Romanovs Part 3: The Heir

PART 3/6. It's any Romanov Tsar's worst nightmare: 10 years on the throne, four daughters, a phantom pregnancy and no heir. NOW we're in the thick of it, guys, looking at the first half of Nicholas and Alexandra's reign, and the dynastic crisis that would plague them AND the Russian people. We're also going to introduce some other key players today, including one Vladimir Lenin! Make sure to check back in next Tuesday because we're about to get into the Rasputin of it all! Shout-out to our incredible researcher Gracie McCamish and editor Jamie Rose for pulling this together. 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! Today, we are picking it up with Nicholas and Alexandra, who at the start of 1895 are really trying to figure out what their first step should be, which, in the case of all monarchs, is royal baby-making. So, they get to work straight away. Born strong, healthy, and a girl was a girl. Girl. Another baby girl. Now, it was time for the coronation. Discontent was stirring, who all decided to strike. However, there was one reason to celebrate. Alex and Nicholas's fifth child was born a son. The long-awaited Tsarevich, the salvation of the nation, the future of the Romanov dynasty was brought into the world.

• 1:42Speaker 02

  But, because this is literally, guys, the story of fucking butts. Her long-awaited son had hemophilia, almost like a curse against monarchy itself.

• 2:09Speaker 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, ready to dive back into our series on the last czars of Russia: the Romanovs. So this is part three, guys, of our six-part series, and today, we are picking it up with Nicholas and Alexandra as new monarchs and newly weds, who at the start of 1895 are really trying to figure out what their first step should be, which, in the case of all monarchs, is royal baby-making. Now, as we know, kind of tracing the entire rise of the family, right?

• 2:50Speaker 02

  The line of succession and having an heir is everything. So there was really no time to waste here, and with Russia already on unstable footing with the transition of power between the death of Nicholas's father and him coming to, you know, the kind of up to their coronation, a royal heir would certainly steady the seas. Something which, for Alex and Nicky, was a pleasure to do. After all, guys, like, they're childhood sweethearts, they've been wanting to get it on for fucking years now. So, they get to work straight away, announcing their pregnancy in the early months of 1895, which really was welcome news, guys, because Nicholas had actually made quite a display when faced with his first political action: dealing with local councils.

• 3:32Speaker 02

  Set up by his grandfather, these zemstvos, as they were called, were essential in running the wider regions of the empire. And as we already said in prior episodes, while their power largely lied in aristocratic overlords saying yea or nay to ideas, they were made up of officials who had grown solid reputations and thus influence, which they hoped could lead to greater power if they could appeal to their new young czar for some reform on how these councils kind of operated. So, in light of this, a delegation of these various councilmen travelled to the Winter Palace, which FYI is the Romanovs' home base and office, basically there like Buckingham Palace on January 29, 1895. Stepping into the glistening gates, full of hope and, to be honest, excitement at meeting

• 4:17Speaker 02

  their new czar, these delegates were really keen for productive conversations. But that all went away pretty quickly, when Nicholas made it very clear that, quote, "Let everyone know that I shall maintain the principles of autocracy as firmly and unflinchingly as did my unforgettable late father." And this is a real defining moment here, guys, and it doesn't feel like it, because it's like, he's meeting with some councilmen, but up until this moment, the Russian people don't really know what Nicholas stands for. And I think had largely hoped he would be their great reformer, following on the works, you know, that his grandfather, Alexander II, could have done if he wasn't assassinated, but that would not be the case. And it was never really his intention, which, to be honest, even now, guys, after all

• 5:02Speaker 02

  of the research that I have done, I don't really know what Nicholas actually believed. Because he just did his whole life whatever other people told him to do. Whether it was his father instilling these principles of autocracy into him from pretty much birth, or the influence of his uncles with things like, basic things with the wedding, for example. He did as he was told, and showed little initiative to learn new ideas and seek alternative methods, calling these representatives' hopes for greater political participation as, quote, "senseless dreams." And FYI, guys, when I say like, "I don't really know what he believed," I do know what he believed, because this was drummed into him from such a young age, and we have so many

• 5:46Speaker 02

  quotes and evidence of what he believed, I'm just saying, like, he never had any, any real chance to actually ever figure this out. So god knows what he actually could have thought if he'd, you know, picked up a book and done something about it. But he is really emphatic here, guys, with these councilmen. And while for some, like his uncles and members of the aristocracy who relied on the Romanovs being absolute autocrats, this was welcome news. A sigh of relief that they could hold on to their money and influence and power for longer. But for others, including these councilmen, it was a shrill ringing of the bell, which would get louder and louder as time passed. Also, key to note here, guys, that with Alexander III dead, a lot of the factions

• 6:29Speaker 02

  that he'd driven underground, remember we were saying how he's got the Okhrana, kind of like, pushing all of these kind of radicals underground? They all start emerging now, and are even more radical as a result. So this decision from Nicholas was major, and met with a lot of discontent. But still, guys, who can be mad at a newly pregnant young couple? And when only a year after their wedding, on November 15, 1895, brought a healthy Romanov baby into the world, a lot of this initial grumbling was kind of silenced. Everyone was truly overjoyed, with Nicholas writing, quote, "A day I will remember forever. At exactly nine o'clock, a baby's cry was heard, and we all breathed a sigh of relief."

• 7:13Speaker 02

  For Alex had brought a beautiful, healthy baby into the world. But that sigh of relief, well, I gotta be honest, guys, it hitched a little, because that baby was a girl named Olga. Now, obviously, and I want to be very clear about this, if you guys come for me in the comments over this, I don't know how many times I'm gonna clarify throughout, okay? One, yeah, I'm a girl. Two, I'm not a fucking loser who thinks boys are more valuable than girls. So I find this rhetoric and this kind of like, overwhelming, "ugh, it's a girl," deeply upsetting and disturbing, like, who gives a fuck, right? This is a healthy, strong Romanov heir who could be the future empress.

• 7:56Speaker 02

  But, that wasn't the case. For the Romanov throne was ruled by systems of primogeniture, where only the first-born son could assume the throne, and then, after like, every other male heir from all of the other cousins and brothers and siblings and whoever had like, been kind of sussed out, then a girl could rule. So despite having a child, Olga wasn't an heir, something which Nicholas's sister, Grand Duchess Senior, summed up the general feeling on, saying, "It's a great pity it's not a son." Which, just, I can't even deal, it's so fucked up. Anyway, one person, however, who was really overjoyed about Olga's birth was Queen Victoria,

• 8:38Speaker 02

  who actually met and had a photo with the baby when Nicholas and Alex visited her at Balmoral in Scotland, where Victoria called her the, quote, "dear fat beautiful baby." And FYI, guys, she was really beautiful. All of the children in this saga are genuinely gorgeous and innocent, okay? I also will not be having nonsense in my comment section, saying, "Oh, those kids deserve it, they deserve to die, they all should..." Like, yes, they should have been stabbed more. Like, we're gonna get into this more, obviously, in the coming episodes, but spare me the fucking commentary that any child, right?

• 9:19Speaker 02

  Romanov, like aristocracy, peasantry, anyone, that any child deserves to die. If you are gonna come into this space with this nonsense, you will be like, blocked and deleted, okay? I don't have a s- like, single spare second of time for it. Let's be fucking human beings, okay? Of course, there were also other people who were obsessed and super happy with Olga, including her parents, with Alex personally breastfeeding her children, which was considered highly unusual at the time. Now, we are going to get to Olga as an adult later, but even as a baby, she was described by those around her as incredibly strong-willed, with her dark blonde slash chestnut hair and round face complimenting what contemporaries called "big blue expressive eyes," seeming

• 10:01Speaker 02

  to take on her father's temperament and her grandmother's curiosity, which the imperial couple made detailed notes of in their journals. By the end of 1895 then, Nicky and Alex had grieved the loss of the former czar, faced their first political hurdle, and become new parents, which, for any, like, ordinary person, right, would be a mammoth year. But, 1896 went to a whole other level, because now, it was time for the coronation.

• 10:29Speaker 02

  Planned for the end of the official mourning period in May 1896, this would be the last Russian imperial coronation the world and history would ever see. And you best believe, my divas, that it lived up to every single expectation we could possibly have, which, thanks to the Russian History Museum, we can get a first-hand look at. Now, first things first here, guys, okay? The coronation of the Tsars did not take place in St Petersburg. Lots of people think it did, it did not. Rather, it took place in Moscow, the ancient heart of the empire, which is where Nicholas and Alexandra arrived to, welcomed by streets lined with flags and banners and imperial eagles, with troops who manned the routes while enormous crowds gathered

• 11:13Speaker 02

  to see the 28-year-old Tsar and 23-year-old Tsarina. As for the formal ceremony, it was a mix of religion and monarchy, where Nicholas was anointed as the ruler, whose authority ultimately came from God. So again, guys, we talk about autocracy as this kind of system of sole leadership, right? But when we look at it in the context of monarchy like this, it becomes even more powerful and dangerous and scary, because Nicholas is really seen as being only questionable to God, who put him on this earth to rule, or, you know, so he thought. So a very, very big day for Nicholas, who took the imperial crown, which was originally created for Catherine the Great, and placed it upon his own head,

• 11:56Speaker 02

  before placing the smaller imperial crown upon Alexandra's, whom he also anointed as Empress. This, guys, was all done before members of the Romanov family, foreign royalty, diplomats, aristocrats, senior military officers and Orthodox clergy, with Alexandra struggling to stand up with the weight of the various jewels and regalia and court dress put upon her. So definitely a grand occasion. As for Nicholas, he too wore the extensive robes and regalia, which included the imperial sceptre, containing the enormous olov diamond, the imperial orb and the imperial mantles and chains of the Russian orders. So if you guys picture Charles and Camilla's coronation, and then you turn them up about 1,000 notches,

• 12:41Speaker 02

  it's similar to this Romanov coronation, which was just like locks on toast. Something that normally most people would be up in arms about. After all, this was only five years after that terrible famine that we spoke about before with Alexander's reign, and the country's still recovering from this. And while, of course, there were some factions who were really pissed about the coronation being this grand, it wasn't necessarily viewed as just a celebration of Nicholas and Alexandra. It's actually funny, guys, like I talk about this now and think back to Charles and Camilla's coronation, like bringing it up. And all of the headlines at that point were also this same kind of rhetoric,

• 13:20Speaker 02

  where it's not about these monarchs, or even the Romanov kind of dynasty and its greatness, but of the greatness of Russia, which many citizens wanted to celebrate in.

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• 14:30Speaker 02

  Then full price plan options available. Taxes and fees extra. See mintmobile.com. Encouraging this, Nicholas's government made many special considerations for parties and celebrations and commemorations, making ornamental enamel-coated mugs with the coat of arms, which were to be handed out along with food and other gifts to the Moscow public, who gathered at Kadinka Field to celebrate the coronation, an event which would turn into a disaster. Organized by Nicholas's uncle, Grand Duke Sergey, 10,000 buckets of mead, 30,000 buckets of beer, and even pop-up theatres and showbooths were arranged for the public at Kadinka Field on May 18, 1896,

• 15:11Speaker 02

  where thousands of people flocked for their freebies and their fun time. But very soon after, rumours began spreading that there weren't enough of these like souvenir mugs to go around, which caused people to rush the front where all of these kind of stands were, pushing the basically nonexistent security out of the way and literally stepping on top of other people, causing a stampede, which resulted in thousands of individual injuries and the deaths of over 1,300 peoples. With contemporary accounts estimating the total crowd numbers on May 18 were 400,000 people,

• 15:56Speaker 02

  which, just for context here, guys, was about half of Moscow's total population, which Vladimir Junkovsky and aide-de-camp of Duke Sergey all but confirmed, saying, quote, "The whole field was thickly covered with people squeezed into one square kilometre." Another famous report of the incident is from journalist Vladimir Gilorovsky, who recalled years later in his book, saying, "You couldn't stir your arm, you couldn't move", with the stampede lasting 10 excruciating minutes. This was, guys, in no uncertain terms, a fucking calamity. Okay? And while Kadinka Field was used for the celebration of past Tsar's coronation,

• 16:40Speaker 02

  so it's not like a first-time thing, like they're just trying this location, the planning and the management of the whole event was disastrous. Something Grand Duke Sergey tried to instantly hush up, but couldn't, because the Tsar and Tsarina, guys, they're in all of their garb, right? They've just kind of come back from the coronation. They have to drive past Kadinka Field to get to their next destination. And when they saw carts of dead and injured people on the side of the road, they were outraged. With Nicholas writing in his diary, "These news had left me a disgustful impression." Now, at this point, guys, you are probably thinking, well, this is like fucked, right? Terrible. And obviously, you're, you know, so sympathetic for these people,

• 17:25Speaker 02

  but like, there's nothing Nicholas and Alex could really have done to prevent this. And yes, that is largely true. They weren't involved in the logistics and clearly are horrified. Like, they're having this deeply sympathetic reaction. But this was not reflected in their actions, guys, because they drove past that field to go to a huge ball thrown by the French ambassador that evening in their finest kind of dresses and jewels. Which, for the Aussies, guys, is like when Scomo went to Hawaii for like a beach holiday while our bushfires were raging. And I guess for the US, is kind of like Trump, like putting all of his hate comments on that presidential Hall of Fame fucking gaudy nonsense,

• 18:07Speaker 02

  while like half the country can't afford their fucking groceries. So in short, it is fucked, right? And the public outrage for such insensitivity from their new Tsar and Tsarina, who had kind of abandoned their people in need, that were only there to actually celebrate them in order to go drink and dance and be merry with the fucking French, is outrageous. Like, really, guys? The worst PR imaginable. And while Sergey White, the Tsar's finance minister, said that Nicholas left the ball early and Alexandra didn't want to go at all because of how upset they were, they still went. And while, yes, the next day, they did first thing, go and visit the injured in hospital and spent time with victims' families,

• 18:51Speaker 02

  even offering quite a lot of financial compensation, the optics for such a young couple so early into their reign were terrible. Again, signaling to the Russian people that this is a bad omen of a cursed rule. So objectively, guys, not a good start to 1896 and a real blow to what should have been the triumph of the coronation. So what does 1897 bring then? Well, on May 29, in Peterhof, just outside of St Petersburg, it brought another baby Romanov into the world. Born strong, healthy and a girl, Tatiana immediately showed a remarkable physical resemblance to her mother, described as a calm and balanced toddler who loved her older sister Olga,

• 19:34Speaker 02

  with the two becoming known as the Big Pair. As she grew into a child, Tatyana became practical, responsible, and rather direct, even when she was just a little girl, with Count Peter Grab describing her as "the family's manager and organizer, and possessed more than her sister a highly-developed sense of her position as the daughter of the Tsar." So, basically, guys, she would have made an amazing empress, okay? And Tatyana does not nearly get as much clout as she should for this, because she's dutiful, and organised, and smart. And again, according to Count Grab, she was also known for her beauty, and enjoyed all the attention that this afforded her.

• 20:15Speaker 02

  Of her birth in early 1897, Nicholas wrote "The second bright happy day in our family." Our eldest is very funny with her, which, again, is true, with the big pair remaining close throughout their whole lives. And I do think, guys, this is really, um, I don't want to say with the Russian people, because, like, not so much, but this is really what Alex and Nikki needed, following their marriage and the disaster of the coronation and a Kaminga field. And it was really a unifying, uh, family moment which brought a solid start to the year, which, to be honest, like, this is kind of rare when you look at Nicholas and Alexandra's lives, but this year was pretty uneventful, other than Russia holding its

• 20:54Speaker 02

  first census, recording 125.6 million people across its empire, which helped the Tsar and his government obtain information with the aim of being able to collect and publish the data regardless of social class or place of residence. And kind of, you know, fold, or so they say, fold this data into government decisions, which, as, like, sounds really boring, like, census data. Um, but as I was going through the research, this was actually noted, um, and cited by a lot of academics, is like, one of the biggest things that Nicholas did, and seen as having, uh, quite a progressive and positive effect on the nation. So let's move up then, guys, to 1898, where a huge event unfolds which would ultimately

• 21:39Speaker 02

  go on to define the rest of Russian history. And that is the establishment of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, aka the RSDLP, formed on Marxist ideas and built on the back of momentum from prior organisations like the Liberators of Labour in 1883. But, the RSDLP was far bigger than anything that ever came before, with its radical wing headed by none other than Vladimir Lenin. Now, we are going to save, uh, most of our Lenin chat for later episodes, but for a bit of history on him up until this point, his kind of early life. Vladimir Lenin was born into a relatively comfortable, educated, middle-class family,

• 22:21Speaker 02

  with his father being a respected educator and his mother coming from a respected family. They were pretty stock standard of the time, with many expecting Lenin to follow in his father's footsteps. However, when his older brother Alexander was executed in 1887 for participating in a plot to assassinate Tsar Alexander III, things changed for Lenin, who became increasingly radical, studying law and immersing himself in the writings of Karl Marx, becoming convinced, guys, that capitalism and the Russian autocracy had to be overthrown through no other means but revolution. That was it, right? Only through revolution would they get what they wanted. Something which saw him arrested in 1895 by Nicholas II's government, where he was imprisoned and exiled to Siberia.

• 23:06Speaker 02

  So, this is a man with fire in his belly and Marxist ideology in his head, who winds up working within the RSDLP who held their first congress in March of 1898. And while at this stage, there was only nine men involved in the party, we need to mention it now, because it will grow like fucking poison oak in the coming episodes. Which brings us up to 1899, okay? Where other kinds of discontent were stirring beneath the surface when a massive student strike erupted in February. Considered the first all-Russia nationwide student strike by academic Yulia Butt, students and police clashed in St Petersburg after an incident of police brutality, which brought

• 23:47Speaker 02

  students from all over Russia together to demand human dignity, personal inviolability, and the rule of law being upheld in all cases. At first, it was relatively small, at least small enough to dismiss, but after a while, the strike grew to 25,000 students strong. And while, yes, guys, they were kind of, you know, making the point that police had no right to basically beat people, and not directly calling out the Tsar or the aristocracy at large, it was particularly significant because it was many of these young people's first experience engaging in politics, acting as a smooth stepping stone to Marxism and the growing political displays which followed. In response to this, the Tsar convened a conference on higher education policy, looking

• 24:32Speaker 02

  for ways to wipe out such radical behaviour amongst students, writing a letter saying, quote, "The time has come to reform our entire academic structure. Things can't get worse." Despite his predictions, guys, things could get worse, not just in academic structures, but with Finland. Now, you may be thinking, Diva, what the fuck does Finland have to do with any of this? And it is a good question, so let's do a little smidge of geopolitics here and go back to Tsar Alexander I, who acquired Finland from Sweden in 1809, transforming it into the Grand Duchy of Finland. So it's kind of a part of the wider empire, but it did have a lot of autonomy, uh, it kind of had its own laws, it had its own parliament and its own systems.

• 25:17Speaker 02

  But, Nicholas didn't like that. Almost so, the Russian imperialist general named Nikolai Bobryakov didn't like how autonomous Finland had become, as their proximity to St Petersburg posed a threat and directly combated Nicholas's plans for further Russification. So again, we've kind of had this term come up, um, a couple of times throughout this series, basically just like a big push for, um, Russian nationalism and patriot, and kind of, um, patriotism and, and culture, right? As such, he wanted to impose greater Russian rule onto the Grand Duchy of Finland, drawing up the February manifesto in 1899, which detailed this plan, which Nicholas then, of course, signed off on. The result of which saw backlash from the Finnish, who called the act "the first period of oppression."

• 26:02Speaker 02

  So, not good vibes in the wider reaches of the empire and within the students.

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• 27:07Speaker 02

  But by June, the vibes within the imperial family were high, for yet another Romanov baby is born on June 14th, and it is... Another girl. Mm-hmm, yeah. You see, despite, again, being healthy and gorgeous, this was three babies in five years, and all of them were girls, which started to become a real dynastic concern at this point, with court society increasingly discussing the absence of an heir. It was like everyone's favourite gossip topic, and Alexandra, the poor thing, putting immense pressure on herself to deliver on her responsibility of kind of having this son.

• 27:48Speaker 02

  So, if eyebrows were not raised a little before, like, they are full arch now, I'd arch my eyebrows if I didn't have botox. With everyone looking to the imperial couple's bedroom for certainty on the future of the empire. But still, in all of this, Nicholas stood fast that he was blessed with his girls, and reportedly countered those who shared their discontent, saying he was grateful for a healthy child of God, which is exactly what Maria was, or at least according to her governess, Margareta, who said that she was "born good with the smallest trace of original sin possible." Which, just what a fucking strange thing to say about a baby, anyway.

• 28:30Speaker 02

  There was no time for resting on the laurels or soaking up this kind of newborn bliss, because by July of 1899, Nicholas hosted the first Hague Peace Conference, with 26 countries coming together to discuss international peace through arms limitation, something the booming industrial revolution had seen increase dramatically. And while the conference didn't achieve general disarmament, it produced important agreements concerning warfare, which went on to establish the Permanent Court of Arbitration. What good it did with World War I breathing down the neck in, like, the next 10 years. Anyway, the great irony of this, of course, guys, is that the whole thing was a total contradiction, with Nicholas, an absolute monarch who was pursuing Russification and

• 29:14Speaker 02

  kind of repression on home soil, advocating for international peace initiatives abroad, to which I say, must be nice to be able to experience the duality of man. Imagine a woman doing that? Never. Which brings us up to 1900, the dawn of a new century, a new age of great hope, rapid industrialisation and, as it would turn out, the fall of the Romanovs. Not that they knew it at the time. So, let's guys have a really quick look at what happened in 1900 and how Russia is modernising with the times. Now, we spoke about it a little at the top, okay? But the big thing that was introduced as part of the Industrial Revolution in Russia was the Trans-Siberian Railway,

• 29:57Speaker 02

  which Alexander III kicked off in 1891 and Nicholas continued until its eventual completion in 1916, using the development to link European Russia with Siberia and the Pacific. All of this really with the aim, guys, of strengthening Russian economic and military power in Asia. Remember we said in the first episode that Russia bordered Europe and Asia, which was significant, guys, here from a geopolitical standpoint, but also, as we said, economically. Because Russia had enormous natural resources, okay? All those diamonds that the divas are wearing, majority of them are sourced from within the Russian Empire.

• 30:37Speaker 02

  So there are diamonds and gemstones and a whole other kind of abundance of natural resources, which prior to this railway, they really struggled to export and import. So this is a huge step forward with significant progress being made by 1900. The other key figure in Russia's Industrial Revolution, who we're going to talk about in the upcoming episodes, was Sergei White, Nicholas's finance minister from 1892 to 1903, who backed a lot of industrial work from other railways to the development of more metro-style cities and also, guys, introducing the gold standard, making the ruble, which was the Russian dollar, more attractive and stable for international investors, which saw lots of foreign coin start to circulate in Russia itself.

• 31:22Speaker 02

  So, all moving in the right direction here, but very, very late, with nations like Britain already heavily industrialised, while the great Russian bear was really only taking its first steps. Still, guys, progress is progress, but it didn't always have the desired effect. With the Trans-Siberian Railway and greater access to Asia, leading Russia to get involved in Chinese national conflicts, when Chinese Christians were attacked by anti-foreign and anti-Christian movements within the government, resulting in Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, Austria-Hungary and Italy, all intervening militarily in the Eight Nation Alliance in 1900.

• 32:05Speaker 02

  So, besides the fact that, like, everyone's coming to the ballgame here, we really do see the impact of globalisation as a force that can bring strong defensive actions through alliances like this, but also produce greater tensions, which we're going to talk about shortly when it comes to Japan. Another force we need to mention, who is really a man, but to say man somehow feels a little less than what he actually would turn out to be, was Vladimir Lenin, whose Siberian exile ended in 1900, an event which saw him abandon Russia for Western Europe, where he became involved in establishing the revolutionary Marxist newspaper Iskra, aka The Spark, which was designed to unite Russian Marxists and spread revolutionary ideas throughout the Russian Empire,

• 32:50Speaker 02

  which is a pretty stark contrast to what Nicholas is trying to do in, uh, kind of strengthening Russia through industrialisation, pushing greater Russification in culture and nationalism and holding fast on the ideas of autocracy. While Lenin, on the other hand, is building the political organisation that would eventually help destroy this. Speaking of Nicky, what is he personally up to in 1900? I mean, we know his policies and what his ministers think, but what's going on in imperial family life? Well, it turns out a great deal of strife and anxiety, because come late 1900, the Tsar is incredibly unwell with typhoid fever while staying in Crimea. And for a period of time, it seemed he was almost close to death.

• 33:35Speaker 02

  Now, again, we've kind of harped on, okay, about the fact that the imperial couple are really facing dynastic concern with the birth of Maria. But Nicholas was still so, so young at this point, he's only 32. So while there was no direct heir, there was absolutely every opportunity that one would arise, so long as Nicholas was healthy. So this event being struck down by such a dangerous illness really exposed just how difficult the Romanov succession problem was and again, put even more pressure on the shoulders of poor Alexandra. Speaking of who, guys, I'm a very bad hot historian and have been yammering about geopolitics and dynastic succession and blah, blah, blah and za, za, za.

• 34:19Speaker 02

  So what is Alex up to? How's she doing in her new role as Empress? Well, to be honest, she's kind of struggling, guys. Alexandra as a person is very different from what a normal Russian Empress was like, especially Maria Viterovna, who was beloved by both the court and the people. But Alex, on the other hand, was painfully shy. And while she loved her time with her husband and her children and her kind of family in their home, she was deeply uncomfortable with large social gatherings, something which, as Empress, unfortunately, happened a lot. This meant that she appeared cold, arrogant or disapproving to guests, which wasn't the case by any means here, guys, but it was the optics of it.

• 35:01Speaker 02

  And because of this, she never achieved Maria's popularity within St Petersburg society, something we're going to talk more about in the next two episodes. But where she struggled in formal public events, she thrived in more private ones, throwing herself into various charitable works, with her particular interests being hospitals, nursing, poor relief and children's welfare, something that would serve her well by the 1910s. She also, of course, accompanied her husband on royal visits and embraced her new religion with fervour. You'll remember at the top, guys, we were saying that she was really nervous about converting from Lutheranism, her kind of home religion, to the Orthodoxy, but found this deeply rewarding, leaning into her faith as a way to understand her role,

• 35:42Speaker 02

  adopting the very, very autocratic belief that Nicholas was not merely a political head, but was chosen by God and as such, so too were her children, who really, guys, were her number one priority at this point. And I feel like I can say with a pretty unbiased stance here, that Alexandra was a really good mum in these early days with her first three children, who she absolutely doted on. She kind of veers off the wrong path with Rasputin, which we're going to get to in the next episode later on. But at this point, she makes a plethora of time in her day-to-day to spend with them. She breastfed her babies, as we said, and really ensured they had privacy and fun,

• 36:24Speaker 02

  taking them on holidays aboard the Standard, the new imperial yacht, which was, guys, nothing short of a floating palace, like where the Brits have Britannia, the Romanovs had the Standard. But still, the anxiety, the pressure, the dynastic responsibility of bearing a son was firmly fixed on her shoulders. And she felt this enormously by 1900, trying to fall pregnant, be a mother, be a wife, an Empress, and really still try and figure Russia out with its culture, its religion, its language, its people, all being very different from what she grew up with. But she still had her constants in all of this. Nicky, of course, her true love, and her grandmother, Victoria, who she continued to write to throughout her whole life,

• 37:07Speaker 02

  including when she fell pregnant yet again by the end of 1900. In this, Alex was hopeful, as was everyone else. And by 1901, things were looking up for the Romanovs, with Alexandra doing everything possible to have a restful and relaxed pregnancy. But a giant blow would be dealt to her in January of this year, when news reached St Petersburg that Queen Victoria had died. Alexandra broke down instantly, writing that, quote, "Only an hour before the fatal news, I received her last letter, so you can imagine what a shock it was." She continued in letters to her sister, saying, quote, "I cannot believe she is really gone, that we shall never see her anymore.

• 37:47Speaker 02

  It seems impossible, since one can remember she was in our life, and a dearer, kinder soul never was."

• 37:55Speaker 02

  This of course, guys, is written like not as Empress of Russia, but as a granddaughter. And being pregnant with such a high-risk child inside of her, Alexandra was really devastated because she couldn't attend the funeral, sending her brother-in-law to England while her and Nicholas held a memorial at the English church in St Petersburg, where she reportedly wept in quiet for the entire duration. And I do have to say, guys, like, I feel really bad for her. I think it's so hard when we look at the Romanovs, really any historical figure, which is why it's important to try not to be parasocial, which I will put my hand up and say I often fail at, and not feel sympathy for their struggles.

• 38:38Speaker 02

  I mean, this is a girl who lost her mother, who was replaced by her grandmother, who was her constant, and is practically being crushed under dynastic pressure while being very pregnant and experiencing this massive loss. Like, I do think you've got to have a pretty cold heart in your chest not to feel sympathy for her as a person and like a pregnant woman at that, which of course, yes, it doesn't excuse or mean I don't feel rage at everything she and her husband and kind of everyone in their names did. But I do think we need to humanize people, and I feel badly for her at this point, which only gets worse, for in June of 1901, she delivers yet another baby girl.

• 39:21Speaker 02

  Named Anastasia, the witty and stubborn youngest daughter was described by the son of the Romanovs family doctor as, quote, "undoubtedly holding the record for punishable deeds in her family, for in naughtiness she was a true genius." And it's true, guys. Anastasia got up to all sorts of mischief, sharing a bedroom with her older sister Maria, with the pair becoming known as "The Little Pair", and soon becoming a favorite of her grandmother, Maria Fedorovna, who doted on her. She really was the perfect addition to the family, with a lively light that drove out the doom after the death of Victoria, with she herself embodying a lot of the spirit of the new century.

• 40:01Speaker 02

  But we have to be honest here, guys. Again, she wasn't what they were hoping for. And I want to reinforce here, I don't say disappointed or yet again, or not what they wanted, because that's what I believe, or even because that's what Nikki and Alex felt. And honestly, guys, like, I blame this whole fucking mess of primogeniture and patriarchy, because if these divas or any of the other firstborn daughters were allowed to rule, maybe things would be different. But they weren't. And the birth of Anastasia really is the next domino to fall here, being genuinely as significant to the story of the Romanovs as the death of Alexander III,

• 40:47Speaker 02

  because with her birth, the dynastic concerns of the imperial family blew completely into a massive, like, you know, a fire engine, like sirens, red flashing lights, crisis. One which would lead to a steep and slippery slope of superstition and sorcerers as one Monsieur Philippe enters the picture. Born in France in 1849, Philippe developed a reputation as a mystic spiritual healer and miracle worker, with claims he could diagnose illnesses without conventional examinations, heal through prayer or spiritual intervention, and even predict future events, landing him wealthy aristocratic admirers the world over,

• 41:31Speaker 02

  in particular, members of the prolifically superstitious Russian aristocracy. Now, I know we've mentioned this trend of spiritualism amongst the Russian people before, but I just want to hone in here for a minute, because it is an essential part of the story that a lot of people struggle to make sense of in the context of these kind of holy men and healers. Because to us now, it all seems batshit, okay? But to the Russians at the time, it was not only a part of normal Orthodox teaching, which always had a kind of powerful mystical traditions, but it was a fashion trend, with any party worthy of the name featuring a seance or spiritual figure, especially those hosted by the Black Princesses, Melitza and Anastasia,

• 42:16Speaker 02

  who got their nicknames from the Black Mountain region in Montenegro where they were born, before then marrying into the Romanov family. Together, they hosted some of the hottest parties in St Petersburg, which featured one Monsieur Philippe, who they'd brought to the city and introduced to the imperial couple in 1901 after the birth of Anastasia. They met with him while he prayed and conducted spiritual conversations, telling the couple that by the end of the next year Alexandra would be pregnant with a son. Already deeply religious and feeling totally crushed by this dynastic crisis, Alexandra followed every single word that Philippe said,

• 42:55Speaker 02

  relying on what he called divine intervention to make her pregnant, which by 1902 seemed to have worked. With a swelling belly and tender breasts, the Empress was convinced she was pregnant, calling for Philippe, who told her this was in fact the long-awaited Saravich. The palace at this point was a hushed-up buzz with everyone whispering and preparing for the formal announcement to drop any day. But it never came, for when Alexandra was eventually examined by her doctors, they concluded she'd never been pregnant at all, something which historians chalk up to a phantom pregnancy, although there's no real way to actually diagnose her now. Again, guys, I just want to say I feel so bad for her. This is like so heartbreaking.

• 43:39Speaker 02

  And while like I don't think this is, but kind of historically, contextually, it was, embarrassing for her, with gossip spreading from St Petersburg to Buckingham Palace about the Empress of Russia believing herself into pregnancy, thanks to the ramblings of a crazy man. It was bad, guys. And with Philippe's credibility shot, his access to the imperial couple was cut off, which, to be fair, Nicholas was busy dealing with all sorts of other dramas inside the empire anyway, so he barely had any time for him by this point. This started late 1901, with major peasant disturbances in part of Ukraine and the Volga, where the issues of that 1961 emancipation of the serfs, if you guys remember, we spoke about two episodes ago, rearing its head again,

• 44:22Speaker 02

  because millions of peasants still remained desperately poor and with no land, which, guess what, they didn't get, with Nicholas's government responding with repression to their desperate cries. This was followed in 1902 by Russian workers becoming increasingly militant, with the rapid industrialization across the nation creating enormous factories filled with workers who were enduring long hours, low wages, and poor housing, who all decided to strike. So by the end of 1902, guys, there's some serious reputational rehab that the Romanovs need to undertake to kind of, one, shrug off the dynastic crisis and the fake pregnancy, along with the discontent and uprising of

• 45:05Speaker 03

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• 46:05Speaker 02

  of the working class. So what do they do? What's their strategy here, right? How are they going to go about this? Because they can't just call up Daily Mail and be like, hey, come papshot us and, you know, getting coffees and like they'll see that everything's fine. So they decide the best thing to do is to lean in and remind people just how great the original heyday of imperial rule was by throwing one of the most expensive balls in history. I am of course, talking about the 1903 Romanov Ball at the Winter Palace to celebrate 290 years of Romanov rule. Now, I am not going to get too deep into the details here because I have actually done a whole episode on the ball, which I'll link in that playlist.

• 46:47Speaker 02

  But for now, let's just do a really top line summary of this evening, because while not a domino to fall as such, it is a big tone deaf mistake. So, largely regarded as the last great royal ball in Europe, the 1903 Romanov Ball celebrated the crowning of Michael I as the first Romanov Tsar 290 years earlier, and was really the brainchild of Alexandra, who decided that she wanted to go full method, okay, honestly? Guys, I am surprised that Laura Roach hasn't invented a time machine and taken himself back to 1903 to cash that cheque, because she decided this would be a grand costume

• 47:29Speaker 02

  ball, set in the style of 17th century opulence, with all 390 guests expected to dress to impress. So we are not talking about overnight Amazon costume direct deliveries here, we are talking about custom-made, historically accurate couture made by Europe's top designers, with some attendees, including the Tsar, actually wearing original 17th century pieces. The jewels too, were expected to be authentic, with the guests being expected to shell out huge amounts of cash for their invite, so much so, that many of them declined, purely out of financial concern for having to pull together such exorbitant looks. However, when the Empress made it clear this was not optional, and offered to grant

• 48:14Speaker 02

  select guests access to the Romanov Archives, and reportedly even give them some state funds, the RSVP list filled, which was just as well here, because months went into the preparation of this event, with famous artists, organisers and ballet masters hired to put on the show of all shows, which kicked off on February 11th, 1903, when guests came into the Winter Palace in twos to greet the imperial couple with a traditional Russian bow, followed by a concert in the Hermitage Theatre, where the guests got to watch one Anna Pavlova perform. Again guys, full episode on her is linked in the playlist. The second night, two days later however, was the real costume ball, and thanks to

• 48:56Speaker 02

  a photographer being on hand for the Empress's photo album, we have a lot of photos of the guests in their costumes, including Nicholas, who wore his ancestors' original robes, and Alex, whose brocade dress was complimented by the huge emerald necklace chosen by the court jeweller Carl Faberge, estimated at around 10 million euros today, just for the necklace. Of the ball, Vian Voikov, a member of the Tsar's suite, wrote, quote, "The imagination was transported back several centuries. It gave the impression of a living dream." And while it may have been dreamland inside the palace, outside was a different story,

• 49:37Speaker 02

  summed up best by Grand Duke Aleksandr Miklovich, who said this was, quote, "The last spectacular ball in the history of the empire." But a new and hostile rush argled through the large windows of the palace. "While we danced, the workers were striking, and the clouds in the Far East were hanging dangerously low, with one group in particular glaring into those windows with fervour and fury, the Bolsheviks." So, we spoke about the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, or RSDLP, when we touched on Lenin, but by 1903, the movement split at the Second Congress of the RSDLP, when Lenin butts heads with another party leader named Julius Martov.

• 50:21Speaker 02

  Now, while both were Marxists who wanted to overthrow Tsarism, they disagreed on what kind of organisation could actually do this. So, on one hand, we have Martov, who wanted a broader definition of party membership, allowing people who supported and regularly assisted the party to belong without necessarily kind of, you know, working directly inside one of its organisations. But Lenin did not agree, okay? He wanted a highly organised revolutionary party built around committed activists and professional revolutionaries, who could make real change through action, not some loose

• 51:02Speaker 02

  political movement which could be destroyed by the Okhrana, or abandoned, as we saw with the uprisings of Nicholas I, where the leader just like didn't show up. And, this guys, is where we really call back to our first episode, where we spoke about how the actual power of the Tsars worked, okay? What autocracy is, because it isn't necessarily in the strength of their own systems and the strength of their own leaders, but out of the weakness of other groups to actually challenge them. And Lenin saw Martov's vision for the RSDLP as yet another version of this kind of limp-wristed effort.

• 51:42Speaker 02

  So, he split, emerging as leader of the more revolutionary, cut-throat Bolshevik faction at the 1903 Congress in London, while Martov led the Mensheviks, who were the slightly more centrist democratic faction. Now, I was initially going to do a whole spiel on communism at this point, but I want to put a pin in the RSDLP for now, and pick it up in the coming episodes, so I can give it like real airtime, and kind of contextualise the placing for it to make the most amount of sense, because there is a lot of political theory, and often exaggeration, and also minimisation, which is kind of leads to this big misconception about what the fuck it actually is, and how the fuck it actually works. So, let's put a pin in that and come back to it in the coming eps.

• 52:28Speaker 02

  Which brings us back to our main timeline, where the year is 1904. I will put my hand up and say, yes, there has been lots of doom and gloom that we've covered to date, and looking back retrospectively, it's pretty easy for us to go, look at this terrible thing, and this terrible guy, and this terrible decision, but in the early 1900s, there was also a fair share of good happening. As we mentioned, Alexandra was a huge champion of charity, particularly hospitals, which had new grants and developments. The Trans-Siberian Railway is again expanding, and the surge in industry saw developed cities with new opportunities across classes for businesses and work in factories versus fields and agrarian work. Culturally as well, it's key to note that this early 1900 period was arguably a bit of a golden age.

• 53:12Speaker 02

  We have Tolstoy and Chekhov leading Russian literature, Anna Pavlova herself at the forefront of theatre and ballet, while art and music were also thriving. Plus, despite being an autocrat who was determined to carry on his father's principles, the young Tsar and Tsarina with their four gorgeous daughters were an attractive media story, with their ties to foreign royalty giving the illusion of almost domesticity in Europe at this time, which certainly helped on the foreign affairs front, with Russia up until this point not being involved in any war in over 25 years. But that was all about to change, for tensions began simmering with the nation of Japan.

• 53:54Speaker 02

  As we said earlier, with the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia was wanting to expand its territory into Manchuria, an area in China. They also needed ports that could be used year round, as their own ports froze in winter, bringing trade to a standstill. But Russia were not the only ones gunning for Manchuria, for Japan too wanted the territory, and when it was suggested to Nicholas by Russia's Minister of the Interior, that a military victory against Japan would unite the Russian people and kind of win him some popularity after Alexandra's phantom pregnancy, and the strikes, and the Romanov Ball, and all of this nonsense, he jumped at it. Now, despite serving in the military and being very well read, Nicholas was no great

• 54:37Speaker 02

  military mind, and believed this conflict would finish up after a few short weeks with total victory. But he was wrong, for in February, the Japanese attacked Port Arthur, a Russian naval base, and despite having a smaller force, the Japanese defeated them in January of 1905. This was a huge embarrassment and a massive, massive mistake, for after only a year of fighting, the resource drain on Russia was immense, with the war effort taking grain, fuel, and working men away from Russia, with the people criticising the Tsar's mishandling of the conflict, something which escalated to a whole other level when the Russian Baltic

• 55:18Speaker 02

  Fleet, the whole fleet guys, were defeated in May of 1905, leaving Russia no choice but to pursue for peace, giving up its leases on territory in the region, including the Laidong Peninsula, which went to Japan, and control of the South Manchuria Railway.

• 55:35Speaker 02

  So a pretty sizable hit for the Russian economy, military and people. However, there was one reason to celebrate. From the 12th of August 1904, on a particularly hot Friday at the strike of noon, Alex and Nicholas's fifth child was born, and it was a son. Finally, guys, he is here. The long awaited Tsarevich, the salvation of the nation, the future of the Romanov dynasty was brought into the world with a 300-gun salute rattling the furthest corners of St Petersburg to let the Russian people know that their heir had finally arrived. Writing in his diary, Nicholas said it was, quote, "An unforgettable and great day on

• 56:19Speaker 02

  which we received so evident a sign of God's love. No words are adequate to thank God for the consolation he has bestowed on us in this year of difficult tribulations." And he wasn't wrong, guys. Alexandra had put herself through hell to bring this baby boy into the world. And while largely dismissing Monsieur Philippe, she continued to follow alternative therapies and spiritual advice from the Black princesses and more, which included some occult practices, hypnosis and visits from various doctors to her private quarters, which, as you can imagine, fueled all sorts of gossip of affairs and treachery. Maria Fedorovna, who we haven't spoken about in a minute, so hi to her, was really sus about all of this.

• 57:02Speaker 02

  And she is largely a force throughout, who I think is kind of the most plugged in to what's happening around her. So we're going to keep checking in with her along the way, especially in the next two episodes. And she is really concerned about these rumours and alternative methods to the point that she wanted these doctors removed from court. But Nicholas refused because of how adamant Alex had been that these treatments were working, one of which involved taking the waters. Now, if this sounds pretty much like she's just taking a bath or a swim to you, then you're not entirely wrong. But these particular waters at Sarov were believed to be blessed by the revered Russian holy man Seraphim. Now, this is largely believed to have been a Philippe suggestion, which the imperial

• 57:45Speaker 02

  couple took very seriously after Alexandra felt convinced that this is the thing that would grant her her son. So the couple visited in July 1903, bathing in the springs, visiting holy sites connected with Seraphim and praying fervently for a son, which she got in August of the following year. Everyone was overjoyed, guys. I mean, we've literally spent the last, what, hour talking about how disappointed everyone is when a girl is born? So now that there was this son, there is a feeling of real solidarity within the Winter Palace that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay. For just the year prior, Nicholas and Alex had to have a series of deeply painful conversations

• 58:30Speaker 02

  about who would rule Russia if they couldn't have a son? Would it be Grand Duke Michael, Nicholas's brother, who was next in line for the throne? Or perhaps another uncle or cousin? There was even a suggestion at one point, which I'm very much in favour of, that Olga succeed her father? Though this plan obviously never came to fruition, for Alexei was now here. Baptised in the coming weeks at the Orthodox Chapel in Peterhof Court, everyone was in attendance for the happy day, including King Christian of Denmark, Maria Fedorovna's father, who was aged 87. That's how monumental this day was, okay? Even like the old divas are coming out.

• 59:10Speaker 02

  With everyone taking a collective sigh of relief, especially Alexandra, who was finally free from the crushing weight of her responsibility as empress. But, because this is literally, guys, the story of fucking butts. Despite all of the holy people present and all of the royal family's blessings and all of the waiting, it would not protect the young baby boy from what came next. For while Alexei made the impression of a strong and healthy child initially, this was a farce, with the six-week-old baby boy suffering from uncontrolled bleeding from his belly button where his umbilical cord was cut.

• 59:53Speaker 02

  It wasn't noticed at first, thanks to his tight swaddling and initially diagnosed as fairly benign, but when the bleeding continued day after day, Alexandra knew her worst fears on earth had been realised. For the Tsarevich of Russia, her long-awaited son had hemophilia, the royal disease passed down from Queen Victoria to her descendants, which presents itself in the male offspring, almost like a curse against monarchy itself. This was the next domino to fall. Sending Alexandra on a downward spiral nearing mania, Nicholas on a frenzy for answers and the imperial family into one of the strictest lockdowns in history, with the reality

• 1:00:38Speaker 02

  of the Tsarevich's condition now a matter of the utmost national security, kept secret from all, even his own grandmother. So things are getting crazy, guys, and we are really rapidly approaching fever pitch, which means we are at the end of this episode of Hot History, guys. Thank you so, so much for listening along so far. Like I said, we are absolutely getting into the thick of it now, guys, and it's only getting wilder from here on out. So make sure to come back next Tuesday for part four, titled The Romanovs: The Fall, where we are dissecting exactly how the family went from this absolute peak to the throes

• 1:01:19Speaker 02

  of revolution, featuring the man you've all been so very patient for, rah rah, Rasputin. If you are looking for some more hot history before then, though, you can follow us on Instagram and Substack at Hot History Club and on YouTube and TikTok at Hot.History. As always, guys, it has been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you, and I will speak to you all shortly. Thanks, guys, love you, bye.

• 1:01:46Speaker 02

  This episode of Hot History was recorded on Darrickland, always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

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