In May 1979, the remains of five bodies were dug up in Soviet Russia by Alexander Avdonin. The bodies that were dug up were not identified up until 1991. The bodies turned out to be five of the seven Romanovs, including Tsar Nicholas II. In 2007, two other bodies were found that turned out to be the other two missing Romanov bodies. Who were the Romanovs?
For 300 years, the Romanov family ruled Russia. In 1894, Tsar Nicholas II would take the throne and rule the Russian Empire. Tsar Nicholas II, with his wife Alexandra, would have four daughters named Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia. To continue the Romanov Dynasty, the Tsar wanted a son so that he could have a heir to the throne. Eventually, he would have a son named Alexei. Alexei was born with hemophilia and his mother would have a monk/mystic healer named Grigori Rasputin help treat the disease. In 1915, Rasputin would become an influential figure and become very close to the Romanov family.
In 1916, many Russians were not satisfied with how the country was and wanted to overthrow the Tsar. This would lead to the assassination of Rasputin. Rasputin was poisoned and then shot by Felix Yusupov, a Russian aristocrat and price who hated Rasputin. Rasputin would survive the shooting and tried to escape Yusupov’s house, but he was shot again and was beaten. He was then bound and tossed into a freezing river. This assassination would weaken the Tsar’s image. During World War I, Tsar Nicholas II would lose the support of the people because of the millions of Russians that lost their lives to the Imperial German Empire. By 1917, Tsar Nicolas was seen as a corrupt leader and the Russian Empire was on the verge collapsing. Revolutions would break out throughout Russia.
By March, 1917, Tsar Nicholas II was placed under house arrest. Many Russians believed that the Tsar’s government was corrupt and thought the economy was not moving forward. Tsar Nicolas II had lost control of the Russian Empire that his family had ruled for 300 years. During this time, a revolution broke out throughout the country. When the Tsar stepped down, a weak provisional government was set up. The Bolsheviks would join the revolution during this time. The Bolsheviks were a Marxist political party led by Vladimir Lenin. They would overthrow the provisional government and take control of Russia. The Bolsheviks would take Russia out of World War I and make peace with the Imperial German Empire. The Romanovs were taken by the Bolsheviks in 1918, and placed under house arrest in Yekaterinburg. The next thing that had to be done is end the Romanov Dynasty that had failed Russia.
One night on July 17, 1918, the Tsar and his family were quickly awaken and moved into a basement to take a photograph. They were told that they were being moved somewhere else. Later on, Yakov Yurovsky and a group of Bolshevik troops entered the room and informed the Tsar and his family were going to be executed. The Tsar was only able to say “what” before being gunned down. However, when the smoked cleared the room from the gunshots, it appeared that Anastasia and Maria were still alive after they were shot due to the jewels in their dresses. Both Anastasia and Maria were crouched up against a wall covering their heads in terror after witnessing the death of their family. The Bolsheviks would gun them down again. Somehow, Anastasia was still alive until she was speared by a bayonet and shot in the head. The Romanov family was now dead.
Yakov Yurovsky and his men put the bodies in a truck and drove off to the Koptyaki forest. There, Yurovsky would meet up with more of his men to bury the bodies. Yurovsky’s men were found drunk in the forest and had only one shovel. His men wished to loot the dead bodies, however, Yurovsky ordered them at gunpoint to not loot them. The bodies were then thrown into the hole that was dug up and had acid poured on the corpses. Tsar Nicolas II, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana and Maria were buried. Anastasia and Alexei were buried in a different location. Both their bodies were dismembered and set on fire. This was done to confuse anyone who would ever discover the graves. During the time of the Soviet Union, rumors went around that the Tsar and his family were still alive. Even some women falsely claimed to have been the Grand Duchess Anastasia. This would lead to many stories and movies created about the idea of Anastasia surviving the assassination such as the 1956 movie titled Anastasia and the 1997 animated movie Anastasia. This is who the Romanovs were, this is their history, and this is the end of their story.
To learn more about Grigori Rasputin, watch this video:
To learn more about Tsar Nicholas II, watch this video:
To learn more about the assassination of the Romanov family, check out this document of Yurovsky's account of the assassination:
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