Nicholas The Great Research Paper

The Romanovs were an imperial family residing in Russia for over 300 years.Even after all the turmoil and conflict the Romanovs still remained in power. After his brother Alexander III had passed away, Nicholas II, also called Nicholas the Great, took to the throne. After a while, he married the princess of Hesse, Alix, who later changed her name to Alexandra. Together they had five children, four girls, and one boy, named Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Maria, and the only heir to the throne, Alexei. Although Nicholas was the czar, he often had his advisors make decisions for him. This gave him a bad image as a weak and indecisive ruler. After events like Bloody Sunday and the 1905 Russian Revolution, the people of Russia had been increasingly dissatisfied with the leadership skills of the czar.

In an era of discord, chaos, and bloodlust, Russia had temporarily lost its position as an orderly country on the world map. Many events, like the unpopularity of

the czarina, all factored in to the bigger picture and lead up to the families execution. Many did not believe the family could rule any more and the Bolsheviks, a radical socialist group, thought they should be overthrown. Even with the supporters of the family there still was conflict over their rule. The Romanov family execution was quite the center of speculation from Russia and other parts of the world; many events had led to the execution of this family, and this execution had even caused internal problems within the Russians’ land.
The czarina Alexandra was not popular with the people of Russia. This was only one of the factors that lead up to the family’s execution. She had a deep distaste for Russian culture. Not only did she dislike Russian culture, she also was from German descent. This only further added to her unpopularity. She was often characterized “...with a brusque demeanor and distaste for Russian culture—was unpopular with the Russian people. Her German ancestry and her devotion to Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin contributed to her unpopularity” (“Romanov Family: Execution and Facts” 12). Including her descent and distaste for Russian culture, she was devoted to Rasputin whom which most hated and thought he was corrupt.
Adding on to the growing unpopularity of the czarina, people believed that czar Nicholas could no longer lead.

His advisors, one coincidently being Rasputin, made most of his decisions for him. In his decision to engage in World War I, he severely damaged the Russian economy and government corruption was said to be growing. Even “By 1917, most Russians had lost all faith in the leadership ability of the czar” (“The Romanov Family” 15). He also weakened his country and many lost faith in him. Even the Bolsheviks called for an overthrow of the government and the czar.

In 1917, Nicholas was forced to abdicate the throne and was imprisoned by the Bolsheviks. Due to this, the Bolsheviks took power and established the first communist state. Since there was still some who believed in the ability of Nicholas, the anti-Bolsheviks were formed. This caused a civil war between the Bolsheviks, the Red side, and the anti-Bolsheviks, the White side. This civil war and unrest was another main reason that the family was

executed.
The White side was advancing on the place where the Romanovs were held. This frightened the Red side so they decided it would be best to execute the family. This plan came about due to the fact that the White side wanted the czar to rule again. The Red side strongly disagreed with this. In order to prevent this from happening, the Red side ordered to execute the family in November 1918. After they took the family and hid them in a mass grave, taking all their valuables so the White side could not get to them.
Later on in 1991, five out of the seven of the Romanov family were found. The remains were tested and proven to be the Czar and Czarina with their daughters Olga, Tatiana, and either Maria or Anastasia. The testing done on the remains of either Maria or Anastasia could not prove to be one or the other this lead to many rumors and speculations that Anastasia escaped the cruel fate since there were still two family members missing. Due to the rumors, many women had stepped up and claimed to be her, leaving the Russian people confused by who was the true Romanov and if she truly did survive. Even after finding the other two missing members of the family, one of them being Alexei, many still stepped up. This was all due to the confusion of the executions results.
The first five of the family that were found were taken to a church and buried. While later on the church refused the other two remains all because of rumors and a power grab for the newly formed church. In an article by Simon Montefiore he states that,
Rejecting the findings of the international scientists was, of course, a power grab by the newly emboldened church, and it was supported by the growing anti-Western sentiment promoted by the Kremlin and shared by much of Russian society. By agreeing to the church's conditions, Putin was appeasing an important ally” (Montefiore).
Even after proving the remains belonged to the family, the church refused to change positions. The remains had to be housed in a different place until finally the church accepted the bodies in 2015.
Many events and situations factored into what led up to the execution of the family. Even the unpopularity of the czarina contributed to the fall of the Romanovs. Not only did many events contribute to the fall of their rule, but their execution left effects. Those effects even include a civil war between the people who executed the family and the people who wanted the Romanovs to stay in power. Overall, the people of Russia were often left confused due to the rumors, speculation, and the confusion of the identity of the remains. This left Russia as a country in disarray.