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MarkUK
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  • Register:12/11/2009 09:24:59

Date Posted:17/07/2018 09:14:48Copy HTML

After the overthrow of the Tsar in March 1917 the extended Romanov family were not in any immediate danger; the new Provisional Government were not overtly hostile and allowed them to live in relative, if supervised, comfort. However the subsequent overthrow of Kerensky's government by the Bolsheviks changed matters entirely.
Initially unsure of what to do with the dozens of Romanovs it was decided in March 1918 to "collect" them together in a single area. Many escaped as they had fled south to Ukraine where the Reds were not in control, others escaped via Finland. Those that Lenin could lay hands on were moved to the cities of Perm, Alapaevsk and Ekaterinburg east of the Ural Mountains under the control of the extremely hostile Ural Soviet. 
Here the first murder took place. Grand Duke Michael, Tsar Nicholas' younger brother who had briefly been nominal Tsar for a day (15-16 March 1917) after Nicholas abdicated in his favour was being held in Perm. By June 1918 the Whites and Czech Legion troops were advancing on the Urals strongholds and the commanders in Perm decided to take drastic action. On 13 June Grand Duke Michael and his English secretary Nicholas Johnson were taken from the hotel where they were being held and told they were to be taken to catch a train for removal to a safer place. In fact they were driven in darkness into the forest where they were shot and buried, there remains have never been found.
Michael was the first to die in the orgy of bloodletting that surrounded the Romanovs in 1918.     
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #1
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:17/07/2018 06:21:03Copy HTML

It was to get worse, much worse.
By early July the Czech Legion was perilously close to both Ekaterinburg where the Tsar, Tsarina and their five children were being held and to Alapaevsk 90 miles north east where a further six family members, including the Tsarina's sister, were similarly held.
The local commander at Ekaterinburg travelled to Moscow for instructions and came back with orders to dispose of them discreetly as soon as possible. Firstly a suitable place to bury the bodies had to be found and an abandoned mineshaft in a forest several miles outside the town was selected.
At 0130 on 17 July the seven Romanovs and the four servants who remained with them were awoken ordered to assemble in the basement to await transport to a "safe place". As they sat (there were only three chairs) or stood in the cramped room the commander Yakov Yurovsky entered with 11 soldiers and read out the sentence of death on the entire family. Before anyone could react they opened fire.
Precisely what happened next is unclear. We know that some died instantly, shot in the head, others had to be bayonetted to death, but after about 10 minutes all were dead. The bodies were loaded onto a lorry and driven out to the mine. However the lorry broke down, so carts had to be fetched to complete the grim journey. At the mine they were stripped and thrown down the shaft. But the shaft had largely collapsed over time and was only ten feet deep and the bodies were still visible. The burial party returned to Ekaterinburg with the news only to be told that a new site had to be found, so the next day the corpses were hauled out and loaded back onto the lorry to be taken to a deeper mine. But yet again the overloaded truck got stuck, it was now early on 19 July, 48 hours after the murders, so it was decided to bury the bodies at that spot. A grave barely two feet deep was dug and nine bodies thrown in; two (the Tsarevich Alexei and his sister Marie) were buried in a separate grave 50 fgeet away after being obliterated by fire, acid and spades. This was to confuse anyone who might discover the grave of the nine dead into thinking it could not be the Imperial family and their staff who numbered 11.

More to follow on this harrowing tale.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
shula Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #2
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:17/07/2018 10:11:00Copy HTML

Very interesting, Mark.  I'm looking forward to the next edition.
"It is forbidden to spit on cats in plague-time." -Albert Camus-
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #3
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:18/07/2018 06:26:26Copy HTML

Ekaterinburg fell to the Whites on 25 July but the chaos of war prevented a formal investigation until 1919. Evidence was gathered from the house in Ekaterinburg and the mine shaft where the bodies first were deposited was excavated resulting in enough evidence to conclude the obvious - that a series of brutal murders had taken place. However the actual burial site several miles away was not discovered. The end of the Civil War and the establishment of the Bolshevik regime ended any investigations.
It was not until 1979 that the main grave site was discovered, but as the Soviets were still in control the two men who located the pit kept quiet. The fall of the Sovet Union allowed for a full examination and in 1991 the site was excavated and nine sets of remains unearthed. They were reburied with full honours in the Romanov tomb in St Petersburg in 1998. However there were still two bodies missing and it was not until 2007 that the scanty remains of Alexei and Marie were discovered, they however remain unburied as the Russian Orthodox Church is not convinced ot their authenticity.

The 11 victims at the Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg on 17 July 1918 were -

Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, 50
Tsarina Alexandra, 46
Tsarevich Alexei, 13  

Grand Duchess Olga, 22
Grand Duchess Tatiana, 21
Grand Duchess Maria, 19
Grand Duchess Anastasia, 17
Eugene Botkin, doctor, 53
Alexei Trupp, footman, 62
Ivan Kharitonov, cook, 46
Anna Demidova, maid, 40

All, including the servants, but excluding the Tsarevich Alexei and Marie, are buried in St Petersburg.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #4
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:18/07/2018 07:43:09Copy HTML

If you think that was bad the events at Alapaevsk the next day are truly horrific.
When news of the murders at Ekaterinburg reached the Bolsheviks at Alapaevsk they too arranged the "disposal" of the six Romanovs held in the town, one of whom was the Tsarina's sister Elizabeth. As with the Tsar's party the six, plus two servants, were told late at night to get up for transfer by train to a "safe place". They were taken by cart to an abandoned mine shaft 11 miles away. Here they were beaten, only Grand Duke Sergei was shot, the others were thrown down the 66 feet deep shaft alive. Grenades were thrown down and piles of wood, but as they left cries could be heard from the shaft.
The Whites eventually captured the town and the bodies were discovered in October. It was soon apparent that none, other than Sergei, had died in the initial fall, the others had lived for days and died from their wounds or starvation in the water-logged mine. 
Their bodies were recovered but as the Reds regained the advantage in the Civil War they were taken east and buried in the Russian Mission in Peking, China. Grand Duchess Elizabeth was later exhumed and reburied in Jerusalem. The graves of the others were covered over by a car park by the Chinese Communists in 1986.

The eight murdered at Alapeavsk on 18 July 1918 were -

Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, sister of the Tsarina, 53
Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, 48
Grand Duke John Constantinovich, 32
Grand Duke Constantine Constantinovich, 27
Grand Duke Igor Constantinovich, 24
Prince Vladimir Paley, 21
Sister Varvara Yakovleva
Fyodor Remez

You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
shula Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #5
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:20/07/2018 12:01:28Copy HTML

What a series of horrific events.  I suppose the Bolsheviks were being thorough.
"It is forbidden to spit on cats in plague-time." -Albert Camus-
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #6
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:20/07/2018 08:19:47Copy HTML

There were more Romanovs to be "disposed of" but they at least lived until 1919, more when that time arrives.
It should also not be forgotten that many of the Staff and servants of the Imperial household were murdered at different times.  
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
shula Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #7
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:22/07/2018 10:36:28Copy HTML

Indeed what a shame that entire households were murdered.
"It is forbidden to spit on cats in plague-time." -Albert Camus-
majorshrapnel Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #8
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:23/07/2018 06:49:53Copy HTML

 It was the same in the French revolution, the murder squads rounded up all of the servants of the rich and murdered them too.
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #9
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:23/07/2018 07:50:14Copy HTML

Many revolutions began as "acts of liberation" but ended with a regime far worse than the one they replaced. 
George Orwell's Animal Farm highlights it very well. 
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
PBA-3rd-1949 Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #10
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:23/07/2018 10:41:28Copy HTML

Many revolutions began as "acts of liberation" but ended with a regime far worse than the one they replaced. 
George Orwell's Animal Farm highlights it very well. 

Sounds just like the American revolution Major. Round up any opposition in any way, close or burn their printing presses, steal their money and property and deport the ones that they haven't killed or mangled already so that there wouldn't be any opposition or witnesses. After the new government took over it was run so bad that 40,000 more people many who were for change in the first place had enough and moved north for freedom. Did I miss anything Shula?lol
shula Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #11
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:24/07/2018 06:09:04Copy HTML

Animal Farm is on my list of least favo(u)rite books.  Another is Lord of the Flies.

The French Revolution was a frightening timeI don't think they came out of that one well at all.
"It is forbidden to spit on cats in plague-time." -Albert Camus-
MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #12
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:24/07/2018 06:20:55Copy HTML

The most depressing book I've ever read is Therese Raquin by Emile Zola.

It was 23 years before the French restored normality with the restoration of the Bourbon Monarchy, the experiment of a Revolutionary Republic followed by an Empire under Napoleon were both failures.  
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
PBA-3rd-1949 Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #13
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:10/08/2018 11:09:15Copy HTML

Not for the States. They gained from it.


The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane "Sale of Louisiana") was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory (828,000 square miles or 2.14 million km²) by the United States from France in 1803. The U.S. paid fifty million francs ($11,250,000) and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs ($3,750,000) for a total of sixty-eight million francs ($15 million, equivalent to  $573 billion in 2016).[1] The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River; a large portion of North Dakota; a large portion of South Dakota; the northeastern section of New Mexico; the northern portion of Texas; the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River (plus New Orleans); and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were African slaves.[2]

The Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762.  In 1800, Napoleon, then the First Consul of the French Republic, hoping to re-establish an empire in North America, regained ownership of Louisiana. However, France's failure to put down the revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States to fund his military. The Americans originally sought to purchase only the port city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands, but quickly accepted the bargain. The Louisiana Purchase occurred during the term of the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Before the purchase was finalized, the decision faced Federalist Party opposition; they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory. Jefferson agreed that the U.S. Constitution did not contain explicit provisions for acquiring territory, but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient.


MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #14
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:17/07/2019 07:36:15Copy HTML

For today's Royal Date of the Day I'm reopening this thread from last year; the first few posts tell the story of 17/18 July 1918, it'll save me having to write it out gain.
You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
Greystarfish1 Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #15
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:18/07/2019 01:06:30Copy HTML

For today's Royal Date of the Day I'm reopening this thread from last year; the first few posts tell the story of 17/18 July 1918, it'll save me having to write it out gain.




It is at http://historylovers.aimoo.com/topic/Royal_Date_of_the_Day___July-671409-8125-1 .

It helps to include the link.

MarkUK Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #16
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:19/07/2019 09:02:39Copy HTML

Links! Post Links! Too technical for me, I revived the old thread to make it easier to find.

You're playing chess with Fate and Fate's winning. Arnold Bennett
Greystarfish1 Share to: Facebook Twitter MSN linkedin google yahoo #17
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Re:Death of the Romanovs

Date Posted:20/07/2019 12:19:08Copy HTML

Links! Post Links! Too technical for me, I revived the old thread to make it easier to find.




Posting links is easy. Right click the address and select "Copy" and then on the subject select "Paste." Then move at least one space, so that the link is highlighted. People can click on your link and it takes you to the subject or page. 

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