Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov), eldest son of the emperor Alexandra II I and Empress Maria Feodorovna, born May 18 (May 6, old style) 1868 in Tsarskoe Selo (now the city of Pushkin, Pushkin district of St. Petersburg).
Immediately after his birth, Nikolai was included in the lists of several guards regiments and appointed chief of the 65th Moscow Infantry Regiment. The childhood of the future king passed within the walls Gatchina Palace. Nikolai began regular homework at the age of eight.
In December 1875 he got his first military rank- ensign, in 1880 he was promoted to second lieutenant, four years later he became a lieutenant. In 1884 Nikolai entered active military service, in July 1887 year began regular military service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and was promoted to staff captain; in 1891 Nikolai received the rank of captain, and a year later - colonel.
To get acquainted with government affairs since May 1889 he began to attend meetings State Council and the Committee of Ministers. IN October 1890 year went on a trip to the Far East. In nine months, Nikolai visited Greece, Egypt, India, China, and Japan.
IN April 1894 The engagement of the future emperor to Princess Alice of Darmstadt-Hesse, daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England, took place. After converting to Orthodoxy, she took the name Alexandra Feodorovna.
November 2 (October 21, old style) 1894 Alexander III died. A few hours before his death, the dying emperor obliged his son to sign the Manifesto on his accession to the throne.
The coronation of Nicholas II took place May 26 (14 old style) 1896. On the thirtieth (18 old style) May 1896, during the celebration of the coronation of Nicholas II in Moscow, a stampede occurred on Khodynka Field in which more than a thousand people died.
The reign of Nicholas II took place in an atmosphere of increasing revolutionary movement and complications foreign policy situation (Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905; Bloody Sunday; revolution of 1905-1907; World War I; February Revolution 1917).
Influenced by a strong social movement in favor of political change, October 30 (17 old style) 1905 Nicholas II signed the famous manifesto "On the Improvement public order": the people were granted freedom of speech, press, personality, conscience, assembly, unions; the State Duma was created as a legislative body.
The turning point in the fate of Nicholas II was 1914- Beginning of the First World War. August 1 (July 19, old style) 1914 Germany declared war on Russia. IN August 1915 Nicholas II took over military command (previously this position was held by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich). After the king most spent time at the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev.
At the end of February 1917 Unrest began in Petrograd, which grew into mass protests against the government and the dynasty. The February Revolution found Nicholas II at headquarters in Mogilev. Having received news of the uprising in Petrograd, he decided not to make concessions and to restore order in the city by force, but when the scale of the unrest became clear, he abandoned this idea, fearing great bloodshed.
At midnight March 15 (2 old style) 1917 In the salon carriage of the imperial train, which stood on the tracks at the Pskov railway station, Nicholas II signed an act of abdication, transferring power to his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who did not accept the crown.
March 20 (7 old style) 1917 The Provisional Government issued an order for the arrest of the Tsar. On the twenty-second (9th old style) March 1917, Nicholas II and his family were arrested. For the first five months they were under guard in Tsarskoye Selo, in August 1917 they were transported to Tobolsk, where the Romanovs spent eight months.
At first 1918 The Bolsheviks forced Nicholas to remove his colonel's shoulder straps (his last military rank), he took this as a serious insult. In May of this year royal family transported to Yekaterinburg, where she was placed in the house of mining engineer Nikolai Ipatiev.
On the night of July 17 (4 old) 1918 and Nicholas II, Tsarina, their five children: daughters - Olga (1895), Tatiana (1897), Maria (1899) and Anastasia (1901), son - Tsarevich, heir to the throne Alexei (1904) and several close associates (11 people in total) , . The shooting took place in a small room on the ground floor of the house; the victims were taken there under the pretext of evacuation. The Tsar himself was shot at point-blank range by the commandant of the Ipatiev House, Yankel Yurovsky. The bodies of the dead were taken outside the city, doused with kerosene, they tried to burn them, and then buried them.
At the beginning of 1991 The first application was submitted to the city prosecutor's office about the discovery of bodies near Yekaterinburg that showed signs of violent death. After many years of research into the remains discovered near Yekaterinburg, special commission came to the conclusion that they are indeed the remains of nine Nicholas II and his family. In 1997 They were solemnly buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
In 2000 Nicholas II and members of his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.
October 1, 2008 presidium Supreme Court The Russian Federation recognized the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and members of his family as victims of illegal political repression and rehabilitated them.
Nicholas II is a controversial personality, historians speak very negatively about his rule of Russia, most people who know and analyze history are inclined to believe that the last All-Russian Emperor had little interest in politics, did not keep up with the times, slowed down the development of the country, was not a visionary ruler, was able to catch the current in time, did not keep his nose to the wind, and even then, when everything practically went to hell, dissatisfaction was already building not only among the lower classes, but also at the top, they were indignant, even then Nicholas II was unable to draw any correct conclusions. He did not believe that his removal from governing the country was real; in fact, he was doomed to become the last autocrat in Rus'. But Nicholas II was an excellent family man. He should be, for example, a Grand Duke, not an emperor, and not delve into politics. Five children are no joke; raising them requires a lot of attention and effort. Nicholas II loved his wife long years, he was sad in separation from her, and did not lose his physical and mental attraction to her even after many years of marriage.
I collected many photographs of Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt, daughter of Ludwig IV), their children: daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, son Alexei.
This family loved to be photographed, and the shots turned out very beautiful, spiritual, and bright. Look at the attractive faces of the children of the last Russian Emperor. These girls did not know marriage, never kissed their lovers and could not know the joys and sorrows of love. And they died martyrdom. Although they were not guilty of anything. Many people died in those days. But this family was the most famous, the highest-ranking, and her death still haunts anyone, a black page in the history of Russia, the brutal murder of the royal family. The fate in store for these beauties was this: girls were born in turbulent times. Many people dream of being born in a palace, with a golden spoon in their mouth: to be princesses, princes, kings, queens, kings and queens. But how difficult life was often for people blue bloods? They were imprisoned, killed, poisoned, strangled, and very often their own people, close to the royals, destroyed and occupied the vacant place with their own limitless possibilities throne.
Alexander II was blown up by the Narodnaya Volya, Paul II was killed by the conspirators, Peter III died during mysterious circumstances, Ivan VI was also destroyed, the list of these unfortunates can be continued for a very long time. And those who were not killed did not live long by today’s standards; they would either get sick or undermine their health while running the country. And it was not only in Russia that there was such a high mortality rate for royalty; there are countries where it was even more dangerous for reigning individuals to be there. But all the same, everyone was always so zealous for the throne, and they pushed their children there at any cost. I wanted, although not for long, to live well, beautifully, go down in history, take advantage of all the benefits, live in luxury, be able to order slaves, decide the destinies of people and rule the country.
But Nicholas II never longed to be an emperor, but he understood that being a ruler Russian Empire- this is his duty, his destiny, especially since he was a fatalist in everything.
Today we will not talk about politics, we will just look at photographs.
In this photo you see Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna, as the couple dressed for a costume ball.
In this photo, Nicholas II is still very young, his mustache is just emerging.
Nicholas II in childhood.
In this photo, Nicholas II with his long-awaited heir Alexei.
Nicholas II with his mother Maria Fedorovna.
In this photo, Nicholas II with his parents, sisters and brothers.
The future wife of Nicholas II, then Princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Nicholas II is known to everyone not as a politician, but as the emperor, the last to rule from the Romanov dynasty. People often feel sorry for him, because I consider him a martyr; his fate is often mystified. The death of his family in 1918 still occupies a black page in Russian history.
The royal family, which became a victim of the “Red Terror” of Bolshevism. They became a symbol of the suffering of the entire decline of the Russian Empire, which occurred at the dawn of a new powerful state in which the monarchy with its tsar-father has no place.
There is a known message left back in 1801. In it, according to the prediction of a certain monk, the collapse of the royal dynasty was described. The message was to be opened after a hundred years. In such a situation, one might think that after 1901 Nicholas and his family had some idea of what awaited them in the future.
Personality of Nicholas II
Nicholas II was born on May 6, 1868. He was the first-born of the Emperor and Maria Feodorovna. According to tradition, in honor of the birth of the Grand Dukes, three hundred and one shots were saluted. On May 30, Nicholas II was baptized. Naturally, like all previously born great princes, he was enrolled in the service.
At the insistence of his grandfather, he was enrolled in almost all the regiments where his father was enrolled. Since 1877, Adjutant General G.G. took up the military education of the future heir. Danilovich. He created a schedule of twenty-four lessons per week, which included arithmetic, penmanship, Russian, French and English.
The heir studied 6 days a week. This order was designed for 12 years.
Was very versatile military unit training of Nicholas II, there was artillery and military history, and geodesy with topography, and tactics, and fortification. Upon reaching the age of sixteen, he received the rank of lieutenant; he twice attended camp training in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, where he was a company commander. In 1892, Nicholas II received the rank of colonel.
Emperor Nicholas II
To become familiar with government affairs, he began to actively participate in the work of the Cabinet of Ministers and the State Council in 1889, and also traveled with his father throughout Russia. In 1894, during the illness of the emperor, the engagement of the heir Nicholas II to the princess took place Hessian Alice. She arrived in Russia ten days before her death. After his death, she was baptized under the name of Alexandra Fedorovna.
The wedding took place on November 14. A new monarch always gives people hope for a bright future, but Nicholas II did not talk about any changes; he intended to continue his father’s policies. The protection of autocracy is here the main objective policies of Nicholas II. He and his family believed that the monarch's power was divine, and therefore, based on Christianity, they must protect it.
Nicholas II understood his unpreparedness for power. For the first few years of his reign, he listened to the advice of his relatives, and there were more than forty of them in the imperial family. They each told him something, they had their own favorites who needed to be encouraged in time and moved up the career ladder. The first conflict within the family occurred after the events on Khodynskoye Field - in 1896, during the coronation, gifts were distributed to the population there, and many people died during the stampede. Some great princes demanded that the celebrations be stopped and mourning declared. The sovereign was also advised not to attend the ball of the French envoy, but he still appeared there. This caused indignation among the people.
The new emperor did not have a clear idea of where to lead Russia. As a result, the control apparatus functioned unsuccessfully. K.P. enjoyed strong influence on the emperor. Pobedonostsev, S.Yu. Witte and I.L. Goremykin. By the end of the nineties, Witte's influence became dominant over the emperor. He presented him with a new one economic program, and the sovereign accepted her. This program did not attempt to encroach on autocratic power and could strengthen Russia's economic power. When V.K. appeared on the political arena. Plehve, Witte's authority began to decline.
The emperor's wife Alexandra Feodorovna was overshadowed by the popularity of his mother Maria Feodorovna. The young empress was not loved at court; she was sometimes arrogant and capricious. This attitude was reflected in the behavior of Nicholas II. He became secretive, evasive, and avoided open discussion of politics.
The Emperor did not show strong character, there was no determination in him. But he had a good education, an excellent memory, was inquisitive, but constantly felt unsuitable in managing the state.
He was only comfortable with his family. First, the royal couple had five daughters in a row, and only in 1904 their son, Tsarevich Alexei, was born. It soon became clear that he had hemophilia; this disease was incurable. This disease is inherited by women, but only men are affected. This tragedy worsened the empress's behavior; she became fanatical in religion, and constantly believed in superstitions. She tried to influence state affairs, this influence was strengthened by the presence of her new friend Grigory Rasputin at court.
Dedicated to the centenary of revolutionary events.
Not a single Russian tsar has had as many myths created as about the last one, Nicholas II. What really happened? Was the sovereign a sluggish and weak-willed person? Was he cruel? Could he have won the First World War? And how much truth is there in the black fabrications about this ruler?..
The story is told by Gleb Eliseev, candidate of historical sciences.
The Black Legend of Nicholas II
Rally in Petrograd, 1917
17 years have passed since canonization last emperor and his family, however, you are still faced with an amazing paradox - many, even quite Orthodox, people dispute the fairness of canonizing Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich.
No one has any protests or doubts about the legitimacy of the canonization of the latter’s son and daughters Russian Emperor. I have not heard any objections to the canonization of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Even at the Council of Bishops in 2000, when it came to the canonization of the Royal Martyrs, special opinion was expressed only regarding the sovereign himself. One of the bishops said that the emperor did not deserve to be glorified, because “he is a state traitor... he, one might say, sanctioned the collapse of the country.”
And it is clear that in such a situation the spears are not broken because of martyrdom or Christian life Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich. Neither one nor the other raises doubts even among the most rabid monarchy denier. His feat as a passion-bearer is beyond doubt.
The point is different - a latent, subconscious resentment: “Why did the sovereign allow a revolution to happen? Why didn’t you save Russia?” Or, as A. I. Solzhenitsyn so neatly put it in his article “Reflections on the February Revolution”: “Weak tsar, he betrayed us. All of us - for everything that follows."
The myth of the weak king, who supposedly voluntarily surrendered his kingdom, obscures his martyrdom and obscures the demonic cruelty of his tormentors. But what could the sovereign do in the circumstances, when Russian society, like a herd of Gadarene pigs, rushed into the abyss for decades?
Studying the history of Nicholas's reign, one is struck not by the weakness of the sovereign, not by his mistakes, but by how much he managed to do in an atmosphere of whipped-up hatred, malice and slander.
We must not forget that the sovereign received autocratic power over Russia completely unexpectedly, after the sudden, unforeseen and unanticipated death of Alexander III. Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich recalled the state of the heir to the throne immediately after his father’s death: “He could not gather his thoughts. He was aware that he had become the Emperor, and this terrible burden of power crushed him. “Sandro, what am I going to do! - he exclaimed pathetically. - What will happen to Russia now? I am not yet prepared to be a King! I can't rule the Empire. I don’t even know how to talk to ministers.”
However, after short period confusion new emperor firmly grasped the steering wheel government controlled and held it for twenty-two years, until he fell victim to a conspiracy at the top. Until “treason, cowardice, and deception” swirled around him in a dense cloud, as he himself noted in his diary on March 2, 1917.
The black mythology directed against the last sovereign was actively dispelled by both emigrant historians and modern Russian ones. And yet, in the minds of many, including fully churchgoers, of our fellow citizens, evil tales, gossip and anecdotes, which were presented as truth in Soviet history textbooks, stubbornly linger.
The myth of the guilt of Nicholas II in the Khodynka tragedy
It is tacitly customary to start any list of accusations with Khodynka - a terrible stampede that occurred during the coronation celebrations in Moscow on May 18, 1896. You might think that the sovereign ordered this stampede to be organized! And if anyone is to be blamed for what happened, then it would be the emperor’s uncle, Moscow Governor-General Sergei Alexandrovich, who did not foresee the very possibility of such an influx of public. It should be noted that they did not hide what happened, all the newspapers wrote about Khodynka, all of Russia knew about her. The next day, the Russian emperor and empress visited all the wounded in hospitals and held a memorial service for the dead. Nicholas II ordered the payment of pensions to the victims. And they received it until 1917, until politicians, who had been speculating on the Khodynka tragedy for years, made it so that any pensions in Russia ceased to be paid at all.
And the slander that has been repeated for years sounds absolutely vile, that the tsar, despite the Khodynka tragedy, went to the ball and had fun there. The sovereign was indeed forced to go to an official reception at the French embassy, which he could not help but attend for diplomatic reasons (an insult to the allies!), paid his respects to the ambassador and left, having spent only 15 (!) minutes there.
And from this they created a myth about a heartless despot, having fun while his subjects die. This is where the absurd nickname “Bloody”, created by radicals and picked up by the educated public, came from.
The myth of the monarch's guilt in starting the Russo-Japanese War
The Emperor bids farewell to the soldiers of the Russo-Japanese War. 1904
They say that the sovereign pushed Russia into the Russo-Japanese War because the autocracy needed a “small victorious war.”
Unlike the “educated” Russian society, which was confident in the inevitable victory and contemptuously called the Japanese “macaques,” the emperor knew perfectly well all the difficulties of the situation in Far East and tried with all his might to prevent war. And we must not forget - it was Japan that attacked Russia in 1904. Treacherously, without declaring war, the Japanese attacked our ships in Port Arthur.
For the defeats of the Russian army and navy in the Far East, one can blame Kuropatkin, Rozhdestvensky, Stessel, Linevich, Nebogatov, and any of the generals and admirals, but not the sovereign, who was located thousands of miles from the theater of military operations and nevertheless did everything for victory.
For example, that by the end of the war the unfinished Trans-Siberian Railway there were 20, and not 4 military echelons per day (as at the beginning) - the merit of Nicholas II himself.
And our revolutionary society “fought” on the Japanese side, which needed not victory, but defeat, which its representatives themselves honestly admitted. For example, representatives of the Socialist Revolutionary Party clearly wrote in their appeal to Russian officers: “Every victory of yours threatens Russia with the disaster of strengthening order, every defeat brings the hour of deliverance closer. Is it any surprise if the Russians rejoice at the success of your enemy?” Revolutionaries and liberals diligently stirred up trouble in the rear of the warring country, doing this, among other things, with Japanese money. This is now well known.
The Myth of Bloody Sunday
For decades, the standard accusation against the Tsar remained “Bloody Sunday” - the shooting of a supposedly peaceful demonstration on January 9, 1905. Why, they say, didn’t you come out? Winter Palace and did not fraternize with the people loyal to him?
Let's start with the simplest fact - the sovereign was not in Winter, he was at his country residence, in Tsarskoe Selo. He did not intend to come to the city, since both the mayor I. A. Fullon and the police authorities assured the emperor that they “had everything under control.” By the way, they didn’t deceive Nicholas II too much. IN normal situation troops brought into the streets would be sufficient to prevent unrest.
No one foresaw the scale of the January 9 demonstration, as well as the activities of the provocateurs. When Socialist Revolutionary militants began shooting at soldiers from the crowd of supposedly “peaceful demonstrators,” it was not difficult to foresee retaliatory actions. From the very beginning, the organizers of the demonstration planned a clash with the authorities, and not a peaceful march. They did not need political reforms, they needed “great upheavals.”
But what does the sovereign himself have to do with it? During the entire revolution of 1905–1907, he sought to find contact with Russian society and made specific and sometimes even overly bold reforms (like the provisions according to which the first State Dumas were elected). And what did he receive in response? Spitting and hatred, calls “Down with autocracy!” and encouraging bloody riots.
However, the revolution was not “crushed.” The rebellious society was pacified by the sovereign, who skillfully combined the use of force and new, more thoughtful reforms (the electoral law of June 3, 1907, according to which Russia finally received a normally functioning parliament).
The myth of how the Tsar “surrendered” Stolypin
They reproach the sovereign for allegedly insufficient support “ Stolypin reforms" But who made Pyotr Arkadyevich prime minister, if not Nicholas II himself? Contrary, by the way, to the opinion of the court and immediate circle. And, if there were moments of misunderstanding between the sovereign and the head of the cabinet, then they are inevitable in any tense and difficult work. Stolypin's supposedly planned resignation did not mean a rejection of his reforms.
The myth of Rasputin's omnipotence
Tales about the last sovereign are not complete without constant stories about the “dirty man” Rasputin, who enslaved the “weak-willed tsar.” Now, after many objective investigations of the “Rasputin legend”, among which “The Truth about Grigory Rasputin” by A. N. Bokhanov stands out as fundamental, it is clear that the influence of the Siberian elder on the emperor was negligible. And the fact that the sovereign “did not remove Rasputin from the throne”? Where could he remove it from? From the bedside of his sick son, whom Rasputin saved when all the doctors had already given up on Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich? Let everyone think for themselves: is he ready to sacrifice the life of a child for the sake of stopping public gossip and hysterical newspaper chatter?
The myth of the sovereign’s guilt in the “misconduct” of the First World War
Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II. Photo by R. Golike and A. Vilborg. 1913
Emperor Nicholas II is also reproached for not preparing Russia for the First World War. About the efforts of the sovereign to prepare the Russian army for a possible war and about the sabotage of his efforts by “ educated society» wrote most clearly public figure I. L. Solonevich: “The Duma of Popular Wrath, as well as its subsequent reincarnation, rejects military loans: we are democrats and we don’t want the military. Nicholas II arms the army by violating the spirit of the Basic Laws: in accordance with Article 86. This article provides for the right of the government to exceptional cases and during parliamentary recess, pass temporary laws without parliament - so that they are retroactively introduced at the very first parliamentary session. The Duma was dissolving (holidays), loans for machine guns went through even without the Duma. And when the session began, nothing could be done.”
And again, unlike ministers or military leaders (like Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich), the sovereign did not want war, he tried to delay it with all his might, knowing about the insufficient preparedness of the Russian army. For example, he directly spoke about this to the Russian ambassador to Bulgaria Neklyudov: “Now, Neklyudov, listen to me carefully. Do not forget for one minute the fact that we cannot fight. I don't want war. I have made it my immutable rule to do everything to preserve for my people all the advantages peaceful life. At this moment in history, it is necessary to avoid anything that could lead to war. There is no doubt that we cannot get involved in a war - at least for the next five or six years - until 1917. Although, if the vital interests and honor of Russia are at stake, we will be able, if absolutely necessary, to accept the challenge, but not before 1915. But remember - not one minute earlier, whatever the circumstances or reasons and whatever position we are in.”
Of course, many things in the First World War did not go as the participants planned. But why should these troubles and surprises be blamed on the sovereign, who at the beginning was not even the commander-in-chief? Could he have personally prevented the “Samson catastrophe”? Or the breakthrough of the German cruisers Goeben and Breslau into the Black Sea, after which plans to coordinate the actions of the Allies in the Entente went up in smoke?
When the will of the emperor could correct the situation, the sovereign did not hesitate, despite the objections of ministers and advisers. In 1915, the Russian army was faced with such a threat complete defeat that its Commander-in-Chief - Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich - in literally words sobbed in despair. It was then that Nicholas II took the most decisive step - he not only stood at the head of the Russian army, but also stopped the retreat, which threatened to turn into a stampede.
The Emperor did not consider himself a great commander; he knew how to listen to the opinions of military advisers and choose successful solutions for the Russian troops. According to his instructions, the work of the rear was established; according to his instructions, new and even the latest technology(like Sikorsky bombers or Fedorov assault rifles). And if in 1914 the Russian military industry produced 104,900 shells, then in 1916 - 30,974,678! They prepared so much military equipment that it was enough for five years. Civil War, and into service with the Red Army in the first half of the twenties.
In 1917, Russia, under the military leadership of its emperor, was ready for victory. Many people wrote about this, even W. Churchill, who was always skeptical and cautious about Russia: “Fate has never been as cruel to any country as to Russia. Her ship sank while the harbor was in sight. She had already weathered the storm when everything collapsed. All the sacrifices have already been made, all the work has been completed. Despair and betrayal took over the government when the task was already completed. The long retreats are over; shell hunger is defeated; weapons flowed in a wide stream; a stronger, more numerous, better equipped army guarded a huge front; the rear assembly points were crowded with people... In the management of states, when great events happen, the leader of the nation, whoever he is, is condemned for failures and glorified for successes. The point is not who did the work, who drew up the plan of struggle; blame or praise for the outcome falls on the one who has the authority of supreme responsibility. Why deny Nicholas II this ordeal?.. His efforts are downplayed; His actions are condemned; His memory is being defamed... Stop and say: who else turned out to be suitable? In talented and courageous people, ambitious and proud in spirit, brave and powerful - there was no shortage. But no one was able to answer those few simple questions on which the life and glory of Russia depended. Holding victory already in her hands, she fell to the ground alive, like Herod of old, devoured by worms.”
At the beginning of 1917, the sovereign really failed to cope with the joint conspiracy of the top military and the leaders of opposition political forces.
And who could? It was beyond human strength.
The myth of voluntary renunciation
And yet, the main thing that even many monarchists accuse Nicholas II of is precisely renunciation, “moral desertion,” “flight from office.” The fact that he, according to the poet A. A. Blok, “renounced, as if he had surrendered the squadron.”
Now, again, after scrupulous work modern researchers, it becomes clear that there is no voluntary there was no abdication. Instead, the real thing happened coup d'etat. Or, as the historian and publicist M.V. Nazarov aptly noted, it was not “renunciation,” but “renunciation” that took place.
Even in the darkest Soviet time did not deny that the events of February 23 - March 2, 1917 at the Tsarist Headquarters and at the headquarters of the commander of the Northern Front were a coup at the top, “fortunately”, coinciding with the beginning of the “February bourgeois revolution", started (of course!) by the forces of the St. Petersburg proletariat.
Material on the topic
On March 2, 1917, Russian Emperor Nicholas II signed an abdication of the throne in favor of his brother Mikhail (who soon also abdicated). This day is considered the date of death Russian monarchy. But there are still many questions about renunciation. We asked Gleb Eliseev, candidate of historical sciences, to comment on them.
With the riots in St. Petersburg fueled by the Bolshevik underground, everything is now clear. The conspirators only took advantage of this circumstance, exorbitantly exaggerating its significance, in order to lure the sovereign out of Headquarters, depriving him of contact with any loyal units and the government. And when the royal train, with great difficulty, reached Pskov, where the headquarters of General N.V. Ruzsky, commander of the Northern Front and one of the active conspirators, was located, the emperor was completely blocked and deprived of communication with the outside world.
In fact, General Ruzsky arrested the royal train and the emperor himself. And the cruel thing began psychological pressure on the sovereign. Nicholas II was begged to give up power, which he never aspired to. Moreover, this was done not only by Duma deputies Guchkov and Shulgin, but also by the commanders of all (!) fronts and almost all fleets (with the exception of Admiral A.V. Kolchak). The Emperor was told that his decisive step would be able to prevent unrest and bloodshed, that this would immediately put an end to the St. Petersburg unrest...
Now we know very well that the sovereign was basely deceived. What could he have thought then? At the forgotten Dno station or on the sidings in Pskov, cut off from the rest of Russia? Didn’t you consider that it was better for a Christian to humbly cede royal power rather than shed the blood of his subjects?
But even under pressure from the conspirators, the emperor did not dare to go against the law and conscience. The manifesto he compiled clearly did not suit the envoys of the State Duma. The document, which was eventually published as a text of renunciation, raises doubts among a number of historians. Its original has not been preserved; only a copy is available in the Russian State Archives. There are reasonable assumptions that the sovereign's signature was copied from the order on the assumption of supreme command by Nicholas II in 1915. The signature of the Minister of the Court, Count V.B. Fredericks, who allegedly certified the abdication, was also forged. Which, by the way, the count himself clearly spoke about later, on June 2, 1917, during interrogation: “But for me to write such a thing, I can swear that I would not do it.”
And already in St. Petersburg, the deceived and confused Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich did something that, in principle, he had no right to do - he transferred power to the Provisional Government. As A.I. Solzhenitsyn noted: “The end of the monarchy was the abdication of Mikhail. He is worse than abdicating: he blocked the path to all other possible heirs to the throne, he transferred power to an amorphous oligarchy. His abdication turned the change of monarch into a revolution.”
Usually, after statements about the illegal overthrow of the sovereign from the throne, both in scientific discussions and on the Internet, cries immediately begin: “Why didn’t Tsar Nicholas protest later? Why didn’t he expose the conspirators? Why didn't you pick it up? loyal troops and did not lead them against the rebels?”
That is, why didn’t he start a civil war?
Yes, because the sovereign did not want her. Because he hoped that by leaving he would calm down new troubles, believing that the whole point is the possible hostility of society towards him personally. After all, he, too, could not help but succumb to the hypnosis of the anti-state, anti-monarchist hatred to which Russia had been subjected for years. As A. I. Solzhenitsyn correctly wrote about the “liberal-radical Field” that engulfed the empire: “For many years (decades) this Field flowed unhindered, its lines of force thickened - and penetrated and subjugated all the brains in the country, at least in some way touched enlightenment, at least the beginnings of it. It almost completely controlled the intelligentsia. More rare, but permeated by its power lines were state and official circles, the military, and even the priesthood, the episcopate (the entire Church as a whole is already... powerless against this Field), and even those who fought most against the Field: the most right-wing circles and the throne itself."
And did these troops loyal to the emperor exist in reality? After all, even Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich on March 1, 1917 (that is, before the formal abdication of the sovereign) transferred the Guards crew subordinate to him to the jurisdiction of the Duma conspirators and appealed to others military units“join the new government”!
The attempt of Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich to prevent bloodshed by renouncing power, through voluntary self-sacrifice, ran into the evil will of tens of thousands of those who wanted not the pacification and victory of Russia, but blood, madness and the creation of “heaven on earth” for a “new man”, free from faith and conscience.
And even the defeated Christian sovereign was like such “guardians of humanity” sharp knife in the throat. He was intolerable, impossible.
They couldn't help but kill him.
The myth that the execution of the royal family was the arbitrariness of the Ural Regional Council
Emperor Nicholas II and Tsarevich Alexei
in the link. Tobolsk, 1917-1918
The more or less vegetarian, toothless early Provisional Government limited itself to the arrest of the emperor and his family, the socialist clique of Kerensky achieved the exile of the sovereign, his wife and children to. And whole months, until the very Bolshevik coup, one can see how the dignified, purely Christian behavior of the emperor in exile contrasts with each other and the evil vanity of the politicians of the “new Russia”, who sought “to begin with” to bring the sovereign into “political oblivion.”
And then an openly atheistic Bolshevik gang came to power, which decided to transform this non-existence from “political” into “physical”. After all, back in April 1917, Lenin declared: “We consider Wilhelm II to be the same crowned robber, worthy of execution, as Nicholas II.”
Only one thing is unclear - why did they hesitate? Why didn’t they try to destroy Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich immediately after the October Revolution?
Probably because they were afraid of popular indignation, afraid of public reaction with their still fragile power. Apparently, the unpredictable behavior of “abroad” was also frightening. In any case, the British Ambassador D. Buchanan warned the Provisional Government: “Any insult inflicted on the Emperor and His Family will destroy the sympathy aroused by the March and the course of the revolution, and will humiliate the new government in the eyes of the world.” True, in the end it turned out that these were just “words, words, nothing but words.”
And yet there remains a feeling that, in addition to rational motives, there was some inexplicable, almost mystical fear of what the fanatics were planning to do.
After all, for some reason, years after the Yekaterinburg murder, rumors spread that only one sovereign was shot. Then they declared (even at a completely official level) that the Tsar’s killers were severely condemned for abuse of power. And later, for almost the entire Soviet period, the version about the “arbitrariness of the Yekaterinburg Council”, allegedly frightened by the white units approaching the city, was officially accepted. They say that so that the sovereign would not be released and become the “banner of the counter-revolution,” he had to be destroyed. The fog of fornication hid the secret, and the essence of the secret was a planned and clearly conceived savage murder.
Its exact details and background have not yet been clarified, the testimony of eyewitnesses is surprisingly confused, and even the discovered remains of the Royal Martyrs still raise doubts about their authenticity.
Now only a few unambiguous facts are clear.
On April 30, 1918, Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and their daughter Maria were escorted from Tobolsk, where they had been in exile since August 1917, to Yekaterinburg. They were placed in custody in former house engineer N.N. Ipatiev, located on the corner of Voznesensky Prospekt. The remaining children of the Emperor and Empress - daughters Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and son Alexei - were reunited with their parents only on May 23.
Was this an initiative of the Yekaterinburg Council, not coordinated with the Central Committee? Hardly. Judging by indirect data, at the beginning of July 1918 top management The Bolshevik Party (primarily Lenin and Sverdlov) decided to “liquidate the royal family.”
Trotsky, for example, wrote about this in his memoirs:
“My next visit to Moscow came after the fall of Yekaterinburg. In a conversation with Sverdlov, I asked in passing:
Yes, where is the king?
“It’s over,” he answered, “he was shot.”
Where is the family?
And his family is with him.
All? - I asked, apparently with a tinge of surprise.
That’s it,” Sverdlov answered, “but what?”
He was waiting for my reaction. I didn't answer.
-Who decided? - I asked.
We decided here. Ilyich believed that we should not leave them a living banner, especially in the current difficult conditions.”
(L.D. Trotsky. Diaries and letters. M.: “Hermitage”, 1994. P.120. (Record dated April 9, 1935); Leon Trotsky. Diaries and letters. Edited by Yuri Felshtinsky. USA, 1986 , p.101.)
At midnight on July 17, 1918, the emperor, his wife, children and servants were awakened, taken to the basement and brutally killed. It is in the fact that they killed brutally and cruelly that all the eyewitness accounts, so different in other respects, amazingly coincide.
The bodies were secretly taken outside of Yekaterinburg and somehow tried to be destroyed. Everything that remained after the desecration of the bodies was buried just as secretly.
The Yekaterinburg victims had a presentiment of their fate, and it was not for nothing that Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna, during her imprisonment in Yekaterinburg, wrote out the lines in one of the books: “Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ went to death as if on a holiday, standing in front of inevitable death, retained the same wonderful calm of spirit that did not leave them for a minute. They walked calmly towards death because they hoped to enter into a different, spiritual life, which opens up for a person beyond the grave.”
P.S. Sometimes they notice that “Tsar Nicholas II atoned for all his sins before Russia with his death.” In my opinion, this statement reveals some kind of blasphemous, immoral twist public consciousness. All the victims of the Yekaterinburg Golgotha were “guilty” only of persistent confession of the faith of Christ until their death and died a martyr’s death.
And the first of them is the passion-bearer sovereign Nikolai Alexandrovich.
On the screensaver there is a fragment of a photo: Nicholas II on the imperial train. 1917
Emperor Nicholas II and his family
Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, who became the last Emperor of Russia under the name of Nicholas II, was born on May 6 (18), 1868 in Tsarskoye Selo, a country royal residence near St. Petersburg.
WITH early years Nikolai felt a craving for military affairs: the traditions of the officer environment and military regulations he knew thoroughly, in relation to the soldiers he felt like a patron-mentor and did not shy away from communicating with them, patiently endured the inconveniences of army everyday life at camp gatherings and maneuvers.
Immediately after his birth, he was enrolled in the lists of several guards regiments. He received his first military rank - ensign - at the age of seven, at twelve he was promoted to second lieutenant, and four years later he became a lieutenant.
The last Emperor of Russia Nicholas II
In July 1887, Nikolai began regular military service in the Preobrazhensky Regiment and was promoted to staff captain, in 1891 he received the rank of captain, and a year later - colonel.
Difficult times for the country
Nicholas became Emperor at the age of 26; on October 20, 1894, he accepted the crown in Moscow under the name of Nicholas II. His reign occurred during a period of sharp aggravation political struggle in the country, as well as the foreign policy situation: the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905, Bloody Sunday, the Revolution of 1905–1907 in Russia, the First World War, the February Revolution of 1917.
During the reign of Nicholas, Russia turned into an agrarian-industrial country, cities grew, railways were built, industrial enterprises. Nikolai supported decisions aimed at the economic and social modernization of the country: the introduction of gold circulation of the ruble, the Stolypin agrarian reform, workers' insurance laws, universal primary education, religious tolerance.
In 1906 she began working The State Duma, established by the Tsar's manifesto on October 17, 1905. For the first time in national history the emperor began to rule with the presence of an elected representative from the population representative body. Russia gradually began to transform into a constitutional monarchy. However, despite this, the emperor still possessed enormous power functions: he had the right to issue laws (in the form of decrees), appoint a prime minister and ministers accountable only to him, and determine the course of foreign policy. He was the head of the army, court and earthly patron of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (nee Princess Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt) was not only a wife for the Tsar, but also a friend and adviser. The habits, ideas and cultural interests of the spouses largely coincided. They got married on November 14, 1894. They had five children: Olga (born in 1895), Tatyana (1897), Maria (1899), Anastasia (1901), Alexey (1904).
The drama of the royal family was the illness of their son Alexei - hemophilia. As already mentioned, this incurable disease and caused the appearance in royal house“healer” Grigory Rasputin, who repeatedly helped Alexei overcome her attacks.
The turning point in the fate of Nicholas was 1914 - the beginning of the First World War. The tsar did not want war and until the very last moment tried to avoid a bloody clash. However, on July 19 (August 1), 1914, Germany declared war on Russia.
In August 1915, during a period of military failures, Nicholas took over military command and now visited the capital only occasionally, spending most of his time at the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev.
The war has intensified internal problems countries. The tsar and his entourage began to bear the main responsibility for military failures and the protracted military campaign. Allegations spread that there was “treason in the government.”
Renunciation, arrest, execution
At the end of February 1917, unrest began in Petrograd, which, without encountering serious opposition from the authorities, a few days later grew into mass protests against the government and the dynasty. Initially, the tsar intended to restore order in Petrograd by force, but when the scale of the unrest became clear, he abandoned this idea, fearing much bloodshed. Some high-ranking military officials, members of the imperial retinue and politicians convinced the tsar that to pacify the country a change of government was required, that it was necessary for him to abdicate the throne. On March 2, 1917, in Pskov, in the salon carriage of the imperial train, after painful thoughts, Nicholas signed an act of abdication, transferring power to his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. But he did not accept the crown.
On March 9, Nicholas and the royal family were arrested. For the first five months they were under guard in Tsarskoye Selo; in August 1917 they were transported to Tobolsk. Six months after the victory October revolution In 1917, the Bolsheviks transferred the Romanovs to Yekaterinburg. On the night of July 17, 1918, in the center of Yekaterinburg, in the basement of the house of engineer Ipatiev, the royal family was shot without trial or investigation.
The decision to shoot former emperor Russia and his family were received by the Urals Executive Committee - on its own initiative, but with the actual “blessing” of the central Soviet authorities(including Lenin and Sverdlov). In addition to Nicholas II himself, his wife, four daughters and son Alexei, as well as Doctor Botkin and servants - a cook, a maid and Alexei’s “uncle” (11 people in total) were shot.
The execution was led by the commandant of the “House of Special Purpose” Yakov Yurovsky. Around midnight on July 16, 1918, he instructed Dr. Botkin to go around the sleeping members of the royal family, wake them up and ask them to get dressed. When Nicholas II appeared in the corridor, the commandant explained that the white armies were advancing on Yekaterinburg and, in order to protect the tsar and his relatives from artillery shelling, everyone was being transferred to the basement. Under escort they were taken to a corner semi-basement room measuring 6x5 meters. Nikolai asked permission to take two chairs into the basement - for himself and his wife. The emperor himself carried his sick son in his arms.
They had barely entered the basement when firing squad. Yurovsky solemnly said:
“Nikolai Alexandrovich! Your relatives tried to save you, but they didn’t have to. And we are forced to shoot you ourselves...”
He began to read out the paper from the Urals Executive Committee. Nicholas II did not understand what they were talking about, and briefly asked: “What?”
But then those who came raised their weapons, and everything became clear.
“The Tsarina and daughter Olga tried to make the sign of the cross,” recalls one of the guards, “but they didn’t have time. Shots rang out... The Tsar could not withstand a single revolver bullet and fell backward with force. The remaining ten people also fell down. Several more shots were fired at those lying down...
...The electric light was obscured by smoke. The shooting stopped. The doors of the room were opened to allow the smoke to clear. They brought a stretcher and began to remove the corpses. When one of the daughters was placed on a stretcher, she screamed and covered her face with her hand. Others were also alive. It was no longer possible to shoot with the doors open; shots could be heard on the street. Ermakov took my rifle with a bayonet and killed everyone who was alive.”
By one o'clock in the morning on July 17, 1918, it was all over. The corpses were taken out of the basement and loaded into a pre-arrived truck.
Fate of the remains
According to official version, the body of Nicholas II himself, as well as the bodies of his family members and associates, was doused with sulfuric acid and buried in secret place. Since then, conflicting information continues to be received about the further fate of the august remains.
Thus, the writer Zinaida Shakhovskaya, who emigrated in 1919 and lived in Paris, said in an interview with a Soviet journalist: “I know where the remains of the royal family were taken, but I don’t know where they are now... Sokolov, having collected these remains in several boxes, handed them over to General Janin, who was the head of the French mission and commander-in-chief of the allied units in Siberia. Janin brought them with him to China, and then to Paris, where he handed over these boxes to the Council of Russian Ambassadors, which was created in exile. It included royal ambassadors, and ambassadors already appointed by the Provisional Government...
Initially, these remains were kept on the estate of Mikhail Nikolaevich Girs, who was appointed ambassador to Italy. Then, when Giers had to sell the estate, they were transferred to Maklakov, who put them in the safe of one of the French banks. When the Germans occupied Paris, they demanded that Maklakov, threatening him, hand over the remains to them on the grounds that Queen Alexandra was German princess. He didn’t want to, he resisted, but he was old and weak and gave away the relics, which, apparently, were taken to Germany. Perhaps they ended up with the Hessian descendants of Alexandra, who buried them in some secret place ... "
But the writer Geliy Ryabov claims that the royal remains were not exported abroad. According to him, he found the exact burial place of Nicholas II near Yekaterinburg, and on June 1, 1979, together with his assistants, he illegally removed the remains of the royal family from the ground. Ryabov took two skulls to Moscow for examination (at that time the writer was close to the leadership of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs). However, none of the experts dared to study the remains of the Romanovs, and the writer had to return the skulls to the grave unidentified that same year. In 1989, Sergei Abramov, a specialist from the Bureau of Forensic Medical Examinations of the RSFSR, volunteered to help Ryabov. Based on photographs and casts of skulls, he assumed that all those buried in the grave opened by Ryabov were members of the same family. Two skulls belong to fourteen to sixteen-year-olds (the Tsar’s children Alexei and Anastasia), one belongs to a person 40–60 years old, with traces of a blow from a sharp object (Nicholas II was hit on the head with a saber by some fanatical policeman during a visit to Japan).
In 1991, the local authorities of Yekaterinburg, on their own initiative, carried out another autopsy of the alleged burial of the imperial family. A year later, experts confirmed that the remains found belong to the Romanovs. In 1998, these remains were ceremonially buried in the presence of President Yeltsin. Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg.
However, the epic with the royal remains did not end there. For more than ten years, there has been ongoing debate among scientists and researchers about the authenticity of officially buried remains, with conflicting results of numerous anatomical and genetic examinations being discussed. There are reports of new discoveries of remains allegedly belonging to members of the royal family or their associates.
Versions of the rescue of members of the royal family
At the same time, from time to time, downright sensational statements are made about the fate of the Tsar and his family: that none of them were shot, and they all escaped, or that some of the Tsar’s children escaped, etc.
So, according to one version, Tsarevich Alexei died in 1979 and was buried in St. Petersburg. And his sister Anastasia lived until 1971 and was buried near Kazan.
Only recently did psychiatrist Dalila Kaufman decide to reveal the secret that had tormented her for about forty years. After the war she worked in psychiatric hospital Petrozavodsk. In January 1949, a prisoner was brought there in a state of acute psychosis. Philip Grigorievich Semenov turned out to be a man of the broadest erudition, intelligent, excellently educated, and fluent in several languages. Soon the forty-five-year-old patient admitted that he was the son of Emperor Nicholas II and the heir to the throne.
At first, the doctors reacted as usual: paranoid syndrome with delusions of grandeur. But the more they talked with Philip Grigorievich, the more carefully they analyzed his bitter story, the more doubts they were overcome: paranoid people do not behave like that. Semyonov did not get excited, did not insist on his own, and did not enter into arguments. He did not want to stay in the hospital and make his life easier with the help of an exotic biography.
The hospital's consultant in those years was Leningrad professor Samuil Ilyich Gendelevich. He had an excellent understanding of all the intricacies of life royal court. Gendelevich gave the strange patient a real exam: he “chased” him around the chambers of the Winter Palace and country residences, checked the namesake dates. For Semenov, this information was elementary; he answered instantly and accurately. Gendelevich conducted a personal examination of the patient and studied his medical history. Noted cryptorchidism (undescended testicle) and hematuria (presence of red blood cells in the urine) - common consequence hemophilia, which, as is known, the Tsarevich suffered from in childhood.
Finally, the external resemblance of Philip Grigorievich to the Romanovs was simply striking. He was especially similar not to his “father” - Nicholas II, but to his “great-great-grandfather” Nicholas I.
Here's what the mysterious patient himself said about himself.
During the execution, a KGB bullet hit him in the buttock (he had a scar in the corresponding place), he fell unconscious, and woke up in an unfamiliar basement, where some man was nursing him. A few months later, he transported the Tsarevich to Petrograd, settled him in a mansion on Millionnaya Street in the house of the architect Alexander Pomerantsev and gave him the name Vladimir Irin. But the heir to the throne escaped and volunteered for the Red Army. He studied at the Balaklava school of red commanders, then commanded a cavalry squadron in the First cavalry army Budyonny. Participated in battles with Wrangel, smashed the Basmachi in Central Asia. For her courage, the commander of the Red Cavalry, Voroshilov, presented Irina with a certificate.
But the man who saved him in 1918 found Irina and began to blackmail him. I had to appropriate the name of Philip Grigorievich Semenov, a deceased relative of his wife. After graduating from the Plekhanov Institute, he became an economist, traveled to construction sites, constantly changing his registration. But the swindler again tracked down his victim and forced him to give him government money, for which Semyonov received 10 years in the camps.
In the late 90s, on the initiative of the English newspaper Daily Express, his eldest son Yuri donated blood for genetic testing. It was carried out in the Aldermasten laboratory (England) by a specialist in genetic research Dr. Peter Gil. The DNA of the “grandson” of Nicholas II, Yuri Filippovich Semenov, and the English Prince Philip, a relative of the Romanovs, was compared Queen of England Victoria. Of the three tests, two coincided, and the third turned out to be neutral...
As for Princess Anastasia, she allegedly also miraculously survived the execution of the royal family. The story of her rescue and subsequent fate are even more amazing (and more tragic). And she owes her life... to her executioners.
First of all, to the Austrian prisoner of war Franz Svoboda ( close relative the future president of communist Czechoslovakia, Ludwig Svoboda) and a friend of the chairman of the Yekaterinburg Extraordinary Investigative Commission, Valentin Sakharov (nephew of the Kolchak general), who took the girl to the apartment of the guard of the Ipatiev House, Ivan Kleshcheev, who was unrequitedly in love with the seventeen-year-old princess.
Having come to her senses, Anastasia hid first in Perm, then in a village near the city of Glazov. It was in these places that she was seen and identified by some local residents, who then gave evidence to the investigative commission. Four confirmed the investigation: it was the Tsar’s daughter. One day, not far from Perm, a girl came across a Red Army patrol, she was severely beaten and taken to the premises of the local Cheka. The doctor who treated her recognized the emperor's daughter. That is why on the second day he was informed that the patient had died and was even shown her grave.
In fact, they helped her escape this time too. But in 1920, when Kolchak lost power over Irkutsk, the girl was detained in this city and sentenced to capital punishment. True, the execution was later replaced by 20 years in solitary confinement.
Prisons, camps and exile gave way to rare glimpses of short-lived freedom. In 1929, in Yalta, she was summoned to the GPU and charged with posing as the Tsar’s daughter. Anastasia - by that time Nadezhda Vladimirovna Ivanova-Vasilieva, using a passport purchased and filled out in her own hand - did not admit the charges and, oddly enough, was released. However, not for long.
Using another respite, Anastasia contacted the Swedish embassy, trying to find her maid of honor Anna Vyrubova, who had left for Scandinavia, and received her address. And she wrote. And she even received a response from the amazed Vyrubova asking her to send a photo.
...And they took a photo - in profile and full face. And at the Serbsky Institute of Forensic Medicine, the prisoner was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
The place of Anastasia Nikolaevna’s last imprisonment was the Sviyazhsk psychiatric colony not far from Kazan. The grave of an old woman no one needed was irretrievably lost - so she also lost her posthumous right to establish the truth.
Was Ivanova-Vasilieva Anastasia Romanova? It is unlikely that there will be an opportunity to prove this now. But two indirect evidence still remained.
After the death of her unfortunate cellmate, they recalled: she said that during the execution the women were sitting and the men were standing. Much later it became known that in the ill-fated basement the bullet marks were located like this: some at the bottom, others at the chest level of those standing. There were no publications on this topic at that time.
She also said that cousin Nicholas II, the British king George V received floor boards from the execution cellar from Kolchak. “Nadezhda Vladimirovna” could not read about this detail. She could only remember her.
And one more thing: experts combined the halves of the faces of Princess Anastasia and Nadezhda Ivanova-Vasilieva. It turned out to be one face.
Of course, Ivanova-Vasilieva was only one of those who called herself the miraculously saved Anastasia. The three most famous impostors are Anna Anderson, Evgenia Smith and Natalia Belikhodze.
Anna Anderson (Anastasia Tchaikovskaya), by generally accepted version, in fact, was a Polish woman, a former worker at one of the factories in Berlin. Nevertheless, her fictional story formed the basis of feature films and even the cartoon “Anastasia,” and Anderson herself and the events of her life have always been an object of general interest. She died on February 4, 1984 in the USA. Post-mortem DNA analysis gave a negative answer: “Not the same.”
Eugenia Smith is an American artist, author of the book “Anastasia. Autobiography of the Russian Grand Duchess." In it she called herself the daughter of Nicholas II. In reality, Smith (Smetisko) was born in 1899 in Bukovina (Ukraine). She categorically refused the DNA examination offered to her in 1995. She died two years later in New York.
Another contender, Anastasia, not so long ago - in 1995 - became centenarian Natalia Petrovna Belikhodze. She also wrote a book called “I am Anastasia Romanova” and underwent two dozen examinations - including handwriting and ear shape. But evidence of identity in this case was found even less than in the first two.
There is another, at first glance, completely incredible version: neither Nicholas II nor his family were shot, and the entire female half of the royal family was taken to Germany.
Here's what Vladimir Sychev, a journalist working in Paris, says about it.
In November 1983, he was sent to Venice for a summit of heads of state and government. There, an Italian colleague showed him the newspaper “La Repubblica” with a message that a certain nun, Sister Pascalina, who held an important post under Pope Pius XII, who was on the Vatican throne from 1939 to 1958, died in Rome at a very old age.
This sister Pascalina, who earned the honorary nickname of the “Iron Lady” of the Vatican, before her death called a notary with two witnesses and in their presence dictated information that she did not want to take with her to the grave: one of the daughters of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II - Olga - was not shot by the Bolsheviks on the night of July 16-17, 1918, but lived long life and was buried in a cemetery in the village of Marcotte in northern Italy.
After the summit, Sychev and his Italian friend, who was both his driver and translator, went to this village. They found a cemetery and this grave. On the slab it was written in German: “Olga Nikolaevna, eldest daughter of the Russian Tsar Nikolai Romanov,” and the dates of life: “1895–1976.”
The cemetery watchman and his wife confirmed that they, like all the village residents, remembered Olga Nikolaevna very well, knew who she was, and were sure that the Russian Grand Duchess was under the protection of the Vatican.
This strange find The journalist was extremely interested, and he decided to look into all the circumstances of the shooting himself. And in general, was there an execution?
As a result, Sychev came to the conclusion that there was no execution. On the night of July 16-17, all the Bolsheviks and their sympathizers left by rail for Perm. The next morning, leaflets were posted around Yekaterinburg with the message that the royal family had been taken away from the city - as indeed happened. Soon the city was occupied by whites. Naturally, an investigative commission was formed “in the case of the disappearance of Emperor Nicholas II, the Empress, the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses,” which did not find any convincing traces of the execution.
Investigator Sergeev in 1919 spoke in an interview with one American newspaper: “I don’t think that everyone was executed here - both the king and his family. “In my opinion, the empress, prince and grand duchesses were not executed in Ipatiev’s house.” This conclusion did not suit Admiral Kolchak, who by that time had already proclaimed himself the “supreme ruler of Russia.” And really, why does the “supreme” need some kind of emperor? Kolchak ordered a second investigative team to be assembled, and it got to the bottom of the fact that in September 1918 the Empress and the Grand Duchesses were kept in Perm.
Only the third investigator, Nikolai Sokolov (he led the case from February to May 1919), turned out to be more understanding and issued the well-known conclusion that the entire family was shot, the corpses were dismembered and burned at the stake. “The parts that were not susceptible to fire,” Sokolov wrote, “were destroyed with the help of sulfuric acid.”
What kind of remains were, then, buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral? As you know, soon after the start of perestroika, some skeletons were found in Porosenkovo Log near Yekaterinburg. In 1998, they were solemnly reburied in the Romanov family tomb, after numerous genetic examinations. Moreover, a guarantor of authenticity royal remains performed secular power Russia in the person of President Boris Yeltsin. Whose remains are these? consensus not yet.
But let's go back to the Civil War. According to Vladimir Sychev, the royal family was divided in Perm. The women's path lay in Germany, while the men - Nikolai Romanov himself and Tsarevich Alexei - were left in Russia. Father and son were kept for a long time near Serpukhov on former dacha merchant Konshin. Later, in NKVD reports, this place was known as “Object No. 17.” Most likely, the prince died in 1920 from hemophilia. There is no information regarding the fate of the last Russian emperor. However, it is known that in the 30s, “Object No. 17” was visited by Stalin twice. Does this mean that Nicholas II was still alive in those years?
To understand why such incredible events from the point of view of a 21st century person became possible, and to find out who needed them, you will have to go back to 1918. As you know, on March 3 in Brest-Litovsk, a peace treaty was concluded between Soviet Russia on the one hand and Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey on the other. Russia lost Poland, Finland, the Baltic states and part of Belarus. But this is not why Lenin called Treaty of Brest-Litovsk"humiliating" and "obscene". By the way, the full text of the agreement has not yet been published either in the East or in the West. Most likely, precisely because of the secret conditions present in it. Probably the Kaiser, who was a relative of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, demanded that all the women of the royal family be transferred to Germany. The Bolsheviks agreed: the girls had no rights to the Russian throne and, therefore, could not threaten them in any way. The men were left hostage - to ensure that German army will not venture further east than stated in the peace treaty.
What happened next? What was the fate of the women brought to the West? Was their silence prerequisite their integrity? Unfortunately, there are more questions here than answers (1; 9, 2006, No. 24, p. 20, 2007, No. 36, p. 13 and No. 37, p. 13; 12, pp. 481–482, 674–675 ).
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From the book Book of Memories author Romanov Alexander MikhailovichChapter XI. Emperor Nicholas II 1. Like his father, Emperor Alexander III, Emperor Nicholas II was not intended to reign. The orderly line of succession from father to eldest son was disrupted by the premature death of the Emperor's eldest son, Alexander II,
From the book Memories author Izvolsky Alexander PetrovichEmperor Nicholas II and his family Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, who became the last emperor of Russia under the name of Nicholas II, was born on May 6 (18), 1868 in Tsarskoe Selo - a country royal residence under
From the book Ranevskaya, what do you allow yourself?! author Wojciechowski ZbigniewChapter XI. Emperor Nicholas II 1Like his father, Emperor Alexander III, Emperor Nicholas II was not intended to reign. The orderly line of succession from father to eldest son was disrupted by the premature death of the Emperor's eldest son, Alexander II,
From the book Maria Fedorovna author Kudrina Yulia ViktorovnaChapter Nine Emperor Nicholas II I refrained from including this chapter in my memoirs, since for its appearance it was necessary to choose the time to complete the difficult and delicate task of describing the characteristic features of Emperor Nicholas II. I cannot, however, now refuse
From the book Memoirs of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov author Romanov Alexander Mikhailovich5. “Family replaces everything. Therefore, before you get her, you should think about what is more important to you: everything or family.” This is what Faina Ranevskaya once said. I am sure that the topic of the personal life of the great actress should be considered by us with special attention, in separate chapter. Reasons for this
From the book Love Letters of Great People. Compatriots by Ursula DoylePart Two EMPEROR NICHOLAS II AND HIS AUGUSTIC MOTHER Chapter One THE MARRIAGE OF EMPEROR NICHOLAS II AND THE GERMAN PRINCESS ALICE OF HESS November 14 (26), 1894, on the birthday of Empress Maria Feodorovna, 25 days after the death of Emperor Alexander III in the church
From the book of the Russian Head of State. Outstanding rulers that the whole country should know about author Lubchenkov Yuri NikolaevichChapter XI Emperor Nicholas II 1Like his father, Emperor Alexander III, Emperor Nicholas II was not intended to reign. The orderly line of succession from father to eldest son was disrupted by the premature death of the eldest son of Emperor Alexander II,
From the author's bookEmperor Nicholas II (1868–1918) My love, you are terribly missed, so missed that it is impossible to express! The first meeting of the future Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov with Princess Alice of Hesse took place in 1884, and a few years later he made her
From the author's bookEmperor Nicholas II to his wife Alexandra Feodorovna (November 18, 1914) My beloved sun, darling little wife. I've read your letter and almost burst into tears... This time I managed to pull myself together at the moment of parting, but the struggle was hard... My love, I’m scared of you
From the author's bookEmperor Nicholas I Pavlovich 1796–1855 Third son of Emperor Paul I and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Born on June 25, 1796 in Tsarskoye Selo. The main supervision of his upbringing was entrusted to General M.I. Lamsdorf. A stern, cruel and extremely hot-tempered man, Lamsdorf did not
From the author's bookEmperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich 1868–1918 Son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. Born on May 6, 1868 in Tsarskoe Selo. Newspapers on October 21, 1894 published a manifesto on the accession to the throne of Emperor Nicholas II. The young king was immediately surrounded