When Nicholas II was killed. Is it true that some members of Nicholas II's family escaped execution? Ganinsky ravines - burial place of the Romanovs

On the night of July 16-17, 1918 in the city of Yekaterinburg in the basement of the house of mining engineer Nikolai Ipatiev Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, their children - Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, heir Tsarevich Alexei, as well as physician Evgeny Botkin, valet Alexei Trupp, room girl Anna Demidova and cook Ivan Kharitonov.

The last Russian Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov (Nicholas II) ascended the throne in 1894 after the death of his father, Emperor Alexander III, and ruled until 1917, until the situation in the country became more complicated. On March 12 (February 27, old style), 1917, an armed uprising began in Petrograd, and on March 15 (March 2, old style), 1917, at the insistence of the Provisional Committee State Duma Nicholas II signed an abdication of the throne for himself and his son Alexei in favor of younger brother Mikhail Alexandrovich.

After his abdication, from March to August 1917, Nicholas and his family were under arrest in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoe Selo. A special commission of the Provisional Government studied materials for the possible trial of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on charges of treason. Having not found evidence and documents that clearly convicted them of this, the Provisional Government was inclined to deport them abroad (to Great Britain).

In August 1917, the arrested were transported to Tobolsk. The main idea of ​​the Bolshevik leadership was an open trial of the former emperor. In April 1918, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the Romanovs to Moscow. For the trial former king Vladimir Lenin spoke out, it was supposed to make Leon Trotsky the main accuser of Nicholas II. However, information appeared about the existence of “White Guard conspiracies” to kidnap the Tsar, the concentration of “conspiratorial officers” in Tyumen and Tobolsk for this purpose, and on April 6, 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee decided to transfer the royal family to the Urals. The royal family was transported to Yekaterinburg and placed in the Ipatiev house.

The uprising of the White Czechs and the offensive of the White Guard troops on Yekaterinburg accelerated the decision to shoot the former tsar.

The commandant of the House was instructed to organize the execution of all members of the royal family, Doctor Botkin and the servants who were in the house. special purpose Yakov Yurovsky.

© Photo: Museum of the History of Yekaterinburg

The execution scene is known from investigative reports, from the words of participants and eyewitnesses, and from the stories of the direct perpetrators. Yurovsky spoke about the execution of the royal family in three documents: “Note” (1920); "Memoirs" (1922) and "Speech at a meeting of old Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg" (1934). All the details of this crime, conveyed by the main participant in different time and under completely different circumstances, they agree on how the royal family and its servants were shot.

Based on documentary sources, it is possible to establish the time when the murder of Nicholas II, members of his family and their servants began. The car that delivered the last order to exterminate the family arrived at half past two on the night of July 16-17, 1918. After which the commandant ordered the life physician Botkin to wake up royal family. It took the family about 40 minutes to get ready, then she and the servants were transferred to the semi-basement of this house, with a window overlooking Voznesensky Lane. Nicholas II carried Tsarevich Alexei in his arms because he could not walk due to illness. At Alexandra Fedorovna’s request, two chairs were brought into the room. She sat on one, and Tsarevich Alexei sat on the other. The rest were located along the wall. Yurovsky led the firing squad into the room and read the verdict.

This is how Yurovsky himself describes the execution scene: “I invited everyone to stand up. Everyone stood up, occupying the entire wall and one of the side walls. The room was very small. Nikolai stood with his back to me. I announced that the Executive Committee of the Councils of Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Deputies The Urals decided to shoot them. Nikolai turned and asked. I repeated the order and commanded: “Shoot.” I fired first and killed Nikolai on the spot. The shooting lasted a very long time and, despite my hopes, wooden wall will not ricochet, the bullets bounced off it. For a long time I was unable to stop this shooting, which had become careless. But when I finally managed to stop, I saw that many were still alive. For example, Doctor Botkin was lying with his elbow right hand, as if in a resting pose, finished off him with a revolver shot. Alexey, Tatyana, Anastasia and Olga were also alive. Demidova was also alive. Comrade Ermakov wanted to finish the matter with a bayonet. But, however, this did not work. The reason became clear later (the daughters were wearing diamond armor like bras). I was forced to shoot each one in turn."

After death was confirmed, all the corpses began to be transferred to the truck. At the beginning of the fourth hour, at dawn, the corpses of the dead were taken out of Ipatiev’s house.

The remains of Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, Olga, Tatiana and Anastasia Romanov, as well as people from their entourage, shot in the House of Special Purpose (Ipatiev House), were discovered in July 1991 near Yekaterinburg.

On July 17, 1998, the burial of the remains of members of the royal family took place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg.

In October 2008, the presidium Supreme Court The Russian Federation has decided to rehabilitate Russian Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office also decided to rehabilitate members of the imperial family - the Grand Dukes and Princes of the Blood, executed by the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Servants and associates of the royal family who were executed by the Bolsheviks or subjected to repression were rehabilitated.

In January 2009, the Main Investigation Department of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation stopped investigating the case into the circumstances of the death and burial of the last Russian emperor, members of his family and people from his entourage, shot in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918, "due to the expiration of the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution responsibility and death of persons who committed premeditated murder" (subparagraphs 3 and 4 of part 1 of article 24 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the RSFSR).

On January 15, 2009, the investigator issued a resolution to terminate the criminal case, but on August 26, 2010, the judge of the Basmanny District Court of Moscow decided, in accordance with Article 90 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of the Russian Federation, to recognize this decision as unfounded and ordered the violations to be eliminated. On November 25, 2010, the investigation decision to terminate this case was canceled by the Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee.

On January 14, 2011, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported that the resolution was brought in accordance with the court decision and the criminal case regarding the death of representatives of the Russian Imperial House and people from their entourage in 1918-1919 was discontinued. The identification of the remains of members of the family of the former Russian Emperor Nicholas II (Romanov) and persons from his retinue has been confirmed.

On October 27, 2011, a resolution was issued to terminate the investigation into the case of the execution of the royal family. The 800-page resolution outlines the main conclusions of the investigation and indicates the authenticity of the discovered remains of the royal family.

However, the question of authentication still remains open. Russian Orthodox Church In order to recognize the found remains as the relics of royal martyrs, the Russian Imperial House supports the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on this issue. The director of the chancellery of the Russian Imperial House emphasized that genetic testing is not enough.

The Church canonized Nicholas II and his family and on July 17 celebrates the day of remembrance of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources

In this case, we will talk about those gentlemen, thanks to whom, on the night of July 16-17, 1918, there was atrocity in Yekaterinburg The Romanov royal family was killed. These executioners have one name - regicides. Some of them made the decision, while others carried it out. As a result of this, Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and their children died: Grand Duchesses Anastasia, Maria, Olga, Tatiana and Tsarevich Alexei. The service personnel were also shot along with them. This is the family's personal cook Ivan Mikhailovich Kharitonov, chamberlain Alexey Yegorovich Trupp, room girl Anna Demidova and family doctor Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin.

Criminals

The terrible crime was preceded by a meeting of the Presidium of the Urals Council, held on July 12, 1918. It was there that the decision was made to execute the royal family. A detailed plan was also developed for both the crime itself and the destruction of corpses, that is, concealing traces of the destruction of innocent people.

The meeting was headed by the chairman of the Urals Council, member of the presidium of the regional committee of the RCP (b) Alexander Georgievich Beloborodov (1891-1938). Together with him, the decision was made by: the military commissar of Yekaterinburg Filipp Isaevich Goloshchekin (1876-1941), the chairman of the regional Cheka Fyodor Nikolaevich Lukoyanov (1894-1947), Chief Editor newspaper "Ekaterinburg Worker" Georgy Ivanovich Safarov (1891-1942), supply commissar of the Ural Council Pyotr Lazarevich Voikov (1888-1927), commandant of the "House of Special Purpose" Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (1878-1938).

The Bolsheviks called the house of engineer Ipatiev “a house of special purpose.” It was here that the Romanov royal family was kept in May-July 1918 after it was transported from Tobolsk to Yekaterinburg.

But you have to be a very naive person to think that mid-level managers took responsibility and independently accepted the most important political decision about the execution of the royal family. They found it possible only to coordinate it with the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov (1885-1919). This is exactly how the Bolsheviks presented everything in their time.

Here and there, in Lenin’s party, discipline was ironclad. Decisions came only from the very top, and lower-level employees carried them out unquestioningly. Therefore, we can say with full responsibility that the instructions were given directly by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who was sitting in the silence of the Kremlin office. Naturally, he discussed this issue with Sverdlov and the main Ural Bolshevik Evgeniy Alekseevich Preobrazhensky (1886-1937).

The latter, of course, was aware of all the decisions, although he was absent from Yekaterinburg on the bloody date of the execution. At this time, he took part in the work of the V All-Russian Congress of Soviets in Moscow, and then left for Kursk and returned to the Urals only in the last days of July 1918.

But, in any case, Ulyanov and Preobrazhensky cannot be officially blamed for the death of the Romanov family. Sverdlov bears indirect responsibility. After all, he imposed the “agreed” resolution. Such a soft-hearted leader. I resignedly took note of the decision of the grassroots organization and readily scribbled the usual formal reply on a piece of paper. Only a 5-year-old child could believe this.

The royal family in the basement of the Ipatiev house before execution

Now let's talk about the performers. About those villains who committed terrible sacrilege by raising their hands against God’s anointed and his family. To date, the exact list of killers is unknown. No one can name the number of criminals. There is an opinion that Latvian riflemen took part in the execution, since the Bolsheviks believed that Russian soldiers would not shoot at the Tsar and his family. Other researchers insist on the Hungarians who guarded the arrested Romanovs.

However, there are names that appear on all lists of the most different researchers. This is the commandant of the “House of Special Purpose” Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky, who led the execution. His deputy Grigory Petrovich Nikulin (1895-1965). The commander of the royal family's security Pyotr Zakharovich Ermakov (1884-1952) and Cheka employee Mikhail Aleksandrovich Medvedev (Kudrin) (1891-1964).

These four people were directly involved in the execution of representatives of the House of Romanov. They carried out the decision of the Ural Council. At the same time, they showed amazing cruelty, since they not only shot at absolutely defenseless people, but also finished them off with bayonets, and then doused them with acid so that the bodies could not be recognized.

Each one will be rewarded according to his deeds

Organizers

There is an opinion that God sees everything and punishes the villains for what they have done. Regicides are among the most brutal part of the criminal elements. Their goal is to seize power. They walk towards her through the corpses, not at all embarrassed by this. At the same time, people are dying who are not at all to blame for the fact that they received their crowned title by inheritance. As for Nicholas II, this man was no longer emperor at the time of his death, since he voluntarily renounced the crown.

Moreover, there is no way to justify the death of his family and staff. What motivated the villains? Of course, rabid cynicism, disregard for human lives, lack of spirituality and rejection of Christian norms and rules. The most terrible thing is that, having committed a terrible crime, these gentlemen were proud of what they had done for the rest of their lives. They willingly told journalists, schoolchildren and simply idle listeners about everything.

But let's return to God and trace life path those who doomed innocent people to a terrible death for the sake of an insatiable desire to dominate others.

Ulyanov and Sverdlov

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin. We all know him as the leader of the world proletariat. However, this people's leader was splashed to the top of his head with human blood. After the execution of the Romanovs, he lived only a little over 5 years. He died of syphilis, losing his mind. This is the most terrible punishment of heavenly powers.

Yakov Mikhailovich Sverdlov. He left this world at the age of 33, 9 months after the crime committed in Yekaterinburg. In the city of Orel, he was severely beaten by workers. The very ones for whose rights he supposedly stood up. With multiple fractures and injuries, he was taken to Moscow, where he died 8 days later.

These are the two main criminals directly responsible for the death of the Romanov family. The regicides were punished and died not in old age, surrounded by children and grandchildren, but in the prime of life. As for other organizers of the crime, here heavenly powers They delayed the punishment, but God’s judgment was completed anyway, giving everyone what they deserved.

Goloshchekin and Beloborodov (right)

Philip Isaevich Goloshchekin- chief security officer of Yekaterinburg and adjacent territories. It was he who went to Moscow at the end of June, where he received verbal instructions from Sverdlov regarding the execution of crowned persons. After this, he returned to the Urals, where the Presidium of the Urals Council was hastily assembled, and a decision was made to secretly execute the Romanovs.

In mid-October 1939, Philip Isaevich was arrested. He was accused of anti-state activities and an unhealthy attraction to little boys. This perverted gentleman was shot at the end of October 1941. Goloshchekin outlived the Romanovs by 23 years, but retribution still overtook him.

Chairman of the Urals Council Alexander Georgievich Beloborodov- By modern times This is the chairman of the regional Duma. It was he who headed the meeting at which the decision was made to execute the royal family. His signature was next to the word “affirm.” If we approach this issue officially, then it is he who bears the main responsibility for the murder of innocent people.

Beloborodov had been a member of the Bolshevik Party since 1907, joining it as a minor boy after the 1905 revolution. In all the positions that his senior comrades entrusted to him, he showed himself to be an exemplary and efficient worker. The best proof of this is July 1918.

After the execution of the crowned persons, Alexander Georgievich flew very high. In March 1919, his candidacy was considered for the post of president by the young Soviet republic. But preference was given to Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (1875-1946), since he knew peasant life well, and our “hero” was born into a working-class family.

But the former chairman of the Urals Council was not offended. He was made the boss political management Red Army. In 1921, he became the deputy of Felix Dzherzhinsky, who headed the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs. In 1923 he replaced him in this high post. True, further brilliant career didn't work out.

In December 1927, Beloborodov was removed from his post and exiled to Arkhangelsk. Since 1930 he worked as a middle manager. In August 1936 he was arrested by NKVD workers. In February 1938, by decision of the military board, Alexander Georgievich was shot. At the time of his death he was 46 years old. After the death of the Romanovs, the main culprit did not live even 20 years. In 1938, his wife Franziska Viktorovna Yablonskaya was also shot.

Safarov and Voikov (right)

Georgy Ivanovich Safarov- editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Ekaterinburg Worker". This Bolshevik with pre-revolutionary experience was an ardent supporter of the execution of the Romanov family, although she did nothing wrong to him. He lived well until 1917 in France and Switzerland. He came to Russia together with Ulyanov and Zinoviev in a “sealed carriage.”

After the crime committed, he worked in Turkestan, and then in the executive committee of the Comintern. Then he became editor-in-chief of Leningradskaya Pravda. In 1927, he was expelled from the party and sentenced to 4 years of exile in the city of Achinsk ( Krasnoyarsk region). In 1928, the party card was returned and again sent to work in the Comintern. But after the murder of Sergei Kirov at the end of 1934, Safarov finally lost confidence.

He was again exiled to Achinsk, and in December 1936 he was sentenced to 5 years in the camps. Since January 1937, Georgy Ivanovich served his sentence in Vorkuta. He performed the duties of a water carrier there. He walked around in a prisoner's pea coat, belted with a rope. His family abandoned him after his conviction. For the former Bolshevik-Leninist, this was a severe moral blow.

After the end of his prison term, Safarov was not released. The time was difficult, wartime, and someone apparently decided that Ulyanov’s former comrade-in-arms had nothing to do behind the lines of the Soviet troops. He was shot by decision of a special commission on July 27, 1942. This “hero” outlived the Romanovs by 24 years and 10 days. He died at 51, having lost both his freedom and his family at the end of his life.

Pyotr Lazarevich Voikov- main supplier of the Urals. He was closely involved in food issues. How could he get food in 1919? Naturally, he took them away from the peasants and merchants who did not leave Yekaterinburg. With his tireless activities he brought the region to complete impoverishment. It was good that the troops of the White Army arrived, otherwise people would have started to die of hunger.

This gentleman also came to Russia in a “sealed carriage,” but not with Ulyanov, but with Anatoly Lunacharsky (the first People's Commissar of Education). Voikov was at first a Menshevik, but quickly figured out which way the wind was blowing. At the end of 1917, he broke with his shameful past and joined the RCP(b).

Pyotr Lazarevich not only raised his hand, voting for the death of the Romanovs, but also took an active part in hiding the traces of the crime. It was he who came up with the idea of ​​dousing the bodies with sulfuric acid. Since he was in charge of all the city’s warehouses, he personally signed the invoice for receiving this very acid. By his order, transport was also allocated for transporting bodies, shovels, picks, and crowbars. The business owner is in charge of what you want.

Pyotr Lazarevich liked activities related to material values. Since 1919, he was involved in consumer cooperation, while serving as deputy chairman of the Central Union. Part-time, he organized the sale abroad of treasures of the House of Romanov and museum valuables of the Diamond Fund, the Armory Chamber, and private collections requisitioned from exploiters.

Priceless works of art and jewelry went to the black market, since at that time no one officially dealt with the young Soviet state. Hence the ridiculous prices that were given for items that had unique historical value.

In October 1924, Voikov left as plenipotentiary envoy to Poland. This was already big politics, and Pyotr Lazarevich began to settle into a new field with enthusiasm. But the poor guy was out of luck. On June 7, 1927, he was shot by Boris Kaverda (1907-1987). The Bolshevik terrorist fell at the hands of another terrorist belonging to the white emigrant movement. Retribution came almost 9 years after the death of the Romanovs. At the time of his death, our next “hero” was 38 years old.

Fedor Nikolaevich Lukoyanov- chief security officer of the Urals. He voted for the execution of the royal family, therefore he is one of the organizers of the crime. But in subsequent years this “hero” did not show himself in any way. The thing is that from 1919 he began to suffer from attacks of schizophrenia. Therefore, Fyodor Nikolaevich devoted his entire life to journalism. He worked for various newspapers, and died in 1947 at the age of 53, 29 years after the murder of the Romanov family.

Performers

As for the direct perpetrators of the bloody crime, God’s court treated them much more leniently than the organizers. They were forced people and were just following orders. Therefore, they have less guilt. At least that’s what you might think if you trace the fateful path of each criminal.

The main perpetrator of the terrible murder of defenseless women and men, as well as a sick boy. He boasted that he personally shot Nicholas II. However, his subordinates also applied for this role.

Yakov Yurovsky

After the crime was committed, he was taken to Moscow and sent to work for the Cheka. Then, after the liberation of Yekaterinburg from the white troops, Yurovsky returned to the city. Received the post of chief security officer of the Urals.

In 1921 he was transferred to Gokhran and began to live in Moscow. Was involved in accounting material assets. After that, he worked a little at the People's Commissariat of Foreign Affairs.

In 1923 there was a sharp decline. Yakov Mikhailovich was appointed director of the Krasny Bogatyr plant. That is, our hero began to manage the production of rubber shoes: boots, galoshes, boots. Quite a strange profile after security and financial activities.

In 1928, Yurovsky was transferred to director of the Polytechnic Museum. This is a long building near the Bolshoi Theater. In 1938, the main perpetrator of the murder died of an ulcer at the age of 60. He outlived his victims by 20 years and 16 days.

But apparently regicides bring a curse on their offspring. This “hero” had three children. Eldest daughter Rimma Yakovlevna (1898-1980) and two younger sons.

The daughter joined the Bolshevik Party in 1917 and headed the youth organization (Komsomol) of Yekaterinburg. Since 1926 at party work. She made a good career in this field in the city of Voronezh in 1934-1937. Then she was transferred to Rostov-on-Don, where she was arrested in 1938. She stayed in the camps until 1946.

His son Alexander Yakovlevich (1904-1986) was also in prison. He was arrested in 1952, but, however, was soon released. But trouble happened to my grandchildren. All the boys died tragically. Two fell from the roof of the house, two were burned during the fire. The girls died in infancy. Yurovsky's niece Maria suffered the most. She had 11 children. Only 1 boy survived into adolescence. His mother abandoned him. The child was adopted by strangers.

Concerning Nikulina, Ermakova And Medvedev (Kudrina), then these gentlemen lived to old age. They worked, were honorably retired, and then buried with dignity. But regicides always get what they deserve. These three have escaped their well-deserved punishment on earth, but there is still judgment in heaven.

Grave of Grigory Petrovich Nikulin

After death, each soul rushes to heaven, hoping that the angels will let it into the Kingdom of Heaven. So the souls of the murderers rushed to the Light. But then a dark personality appeared in front of each of them. She politely took the sinner by the elbow and nodded unequivocally in the direction opposite to Paradise.

There, in the heavenly haze, a black mouth could be seen in the Underworld. And next to him stood disgusting grinning faces, nothing on heavenly angels not similar. These are devils, and they have only one job - to put a sinner on a hot frying pan and fry him forever over low heat.

In conclusion, it should be noted that violence always begets violence. The one who commits a crime himself becomes a victim of criminals. A clear proof of this is the fate of the regicides, about whom we tried to tell in as much detail as possible in our sad story.

Egor Laskutnikov

According to some information, the Romanovs are not of Russian blood at all, but came from Prussia; according to the historian Veselovsky, they are still Novgorodians. The first Romanov appeared as a result of the interweaving of childbirth Koshkins-Zakharyins-Yurievs-Shuiskys-Ruriks in the guise of Mikhail Fedorovich, elected Tsar of the House of Romanov. The Romanovs, in different interpretations of their surnames and names, ruled until 1917.

The Romanov family: a story of life and death - summary

The era of the Romanovs is a 304-year usurpation of power in the vastness of Russia by one family of boyars. By social classification feudal society of the 10th - 17th centuries, boyars were called large landowners in Moscow Rus'. IN 10th – 17th for centuries it was the highest layer of the ruling class. According to Danube-Bulgarian origin, “boyar” is translated as “nobleman”. Their history is a time of unrest and irreconcilable struggle with the kings for complete power.

Exactly 405 years ago, a dynasty of kings of this name appeared. 297 years ago, Peter the Great took the title of All-Russian Emperor. In order not to degenerate by blood, there was leapfrog with its mixing along the male and female lines. After Catherine the First and Paul the Second, the branch of Mikhail Romanov sank into oblivion. But new branches arose, with an admixture of other bloods. The surname Romanov was also borne by Fyodor Nikitich, Russian Patriarch Filaret.

In 1913, the three-hundredth anniversary of the Romanov dynasty was celebrated magnificently and solemnly.

High-ranking officials of Russia invited from European countries, they didn’t even suspect that a fire was already heating up under the house, which would burn out the last emperor and his family in just four years.

At the time in question, members of the imperial families did not have surnames. They were called crown princes, grand dukes, and princesses. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, which critics of Russia call a terrible coup for the country, its Provisional Government decreed that all members of this house should be called Romanovs.

More details on the main reigning persons of the Russian state

16-year-old first king. The appointment and election of essentially inexperienced in politics or even young children and grandchildren during the transition of power is not new for Russia. This was often practiced so that the curators of child rulers would solve their own problems before they came of age. In this case, Mikhail the First razed the “time of troubles” to the ground, brought peace and brought the almost collapsed country together. Of his ten family offspring also 16 years old Tsarevich Alexei (1629 - 1675) replaced Michael in the royal post.

The first attempt on the life of the Romanovs by relatives. Tsar Feodor the Third dies at the age of twenty. The tsar, who was in poor health (he could barely endure the coronation), meanwhile, turned out to be strong in politics, reforms, organization of the army and civil service.

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He forbade foreign tutors, who poured from Germany and France to Russia, from working without supervision. Historians of Russia suspect that the tsar's death was prepared by close relatives, most likely his sister Sophia. This is what will be discussed below.

Two kings on the throne. Again about the childhood of the Russian tsars.

After Fyodor, Ivan the Fifth was supposed to take the throne - a ruler, as they wrote, without a king in his head. Therefore, two relatives shared the throne on the same throne - Ivan and his 10-year-old brother Peter. But all state affairs were run by the already named Sophia. Peter the Great removed her from business when he learned that she had prepared a state conspiracy against his brother. He sent the intriguer to the monastery to atone for her sins.

Tsar Peter the Great becomes monarch. The one about whom they said that he cut a window to Europe for Russia. Autocrat, military strategist who finally defeated the Swedes in wars of twenty years. Titled Emperor of All Russia. Monarchy replaced reign.

Female line of monarchs. Peter, already nicknamed the Great, passed away without officially leaving an heir. Therefore, power was transferred to Peter’s second wife, Catherine the First, a German by birth. Rules for only two years - until 1727.

The female line was continued by Anna the First (Peter's niece). During her decade, her lover Ernst Biron actually reigned on the throne.

The third empress in this line was Elizaveta Petrovna from the family of Peter and Catherine. At first she was not crowned, because she was illegitimate child. But this matured child carried out the first royal, fortunately, bloodless coup d’etat, as a result of which she sat on the All-Russian throne. By eliminating the regent Anna Leopoldovna. It is to her that her contemporaries should be grateful, because she returned St. Petersburg to its beauty and importance as a capital.

About the end of the female line. Catherine the Second the Great, arrived in Russia as Sophia Augusta Frederick. Overthrew the wife of Peter the Third. Rules for more than three decades. Having become Romanov's record holder, a despot, she strengthened the power of the capital, expanding the country territorially. Continued to improve architecturally northern capital. The economy has strengthened. Patron of arts, loving woman.

A new, bloody conspiracy. Heir Paul was killed after refusing to abdicate the throne.

Alexander the First took over the government of the country on time. Napoleon marched against Russia with the strongest army in Europe. The Russian one was much weaker and drained of blood in the battles. Napoleon is just a stone's throw away from Moscow. We know from history what happened next. The Emperor of Russia came to an agreement with Prussia, and Napoleon was defeated. The combined troops entered Paris.

Attempts on the successor. They wanted to destroy Alexander II seven times: the liberal did not suit the opposition, which was already maturing then. They blew it up in the Winter Palace of the Emperors in St. Petersburg, they shot it in the Summer Garden, even at the World Exhibition in Paris. In one year there were three assassination attempts. Alexander II survived.

The sixth and seventh attempts took place almost simultaneously. One terrorist missed, and the Narodnaya Volya member Grinevitsky finished the job with a bomb.

On the throne the last Romanov. Nicholas II was crowned for the first time with his wife, who had previously had five female names. This happened in 1896. On this occasion, they began to distribute the imperial present to those gathered on Khodynka, and thousands of people died in the stampede. The Emperor did not seem to notice the tragedy. Which further alienated the lower classes from the upper classes and prepared the way for a coup.

The Romanov family - a story of life and death (photo)

In March 1917, under pressure from the masses, Nicholas II terminated his imperial powers in favor of his brother Mikhail. But he was even more cowardly and abandoned the throne. And this meant only one thing: the end of the monarchy had come. At that time, there were 65 people in the Romanov dynasty. Men were shot by the Bolsheviks in a number of cities in the Middle Urals and in St. Petersburg. Forty-seven managed to escape into emigration.

The Emperor and his family were put on a train and sent into Siberian exile in August 1917. Where everyone who was disliked by the authorities was driven into the bitter cold. The small town of Tobolsk was briefly identified as the location, but it soon became clear that the Kolchakites could have captured them there and used them for their own purposes. Therefore, the train was hastily returned to the Urals, to Yekaterinburg, where the Bolsheviks ruled.

Red Terror in action

Members of the imperial family were secretly placed in the basement of a house. The shooting took place there. The emperor, his family members, and assistants were killed. Execution given legal basis in the form of a resolution of the Bolshevik regional council of workers', peasants' and soldiers' deputies.

In fact, without a court decision, and it was an illegal action.

A number of historians believe that the Yekaterinburg Bolsheviks received sanction from Moscow, most likely from the weak-willed All-Russian elder Sverdlov, and maybe personally from Lenin. According to testimony, Yekaterinburg residents rejected court hearing due to the possible advance of Admiral Kolchak’s troops to the Urals. And this is legally no longer repression in retaliation against tsarism, but murder.

Representative of the Investigative Committee Russian Federation Solovyov, who investigated (1993) the circumstances of the execution of the royal family, argued that neither Sverdlov nor Lenin had anything to do with the execution. Even a fool would not leave such traces, especially the country's top leaders.

In Yekaterinburg on the night of July 17, 1918, the Bolsheviks shot Nicholas II, his entire family (wife, son, four daughters) and servants.

But the murder of the royal family was not an execution in the usual sense: a volley was fired and the condemned fell dead. Only Nicholas II and his wife died quickly - the rest, due to the chaos in the execution room, waited a few more minutes for death. The 13-year-old son of Alexei, the daughters and servants of the emperor were killed with shots to the head and stabbed with bayonets. HistoryTime will tell you how all this horror happened.

Reconstruction

The Ipatiev House, where the terrible events took place, was recreated in the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in a 3D computer model. The virtual reconstruction allows you to walk through the premises of the “last palace” of the emperor, look into the rooms where he, Alexandra Feodorovna, their children, servants lived, go out into the courtyard, go to the rooms on the first floor (where the guards lived) and to the so-called execution room, in which the king and family suffered martyrdom.

The situation in the house was recreated to the smallest detail (down to the paintings on the walls, the sentry’s machine gun in the corridor and bullet holes in the “execution room”) on the basis of documents (including reports of the inspection of the house made by representatives of the “white” investigation), vintage photos, as well as interior details that have survived to this day thanks to museum workers: in the Ipatiev House for a long time There was a Historical and Revolutionary Museum, and before its demolition in 1977, its employees were able to remove and save some items.

For example, the pillars from the stairs to the second floor or the fireplace near which the emperor smoked (it was forbidden to leave the house) have been preserved. Now all these things are on display in the Romanov Hall local history museum. « The most valuable exhibit of our exposition is the bars that stood in the window of the “execution room”, says the creator of the 3D reconstruction, head of the history department of the Romanov dynasty of the museum, Nikolai Neuymin. - She is a mute witness to those terrible events.”

In July 1918, “red” Yekaterinburg was preparing for evacuation: the White Guards were approaching the city. Realizing that taking the Tsar and his family away from Yekaterinburg is dangerous for the young revolutionary republic (on the road it would be impossible to provide the imperial family with the same good security as in Ipatiev’s house, and Nicholas II could easily be recaptured by the monarchists), the leaders of the Bolshevik Party decide to destroy the Tsar along with children and servants.

On the fateful night, having waited for the final order from Moscow (the car brought him at half past two in the morning), the commandant of the “special purpose house” Yakov Yurovsky ordered Doctor Botkin to wake up Nikolai and his family.

Until the last minute, they did not know that they would be killed: they were informed that they were being transferred to another place for safety reasons, since the city had become restless - there was an evacuation due to the advance of white troops.

The room they were taken to was empty: there was no furniture - only two chairs were brought. The famous note from the commandant of the “House of Special Purpose” Yurovsky, who commanded the execution, reads:

Nikolai put Alexei on one, and Alexandra Fedorovna sat on the other. The commandant ordered the rest to stand in a row. ...Told the Romanovs that due to the fact that their relatives in Europe continue to attack Soviet Russia, The Urals Executive Committee decided to shoot them. Nikolai turned his back to the team, facing his family, then, as if coming to his senses, he turned around with the question: “What?” What?".

According to Neuimin, the short “Note of Yurovsky” (written in 1920 by the historian Pokrovsky under the dictation of a revolutionary) is an important, but not the best document. The execution and subsequent events are described much more fully in Yurovsky’s “Memoirs” (1922) and, especially, in the transcript of his speech at a secret meeting of old Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg (1934). There are also recollections of other participants in the execution: in 1963-1964, the KGB, on behalf of the CPSU Central Committee, interrogated all of them alive. " Their words echo the stories of Yurovsky different years: they all say about the same thing“, notes a museum employee.

Execution

According to Commandant Yurovsky, everything did not go at all as he had planned. " His idea was that in this room - plastered with wooden blocks wall, and there will be no rebound, says Neuimin. - But a little higher there are concrete vaults. The revolutionaries shot aimlessly, the bullets began to hit the concrete and bounce off. Yurovsky says that in the midst of it he was forced to give the command to cease fire: one bullet flew over his ear, and the other hit a comrade in the finger».

Yurovsky recalled in 1922:

For a long time I was unable to stop this shooting, which had become careless. But when I finally managed to stop, I saw that many were still alive. For example, Doctor Botkin lay leaning on the elbow of his right hand, as if in a resting position, and finished off him with a revolver shot. Alexey, Tatyana, Anastasia and Olga were also alive. Demidova’s maid was also alive.

The fact that despite the prolonged shooting, members of the royal family remained alive is simply explained.

It was decided in advance who would shoot whom, but the majority of revolutionaries began to shoot at the “tyrant” - Nicholas. " In the wake of revolutionary hysteria, they believed that he was the crowned executioner, says Neuimin. - Liberal-democratic propaganda, starting from the 1905 revolution, wrote this about Nicholas! They issued postcards - Alexandra Fedorovna with Rasputin, Nicholas II with huge branchy horns, in Ipatiev’s house all the walls were covered with inscriptions on this topic».

Yurovsky wanted everything to be unexpected for the royal family, so those whom the family knew entered the room (most likely): Commandant Yurovsky himself, his assistant Nikulin, and security chief Pavel Medvedev. The rest of the executioners stood in the doorway in three rows

In addition, Yurovsky did not take into account the size of the room (approximately 4.5 by 5.5 meters): members of the royal family settled in it, but there was no longer enough space for the executioners, and they stood behind each other. There is an assumption that only three stood inside the room - those whom the royal family knew (commandant Yurovsky, his assistant Grigory Nikulin and security chief Pavel Medvedev), two more stood in the doorway, the rest behind them. Alexey Kabanov, for example, recalls that he stood in the third row and shot, sticking his hand with a pistol between the shoulders of his comrades.

He says that when he finally entered the room, he saw that Medvedev (Kudrin), Ermakov and Yurovsky were standing “above the girls” and were shooting at them from above. Ballistic examination confirmed that Olga, Tatiana and Maria (except Anastasia) had bullet wounds to the head. Yurovsky writes:

Comrade Ermakov wanted to finish the matter with a bayonet. But, however, this did not work. The reason became clear later (the daughters were wearing diamond armor like bras). I was forced to shoot everyone in turn.

When the shooting stopped, it was discovered that Alexei was alive on the floor - it turns out that no one had shot at him (Nikulin was supposed to shoot, but he later said that he couldn’t, because he liked Alyoshka - a couple of days before the execution, he cut out a wooden pipe). The Tsarevich was unconscious, but breathing - and Yurovsky also shot him point-blank in the head.

Agony

When it seemed that everything was over, a female figure (the maid Anna Demidova) stood up in the corner with a pillow in her hands. With a cry " God bless! God saved me!"(all the bullets got stuck in the pillow) she tried to run away. But the cartridges ran out. Later, Yurovsky said that Ermakov, supposedly a good fellow, was not taken aback - he ran out into the corridor where Strekotin was standing at the machine gun, grabbed his rifle and began to poke the maid with a bayonet. She wheezed for a long time and did not die.

The Bolsheviks began to carry the bodies of the dead into the corridor. At this time, one of the girls - Anastasia - sat down and screamed wildly, realizing what had happened (it turns out that she fainted during the execution). " Then Ermakov pierced her - she was the last one to die painful death "- says Nikolai Neuimin.

Kabanov says that he had “the hardest thing” - killing dogs (before the execution, Tatyana had a French bulldog in her arms, and Anastasia had a dog Jimmy).

Medvedev (Kudrin) writes that the “triumphant Kabanov” came out with a rifle in his hand, on the bayonet of which two dogs were dangling, and with the words “for dogs - a dog’s death,” he threw them into a truck, where the corpses of members of the royal family were already lying.

During interrogation, Kabanov said that he barely pierced the animals with a bayonet, but, as it turned out, he lied: in the well of mine No. 7 (where the Bolsheviks dumped the bodies of those killed that same night), the “white” investigation found the corpse of this dog with a broken skull: apparently, one he pierced the animal and finished off the other with the butt.

All this terrible agony lasted, according to various researchers, up to half an hour, and even some seasoned revolutionaries’ nerves could not stand it. Neuimin says:

There, in Ipatiev’s house, there was a guard, Dobrynin, who abandoned his post and ran away. There was the head of the external security, Pavel Spiridonovich Medvedev, who was put in command of the entire security of the house (he is not a security officer, but a Bolshevik who fought, and they trusted him). Medvedev-Kudrin writes that Pavel fell during the execution and then began to crawl out of the room on all fours. When his comrades asked what was wrong with him (whether he was wounded), he cursed dirtyly and began to feel sick.

The Sverdlovsk museum displays pistols used by the Bolsheviks: three revolvers (analogues) and Pyotr Ermakov’s Mauser. The last exhibit is an authentic weapon used to kill the royal family (there is an act from 1927, when Ermakov handed over his weapons). Another proof that this is the same weapon is a photograph of a group of party leaders at the site where the remains of the royal family were hidden in Porosenkov Log (taken in 2014).

On it are the leaders of the Ural Regional Executive Committee and the Regional Party Committee (most were shot in 1937-38). Ermakov’s Mauser lies right on the sleepers - above the heads of the murdered and buried members of the royal family, whose burial place the “white” investigation was never able to find and which only half a century later the Ural geologist Alexander Avdonin was able to discover.