is still the main artery connecting the country, but for some reason it is not customary to give credit to this king. Meanwhile, he considered the Siberian railway one of his main tasks. Nikolai generally foresaw many challenges that Russia then had to deal with in the 20th century. He said, for example, that the population of China is growing astronomically, and this is a reason to strengthen and develop Siberian cities. (And this at a time when China was called sleeping).
Nicholas' reforms (monetary, judicial, wine monopoly, working day law) are also rarely mentioned. It is believed that since the reforms were started in previous reigns, then Nicholas II seems to have no special merit. The Tsar “only” pulled this burden and complained that he “worked like a convict.” “Only” brought the country to that peak, 1913, by which the economy will be measured for a long time to come. He just confirmed two of the most famous reformers in office - Witte and Stolypin. So, 1913: the strongest gold ruble, income from the export of Vologda oil is higher than from the export of gold, Russia is the world leader in grain trade.
6) Nicholas was like two peas in a pod like his cousin, the future English king George V. Their mothers are sisters. Even relatives confused “Nicky” and “Georgie”.
"Nicky" and "Georgie". They are so similar that even their relatives confused them
7) Raised his adopted son and daughter. More precisely, the children of his uncle Pavel Alexandrovich - Dmitry and Maria. Their mother died in childbirth, their father quite soon entered into a new marriage (unequal), and the two little grand dukes were eventually raised by Nicholas personally, they called him “dad”, the empress “mama”. He loved Dmitry like his own son. (This is the same Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, who later, together with Felix Yusupov, will kill Rasputin, for which he will be exiled, survive the revolution, escape to Europe and even have time to have an affair with Coco Chanel there).
10) I couldn’t stand women’s singing. He would run away when his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, or one of the daughters or ladies-in-waiting sat down at the piano and started playing romances. The courtiers recall that at such moments the king complained: “Well, they howled...”
11) I read a lot, especially contemporaries, subscribed to a lot of magazines. Most of all he loved Averchenko.
Until the end of his days, Tsar Nicholas II kept a certain notebook. This is a summary of the history of Russia, which was written by one of his great ancestors - the reformer Tsar Alexander II, being the heir to the throne. “The Romanovs...” - the notebook is proudly titled. “Romanovs” - this is how one can title three whole centuries of Russian history.
1. “An excursion into heraldry”
Full title of Emperor Nicholas II
Nicholas II
"By the grace of God, We, Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia, Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod; Tsar of Kazan, Tsar of Astrakhan, Tsar of Poland, Tsar of Siberia, Tsar of Tauride Chersonese, Tsar of Georgia; Sovereign of Pskov and Grand Duke of Smolensk, Lithuania, Volyn, Podolsk and Finland; Prince of Estland, Livonia, Courland and Semigal, Samogitsky, Bialystok, Korelsky, Tver, Yugorsky, Perm, Vyatsky, Bulgarian and others; Sovereign and Grand Duke of Novgorod, Nizovsky lands, Chernigov, Ryazan, Polotsky, Rostov, Yaroslavl , Belozersky, Udorsky, Obdorsky, Kondiysky, Vitebsk, Mstislavsky and all northern countries Sovereign; and Sovereign of the Iversk, Kartalin and Kabardian lands and regions of Armenia; Cherkassy and Mountain Princes and other Hereditary Sovereign and Possessor, Sovereign of Turkestan; Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig- Holsteinsky, Stormansky, Ditmarsensky and Albdenburgsky and so on, and so on, and so on."
Large state emblem
In the golden shield there is a black double-headed eagle, crowned with two imperial crowns, above which is the same, but larger, crown, from under which fluttering ends of the ribbon of the Order of St. Andrew emerge. The state eagle holds a scepter and orb in its paws. The Moscow coat of arms is placed on the eagle's chest: the shield of St. in red with gold edges. George in silver armor and a blue robe, on a silver horse covered with a crimson blanket with gold fringe, striking a golden dragon with green wings with a spear, also golden, with an eight-pointed cross on the top of the shaft. The shield is topped with the helmet of Prince Alexander Nevsky. Black and gold mantle. Around the shield is a chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. Shield bearers - Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel. The canopy is gold, crowned with the imperial crown, embroidered with Russian eagles and lined with ermine. On the canopy there is a red inscription “GOD IS WITH US.” Above the canopy appears a state banner, with a shaft topped with an eight-pointed cross. The golden canvas of the banner depicts the average state emblem, but without the nine shields surrounding it. The main shield is surrounded below by nine shields with the coats of arms of the domains, crowned with corresponding crowns. Above it are six more shields with territorial coats of arms.
Family coat of arms of His Imperial Majesty
The shield is cut. To the right is the coat of arms of the Romanov family: in a silver field there is a red vulture holding a golden sword and tarch, crowned with a small eagle; on the black border there are eight severed lion heads, four gold and four silver. To the left is the coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein: a four-part shield with an extremity and a small shield in the middle; in the first part - the Norwegian coat of arms: in a red field a golden crowned lion with a silver halberd; in the second part - the coat of arms of Schleswig: in a golden field there are two blue leopard lions; in the third part - the coat of arms of Holstein: in a red field, a crossed small shield, silver and red; around the shield is a silver leaf, cut into three parts, and three silver nails with ends to the corners of the shield; in the fourth part - the coat of arms of Stormarn: in a red field there is a silver swan with black paws and a golden crown on the neck; at the end - the coat of arms of Ditmarsen: in a red field, golden, with a raised sword, a rider on a silver horse covered with black cloth; the middle small shield is also dissected: in the right half is the coat of arms of Oldenburg: in a golden field there are two red belts; on the left is the Delmenhorst coat of arms: in a blue field there is a golden cross with a sharp end at the bottom. This small shield is crowned with a grand ducal crown, and the main one with a royal crown. Coats of Arms of Their Majesties the Empresses
The large coat of arms of Their Majesties the Empresses is the same as the average Russian State coat of arms, with the only difference being that the coats of arms surrounding the main shield are placed along with it on the same shield and in its middle, above the small shield, is the crown of Monomakh. To this coat of arms, on the same or another shield, is added the family coat of arms of the empress. Above the shield or shields, instead of a helmet, is a small imperial crown. Around the coat of arms are the signs of the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Catherine the Great Martyr.
The small coat of arms of Their Majesties is the same as the small state coat of arms, combined with the family coat of arms of the empress; the shield is crowned with an imperial crown and decorated with the insignia of the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Catherine the Great Martyr.
The coats of arms of the Romanov family, and all members of the imperial family (large and small, established according to their degrees of descent from the person of the emperor), were approved on December 8, 1856. Drawings of these coats of arms are reproduced in the Complete Collection of Laws, vol. XXXII (1857) under No. 31720. Descriptions of these coats of arms are given in the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, vol. I, part 1, Code of Basic State Laws. Ed. 1906 Appendix II.
Nicholas II Alexandrovich (05/6/1868 - 07/17/1918)
Emperor of All Russia (October 21, 1894 - March 2, 1917), ascended the throne after the death of his father Alexander III, on October 21, 1894. On May 14, 1895, the coronation of Nicholas II took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The coronation was marked by a stampede on Khodynka Field, in which several hundred people died.
The ancestors of the boyar family of the Romanovs were a noble native of the Prussian land, Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla and his brother Fedor, who came to Rus' in the 14th century. They gave rise to numerous offspring and many of the most noble Russian families.
Andrei Kobyla's great-great-granddaughter Anastasia became the queen - the wife of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The Tsarina's brother Nikita Romanovich was especially close to the cruel Tsar. But Ivan the Terrible dies. According to his will, Nikita Romanovich is appointed one of the guardians - advisers to his nephew - the new Tsar Fedor. A struggle for power begins.
At the behest of the all-powerful Boris Godunov, Tsar Fyodor’s father-in-law, the eldest of Nikita Romanovich’s sons was tonsured a monk under the name Filaret.
Tsar Fedor dies, and the ancient Rurik dynasty ends. And then dark times come in Rus' - the Time of Troubles. Election to the throne of Boris Godunov, suspected of murdering the heir to the throne, the young Dmitry; unprecedented famine and pestilence; death of Godunov; the invasion of the Poles into Rus' and the impostor False Dmitry, placed by the Poles on the Russian throne; general impoverishment, cannibalism and robbery...
Then, during the Time of Troubles, Filaret Romanov was returned from exile and became Metropolitan of Rostov.
But the Poles were expelled from Moscow, the liar died, and in 1613 the Great Zemsky Council finally ended the terrible era of the interregnum and the Time of Troubles.
The son of Metropolitan Philaret Mikhail Romanov, who was at that time in the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery, was unanimously elected to the throne. On February 21, 1613, the three-hundred-year history of the House of Romanov began.
As a result of endless dynastic marriages, by the 20th century there was almost no Russian blood left in the veins of the Russian Romanov tsars... But the “Russian tsar” is already a nationality. And the German princess, who became famous under the name of Empress Catherine the Great, felt truly Russian. So Russian that when her brother was going to visit Russia, she said indignantly: “Why? There are plenty of Germans in Russia even without him.” And Nicholas’s father, Alexander III, both in appearance and in habits, is a typical Russian landowner who adores everything Russian. And the proud formula - “Autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality” - is in the German blood of the Russian tsars.
Nicholas's mother is the Danish princess Dagmara, his grandmother is the Danish queen. The grandmother was nicknamed “the mother-in-law of all of Europe”: her countless daughters, sons and grandchildren connected almost all the royal houses with each other, uniting the continent from England to Greece in such a funny way.
Her daughter Princess Dagmara was first engaged to the eldest son of Alexander II, Nicholas. But Nicholas dies of consumption in Nice, and Alexander becomes heir to the throne. Along with the title, the new heir took his late brother's fiancée as his wife: on his deathbed, the dying Nicholas himself joined their hands. The Danish Princess Dagmara became Her Imperial Highness Maria Feodorovna.
The marriage turned out to be happy. They have many children. Alexander was a wonderful family man: maintaining the foundations of the family and the state was his main commandment.
- Consistency is the main motto of Nicholas’s father, the future Emperor Alexander III.
- Reforms, changes and search are the main motto of his grandfather, Emperor Alexander II.
And these frequent passions for new ideas found a kind of continuation in my grandfather’s endless love interests. In 1880, Nikolai’s grandmother, Maria Alexandrovna, the official wife of Alexander II, died.
His grandfather marries his mistress. Although the intelligent and scrupulous princess is in a hurry to renounce the rights to the throne for her son, everyone understands: what is impossible today is already tomorrow... Alexander II is 62 years old, but he is in the prime of his strength and health. Nikolai's father is clearly relegated to the background. And suddenly, a few months after the “shameful” marriage, a bomb exploded on the Catherine Canal. And, of course, Nicholas heard what was being said around him: “God’s punishment for the sinful king.”
Nicholas II received a good education at home and spoke French, English and German. In 1885-90, a series of classes took place from the course of the Academy of the General Staff and the humanities faculties. To complete his education, the Tsarevich spent several camp periods near the capital. In October 1890, Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich made this journey through Vienna, Greece and Egypt to India, China and Japan. Nikolai Alexandrovich's return route lay across all of Siberia. The Emperor was simple and easily accessible. Contemporaries noted two shortcomings in his character - weak will and inconstancy. Emperor Nicholas II almost immediately after the death of Alexander III, against the will of his mother, married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV Alice Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice (in Orthodoxy Alexandra Feodorovna). Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) graduated from Heidelberg University with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. She had a strong will, which explains her influence on her husband. From this marriage four daughters and a son were born. But Nicholas II was never a political pawn on the throne. He knew what he was doing and did what he wanted. Nicholas II stubbornly defended the “beginnings of autocracy,” without giving up a single significant position.
In the field of foreign policy, Nicholas II took some steps to stabilize international relations. In 1898, the Russian emperor turned to the governments of Europe with proposals to sign agreements on maintaining world peace and establishing limits to the constant growth of armaments. The Hague Peace Conferences took place in 1899 and 1907, some of whose decisions are still in effect today. In 1904, Japan declared war on Russia, which ended in 1905 with the defeat of the Russian army. Under the terms of the peace treaty, Russia paid Japan about 200 million rubles for the maintenance of Russian prisoners of war and ceded to it half of the island of Sakhalin and the Kwantung region with the fortress of Port Arthur and the city of Dalniy. The defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the revolution of 1905 sharply weakened Russia's international position - it was necessary to urgently look for allies. The attempted rapprochement with Germany did not meet the national interests of Russia, and the agreement had to be abandoned. Russia's rapprochement with the Entente countries began. In 1914, Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Entente countries against Germany. The Tsar's uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich, was appointed commander-in-chief. But, fearing that Nikolai Nikolaevich’s ever-increasing popularity among the troops and in the country could cost him the throne, on August 23, 1915, the Tsar removed Nikolai Nikolaevich from his post and transferred him to the Caucasian Front, taking over the command in chief. It is possible that an additional reason for the disgrace was Nikolai Nikolaevich’s open dislike for Rasputin. Rasputin was not a jester under the Tsar. Arriving at the palace from the taiga, thanks to his intelligence and insight, he quickly got used to it. Taking advantage of the boundless trust of Nicholas and Alexandra, Rasputin did what he wanted: he replaced ministers, achieved profitable military contracts, and intervened in politics. A conspiracy against Rasputin was brewing in monarchist circles. On the night of December 16-17, Rasputin was killed in the palace of Prince Yusupov.
The beginning of the reign of Nicholas II coincided with the rapid growth of capitalism in Russia. The Emperor is increasingly looking for ways of rapprochement with the big bourgeoisie and support from the wealthy peasantry. The State Duma was established (1906), without whose approval not a single law could enter into force. Agrarian reform was carried out according to the project of P.A. Stolypin. The entire reign of Nicholas II passed in an atmosphere of growing revolutionary movement, inflating nationalism and encouraging Black Hundred organizations. Due to the implementation of repressive measures (Bloody Sunday, punitive expeditions, courts-martial), he went down in history as Nicholas “Bloody”. At the beginning of 1905, a revolution broke out in Russia, marking the beginning of some reforms. In August 1915, the “Progressive Bloc” was created in the State Duma and the conditions were formulated for the transition from autocracy to a constitutional monarchy through a “bloodless” parliamentary revolution. In September, the Progressive Bloc proposed a new government, taking into account the opinion of the Duma majority. However, Nicholas II, in response to a more than mild “ultimatum,” closed the Duma meeting, missing the last chance to save the monarchy.
Failures at the front, revolutionary propaganda, devastation, ministerial leapfrog, etc. caused sharp discontent with the autocracy in various circles of society. An uprising broke out in Petrograd, which could not be suppressed. On March 2, 1917, Nicholas II (given the poor health of his son Alexei) abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich. Mikhail Alexandrovich also signed the Abdication Manifesto. The Republican era began in Russia. From March 9 to August 14, 1917, the former emperor and members of his family were kept under arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. The revolutionary movement is intensifying in Petrograd and the provisional government, fearing for the lives of the royal prisoners, decides to transfer them deep into Russia. After the October Revolution, on April 30, 1918, the prisoners were transported to Yekaterinburg, where on the night of July 17, 1918, the former emperor, his wife, children, the doctor and servants who remained with them were shot by security officers. The corpses of those shot disappeared. Their remains were found and identified only after almost eight decades. Now Nicholas II and his family are buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Nicholas II: Diary of the Collapse of the Empire
Prologue
The century was then living out its last years. As now, older people lived then with the sad feeling that they no longer had anything to do with the future, which promised humanity the flourishing of science and serene prosperity. But the young people lived in anticipation of what was coming. A century came with a special, mystically multiple number - “The Twentieth”.
And the two happiest young people - Nicky and Alix - lovers who happened to be united in marriage, and the rulers of one sixth of the world also lived in this happy future.
May 14, 1896, Moscow... The Kremlin cathedrals rang with bells. Young Nicholas and the blond beauty Tsarina entered the Assumption Cathedral. And the ringing of the bells died down, and the ancient square crowded with people fell silent. And a great moment came: the Emperor accepted the crown from the hands of the Metropolitan and placed it on his head...
July 18, 1918. Ekaterinburg.
“The corpses were placed in a pit and their faces and entire bodies were doused with sulfuric acid, both to make it unrecognizable and to prevent the stench from decomposition... Having covered it with earth and brushwood, they put sleepers on top and drove through it several times - there were no traces of the pit left.” (From the “Note” of Ya. Yurovsky, who led the execution of the Royal Family on the night of July 17, 1918)
“But even though you fly high like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.” (Words from the Bible that the queen read to her daughter on July 16, 1918 - the last day of their lives.)
Until the end of his days, Tsar Nicholas II kept a certain notebook. This is a summary of the history of Russia, which was written by one of his great ancestors - the reformer Tsar Alexander II, being the heir to the throne.
“The Romanovs...” - the notebook is proudly titled.
“Romanovs” - this is how one can title three whole centuries of Russian history.
Under the dictation of the teacher, Nikolai’s grandfather wrote down a blessed story about the founding of his dynasty: “The mother, shedding tears of tenderness, herself blessed him for the kingdom. Mikhail’s agreement to become king was greeted with joy by all the residents, who rejoiced. Mikhail, who did not remain long in the Ipatiev Monastery, moved to Moscow ..."
Mysticism of history: Ipatievsky was the name of the monastery from where the first Romanov was called to the throne. And the house where the last reigning Romanov, Nicholas II, lost his life was called Ipatievsky after the owner of the house, engineer Ipatiev.
Michael is the name of the first tsar from the House of Romanov and the name of the last one, in whose favor Nicholas II unsuccessfully abdicated the throne.
Leafing through the Royal Diaries
Prominent Bolsheviks lived in the Metropol at that time. They often invited writers and journalists there. And they remembered how it all happened... They drank tea, crunched sugar and told how bullets bounced off the girls and flew around the room... They were overcome by fear, and they could not finish off the boy... he kept crawling on the floor , shielding himself from shots with his hand...
Photos, photos... A tall, thin beauty and a sweet young man - the time of their engagement.
The first child is a girl with weak legs... But now four daughters are sitting on a leather sofa... And then a boy has appeared - the long-awaited heir to the throne. Here he is with a dog, here he is on a bicycle with a huge wheel.
But here is Nicholas and the future English king George, they look at each other - strikingly, ridiculously similar (their mothers were sisters). A photograph of the royal hunt: a huge deer with giant antlers lies in the snow... And here is the rest: Nikolai is swimming - he dived and is swimming completely naked - and from the back his strong body is naked.
Nikolai continuously kept his diary for 36 years. 50 notebooks are covered from beginning to end in his neat handwriting. But the last, 51st notebook is only half filled: life was cut short - and there were empty, gaping pages left, carefully numbered for future use by the author. There are no reflections in this diary and rarely evaluations. A diary is a record of the main events of the day, nothing more. But his voice remained there. The mystical power of genuine speech...
This silent, withdrawn person will talk. He is the author.
The author was born May 6, 1868.
Vintage photograph: a baby with long curls in a lace shirt tries to look into a book held by his mother. Nicholas is one year old here.
The reason why, since 1882, Nikolai begins to continuously fill out his diary is the fateful day of Russian history - March 1, 1881.
On the chilly night of March 1, 1881, the lights were not turned off for a long time in one of the St. Petersburg apartments. The day before, from early morning, certain young people were constantly running into the apartment. Since eight in the evening, six people remained in the apartment: four men and two women. One was Vera Figner, the famous leader of the terrorist organization Narodnaya Volya. The other is Sofya Perovskaya.
Vera Figner and four men worked all night. By morning they filled kerosene cans with “explosive jelly.” The result was four homemade bombs.
The case was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, one of the greatest reformers in Russian history. In those spring days, he was preparing to give Russia the desired constitution, which was supposed to introduce feudal despotism into the circle of civilized European states. But young people were afraid that the constitution would create false satisfaction in society and lead Russia away from the coming revolution.
By that time, terrorist revolutionaries had already made seven unsuccessful attempts on the Tsar’s life. Twenty-one death sentences were the price.
“A revolutionary is a doomed man...” - this is a quote from the famous “Catechism of a Revolutionary” by Bakunin. According to this "Catechism", a revolutionary must: break with the laws and conventions of the civilized world, renounce all personal life and blood ties in the name of revolution. To despise society, to be merciless towards it, not to expect mercy from society and to be prepared for death. And to aggravate by all means the troubles of the people, pushing them towards revolution. Know: all means are justified by one goal - the Revolution...
They decided to smear the motionless Russian cart with blood. And forward - there, to 1917, to the Yekaterinburg basement, to the great Red Terror - to roll, to roll...
Tsar Alexander II died in agony in the palace.
"The Spilled Royal Blood" gave rise to his diary. Nikolai - Heir. Now his life belonged to history - from the New Year he must record his life. Diary cover
In the fall of 1882 he sang a song.
This song struck him so much that he wrote it on the back of the cover of his very first diary.
"The song we sang while one of us was hiding:
"Down and along the river,
Down and along Kazanka,
A gray drake swims.
Along and along the bank,
Along and steeply
The good fellow is coming.
He has curls
He's with the fair-haired ones
Talking...
Who wants my curls?
Who wants my blond hair?
Will you be able to comb it?
Got curls
The Russians got it
The old grandmother is scratching.
No matter how much she scratches,
No matter how much she strokes,
He just pulls out his hair."
This folk song about the old woman-death combing the curls of a dead young man opens his diary. Diary of a youth
“I started writing my diary on January 1, 1882... Sandro, Sergei... skated, played ball. When my dad left, we started having a snowball fight...”
Boys are playing... Life is a holiday. Sergei and Sandro (Alexander) are the sons of Grand Duke Mikhail, his grandfather’s brother.
The eldest of the Mikhailovichs, his namesake Nikolai, the famous liberal historian, mockingly observes their games: he will always treat Emperor Niki with slight irony.
And all this cheerful, laughing company then...
“Later” is when Nikolai and Georgy Mikhailovich will be shot in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. And at the bottom of the mine, another participant in these fun games, Sergei Mikhailovich, will lie with a bullet in his head. Circumstances of his life
The shadow of his murdered father haunts Alexander III. A chain of sentries along the fence, guards around the palace, guards inside the park... With this prison accent, the life of young Nikolai begins.
The Tsar and his guests are drinking tea on the balcony, and Misha is playing below. Heroic fun: the father takes a watering can and pours water on top of the boy. Misha is happy. Misha laughs, the king laughs, the guests laugh.
But suddenly an unexpected remark follows: “And now, dad, it’s your turn.” The Emperor obediently exposes his bald head, and Misha pours water on him from head to toe with a watering can...
But the father's iron will will break Mikhail's childhood independence - both brothers will grow up kind, gentle and shy. This is often the case with children of strong fathers.
It was then that Nikolai realized the most bitter thing for a boy: they don’t love you - they love their brother! No, no, this did not make him angry, gloomy, or less obedient. He just became secretive.
Alexander III ascended the throne with a clear logic: there were reforms under his father, but what ended? Murder. And Pobedonostsev was called to power.
In his keynote speech, Pobedonostsev explained: Russia is a special country: reforms and a free press will certainly end in debauchery and unrest.
Alexander III had the nickname "Peacemaker". He avoided wars, but the army still loomed large over society. The army with which Russia has always been strong. “Not by laws, not by civilization, but by the army,” wrote Count Witte. “Russia is not a trading or agricultural state, but a military one, and its calling is to be a thunderstorm of light,” it was written in a textbook for cadet corps. The army is, first of all, obedience and diligence. And both of these qualities, already present in the timid young man, will be destructively developed by the army...
The heir to the throne serves in the guard. Since the 18th century, the most noble, richest families in Russia sent their children to the guards in St. Petersburg. Drunkenness, carousing, gypsies, duels - the gentlemanly set of a guardsman. All palace coups in Russia are carried out by the Guard. The guards enthroned Elizabeth and Catherine II, killed the emperors Peter III and Paul I. But the guard not only made campaigns on the imperial palace, in all the great battles of Russia the guard was in front. Diary of a Young Man
"Alix G." - that’s what he called her then in his diary.
Endless letters from Nikolai, hundreds of letters... Her diaries - or rather, what remains. She burned her diaries in early March 1917, when the empire collapsed. Only brief notes remain for 1917 and 1918 - the last two years of her life... Notebooks with extracts from the works of theologians and philosophers, lines of her favorite poems, rewritten by her.
But here is another special notebook - also a collection of sayings, but from an unexpected philosopher who ruled the mind and soul of the brilliantly educated Alix G. This is the semi-literate Russian man Grigory Rasputin.
The daughter of Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Alice of England, she was born in Darmstadt in 1872.
Alix's mother died at 35. There is a large family left. Alix is the youngest. The elder sister Victoria, named after her grandmother, the English queen, married the Prince of Battenberg, commander-in-chief of the English fleet, the second sister Ella was preparing to become the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. And finally, Irene, the third sister, became the wife of Prince Henry, the brother of the German Emperor Wilhelm. So these Hessian princesses will unite the Russian, English and German imperial houses with family ties.
After the death of her mother, Alix is taken by her grandmother, Queen Victoria of England... Victorian era - morals, furniture style and lifestyle. Queen Victoria immaculately follows the tradition: power belongs to Parliament, wise advice belongs to the Queen.
Alix G. is the favorite granddaughter of the liberal queen. A blond beauty girl... For her bright character, the English court calls her “Sunbeam”, however, the German court called her “Spitzbube” (mischievous, bully) for her mischief and disobedience.
A lonely girl travels through the royal palaces of her many relatives. In 1884, twelve-year-old Alix was brought to Russia.
Idyll: he fell in love with her at first sight.
He asked his mother for a brooch with diamonds and gave it to Alix G. She accepted. Nikolai was happy, but he didn’t know Alix well. The next day, at a children's ball in the Anichkov Palace, while dancing, she painfully thrust a brooch into his hand. Silently, without saying a word.
And just as silently, Nikolai gave this brooch to his sister Ksenia.
To take back in 10 years. This brooch will have a terrible fate.
His diary from 1889 opens with a photograph of young Alix: he pasted it in after she left. He begins to wait.
On the next visit of the blond princess - a year later - the unfortunate Nikolai is not allowed to see her.
“December 21, 1890. My dream is to someday marry Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but even deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg in winter. I resisted my feeling for a long time, trying to deceive myself the impossibility of realizing my cherished dream... The only obstacle or gap between her and me is the question of religion. Apart from this there is no other obstacle, I am almost convinced that our feelings are mutual. Everything is in the will of God, trusting in his mercy, I calmly and humbly I look to the future." "I fell passionately in love... Little K."
That St. Petersburg March evening that had sunk into oblivion, the trotters approaching the famous Yacht Club. (Brilliant guard officers, the imperial retinue and members of the imperial family were members of the club.) Then, in March 1890, the name of Little K was heard here for the first time.
All club members are balletomanes. The street where the St. Petersburg Ballet School was located was a favorite walking place for the capital's dandies throughout the century. An old tradition of the St. Petersburg nobility: the mistress is a ballerina.
Just like the guard, the ballet is connected with the palace. The director of the imperial theaters must be a diplomat and strategist - and all the time be aware of the complex disposition of the relationships of his subordinates with members of the imperial family. Coming to a ballet, the first thing the audience is interested in is the “highest presence”: who sits in the imperial box - this often determines the position of the ballerina.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born in 1872. She will die in Paris in 1971, a year short of her centenary. In Paris, she will write memoirs - a touching story about the love of a young ballerina for the heir to the throne. She will also write about that evening of March 23, 1890 - about the evening in the disappeared Atlantis.
After the graduation party, where the emperor and the heir were present, the tables were set. They were seated at a separate table, and suddenly the tsar asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya-second?”
The young ballerina was brought to the royal table, the Emperor himself seated the ballerina next to the heir and jokingly added: “Just please don’t flirt too much.” To the amazement of the young ballerina, Nikolai sat silently next to her all evening.
Kshesinskaya’s romantic story will be replaced by a prosaic narrative. So, the king himself seats the girl next to his son and even admonishes: “Just don’t flirt...” You couldn’t say it any clearer.
Syphilis claimed thousands of young lives; drunkenness and brothels were part of the guards' life. The health of the heir concerned the fate of the entire country. Kshesinskaya is a brilliant candidate: an affair with a future ballet star could only decorate the young man’s biography. But the main thing was to make him forget the Hessian princess. That is why this coming to the school was conceived.
Only in the summer did the little big-eyed girl manage to continue the romance. In July 1890, Matilda Kshesinskaya was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater. In Krasnoye Selo there were guard exercises in which Nikolai took part. The Imperial Ballet danced there during the summer season.
She knew that this would happen during intermission: the great princes loved to come backstage. And he will probably come with them. I knew he wanted to come.
And he came. That's how they met backstage. He said some insignificant words, and she kept waiting... And again the next day he was backstage, and again - nothing. One day during intermission she was detained. And when she ran onto the stage, heated, with blazing eyes... how afraid she was of missing out on her timid admirer... Nikolai was already leaving. When he saw her, he blurted out a jealous, helpless, “I’m sure you were just flirting!” And, confused, he ran out... So he explained.
The Royal Family occupied the first left box. The box was almost on stage. And, dancing, Kshesinskaya the second devoured with her huge eyes the heir, who was sitting in the box with his father. Vsevolozhsky understood everything - and from that moment he made sure that the roles in the ballets went to this ballerina. In the shortest possible time she will win the position of prima donna of the imperial ballet.
“June 17... Detachment maneuvers took place... I really like Kshesinskaya-II.”
"June 30. Krasnoe Selo. The case on the hill got very heated... I was in the theater, talking with Little K. in front of the window [of the box]."
In Paris, she recalled how he stood in the window of the box, and she on the stage in front of him. And again the conversation ended in delightful nothing. And then he came to say goodbye: he was leaving on a trip around the world.
She didn't understand him. And everything was so simple: waiting for Alix G. He remained faithful.
“March 25. Returned to Anichkov with snow falling in flakes. Is this called spring? Had lunch with Sergei at home, and then went to visit the Kshesinskys, where I spent a pleasant hour and a half...”
Kshesinskaya recalled that March St. Petersburg day... The maid reported that a certain guards officer, Mr. Volkov, wanted to see her. The surprised ballerina, who did not know Mr. Volkov, nevertheless ordered him to be taken to the living room. And I couldn’t believe my eyes - Nikolai was standing in the living room. For the first time they were alone. They explained themselves, and... nothing more! After “a pleasant hour and a half,” he left, to Little K’s amazement!
The next day she receives a note: “Ever since I met you, I’ve been in a fog. I hope I can come again soon. Nicky.”
Now for her he is Nicky. A charming and, amazingly for morals, innocent love game begins. His corps comrades bring flowers from his lover. And the lover himself is now a frequent guest in Felix Kshesinsky’s apartment.
“April 1... A very strange phenomenon that I notice in myself: I never thought that two identical feelings, two loves were combined in my soul at the same time. Now it’s been four years that I love Alix G. and constantly cherish the thought, if God allows me to ever marry her... And from the camp of 1890 to this time I have passionately loved (platonically) Little K. An amazing thing, our heart. At the same time, I never stop thinking about Alix, really, one could conclude after this, that I am very amorous."
The Emperor is worried - his game is so far ineffective. Is this why the decisive onslaught of the “pannochka” began?
Yes, she finally managed to force Nikolai to make a decision. A “delightful hotel” was rented on the Promenade des Anglais, where platonic love was finally supposed to end. Little K. left home and openly became the crown prince’s mistress.
So she won. But the victory was the beginning of the end.
It stopped being a dream. And he yearned more and more for the distant beauty. Life and dreams: small, accessible Matilda - and tall, regal princess. Little K disappears from the diaries.
At the beginning of 1894, it became clear that Alexander III did not have long to live. It was urgent to prepare the marriage of the heir. Diplomats began to work, and there was continuous correspondence between St. Petersburg and Darmstadt.
In April, the wedding of Alix's brother Ernie with Saxe-Coburg Princess Victoria-Melitta was scheduled in Coburg. Emperor William II, the Queen of England, and countless princes gathered in Coburg. On the threshold of a formidable new century, one of the last brilliant balls of royal Europe took place.
Russia was represented by a powerful landing of great princes. A priest, Father John Yanyshev, the confessor of the Royal Family, also arrived. His presence clearly spoke of the most serious intentions of the arrivals. Ekaterina Adolfovna Schneider also arrived in Coburg - she taught Ella, Alix’s sister, Russian. If the matter was successful, she was supposed to teach the Russian language to the Hessian princess.
So, Alix's engagement was supposed to take place at Ernie's wedding. Everyone knew this.
"April 8th. A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life! The day of my engagement to my dear, beloved Alix. After talking with her, we explained ourselves to each other... I walked around in a daze all day, not realizing what was actually wrong with me happened... Then a ball was held. I had no time for dancing, I walked and sat in the garden with my bride. I can’t even believe that I have a bride.”
In a letter to his mother, he described in more detail Alix’s strange despair and tears:
He gave her a ring with a ruby and returned the same brooch - once given at the ball. She wore his ring around her neck, along with a cross, and the brooch was always with her.
From her letter on the 22nd anniversary of their engagement:
"April 8, 1916. I would like to hug you tightly and relive our wonderful days of marriage. Today I will wear your expensive brooch... I can still feel your gray clothes... its smell is there, by the window, in Coburg castle..."
A 12-carat diamond would be found in the dirty fire pit where their clothes were burned on the morning of July 17, 1918. What's left of the brooch. She was with her until the end.
But then... how happy he was then! And she also tried to be happy. But she still continued to cry these days. Those around me did not understand anything. Observing her tears, the simple-minded maid of honor wrote down in her diary what she had to write down: Alix does not love her future husband. Yes, she herself did not understand her tears...
“Those sweet kisses that I dreamed and yearned for for so many years and which I no longer hoped to receive... If I decide on something, it’s forever. The same thing in my love and affection - my heart is too big, it devours me ..." (Letter dated April 8, 1916.)
And he - he was recklessly happy. All his life he will cheerfully remember how the orchestra played in the Coburg castle and how during the wedding ceremony, tired from dinner, Uncle Alfred (Duke of Edinburgh) fell asleep and dropped his stick with a roar... How he believed in the future then! And all these uncles and aunts (queen, emperor, dukes, princes, princes), who were still deciding the destinies of peoples, crowded in the halls of the Coburg castle and also believed in the future. If only they could see the future then!
Newlyweds Ernie and Ducky, a “good couple,” will soon separate, and sister Ella will die at the bottom of a mine. Uncle Willie, who loves military uniforms so much and expects a military alliance with Russia, will start a war with Russia. And Uncle Pavel, now dancing the mazurka, will lie with a bullet through his heart, and Niki himself...
“But even though you fly high like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
The Emperor was dying. In the emperor's bedroom are priest John of Kronstadt and the tsar's confessor, Father John Yanyshev. And doctors. They met near the dying man: powerless medicine and omnipotent prayer, which eased his last suffering.
Everything is over. The bedroom doors opened. The body of a dead emperor is drowning in a huge Voltaire chair. The Empress hugs him. Pale Nicky stands a little further away. The emperor died sitting in his chair.
Romance in letters
She: “CS, 1914, September 19. My dear, my dear, I am so happy for you that you managed to go, because I know how deeply you suffered all this time... At the same time, what I am going through now with you, with our dear Motherland and people, my soul ache for my little “old” Motherland, for its troops, for Ernie... Due to selfishness, I am already suffering from separation. We are not used to being separated... Here It’s been 20 years since I’ve been yours, and what bliss all these years have been..."
He: “Bid 09.22.14. Heartfelt thanks for the sweet letter... What a horror it was to part with you, dear children, although I knew it wouldn’t be for long...”
"Good morning, my treasure..."
“This terrible war - will it ever end? I am sure that Wilhelm sometimes experiences despair at the thought that he himself, under the influence of the Russophobic clique, started the war and is leading his people to death. My heart bleeds at the thought of how much work Papa and Ernie spent to ensure that our little homeland achieved prosperity..."
“Our Friend helps you bear a heavy cross and great responsibility, everything will go well - the truth is on our side.” (“Our Friend”, “Gr.” or “He” - that’s what she called the “Holy Devil” in correspondence. This third one will be constantly present in her letters. She will mention him one and a half hundred times.)
“I kissed your pillow. In my mind I see you lying in your compartment and in my mind I cover your face with kisses.”
“Oh, this terrible war!.. The thought of other people’s suffering, shed blood torments the soul...”
“My beloved sunshine, darling wife. I read your letter and almost burst into tears... My love, you are terribly missed, so missed that it is impossible to express! I will try to write very often, because, to my surprise, I am convinced that I can write while the train is moving... My hanging trapeze turned out to be very practical and useful. It's really a great thing on the train, it gives a jolt to the body and the whole organism."
From the memoirs of K. Sheboldaev (retired, worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs):
“Back then it was already a special entertainment for the elite - to be taken to the house where the royal family was shot. By the way, near the fence they showed me the place where he had a trapeze. When he arrived, he immediately hung it up and began to spin the “sun”. And his legs "They rose above the fence. Then they immediately decided to make a double fence."
Samsonov’s army had already died in the swamps of Prussia, defeats and losses cooled enthusiasm. The wounded, refugees, sweat, blood and dirt. All of Europe was plunged into this horror.
"11/25/14. I am writing you a few lines in the greatest haste. We spent this entire morning at work. One soldier died during the operation - such horror... The girls showed courage, although they had never seen death so close... Can you imagine "How it shocked us. How close death is always."
“04/08/15... How time flies - 21 years have already passed! You know, I saved this “princess” dress that I was wearing that morning, and I will wear your favorite brooch...”
"04.05.15... How sad that we are not spending your birthday together! This is the first time... Oh, the cross placed on your shoulders is so difficult! How I would like to help you carry it, although mentally I do this in prayers..."
At this time, defeats at the front forced them to look for scapegoats. The real spy mania began. First they wanted to make Jews spies. The military court in Dvinsk hanged several “for espionage.” It later turned out that they were innocent. But by that time, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich had already matured a plan: the Commander-in-Chief decided to hunt larger game.
“A German spy” is much simpler!
And poor Alix decided to show that she, too, takes part in the common concern - catching spies. She finds her own: Quartermaster General Danilov. This is one of the most talented and malicious generals at Headquarters and the enemy of “our Friend”...
In early June, K.R. suffocated during an attack of angina pectoris. The poet was the last Romanov to be solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the spy case has already reached Rasputin’s entourage.
Was Rasputin really a German spy? Of course not. He served the Family faithfully. But he had a problem: Alix kept demanding new predictions, and he could not be wrong. Therefore, in Rasputin’s apartment, his think tank actually existed: clever businessmen, industrialists - “smart people”... He shared with them military information that came from the queen. After which the cunning man figured out what his next prophecy should be... And, one of these “smart” ones could represent German intelligence. Rasputin was just a man. Cunning and... simple-minded.
Terrible rumors spread throughout Petrograd: the Tsar was deposing Nikolasha and himself becoming Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was a shock. Nikolai Nikolaevich, with his authority and popularity in the army, is a weak tsar, and then there are rumors about the German queen, her relations with the enemy and the dirty “Old Man”!!!
She: “08/22/15. My dear, beloved... They have never seen such determination in you before... You are finally showing yourself as a Sovereign, a real autocrat, without whom Russia cannot exist... Forgive me, I beg you that I haven't left you alone, my angel, all these days. But I know too well your exceptionally gentle character... I suffered so terribly, physically overworked during these two days, mentally exhausted... You see, they are afraid of me and that's why they come to you when you are alone. They know that I have a strong will and I am aware that I am right - and now you are right, we know it, make them tremble before your will and firmness. God is with you and our Friend is for you... I am always by your side and nothing will separate us..."
He: “08/25/15... Thank God, everything has passed - and here I am with this new responsibility on my shoulders... But may the Will of God be fulfilled...”
He became the Commander-in-Chief of the retreating army.
From that moment on, with all her temperament, with all her passion and with all her indomitable will, she begins to help him lead the country and the army.
She: “01/28/16. Again the train is taking my treasure away from me, but I hope not for long. I know that I shouldn’t say that, that from a woman who has been married for a long time, it may seem funny, but I can’t resist .Over the years, love intensifies... It was so good when you read aloud to us. And now I can still hear your sweet voice... Oh, if only our children could be as happy in their married life... Oh, what a feeling “Then I’ll be alone at night!”
The Tsarina writes about a wounded Jew who was lying in her hospital: “While in America, he did not forget Russia and suffered greatly from homesickness, and as soon as the war began, he rushed here to join the soldiers and defend his Motherland. Now, having lost hand in the service in our army and having received the St. George Medal, he would like to stay here and have the right to live in Russia wherever he wants. A right that the Jews do not have... I fully understand this, one should not embitter him and let him feel the cruelty of his former Motherland".
So she complained to him about the laws of his empire.
He: “06/07/16... On the petition of a wounded Jew, I wrote: to allow widespread residence in Russia.”
She: “04/8/16... Christ is risen! My dear Nicky, on this day, the day of our engagement, all my tender thoughts are with you... Today I will wear that expensive brooch...”
At this time, Alix fell into a trap. The spy case continued. Along with Sukhomlinov, Manasevich-Manuilov, a former agent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and banker Rubinstein were brought in. Both of them are close to Rasputin. But the horror of the situation did not stop there. For through Rubinstein, Alix secretly transferred money to Germany to her impoverished relatives. She needed a dedicated Minister of the Interior who could release them and stop forever this business, terrible for “Friend” and for her.
She: “September 7, 1916. My beloved! Grigory convincingly asks that Protopopov be appointed to the post. You know him, and he made a good impression on you. He is a member of the Duma, and therefore will know how to behave with them...”
Throughout 1916 - until the collapse of the empire - there was a ministerial leapfrog. Goremykin, Sturmer, Trepov, Golitsyn succeed each other at the head of the government.
The figure of Protopopov seemed successful to Nikolai. He enjoyed authority in the Duma. More recently, Protopopov was in England at the head of the Duma delegation and had great success there; Duma Chairman Rodzianko favored him. It seemed that a person had been found who would reconcile Nicholas with the Duma. But as soon as the Duma learned that the Tsarina and Rasputin approved of Protopopov, his fate was decided. Protopopov becomes hated by everyone.
Nikolai’s rage is boundless (rare!), he even slammed his fist on the table: “Before I appointed him, he was good for them, now he is not good, because I appointed him.”
“Dark rumors of betrayal and treason are spreading from end to end. These rumors climb high and spare no one... The name of the empress is increasingly repeated along with the names of the adventurers around her... What is this - stupidity or treason?” - asked the leader of the cadets Miliukov from the Duma rostrum in his famous speech.
Miliukov wanted to prove that this was the government's stupidity. But the country repeated: “Treason!”
“Rumors of treason played a fatal role in the army’s attitude towards the dynasty” (Denikin).
“With horror, I have repeatedly wondered whether the Empress was in a conspiracy with Wilhelm,” Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich would say after the revolution in an interview with a Petrograd newspaper.
He: “November 2... My precious one. Nikolai Mikhailovich came here for one day, and last night we had a long conversation with him, which I will tell you about in the next letter, today I am very busy...”
He was lying. He simply didn't know how to tell her about this conversation. And he made up his mind: he forwarded her the letter that Nikolai Mikhailovich had given him.
Here are excerpts from this letter:
“You have repeatedly told me that you have no one to trust, that you are being deceived. If this is so, the same phenomenon should be repeated with your wife, who loves you dearly, but is deluded thanks to the malicious continuous deception of the people around her... If you have no power to remove from her this influence, then at least protect yourself from constant interference and whispering through your beloved wife... I hesitated for a long time to reveal the whole truth, but after your mother and your sisters convinced me to do it, I decided... Believe me me: if I am so pushing for your own liberation from the created shackles... it is only for the sake of hope and hope to save you, your throne and our dear Motherland from the most serious and irreparable consequences.”
In conclusion, Nikolai Mikhailovich suggested that he be given “the desired ministry responsible to the Duma and do it without external pressure,” and “not in the same way as the memorable act of October 17, 1905 took place.”
So he threatened a new revolution. And reminded of the previous revolution.
She: “November 4... I read Nikolai’s letter and am terribly outraged by it. Why didn’t you stop him in the middle of the conversation and tell him that if he touched this subject or me again, you would send him to Siberia, since this already borders on high treason. He always hated me and spoke ill of me all these 22 years... You, my dear, are too kind, condescending and gentle. This man should be in awe of you, he and Nikolasha are your greatest enemies in the family ... Your wife is your support, she stands behind you like a stone wall..."
Now she begins to fight with the entire Romanov Family.
"4.12.16... Show them that you are the ruler. The time of condescension and gentleness has passed. Now the kingdom of will and power is coming! They must be taught obedience. Why do they hate me? Because they know that I have a strong will and that when I am convinced of the rightness of something (and if I have been blessed by a Friend), then I do not change my mind. This is intolerable for them. And I would warn you ... "
He: “11/10/16. Things are not going well in Romania...”
What was the extent of his participation in the war? A pathetic, weak-willed fulfiller of the desires of a hysterical wife and Rasputin - this is the answer given by the coming revolution.
Here's another opinion.
W. Churchill, who was the British Minister of War in 1917, wrote in his book “The World Crisis”: “For no country has fate been as cruel as for Russia. Its ship sank when the harbor was already in sight. .. All sacrifices had already been made, all the work was completed... The long retreats were over. The shell famine was defeated. Armaments flowed in in a wide stream. A stronger, more numerous, better equipped army guarded the huge front... Despite the mistakes - big and terrible - the system that he embodied, which he led, to which he gave a vital spark with his personal qualities, by that moment won the war for Russia..."
The “Spirit of Grigory Rasputin-Novykh” promised:
"Russian Tsar! Know that if your relatives commit murder, then not one of your family, relatives and children, will live longer than two years... They will be killed by the Russian people... They will kill me. I am no longer alive. Pray. Pray "Be strong. Take care of your chosen kind."
Was Rasputin's prediction just a peasant's cunning? Or dictated by the dark power of the “Holy Devil”? Or both?.. For this intoxicated, debauched man was truly a forerunner. Those hundreds of thousands of men who will trample their palaces, kill them themselves and throw their corpses like carrion, without burial...
And Alix shows Niki the terrible will of the “Old Man”... He tries to calm her down: all the behests of Gregory are now being fulfilled... Trepov, not beloved by the Empress, is expelled and the decrepit Golitsyn is appointed prime minister - which means that the beloved “Friend” Protopopov becomes the de facto head of the government . All this causes a revolt in society: there are endless congresses - city, zemstvo, noble - and all are against the new government. While everyone is waiting for the revolution, it has already begun. “Holy devil” turned out to be right - immediately after his death it began!
Execution
Yurovsky entered the Ipatiev House in the guise of a deliverer. He informs Nikolai about the endless thefts of the previous guards. Silver spoons were found buried in the garden. They were solemnly returned to the Family.
The king understood: until his fate was decided. And, of course, he believed it. This secretive and, moreover, such a trusting man did not know the slogan of the great revolutions: “Rob the loot.” It seemed to him that for the first time understanding arose between him and this power so incomprehensible to him. The city will fall. And they decided to take his life. But at the same time, naturally, they must give the Family safe and sound what belongs to it: jewelry. It is unclear where they will have to live after. And what will they have to live on? He was the father of the family, he had to think about their future. He was happy about this unspoken gentleman's agreement...
From the diary: “June 21. Today there was a change of commandant. During lunch, Beloborodov and others came and announced that instead of Avdeev, the one we took for a doctor, Yurovsky, was being appointed. In the afternoon before tea, he and his assistant made an inventory of the gold things: ours and our children. They took most of it with them. They explained that an unpleasant incident had happened in our house... I feel sorry for Avdeev, but he is to blame for not keeping his people from stealing from the chests in the barn."
But Alix did not believe the new commandant. She didn't believe a single word they said. And she was happy that she had so prudently hidden all the most valuable things.
“June 21 (July 4), Thursday,” she wrote down. “Avdeev is removed, and we get a new commandant. With a young assistant who seemed more decent compared to the others - vulgar and unpleasant... All our guards inside have been replaced.. "Then they ordered us to show all our jewelry that we were wearing. The young man copied them carefully and then they took them away."
The “young assistant” of the commandant, who “seemed more decent” to Alix, was indeed a most pleasant young man. Clear-eyed, in a clean blouse, with a name that caresses the ear of the queen - Gregory. This was Nikulin, who in just a few days would shoot her son. "I'm dead but not buried yet"
After the execution in Doctor Botkin’s room, Yurovsky took the papers of the last Russian physician...
"... I don’t think that I was destined to ever write anywhere from anywhere. In essence, I died - I died for my children, for the cause... I died, but not yet buried or buried alive - as you wish: the consequences are almost identical... My children may have the hope that we will meet again someday in this life, but I personally do not indulge myself with this hope and look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye... "
On June 12, having returned from Moscow, Goloshchekin convened a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ural Council. He did not say a word about his agreement with Moscow; only the narrowest circle found out about them - the Presidium of the Urals Council. Ordinary members of the Council were confident: today they themselves must make a decision about the fate of the Romanovs. The whites came up. Everyone understood what this decision could mean in his life.
And yet they unanimously adopted this Resolution. The resolution of the Urals Council on the execution...
"June 30. Saturday. Alexey took his first bath after Tobolsk. His knee is getting better, but he can’t straighten it completely. The weather is warm and pleasant. We have no news from outside."
With this hopeless phrase, the day after the execution order, Nikolai ended his diary. Then there are blank pages, carefully numbered by him until the end of the year.
During these days, Yurovsky often left home. Not far from the village, in a deep forest, there were abandoned mines... “The family was evacuated to a safe place...” Yurovsky and Ermakov were looking for this safe place here.
The family was getting ready for bed. Before going to bed, she described in detail in her diary the whole day - the last day.
At 11 o'clock the light in their room went out...
In the house opposite Ipatievsky, where the guards lived on the second floor, ordinary city inhabitants lived on the first floor. Silent shots... a lot of shots.
- Did you hear?
- I heard.
- Understood?
- Understood.
Life was dangerous in those years, and people were wary, they learned well: only the wary survive. And that’s why they didn’t say anything more to each other, they hid in their rooms until the morning. They later told the White Guard investigator about this night conversation. July 17th
On July 17, for the uninitiated members of the Executive Committee of the Council, Beloborodov played a funny scene called: “Message about the execution to an ignorant Moscow.”
“In view of the approach of the enemy to Yekaterinburg and the disclosure by the Cheka of a large White Guard conspiracy aimed at kidnapping the former Tsar and his family, the documents are in our hands, by resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Council, Nikolai Romanov was shot, and his family was evacuated to a safe place.”
And the day before - on July 17 at nine o'clock in the evening - dedicated members of the Council sent the following encrypted telegram to dedicated members of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee:
"Moscow, the Kremlin, Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars Gorbunov with a reverse check. Tell Sverdlov that the entire family suffered the same fate as the head. Officially, the family will die during the evacuation."
This telegram was later captured by the White Guards in the Yekaterinburg telegraph office, and it was deciphered by the White Guard investigator Sokolov.
4. Prayer to the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II
O holy passion-bearer Tsar Martyr Nicholas, the Lord has chosen you as His Anointed One, who has the merciful right to judge your people and be the guardian of the Orthodox Kingdom.
You performed this royal service and care for souls with the fear of God. Testing you like gold in a crucible, the Lord allows you bitter sorrows, like Job the Long-Suffering, and after the throne of the Tsar, send you deprivation and martyrdom. Having endured all this meekly, as a true servant of Christ, now enjoying the highest glory at the Throne of all the King, together with the holy martyrs: the holy Queen Alexandra, the holy youth Tsarevich Alexy, the holy Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia and with your faithful servants, also with the holy martyr Princess Elizabeth and with all the Royal Martyrs and the holy martyr Barbara.
But as having great boldness in Christ the King, Who suffered for the sake of all, pray with them that the Lord will forgive the sin of the people who did not forbid your murder, the King and Anointed of God, may the Lord deliver the suffering Russian country from the cruel atheists, for our sins and apostasy from God has been allowed, and will erect the throne of the Orthodox Kings, and will grant us forgiveness of sins and instruct us in every virtue, so that we may acquire the humility, meekness and love that these martyrs have revealed, so that we may be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, who will go together with you and all the saints, new martyrs and confessors Let us glorify the Russian Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Bibliography
Edward Radzinsky "Nicholas II"
Orthodox brotherhood in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir
Russian Heraldry
Computer textbook: “History of Russia in the 20th century” (Clio Soft)
Russia before the second coming
House of Romanov
To prepare this work, materials from the website statya.ru were used
The large coat of arms of Their Majesties the Empresses is the same as the average Russian State coat of arms, with the only difference being that the coats of arms surrounding the main shield are placed along with it on the same shield and in its middle, above the small shield, is the crown of Monomakh. To this coat of arms, on the same or another shield, is added the family coat of arms of the empress. Above the shield or shields, instead of a helmet, is a small imperial crown. Around the coat of arms are the signs of the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Catherine the Great Martyr.
The small coat of arms of Their Majesties is the same as the small state coat of arms, combined with the family coat of arms of the empress; the shield is crowned with an imperial crown and decorated with the insignia of the orders of St. Andrew the First-Called and St. Catherine the Great Martyr.
The coats of arms of the Romanov family, and all members of the imperial family (large and small, established according to their degrees of descent from the person of the emperor), were approved on December 8, 1856. Drawings of these coats of arms are reproduced in the Complete Collection of Laws, vol. XXXII (1857) under No. 31720. Descriptions of these coats of arms are given in the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire, vol. I, part 1, Code of Basic State Laws. Ed. 1906 Appendix II.
Nicholas II Alexandrovich (05/6/1868 - 07/17/1918)
Emperor of All Russia (October 21, 1894 - March 2, 1917), ascended the throne after the death of his father Alexander III, on October 21, 1894. On May 14, 1895, the coronation of Nicholas II took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. The coronation was marked by a stampede on Khodynka Field, in which several hundred people died.
The ancestors of the boyar family of the Romanovs were a noble native of the Prussian land, Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla and his brother Fedor, who came to Rus' in the 14th century. They gave rise to numerous offspring and many of the most noble Russian families.
Andrei Kobyla's great-great-granddaughter Anastasia became the queen - the wife of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The Tsarina's brother Nikita Romanovich was especially close to the cruel Tsar. But Ivan the Terrible dies. According to his will, Nikita Romanovich is appointed one of the guardians - advisers to his nephew - the new Tsar Fedor. A struggle for power begins.
At the behest of the all-powerful Boris Godunov, Tsar Fyodor’s father-in-law, the eldest of Nikita Romanovich’s sons was tonsured a monk under the name Filaret.
Tsar Fedor dies, and the ancient Rurik dynasty ends. And then dark times come in Rus' - the Time of Troubles. Election to the throne of Boris Godunov, suspected of murdering the heir to the throne, the young Dmitry; unprecedented famine and pestilence; death of Godunov; the invasion of the Poles into Rus' and the impostor False Dmitry, placed by the Poles on the Russian throne; general impoverishment, cannibalism and robbery...
Then, during the Time of Troubles, Filaret Romanov was returned from exile and became Metropolitan of Rostov.
But the Poles were expelled from Moscow, the liar died, and in 1613 the Great Zemsky Council finally ended the terrible era of the interregnum and the Time of Troubles.
The son of Metropolitan Philaret Mikhail Romanov, who was at that time in the Kostroma Ipatiev Monastery, was unanimously elected to the throne. On February 21, 1613, the three-hundred-year history of the House of Romanov began.
As a result of endless dynastic marriages, by the 20th century there was almost no Russian blood left in the veins of the Russian Romanov tsars... But the “Russian tsar” is already a nationality. And the German princess, who became famous under the name of Empress Catherine the Great, felt truly Russian. So Russian that when her brother was going to visit Russia, she said indignantly: “Why? There are plenty of Germans in Russia even without him.” And Nicholas’s father, Alexander III, both in appearance and in habits, is a typical Russian landowner who adores everything Russian. And the proud formula - “Autocracy, Orthodoxy and nationality” - is in the German blood of the Russian tsars.
Nicholas's mother is the Danish princess Dagmara, his grandmother is the Danish queen. The grandmother was nicknamed “the mother-in-law of all of Europe”: her countless daughters, sons and grandchildren connected almost all the royal houses with each other, uniting the continent from England to Greece in such a funny way.
Her daughter Princess Dagmara was first engaged to the eldest son of Alexander II, Nicholas. But Nicholas dies of consumption in Nice, and Alexander becomes heir to the throne. Along with the title, the new heir took his late brother's fiancée as his wife: on his deathbed, the dying Nicholas himself joined their hands. The Danish Princess Dagmara became Her Imperial Highness Maria Feodorovna.
The marriage turned out to be happy. They have many children. Alexander was a wonderful family man: maintaining the foundations of the family and the state was his main commandment.
- Consistency is the main motto of Nicholas’s father, the future Emperor Alexander III.
- Reforms, changes and search are the main motto of his grandfather, Emperor Alexander II.
And these frequent passions for new ideas found a kind of continuation in my grandfather’s endless love interests. In 1880, Nikolai’s grandmother, Maria Alexandrovna, the official wife of Alexander II, died.
His grandfather marries his mistress. Although the intelligent and scrupulous princess is in a hurry to renounce the rights to the throne for her son, everyone understands: what is impossible today is already tomorrow... Alexander II is 62 years old, but he is in the prime of his strength and health. Nikolai's father is clearly relegated to the background. And suddenly, a few months after the “shameful” marriage, a bomb exploded on the Catherine Canal. And, of course, Nicholas heard what was being said around him: “God’s punishment for the sinful king.”
Nicholas II received a good education at home and spoke French, English and German. In 1885-90, a series of classes took place from the course of the Academy of the General Staff and the humanities faculties. To complete his education, the Tsarevich spent several camp periods near the capital. In October 1890, Grand Duke Nikolai Alexandrovich made this journey through Vienna, Greece and Egypt to India, China and Japan. Nikolai Alexandrovich's return route lay across all of Siberia. The Emperor was simple and easily accessible. Contemporaries noted two shortcomings in his character - weak will and inconstancy. Emperor Nicholas II almost immediately after the death of Alexander III, against the will of his mother, married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig IV Alice Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice (in Orthodoxy Alexandra Feodorovna). Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) graduated from Heidelberg University with a bachelor's degree in philosophy. She had a strong will, which explains her influence on her husband. From this marriage four daughters and a son were born. But Nicholas II was never a political pawn on the throne. He knew what he was doing and did what he wanted. Nicholas II stubbornly defended the “beginnings of autocracy,” without giving up a single significant position.
In the field of foreign policy, Nicholas II took some steps to stabilize international relations. In 1898, the Russian emperor turned to the governments of Europe with proposals to sign agreements on maintaining world peace and establishing limits to the constant growth of armaments. The Hague Peace Conferences took place in 1899 and 1907, some of whose decisions are still in effect today. In 1904, Japan declared war on Russia, which ended in 1905 with the defeat of the Russian army. Under the terms of the peace treaty, Russia paid Japan about 200 million rubles for the maintenance of Russian prisoners of war and ceded to it half of the island of Sakhalin and the Kwantung region with the fortress of Port Arthur and the city of Dalniy. The defeat in the Russo-Japanese War and the revolution of 1905 sharply weakened Russia's international position - it was necessary to urgently look for allies. The attempted rapprochement with Germany did not meet the national interests of Russia, and the agreement had to be abandoned. Russia's rapprochement with the Entente countries began. In 1914, Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Entente countries against Germany. The Tsar's uncle, Nikolai Nikolaevich, was appointed commander-in-chief. But, fearing that Nikolai Nikolaevich’s ever-increasing popularity among the troops and in the country could cost him the throne, on August 23, 1915, the Tsar removed Nikolai Nikolaevich from his post and transferred him to the Caucasian Front, taking over the command in chief. It is possible that an additional reason for the disgrace was Nikolai Nikolaevich’s open dislike for Rasputin. Rasputin was not a jester under the Tsar. Arriving at the palace from the taiga, thanks to his intelligence and insight, he quickly got used to it. Taking advantage of the boundless trust of Nicholas and Alexandra, Rasputin did what he wanted: he replaced ministers, achieved profitable military contracts, and intervened in politics. A conspiracy against Rasputin was brewing in monarchist circles. On the night of December 16-17, Rasputin was killed in the palace of Prince Yusupov.
The beginning of the reign of Nicholas II coincided with the rapid growth of capitalism in Russia. The Emperor is increasingly looking for ways of rapprochement with the big bourgeoisie and support from the wealthy peasantry. The State Duma was established (1906), without whose approval not a single law could enter into force. Agrarian reform was carried out according to the project of P.A. Stolypin. The entire reign of Nicholas II passed in an atmosphere of growing revolutionary movement, inflating nationalism and encouraging Black Hundred organizations. Due to the implementation of repressive measures (Bloody Sunday, punitive expeditions, courts-martial), he went down in history as Nicholas “Bloody”. At the beginning of 1905, a revolution broke out in Russia, marking the beginning of some reforms. In August 1915, the “Progressive Bloc” was created in the State Duma and the conditions were formulated for the transition from autocracy to a constitutional monarchy through a “bloodless” parliamentary revolution. In September, the Progressive Bloc proposed a new government, taking into account the opinion of the Duma majority. However, Nicholas II, in response to a more than mild “ultimatum,” closed the Duma meeting, missing the last chance to save the monarchy.
Failures at the front, revolutionary propaganda, devastation, ministerial leapfrog, etc. caused sharp discontent with the autocracy in various circles of society. An uprising broke out in Petrograd, which could not be suppressed. On March 2, 1917, Nicholas II (given the poor health of his son Alexei) abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail Alexandrovich. Mikhail Alexandrovich also signed the Abdication Manifesto. The Republican era began in Russia. From March 9 to August 14, 1917, the former emperor and members of his family were kept under arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. The revolutionary movement is intensifying in Petrograd and the provisional government, fearing for the lives of the royal prisoners, decides to transfer them deep into Russia. After the October Revolution, on April 30, 1918, the prisoners were transported to Yekaterinburg, where on the night of July 17, 1918, the former emperor, his wife, children, the doctor and servants who remained with them were shot by security officers. The corpses of those shot disappeared. Their remains were found and identified only after almost eight decades. Now Nicholas II and his family are buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
Nicholas II: Diary of the Collapse of the Empire
Prologue
The century was then living out its last years. As now, older people lived then with the sad feeling that they no longer had anything to do with the future, which promised humanity the flourishing of science and serene prosperity. But the young people lived in anticipation of what was coming. A century came with a special, mystically multiple number - “The Twentieth”.
And the two happiest young people - Nicky and Alix - lovers who happened to be united in marriage, and the rulers of one sixth of the world also lived in this happy future.
May 14, 1896, Moscow... The Kremlin cathedrals rang with bells. Young Nicholas and the blond beauty Tsarina entered the Assumption Cathedral. And the ringing of the bells died down, and the ancient square crowded with people fell silent. And a great moment came: the Emperor accepted the crown from the hands of the Metropolitan and placed it on his head...
July 18, 1918. Ekaterinburg.
“The corpses were placed in a pit and their faces and entire bodies were doused with sulfuric acid, both to make it unrecognizable and to prevent the stench from decomposition... Having covered it with earth and brushwood, they put sleepers on top and drove through it several times - there were no traces of the pit left.” (From the “Note” of Ya. Yurovsky, who led the execution of the Royal Family on the night of July 17, 1918)
“But even though you fly high like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.” (Words from the Bible that the queen read to her daughter on July 16, 1918 - the last day of their lives.)
Until the end of his days, Tsar Nicholas II kept a certain notebook. This is a summary of the history of Russia, which was written by one of his great ancestors - the reformer Tsar Alexander II, being the heir to the throne.
“The Romanovs...” - the notebook is proudly titled.
“Romanovs” - this is how one can title three whole centuries of Russian history.
Under the dictation of the teacher, Nikolai’s grandfather wrote down a blessed story about the founding of his dynasty: “The mother, shedding tears of tenderness, herself blessed him for the kingdom. Mikhail’s agreement to become king was greeted with joy by all the residents, who rejoiced. Mikhail, who did not remain long in the Ipatiev Monastery, moved to Moscow ..."
Mysticism of history: Ipatievsky was the name of the monastery from where the first Romanov was called to the throne. And the house where the last reigning Romanov, Nicholas II, lost his life was called Ipatievsky after the owner of the house, engineer Ipatiev.
Michael is the name of the first tsar from the House of Romanov and the name of the last one, in whose favor Nicholas II unsuccessfully abdicated the throne.
Leafing through the Royal Diaries
Prominent Bolsheviks lived in the Metropol at that time. They often invited writers and journalists there. And they remembered how it all happened... They drank tea, crunched sugar and told how bullets bounced off the girls and flew around the room... They were overcome by fear, and they could not finish off the boy... he kept crawling on the floor , shielding himself from shots with his hand...
Photos, photos... A tall, thin beauty and a sweet young man - the time of their engagement.
The first child is a girl with weak legs... But now four daughters are sitting on a leather sofa... And then a boy has appeared - the long-awaited heir to the throne. Here he is with a dog, here he is on a bicycle with a huge wheel.
But here is Nicholas and the future English king George, they look at each other - strikingly, ridiculously similar (their mothers were sisters). A photograph of the royal hunt: a huge deer with giant antlers lies in the snow... And here is the rest: Nikolai is swimming - he dived and is swimming completely naked - and from the back his strong body is naked.
Nikolai continuously kept his diary for 36 years. 50 notebooks are covered from beginning to end in his neat handwriting. But the last, 51st notebook is only half filled: life was cut short - and there were empty, gaping pages left, carefully numbered for future use by the author. There are no reflections in this diary and rarely evaluations. A diary is a record of the main events of the day, nothing more. But his voice remained there. The mystical power of genuine speech...
This silent, withdrawn person will talk. He is the author.
The author was born May 6, 1868.
Vintage photograph: a baby with long curls in a lace shirt tries to look into a book held by his mother. Nicholas is one year old here.
The reason why, since 1882, Nikolai begins to continuously fill out his diary is the fateful day of Russian history - March 1, 1881.
On the chilly night of March 1, 1881, the lights were not turned off for a long time in one of the St. Petersburg apartments. The day before, from early morning, certain young people were constantly running into the apartment. Since eight in the evening, six people remained in the apartment: four men and two women. One was Vera Figner, the famous leader of the terrorist organization Narodnaya Volya. The other is Sofya Perovskaya.
Vera Figner and four men worked all night. By morning they filled kerosene cans with “explosive jelly.” The result was four homemade bombs.
The case was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, one of the greatest reformers in Russian history. In those spring days, he was preparing to give Russia the desired constitution, which was supposed to introduce feudal despotism into the circle of civilized European states. But young people were afraid that the constitution would create false satisfaction in society and lead Russia away from the coming revolution.
By that time, terrorist revolutionaries had already made seven unsuccessful attempts on the Tsar’s life. Twenty-one death sentences were the price.
“A revolutionary is a doomed man...” - this is a quote from the famous “Catechism of a Revolutionary” by Bakunin. According to this "Catechism", a revolutionary must: break with the laws and conventions of the civilized world, renounce all personal life and blood ties in the name of revolution. To despise society, to be merciless towards it, not to expect mercy from society and to be prepared for death. And to aggravate by all means the troubles of the people, pushing them towards revolution. Know: all means are justified by one goal - the Revolution...
They decided to smear the motionless Russian cart with blood. And forward - there, to 1917, to the Yekaterinburg basement, to the great Red Terror - to roll, to roll...
Tsar Alexander II died in agony in the palace.
"The Spilled Royal Blood" gave rise to his diary. Nikolai - Heir. Now his life belonged to history - from the New Year he must record his life.
Diary cover
In the fall of 1882 he sang a song.
This song struck him so much that he wrote it on the back of the cover of his very first diary.
"The song we sang while one of us was hiding:
"Down and along the river,
Down and along Kazanka,
A gray drake swims.
Along and along the bank,
Along and steeply
The good fellow is coming.
He has curls
He's with the fair-haired ones
Talking...
Who wants my curls?
Who wants my blond hair?
Will you be able to comb it?
Got curls
The Russians got it
The old grandmother is scratching.
No matter how much she scratches,
No matter how much she strokes,
He just pulls out his hair."
This folk song about the old woman-death combing the curls of a dead young man opens his diary. Diary of a youth
“I started writing my diary on January 1, 1882... Sandro, Sergei... skated, played ball. When my dad left, we started having a snowball fight...”
Boys are playing... Life is a holiday. Sergei and Sandro (Alexander) are the sons of Grand Duke Mikhail, his grandfather’s brother.
The eldest of the Mikhailovichs, his namesake Nikolai, the famous liberal historian, mockingly observes their games: he will always treat Emperor Niki with slight irony.
And all this cheerful, laughing company then...
“Later” is when Nikolai and Georgy Mikhailovich will be shot in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. And at the bottom of the mine, another participant in these fun games, Sergei Mikhailovich, will lie with a bullet in his head. Circumstances of his life
The shadow of his murdered father haunts Alexander III. A chain of sentries along the fence, guards around the palace, guards inside the park... With this prison accent, the life of young Nikolai begins.
The Tsar and his guests are drinking tea on the balcony, and Misha is playing below. Heroic fun: the father takes a watering can and pours water on top of the boy. Misha is happy. Misha laughs, the king laughs, the guests laugh.
But suddenly an unexpected remark follows: “And now, dad, it’s your turn.” The Emperor obediently exposes his bald head, and Misha pours water on him from head to toe with a watering can...
But the father's iron will will break Mikhail's childhood independence - both brothers will grow up kind, gentle and shy. This is often the case with children of strong fathers.
It was then that Nikolai realized the most bitter thing for a boy: they don’t love you - they love their brother! No, no, this did not make him angry, gloomy, or less obedient. He just became secretive.
Alexander III ascended the throne with a clear logic: there were reforms under his father, but what ended? Murder. And Pobedonostsev was called to power.
In his keynote speech, Pobedonostsev explained: Russia is a special country: reforms and a free press will certainly end in debauchery and unrest.
Alexander III had the nickname "Peacemaker". He avoided wars, but the army still loomed large over society. The army with which Russia has always been strong. “Not by laws, not by civilization, but by the army,” wrote Count Witte. “Russia is not a trading or agricultural state, but a military one, and its calling is to be a thunderstorm of light,” it was written in a textbook for cadet corps. The army is, first of all, obedience and diligence. And both of these qualities, already present in the timid young man, will be destructively developed by the army...
The heir to the throne serves in the guard. Since the 18th century, the most noble, richest families in Russia sent their children to the guards in St. Petersburg. Drunkenness, carousing, gypsies, duels - the gentlemanly set of a guardsman. All palace coups in Russia are carried out by the Guard. The guards enthroned Elizabeth and Catherine II, killed the emperors Peter III and Paul I. But the guard not only made campaigns on the imperial palace, in all the great battles of Russia the guard was in front. Diary of a Young Man
"Alix G." - that’s what he called her then in his diary.
Endless letters from Nikolai, hundreds of letters... Her diaries - or rather, what remains. She burned her diaries in early March 1917, when the empire collapsed. Only brief notes remain for 1917 and 1918 - the last two years of her life... Notebooks with extracts from the works of theologians and philosophers, lines of her favorite poems, rewritten by her.
But here is another special notebook - also a collection of sayings, but from an unexpected philosopher who ruled the mind and soul of the brilliantly educated Alix G. This is the semi-literate Russian man Grigory Rasputin.
The daughter of Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Alice of England, she was born in Darmstadt in 1872.
Alix's mother died at 35. There is a large family left. Alix is the youngest. The elder sister Victoria, named after her grandmother, the English queen, married the Prince of Battenberg, commander-in-chief of the English fleet, the second sister Ella was preparing to become the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. And finally, Irene, the third sister, became the wife of Prince Henry, the brother of the German Emperor Wilhelm. So these Hessian princesses will unite the Russian, English and German imperial houses with family ties.
After the death of her mother, Alix is taken by her grandmother, Queen Victoria of England... Victorian era - morals, furniture style and lifestyle. Queen Victoria immaculately follows the tradition: power belongs to Parliament, wise advice belongs to the Queen.
Alix G. is the favorite granddaughter of the liberal queen. A blond beauty girl... For her bright character, the English court calls her “Sunbeam”, however, the German court called her “Spitzbube” (mischievous, bully) for her mischief and disobedience.
A lonely girl travels through the royal palaces of her many relatives. In 1884, twelve-year-old Alix was brought to Russia.
Idyll: he fell in love with her at first sight.
He asked his mother for a brooch with diamonds and gave it to Alix G. She accepted. Nikolai was happy, but he didn’t know Alix well. The next day, at a children's ball in the Anichkov Palace, while dancing, she painfully thrust a brooch into his hand. Silently, without saying a word.
And just as silently, Nikolai gave this brooch to his sister Ksenia.
To take back in 10 years. This brooch will have a terrible fate.
His diary from 1889 opens with a photograph of young Alix: he pasted it in after she left. He begins to wait.
On the next visit of the blond princess - a year later - the unfortunate Nikolai is not allowed to see her.
“December 21, 1890. My dream is to someday marry Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but even deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg in winter. I resisted my feeling for a long time, trying to deceive myself the impossibility of realizing my cherished dream... The only obstacle or gap between her and me is the question of religion. Apart from this there is no other obstacle, I am almost convinced that our feelings are mutual. Everything is in the will of God, trusting in his mercy, I calmly and humbly I look to the future." "I fell passionately in love... Little K."
That St. Petersburg March evening that had sunk into oblivion, the trotters approaching the famous Yacht Club. (Brilliant guard officers, the imperial retinue and members of the imperial family were members of the club.) Then, in March 1890, the name of Little K was heard here for the first time.
All club members are balletomanes. The street where the St. Petersburg Ballet School was located was a favorite walking place for the capital's dandies throughout the century. An old tradition of the St. Petersburg nobility: the mistress is a ballerina.
Just like the guard, the ballet is connected with the palace. The director of the imperial theaters must be a diplomat and strategist - and all the time be aware of the complex disposition of the relationships of his subordinates with members of the imperial family. Coming to a ballet, the first thing the audience is interested in is the “highest presence”: who sits in the imperial box - this often determines the position of the ballerina.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born in 1872. She will die in Paris in 1971, a year short of her centenary. In Paris, she will write memoirs - a touching story about the love of a young ballerina for the heir to the throne. She will also write about that evening of March 23, 1890 - about the evening in the disappeared Atlantis.
After the graduation party, where the emperor and the heir were present, the tables were set. They were seated at a separate table, and suddenly the tsar asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya-second?”
The young ballerina was brought to the royal table, the Emperor himself seated the ballerina next to the heir and jokingly added: “Just please don’t flirt too much.” To the amazement of the young ballerina, Nikolai sat silently next to her all evening.
Kshesinskaya’s romantic story will be replaced by a prosaic narrative. So, the king himself seats the girl next to his son and even admonishes: “Just don’t flirt...” You couldn’t say it any clearer.
Syphilis claimed thousands of young lives; drunkenness and brothels were part of the guards' life. The health of the heir concerned the fate of the entire country. Kshesinskaya is a brilliant candidate: an affair with a future ballet star could only decorate the young man’s biography. But the main thing was to make him forget the Hessian princess. That is why this coming to the school was conceived.
Only in the summer did the little big-eyed girl manage to continue the romance. In July 1890, Matilda Kshesinskaya was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater. In Krasnoye Selo there were guard exercises in which Nikolai took part. The Imperial Ballet danced there during the summer season.
She knew that this would happen during intermission: the great princes loved to come backstage. And he will probably come with them. I knew he wanted to come.
And he came. That's how they met backstage. He said some insignificant words, and she kept waiting... And again the next day he was backstage, and again - nothing. One day during intermission she was detained. And when she ran onto the stage, heated, with blazing eyes... how afraid she was of missing out on her timid admirer... Nikolai was already leaving. When he saw her, he blurted out a jealous, helpless, “I’m sure you were just flirting!” And, confused, he ran out... So he explained.
The Royal Family occupied the first left box. The box was almost on stage. And, dancing, Kshesinskaya the second devoured with her huge eyes the heir, who was sitting in the box with his father. Vsevolozhsky understood everything - and from that moment he made sure that the roles in the ballets went to this ballerina. In the shortest possible time she will win the position of prima donna of the imperial ballet.
“June 17... Detachment maneuvers took place... I really like Kshesinskaya-II.”
"June 30. Krasnoe Selo. The case on the hill got very heated... I was in the theater, talking with Little K. in front of the window [of the box]."
In Paris, she recalled how he stood in the window of the box, and she on the stage in front of him. And again the conversation ended in delightful nothing. And then he came to say goodbye: he was leaving on a trip around the world.
She didn't understand him. And everything was so simple: waiting for Alix G. He remained faithful.
“March 25. Returned to Anichkov with snow falling in flakes. Is this called spring? Had lunch with Sergei at home, and then went to visit the Kshesinskys, where I spent a pleasant hour and a half...”
Kshesinskaya recalled that March St. Petersburg day... The maid reported that a certain guards officer, Mr. Volkov, wanted to see her. The surprised ballerina, who did not know Mr. Volkov, nevertheless ordered him to be taken to the living room. And I couldn’t believe my eyes - Nikolai was standing in the living room. For the first time they were alone. They explained themselves, and... nothing more! After “a pleasant hour and a half,” he left, to Little K’s amazement!
The next day she receives a note: “Ever since I met you, I’ve been in a fog. I hope I can come again soon. Nicky.”
Now for her he is Nicky. A charming and, amazingly for morals, innocent love game begins. His corps comrades bring flowers from his lover. And the lover himself is now a frequent guest in Felix Kshesinsky’s apartment.
“April 1... A very strange phenomenon that I notice in myself: I never thought that two identical feelings, two loves were combined in my soul at the same time. Now it’s been four years that I love Alix G. and constantly cherish the thought, if God allows me to ever marry her... And from the camp of 1890 to this time I have passionately loved (platonically) Little K. An amazing thing, our heart. At the same time, I never stop thinking about Alix, really, one could conclude after this, that I am very amorous."
The Emperor is worried - his game is so far ineffective. Is this why the decisive onslaught of the “pannochka” began?
Yes, she finally managed to force Nikolai to make a decision. A “delightful hotel” was rented on the Promenade des Anglais, where platonic love was finally supposed to end. Little K. left home and openly became the crown prince’s mistress.
So she won. But the victory was the beginning of the end.
It stopped being a dream. And he yearned more and more for the distant beauty. Life and dreams: small, accessible Matilda - and tall, regal princess. Little K disappears from the diaries.
At the beginning of 1894, it became clear that Alexander III did not have long to live. It was urgent to prepare the marriage of the heir. Diplomats began to work, and there was continuous correspondence between St. Petersburg and Darmstadt.
In April, the wedding of Alix's brother Ernie with Saxe-Coburg Princess Victoria-Melitta was scheduled in Coburg. Emperor William II, the Queen of England, and countless princes gathered in Coburg. On the threshold of a formidable new century, one of the last brilliant balls of royal Europe took place.
Russia was represented by a powerful landing of great princes. A priest, Father John Yanyshev, the confessor of the Royal Family, also arrived. His presence clearly spoke of the most serious intentions of the arrivals. Ekaterina Adolfovna Schneider also arrived in Coburg - she taught Ella, Alix’s sister, Russian. If the matter was successful, she was supposed to teach the Russian language to the Hessian princess.
So, Alix's engagement was supposed to take place at Ernie's wedding. Everyone knew this.
"April 8th. A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life! The day of my engagement to my dear, beloved Alix. After talking with her, we explained ourselves to each other... I walked around in a daze all day, not realizing what was actually wrong with me happened... Then a ball was held. I had no time for dancing, I walked and sat in the garden with my bride. I can’t even believe that I have a bride.”
In a letter to his mother, he described in more detail Alix’s strange despair and tears:
He gave her a ring with a ruby and returned the same brooch - once given at the ball. She wore his ring around her neck, along with a cross, and the brooch was always with her.
From her letter on the 22nd anniversary of their engagement:
"April 8, 1916. I would like to hug you tightly and relive our wonderful days of marriage. Today I will wear your expensive brooch... I can still feel your gray clothes... its smell is there, by the window, in Coburg castle..."
A 12-carat diamond would be found in the dirty fire pit where their clothes were burned on the morning of July 17, 1918. What's left of the brooch. She was with her until the end.
But then... how happy he was then! And she also tried to be happy. But she still continued to cry these days. Those around me did not understand anything. Observing her tears, the simple-minded maid of honor wrote down in her diary what she had to write down: Alix does not love her future husband. Yes, she herself did not understand her tears...
“Those sweet kisses that I dreamed and yearned for for so many years and which I no longer hoped to receive... If I decide on something, it’s forever. The same thing in my love and affection - my heart is too big, it devours me ..." (Letter dated April 8, 1916.)
And he - he was recklessly happy. All his life he will cheerfully remember how the orchestra played in the Coburg castle and how during the wedding ceremony, tired from dinner, Uncle Alfred (Duke of Edinburgh) fell asleep and dropped his stick with a roar... How he believed in the future then! And all these uncles and aunts (queen, emperor, dukes, princes, princes), who were still deciding the destinies of peoples, crowded in the halls of the Coburg castle and also believed in the future. If only they could see the future then!
Newlyweds Ernie and Ducky, a “good couple,” will soon separate, and sister Ella will die at the bottom of a mine. Uncle Willie, who loves military uniforms so much and expects a military alliance with Russia, will start a war with Russia. And Uncle Pavel, now dancing the mazurka, will lie with a bullet through his heart, and Niki himself...
“But even though you fly high like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
The Emperor was dying. In the emperor's bedroom are priest John of Kronstadt and the tsar's confessor, Father John Yanyshev. And doctors. They met near the dying man: powerless medicine and omnipotent prayer, which eased his last suffering.
Everything is over. The bedroom doors opened. The body of a dead emperor is drowning in a huge Voltaire chair. The Empress hugs him. Pale Nicky stands a little further away. The emperor died sitting in his chair.
Romance in letters
She: “CS, 1914, September 19. My dear, my dear, I am so happy for you that you managed to go, because I know how deeply you suffered all this time... At the same time, what I am going through now with you, with our dear Motherland and people, my soul ache for my little “old” Motherland, for its troops, for Ernie... Due to selfishness, I am already suffering from separation. We are not used to being separated... Here It’s been 20 years since I’ve been yours, and what bliss all these years have been..."
He: “Bid 09.22.14. Heartfelt thanks for the sweet letter... What a horror it was to part with you, dear children, although I knew it wouldn’t be for long...”
"Good morning, my treasure..."
“This terrible war - will it ever end? I am sure that Wilhelm sometimes experiences despair at the thought that he himself, under the influence of the Russophobic clique, started the war and is leading his people to death. My heart bleeds at the thought of how much work Papa and Ernie spent to ensure that our little homeland achieved prosperity..."
“Our Friend helps you bear a heavy cross and great responsibility, everything will go well - the truth is on our side.” (“Our Friend”, “Gr.” or “He” - that’s what she called the “Holy Devil” in correspondence. This third one will be constantly present in her letters. She will mention him one and a half hundred times.)
“I kissed your pillow. In my mind I see you lying in your compartment and in my mind I cover your face with kisses.”
“Oh, this terrible war!.. The thought of other people’s suffering, shed blood torments the soul...”
“My beloved sunshine, darling wife. I read your letter and almost burst into tears... My love, you are terribly missed, so missed that it is impossible to express! I will try to write very often, because, to my surprise, I am convinced that I can write while the train is moving... My hanging trapeze turned out to be very practical and useful. It's really a great thing on the train, it gives a jolt to the body and the whole organism."
From the memoirs of K. Sheboldaev (retired, worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs):
“Back then it was already a special entertainment for the elite - to be taken to the house where the royal family was shot. By the way, near the fence they showed me the place where he had a trapeze. When he arrived, he immediately hung it up and began to spin the “sun”. And his legs "They rose above the fence. Then they immediately decided to make a double fence."
Samsonov’s army had already died in the swamps of Prussia, defeats and losses cooled enthusiasm. The wounded, refugees, sweat, blood and dirt. All of Europe was plunged into this horror.
"11/25/14. I am writing you a few lines in the greatest haste. We spent this entire morning at work. One soldier died during the operation - such horror... The girls showed courage, although they had never seen death so close... Can you imagine "How it shocked us. How close death is always."
“04/08/15... How time flies - 21 years have already passed! You know, I saved this “princess” dress that I was wearing that morning, and I will wear your favorite brooch...”
"04.05.15... How sad that we are not spending your birthday together! This is the first time... Oh, the cross placed on your shoulders is so difficult! How I would like to help you carry it, although mentally I do this in prayers..."
At this time, defeats at the front forced them to look for scapegoats. The real spy mania began. First they wanted to make Jews spies. The military court in Dvinsk hanged several “for espionage.” It later turned out that they were innocent. But by that time, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich had already matured a plan: the Commander-in-Chief decided to hunt larger game.
“A German spy” is much simpler!
And poor Alix decided to show that she, too, takes part in the common concern - catching spies. She finds her own: Quartermaster General Danilov. This is one of the most talented and malicious generals at Headquarters and the enemy of “our Friend”...
In early June, K.R. suffocated during an attack of angina pectoris. The poet was the last Romanov to be solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the spy case has already reached Rasputin’s entourage.
Was Rasputin really a German spy? Of course not. He served the Family faithfully. But he had a problem: Alix kept demanding new predictions, and he could not be wrong. Therefore, in Rasputin’s apartment, his think tank actually existed: clever businessmen, industrialists - “smart people”... He shared with them military information that came from the queen. After which the cunning man figured out what his next prophecy should be... And, one of these “smart” ones could represent German intelligence. Rasputin was just a man. Cunning and... simple-minded.
Terrible rumors spread throughout Petrograd: the Tsar was deposing Nikolasha and himself becoming Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was a shock. Nikolai Nikolaevich, with his authority and popularity in the army, is a weak tsar, and then there are rumors about the German queen, her relations with the enemy and the dirty “Old Man”!!!
She: “08/22/15. My dear, beloved... They have never seen such determination in you before... You are finally showing yourself as a Sovereign, a real autocrat, without whom Russia cannot exist... Forgive me, I beg you that I haven't left you alone, my angel, all these days. But I know too well your exceptionally gentle character... I suffered so terribly, physically overworked during these two days, mentally exhausted... You see, they are afraid of me and that's why they come to you when you are alone. They know that I have a strong will and I am aware that I am right - and now you are right, we know it, make them tremble before your will and firmness. God is with you and our Friend is for you... I am always by your side and nothing will separate us..."
He: “08/25/15... Thank God, everything has passed - and here I am with this new responsibility on my shoulders... But may the Will of God be fulfilled...”
He became the Commander-in-Chief of the retreating army.
From that moment on, with all her temperament, with all her passion and with all her indomitable will, she begins to help him lead the country and the army.
She: “01/28/16. Again the train is taking my treasure away from me, but I hope not for long. I know that I shouldn’t say that, that from a woman who has been married for a long time, it may seem funny, but I can’t resist .Over the years, love intensifies... It was so good when you read aloud to us. And now I can still hear your sweet voice... Oh, if only our children could be as happy in their married life... Oh, what a feeling “Then I’ll be alone at night!”
The Tsarina writes about a wounded Jew who was lying in her hospital: “While in America, he did not forget Russia and suffered greatly from homesickness, and as soon as the war began, he rushed here to join the soldiers and defend his Motherland. Now, having lost hand in the service in our army and having received the St. George Medal, he would like to stay here and have the right to live in Russia wherever he wants. A right that the Jews do not have... I fully understand this, one should not embitter him and let him feel the cruelty of his former Motherland".
So she complained to him about the laws of his empire.
He: “06/07/16... On the petition of a wounded Jew, I wrote: to allow widespread residence in Russia.”
She: “04/8/16... Christ is risen! My dear Nicky, on this day, the day of our engagement, all my tender thoughts are with you... Today I will wear that expensive brooch...”
At this time, Alix fell into a trap. The spy case continued. Along with Sukhomlinov, Manasevich-Manuilov, a former agent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and banker Rubinstein were brought in. Both of them are close to Rasputin. But the horror of the situation did not stop there. For through Rubinstein, Alix secretly transferred money to Germany to her impoverished relatives. She needed a dedicated Minister of the Interior who could release them and stop forever this business, terrible for “Friend” and for her.
She: “September 7, 1916. My beloved! Grigory convincingly asks that Protopopov be appointed to the post. You know him, and he made a good impression on you. He is a member of the Duma, and therefore will know how to behave with them...”
Throughout 1916 - until the collapse of the empire - there was a ministerial leapfrog. Goremykin, Sturmer, Trepov, Golitsyn succeed each other at the head of the government.
The figure of Protopopov seemed successful to Nikolai. He enjoyed authority in the Duma. More recently, Protopopov was in England at the head of the Duma delegation and had great success there; Duma Chairman Rodzianko favored him. It seemed that a person had been found who would reconcile Nicholas with the Duma. But as soon as the Duma learned that the Tsarina and Rasputin approved of Protopopov, his fate was decided. Protopopov becomes hated by everyone.
Nikolai’s rage is boundless (rare!), he even slammed his fist on the table: “Before I appointed him, he was good for them, now he is not good, because I appointed him.”
“Dark rumors of betrayal and treason are spreading from end to end. These rumors climb high and spare no one... The name of the empress is increasingly repeated along with the names of the adventurers around her... What is this - stupidity or treason?” - asked the leader of the cadets Miliukov from the Duma rostrum in his famous speech.
Miliukov wanted to prove that this was the government's stupidity. But the country repeated: “Treason!”
“Rumors of treason played a fatal role in the army’s attitude towards the dynasty” (Denikin).
“With horror, I have repeatedly wondered whether the Empress was in a conspiracy with Wilhelm,” Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich would say after the revolution in an interview with a Petrograd newspaper.
He: “November 2... My precious one. Nikolai Mikhailovich came here for one day, and last night we had a long conversation with him, which I will tell you about in the next letter, today I am very busy...”
He was lying. He simply didn't know how to tell her about this conversation. And he made up his mind: he forwarded her the letter that Nikolai Mikhailovich had given him.
Here are excerpts from this letter:
“You have repeatedly told me that you have no one to trust, that you are being deceived. If this is so, the same phenomenon should be repeated with your wife, who loves you dearly, but is deluded thanks to the malicious continuous deception of the people around her... If you have no power to remove from her this influence, then at least protect yourself from constant interference and whispering through your beloved wife... I hesitated for a long time to reveal the whole truth, but after your mother and your sisters convinced me to do it, I decided... Believe me me: if I am so pushing for your own liberation from the created shackles... it is only for the sake of hope and hope to save you, your throne and our dear Motherland from the most serious and irreparable consequences.”
In conclusion, Nikolai Mikhailovich suggested that he be given “the desired ministry responsible to the Duma and do it without external pressure,” and “not in the same way as the memorable act of October 17, 1905 took place.”
So he threatened a new revolution. And reminded of the previous revolution.
She: “November 4... I read Nikolai’s letter and am terribly outraged by it. Why didn’t you stop him in the middle of the conversation and tell him that if he touched this subject or me again, you would send him to Siberia, since this already borders on high treason. He always hated me and spoke ill of me all these 22 years... You, my dear, are too kind, condescending and gentle. This man should be in awe of you, he and Nikolasha are your greatest enemies in the family ... Your wife is your support, she stands behind you like a stone wall..."
Now she begins to fight with the entire Romanov Family.
"4.12.16... Show them that you are the ruler. The time of condescension and gentleness has passed. Now the kingdom of will and power is coming! They must be taught obedience. Why do they hate me? Because they know that I have a strong will and that when I am convinced of the rightness of something (and if I have been blessed by a Friend), then I do not change my mind. This is intolerable for them. And I would warn you ... "
He: “11/10/16. Things are not going well in Romania...”
What was the extent of his participation in the war? A pathetic, weak-willed fulfiller of the desires of a hysterical wife and Rasputin - this is the answer given by the coming revolution.
Here's another opinion.
W. Churchill, who was the British Minister of War in 1917, wrote in his book “The World Crisis”: “For no country has fate been as cruel as for Russia. Its ship sank when the harbor was already in sight. .. All sacrifices had already been made, all the work was completed... The long retreats were over. The shell famine was defeated. Armaments flowed in in a wide stream. A stronger, more numerous, better equipped army guarded the huge front... Despite the mistakes - big and terrible - the system that he embodied, which he led, to which he gave a vital spark with his personal qualities, by that moment won the war for Russia..."
The “Spirit of Grigory Rasputin-Novykh” promised:
"Russian Tsar! Know that if your relatives commit murder, then not one of your family, relatives and children, will live longer than two years... They will be killed by the Russian people... They will kill me. I am no longer alive. Pray. Pray "Be strong. Take care of your chosen kind."
Was Rasputin's prediction just a peasant's cunning? Or dictated by the dark power of the “Holy Devil”? Or both?.. For this intoxicated, debauched man was truly a forerunner. Those hundreds of thousands of men who will trample their palaces, kill them themselves and throw their corpses like carrion, without burial...
And Alix shows Niki the terrible will of the “Old Man”... He tries to calm her down: all the behests of Gregory are now being fulfilled... Trepov, not beloved by the Empress, is expelled and the decrepit Golitsyn is appointed prime minister - which means that the beloved “Friend” Protopopov becomes the de facto head of the government . All this causes a revolt in society: there are endless congresses - city, zemstvo, noble - and all are against the new government. While everyone is waiting for the revolution, it has already begun. “Holy devil” turned out to be right - immediately after his death it began!
Execution
Yurovsky entered the Ipatiev House in the guise of a deliverer. He informs Nikolai about the endless thefts of the previous guards. Silver spoons were found buried in the garden. They were solemnly returned to the Family.
The king understood: until his fate was decided. And, of course, he believed it. This secretive and, moreover, such a trusting man did not know the slogan of the great revolutions: “Rob the loot.” It seemed to him that for the first time understanding arose between him and this power so incomprehensible to him. The city will fall. And they decided to take his life. But at the same time, naturally, they must give the Family safe and sound what belongs to it: jewelry. It is unclear where they will have to live after. And what will they have to live on? He was the father of the family, he had to think about their future. He was happy about this unspoken gentleman's agreement...
From the diary: “June 21. Today there was a change of commandant. During lunch, Beloborodov and others came and announced that instead of Avdeev, the one we took for a doctor, Yurovsky, was being appointed. In the afternoon before tea, he and his assistant made an inventory of the gold things: ours and our children. They took most of it with them. They explained that an unpleasant incident had happened in our house... I feel sorry for Avdeev, but he is to blame for not keeping his people from stealing from the chests in the barn."
But Alix did not believe the new commandant. She didn't believe a single word they said. And she was happy that she had so prudently hidden all the most valuable things.
“June 21 (July 4), Thursday,” she wrote down. “Avdeev is removed, and we get a new commandant. With a young assistant who seemed more decent compared to the others - vulgar and unpleasant... All our guards inside have been replaced.. "Then they ordered us to show all our jewelry that we were wearing. The young man copied them carefully and then they took them away."
The “young assistant” of the commandant, who “seemed more decent” to Alix, was indeed a most pleasant young man. Clear-eyed, in a clean blouse, with a name that caresses the ear of the queen - Gregory. This was Nikulin, who in just a few days would shoot her son. "I'm dead but not buried yet"
After the execution in Doctor Botkin’s room, Yurovsky took the papers of the last Russian physician...
"... I don’t think that I was destined to ever write anywhere from anywhere. In essence, I died - I died for my children, for the cause... I died, but not yet buried or buried alive - as you wish: the consequences are almost identical... My children may have the hope that we will meet again someday in this life, but I personally do not indulge myself with this hope and look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye... "
On June 12, having returned from Moscow, Goloshchekin convened a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ural Council. He did not say a word about his agreement with Moscow; only the narrowest circle found out about them - the Presidium of the Urals Council. Ordinary members of the Council were confident: today they themselves must make a decision about the fate of the Romanovs. The whites came up. Everyone understood what this decision could mean in his life.
And yet they unanimously adopted this Resolution. The resolution of the Urals Council on the execution...
"June 30. Saturday. Alexey took his first bath after Tobolsk. His knee is getting better, but he can’t straighten it completely. The weather is warm and pleasant. We have no news from outside."
With this hopeless phrase, the day after the execution order, Nikolai ended his diary. Then there are blank pages, carefully numbered by him until the end of the year.
During these days, Yurovsky often left home. Not far from the village, in a deep forest, there were abandoned mines... “The family was evacuated to a safe place...” Yurovsky and Ermakov were looking for this safe place here.
The family was getting ready for bed. Before going to bed, she described in detail in her diary the whole day - the last day.
At 11 o'clock the light in their room went out...
In the house opposite Ipatievsky, where the guards lived on the second floor, ordinary city inhabitants lived on the first floor. Silent shots... a lot of shots.
- Did you hear?
- I heard.
- Understood?
- Understood.
Life was dangerous in those years, and people were wary, they learned well: only the wary survive. And that’s why they didn’t say anything more to each other, they hid in their rooms until the morning. They later told the White Guard investigator about this night conversation. July 17th
On July 17, for the uninitiated members of the Executive Committee of the Council, Beloborodov played a funny scene called: “Message about the execution to an ignorant Moscow.”
“In view of the approach of the enemy to Yekaterinburg and the disclosure by the Cheka of a large White Guard conspiracy aimed at kidnapping the former Tsar and his family, the documents are in our hands, by resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Council, Nikolai Romanov was shot, and his family was evacuated to a safe place.”
And the day before - on July 17 at nine o'clock in the evening - dedicated members of the Council sent the following encrypted telegram to dedicated members of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee:
"Moscow, the Kremlin, Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars Gorbunov with a reverse check. Tell Sverdlov that the entire family suffered the same fate as the head. Officially, the family will die during the evacuation."
This telegram was later captured by the White Guards in the Yekaterinburg telegraph office, and it was deciphered by the White Guard investigator Sokolov.
4. Prayer to the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II
O holy passion-bearer Tsar Martyr Nicholas, the Lord has chosen you as His Anointed One, who has the merciful right to judge your people and be the guardian of the Orthodox Kingdom.
You performed this royal service and care for souls with the fear of God. Testing you like gold in a crucible, the Lord allows you bitter sorrows, like Job the Long-Suffering, and after the throne of the Tsar, send you deprivation and martyrdom. Having endured all this meekly, as a true servant of Christ, now enjoying the highest glory at the Throne of all the King, together with the holy martyrs: the holy Queen Alexandra, the holy youth Tsarevich Alexy, the holy Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia and with your faithful servants, also with the holy martyr Princess Elizabeth and with all the Royal Martyrs and the holy martyr Barbara.
But as having great boldness in Christ the King, Who suffered for the sake of all, pray with them that the Lord will forgive the sin of the people who did not forbid your murder, the King and Anointed of God, may the Lord deliver the suffering Russian country from the cruel atheists, for our sins and apostasy from God has been allowed, and will erect the throne of the Orthodox Kings, and will grant us forgiveness of sins and instruct us in every virtue, so that we may acquire the humility, meekness and love that these martyrs have revealed, so that we may be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, who will go together with you and all the saints, new martyrs and confessors Let us glorify the Russian Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Bibliography
Edward Radzinsky "Nicholas II"
Orthodox brotherhood in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir
Russian Heraldry
Computer textbook: “History of Russia in the 20th century” (Clio Soft)
Russia before the second coming
House of Romanov
To prepare this work, materials from the website statya.ru were used
“I started writing my diary on January 1, 1882... Sandro, Sergei... skated, played ball. When my dad left, we started having a snowball fight...”
Boys are playing... Life is a holiday. Sergei and Sandro (Alexander) are the sons of Grand Duke Mikhail, his grandfather’s brother.
The eldest of the Mikhailovichs, his namesake Nikolai, the famous liberal historian, mockingly observes their games: he will always treat Emperor Niki with slight irony.
And all this cheerful, laughing company then...
“Later” is when Nikolai and Georgy Mikhailovich will be shot in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress. And at the bottom of the mine, another participant in these fun games, Sergei Mikhailovich, will lie with a bullet in his head.
Circumstances of his life
The shadow of his murdered father haunts Alexander III. A chain of sentries along the fence, guards around the palace, guards inside the park... With this prison accent, the life of young Nikolai begins.
The Tsar and his guests are drinking tea on the balcony, and Misha is playing below. Heroic fun: the father takes a watering can and pours water on top of the boy. Misha is happy. Misha laughs, the king laughs, the guests laugh.
But suddenly an unexpected remark follows: “And now, dad, it’s your turn.” The Emperor obediently exposes his bald head, and Misha pours water on him from head to toe with a watering can...
But the father's iron will will break Mikhail's childhood independence - both brothers will grow up kind, gentle and shy. This is often the case with children of strong fathers.
It was then that Nikolai realized the most bitter thing for a boy: they don’t love you - they love their brother! No, no, this did not make him angry, gloomy, or less obedient. He just became secretive.
Alexander III ascended the throne with a clear logic: there were reforms under his father, but what ended? Murder. And Pobedonostsev was called to power.
In his keynote speech, Pobedonostsev explained: Russia is a special country: reforms and a free press will certainly end in debauchery and unrest.
Alexander III had the nickname "Peacemaker". He avoided wars, but the army still loomed large over society. The army with which Russia has always been strong. “Not by laws, not by civilization, but by the army,” wrote Count Witte. “Russia is not a trading or agricultural state, but a military one, and its calling is to be a thunderstorm of light,” it was written in a textbook for cadet corps. The army is, first of all, obedience and diligence. And both of these qualities, already present in the timid young man, will be destructively developed by the army...
The heir to the throne serves in the guard. Since the 18th century, the most noble, richest families in Russia sent their children to the guards in St. Petersburg. Drunkenness, carousing, gypsies, duels - the gentlemanly set of a guardsman. All palace coups in Russia are carried out by the Guard. The guards enthroned Elizabeth and Catherine II, killed the emperors Peter III and Paul I. But the guard not only made campaigns on the imperial palace, in all the great battles of Russia the guard was in front. Diary of a Young Man
"Alix G." - that’s what he called her then in his diary.
Endless letters from Nikolai, hundreds of letters... Her diaries - or rather, what remains. She burned her diaries in early March 1917, when the empire collapsed. Only brief notes remain for 1917 and 1918 - the last two years of her life... Notebooks with extracts from the works of theologians and philosophers, lines of her favorite poems, rewritten by her.
But here is another special notebook - also a collection of sayings, but from an unexpected philosopher who ruled the mind and soul of the brilliantly educated Alix G. This is the semi-literate Russian man Grigory Rasputin.
The daughter of Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Alice of England, she was born in Darmstadt in 1872.
Alix's mother died at 35. There is a large family left. Alix is the youngest. The elder sister Victoria, named after her grandmother, the English queen, married the Prince of Battenberg, commander-in-chief of the English fleet, the second sister Ella was preparing to become the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. And finally, Irene, the third sister, became the wife of Prince Henry, the brother of the German Emperor Wilhelm. So these Hessian princesses will unite the Russian, English and German imperial houses with family ties.
After the death of her mother, Alix is taken by her grandmother, Queen Victoria of England... Victorian era - morals, furniture style and lifestyle. Queen Victoria immaculately follows the tradition: power belongs to Parliament, wise advice belongs to the Queen.
Alix G. is the favorite granddaughter of the liberal queen. A blond beauty girl... For her bright character, the English court calls her “Sunbeam”, however, the German court called her “Spitzbube” (mischievous, bully) for her mischief and disobedience.
A lonely girl travels through the royal palaces of her many relatives. In 1884, twelve-year-old Alix was brought to Russia.
Idyll: he fell in love with her at first sight.
He asked his mother for a brooch with diamonds and gave it to Alix G. She accepted. Nikolai was happy, but he didn’t know Alix well. The next day, at a children's ball in the Anichkov Palace, while dancing, she painfully thrust a brooch into his hand. Silently, without saying a word.
And just as silently, Nikolai gave this brooch to his sister Ksenia.
To take back in 10 years. This brooch will have a terrible fate.
His diary from 1889 opens with a photograph of young Alix: he pasted it in after she left. He begins to wait.
On the next visit of the blond princess - a year later - the unfortunate Nikolai is not allowed to see her.
“December 21, 1890. My dream is to someday marry Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but even deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg in winter. I resisted my feeling for a long time, trying to deceive myself the impossibility of realizing my cherished dream... The only obstacle or gap between her and me is the question of religion. Apart from this there is no other obstacle, I am almost convinced that our feelings are mutual. Everything is in the will of God, trusting in his mercy, I calmly and humbly I look to the future." "I fell passionately in love... Little K."
That St. Petersburg March evening that had sunk into oblivion, the trotters approaching the famous Yacht Club. (Brilliant guard officers, the imperial retinue and members of the imperial family were members of the club.) Then, in March 1890, the name of Little K was heard here for the first time.
All club members are balletomanes. The street where the St. Petersburg Ballet School was located was a favorite walking place for the capital's dandies throughout the century. An old tradition of the St. Petersburg nobility: the mistress is a ballerina.
Just like the guard, the ballet is connected with the palace. The director of the imperial theaters must be a diplomat and strategist - and all the time be aware of the complex disposition of the relationships of his subordinates with members of the imperial family. Coming to a ballet, the first thing the audience is interested in is the “highest presence”: who sits in the imperial box - this often determines the position of the ballerina.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born in 1872. She will die in Paris in 1971, a year short of her centenary. In Paris, she will write memoirs - a touching story about the love of a young ballerina for the heir to the throne. She will also write about that evening of March 23, 1890 - about the evening in the disappeared Atlantis.
After the graduation party, where the emperor and the heir were present, the tables were set. They were seated at a separate table, and suddenly the tsar asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya-second?”
The young ballerina was brought to the royal table, the Emperor himself seated the ballerina next to the heir and jokingly added: “Just please don’t flirt too much.” To the amazement of the young ballerina, Nikolai sat silently next to her all evening.
Kshesinskaya’s romantic story will be replaced by a prosaic narrative. So, the king himself seats the girl next to his son and even admonishes: “Just don’t flirt...” You couldn’t say it any clearer.
Syphilis claimed thousands of young lives; drunkenness and brothels were part of the guards' life. The health of the heir concerned the fate of the entire country. Kshesinskaya is a brilliant candidate: an affair with a future ballet star could only decorate the young man’s biography. But the main thing was to make him forget the Hessian princess. That is why this coming to the school was conceived.
Only in the summer did the little big-eyed girl manage to continue the romance. In July 1890, Matilda Kshesinskaya was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater. In Krasnoye Selo there were guard exercises in which Nikolai took part. The Imperial Ballet danced there during the summer season.
She knew that this would happen during intermission: the great princes loved to come backstage. And he will probably come with them. I knew he wanted to come.
And he came. That's how they met backstage. He said some insignificant words, and she kept waiting... And again the next day he was backstage, and again - nothing. One day during intermission she was detained. And when she ran onto the stage, heated, with blazing eyes... how afraid she was of missing out on her timid admirer... Nikolai was already leaving. When he saw her, he blurted out a jealous, helpless, “I’m sure you were just flirting!” And, confused, he ran out... So he explained.
The Royal Family occupied the first left box. The box was almost on stage. And, dancing, Kshesinskaya the second devoured with her huge eyes the heir, who was sitting in the box with his father. Vsevolozhsky understood everything - and from that moment he made sure that the roles in the ballets went to this ballerina. In the shortest possible time she will win the position of prima donna of the imperial ballet.
“June 17... Detachment maneuvers took place... I really like Kshesinskaya-II.”
"June 30. Krasnoe Selo. The case on the hill got very heated... I was in the theater, talking with Little K. in front of the window [of the box]."
In Paris, she recalled how he stood in the window of the box, and she on the stage in front of him. And again the conversation ended in delightful nothing. And then he came to say goodbye: he was leaving on a trip around the world.
She didn't understand him. And everything was so simple: waiting for Alix G. He remained faithful.
“March 25. Returned to Anichkov with snow falling in flakes. Is this called spring? Had lunch with Sergei at home, and then went to visit the Kshesinskys, where I spent a pleasant hour and a half...”
Kshesinskaya recalled that March St. Petersburg day... The maid reported that a certain guards officer, Mr. Volkov, wanted to see her. The surprised ballerina, who did not know Mr. Volkov, nevertheless ordered him to be taken to the living room. And I couldn’t believe my eyes - Nikolai was standing in the living room. For the first time they were alone. They explained themselves, and... nothing more! After “a pleasant hour and a half,” he left, to Little K’s amazement!
The next day she receives a note: “Ever since I met you, I’ve been in a fog. I hope I can come again soon. Nicky.”
Now for her he is Nicky. A charming and, amazingly for morals, innocent love game begins. His corps comrades bring flowers from his lover. And the lover himself is now a frequent guest in Felix Kshesinsky’s apartment.
“April 1... A very strange phenomenon that I notice in myself: I never thought that two identical feelings, two loves were combined in my soul at the same time. Now it’s been four years that I love Alix G. and constantly cherish the thought, if God allows me to ever marry her... And from the camp of 1890 to this time I have passionately loved (platonically) Little K. An amazing thing, our heart. At the same time, I never stop thinking about Alix, really, one could conclude after this, that I am very amorous."
The Emperor is worried - his game is so far ineffective. Is this why the decisive onslaught of the “pannochka” began?
Yes, she finally managed to force Nikolai to make a decision. A “delightful hotel” was rented on the Promenade des Anglais, where platonic love was finally supposed to end. Little K. left home and openly became the crown prince’s mistress.
So she won. But the victory was the beginning of the end.
It stopped being a dream. And he yearned more and more for the distant beauty. Life and dreams: small, accessible Matilda - and tall, regal princess. Little K disappears from the diaries.
At the beginning of 1894, it became clear that Alexander III did not have long to live. It was urgent to prepare the marriage of the heir. Diplomats began to work, and there was continuous correspondence between St. Petersburg and Darmstadt.
In April, the wedding of Alix's brother Ernie with Saxe-Coburg Princess Victoria-Melitta was scheduled in Coburg. Emperor William II, the Queen of England, and countless princes gathered in Coburg. On the threshold of a formidable new century, one of the last brilliant balls of royal Europe took place.
Russia was represented by a powerful landing of great princes. A priest, Father John Yanyshev, the confessor of the Royal Family, also arrived. His presence clearly spoke of the most serious intentions of the arrivals. Ekaterina Adolfovna Schneider also arrived in Coburg - she taught Ella, Alix’s sister, Russian. If the matter was successful, she was supposed to teach the Russian language to the Hessian princess.
So, Alix's engagement was supposed to take place at Ernie's wedding. Everyone knew this.
"April 8th. A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life! The day of my engagement to my dear, beloved Alix. After talking with her, we explained ourselves to each other... I walked around in a daze all day, not realizing what was actually wrong with me happened... Then a ball was held. I had no time for dancing, I walked and sat in the garden with my bride. I can’t even believe that I have a bride.”
In a letter to his mother, he described in more detail Alix’s strange despair and tears:
He gave her a ring with a ruby and returned the same brooch - once given at the ball. She wore his ring around her neck, along with a cross, and the brooch was always with her.
From her letter on the 22nd anniversary of their engagement:
"April 8, 1916. I would like to hug you tightly and relive our wonderful days of marriage. Today I will wear your expensive brooch... I can still feel your gray clothes... its smell is there, by the window, in Coburg castle..."
A 12-carat diamond would be found in the dirty fire pit where their clothes were burned on the morning of July 17, 1918. What's left of the brooch. She was with her until the end.
But then... how happy he was then! And she also tried to be happy. But she still continued to cry these days. Those around me did not understand anything. Observing her tears, the simple-minded maid of honor wrote down in her diary what she had to write down: Alix does not love her future husband. Yes, she herself did not understand her tears...
“Those sweet kisses that I dreamed and yearned for for so many years and which I no longer hoped to receive... If I decide on something, it’s forever. The same thing in my love and affection - my heart is too big, it devours me ..." (Letter dated April 8, 1916.)
And he - he was recklessly happy. All his life he will cheerfully remember how the orchestra played in the Coburg castle and how during the wedding ceremony, tired from dinner, Uncle Alfred (Duke of Edinburgh) fell asleep and dropped his stick with a roar... How he believed in the future then! And all these uncles and aunts (queen, emperor, dukes, princes, princes), who were still deciding the destinies of peoples, crowded in the halls of the Coburg castle and also believed in the future. If only they could see the future then!
Newlyweds Ernie and Ducky, a “good couple,” will soon separate, and sister Ella will die at the bottom of a mine. Uncle Willie, who loves military uniforms so much and expects a military alliance with Russia, will start a war with Russia. And Uncle Pavel, now dancing the mazurka, will lie with a bullet through his heart, and Niki himself...
“But even though you fly high like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
The Emperor was dying. In the emperor's bedroom are priest John of Kronstadt and the tsar's confessor, Father John Yanyshev. And doctors. They met near the dying man: powerless medicine and omnipotent prayer, which eased his last suffering.
Everything is over. The bedroom doors opened. The body of a dead emperor is drowning in a huge Voltaire chair. The Empress hugs him. Pale Nicky stands a little further away. The emperor died sitting in his chair.
Romance in letters
She: “CS, 1914, September 19. My dear, my dear, I am so happy for you that you managed to go, because I know how deeply you suffered all this time... At the same time, what I am going through now with you, with our dear Motherland and people, my soul ache for my little “old” Motherland, for its troops, for Ernie... Due to selfishness, I am already suffering from separation. We are not used to being separated... Here It’s been 20 years since I’ve been yours, and what bliss all these years have been..."
He: “Bid 09.22.14. Heartfelt thanks for the sweet letter... What a horror it was to part with you, dear children, although I knew it wouldn’t be for long...”
"Good morning, my treasure..."
“This terrible war - will it ever end? I am sure that Wilhelm sometimes experiences despair at the thought that he himself, under the influence of the Russophobic clique, started the war and is leading his people to death. My heart bleeds at the thought of how much work Papa and Ernie spent to ensure that our little homeland achieved prosperity..."
“Our Friend helps you bear a heavy cross and great responsibility, everything will go well - the truth is on our side.” (“Our Friend”, “Gr.” or “He” - that’s what she called the “Holy Devil” in correspondence. This third one will be constantly present in her letters. She will mention him one and a half hundred times.)
“I kissed your pillow. In my mind I see you lying in your compartment and in my mind I cover your face with kisses.”
“Oh, this terrible war!.. The thought of other people’s suffering, shed blood torments the soul...”
“My beloved sunshine, darling wife. I read your letter and almost burst into tears... My love, you are terribly missed, so missed that it is impossible to express! I will try to write very often, because, to my surprise, I am convinced that I can write while the train is moving... My hanging trapeze turned out to be very practical and useful. It's really a great thing on the train, it gives a jolt to the body and the whole organism."
From the memoirs of K. Sheboldaev (retired, worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs):
“Back then it was already a special entertainment for the elite - to be taken to the house where the royal family was shot. By the way, near the fence they showed me the place where he had a trapeze. When he arrived, he immediately hung it up and began to spin the “sun”. And his legs "They rose above the fence. Then they immediately decided to make a double fence."
Samsonov’s army had already died in the swamps of Prussia, defeats and losses cooled enthusiasm. The wounded, refugees, sweat, blood and dirt. All of Europe was plunged into this horror.
"11/25/14. I am writing you a few lines in the greatest haste. We spent this entire morning at work. One soldier died during the operation - such horror... The girls showed courage, although they had never seen death so close... Can you imagine "How it shocked us. How close death is always."
“04/08/15... How time flies - 21 years have already passed! You know, I saved this “princess” dress that I was wearing that morning, and I will wear your favorite brooch...”
"04.05.15... How sad that we are not spending your birthday together! This is the first time... Oh, the cross placed on your shoulders is so difficult! How I would like to help you carry it, although mentally I do this in prayers..."
At this time, defeats at the front forced them to look for scapegoats. The real spy mania began. First they wanted to make Jews spies. The military court in Dvinsk hanged several “for espionage.” It later turned out that they were innocent. But by that time, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich had already matured a plan: the Commander-in-Chief decided to hunt larger game.
“A German spy” is much simpler!
And poor Alix decided to show that she, too, takes part in the common concern - catching spies. She finds her own: Quartermaster General Danilov. This is one of the most talented and malicious generals at Headquarters and the enemy of “our Friend”...
In early June, K.R. suffocated during an attack of angina pectoris. The poet was the last Romanov to be solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the spy case has already reached Rasputin’s entourage.
Was Rasputin really a German spy? Of course not. He served the Family faithfully. But he had a problem: Alix kept demanding new predictions, and he could not be wrong. Therefore, in Rasputin’s apartment, his think tank actually existed: clever businessmen, industrialists - “smart people”... He shared with them military information that came from the queen. After which the cunning man figured out what his next prophecy should be... And, one of these “smart” ones could represent German intelligence. Rasputin was just a man. Cunning and... simple-minded.
Terrible rumors spread throughout Petrograd: the Tsar was deposing Nikolasha and himself becoming Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was a shock. Nikolai Nikolaevich, with his authority and popularity in the army, is a weak tsar, and then there are rumors about the German queen, her relations with the enemy and the dirty “Old Man”!!!
She: “08/22/15. My dear, beloved... They have never seen such determination in you before... You are finally showing yourself as a Sovereign, a real autocrat, without whom Russia cannot exist... Forgive me, I beg you that I haven't left you alone, my angel, all these days. But I know too well your exceptionally gentle character... I suffered so terribly, physically overworked during these two days, mentally exhausted... You see, they are afraid of me and that's why they come to you when you are alone. They know that I have a strong will and I am aware that I am right - and now you are right, we know it, make them tremble before your will and firmness. God is with you and our Friend is for you... I am always by your side and nothing will separate us..."
He: “08/25/15... Thank God, everything has passed - and here I am with this new responsibility on my shoulders... But may the Will of God be fulfilled...”
He became the Commander-in-Chief of the retreating army.
From that moment on, with all her temperament, with all her passion and with all her indomitable will, she begins to help him lead the country and the army.
She: “01/28/16. Again the train is taking my treasure away from me, but I hope not for long. I know that I shouldn’t say that, that from a woman who has been married for a long time, it may seem funny, but I can’t resist .Over the years, love intensifies... It was so good when you read aloud to us. And now I can still hear your sweet voice... Oh, if only our children could be as happy in their married life... Oh, what a feeling “Then I’ll be alone at night!”
The Tsarina writes about a wounded Jew who was lying in her hospital: “While in America, he did not forget Russia and suffered greatly from homesickness, and as soon as the war began, he rushed here to join the soldiers and defend his Motherland. Now, having lost hand in the service in our army and having received the St. George Medal, he would like to stay here and have the right to live in Russia wherever he wants. A right that the Jews do not have... I fully understand this, one should not embitter him and let him feel the cruelty of his former Motherland".
So she complained to him about the laws of his empire.
He: “06/07/16... On the petition of a wounded Jew, I wrote: to allow widespread residence in Russia.”
She: “04/8/16... Christ is risen! My dear Nicky, on this day, the day of our engagement, all my tender thoughts are with you... Today I will wear that expensive brooch...”
At this time, Alix fell into a trap. The spy case continued. Along with Sukhomlinov, Manasevich-Manuilov, a former agent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and banker Rubinstein were brought in. Both of them are close to Rasputin. But the horror of the situation did not stop there. For through Rubinstein, Alix secretly transferred money to Germany to her impoverished relatives. She needed a dedicated Minister of the Interior who could release them and stop forever this business, terrible for “Friend” and for her.
She: “September 7, 1916. My beloved! Grigory convincingly asks that Protopopov be appointed to the post. You know him, and he made a good impression on you. He is a member of the Duma, and therefore will know how to behave with them...”
Throughout 1916 - until the collapse of the empire - there was a ministerial leapfrog. Goremykin, Sturmer, Trepov, Golitsyn succeed each other at the head of the government.
The figure of Protopopov seemed successful to Nikolai. He enjoyed authority in the Duma. More recently, Protopopov was in England at the head of the Duma delegation and had great success there; Duma Chairman Rodzianko favored him. It seemed that a person had been found who would reconcile Nicholas with the Duma. But as soon as the Duma learned that the Tsarina and Rasputin approved of Protopopov, his fate was decided. Protopopov becomes hated by everyone.
Nikolai’s rage is boundless (rare!), he even slammed his fist on the table: “Before I appointed him, he was good for them, now he is not good, because I appointed him.”
“Dark rumors of betrayal and treason are spreading from end to end. These rumors climb high and spare no one... The name of the empress is increasingly repeated along with the names of the adventurers around her... What is this - stupidity or treason?” - asked the leader of the cadets Miliukov from the Duma rostrum in his famous speech.
Miliukov wanted to prove that this was the government's stupidity. But the country repeated: “Treason!”
“Rumors of treason played a fatal role in the army’s attitude towards the dynasty” (Denikin).
“With horror, I have repeatedly wondered whether the Empress was in a conspiracy with Wilhelm,” Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich would say after the revolution in an interview with a Petrograd newspaper.
He: “November 2... My precious one. Nikolai Mikhailovich came here for one day, and last night we had a long conversation with him, which I will tell you about in the next letter, today I am very busy...”
He was lying. He simply didn't know how to tell her about this conversation. And he made up his mind: he forwarded her the letter that Nikolai Mikhailovich had given him.
Here are excerpts from this letter:
“You have repeatedly told me that you have no one to trust, that you are being deceived. If this is so, the same phenomenon should be repeated with your wife, who loves you dearly, but is deluded thanks to the malicious continuous deception of the people around her... If you have no power to remove from her this influence, then at least protect yourself from constant interference and whispering through your beloved wife... I hesitated for a long time to reveal the whole truth, but after your mother and your sisters convinced me to do it, I decided... Believe me me: if I am so pushing for your own liberation from the created shackles... it is only for the sake of hope and hope to save you, your throne and our dear Motherland from the most serious and irreparable consequences.”
In conclusion, Nikolai Mikhailovich suggested that he be given “the desired ministry responsible to the Duma and do it without external pressure,” and “not in the same way as the memorable act of October 17, 1905 took place.”
So he threatened a new revolution. And reminded of the previous revolution.
She: “November 4... I read Nikolai’s letter and am terribly outraged by it. Why didn’t you stop him in the middle of the conversation and tell him that if he touched this subject or me again, you would send him to Siberia, since this already borders on high treason. He always hated me and spoke ill of me all these 22 years... You, my dear, are too kind, condescending and gentle. This man should be in awe of you, he and Nikolasha are your greatest enemies in the family ... Your wife is your support, she stands behind you like a stone wall..."
Now she begins to fight with the entire Romanov Family.
"4.12.16... Show them that you are the ruler. The time of condescension and gentleness has passed. Now the kingdom of will and power is coming! They must be taught obedience. Why do they hate me? Because they know that I have a strong will and that when I am convinced of the rightness of something (and if I have been blessed by a Friend), then I do not change my mind. This is intolerable for them. And I would warn you ... "
He: “11/10/16. Things are not going well in Romania...”
What was the extent of his participation in the war? A pathetic, weak-willed fulfiller of the desires of a hysterical wife and Rasputin - this is the answer given by the coming revolution.
Here's another opinion.
W. Churchill, who was the British Minister of War in 1917, wrote in his book “The World Crisis”: “For no country has fate been as cruel as for Russia. Its ship sank when the harbor was already in sight. .. All sacrifices had already been made, all the work was completed... The long retreats were over. The shell famine was defeated. Armaments flowed in in a wide stream. A stronger, more numerous, better equipped army guarded the huge front... Despite the mistakes - big and terrible - the system that he embodied, which he led, to which he gave a vital spark with his personal qualities, by that moment won the war for Russia..."
The “Spirit of Grigory Rasputin-Novykh” promised:
"Russian Tsar! Know that if your relatives commit murder, then not one of your family, relatives and children, will live longer than two years... They will be killed by the Russian people... They will kill me. I am no longer alive. Pray. Pray "Be strong. Take care of your chosen kind."
Was Rasputin's prediction just a peasant's cunning? Or dictated by the dark power of the “Holy Devil”? Or both?.. For this intoxicated, debauched man was truly a forerunner. Those hundreds of thousands of men who will trample their palaces, kill them themselves and throw their corpses like carrion, without burial...
And Alix shows Niki the terrible will of the “Old Man”... He tries to calm her down: all the behests of Gregory are now being fulfilled... Trepov, not beloved by the Empress, is expelled and the decrepit Golitsyn is appointed prime minister - which means that the beloved “Friend” Protopopov becomes the de facto head of the government . All this causes a revolt in society: there are endless congresses - city, zemstvo, noble - and all are against the new government. While everyone is waiting for the revolution, it has already begun. “Holy devil” turned out to be right - immediately after his death it began!
Execution
Yurovsky entered the Ipatiev House in the guise of a deliverer. He informs Nikolai about the endless thefts of the previous guards. Silver spoons were found buried in the garden. They were solemnly returned to the Family.
The king understood: until his fate was decided. And, of course, he believed it. This secretive and, moreover, such a trusting man did not know the slogan of the great revolutions: “Rob the loot.” It seemed to him that for the first time understanding arose between him and this power so incomprehensible to him. The city will fall. And they decided to take his life. But at the same time, naturally, they must give the Family safe and sound what belongs to it: jewelry. It is unclear where they will have to live after. And what will they have to live on? He was the father of the family, he had to think about their future. He was happy about this unspoken gentleman's agreement...
From the diary: “June 21. Today there was a change of commandant. During lunch, Beloborodov and others came and announced that instead of Avdeev, the one we took for a doctor, Yurovsky, was being appointed. In the afternoon before tea, he and his assistant made an inventory of the gold things: ours and our children. They took most of it with them. They explained that an unpleasant incident had happened in our house... I feel sorry for Avdeev, but he is to blame for not keeping his people from stealing from the chests in the barn."
But Alix did not believe the new commandant. She didn't believe a single word they said. And she was happy that she had so prudently hidden all the most valuable things.
“June 21 (July 4), Thursday,” she wrote down. “Avdeev is removed, and we get a new commandant. With a young assistant who seemed more decent compared to the others - vulgar and unpleasant... All our guards inside have been replaced.. "Then they ordered us to show all our jewelry that we were wearing. The young man copied them carefully and then they took them away."
The “young assistant” of the commandant, who “seemed more decent” to Alix, was indeed a most pleasant young man. Clear-eyed, in a clean blouse, with a name that caresses the ear of the queen - Gregory. This was Nikulin, who in just a few days would shoot her son. "I'm dead but not buried yet"
After the execution in Doctor Botkin’s room, Yurovsky took the papers of the last Russian physician...
"... I don’t think that I was destined to ever write anywhere from anywhere. In essence, I died - I died for my children, for the cause... I died, but not yet buried or buried alive - as you wish: the consequences are almost identical... My children may have the hope that we will meet again someday in this life, but I personally do not indulge myself with this hope and look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye... "
On June 12, having returned from Moscow, Goloshchekin convened a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ural Council. He did not say a word about his agreement with Moscow; only the narrowest circle found out about them - the Presidium of the Urals Council. Ordinary members of the Council were confident: today they themselves must make a decision about the fate of the Romanovs. The whites came up. Everyone understood what this decision could mean in his life.
And yet they unanimously adopted this Resolution. The resolution of the Urals Council on the execution...
"June 30. Saturday. Alexey took his first bath after Tobolsk. His knee is getting better, but he can’t straighten it completely. The weather is warm and pleasant. We have no news from outside."
With this hopeless phrase, the day after the execution order, Nikolai ended his diary. Then there are blank pages, carefully numbered by him until the end of the year.
During these days, Yurovsky often left home. Not far from the village, in a deep forest, there were abandoned mines... “The family was evacuated to a safe place...” Yurovsky and Ermakov were looking for this safe place here.
The family was getting ready for bed. Before going to bed, she described in detail in her diary the whole day - the last day.
At 11 o'clock the light in their room went out...
In the house opposite Ipatievsky, where the guards lived on the second floor, ordinary city inhabitants lived on the first floor. Silent shots... a lot of shots.
- Did you hear?
- I heard.
- Understood?
- Understood.
Life was dangerous in those years, and people were wary, they learned well: only the wary survive. And that’s why they didn’t say anything more to each other, they hid in their rooms until the morning. They later told the White Guard investigator about this night conversation. July 17th
On July 17, for the uninitiated members of the Executive Committee of the Council, Beloborodov played a funny scene called: “Message about the execution to an ignorant Moscow.”
“In view of the approach of the enemy to Yekaterinburg and the disclosure by the Cheka of a large White Guard conspiracy aimed at kidnapping the former Tsar and his family, the documents are in our hands, by resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Council, Nikolai Romanov was shot, and his family was evacuated to a safe place.”
And the day before - on July 17 at nine o'clock in the evening - dedicated members of the Council sent the following encrypted telegram to dedicated members of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee:
"Moscow, the Kremlin, Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars Gorbunov with a reverse check. Tell Sverdlov that the entire family suffered the same fate as the head. Officially, the family will die during the evacuation."
This telegram was later captured by the White Guards in the Yekaterinburg telegraph office, and it was deciphered by the White Guard investigator Sokolov.
4. Prayer to the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II
O holy passion-bearer Tsar Martyr Nicholas, the Lord has chosen you as His Anointed One, who has the merciful right to judge your people and be the guardian of the Orthodox Kingdom.
You performed this royal service and care for souls with the fear of God. Testing you like gold in a crucible, the Lord allows you bitter sorrows, like Job the Long-Suffering, and after the throne of the Tsar, send you deprivation and martyrdom. Having endured all this meekly, as a true servant of Christ, now enjoying the highest glory at the Throne of all the King, together with the holy martyrs: the holy Queen Alexandra, the holy youth Tsarevich Alexy, the holy Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia and with your faithful servants, also with the holy martyr Princess Elizabeth and with all the Royal Martyrs and the holy martyr Barbara.
But as having great boldness in Christ the King, Who suffered for the sake of all, pray with them that the Lord will forgive the sin of the people who did not forbid your murder, the King and Anointed of God, may the Lord deliver the suffering Russian country from the cruel atheists, for our sins and apostasy from God has been allowed, and will erect the throne of the Orthodox Kings, and will grant us forgiveness of sins and instruct us in every virtue, so that we may acquire the humility, meekness and love that these martyrs have revealed, so that we may be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, who will go together with you and all the saints, new martyrs and confessors Let us glorify the Russian Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Bibliography
Edward Radzinsky "Nicholas II"
Orthodox brotherhood in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir
Russian Heraldry
Computer textbook: “History of Russia in the 20th century” (Clio Soft)
Russia before the second coming
House of Romanov
To prepare this work, materials from the website statya.ru were used
"Alix G." - that’s what he called her then in his diary.
Endless letters from Nikolai, hundreds of letters... Her diaries - or rather, what remains. She burned her diaries in early March 1917, when the empire collapsed. Only brief notes remain for 1917 and 1918 - the last two years of her life... Notebooks with extracts from the works of theologians and philosophers, lines of her favorite poems, rewritten by her.
But here is another special notebook - also a collection of sayings, but from an unexpected philosopher who ruled the mind and soul of the brilliantly educated Alix G. This is the semi-literate Russian man Grigory Rasputin.
The daughter of Grand Duke Ernest Ludwig IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Alice of England, she was born in Darmstadt in 1872.
Alix's mother died at 35. There is a large family left. Alix is the youngest. The elder sister Victoria, named after her grandmother, the English queen, married the Prince of Battenberg, commander-in-chief of the English fleet, the second sister Ella was preparing to become the wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. And finally, Irene, the third sister, became the wife of Prince Henry, the brother of the German Emperor Wilhelm. So these Hessian princesses will unite the Russian, English and German imperial houses with family ties.
After the death of her mother, Alix is taken by her grandmother, Queen Victoria of England... Victorian era - morals, furniture style and lifestyle. Queen Victoria immaculately follows the tradition: power belongs to Parliament, wise advice belongs to the Queen.
Alix G. is the favorite granddaughter of the liberal queen. A blond beauty girl... For her bright character, the English court calls her “Sunbeam”, however, the German court called her “Spitzbube” (mischievous, bully) for her mischief and disobedience.
A lonely girl travels through the royal palaces of her many relatives. In 1884, twelve-year-old Alix was brought to Russia.
Idyll: he fell in love with her at first sight.
He asked his mother for a brooch with diamonds and gave it to Alix G. She accepted. Nikolai was happy, but he didn’t know Alix well. The next day, at a children's ball in the Anichkov Palace, while dancing, she painfully thrust a brooch into his hand. Silently, without saying a word.
And just as silently, Nikolai gave this brooch to his sister Ksenia.
To take back in 10 years. This brooch will have a terrible fate.
His diary from 1889 opens with a photograph of young Alix: he pasted it in after she left. He begins to wait.
On the next visit of the blond princess - a year later - the unfortunate Nikolai is not allowed to see her.
“December 21, 1890. My dream is to someday marry Alix G. I have loved her for a long time, but even deeper and stronger since 1889, when she spent 6 weeks in St. Petersburg in winter. I resisted my feeling for a long time, trying to deceive myself the impossibility of realizing my cherished dream... The only obstacle or gap between her and me is the question of religion. Apart from this there is no other obstacle, I am almost convinced that our feelings are mutual. Everything is in the will of God, trusting in his mercy, I calmly and humbly I look to the future."
"I fell passionately in love... Little K."
That St. Petersburg March evening that had sunk into oblivion, the trotters approaching the famous Yacht Club. (Brilliant guard officers, the imperial retinue and members of the imperial family were members of the club.) Then, in March 1890, the name of Little K was heard here for the first time.
All club members are balletomanes. The street where the St. Petersburg Ballet School was located was a favorite walking place for the capital's dandies throughout the century. An old tradition of the St. Petersburg nobility: the mistress is a ballerina.
Just like the guard, the ballet is connected with the palace. The director of the imperial theaters must be a diplomat and strategist - and all the time be aware of the complex disposition of the relationships of his subordinates with members of the imperial family. Coming to a ballet, the first thing the audience is interested in is the “highest presence”: who sits in the imperial box - this often determines the position of the ballerina.
Matilda Kshesinskaya was born in 1872. She will die in Paris in 1971, a year short of her centenary. In Paris, she will write memoirs - a touching story about the love of a young ballerina for the heir to the throne. She will also write about that evening of March 23, 1890 - about the evening in the disappeared Atlantis.
After the graduation party, where the emperor and the heir were present, the tables were set. They were seated at a separate table, and suddenly the tsar asked: “Where is Kshesinskaya-second?”
The young ballerina was brought to the royal table, the Emperor himself seated the ballerina next to the heir and jokingly added: “Just please don’t flirt too much.” To the amazement of the young ballerina, Nikolai sat silently next to her all evening.
Kshesinskaya’s romantic story will be replaced by a prosaic narrative. So, the king himself seats the girl next to his son and even admonishes: “Just don’t flirt...” You couldn’t say it any clearer.
Syphilis claimed thousands of young lives; drunkenness and brothels were part of the guards' life. The health of the heir concerned the fate of the entire country. Kshesinskaya is a brilliant candidate: an affair with a future ballet star could only decorate the young man’s biography. But the main thing was to make him forget the Hessian princess. That is why this coming to the school was conceived.
Only in the summer did the little big-eyed girl manage to continue the romance. In July 1890, Matilda Kshesinskaya was accepted into the troupe of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater. In Krasnoye Selo there were guard exercises in which Nikolai took part. The Imperial Ballet danced there during the summer season.
She knew that this would happen during intermission: the great princes loved to come backstage. And he will probably come with them. I knew he wanted to come.
And he came. That's how they met backstage. He said some insignificant words, and she kept waiting... And again the next day he was backstage, and again - nothing. One day during intermission she was detained. And when she ran onto the stage, heated, with blazing eyes... how afraid she was of missing out on her timid admirer... Nikolai was already leaving. When he saw her, he blurted out a jealous, helpless, “I’m sure you were just flirting!” And, confused, he ran out... So he explained.
The Royal Family occupied the first left box. The box was almost on stage. And, dancing, Kshesinskaya the second devoured with her huge eyes the heir, who was sitting in the box with his father. Vsevolozhsky understood everything - and from that moment he made sure that the roles in the ballets went to this ballerina. In the shortest possible time she will win the position of prima donna of the imperial ballet.
“June 17... Detachment maneuvers took place... I really like Kshesinskaya-II.”
"June 30. Krasnoe Selo. The case on the hill got very heated... I was in the theater, talking with Little K. in front of the window [of the box]."
In Paris, she recalled how he stood in the window of the box, and she on the stage in front of him. And again the conversation ended in delightful nothing. And then he came to say goodbye: he was leaving on a trip around the world.
She didn't understand him. And everything was so simple: waiting for Alix G. He remained faithful.
“March 25. Returned to Anichkov with snow falling in flakes. Is this called spring? Had lunch with Sergei at home, and then went to visit the Kshesinskys, where I spent a pleasant hour and a half...”
Kshesinskaya recalled that March St. Petersburg day... The maid reported that a certain guards officer, Mr. Volkov, wanted to see her. The surprised ballerina, who did not know Mr. Volkov, nevertheless ordered him to be taken to the living room. And I couldn’t believe my eyes - Nikolai was standing in the living room. For the first time they were alone. They explained themselves, and... nothing more! After “a pleasant hour and a half,” he left, to Little K’s amazement!
The next day she receives a note: “Ever since I met you, I’ve been in a fog. I hope I can come again soon. Nicky.”
Now for her he is Nicky. A charming and, amazingly for morals, innocent love game begins. His corps comrades bring flowers from his lover. And the lover himself is now a frequent guest in Felix Kshesinsky’s apartment.
“April 1... A very strange phenomenon that I notice in myself: I never thought that two identical feelings, two loves were combined in my soul at the same time. Now it’s been four years that I love Alix G. and constantly cherish the thought, if God allows me to ever marry her... And from the camp of 1890 to this time I have passionately loved (platonically) Little K. An amazing thing, our heart. At the same time, I never stop thinking about Alix, really, one could conclude after this, that I am very amorous."
The Emperor is worried - his game is so far ineffective. Is this why the decisive onslaught of the “pannochka” began?
Yes, she finally managed to force Nikolai to make a decision. A “delightful hotel” was rented on the Promenade des Anglais, where platonic love was finally supposed to end. Little K. left home and openly became the crown prince’s mistress.
So she won. But the victory was the beginning of the end.
It stopped being a dream. And he yearned more and more for the distant beauty. Life and dreams: small, accessible Matilda - and tall, regal princess. Little K disappears from the diaries.
At the beginning of 1894, it became clear that Alexander III did not have long to live. It was urgent to prepare the marriage of the heir. Diplomats began to work, and there was continuous correspondence between St. Petersburg and Darmstadt.
In April, the wedding of Alix's brother Ernie with Saxe-Coburg Princess Victoria-Melitta was scheduled in Coburg. Emperor William II, the Queen of England, and countless princes gathered in Coburg. On the threshold of a formidable new century, one of the last brilliant balls of royal Europe took place.
Russia was represented by a powerful landing of great princes. A priest, Father John Yanyshev, the confessor of the Royal Family, also arrived. His presence clearly spoke of the most serious intentions of the arrivals. Ekaterina Adolfovna Schneider also arrived in Coburg - she taught Ella, Alix’s sister, Russian. If the matter was successful, she was supposed to teach the Russian language to the Hessian princess.
So, Alix's engagement was supposed to take place at Ernie's wedding. Everyone knew this.
"April 8th. A wonderful, unforgettable day in my life! The day of my engagement to my dear, beloved Alix. After talking with her, we explained ourselves to each other... I walked around in a daze all day, not realizing what was actually wrong with me happened... Then a ball was held. I had no time for dancing, I walked and sat in the garden with my bride. I can’t even believe that I have a bride.”
In a letter to his mother, he described in more detail Alix’s strange despair and tears:
He gave her a ring with a ruby and returned the same brooch - once given at the ball. She wore his ring around her neck, along with a cross, and the brooch was always with her.
From her letter on the 22nd anniversary of their engagement:
"April 8, 1916. I would like to hug you tightly and relive our wonderful days of marriage. Today I will wear your expensive brooch... I can still feel your gray clothes... its smell is there, by the window, in Coburg castle..."
A 12-carat diamond would be found in the dirty fire pit where their clothes were burned on the morning of July 17, 1918. What's left of the brooch. She was with her until the end.
But then... how happy he was then! And she also tried to be happy. But she still continued to cry these days. Those around me did not understand anything. Observing her tears, the simple-minded maid of honor wrote down in her diary what she had to write down: Alix does not love her future husband. Yes, she herself did not understand her tears...
“Those sweet kisses that I dreamed and yearned for for so many years and which I no longer hoped to receive... If I decide on something, it’s forever. The same thing in my love and affection - my heart is too big, it devours me ..." (Letter dated April 8, 1916.)
And he - he was recklessly happy. All his life he will cheerfully remember how the orchestra played in the Coburg castle and how during the wedding ceremony, tired from dinner, Uncle Alfred (Duke of Edinburgh) fell asleep and dropped his stick with a roar... How he believed in the future then! And all these uncles and aunts (queen, emperor, dukes, princes, princes), who were still deciding the destinies of peoples, crowded in the halls of the Coburg castle and also believed in the future. If only they could see the future then!
Newlyweds Ernie and Ducky, a “good couple,” will soon separate, and sister Ella will die at the bottom of a mine. Uncle Willie, who loves military uniforms so much and expects a military alliance with Russia, will start a war with Russia. And Uncle Pavel, now dancing the mazurka, will lie with a bullet through his heart, and Niki himself...
“But even though you fly high like an eagle and make your nest among the stars, even from there I will bring you down, says the Lord.”
The Emperor was dying. In the emperor's bedroom are priest John of Kronstadt and the tsar's confessor, Father John Yanyshev. And doctors. They met near the dying man: powerless medicine and omnipotent prayer, which eased his last suffering.
Everything is over. The bedroom doors opened. The body of a dead emperor is drowning in a huge Voltaire chair. The Empress hugs him. Pale Nicky stands a little further away. The emperor died sitting in his chair.
Romance in letters
She: “CS, 1914, September 19. My dear, my dear, I am so happy for you that you managed to go, because I know how deeply you suffered all this time... At the same time, what I am going through now with you, with our dear Motherland and people, my soul ache for my little “old” Motherland, for its troops, for Ernie... Due to selfishness, I am already suffering from separation. We are not used to being separated... Here It’s been 20 years since I’ve been yours, and what bliss all these years have been..."
He: “Bid 09.22.14. Heartfelt thanks for the sweet letter... What a horror it was to part with you, dear children, although I knew it wouldn’t be for long...”
"Good morning, my treasure..."
“This terrible war - will it ever end? I am sure that Wilhelm sometimes experiences despair at the thought that he himself, under the influence of the Russophobic clique, started the war and is leading his people to death. My heart bleeds at the thought of how much work Papa and Ernie spent to ensure that our little homeland achieved prosperity..."
“Our Friend helps you bear a heavy cross and great responsibility, everything will go well - the truth is on our side.” (“Our Friend”, “Gr.” or “He” - that’s what she called the “Holy Devil” in correspondence. This third one will be constantly present in her letters. She will mention him one and a half hundred times.)
“I kissed your pillow. In my mind I see you lying in your compartment and in my mind I cover your face with kisses.”
“Oh, this terrible war!.. The thought of other people’s suffering, shed blood torments the soul...”
“My beloved sunshine, darling wife. I read your letter and almost burst into tears... My love, you are terribly missed, so missed that it is impossible to express! I will try to write very often, because, to my surprise, I am convinced that I can write while the train is moving... My hanging trapeze turned out to be very practical and useful. It's really a great thing on the train, it gives a jolt to the body and the whole organism."
From the memoirs of K. Sheboldaev (retired, worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs):
“Back then it was already a special entertainment for the elite - to be taken to the house where the royal family was shot. By the way, near the fence they showed me the place where he had a trapeze. When he arrived, he immediately hung it up and began to spin the “sun”. And his legs "They rose above the fence. Then they immediately decided to make a double fence."
Samsonov’s army had already died in the swamps of Prussia, defeats and losses cooled enthusiasm. The wounded, refugees, sweat, blood and dirt. All of Europe was plunged into this horror.
"11/25/14. I am writing you a few lines in the greatest haste. We spent this entire morning at work. One soldier died during the operation - such horror... The girls showed courage, although they had never seen death so close... Can you imagine "How it shocked us. How close death is always."
“04/08/15... How time flies - 21 years have already passed! You know, I saved this “princess” dress that I was wearing that morning, and I will wear your favorite brooch...”
"04.05.15... How sad that we are not spending your birthday together! This is the first time... Oh, the cross placed on your shoulders is so difficult! How I would like to help you carry it, although mentally I do this in prayers..."
At this time, defeats at the front forced them to look for scapegoats. The real spy mania began. First they wanted to make Jews spies. The military court in Dvinsk hanged several “for espionage.” It later turned out that they were innocent. But by that time, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich had already matured a plan: the Commander-in-Chief decided to hunt larger game.
“A German spy” is much simpler!
And poor Alix decided to show that she, too, takes part in the common concern - catching spies. She finds her own: Quartermaster General Danilov. This is one of the most talented and malicious generals at Headquarters and the enemy of “our Friend”...
In early June, K.R. suffocated during an attack of angina pectoris. The poet was the last Romanov to be solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.
Meanwhile, the investigation into the spy case has already reached Rasputin’s entourage.
Was Rasputin really a German spy? Of course not. He served the Family faithfully. But he had a problem: Alix kept demanding new predictions, and he could not be wrong. Therefore, in Rasputin’s apartment, his think tank actually existed: clever businessmen, industrialists - “smart people”... He shared with them military information that came from the queen. After which the cunning man figured out what his next prophecy should be... And, one of these “smart” ones could represent German intelligence. Rasputin was just a man. Cunning and... simple-minded.
Terrible rumors spread throughout Petrograd: the Tsar was deposing Nikolasha and himself becoming Supreme Commander-in-Chief. It was a shock. Nikolai Nikolaevich, with his authority and popularity in the army, is a weak tsar, and then there are rumors about the German queen, her relations with the enemy and the dirty “Old Man”!!!
She: “08/22/15. My dear, beloved... They have never seen such determination in you before... You are finally showing yourself as a Sovereign, a real autocrat, without whom Russia cannot exist... Forgive me, I beg you that I haven't left you alone, my angel, all these days. But I know too well your exceptionally gentle character... I suffered so terribly, physically overworked during these two days, mentally exhausted... You see, they are afraid of me and that's why they come to you when you are alone. They know that I have a strong will and I am aware that I am right - and now you are right, we know it, make them tremble before your will and firmness. God is with you and our Friend is for you... I am always by your side and nothing will separate us..."
He: “08/25/15... Thank God, everything has passed - and here I am with this new responsibility on my shoulders... But may the Will of God be fulfilled...”
He became the Commander-in-Chief of the retreating army.
From that moment on, with all her temperament, with all her passion and with all her indomitable will, she begins to help him lead the country and the army.
She: “01/28/16. Again the train is taking my treasure away from me, but I hope not for long. I know that I shouldn’t say that, that from a woman who has been married for a long time, it may seem funny, but I can’t resist .Over the years, love intensifies... It was so good when you read aloud to us. And now I can still hear your sweet voice... Oh, if only our children could be as happy in their married life... Oh, what a feeling “Then I’ll be alone at night!”
The Tsarina writes about a wounded Jew who was lying in her hospital: “While in America, he did not forget Russia and suffered greatly from homesickness, and as soon as the war began, he rushed here to join the soldiers and defend his Motherland. Now, having lost hand in the service in our army and having received the St. George Medal, he would like to stay here and have the right to live in Russia wherever he wants. A right that the Jews do not have... I fully understand this, one should not embitter him and let him feel the cruelty of his former Motherland".
So she complained to him about the laws of his empire.
He: “06/07/16... On the petition of a wounded Jew, I wrote: to allow widespread residence in Russia.”
She: “04/8/16... Christ is risen! My dear Nicky, on this day, the day of our engagement, all my tender thoughts are with you... Today I will wear that expensive brooch...”
At this time, Alix fell into a trap. The spy case continued. Along with Sukhomlinov, Manasevich-Manuilov, a former agent of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and banker Rubinstein were brought in. Both of them are close to Rasputin. But the horror of the situation did not stop there. For through Rubinstein, Alix secretly transferred money to Germany to her impoverished relatives. She needed a dedicated Minister of the Interior who could release them and stop forever this business, terrible for “Friend” and for her.
She: “September 7, 1916. My beloved! Grigory convincingly asks that Protopopov be appointed to the post. You know him, and he made a good impression on you. He is a member of the Duma, and therefore will know how to behave with them...”
Throughout 1916 - until the collapse of the empire - there was a ministerial leapfrog. Goremykin, Sturmer, Trepov, Golitsyn succeed each other at the head of the government.
The figure of Protopopov seemed successful to Nikolai. He enjoyed authority in the Duma. More recently, Protopopov was in England at the head of the Duma delegation and had great success there; Duma Chairman Rodzianko favored him. It seemed that a person had been found who would reconcile Nicholas with the Duma. But as soon as the Duma learned that the Tsarina and Rasputin approved of Protopopov, his fate was decided. Protopopov becomes hated by everyone.
Nikolai’s rage is boundless (rare!), he even slammed his fist on the table: “Before I appointed him, he was good for them, now he is not good, because I appointed him.”
“Dark rumors of betrayal and treason are spreading from end to end. These rumors climb high and spare no one... The name of the empress is increasingly repeated along with the names of the adventurers around her... What is this - stupidity or treason?” - asked the leader of the cadets Miliukov from the Duma rostrum in his famous speech.
Miliukov wanted to prove that this was the government's stupidity. But the country repeated: “Treason!”
“Rumors of treason played a fatal role in the army’s attitude towards the dynasty” (Denikin).
“With horror, I have repeatedly wondered whether the Empress was in a conspiracy with Wilhelm,” Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich would say after the revolution in an interview with a Petrograd newspaper.
He: “November 2... My precious one. Nikolai Mikhailovich came here for one day, and last night we had a long conversation with him, which I will tell you about in the next letter, today I am very busy...”
He was lying. He simply didn't know how to tell her about this conversation. And he made up his mind: he forwarded her the letter that Nikolai Mikhailovich had given him.
Here are excerpts from this letter:
“You have repeatedly told me that you have no one to trust, that you are being deceived. If this is so, the same phenomenon should be repeated with your wife, who loves you dearly, but is deluded thanks to the malicious continuous deception of the people around her... If you have no power to remove from her this influence, then at least protect yourself from constant interference and whispering through your beloved wife... I hesitated for a long time to reveal the whole truth, but after your mother and your sisters convinced me to do it, I decided... Believe me me: if I am so pushing for your own liberation from the created shackles... it is only for the sake of hope and hope to save you, your throne and our dear Motherland from the most serious and irreparable consequences.”
In conclusion, Nikolai Mikhailovich suggested that he be given “the desired ministry responsible to the Duma and do it without external pressure,” and “not in the same way as the memorable act of October 17, 1905 took place.”
So he threatened a new revolution. And reminded of the previous revolution.
She: “November 4... I read Nikolai’s letter and am terribly outraged by it. Why didn’t you stop him in the middle of the conversation and tell him that if he touched this subject or me again, you would send him to Siberia, since this already borders on high treason. He always hated me and spoke ill of me all these 22 years... You, my dear, are too kind, condescending and gentle. This man should be in awe of you, he and Nikolasha are your greatest enemies in the family ... Your wife is your support, she stands behind you like a stone wall..."
Now she begins to fight with the entire Romanov Family.
"4.12.16... Show them that you are the ruler. The time of condescension and gentleness has passed. Now the kingdom of will and power is coming! They must be taught obedience. Why do they hate me? Because they know that I have a strong will and that when I am convinced of the rightness of something (and if I have been blessed by a Friend), then I do not change my mind. This is intolerable for them. And I would warn you ... "
He: “11/10/16. Things are not going well in Romania...”
What was the extent of his participation in the war? A pathetic, weak-willed fulfiller of the desires of a hysterical wife and Rasputin - this is the answer given by the coming revolution.
Here's another opinion.
W. Churchill, who was the British Minister of War in 1917, wrote in his book “The World Crisis”: “For no country has fate been as cruel as for Russia. Its ship sank when the harbor was already in sight. .. All sacrifices had already been made, all the work was completed... The long retreats were over. The shell famine was defeated. Armaments flowed in in a wide stream. A stronger, more numerous, better equipped army guarded the huge front... Despite the mistakes - big and terrible - the system that he embodied, which he led, to which he gave a vital spark with his personal qualities, by that moment won the war for Russia..."
The “Spirit of Grigory Rasputin-Novykh” promised:
"Russian Tsar! Know that if your relatives commit murder, then not one of your family, relatives and children, will live longer than two years... They will be killed by the Russian people... They will kill me. I am no longer alive. Pray. Pray "Be strong. Take care of your chosen kind."
Was Rasputin's prediction just a peasant's cunning? Or dictated by the dark power of the “Holy Devil”? Or both?.. For this intoxicated, debauched man was truly a forerunner. Those hundreds of thousands of men who will trample their palaces, kill them themselves and throw their corpses like carrion, without burial...
And Alix shows Niki the terrible will of the “Old Man”... He tries to calm her down: all the behests of Gregory are now being fulfilled... Trepov, not beloved by the Empress, is expelled and the decrepit Golitsyn is appointed prime minister - which means that the beloved “Friend” Protopopov becomes the de facto head of the government . All this causes a revolt in society: there are endless congresses - city, zemstvo, noble - and all are against the new government. While everyone is waiting for the revolution, it has already begun. “Holy devil” turned out to be right - immediately after his death it began!
Execution
Yurovsky entered the Ipatiev House in the guise of a deliverer. He informs Nikolai about the endless thefts of the previous guards. Silver spoons were found buried in the garden. They were solemnly returned to the Family.
The king understood: until his fate was decided. And, of course, he believed it. This secretive and, moreover, such a trusting man did not know the slogan of the great revolutions: “Rob the loot.” It seemed to him that for the first time understanding arose between him and this power so incomprehensible to him. The city will fall. And they decided to take his life. But at the same time, naturally, they must give the Family safe and sound what belongs to it: jewelry. It is unclear where they will have to live after. And what will they have to live on? He was the father of the family, he had to think about their future. He was happy about this unspoken gentleman's agreement...
From the diary: “June 21. Today there was a change of commandant. During lunch, Beloborodov and others came and announced that instead of Avdeev, the one we took for a doctor, Yurovsky, was being appointed. In the afternoon before tea, he and his assistant made an inventory of the gold things: ours and our children. They took most of it with them. They explained that an unpleasant incident had happened in our house... I feel sorry for Avdeev, but he is to blame for not keeping his people from stealing from the chests in the barn."
But Alix did not believe the new commandant. She didn't believe a single word they said. And she was happy that she had so prudently hidden all the most valuable things.
“June 21 (July 4), Thursday,” she wrote down. “Avdeev is removed, and we get a new commandant. With a young assistant who seemed more decent compared to the others - vulgar and unpleasant... All our guards inside have been replaced.. "Then they ordered us to show all our jewelry that we were wearing. The young man copied them carefully and then they took them away."
The “young assistant” of the commandant, who “seemed more decent” to Alix, was indeed a most pleasant young man. Clear-eyed, in a clean blouse, with a name that caresses the ear of the queen - Gregory. This was Nikulin, who in just a few days would shoot her son. "I'm dead but not buried yet"
After the execution in Doctor Botkin’s room, Yurovsky took the papers of the last Russian physician...
"... I don’t think that I was destined to ever write anywhere from anywhere. In essence, I died - I died for my children, for the cause... I died, but not yet buried or buried alive - as you wish: the consequences are almost identical... My children may have the hope that we will meet again someday in this life, but I personally do not indulge myself with this hope and look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye... "
On June 12, having returned from Moscow, Goloshchekin convened a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ural Council. He did not say a word about his agreement with Moscow; only the narrowest circle found out about them - the Presidium of the Urals Council. Ordinary members of the Council were confident: today they themselves must make a decision about the fate of the Romanovs. The whites came up. Everyone understood what this decision could mean in his life.
And yet they unanimously adopted this Resolution. The resolution of the Urals Council on the execution...
"June 30. Saturday. Alexey took his first bath after Tobolsk. His knee is getting better, but he can’t straighten it completely. The weather is warm and pleasant. We have no news from outside."
With this hopeless phrase, the day after the execution order, Nikolai ended his diary. Then there are blank pages, carefully numbered by him until the end of the year.
During these days, Yurovsky often left home. Not far from the village, in a deep forest, there were abandoned mines... “The family was evacuated to a safe place...” Yurovsky and Ermakov were looking for this safe place here.
The family was getting ready for bed. Before going to bed, she described in detail in her diary the whole day - the last day.
At 11 o'clock the light in their room went out...
In the house opposite Ipatievsky, where the guards lived on the second floor, ordinary city inhabitants lived on the first floor. Silent shots... a lot of shots.
- Did you hear?
- I heard.
- Understood?
- Understood.
Life was dangerous in those years, and people were wary, they learned well: only the wary survive. And that’s why they didn’t say anything more to each other, they hid in their rooms until the morning. They later told the White Guard investigator about this night conversation. July 17th
On July 17, for the uninitiated members of the Executive Committee of the Council, Beloborodov played a funny scene called: “Message about the execution to an ignorant Moscow.”
“In view of the approach of the enemy to Yekaterinburg and the disclosure by the Cheka of a large White Guard conspiracy aimed at kidnapping the former Tsar and his family, the documents are in our hands, by resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Council, Nikolai Romanov was shot, and his family was evacuated to a safe place.”
And the day before - on July 17 at nine o'clock in the evening - dedicated members of the Council sent the following encrypted telegram to dedicated members of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee:
"Moscow, the Kremlin, Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars Gorbunov with a reverse check. Tell Sverdlov that the entire family suffered the same fate as the head. Officially, the family will die during the evacuation."
This telegram was later captured by the White Guards in the Yekaterinburg telegraph office, and it was deciphered by the White Guard investigator Sokolov.
4. Prayer to the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II
O holy passion-bearer Tsar Martyr Nicholas, the Lord has chosen you as His Anointed One, who has the merciful right to judge your people and be the guardian of the Orthodox Kingdom.
You performed this royal service and care for souls with the fear of God. Testing you like gold in a crucible, the Lord allows you bitter sorrows, like Job the Long-Suffering, and after the throne of the Tsar, send you deprivation and martyrdom. Having endured all this meekly, as a true servant of Christ, now enjoying the highest glory at the Throne of all the King, together with the holy martyrs: the holy Queen Alexandra, the holy youth Tsarevich Alexy, the holy Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia and with your faithful servants, also with the holy martyr Princess Elizabeth and with all the Royal Martyrs and the holy martyr Barbara.
But as having great boldness in Christ the King, Who suffered for the sake of all, pray with them that the Lord will forgive the sin of the people who did not forbid your murder, the King and Anointed of God, may the Lord deliver the suffering Russian country from the cruel atheists, for our sins and apostasy from God has been allowed, and will erect the throne of the Orthodox Kings, and will grant us forgiveness of sins and instruct us in every virtue, so that we may acquire the humility, meekness and love that these martyrs have revealed, so that we may be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, who will go together with you and all the saints, new martyrs and confessors Let us glorify the Russian Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Bibliography
Edward Radzinsky "Nicholas II"
Orthodox brotherhood in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir
Russian Heraldry
Computer textbook: “History of Russia in the 20th century” (Clio Soft)
Russia before the second coming
House of Romanov
To prepare this work, materials from the website statya.ru were used
After the execution in Doctor Botkin’s room, Yurovsky took the papers of the last Russian physician...
"... I don’t think that I was destined to ever write anywhere from anywhere. In essence, I died - I died for my children, for the cause... I died, but not yet buried or buried alive - as you wish: the consequences are almost identical... My children may have the hope that we will meet again someday in this life, but I personally do not indulge myself with this hope and look the unvarnished reality straight in the eye... "
On June 12, having returned from Moscow, Goloshchekin convened a meeting of the Executive Committee of the Ural Council. He did not say a word about his agreement with Moscow; only the narrowest circle found out about them - the Presidium of the Urals Council. Ordinary members of the Council were confident: today they themselves must make a decision about the fate of the Romanovs. The whites came up. Everyone understood what this decision could mean in his life.
And yet they unanimously adopted this Resolution. The resolution of the Urals Council on the execution...
"June 30. Saturday. Alexey took his first bath after Tobolsk. His knee is getting better, but he can’t straighten it completely. The weather is warm and pleasant. We have no news from outside."
With this hopeless phrase, the day after the execution order, Nikolai ended his diary. Then there are blank pages, carefully numbered by him until the end of the year.
During these days, Yurovsky often left home. Not far from the village, in a deep forest, there were abandoned mines... “The family was evacuated to a safe place...” Yurovsky and Ermakov were looking for this safe place here.
The family was getting ready for bed. Before going to bed, she described in detail in her diary the whole day - the last day.
At 11 o'clock the light in their room went out...
In the house opposite Ipatievsky, where the guards lived on the second floor, ordinary city inhabitants lived on the first floor. Silent shots... a lot of shots.
- Did you hear?
- I heard.
- Understood?
- Understood.
Life was dangerous in those years, and people were wary, they learned well: only the wary survive. And that’s why they didn’t say anything more to each other, they hid in their rooms until the morning. They later told the White Guard investigator about this night conversation.
July 17th
On July 17, for the uninitiated members of the Executive Committee of the Council, Beloborodov played a funny scene called: “Message about the execution to an ignorant Moscow.”
“In view of the approach of the enemy to Yekaterinburg and the disclosure by the Cheka of a large White Guard conspiracy aimed at kidnapping the former Tsar and his family, the documents are in our hands, by resolution of the Presidium of the Regional Council, Nikolai Romanov was shot, and his family was evacuated to a safe place.”
And the day before - on July 17 at nine o'clock in the evening - dedicated members of the Council sent the following encrypted telegram to dedicated members of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee:
"Moscow, the Kremlin, Secretary of the Council of People's Commissars Gorbunov with a reverse check. Tell Sverdlov that the entire family suffered the same fate as the head. Officially, the family will die during the evacuation."
This telegram was later captured by the White Guards in the Yekaterinburg telegraph office, and it was deciphered by the White Guard investigator Sokolov.
4. Prayer to the holy Tsar-Martyr Nicholas II
O holy passion-bearer Tsar Martyr Nicholas, the Lord has chosen you as His Anointed One, who has the merciful right to judge your people and be the guardian of the Orthodox Kingdom.
You performed this royal service and care for souls with the fear of God. Testing you like gold in a crucible, the Lord allows you bitter sorrows, like Job the Long-Suffering, and after the throne of the Tsar, send you deprivation and martyrdom. Having endured all this meekly, as a true servant of Christ, now enjoying the highest glory at the Throne of all the King, together with the holy martyrs: the holy Queen Alexandra, the holy youth Tsarevich Alexy, the holy Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia and with your faithful servants, also with the holy martyr Princess Elizabeth and with all the Royal Martyrs and the holy martyr Barbara.
But as having great boldness in Christ the King, Who suffered for the sake of all, pray with them that the Lord will forgive the sin of the people who did not forbid your murder, the King and Anointed of God, may the Lord deliver the suffering Russian country from the cruel atheists, for our sins and apostasy from God has been allowed, and will erect the throne of the Orthodox Kings, and will grant us forgiveness of sins and instruct us in every virtue, so that we may acquire the humility, meekness and love that these martyrs have revealed, so that we may be worthy of the Heavenly Kingdom, who will go together with you and all the saints, new martyrs and confessors Let us glorify the Russian Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and ever and unto ages of ages. Amen. Bibliography
Edward Radzinsky "Nicholas II"
Orthodox brotherhood in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir
Russian Heraldry
Computer textbook: “History of Russia in the 20th century” (Clio Soft)
Russia before the second coming
House of Romanov
To prepare this work, materials from the website statya.ru were used
Edward Radzinsky "Nicholas II"
Orthodox brotherhood in the name of Equal-to-the-Apostles Prince Vladimir
Russian Heraldry
Computer textbook: “History of Russia in the 20th century” (Clio Soft)
Russia before the second coming
House of Romanov
To prepare this work, materials from the website statya.ru were used
It was Nicholas II in 1899 who was the first in world history to call on the rulers of states for disarmament and universal peace
Let us remember that it was Tsar Nicholas II in The Hague in 1899 who was the first in world history to call on the rulers of states for disarmament and universal peace - he saw that Western Europe was ready to explode like a powder keg. He was a moral and spiritual leader, the only ruler in the world at that time who did not have narrow, nationalistic interests. On the contrary, being God's anointed one, he had in his heart the universal task of all Orthodox Christianity - to bring all humanity created by God to Christ. Otherwise, why did he make such sacrifices for Serbia? He was a man of unusually strong will, as noted, for example, by the French President Emile Loubet. All the forces of hell rallied to destroy the king. They would not have done this if the king was weak.
- You say that Nikolai II is a deeply Orthodox person. But there’s very little Russian blood in him, isn’t there?
Sorry, but this statement contains a nationalist assumption that one must be of “Russian blood” in order to be considered Orthodox, to belong to universal Christianity. I think that the tsar was one 128th Russian by blood. And what? The sister of Nicholas II answered this question perfectly more than fifty years ago. In a 1960 interview with Greek journalist Ian Worres, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna (1882-1960) said: “Did the British call King George VI a German? There was not a drop of English blood in him... Blood is not the main thing. The main thing is the country in which you grew up, the faith in which you were brought up, the language in which you speak and think.”
- Today some Russians portray Nicholas II "redeemer". Do you agree with this?
Of course not! There is only one redeemer - the Savior Jesus Christ. However, it can be said that the sacrifice of the Tsar, his family, servants and tens of millions of other people killed in Russia by the Soviet regime and the Nazis was redemptive. Rus' was “crucified” for the sins of the world. Indeed, the suffering of the Russian Orthodox in their blood and tears was redemptive. It is also true that all Christians are called to be saved by living in Christ the Redeemer. It is interesting that some pious, but not very educated Russians, who call Tsar Nicholas “redeemer”, call Grigory Rasputin a saint.
- Is Nikolai’s personality significant? II today? Orthodox Christians form a small minority among other Christians. Even if Nicholas II is of particular importance to all Orthodox Christians, it will still be little compared to all Christians.
Of course, we Christians are a minority. According to statistics, of the 7 billion people living on our planet, only 2.2 billion are Christians - that’s 32%. And Orthodox Christians make up only 10% of all Christians, that is, only 3.2% are Orthodox in the world, or approximately every 33rd inhabitant of the Earth. But if we look at these statistics from a theological point of view, what do we see? For Orthodox Christians, non-Orthodox Christians are former Orthodox Christians who have fallen away from the Church, unwittingly brought into heterodoxy by their leaders for a variety of political reasons and for the sake of worldly well-being. We can understand Catholics as Catholicized Orthodox Christians, and Protestants as Catholics who have been converted to Protestantism. We, unworthy Orthodox Christians, are like a little leaven that leavens the whole dough (see: Gal. 5:9).
Without the Church, light and warmth do not spread from the Holy Spirit to the whole world. Here you are outside the Sun, but you still feel the warmth and light emanating from it - also 90% of Christians who are outside the Church still know about its action. For example, almost all of them confess the Holy Trinity and Christ as the Son of God. Why? Thanks to the Church, which established these teachings many centuries ago. Such is the grace present in the Church and flowing from it. If we understand this, then we will understand the significance for us of the Orthodox emperor, the last spiritual successor of Emperor Constantine the Great - Tsar Nicholas II. His dethronement and murder completely changed the course of church history, and the same can be said about his recent glorification.
- If this is so, then why was the king overthrown and killed?
Christians are always persecuted in the world, as the Lord told His disciples. Pre-revolutionary Russia lived by the Orthodox faith. However, the faith was rejected by much of the pro-Western ruling elite, the aristocracy and many members of the expanding middle class. The revolution was the result of a loss of faith.
Most of the upper class in Russia wanted power, just as the rich merchants and middle class in France wanted power and caused the French Revolution. Having acquired wealth, they wanted to rise to the next level of the hierarchy of values - the level of power. In Russia, such a thirst for power, which came from the West, was based on blind worship of the West and hatred of one’s country. We see this from the very beginning in the example of such figures as A. Kurbsky, Peter I, Catherine II and Westerners like P. Chaadaev.
The decline of faith also poisoned the “white movement,” which was divided due to the lack of a common strengthening faith in the Orthodox kingdom. In general, the Russian ruling elite was deprived of an Orthodox identity, which was replaced by various surrogates: a bizarre mixture of mysticism, occultism, Freemasonry, socialism and the search for “truth” in esoteric religions. By the way, these surrogates continued to live in the Parisian emigration, where various figures distinguished themselves by their adherence to theosophy, anthroposophy, Sophianism, name-worship and other very bizarre and spiritually dangerous false teachings.
They had so little love for Russia that as a result they broke away from the Russian Church, but still justified themselves! The poet Sergei Bekhteev (1879-1954) had strong words to say about this in his 1922 poem “Remember, Know,” comparing the privileged position of emigration in Paris with the situation of people in crucified Russia:
And again their hearts are filled with intrigue,
And again there is betrayal and lies on the lips,
And writes life into the chapter of the last book
Vile betrayal of arrogant nobles.
These representatives of the upper classes (although not all were traitors) were financed by the West from the very beginning. The West believed that as soon as its values: parliamentary democracy, republicanism and constitutional monarchy were implanted in Russia, it would become another bourgeois Western country. For the same reason, the Russian Church needed to be “Protestantized,” that is, spiritually neutralized, deprived of power, which the West tried to do with the Patriarchate of Constantinople and other Local Churches that fell under its rule after 1917, when they lost the patronage of Russia. This was a consequence of the West's conceit that its model could become universal. This idea is inherent in Western elites today; they are trying to impose their model called the “new world order” on the whole world.
The Tsar - God's anointed, the last defender of the Church on earth - had to be removed because he was holding back the West from seizing power in the world
The Tsar - God's anointed, the last defender of the Church on earth - had to be removed because he was holding back the West from seizing power in the world. However, in their incompetence, the aristocratic revolutionaries of February 1917 soon lost control of the situation, and within a few months power passed from them to the lower ranks - to the criminal Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks set a course for mass violence and genocide, for the “Red Terror”, similar to the terror in France five generations earlier, but with much more brutal technologies of the 20th century.
Then the ideological formula of the Orthodox empire was also distorted. Let me remind you that it sounded like this: “Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality.” But it was maliciously interpreted as follows: “obscurantism, tyranny, nationalism.” Godless communists deformed this ideology even further, so that it turned into “centralized communism, totalitarian dictatorship, national Bolshevism.” What did the original ideological triad mean? It meant: “(full, embodied) true Christianity, spiritual independence (from the powers of this world) and love for the people of God.” As we said above, this ideology was the spiritual, moral, political, economic and social program of Orthodoxy.
Social program? But the revolution occurred because there were a lot of poor people and there was merciless exploitation of the poor by super-rich aristocrats, and the tsar was at the head of this aristocracy.
No, it was the aristocracy that opposed the tsar and the people. The Tsar himself donated generously from his wealth and imposed high taxes on the rich under the remarkable Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, who did so much for land reform. Unfortunately, the Tsar's social justice agenda was one of the reasons why the aristocrats came to hate the Tsar. The king and the people were united. Both were betrayed by the pro-Western elite. This is already evidenced by the murder of Rasputin, which was preparation for the revolution. The peasants rightly saw this as a betrayal of the people by the nobility.
-What was the role of the Jews?
There is a conspiracy theory that supposedly Jews alone are to blame for everything bad that has happened and is happening in Russia (and in the world in general). This contradicts the words of Christ.
Indeed, most of the Bolsheviks were Jews, but the Jews who participated in the preparation of the Russian Revolution were, first of all, apostates, atheists like K. Marx, and not believers, practicing Jews. The Jews who participated in the revolution worked hand in hand with and depended on non-Jewish atheists such as the American banker P. Morgan, as well as the Russians and many others.
Satan does not give preference to any one particular nation, but uses for his own purposes everyone who is ready to submit to him
We know that Britain organized, supported by France and financed by the USA, that V. Lenin was sent to Russia and sponsored by the Kaiser and that the masses who fought in the Red Army were Russian. None of them were Jewish. Some people, captivated by racist myths, simply refuse to face the truth: the revolution was the work of Satan, who is ready to use any nation, any of us - Jews, Russians, non-Russians, to achieve his destructive plans... Satan does not give preference to any one specific nation, but uses for his own purposes everyone who is ready to subordinate their free will to him to establish a “new world order”, where he will be the sole ruler of fallen humanity.
- There are Russophobes who believe that the Soviet Union was the successor to Tsarist Russia. Is this true in your opinion?
Undoubtedly, there is continuity... of Western Russophobia! Look, for example, at issues of The Times between 1862 and 2012. You will see 150 years of xenophobia. It is true that many in the West were Russophobes long before the advent of the Soviet Union. In every nation there are such narrow-minded people - simply nationalists who believe that any nation other than their own should be denigrated, no matter what its political system is and no matter how this system changes. We saw this in the recent Iraq War. We see this today in news reports where the peoples of Syria, Iran and North Korea are accused of all their sins. We do not take such prejudices seriously.
Let's return to the question of continuity. After a period of complete nightmare that began in 1917, continuity actually appeared. This happened after in June 1941. Stalin realized that he could win the war only with the blessing of the Church; he remembered the past victories of Orthodox Russia, won, for example, under the holy princes and Demetrius Donskoy. He realized that any victory can be achieved only together with his “brothers and sisters,” that is, the people, and not with “comrades” and communist ideology. Geography does not change, so there is continuity in Russian history.
The Soviet period was a deviation from history, a departure from Russia's national destiny, especially in the first bloody period after the revolution...
We know (and Churchill expressed this very clearly in his book “The World Crisis of 1916-1918”) that in 1917 Russia was on the eve of victory
What would have happened if the revolution had not happened? We know (and W. Churchill expressed this very clearly in his book “The World Crisis of 1916-1918”) that Russia was on the eve of victory in 1917. That is why the revolutionaries then rushed to take action. They had a narrow loophole through which they could operate before the great offensive of 1917 began.
If there had been no revolution, Russia would have defeated the Austro-Hungarians, whose multinational and largely Slavic army was still on the verge of mutiny and collapse. Russia would then push the Germans, or most likely their Prussian commanders, back into Berlin. In any case, the situation would be similar to 1945, but with one important exception. The exception is that the tsarist army in 1917-1918 would have liberated Central and Eastern Europe without conquering it, as happened in 1944-1945. And she would liberate Berlin, just as she liberated Paris in 1814 - peacefully and nobly, without the mistakes made by the Red Army.
- What would happen then?
The liberation of Berlin, and therefore Germany, from Prussian militarism would undoubtedly lead to the disarmament and division of Germany into parts, to its restoration as it was before 1871 - a country of culture, music, poetry and tradition. This would be the end of O. Bismarck's Second Reich, which was a revival of the First Reich of the militant heretic Charlemagne and led to A. Hitler's Third Reich.
If Russia had won, the Prussian/German government would have been diminished, and the Kaiser would have obviously been exiled to some small island, just like Napoleon. But there would be no humiliation of the German peoples - the result of the Treaty of Versailles, which directly led to the horrors of fascism and World War II. By the way, this also led to the “Fourth Reich” of the current European Union.
- Wouldn’t France, Britain and the USA oppose the relations between victorious Russia and Berlin?
The Allies did not want to see Russia as a winner. They only wanted to use her as "cannon fodder"
France and Britain, stuck in their blood-soaked trenches or perhaps having reached the French and Belgian borders with Germany by then, would not have been able to prevent this, because a victory over the Kaiser's Germany would have been a victory for Russia in the first place. And the United States would never have entered the war if Russia had not been withdrawn from it first - partly thanks to US funding of the revolutionaries. That's why the Allies did everything to eliminate Russia from the war: they did not want to see Russia as a winner. They only wanted to use it as “cannon fodder” to tire Germany out and prepare for its defeat at the hands of the Allies - and they would finish off Germany and capture it unhindered.
- Would the Russian armies have left Berlin and Eastern Europe soon after 1918?
Yes, sure. Here is another difference from Stalin, for whom “autocracy” - the second element of the ideology of the Orthodox Empire - was deformed into “totalitarianism,” which meant occupation, suppression and enslavement through terror. After the fall of the German and Austro-Hungarian empires, freedom would have come for Eastern Europe with the movement of populations to border territories and the establishment of new states without minorities: these would have been reunited Poland and the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Transcarpathian Rus, Romania, Hungary and so on. . A demilitarized zone would be created throughout Eastern and Central Europe.
This would be Eastern Europe with reasonable and secure borders
It would be an Eastern Europe with reasonable and secure borders, and the mistake of creating conglomerate states like the future (now former) Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia would be avoided. By the way, about Yugoslavia: Tsar Nicholas established the Balkan Union back in 1912 to prevent subsequent Balkan wars. Of course, he failed due to the intrigues of the German princeling (“Tsar”) Ferdinand in Bulgaria and the nationalist intrigues in Serbia and Montenegro. We can imagine that after the First World War, from which Russia emerged victorious, such a customs union, established with clear boundaries, could become permanent. This union, with the participation of Greece and Romania, could finally establish peace in the Balkans, and Russia would be the guarantor of its freedom.
- What would be the fate of the Ottoman Empire?
The Allies had already agreed in 1916 that Russia would be allowed to liberate Constantinople and control the Black Sea. Russia could have achieved this 60 years earlier, thereby preventing the massacres committed by the Turks in Bulgaria and Asia Minor, if France and Great Britain had not defeated Russia in the Crimean War. (Remember that Tsar Nicholas I was buried with a silver cross depicting the “Aghia Sophia” - the Church of the Wisdom of God, “so that in Heaven he would not forget to pray for his brothers in the East”). Christian Europe would be freed from the Ottoman yoke.
The Armenians and Greeks of Asia Minor would also be protected, and the Kurds would have their own state. Moreover, Orthodox Palestine and a large part of present-day Syria and Jordan would come under the protection of Russia. There wouldn't be any of these constant wars in the Middle East. Perhaps the current situation in Iraq and Iran could also have been avoided. The consequences would be colossal. Can we imagine a Russian-controlled Jerusalem? Even Napoleon noted that “he who rules Palestine rules the whole world.” Today this is known to Israel and the United States.
- What would be the consequences for Asia?
Saint Nicholas II was destined to “cut a window to Asia”
Peter I “cut a window to Europe.” Saint Nicholas II was destined to “open a window to Asia.” Despite the fact that the holy king was actively building churches in Western Europe and the Americas, he had little interest in the Catholic-Protestant West, including America and Australia, because the West itself had and still has only limited interest in the Church. In the West - both then and now - there is little potential for the growth of Orthodoxy. In fact, today only a small part of the world's population lives in the Western world, despite the fact that it occupies a large area.
Tsar Nicholas's goal to serve Christ was thus more associated with Asia, especially Buddhist Asia. His Russian Empire was populated by former Buddhists who had converted to Christ, and the Tsar knew that Buddhism, like Confucianism, was not a religion but a philosophy. Buddhists called him “white Tara” (White King). There were relations with Tibet, where he was called “Chakravartin” (King of Peace), Mongolia, China, Manchuria, Korea and Japan - countries with great development potential. He also thought about Afghanistan, India and Siam (Thailand). King Rama V of Siam visited Russia in 1897, and the Tsar prevented Siam from becoming a French colony. It was an influence that would extend to Laos, Vietnam and Indonesia. The people living in these countries today make up almost half of the world's population.
In Africa, home today to almost a seventh of the world's population, the holy king had diplomatic relations with Ethiopia, which he successfully defended from colonization by Italy. The Emperor also intervened for the sake of the interests of the Moroccans, as well as the Boers in South Africa. Nicholas II's strong disgust at what the British did to the Boers is well known - and they simply killed them in concentration camps. We have reason to assert that the tsar thought something similar about the colonial policy of France and Belgium in Africa. The emperor was also respected by Muslims, who called him "Al-Padishah", that is, "The Great King". In general, Eastern civilizations, which recognized the sacred, respected the “White Tsar” much more than bourgeois Western civilizations.
It is important that the Soviet Union later also opposed the cruelty of Western colonial policies in Africa. There is also continuity here. Today, Russian Orthodox missions already operate in Thailand, Laos, Indonesia, India and Pakistan, and there are parishes in Africa. I think that today's BRICS group, consisting of rapidly developing states, is an example of what Russia could achieve 90 years ago as a member of a group of independent countries. No wonder the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Duleep Singh (d. 1893), asked Tsar Alexander III to free India from exploitation and oppression by Britain.
- So, Asia could become a colony of Russia?
No, definitely not a colony. Imperial Russia was against colonialist policies and imperialism. It is enough to compare the Russian advance into Siberia, which was largely peaceful, and the European advance into the Americas, which was accompanied by genocide. There were completely different attitudes towards the same peoples (Native Americans are mostly close relatives of Siberians). Of course, in Siberia and Russian America (Alaska) there were Russian exploitative traders and drunken fur trappers who behaved in the same way as cowboys towards the local population. We know this from the lives of the missionaries in the east of Russia and Siberia - Saints Stephen of Great Perm and Macarius of Altai. But such things were the exception rather than the rule, and no genocide took place.
This is all very well, but we are now talking about what could happen. And these are just hypothetical assumptions.
Yes, these are hypotheticals, but hypotheses can give us a vision of the future
Yes, hypotheticals, but hypotheses can give us a vision of the future. We can view the last 95 years as a hole, as a catastrophic deviation from the course of world history with tragic consequences that cost the lives of hundreds of millions of people. The world lost its balance after the fall of the bastion - Christian Russia, carried out by transnational capital with the aim of creating a “unipolar world”. This "unipolarity" is just a code for a new world order led by a single government - a world anti-Christian tyranny.
If only we realize this, then we can pick up where we left off in 1918 and bring together the remnants of Orthodox civilization throughout the world. No matter how dire the current situation may be, there is always hope that comes from repentance.
- What could be the result of this repentance?
A new Orthodox empire with its center in Russia and its spiritual capital in Yekaterinburg - the center of repentance. Thus, it would be possible to restore balance to this tragic, out-of-balance world.
- Then you can probably be accused of being overly optimistic.
Look what has happened recently, since the celebration of the millennium of the Baptism of Rus' in 1988. The situation in the world has changed, even transformed - and all this thanks to the repentance of enough people from the former Soviet Union to change the whole world. The last 25 years have witnessed a revolution - the only true, spiritual revolution: a return to the Church. Taking into account the historical miracle that we have already seen (and this seemed only a ridiculous dream to us, born amid the nuclear threats of the Cold War - we remember the spiritually gloomy 1950s, 1960s, 1970s and 1980s), why don't we imagine these possibilities discussed above in the future?
In 1914, the world entered a tunnel, and during the Cold War we lived in complete darkness. Today we are still in this tunnel, but there are already glimpses of light ahead. Is this the light at the end of the tunnel? Let us remember the words of the Gospel: “All things are possible with God” (Mark 10:27). Yes, humanly speaking, the above is very optimistic, and there is no guarantee for anything. But the alternative to the above is an apocalypse. There is little time left, and we must hurry. Let this be a warning and a call to us all.