Romanovs Part 2: The Family

PART 2/6. Alright guys, we are picking things up with Alexander III, father of Nicholas II, grandfather of Alexei, and one of the most brutish imperial family members in Romanov history. In this second episode, we're going from the reign and death of Alexander III to the marriage of Tsar Nicholas II & Alix of Hesse, whose union would lead Russia into the 10th century AND down a long and winding road ... to the end! Then, we're going to come back on Friday and look at how the pair's search for a son would lead to a dynastic crisis for the ages. Shout-out to our incredible researcher Gracie McCamish and editor Jamie Rose for pulling this together. Romanov Spotify playlist linked here https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1rxk28oArv73AsShJ1Xvq8?si=e0ey3dalRy-pBLPJEatafg! If you like this series, make sure to subscribe and follow along so you don't miss the episodes as they drop, starting with part 2 next Tuesday and if you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/hothistoryclub/?hl=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.tiktok.com/@hot.history?lang=en, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://substack.com/@hothistoryclub, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/@hot.history ! 'Til next week, Ainslie x

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 1:00Speaker 02

  Hi guys, before we get into today's episode, I just wanted to drop a little note to you and let you know that I have gone ahead and actually created a playlist on Spotify and YouTube of every single episode relating to the Romanovs that we've done here on Hot History. Because I realised, kind of going through the script, I reference a lot of the prior episodes for more kind of deep dives on specific topics. So for your ease, I've linked these all for you in the show notes, which makes it easier for you to get your Romanov fix all in one place. And as we kind of go through this series and have the different parts, I'll continue to add these episodes into the mix as well as we go, which, at the moment, guys, looks to be around eight hours long. So plenty of Romanov Hot History coming your way.

• 1:43Speaker 02

  But let's get into it and roll the whimsical medieval tune.

• 2:02Speaker 02

  Hi guys, and welcome back to Hot History, your corner of the internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know, but don't. I'm Ainslie Harvey, your hot historian here today, ready to dive back into our series on the last Tsars of Russia, guys. I am loving chatting with you all about the Romanovs. And I did originally say last week that this was going to be a five-part series. It has blown out into six parts, okay? That is how much we have to cover over the next few weeks. So for those that missed it, last week we covered the rise of the Romanovs as a dynasty, looking at the origins of autocracy in Russia, the history behind the first Tsar, Ivan the Terrible, and the most famous of his subsequent rulers in the 250 years before the Tsar we're

• 2:45Speaker 02

  talking about today, Alexander III, daddy to one Tsar Nicholas II. So let's get into it today, guys, by rewinding it all the way back to March 13th, 1881, where Tsar Alexander II, the liberator Tsar we spoke about last week, who freed the slaves, approved a kind of constitution for the people, and took steps to modernise Russia, is assassinated by a bomb on the streets of St Petersburg, leaving his son, Alexander III, as the new ruler of Russia. But this wasn't always meant to be the case, guys, because remember, disaster struck years earlier when the actual heir, Nicholas, died, leaving the spare Alexander as next in line for the throne, something which he was really not a good match for.

• 3:29Speaker 02

  You see, Alexander was a classic Russian autocrat, okay? Genuinely, guys, he is a by-the-book brute. Not only is this man, like, physically enormous, standing at six foot four with a really imposing frame, but his personality matched how he looked. He is rough, and he is tough, and he is gruff, and all the other words ending in "uff." Best surmised, guys, this is fucking hilarious and literally just, like, sums this man up. But his favourite pastime, which I do not endorse, FYI, I don't want you coming back being like, "Oh, I tried the Alexander III." Do not do this at home.

• 4:11Speaker 02

  He would get drunk with his friends, and then sprint at locked doors and windows and smash straight through them into as many pieces as possible.

• 4:21Speaker 02

  So we are talking about as macho a man as possible, like, literally a vodka-fuelled menace. And his policies weren't much different. You see, where his father was liberal and modern thinking, trying to drag Russia into the 19th century, Alexander III was determined to transport the nation back to its agrarian imperial heyday. And as such, began learning law and administration under one Konstantin Pabidnouazev, who drilled into Alexander the ideas of autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationalism as a means to combat the great threat of the time: the Industrial Revolution. Now, I want to be clear, okay? Alexander III did not hate industrialisation.

• 5:04Speaker 02

  In fact, Russia industrialised significantly during his reign with things like the Trans-Siberian Railroad, all coming from his mind. But what he did hate was the political and social ideas which came from it, namely liberalism, constitutional government, and capitalism, all ideas that he considered to be symptoms of evil Western modernity, which directly threatened his power and position as Tsar, along with, you know, in terms of his own belief, the kind of foundations of Russian culture and society. Hence, his great push for orthodoxy and nationalism, he wants to plug back into this kind of Russification, right? What it means to be Russian. And to be honest, guys, again, trying to, like, really humanise these people, the more

• 5:46Speaker 02

  that we talk about them, if radicals killed your dad, who already tried to be more liberal, you would probably be pretty pissed as well. So what does Konstantin, whose last name, guys, I shan't pronounce, okay? I'm trying really hard with all of my Russian pronunciations, but just gonna call him Konstantin. What does he think about all of this? What are his kind of teachings and instructions to the new Tsar? Well, first and foremost, he instilled the belief that any opposition was dangerous, again, using the example of his newly assassinated father to drive the point home, and as such, believed that protection, enforcement, and policing must be increased for the sake of the Tsar and Russia's safety.

• 6:28Speaker 02

  One particular group he pushed back against, opposing this kind of large looming threat, was the Jewish population, who he made horrific antisemitic propaganda about, leveraging the fact that one Jewish man was involved in Alexander II's assassination as this kind of proof of a wider conspiracy. This was all fundamental to Alexander III's teaching, with he himself beginning to call Jewish peoples "Christ killers," leading to a wave of pogroms and other state-sponsored discrimination against Jews in the Russian Empire, including restrictions on where they could live, study, and eat. So from the get-go here, guys, we are seeing othering and prejudice, right?

• 7:10Speaker 02

  Which erupted into violence and hatred alongside the exaggeration of very healthy opposition, right? Democracy, as this great threat which really needed to be policed. So Konstantin is really not, like, categorically not, who you'd want teaching an already brutish traditionalist in how to bring Russia into the 20th century. But alas, he was. And as such, Alexander developed a pretty straightforward approach to leadership, which very much echoed that of his grandfather, who we spoke about last week, Nicholas I. He kind of introduced, we spoke about that Nicholas system, right? The idea of one nation, one language, one religion, and one form of administration,

• 7:52Speaker 02

  which was ruled, at this point, by one man, Alexander III, aka autocracy. So that's what's going on policy-wise. But as we know, and will soon very much see, the ruling of the state is only one half of the Tsar's job. The other side of that coin is ruling the imperial family, making the right marriages and producing the right number of heirs. So who is Alexander III going to make this great match with? Well, her name is Dagmar of Denmark, and let me tell you, my divas, she is one of, if not really, my kind of favourite figure to look at during this period. She's really switched on, um, she's smart, she's fearless, she's largely beloved, right

• 8:33Speaker 02

  up until the end, when I think she experiences more loss than any other person in the fall of the family. So who is she? Well, guys, to know that, we have to rewind. I know we're jumping around a lot chronology-wise, I'm sorry, but it's really kind of the only way to tell the story. We are rewinding back to Copenhagen on November 26th, 1847, when the young Danish princess came screaming into the world inside the walls of the Yellow Palace. Now, despite her family's titles, her parents were actually of rather modest means, with Dagmar and her siblings' childhoods largely described as being humble, free, and unrestrictive, to the point that they could walk around in public without being harassed or questioned.

• 9:13Speaker 02

  But this would soon change, guys, for in 1852, King Frederick VII of Denmark recognised Prince Christian Dagmar's father as his heir, raising the family out of their modest living and placing them in royal quarters fit for soon to be king. To Dagmar and her older sister Alexandra, this came with real mixed feelings. On one hand, yes, they now had everything they, you know, ever could really want, but on the other, their more modest royal upbringings meant that they were super close, they shared a room, participated in all sorts of athletic activities, which wasn't possible now that they were under the spotlight, which, given their age, meant that they were also expected to find husbands, starting with Alexandra, who married the Prince of Wales, becoming

• 9:58Speaker 02

  England's future queen. Then came Dagmar, who was world-famed for her beauty, which is kind of ironic, guys, because she and Alexandra are literally spitting images of each other, but Dagmar was considered the hot one, which, like, love that for her, but make it make sense. Anyway, as the second eldest daughter of the now King of Denmark, Dagmar was a powerful and strategic match for any European royal or aristocrat, with one in particular becoming enamoured with the Danish princess, Nicholas, the future heir of Russia. Writing to his mother that she was, quote, "even prettier in real life than in the portraits that we had seen so far," it seemed all but certain that Dagmar would marry Nicholas and becomes arena of Russia, with the two genuinely being in love, sharing these kind

• 10:43Speaker 02

  of super affectionate, um, and constant letters regularly throughout their lives, until, as we know, guys, Nicholas had a shocking and sudden death at just 21 years old, leaving Alexander III as the new heir. At only eighteen, Dagmar was devastated. And having already turned down other proposals, many in the Danish court were anxious about what her future would hold. However, word reached her, and this is kind of, is it touching? Is it weird? I don't know. You guys help me decide. Let me know in the comments. Word reached her that one of Nicholas's dying wishes was for his younger brother Alexander to take Dagmar as his own wife, allowing her to live in his home country as the great Tsarina he knew she would be.

• 11:28Speaker 02

  And so, in eighteen sixty-six, Alexander proposes to Dagmar, whose several sources suggest that he was actually secretly in love with her from the beginning, so he's kind of stoked about this. She accepts marrying him in Saint Petersburg in eighteen sixty-six with all of Europe's most rich and famous in attendance, where she took the role of Tsarina very, very seriously, guys. From the get-go, she is learning Russian. She converts to Russian orthodoxy where she takes the name Maria Viterovna, so from now on, I'm gonna call her Maria. And they start baby-making ASAP, giving birth to a son named Nicholas in eighteen sixty-eight for the dead brother slash former fiance, Alexander the year after, who died very sadly

• 12:10Speaker 02

  at ten months old, George in eighteen seventy-one, Zhenya in eighteen seventy-five, Michael in eighteen seventy-eight, and Olga in eighteen eighty-two. So, five living imperial children between Alexander III and Maria Viterovna, something which really did help her, guys, in the Russian people's mind, okay, as this really dutiful, successful, dedicated empress. This was also paired with the fact she was incredibly elegant and, again, extremely beautiful, guys, wearing the finest fashions from Europe and embedding herself into Russian society and culture who followed her every move. If I had to make a comparison, guys, basically, she's the Serena Vanderwoodson of Imperial

• 12:55Speaker 02

  Russia, okay? But for all of that, she was something else. And that was smart. Described by Queen Victoria as being far sharper than her sister, although, guys, this is probably just her being a troll of a mother-in-law to Alexandra rather than, like, strictly complimentary to Maria. But still, she was renowned for her intellect, not merely in books, although she was a proficient student in languages, history, and religion, but mainly in reading people, okay? She had this, um, uncanny, I guess is the right word, ability to almost see into your soul, and not in a Rasputin mystic kind of way, but in this really politically savvy

• 13:37Speaker 02

  manner, where she could look at you and kind of understand your motives and your values and your stance on certain topics. And as such, she played a serious political role in her husband's reign, who before her insistence, had no real interest for things like history or theory. And while, yes, as we said, he ruled with an iron fist, focusing on strengthening autocracy by crushing opposition, rather than, you know, kind of reasoning democratically and inviting in new ideas, author Charles Lowe does say that many of the positive ideas and modernisations he acquired was, quote, "learned in association with her, if not absolutely under her guidance."

• 14:19Speaker 02

  But there is only so much even Maria can do to change the mind of this bullheaded, revenge-driven man who kept his rage alive, guys, so fucking toxic here. He kept his rage alive each and every day by putting his father's blood-soaked uniform that he was assassinated in on display.

• 14:38Speaker 02

  So, definitely in need of some therapy here, okay? But in lieu of that, he really just went and implemented a series of deportations, censorship of the press, closing of universities, violent pogroms, and his own ascension manifesto. I love how all these fucks have manifestos, like, is it like their version of like vision boards back in the day? I don't know. In this, though, he declared his intention to have, quote, "full faith in the strength of the autocracy", AKA, "he felt fully confident in himself to get his own job done", because he literally is the autocracy itself. This became known as the Age of Counter-Reform, something which made Alexander look even more ridiculous, guys, not in the least, because his own father was killed because

• 15:23Speaker 02

  he wasn't making progress fast enough, so he's clearly, you know, not reading the room here, has no ability for that. Which I think, guys, is really our second domino to fall, and people don't often put their finger on this, but these kind of decisions, this manifesto, if Alexander had gone forward and implemented the reforms of his father, and, you know, kind of had genuine interest in keeping the monarchy alive rather than keeping his own power absolute, then I do think Russian history and, like, Russia today would be a very different thing. Like, I genuinely cannot stress to you enough how significant Alexander III's unwillingness to reform and modernise was. Okay?

• 16:04Speaker 02

  It is absolutely central to this story and something that a lot of the other European powers kind of cotton on to at this point, especially Queen Victoria, who, to be fair, loved power more than anything else, so like, you wanna talk about egomaniacs? Here she is. But she did understand the systems in which her own power operated, that of constitutional monarchy. But Alexander, he didn't want that, okay? With Victoria labelling him as, quote, "a sovereign whom I do not look upon as a gentleman", this was genuinely the same belief for most of the international community at the time, with the Tsar's approach to foreign diplomacy relying on, really, his intimidation skills, which, guys, he excelled at. Next time you wanna, like, intimidate someone, take a leaf out of Alexander's book and do

• 16:49Speaker 02

  this, okay? He would have these meetings over these dinners with different diplomats, one of them was the Austrian political corps. And he would sit there while they were talking, and he'd pick up his silver spoon, and he would twist it into a knot. Something he also reportedly doing at family dinners to, like, assert his authority over the family. So, um, you wanna talk about intimidation? You wanna talk about strength? You wanna talk about not necessarily being a gentleman? I present to you Alexander III.

• 17:22Speaker 03

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• 17:52Speaker 01

  Does checking your bank statements feel like digging through a dusty attic full of forgotten subscriptions and old free trials?

• 18:01Speaker 01

  Experian can help take the pain out of cancelling by handling it for you. Think of it as Operation Get Your Sanity Back. Over 200 subscriptions are cancelable, so get started in the Experian app and see how much you could save. Results will vary. Not all subscriptions eligible. Savings not guaranteed. Paid membership with connected payment account required. See experian.com for details.

• 18:22Speaker 02

  To his credit, though, and I think he does deserve a pat on the back for this, guys, he was the Tsar who never went to war, showing a total unwillingness to sacrifice his people for the bloodshed of other allies or fringe conflicts. But this wouldn't protect him from the scorn of the Russian people, for in eighteen ninety-one, Russia saw an absolutely devastating famine, which was followed by a cholera epidemic that wiped out thousands of everyday Russians, who placed a lot of the blame on the shoulders of their Tsar. Now, if you're thinking, that seems kind of unreasonable to me, like, he didn't cause famine, he didn't cause cholera, you know? Again, he's not responsible for it, he's not going around setting off biohazards. But autocracy works both ways, guys, and this is really important, it is a double-edged

• 19:06Speaker 02

  sword, well, I just think it's fucked, but like, in this context, it's a double-edged sword, right? Because, yes, you do have total power as the father of the nation, but when something bad happens, people expect that father to have answers, which he did not, struggling to direct the country during this period. Luckily for him, though, Maria was fucking excellent in a crisis, and her humanitarianism during eighteen ninety-one won her a lot of good favour in return. Still, that didn't really extend to her husband, who became paranoid about threats against him and his family, resulting in him basically bringing the Okhrana, who were the Russian secret police, everywhere he went. Like, this was so extreme, guys.

• 19:50Speaker 02

  We think the Secret Service are crazy, the Okhrana were fucking hectic, okay? And Alexander's so paranoid to the point that he had soldiers line every inch of the four-hundred-mile railway track between Saint Petersburg and Moscow when they travelled to ensure no threats befell them. So, clearly, he's very aware that what he's doing is dangerous, but he just thinks it's the right kind of dangerous. He did, however, have some wins, though, a lot of them, as we said, inspired by his wife, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, which began construction from eighteen ninety-one, the no-war thing, of course, and a boom in Russian culture, with art, ballet, food,

• 20:32Speaker 02

  and music being chosen by the Tsar to prop up native performers and vendors. He was also a big family man, which you don't often see with these autocrats, with no real evidence to suggest he ever cheated on Maria, and he did genuinely love his children and the dynasty they'd carry on. In fact, on one occasion, which FYI, guys, this isn't actually relevant, I just wanted to include it because, like, it's fucking insane, but in October of eighteen eighty-eight, the family were on the imperial train when it actually came off the rails and crashed, trapping them inside a carriage. And while Alexander was involved in this and sustained serious internal bruising, he climbed further into the crushed carriage and lifted the roof off with his bare hands?

• 21:16Speaker 02

  So his family could escape unharmed.

• 21:20Speaker 02

  So, again, we talk about him being this like, big, burly, brute force of a man. This displays it best, and he really is willing to do everything for the people he loves. Except, apparently, train his eldest son and heir to rule. That's right, my divas, you have been oh, so very patient to get to the final Tsar, who is Nicholas II. For those of you who are new to the Romanov world, we are going to like, pretty much have him as the sole focus from here on out. But we're gonna start with him by looking at the context in the relationship that he had with his father, which really could have changed history, but didn't. So as we said, Alexander was a family man, and I think you'll actually be surprised, listening,

• 22:04Speaker 02

  to know that the Romanovs at this point were a really tight-knit, intimate, highly domestic family, living in relative private at Kechinka Palace, which Nicholas remembered fondly. Looking back on his childhood as a time of domestic joy, watched over by his father, who he revered deeply. Alexander too, loved Nicholas, but this closeness did not translate into serious preparation for government, or a belief in his ability. Yeah, you see, where Alexander was this strong, forceful, brutish autocrat, right? Almost the living embodiment of a Russian bear. Nicholas was a gentle, polite, and devoted boy, who often clung to his mother's skirts and spent days indoors with his siblings, reading books and stories.

• 22:49Speaker 02

  As he got older, though, he had to get serious, and as such, undertook a standard aristocratic education, even being tutored by that fucking Konstantin wanker we spoke about earlier, right? But his true love, guys, above all else, was in books, particularly history. Hello, not that he learned anything from it. Languages and military studies. Again, not that he learned anything of it, but more on that later. All the education in the world, though, wouldn't help if he did not have the temperament for leadership. And according to Alexander, Nicholas was severely lacking in this, stating on one occasion, quote, "What sort of Tsar will he make? He's only a child." Which was true, he was very young at this point, but it's not overly reassuring

• 23:35Speaker 02

  for the future of Russian rule, or for Nicholas as a son, for to kind of have his father say this, right? Now, if it was me, and it's not, right, so a grain of salt, but if I'm Alexander, and I think that my son genuinely is not fit for rule, you'd think I would take every single opportunity to include him in meetings, and force him to evaluate decisions, and try my best, my absolute hardest, to mould him into a monarch. Even if I am just this like, brutish autocrat who likes to get drunk and run through doors, okay? But this is not what Alexander does.

• 24:15Speaker 02

  Instead, he largely ices Nicholas out, letting him attend some meetings and perform kind of minor ceremonial duties. But never at any point in time was Nicholas trained or guided in making high-level government decisions, or really, if we're being honest here, guys, given any kind of substantial responsibility at any point. Which is really where Nicholas was let down. And it is really difficult to study history more broadly, like, especially if, you know, you are interested with a particular, like, era, and, you know, you go, uh, inch-wide, mile-deep on it, like the Romanovs here, and be unbiased.

• 24:55Speaker 02

  Because I do have to admit, guys, I look at Nicholas II at this point, and I feel sympathy for him. Even though, spoiler alert, again, history can't really be a spoiler, but, you know, we're getting ahead of ourselves. He does some fucked up shit, okay? But imagine you have an empire that occupies 11% of the global landmass on your shoulders, and your dad thinks you're gonna do a fucking shit job. Like, that's really, really hard to wrestle with. I will say, though, okay, in Alexander's defence, again, words which have come out of my mouth twice during this episode, which is just as surprising to me as it is to you, because,

• 25:37Speaker 02

  you know, autocrats getting drunk and running through doors isn't usually my thing. But this lack of training at this point in Nicholas's life, which FYI is his, like, early twenties, wasn't necessarily abnormal. With many royal and imperial heirs often kind of flittering off to Europe on grand tours, through a lot of their youths while their fathers were still very much fit and very much alive. At this point, guys, Alexander is only in his late 40s, so in his mind, Nicholas has plenty of time to learn, right? Well, as it turns out, not so much. Which is when our next domino falls.

• 26:15Speaker 02

  For on November 1st, 1894, at only 49 years of age, Alexander III dies, leaving the 26-year-old, woefully ill-equipped Nicholas as Tsar of all of Russia.

• 26:30Speaker 02

  Now, I get asked all the time, if you could go back in, you know, to one moment in history, or live one year in history, when would you leave? I'm not saying this is necessarily my answer, but I would love to jump in a TARDIS and visit this point, because it genuinely is a bellring of a moment, okay? This point where everything after this changes. For while at this time it didn't seem it, or at least to those in the aristocratic circles who buried their heads in the sand, this very moment would be the start of a 20-year decline, which leads to the end. So let's get into the juicy bits, guys, the real reason we're all here, okay?

• 27:12Speaker 02

  To unpack the life, the loves, the lies, and the ludicrous leadership of the last Tsar himself, starting with filling the gaps when it comes to Nicholas. So, we kind of know about, a bit about his education, right? We definitely know about his relationship with his dad, and his kind of complicated feelings to becoming Tsar at only 26. But what actually makes this man tick? Right? Who is he, and how does this impact history? Well, to answer that, we're gonna jump around, like, our timeline again, sorry. We're gonna rewind, please, back to May 6th, 1868, when Nicholas, known by his family as Nicky, is born in the blue bedroom at the Alexander Palace,

• 27:53Speaker 02

  a date which, rather chillingly, guys, coincided with the Orthodox holiday of Saint Job the Sufferer, which many now look back on as yet another strange omen for what could come. Now, as we said, Nicholas wasn't like his father in temperament, but he also wasn't like him physically, adopting far more of his mother's looks and frame, standing at 5'6" in adulthood, much to his disappointment. So he was actually always hitting the gym, guys, trying to beef himself out and kind of, you know, look, look macho against Alexander and, um, his uncles. As the firstborn son of the Tsar and Tsarina, he'd always had the weight of the empire on his shoulders. His childhood was actually full of quite a bit of fun outside of his studies.

• 28:35Speaker 02

  Namely, visiting the plethora of cousins and relations he had across Europe, court-hopping, if you will, with his four younger siblings, George, Xenia, Michael, and Olga, from Denmark to England and kind of everywhere in between. In fact, guys, by his teen years, Nicky had visited Japan, Egypt, Singapore, India, Greece, and Thailand, just to name a few. So he's a pretty worldly man, right? He enjoys culture, he enjoys hanging out with his family and learning about new places, which saw him become fluent in French, Russian, and English alongside possibly speaking Danish and German. But, this is, this whole story is just the story of butts, okay?

• 29:18Speaker 02

  Just because he travelled far and wide and saw a lot of the world, didn't mean he knew a lot about Russia itself. In fact, through no real fault of his own, Nicky was never, ever alone. With Alexander's paranoia about security, meaning that the young royals were all followed around by a massive squad of highly-trained guards and police, especially while at home. With Nicky and his siblings' movements being greatly restricted in their day-to-day lives, something which really proved, guys, um, disastrous. Not only for their ability to kind of relate to normal people, but ultimately for the formation of their worldview. Because they were, like, at the end of the day, cut off and locked up from new ideas within the nation.

• 30:03Speaker 02

  There was even censorship within the house, like, um, you know, different papers and, and kind of news of discontent was all hushed up. So, I really think that this is seminal, and it could have been an important learning experience and grounding for Nicholas, who may have changed the way he thought and felt and largely acted if he had been given the opportunity from a young age to be tapped into the will of the nation, rather than the will of his father.

• 30:28Speaker 03

  Whenever fall comes back around, it always feels like a fresh start. This year, I've been layering in some styles from the new Lululemon fall drop, because the weather is shifting and I find I have to be ready for the entire day and not just one part of it. Lululemon's fall line has some really versatile transitional pieces, so I can just wake up, throw on a matching set, add a jacket or a fleece, and head out, knowing that I'll feel comfortable enough to go wherever the day takes me. Check out the new fall arrivals in store and online now at lululemon.com.

• 30:59Speaker 01

  Does checking your bank statements feel like digging through a dusty attic full of forgotten subscriptions and old free trials?

• 31:07Speaker 01

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• 31:29Speaker 02

  And it's actually interesting, guys, like going through Romanov history, there are so many what ifs, like genuinely perhaps more than, I mean, probably World War I and World War II have more what ifs, but like this is pretty similar, right? And one of the big ones that I've actually thought about going through, kind of like the past Tsars, what if Alexander II, the Tsar liberator, right? Who was close to implementing kind of big constitutional reforms? He freed the slaves, blah, blah, blah. What if he had been Nicholas's father? Because as we'll soon see, Nicholas is, like, if you have to sum him up, he's a sponge. Okay, he just absorbs everything that the people around him tell him,

• 32:11Speaker 02

  including his father's push for hardness in his children, ensuring they went without luxuries. And sometimes, according to Nicholas's sister Olga, they went without food, with the Tsar reportedly always shoving Easter lunch in his mouth so fast that the children could barely start eating, let alone finish, after which their plates would be taken from them. Which, I don't really see the logic in like what this lesson is, because at these same Easter lunches, Alexander would present Maria with like a million dollar jeweled Faberge Easter egg. So I don't think not eating lunch is really teaching them the greatest lesson of austerity. But in Alexander's brutish, bearish mind, apparently he was teaching them not to be spoiled little brats.

• 32:55Speaker 02

  He also wanted Nicholas to be comfortable with discomfort, insisting he slept on a hard bed in Kajinka Palace and eating bland and boring food until he'd earned a proper meal through study and exercise, which he did. And by the age of 22, the young Tsarevich had achieved the rank of Colonel in the Life Guards, which he really enjoyed, guys. And I do genuinely think, in another world, again, all these what ifs, in another world, he would have been a great military man. Not as a leader, definitely not as a leader, guys. But as a man of rank who kind of took orders from others and lived a normal life, which I actually do think in large part is why he really enjoyed this period of his life, like this early, um, early years in military service.

• 33:39Speaker 02

  Because, one, he's away from his family and servants. And, two, most importantly, he didn't really have to think, just do as he was told. Which, again, we're gonna see is a big theme in Nicholas's life, this idea of like him kind of being a sponge. He also got to let loose a little here, drinking and dancing in the army bars alongside actually meeting his first girlfriend, a young dancer from the Imperial Ballet named Matilda Koshinka, who we briefly mentioned, um, a couple of weeks ago in our episode on Anna Pavlova, which, again, I've linked, um, in that playlist in the show notes. But as the future Tsar, Nicholas knew, okay, that he didn't have much agency over his love life or his career. And he began keeping strict diaries throughout this period of his life,

• 34:23Speaker 02

  scribbling down the details he knew he'd eventually long for, when the crown would sit upon his head. And while they're hardly like full of sordid love affairs or top secret missions here, guys, these diaries are really important, because they give us a look at the man Nicholas II is and would become, with long lists of officials who he memorized and made note of, and detailed descriptions of things like his breakfast, what the gardens look like, the score of tennis matches, and more. But the key thing missing, okay, from all of these entries, was any mention whatsoever of politics or international relations. And whether this is due to him, like genuinely not taking an interest in these things, or trying to deliberately cleanse his mind, which, you know, journaling is meant to do, we don't really know.

• 35:08Speaker 02

  But it reveals to us a man who lives for the simple things and for the people around him, not for the matters of state or business of ruling. He had many other methods of escapism too, being a prolific hunter, playing tennis, and actually was the first Tsar to take up cycling, which I thought was a fun fact. But the key three things from here on out that we need to know about Nicky is, one, he's very religious. Two, he is a classic yes man who often does as he's told. And three, that he was madly in love. Yes, my divas, we are not just talking at this point about a dalliance with a ballerina, or a brief courtship with a young Duchess.

• 35:52Speaker 02

  We are talking about soul-crushing, mind-boggling, life-changing love with one princessin Alex of Hessen by Rhine, our main diva from here on out, guys, okay? So who the hell is she? Well, as the title suggests, Alex was the daughter of Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hessen by Rhine, one of the German Grand Duchies at the time, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, who was one of Queen Victoria's daughters. Born on June 6th, 1872 in Darmstadt, Alex, whose nickname was actually "A-Licky", was a happy and bubbly child, who, as the sixth in line for the throne, was free of the future responsibilities of life as a ruler. Or so she thought. And as such, had a fun-filled, modest life in what is now modern Germany.

• 36:37Speaker 02

  She was also incredibly close with her siblings, which lasted her whole life, and spent much of her childhood playing outdoors and running amok with them at the family estates and on various holidays. Until, again, it's full of butts, it's full of untils, it's full of how'ever's, it's full of tragedies, which struck when her brother Prince Friedrich fell from an open window. Obviously horrific, okay, and very much giving Bran Stark in Game of Thrones. But Friedrich didn't die from the fall, but rather from the disease that would haunt Alex's life like the Grim Reaper, hemophilia, a genetic blood disorder, which we'll talk more on in the coming episodes. This is what took Friedrich, whose internal bleeding was too intensive to be stopped.

• 37:22Speaker 02

  Further tragedy then followed unfortunately when the palace was hit by a bout of diphtheria, with both six-year-old Alex and her sister Princess Victoria falling ill. Eventually, Alex recovered, but Victoria did not. Something her mother kept secret from her until she had enough strength after her recovery. Alex was, of course, grief-stricken, but she was also really angry at her mother, something which would not bode well for her, as Alice herself died from the disease after refusing doctors' orders to quarantine away from her sick children. With her sister and mother's death, the entire household was thrown into freefall, with the shiny, bubbly child now forced to face the cruel realities of the world.

• 38:04Speaker 02

  But she would soon find another female figure propelled into her life. For upon hearing the news of her daughter's death, Queen Victoria latched onto the young Hessen by Rhine children, especially the girls, who began frequently traveling to Britain to visit their grandmother, who Alex described as, quote, "the dearest and kindest woman alive." And this was not a one-sided attachment here, guys. Victoria as well wrote in her diary and apparently announced, like before many of her other grandchildren, which is giving Kris Jenner saying, like, Kim and Kylie are her favorite children, that she loved and cherished Alex as her favorite granddaughter. Something she made plain as day when Alex's father died of a heart attack when she was only 12, with Victoria stepping in as her guardian and guide,

• 38:49Speaker 02

  determined that she would make a smart match for the young princess. So much so, guys, that she wanted to marry her to her own grandson, the future King George V of England.

• 39:02Speaker 02

  Which, yes, if you're doing the right maths, that is her first cousin, so gross. But Vicky is desperate to have Alex close to her in Britain and adores her so much that she is willing to make her the future Queen of England and Empress of India. And I don't think that we actually talk about this enough, guys. But Alex was sixth in line for a minor throne in Germany and somehow has found herself in the most powerful position, not only in Europe, but really the world, with the British Empire under Queen Victoria reaching its real height. So Alex has found herself dropped into a level of statehood and potential power that she never, ever expected for herself. Also unexpected at this point

• 39:46Speaker 02

  was that Alex would actually go against her grandmother's proposal. For while the power of England and, you know, kind of the prospect of marrying her first cousin, which I want to do, loomed large, another great force was pulling her into its orbit. Russia. Meeting in St Petersburg at the wedding of Grand Duke Sergey Alexandrovich and Princess Elizabeth of Hessen by Rhine, their respective uncle and sister, 16-year-old Nicholas and 12-year-old Alex, who were second cousins by the way, fell in love instantly. Spending the evening running about the palace to the point of even scratching their names into a windowpane, Nicky and Alex were head over heels, much to Victoria's scorn, who wrote her a scathing letter saying,

• 40:30Speaker 02

  "You, quote, 'should be made to reflect seriously on the folly of throwing away the chance of a very good husband,'" when she rejected her first cousin, George V. But it was love, guys, which really did go on for years, with the pair not laying eyes on each other for almost half a decade after their initial meeting in St Petersburg, remaining in touch over letters where Nicholas called her sweet Alex. Victoria was furious over her favorite granddaughter being pulled towards Russia in this way. Not in the least, guys, because like she doesn't take no for an answer when she has an idea and it's kind of like, again, we said she's an egomaniac, so she's like, "How dare you say no to me?" But because she saw the Romanovs and the Russian throne as incredibly dangerous.

• 41:15Speaker 02

  Writing in her diary that, quote, "The state of Russia is so bad, so rotten, that at any moment something dreadful might happen." Which, again, guys, like, we're gonna talk a lot about omens and signs and kind of these like chilling coincidences. But like, seriously, what a sense of irony here. She continues saying, quote, "My blood runs cold when I think of her so young, most likely placed on that very unsafe throne." So real, uh, present anxiety is probably the best way to put it here, from Victoria, who is no stranger to rule, guys. She is an old woman at this point and a seasoned queen, which, again, like, it's just crazy to me.

• 42:00Speaker 02

  Like, it's, I wanna like bash my head against the wall so much when I go through the Romanov story, that no one saw the writing on the wall when it came to their downfall. When you literally have Victoria, years before Nicholas II even becomes Tsar, making comment on just how unstable the Russian

• 42:21Speaker 03

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• 42:52Speaker 01

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• 43:00Speaker 01

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• 43:21Speaker 02

  ...was. It's honestly wild and really important, and I think a really good reason here why diaries and journals and personal notes are so significant to the historical record, not just of queens and empresses, but ordinary people as well, because you actually get what people are thinking, right? You get a sense of kind of like, you can take the temperature of the time. But her granddaughter didn't care about any of this, guys, okay? She was in love. And when the now seventeen-year-old Alex visited her sister in St. Petersburg for a six-week grand holiday, she delighted in twenty-one-year-old Nicholas's company, with the pair attending receptions, suppers, balls, and even did ice skating together. With Nicholas writing in his diary,

• 44:04Speaker 02

  "My dream is someday to marry Alex H. I have loved her for a long time." Alex, as we said, felt the same, but she did also have some reservations. Not from, you know, the ones her grandmother said, but actually in her faith. You see, the key thing that we really need to know about Alex of Hessen by Ryan, and this is going to come up throughout kind of this series as we look at her as she becomes empress, is that she is a deeply, deeply devout Christian, okay? And not just a Christian at this point, guys, but a Lutheran, whose experiences with death and loss at such a young age had driven her closer to God. But the Russians are Christians, I hear you say. So like, what's the problem? What's her deal?

• 44:48Speaker 02

  Well, for a Romanov bride to become Tsarina, she had to convert to the Russian Orthodoxy, effectively giving up her own religion in exchange for the Russian way, which Alexandra had major apprehensions about. Speaking of Russian way, actually, now is probably a good time to check in with the very much still alive Alexander III. Remember, guys, this is before his death when Nicholas and Alex are like kind of courting. And again, I apologize for the chronology and jumping around. It's just easy to explain this way, okay? We're all grownups. We know where we are in this story. So how did very much alive Alexander III and Maria Viterovna feel about this potential match? Well, much like Queen Victoria, they were not pleased by the prospect.

• 45:32Speaker 02

  Firstly, because they didn't really think Alex was cut out for the job. And secondly, guys, because she was German. Yes, my divas, that is right. Even amongst the European houses who shared more DNA than a pond of tadpoles, okay? A lot of them held prejudices for one another, including Maria Viterovna, who thanks to her Danish roots, had deep-seated anti-German sentiment when the Prussian forces, which was the biggest of the German states before the German unification in 1871, which we're going to talk about in a minute, so don't freak out if you don't know what that is, defeated her own father, who was forced to surrender roughly a third of his territory and population. But surely some family feud isn't the only reason that Maria is anti-German, right?

• 46:17Speaker 02

  Well, kind of yes and kind of no. Maria's prejudice was partly personal, thanks to her Danish nationalism, like we said, but it was also a reaction to the power being amassed by Germany at this point in time. And while I definitely, guys, will do a separate series next year about the Kaiser, the King, and the Tsar, who were kind of involved in World War I and the geopolitical stage setting that led up to that, let's briefly chat about where this anti-German sentiment comes from, because it does actually become a pretty big character in the story in the next few episodes. So, as we said before, okay? Prior to 1871, the German Empire was a series of states,

• 46:59Speaker 02

  many of whom had their own ruling families and aristocracies, the largest of which was called Prussia. And yes, guys, Prussia and Russia are different. This region, Prussia, was ruled by the Hohenzollern family, who Queen Victoria's eldest daughter, also called Victoria, married into. Now, given their size and their power and their influence, when it came time for these smaller states to be unified into one, you know, big German empire, the Hohenzollerns were made rulers, aka Kaiser's, which was a massive, monumental, mammoth change

• 47:42Speaker 02

  to the geopolitics of Europe, guys. Genuinely fucking huge. It is a monumental shakeup to the power dynamics on the continent at this time, because now we have this nation, which is strong, far wealthier together than it was split up, strategically placed, and really looking to make a name for itself off the back of several Prussian military victories, including the conflict with Denmark we spoke about, followed by another conflict with Austria, who they defeated, and then the French, who they also defeated, right? So you have this emerging presence, which has largely been threatening. And while the Russians and the Germans had pretty good relations,

• 48:23Speaker 02

  in fact, almost all of the Tsarinas since and including Catherine the Great had come from Germany, the threat was growing, with rapid industrialization and Germany's alliance with Austria-Hungary creating tensions over regions in the Balkans, which will become important, guys, when we talk about World War I, okay? Mental note made. So that's kind of where everyone is at right now, okay? But Maria is pretty firmly fixed against the marriage of Nicholas II and Alex of Hessen, who she thought was really unlikable and bad for both her son and the nation, classic mother-in-law. Victoria, on the other hand, liked Nicholas himself, and even though he wasn't her biological grandchild, most of his first cousins were. So her apprehension wasn't necessarily like a personality or racial thing,

• 49:09Speaker 02

  but that of the Romanov throne being unstable more broadly. Still, though, neither Victoria or Maria would actually make this decision. The only people who had a say in who Nicholas and Alex married were Nicholas and Alex. As for the future Tsar of Russia, well, his mind was made up, guys, and he actually proposed to Alex in April of 1894, but she rejected him, which he recorded in his diary, saying they had a long discussion, after which he broke down and cried. But she really remained steadfast, guys, on the issue of her religion. She had such internal turmoil over it and did not want to compromise on this fundamental thing about herself. Like, I can't stress enough just how important religion is to her.

• 49:54Speaker 02

  It is the central part of her identity at this point in time. So the idea of having this stripped away from her, along with her family and her home and her name, is terrifying. And I don't blame her. To be honest, I really wish she'd actually stuck to her guns, but she didn't. Eventually, changing her mind, thanks to the intervention of her elder sister, who was already married into the Romanovs at this point, who kind of explained to her that she didn't need to see joining the Orthodoxy as abandoning Christianity altogether. So eventually, Alex decides to let love win and accepts Nicholas, who wrote in his journal, "It was, quote, 'a wonderful, unforgettable day in my life.'"

• 50:38Speaker 02

  The news, as you can imagine, soon spread, with the couple telling Victoria, who reported in her own journal, that she was, quote, "quite thunderstruck", saying Alex had, quote, "tears in her eyes", while Nicholas reportedly said, "Alex is, quote, 'much too good for me.'" Which, you know, easy way to win over a grandma is to kind of, you know, say things like that. And in the end, she was really supportive of the two, with even Maria and Alexander also conceding. The pair were elated and expected a normal, lengthy-ish engagement, after which Alex would then move to Russia, convert to Orthodoxy, and begin living as a future Tsarina. But guys, they would not be afforded that luxury,

• 51:19Speaker 02

  for by mid-1894, Alexander III's health was deteriorating, and Nicholas, his heir, really needed to be married off. So the wedding was moved up to November 26th of that year. However, Alexander wouldn't make the wedding, dying weeks before his son could tie the knot. So there wasn't much of a mourning period for poor old Alexander III here, guys, with the wedding still needing to go ahead full steam now, more than ever. And despite Nicholas's reservations over the insensitivity of this, and of course, his own grief, like this is his father, his uncles argued that since he was now Tsar, the wedding should take place in St. Petersburg with all the bells and whistles. Eventually, he agreed, despite still suggesting a more private occasion to match the somber tone of the nation,

• 52:04Speaker 02

  which Alex preferred anyway would be better. But bells and whistles it would be, with all Russian men in attendance expected to wear full regimental dress, bureaucrats to wear the appropriate uniforms, and ladies to come in full court dress with jewels to blind even the twentieth of twenty vision.

• 52:23Speaker 02

  The day itself had a regular November chill on the air, but sun beamed down on the Winter Palace, where Nicholas travelled to in an open carriage, while Alex, who'd spent the night there before, was dressing in a traditional Russian wedding gown, with the silver bodice splashed with diamonds and embroidered with a leaf design. Her long sleeves were edged in white ermine and hung glamorously below her waist, and she was also adorned for the day with a lace veil that was actually designed by Prince Albert, her late grandfather, which was a precious heirloom that she adored. But it is no royal wedding, especially a Romanov wedding, without some serious ice, guys. And for this, Alex wore a 475-carat necklace and matching earrings belonging to Catherine

• 53:06Speaker 02

  the Great, and of course, the Romanov Imperial Nuptial Crown worn by every Tsarina on their wedding day. I'm gonna put photos of it for you guys on the socials if you're listening. It is gorgeous. It's got this like pink diamond, oh, obsessed. To kick off the festivities of the day, fifty-one cannons blasted from the Peter and Paul Fortress around midday, announcing the beginning of the wedding in the palace's grand church, where Nicholas wore his hussars' uniform with all his medals in a bright orange sash. As for the ceremony, the private imperial confessor ran the service, with the two exchanging rings and vows before kneeling and kissing a gold cross, after which the church bells rang all over St Petersburg, announcing the marriage. As for the guests, well, there were almost 3,000 of them.

• 53:50Speaker 02

  Me, who eloped and then had like a thirty-person lunch, looking on in horror at this, which included everyone, from diplomats to ambassadors to friends, celebrities, and of course, family, including the German Kaiser, the Danish and Greek royal families, and the Brits, including Edward VII and his wife Alexandra, who, as we said before, was Nicholas's aunt. And of course, guys, their own son, George V, Alexandra's cousin, who she was meant to marry, but who didn't, which is pretty lucky, because Nicholas and George V are actually like, of all of the cousins, the closest. And if you haven't seen a picture of the Tsar and George V side by side, they are a spitting image of one another, guys.

• 54:35Speaker 02

  It's fucking creepy, okay? One notable presence on this day, though, was Queen Victoria, who wrote, quote, "Oh, how I do wish I'd been there. How impossible it seems that gentle, little, simple, and lickety should be the great Empress of Russia." And again, I know I've already said it, but the fact that she did become Empress of Russia is fucking wild to me. Like, I just, I can't deal. Also, how differently history would have been if she'd accepted George V, who did look like Nicholas, so it couldn't have been a like, for lack of attraction thing. I think it was probably that she just didn't wanna fuck her first cousin, which, you know, fair enough, who does? Many of the Russian people, despite their mourning of the loss of Alexander III, also celebrated the marriage with the couple, with Nicky writing in his journal, quote,

• 55:19Speaker 02

  "The streets were so crowded that we could hardly drive through them after leaving the palace." But, while there may have been joy, and there may have been celebration and all the things that go with it, a lot of the Russian people, and to be honest, guys, the court, saw this marriage so soon after the death of the Tsar as a bad omen. So, everything that these guys do, especially from here on out, is really analysed and interpreted, which only intensifies. So now, guys, it is the end of 1894. Alexander is dead. Nicholas II is Tsar. He and Alex are married, and she has successfully converted to the Russian Orthodoxy, becoming

• 56:00Speaker 02

  known as Alexandra Theodorovna Tsarina of all of Russia. Which begs the question, what now? After all, guys, what does one do when they become incredibly young rulers of an empire that occupies 11% of the global landmass? Well, they do what any royal couple do: get to making babies. Which is exactly where we are going to pick up on Friday with part three of this series titled The Romanovs: The Air, where we are going to track the first ten years of the couple's rule and the building of their family, child by child, as the mounting pressure of primogeniture weighs down upon the young couple, who are faced with soaring highs and crushing lows.

• 56:42Speaker 02

  Which brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History, guys, this part two on the Romanov series. Thank you so much for following along with me. I am loving getting into the nitty-gritty with you, okay? It's so fun to go, like I said before, like, inch-wide, mile-deep, and just like, dig into all of the details, which I do hope that you are enjoying. And again, I know these early kind of episodes, a lot of context setting, and you're like, where's Rasputin? I get it. But it does kind of lay the land for the big drama which will come, and I think it's really important to understand how and why something as prolific as a 300-year-old dynasty comes to an end, which we're starting to unpack on Friday. So make sure to come back for that, guys, if you are looking for some more Hot History before then.

• 57:27Speaker 02

  You can also follow us on Instagram and Substack at Hot History Club. Again, there's so much extra Romanov content going on there, and on YouTube and TikTok at hot.History. It has been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you, as per usual, guys, and I will see you all very soon. Thanks, guys. Love you. Bye. This episode of Hot History was recorded on Darrickland, always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

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