Edvard Radzinsky - The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II

CONTENTS

Grateful acknowledgment is made for use of photographs compiled by Tatiana Makarova and supplied by Novosti Publishers working in cooperation with and with permission from the Central State Archives of Cinematographic and Photo Documents, the October Revolution Central State Archives, the Central Revolution Museum Archives, and the Archives of Novosti Russian Information Agency.

The editor would like to acknowledge the assistance of the staff of the Slavic and Baltic Division, The New York Public Library in the preparation of this publication. The following staff members deserve particular mention: Edward Kasinec, Chief, for his review and commentary regarding both the original, and translated versions of the manuscript, and for his advice on the selection and description of the illustrations; Robert H. Davis, Librarian, for his annotations and editing of the plate captions; and Benjamin E. Goldsmith, Technical Assistant, for his work on the verification of bibliographic citations.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for use of photographs supplied by The Wernher Collection of The Luton Hoo Foundation.

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and thou set thy nest among the stars, thence I will bring thee down, saith the Lord.

OBADIAH 1:4

Lord, save Russia and bring her peace.

T SAR N ICHOLAS II, October 17, 1905

THE DATES USED IN THIS BOOK FOLLOW THE OLD-STYLE JULIAN CALENDAR IN USE IN RUSSIA UNTIL FEBRUARY 1918. IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THAT CALENDAR LAGGED TWELVE DAYS BEHIND THE GREGORIAN CALENDAR USED IN THE WEST; IN THE TWENTIETH, IT LAGGED THIRTEEN DAYS BEHIND. NICHOLAS AND ALIX USED A DOUBLE-DATING SYSTEM IN THEIR DIARIES AND LETTERS BEGINNING IN FEBRUARY 1918, BUT NICHOLAS SOON RETURNED TO THE OLD-STYLE DATING .

A s now, the century then was living out its last years. And as now, old people felt a sadness that what was coming, which promised mankind the flowering of science and serene well-being, had nothing to do with them. Young people, though, were living with a presentiment of what was to be.

The two happiest of young people, Nicky and Alix, in love, joined in marriage, and rulers of one-sixth of the world, were also living this happy future. The day of their coronation, set for 1896, promised to be the prologue to the even happier life that awaited them in the new century.

May 14, 1896. Moscow, the Kremlin. In ancient Assumption Cathedral, the sacred coronation rite was in progress. Candles burned cherubic singing a cappella. He took the large crown from the metropolitans hands and placed it on his own head. She went down on her knees before him. A small diamond crown already sparkled on her golden hair.

July 17, 1918. Ekaterinburg. The bodies were put in the hole and the faces and all the bodies generally doused with sulfuric acid, both so they couldnt be recognized and to prevent any stink from them rotting [it was not a deep hole]. We scattered it with dirt and lime, put boards on top, and rode over it several timesno trace of the hole remained; The secret was kept (from the Note of Yakov Yurovsky, who directed the execution of the last tsar and his family).

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.

The last tsaritsa from the house of Romanov read these words from the prophet Obadiah (1:4) to her daughter in the Ipatiev house. On the familys last day of life.

The progenitor of the Romanov clan was Andrei Ivanovich Kobyla, a distinguished migr from the land of Prussia, where, in the fourteenth century, a long and fruitful line that included many of Russias most distinguished families began with Kobyla and his brother Feodor. Kobylas great-great-granddaughter Anastasia became wife and tsaritsa to Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Thus Andrei Kobylas descendants allied themselves with the ancient dynasty of Muscovite tsars.

The tsaritsas brother, Nikita Romanovich, was particularly close to the cruel tsar. But Ivan the Terrible died, and in his will and testament he appointed Nikita Romanovich guardian and councilor to his son, the new tsar, Feodor.

The struggle for power commenced.

Slandered by the all-powerful Boris Godunov, Tsar Feodors brother-in-law, the eldest of Nikita Romanovichs sons was forced to take monastic vows under the name Filaret.

With the death of Tsar Feodor in 1598 Ruriks ancient dynasty came to an end, whereupon ensued a period of unprecedented turbulence for old Russiathe Time of Troubles. Selected to be tsar was Boris Godunov, whom the people suspected of having murdered the infant Dmitry, heir to the throne. In the midst of unimaginable famine and death, Godunov died and the Poles invaded Russia, putting a tsar-pretender, the False Dmitry, on the Russian throne. Russia suffered widespread impoverishment, cannibalism, brigandage.

It was then, during the Time of Troubles, that Filaret Romanov was returned from exile and made metropolitan of Rostov.

The Poles were driven from Moscow, and the false tsar perished. And at last, in 1613, the Assembly of the Land put an end to the terrible interregnum.

The son of Metropolitan Filaret, Michael Romanov, who was at that moment at Kostromas Ipatiev monastery, was unanimously elected tsar by the Assembly of the Land on February 21, 1613. Thus began the three-hundred-year history of the house of Romanov.

The mysticism of history: the monastery whence the first Romanov was called upon to rule was the Ipatiev; the house where the last ruling Romanov, Nicholas II, parted with his life was the Ipatiev house, named after the buildings owner, the engineer N. N. Ipatiev.

A Michael was the first tsar from the house of Romanov; a Michael was also the last, in whose favor Nicholas II tried unsuccessfully to abdicate the throne.

I n the seventh decade of our century, in Moscow, lived a strange old woman: her wrinkled face was plastered with a grotesque layer of theatrical makeup; her bent figure tottered on high heels. She moved almost by feel, but nothing could induce her to don glasses. Oh, no, she had no intention of looking like an old woman!