Nicholas II: The Downfall of the Romanov Dynasty

The Romanov family story is one that ends in tragedy and mystery. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia for over 300 years coming to an end with Nicholas II. The book The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, & The Fall of Imperial Russia, written by Candace Fleming, tells the story of Tsar Nicholas II of how he came to become the Tsar and fell trying to protect his family. Fleming tells the story of young Nicholas coming to power when his father, Alexander III, died and how ill-prepared Nicholas was to rule due to his father’s inferior teaching skills. The story goes on to Nicholas meeting his future wife, Alexandra, and how they had four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia. With each daughter came a disappointment of not having an heir

to the throne, until Alexei was born. Alexei was born with hemophilia, a secret that the world did not know. The fear of Alexei’s illness brought Nicholas and Alexandra to hide from Russia. The family was already secluded from the country due to Alexandra wanting to live in the Alexander Palace instead of in the Winter Palace, where most Tsars lived, when the couple was first married. This caused the couple to be unaware of the issues that were present in Russia. The lack of knowledge caused rebellion to break out in Russia. Nicholas did what he could to save the monarchy, but failed as he abdicated the throne and was placed under house arrest with his family and some servants. The imperial family was moved from the Alexander Palace to the Governor’s Mansion to, finally, the Ipatiev House during the rebellion. The family’s story ends at the Ipatiev House in murder and mystery. Tsar Nicholas II was the last to rule Russia, murdered in the basement of the Ipatiev House.
The literary objective of Candace Fleming was to telling the story of the last Tsar and his family. The author wanted to tell the true story of the Romanovs and the mystery behind their murder. In her bibliography she states her reason for writing this book and the reason she published it: “I was aware of the facts surrounding their murder. I knew about their bodies’ discovery and the results of DNA testing. But the facts did not tell the whole tale. I suspected there was more” (Fleming 256). Fleming researched to find out what happened to the Romanov family and the truth to their murders. Fleming wrote the book to find the missing pieces that history seemed to burry and forget. Her story tells the family and their lives in all three homes, along with the troubles of the people under the Tsar’s rule. The addition of the poverty-ridden Russia helped bring out the story of the family: “I would need to look beyond the Romanovs and their fairy-tale existence and examine the lives of lower-class Russians – peasants and workers, revolutionaries and soldiers. The result? A book that is essentially three stories in one” (Fleming 256). Fleming was able to bring everything about the time period into the story of the Romanov and tell the story accurately and compellingly. Fleming’s objective of the book was fulfilled, talking about the final Tsar of Russia and the mystery behind the murders.
The most important characters of the Romanov story are the imperial family, containing Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia, and Alexei, along with Rasputin, Pierre Gilliard, Sydney Gibbes, and Dr.

Botkin. Fleming chose to focus on these people during the duration of the book due to the impact they had on the story. Rasputin, a man who was thought to be a starets, a man of God, mooched his way into the family’s lives by convincing them he could heal Alexei. He controlled the family and convinced Nicholas to fire many trained and certified officials simply because they did not like Rasputin. This caused the start of the rebellion against the Tsar and the people of Russia: “And Rasputin had lots of advice - especially about Nicholas’s ministers. The starets felt threatened by these powerful men, most of whom hated him” (Fleming 148). Gilliard and Gibbes were tutors of the children. They were mentors and saw the daily lives of the children. Gilliard and Gibbes followed the family to every house until they were forced to leave by the rebellion leaders. Dr. Botkin, the family doctor, helped Alexei with his illness and died with the family. He was persistent about staying with the family through the end, and he did. Botkin helped ease Alexei’s and Alexandra’s pain as much as he could. The seven members of the royal family are the main focal point in the story. Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, the rulers of Imperial Russia, went through hardship after

hardship. Trying for an heir, even after each of Alexandra’s pregnancies got harder to endure. Their lack of knowledge of ruling a country lead to the downfall of themselves and Imperial Russia. The Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia, sheltered from the world, acted like children up until their deaths. They did not have any real communication with the outside world. They only had each other as company. The Grand Duchesses were categorized as “Big Pair”, Olga and Tatiana, and “Little Pair” consisting of Marie and Anastasia. Alexei is the youngest Romanov and the heir to the throne. He was born with hemophilia causing his parents to react to his every injury. Alexei was not allowed to play like a regular boy, he had sailor nannies that would protect him if he was endanger. Alexi was the youngest of the Romanovs and the one in the most danger.
The positive aspects of the book made the story more enticing. The way Fleming was able to tell the Romanov story made it compelling and easy to understand. All of the historical people were easy to decipher even with similar Russian names. The intense research Fleming produced caused the story to be precise. She did not add any ‘fluff’ and stuck to historical fact that she found in her research. The quotes from both Nicholas’ and Alexandra’s diaries were an interesting touch. A reader could be able to relate more to the characters, historical or not. The emotion found in the diary entries added a compelling touch: “’God, what happiness!’ Nicholas rejoiced in his diary. ‘I can hardly believe it’s really our child!’” (Fleming 36). The author added information about the events happing during the time period when the Romanov’s ruled Russia. There were entries about World War I and the start of the poverty- driven rebellion in Russia. Important historical people were introduced, such as Lenin and Stalin, added to the reality of the Romanov. The fairy-tale like family felt more real when introducing other historical people into the story: “Looking around at the soviet leadership, he was especially concerned about joseph Stalin, a man who held the important post of general secretary of the Communist Party” (Fleming 246). The way Fleming told the Romanov story was historically accurate and compelling.
With the positive aspects of the book there were negative aspects as well. The added material about the time period was helpful with deciphering the story but too much material was added. Whole chapters were dedicated to the time period when one would want more information about the person lives of the Romanovs. The book talked about the lives of Nicholas and Alexandra but neglected the children. One wants to know more about the children of Nicholas and Alexandra such as individual personalities instead of categorizing the children by pairs and the heir to the throne. A reader who was looking for more information about the children would be disappointed when looking at the title of the book, since it has little information on family life. There were little excerpts about each child’s personality but nothing more: “Unlike her two older sisters, who were at least diligent students, Marie paid little attention to her lessons” (Fleming 91). Another negative aspect would be the ending. After the death of the family and the finding of the bodies the book seemed to end a few pages after that. Fleming stated that there were rumors surrounding the murders and that two of the children might still live: “Suddenly, the imperial family was spotted everywhere – in the Crimea, Japan, even America. But the most frequently sighted family member were Alexei, Anastasia, and Marie (Fleming 243-244). Fleming did not go into much detail about the rumors which many readers would have liked. The book just ended once the family was dead.
In conclusion, The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & The Fall of Imperial Russia was a compelling story of the Romanov family.

The book was interesting and accurate but did not go in-depth about the imperial family. The author included many negative aspects about Tsar Nicholas’s rule and made the reader side with the people of Russia. When reading, I did not want to side with the people of Russia, I wanted to learn about the lives of the Romanovs and their final days. Fleming mainly included Tsar Nicholas’s inability to rule but did not focus on his family life. The book was compelling in how she decided to tell Romanov story but I would have liked more detail about the individual personalities of the children and family members. I also did not like that Fleming neglected to tell how the children reacted to their prison lifestyle besides that they were scared and confused. Knowing how the children coped with being locked in a house and only being able to go outside for a few minutes per day would have been interesting to the storyline. The author did tell the story accurately, which is hard to find in this family’s story. I would have loved to know about the rumors that circled the family when they had disappeared, along with the rumors of people seeing the imperial children traveling around the world. The story of the Romanov is filled with mystery. If Fleming incorporated the mystery into the end of the book, the ending would have been more enjoyable for the readers.

Fleming told the Romanov story in a way that many will enjoy this story.