The Romanovs were the last imperial family to rule Russia. They were killed in 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries, and their bodies were disposed of in a difficult undertaking. The mystery of who, if anyone, survived the massacre is still pending.
The Romanovs were the last imperial family to rule Russia. With their rule spanning over a hundred years, from 1613 to 1917 AD, they were mostly well-liked and respected by the populace, despite the social and political turmoil that sometimes gripped the country. The last members of this family were Nicholas II and Alexandra Fyodorovna and their five children Anastasia, Olga, Maria, Tatiana and Alexei.
Alexei, the long-awaited heir to the throne, suffered from hemophilia, which prompted his desperate mother to seek help from a variety of sources, until she finally found solace in Rasputin’s hands. The monk eventually became such an influence in the royal family that he began advising on state matters, including the appointment of ministers. This led to the formation of a revolutionary group, the Soviet Bolsheviks, who killed Rasputin and later placed the Romanovs under house arrest. In March 1917, the family was exiled to Siberia, where they spent the next four months as prisoners of the revolution.
It was midnight on July 17, 1918 that the Romanovs were killed. Yakov Yurovsky, the leader of the Bolshevik revolution, took the prisoners to the basement. Accompanied by a small army of 10 soldiers, he read an execution note to the Romanovs and then proceeded to shoot them at point blank range. In addition to family members, several members of domestic staff were also killed, including the family doctor, cook and nanny. According to some reports, some family members did not die from the shots, and were then attacked by soldiers with bayonets and rifle butts.
Disposing of the bodies proved to be quite a difficult undertaking. The Romanovs were first buried in an old iron ore mine outside Yekaterinburg, but the kidnappers decided the bodies were too easy to find there. They then tried to burn the remains, but the water from the mine had dampened the clothes enough for them not to catch fire. Eventually, the Bolshevik Army decided to move the bodies to another location and started digging a hole in which to bury them. Before they could finish their job, the White Army took control of Yekaterinburg and the bodies were quickly recovered.
In recent decades, a lot of controversy has surrounded the Romanovs. Two bodies were missing from the grave, leading to speculation that some family members had survived the massacre. The most common theory points to Anastasia and Alexei as the missing bodies. Several women have, in fact, claimed to be Anastasia, the most notable being Anna Anderson, who died in 1984. Anderson’s body was cremated upon her death in 1984. The mystery of who, if anyone, survived the Romanov killing , is still pending.
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