Romanovs Part 5: The Fallout

PART 5/6. Well my divas, we're officially at the beginning of the end. This episode covers the death of Rasputin, the devastation of Bloody Sunday, the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and the moment the Romanovs go from Russia's ruling family to prisoners under house arrest. We're also going to meet Lenin again as he makes his return to Russia and watch as the Revolution gains momentum and the fate of the Romanov family becomes increasingly uncertain. If you want to watch the rest of our romanov content you can find it here https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1rxk28oArv73AsShJ1Xvq8?si=_Ot0slGOQk-WEWnGP5VGGA&nd=1&dlsi=cff2eb270e8f44dd. Shout-out to our incredible researcher Gracie McCamish and editor Jamie Rose for pulling this together. 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

  What logistically happens when the former rulers of the world's largest empire are transformed into prisoners and pawns? Rasputin had become paranoid of threats against his life, so a group of aristocrats decided that what they had to do was kill him. Lenin finally made the journey back to St. Petersburg. It is finally his shining moment. Serious situation: anarchy in the capital. The only thing that anyone at this point would accept was the complete and total abdication of Zermenniklas II. So what now? Every moment of every day, the family's movements were both tightly watched and controlled, unaware of what awaited them in the coming months, under the roof of the House of Special

• 1:45Speaker 02

  Purpose.

• 2:01Speaker 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 Mainzley Harvey, your hot historian here today, ready to deep dive back into our series on the last czars of Russia: the Romanovs. So we are at part five now, guys, five of six. And in this episode, we are coming to the end of Romanov rule, but just because we're rapidly approaching 1917 doesn't mean our content is drying up. In fact, in my personal opinion, guys—obviously I'm biased—this episode and part six, but really mainly this episode, is the most fascinating out of all of them, okay? Because it is diving into a world that very few people ever really got a glimpse at.

• 2:46Speaker 02

  Like, there was lots of people around the Romanovs when they were kind of, you know, ruling, when they were at court in the early parts of their lives, but this particular kind of period in time and world, very few ever got a glimpse at. And that is the inner workings of the Romanov household during, and most importantly, after the revolution. So let's pick back up where we left off last week, with Russia in the midst of World War I, Nicholas taking command of the army, Alexandra being left at home in charge of the empire, and Rasputin weaseling his way into the very beating heart of imperial power or what was left of it by this stage, because the war isn't going well and the people are feverish with discontent.

• 3:28Speaker 02

  And I don't even think discontent is honestly a strong enough word here, guys, because by 1916, the Russian people have had an absolute gutful, an nearing absolute breaking point. Just for context on how badly the state of affairs is come 1916, the war had led to the deaths of approximately 1.5 to 1.7 million military men, with around 4 million additional soldiers being wounded. Like, that's just at the front, right? You pair that with rapid inflation, transport breakdowns, pressure on peasants for resources, and the ministerial leapfrogging that we spoke about in the last episode with Alexandra and Rasputin, like, hiring and then firing ministers quicker than a Russian in a vodka

• 4:10Speaker 02

  sale, and you have all the ingredients for a good old-fashioned revolution. But it didn't come in 1916, despite being highly likely. So why? Well, I think it largely comes down to the one factor that most revolutions need to succeed: the army, who at this point in early 1916 was not only still functioning but obedient to Nicholas. And when the Brusoliv Offensive that summer ended in Russian victory, there was actually renewed sense of energy amongst the troops, which trickled down to patriotism and loyalty at home. But while Russians were angry at ministers and Rasputin and Alexandra, they were still pro-Russia and pro-monarchy. They just wanted them to stop doing such a dogshit job, which seems pretty fucking

• 4:55Speaker 02

  fair to me, guys. And ultimately, this was a sentiment shared by the majority of the political members who wanted to actually save the Romanov monarchy by reforming it, not totally ousting Nicholas. So we're gonna see a big change in this sentiment across 12 months. The revolution also didn't happen in 1916 because the revolutionary groups were kind of a shitshow, remaining fragmented between the Bolsheviks, the Mensheviks, and the socialist revolutionaries, who all, one, wanted different things, and, two, were either imprisoned, underground, or abroad, with Lenin himself still being in Switzerland at this point. Speaking of which, guys, we probably should do a check-in with him, because he is going

• 5:38Speaker 02

  to feature a lot towards the back half of this episode. So we know Lenin was initially arrested and sent to Siberia in his early political years before traveling abroad, where he set up his paper pushing anti-czarist, pro-communist ideals, inspired by Marxism, before then joining the RSDLP—again, we spoke about this in previous episodes—and leading the radical offshoot of this party, known as the Bolsheviks, with the exact belief that change could only come through rapid radical revolution. And because this is his view, guys, many strikes and protests and incidences of politically motivated violence started using his words and likeness, even flying Bolshevik banners despite not necessarily being sanctioned by the party.

• 6:22Speaker 02

  So he's kind of an influencer, okay? At this point in 1916, Lenin's fame is absolutely rising, but the czar is still in power. And he is very much still exiled. When I say "he," I mean Lenin. Which is why he was actually in Austrian-controlled Galicia when World War I began in 1914, resulting in his arrest, given his Russian heritage, before friends of his kind of go to the Germans, go to the Austrians, and they're like, "No, guys, honestly, Lenin fucking hates the Russians. Like, he cannot stand them, he's a revolutionary," and so he is released by them. He's also then sent to Geneva in neutral Switzerland in 1916, where he vehemently opposes World War I.

• 7:04Speaker 02

  And this is interesting, guys, because in this pushing back against the war, he goes against what a lot of his fellow European socialists kind of thought. A lot of them support, at least when the war is on, their respective country's decisions, but Lenin fundamentally believed that World War I—and to be honest, a lot of the big imperial wars at this time—was a big sham as part of a wider imperialist plot for control over markets and territory and colonies and economic influence, which was all driven by capitalism. And, again, like, not that I'm a communist as such, and not that I'm a Bolshevik by any means, but he ain't wrong here.

• 7:49Speaker 02

  And, you know, obviously, World War I is more complex than this ideology, but I kind of see his point. As such, this war made him believe that the highest state of capitalism was, in fact, imperialism, with classes, aristocracy, kings, czars, princesses, grand duchesses, and any posh toddy with a title and a tiara being the great schism to proper society. Which, again, he already believed this, like, the difference, like we said, between communism and socialism. Last episode is primarily in the belief that socialism is about economic, like fixing economic inequality, whereas communism, at least in the context of the revolution, was really about classism and ending that.

• 8:31Speaker 02

  But the war gives him the evidence to go, "Yep, look, you know, this is the fact," and he spreads this theory, which he does through speeches and written work, but it was largely just that throughout 1916. Theory, with no actual involvement or plans for a grand revolution at this stage. In fact, interestingly—I found this when I was researching, which I didn't even know—Lenin himself gave a speech in January of 1917, so that's only a few weeks before the revolution which we're about to get to, saying, quote, "We of the older generation may not live to see the decisive battles of this coming revolution." So, yes, Lenin and the revolutionary parties are certainly a threat, but they're not the threat.

• 9:13Speaker 02

  Lenin doesn't even, like, doesn't even think he's gonna be alive for when the revolution does happen. So what is the threat, then, right? What is kind of looming over that leads up to this massive change in the 12-month period like I spoke about? Well, the answer is it depends who you ask. For the Russian people, the threat was largely starvation, with dwindling resources leaving people overworked and underfed. For the army, the threat was Nicholas not being a great military mind despite the recent wins, which largely seemed ornamental in the grand scheme of things, considering the amount of death and suffering going on behind lines. For Nicholas himself, the threat was largely inconceivable. In fact, his previous encounters with uprising in 1905's Bloody Sunday and the plethora

• 9:58Speaker 02

  of assassinations which went on around him, but never directly to him, convinced Nicholas, above all, that he could survive anything, with his fundamental belief being that ultimately the armed forces would maintain order on his behalf. The government and politicians, on the other hand, were incredibly concerned, looking at the decision-making of the Empress and the threat of Rasputin as a complete undermining of the power structures which held the Empire together for 300 years, which is the Tsar being in Petersburg, right? While Alexandra herself is just trying to hold her family together, with her duties decreasing her time with the Imperial Children, who had mixed reactions to the war. Olga and Tatyana, who were 18 and 17 at the time,

• 10:43Speaker 02

  became nurses under the surgeon Vera Godroits, an exceptionally talented female doctor, who taught the girls how to change dressings, clean wounds, prepare equipment, and even help in surgery, something Olga struggled deeply with, but Tatyana learned to enjoy. The girls also got their first real encounters with men in their time during the war, with Olga becoming particularly close to Dmitri Shakabov, a wounded officer she tended to and called Mitya in her diaries. Which is something we actually haven't really mentioned, and often is overlooked in this story, guys. And again, so many what-ifs, so much speculation. This is, this is like a big one for me personally. But the big pair, Olga especially, were of marrying age around this 1916 period,

• 11:26Speaker 02

  with prior discussions of her matches on the lips of many, including links to Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Nicholas II's cousin, which meant that she would have stayed in Russia and become like a Romanov bride. And even a proposed match to Prince Carol of Romania, which was eventually put on ice, given the war. But certainly, guys, a big old what-if. For had Olga married and gotten out of Russia, there really could have been one remaining Romanov Grand Duchess in the world. But alas, she didn't. Tatyana too, had a wartime dalliance, or at least, we think, with another wounded officer named Dmitri Malamar, a cavalry officer whose attachment with the Grand Duchess was so affectionate, that he even gave her a puppy, a French bulldog called Ortepo.

• 12:08Speaker 02

  Which, I always look back on, like, this 1916 period for the girls, and even before, the couple of years before in the war. And I do feel, you know, kind of glad that they got to experience the world in this way. Not, of course, dismissing the horrors of World War I, because obviously we'd rather not have that and keep the girls locked in palaces. But I think it was in many ways a bit of a gift for them to escape from the gilded cages of their childhood. Alexandra too, became a nurse during the war effort, exposing her to the realities of what was going on outside of Russia, while she tried to manage the affairs inside of it, turning further and further into religion and therefore Rasputin, with the horrors she was seeing.

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• 13:50Speaker 02

  So this is all basically a big fucking mess, okay? With two key groups remaining that we haven't really mentioned. The aristocracy and the wider Imperial family. We've kind of put them on ice. We haven't heard much from these individuals and groups, like, in this story a lot. So let's start with the wider Imperial family, namely the woman who kick-started this series, the Dowager Empress Maria Fedorovna, who we haven't really checked in with since, I think, like, the second episode and the death of Alexander III. So what's she been up to these last 20 years or so? Well, after her husband's death, Maria covered her devastation by quickly establishing herself as the powerful Dowager Empress, which was relatively easy for her to do,

• 14:33Speaker 02

  as she was a woman who was already beloved and respected by both the Russian people and the Romanov court, who could now step into a different kind of role as grandmother to the heirs and to the nation, where she maintained her own court and residences and continued attending ceremonies, entertaining and participating in charitable work, which she actually did a lot of, guys. And she picked up, in many ways, a lot of the slack for Alexandra when she was kind of busy with Alexei's health issues, which, again, no one knows about. I just keep saying, "no one knows about", we get it, okay? It's a secret. People are shocked. They're hiding it from everyone. I'm not going to bring it up again. She was also very close to Nicky during this period, but she became increasingly frustrated by his politics.

• 15:18Speaker 02

  You remember when we spoke about Maria in episode two, I think it was? Guys, we've covered so much. I'm like, trying to remember where everything was placed. And we said how she was incredibly smart, right? She's good at reading people. And for while she still was conservative, she was also really pragmatic. And as such, after the 1905 Bloody Sunday Revolution, recognised that the monarchy needed to adapt, expressing her concern at Nicholas's resistance to any kind of political compromise, which Alexandra then really came back against, feeling this was her mother-in-law overstepping her position, which led to a deterioration in the relationship between the two, which, again, guys, only increases with Rasputin entering the picture,

• 16:02Speaker 02

  because Maria Fedorovna fucking hates him. Again, we said, she's a great judge of character. She's looking at this guy being like, "what the fuck", which, she's apparently the only one doing so. As for her involvement in World War I, she threw herself into the Red Cross and spent her time in Kiev, engaged in hospital work, where she made a very strong and very clear stance to Nicholas in 1915 against his decision to take personal command of the army, fearing that now, any loss, any misstep, any defeat, he would be personally blamed for. And she was not wrong. So, by 1916, Maria is heartbroken. "Her son would not listen to her. Russia was crippled. Alexandra and Rasputin are in the palace calling the shots,

• 16:47Speaker 02

  and the country and her people were hurting", which some members of the Imperial family felt had simply gone too far. And as such, began whispering about a coup. Now, I want to be clear. Maria wasn't involved in this, and when she and her daughter Xenia found out, they were outraged. But there were rumours amongst family members of forcing Nicky to abdicate and replacing him with Alexei, while Nicholas's younger brother, Grand Duke Michael, served as regent. Another name that came up was Grand Duke Nikolai, who, if you remember from last week, guys, he was Nicholas's cousin, who was the former commander-in-chief. He's booted from the job by Nicholas. He's super popular. And he was also the one, I can't remember if it was last week or the week before,

• 17:30Speaker 02

  where Sergey White tells Nicholas that he needs to, like, reform or create a dictatorship. So Nicholas goes to this guy and is like, "please be dictator", and he pulls out a gun and says, "I'll shoot myself in the head if you don't reform", that is Grand Duke Nikolai. So, perhaps this could have, like, worked out? Like I said, he is super popular and clearly, like, has his head screwed on, right? Still, these are all rumours, though. But one thing was for certain. The Imperial family, beyond the Winter Palace, are starting to sweat. And while no one saw the true nature of the writing on the wall, some scribbles are absolutely starting to form. The aristocracy, on the other hand, saw big, old, red letters. In particular, Rasputin.

• 18:14Speaker 02

  You see, the hard thing about monarchy, even with the British Royals today, I think we see this, is that people have treated them as such, like, important individuals. They're almost divine, that they become vessels for greater ideas. And as such, are easier to forgive when bad things happen, because you still want to believe in those ideas they represent. For example, here, it comes to top of mind for me, anyway, is Charles and, like, the Tampon Gate phone call with Camilla, right? Which we all still today go like, "fuck, that was weird", but he is now king and represents hundreds of years of history and tradition we still see value in, although, depends who you ask. I don't think the majority of Australians in particular see value in it.

• 18:58Speaker 02

  But anyway, it was the same for Nicholas and Alexandra in this example, especially amongst aristocratic circles who derived their own power and influence, and largely, I think, identities from their proximity to the Romanovs themselves as their kind of peers. Which is why they didn't see Nicholas and Alexandra necessarily as the problem, but rather Rasputin's nefarious hold over them. Which is exactly why a group of aristocrats and even an Imperial family member decided that what they had to do was kill him. Put an end to the mad monk, the Siberian mystic, the wondrous healer, once and for all. And only then could the Romanovs, and therefore Russia, be free.

• 19:43Speaker 02

  Led by Prince Felix Yusupov, one of the richest men in Russia and husband to Nicholas's niece, Irina, alongside Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Nicholas's first cousin, and pro-Tsarist politician Vladimir Pereshkovich, a plan was made to lure Rasputin away from the palace and strike him down. But, how does one kill a man who was not only meant to be a mystic, but who had just survived an assassination attempt a few years earlier, when a woman came up to him in the street and almost disemboweled him? Again, I've got the full story about that in the Rasputin episode, which is linked in the Romanov playlist in the show notes for you guys. But Rasputin survives this, right? His, like, intestines are literally out of his body, laying in the dirt, and he still survives.

• 20:27Speaker 02

  So how are you going to kill this man? Well, you do the same as any hunter does with their prey. Lure them with the thing they want the most, which for Rasputin was proximity to the Imperial family and sex. So, Yusupov wrote to Rasputin, telling him of his wife, Princess Irina's illness, something which he knew the monk would want a chance to attend to as kind of, you know, the Imperial healer. But it couldn't just be any old sickness, for in the last year, following his prior assassination attempt and kind of all the gossip at court about him, Rasputin had become paranoid of threats against his life, writing to the Empress early in 1916, saying that, quote, "If one of your relations shall bring upon my death,

• 21:10Speaker 02

  then none of your family will remain alive for more than two years. They will all be killed by the Russian people." Um, not sure, okay, if this is a threat or a promise or a prediction or just like a way to kind of safeguard himself, but this would turn out to be true, okay? Which is, again, like, I just, I don't know how to feel about Rasputin. Like, obviously I feel gross because he's so icky, and I don't believe that he is this, like, great mystic. But a hell of a lot of coincidences with the things he said, guys, to the point that like even I am raising eyebrows. Regardless of this though, the quote shows us that Rasputin was certainly aware of threats against him.

• 21:53Speaker 02

  So Yusupov had to give the right kind of sickness to lure him out of the palace, which he did. Telling the monk that he and his wife were in an open bisexual relationship and invited him to join the couple to try and aid his wife's sex addiction. Now, none of this was true. And Arena herself confirmed she was not there at the time, instead tucked safely away in Crimea. But she was aware of her husband's plan, which paid off, with Rasputin agreeing to attend the Yusupov Palace on the Moika River in Petrograd on December 12th, 1916, after having dinner with Alexandra and her four daughters, which would turn out to be their final meeting.

• 22:33Speaker 02

  The orgy slash healing session slash assassination was then scheduled for two days later, when Rasputin was picked up by the prince from his apartment close to midnight and driven to the Yusupov Palace, where he was ushered inside the basement. And according, at least to Yusupov's later memoirs, um, which is the first source we're going to talk about here, was told that Arena had guests upstairs and would join them soon for their sexual endeavour. And to kind of pass the time before then, he offers Rasputin tea and cakes which had been laced with cyanide. The monk then starts digging into them, is like nom nomming his way through them. However, he appears totally unaffected by the poison.

• 23:14Speaker 02

  Seriously, according to Yusupov, Rasputin just keeps shoving more and more food into his face without any effect taking hold, which he said was deeply unnerving. And again, guys, like, he and me is 90% certain this guy's a charlatan. But that pesky 10% is rearing its head, when despite the volumes of cyanide, nothing happened. He had another shot though, he's got another like card up his sleeve. But naturally, if you shove your face full of cakes, you're gonna get thirsty. So Yusupov offered Rasputin Madeira wine, which had also been poisoned, and watched him drink three glasses, which, you know, Yusupov's like, this is gonna finish him off, let's get the job done.

• 23:55Speaker 02

  But still, he shows not a single sign of distress. Fed up and really freaked out, Yusupov excused himself to go upstairs at around 2:30 AM, where his fellow conspirators were waiting, and decided to do things the good old fashioned way, taking a revolver back to the basement and telling Rasputin, he had, quote, "better look at the crucifix and say a prayer", after which he shot him, once in the chest, killing the monk, or so they thought. For according to Yusupov, he reached down to take the man's pulse when he opened his eyes, leapt up and attacked Yusupov, who, after a struggle, manages to kind of free himself and run up the stairs with Rasputin hot on his heels,

• 24:37Speaker 02

  where he is shot again by Perishkovich, point blank in the head. Finally, once and for all, killing the mad monk. So this is a massive moment and guys, a massive crime, which the three now had to cover up. So they decide to take Rasputin's coat off his body and they get his hat and they drive back to his apartment, where one of them put on the outfit and walk upstairs to make it look as though Rasputin had returned home. Smart, before then sneaking out the back and returning to the Yusupov Palace, where they wrap Rasputin's body in cloth, drive him to the Petrovsky Bridge and drop the corpse into a broken bit of ice in the little Nevka River.

• 25:18Speaker 02

  However, as these guys are aristocrats and a politician and hardly criminal masterminds, they forgot to weigh the body down, so the corpse simply kind of floats under the underside of the frozen river like a figurine stuck in a snow globe. So that's Yusupov's version, okay, but there are lots of different versions of this story. As I said, this particular one is from the prince's memoir, but a modern analysis of Rasputin's body, published on the 100th anniversary of the event by Dr. Carolyn Harris of the University of Toronto, notes that the actual circumstances were less dramatic than Yusupov's accounts, which really, um, you know, he's kind of dramatized to make it seem that he is this great hero who has defeated the devil zombie who kind of won't die.

• 26:04Speaker 02

  Rasputin's own daughter backed up these claims, stating that her father abstained from sweet food and would never have eaten the supposedly poisoned cakes to begin with. In the end, an autopsy account by the official surgeon showed no record of poisoning and records death by a single bullet fired into the head at close range. So some of Yusupov's account is likely true, including this. Other accounts, however, still exist, including a version where Rasputin had water in his lungs, proving he was still alive when thrown in the river, and another where Yusupov arranged for Grand Duchess Tatiana to be present at the monk's death, claiming she was, quote, "disguised as a lieutenant of the Chevalier Guards", so that she could revenge herself on Rasputin, who had tried to violate her.

• 26:47Speaker 02

  The French ambassador to Russia also backed up these claims, detailing that Tatiana apparently witnessed Rasputin's penis being cut off before his death, but he doubted the credibility of the rumor that reached him. So lots of mythology and lots of kind of, um, legend building happening around here. But what we do know for certain is that news of Rasputin's murder spread like wildfire, with an investigation launched the next morning when two workmen discovered blood on the railing of the Petrovsky Bridge and a boot on the ice below, prompting a quick police search of the area where Rasputin's body was found under the ice, approximately 200 metres downstream from the bridge. Quick sticks, the ice was cut and the monk's frozen corpse was hauled out for autopsy,

• 27:30Speaker 02

  which found his penis intact, so sorry to all of those museums and kind of exhibitions out there, who claimed to have his giant peen on display, but it was very much connected to his body at death. Dmitry Kasorotov, the city's senior autopsy surgeon, also said Rasputin's body had shown signs of severe trauma, including three gunshot wounds, a sliced wound to his left hand and other injuries. But the cause of death was absolutely the one shot to the head, with no signs of water in the lungs or poison in the system. So what now, guys? Rasputin, the great terror of the imperial family, had been wiped off the chessboard.

• 28:09Speaker 02

  So surely this just fixes everything, it's sunshine and rainbows the next day and people are feeling mighty fine? Well, uh, no, it doesn't. In fact, after the death of Rasputin, Alexandra snaps with word reaching her of her confidante's murder. And when it was soon obvious after this that the Tsar's cousin and Yusupov were involved, Rasputin's prior warnings about her own family's death loomed over her. I really struggle with Alexandra, she's one of those figures that like, I want desperately to have sympathy for, and in many ways I do, like I've, I've made note deliberately to call out those points. But she just believes point blank everything that Rasputin tells her.

• 28:53Speaker 02

  And again, he is like a bit of a groomer, so I do, again, like struggle with it because I feel, I feel bad, but like you are responsible for this. And she saw this act by Yusupov and Dmitry as treason, effectively that was gonna curse her family because, you know, of Rasputin's letter. And as such, urges Nicholas to take immediate action to punish them. The response, however, was mild, with Yusupov and Arena being exiled, an act which ultimately saved them from the revolution. Meanwhile, Dmitry was sent to the front, which also saved him. As for Rasputin's body, well, it was buried on January 2nd, 1917 in a church in Zarskoye Selo, where the family planned to visit often.

• 29:37Speaker 02

  But this wouldn't be the case, for by the beginning of 1917, Russia was on fire. The war effort was going terribly wrong, with thousands of Russians dying every day and Nicholas having no real strategies to stop it, leading to internal mutinies within army divisions and some soldiers, literally guys, just going, I'm heading off. Yep, I'm gonna up and leave and go home, abandoning the war effort and taking themselves back to their villages, where they found a battered and bruised country upon return. According to the BBC, by 1916, inflation had reached 200% across the Russian Empire, with the value of the ruble plummeting and the price of goods soaring,

• 30:19Speaker 02

  which ultimately left the wives, daughters, children and elderly that these very soldiers had fought to protect, worse off than ever. The nation is starving, they are cold, they are desperate, and it is a recipe as old as time for one thing and one thing only. Revolution. And we aren't just talking, guys, about a planned protest, which we saw in 1905, or a fringe movement political assassination like we saw with Grand Duke Sergey. We are talking, by 1917, about a large-scale, mounted, organic attack on the institutions and power systems at B,

• 31:03Speaker 02

  which ultimately started over bread.

• 31:08Speaker 02

  That's right, my divas. From France to Russia, an absence of flour, water and yeast is the only spark you need to light the tinder of revolution. And after weeks of limited bread stocks, St Petersburg's bakeries finally ran out of its crusty loaves. Now, I love a baguette as much as the next person, okay? But why do so many revolutions start over bread? Like, we get it, you know? It's the perfect appetizer warmed with a side of delicious cultured butter, which is making my mouth water because I haven't eaten yet today. But it is just bread. However, for the peasants and the working class, it isn't just bread, and it had never been just bread. In fact, historically, bread as a product represents far more than just food,

• 31:53Speaker 02

  acting as the basic calorie source for the masses since the ancient world. So when ordinary people couldn't afford, or in Russia's case, access bread, it wasn't just an inconvenience, but a question of physical survival. And by February of 1917, when the temperature in St Petersburg reached negative 15 degrees Celsius, or 5 degrees Fahrenheit for my US divas, survival needed to be fought for. Which is exactly why the women of Petrograd would wake up in the dead of the night and spend hours—oh, I just made an Anastasia Rasputin musical, insert the song here—reference without even realising it. Love that for me. That's how ingrained I am in the Romanov

• 32:35Speaker 02

  world, guys. Any and all source material is embedded in my fundamental DNA at this point. But back to the women of St Petersburg, who, like I said, are waking up in the middle of the night and the early morning, spending hours in the snow-laden streets outside bakeries in hopes of a mere scrap being fed to their children, some even dying from exposure in the process. Eventually, enough was enough. And much like in the French Revolution with the fishwives storming of Versailles, the gals took matters into their own hands. Marching at noon on the 23rd of February alongside textile workers from the Viborg district, chanting "Bread, bread, bread" on a day that just so happened to be International

• 33:19Speaker 02

  Women's Day. Which FYI, guys, quick note here, kind of nerdy but necessary, these are the old calendar dates which we're going to use when talking from here on out. I just find it far easier and more historically accurate to track when we're talking about the February Revolution and beyond, which is why some of the dates may vary to what you see online or in other source material. Some may use the old calendar dates, some may use the new calendar dates, we are using the old. Hearing this commotion outside, men from local factories decided they'd like a piece of the action and abandoned their work to take to the streets where the chants changed from "Bread, bread, bread" to a unified "Down with the Tsar."

• 33:58Speaker 02

  This, guys, is the final domino to fall. For on this day, amongst these women marching for bread, the Romanov dynasty died with frustrations over supply merely a symptom of a much larger malignant issue which the Russian people had simply had enough of. And while police tried their level best to disperse the crowds, many still made it through as others joined, lending greater strength to the march, which merged around the city Duma building as night fell. Many thought this would be a one-day affair and breathed a sigh of relief when the protesters largely dispersed as the hours ticked by. But the next morning, the sun came out and so too did the people, this time with hammers, knives

• 34:43Speaker 02

  and pieces of iron, with approximately 150,000 women, workers and returned soldiers unleashing a rampage upon the city of Petrograd. Looting ran rife. As resources were seized and handed out amongst the crowds, shops were smashed as glass lined the streets like broken diamonds of a soon-to-be-fallen regime, with everyone converging on the Noveski Prospect, where students, teachers, children and shopkeepers joined the group, proving that nobody was going to let this momentum die down. And as such, made plans for total strikes with factories and food shops closing as the crowds

• 35:25Speaker 02

  swolled to over 200,000 strong. But, as large as this was and as fierce and determined as they were, there was one group who had to be converted for a revolution to actually occur: the soldiers. And while there have been plenty of examples of other revolutions throughout history which have happened without the armed forces, many of them require at least partial participation from the military to actually be effective, something which in Russia, guys, was absolutely necessary, as the Tsarist regime ultimately rested on armed force as its ultimate defence. For Nicholas could simply then order hundreds

• 36:07Speaker 02

  of thousands of loyal soldiers to shoot people in the streets and restore order, which is basically what he did when word reached him of the march on February 25th. Instantly, flashes of Bloody Sunday came front of mind for him, and he knew swift action had to be taken, instructing General Sergei Kabelov, a commander of the Petrograd Military District, to quote "stop the disorder in the capital tomorrow." And while Nicholas, of course, did not exactly write "go and fire on the crowds en masse", the only way to stop such a massive demonstration in such a short amount of time was through mass murder, which is what happened on February 26th, when troops were deployed across Petrograd,

• 36:49Speaker 02

  opening fire on demonstrators, killing and wounding hundreds of Russian civilians, the worst of which was in Snomenzka Square, where 50 protesters, including women and children, were shot dead. After this, there was nothing that even the most loyal of the Tsar's men could do to either stop the crowds or justify their actions, which is why by the evening of February 26th, the soldiers joined the crowd and with them, their weapons. Within hours, 40,000 rifles and 30,000 revolvers were a part of this fight. And as you can imagine, the scenes became utter chaos, with indiscriminate shots being fired between

• 37:30Speaker 02

  soldiers and police as civilians were murdered in the crosshairs. It was utter carnage, with people tripping on dead bodies in the snow-laden streets stained crimson-red with blood. Talk about, guys, being a fly on the wall and being able to go back to a certain period of time and just kind of stand there and watch. I cannot even imagine these scenes, which only escalated the day after when 8,000 prisoners were liberated to the cheers again of "Down with the Tsar." Speaking of which, guys, where the fuck is this guy? And why is he never, ever where he's meant to be?

• 38:13Speaker 03

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• 38:43Speaker 04

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• 39:13Speaker 02

  To be. Well, to be fair, he actually kind of was where he was meant to be, which was in Molyev at Army HQ, being commander of the forces, but he should have been back home, being commander of Russia. Which, to be fair to him for a minute, ugh, not that I want to do, his commanders did say the revolts were less destructive out of embarrassment that they couldn't really contain them. So he is being lied to by the people around him that are meant to be giving him information. Plus, he's not there in person, so he trusts Alexandra to send a telegram updating him. But she too was not at the Winter Palace. Instead, she was at the Alexander Palace in Zaskoyselo, where she initially told her husband, quote, "It's a hooligan movement. Young boys and girls running about and screaming

• 39:57Speaker 02

  they have no bread only to excite, but this will soon pass and quieten down." However, as the days passed, this tone changed and she soon became irritated, writing in her diary, quote, "Our people are idiots." This changed again to genuine fear as she wrote, quote, "Terrible things are happening in St Petersburg. Revolution." And she wasn't wrong here. This wasn't like 1905, where gunshots and shock value would disperse the crowds. And with Nicholas away, Alexandra simply did not know what to do. Again, she should never have been in this position, where this would have to be something she would have to deal with. And I think if I'm being really honest, looking back on these period... I don't think she really cared.

• 40:42Speaker 02

  Like, she did, of course, because she cared about her family's position and safety. But more than that, she cared about her family's health. And at this specific point, the imperial children are incredibly, incredibly unwell. Struck down with a nasty bout of measles, which kept them all bed bound. And the Empress focusing 100% of her attention to them, which some people say is super ignorant. And, you know, I totally get why and largely agree. But I think if we're being honest here, Alexandra has kind of looked around by February 27th, seen a burning ship, which we see in the note she sent directly to Nicholas. She literally says, "Revolution."

• 41:27Speaker 02

  And instead of trying to kind of, you know, jump ship or, or make it better, she just decides to wrap her arms around her children. Something which would ultimately be a grave error, but more on that later. So how did this all end then? How does one win a revolution logistically? I love a plan. I love a step-by-step guide. What are we doing? Well, it did largely come down to the activities on February 27th, with the mutiny of the army and the surrounding of the Duma, where a group of senior deputies under President Mikhail Rodzianko established the temporary committee of the state Duma, directly disobeying Nicholas's orders with the purpose of stopping the city from imploding

• 42:08Speaker 02

  and basically forming like an interim government while Nicholas's ministers and power brokers were being kind of rounded up and arrested. Which, I want to be clear here, on February 27th, when this is all happening, Nicholas is still Tsar and his government is still the recognized power, but it had no way of enforcing this, hence why it disintegrated and the temporary committee of the state Duma was able to form. But it was not the only party forming. For while the temporary Duma was made up of politicians and administrators, the workers, soldiers and marches formed the Petrograd Soviet. Meaning, guys, that on February 27th, we had three different governments trying to rule Russia.

• 42:51Speaker 02

  The Tsars, the temporary Duma and the Petrograd Soviet, who had to unite together to bring down the Tsar once and for all. And as such, engaged in almost two days' worth of discussions, where Alexander Kerensky, a Duma deputy and a prominent revolutionary force, emerged as a natural leader. In fact, more than that, he was kind of a celebrity. At 35 years old, he was energetic and an extraordinary public speaker, whose dual loyalty in the negotiations were essential in forming the new provisional government, which was led by Georgi Levov until July, after which Kerensky took over. Which is pretty extraordinary, guys, when we look at the revolution in this context, because it was not an organized coup by an existing body.

• 43:35Speaker 02

  This was launched by women in the streets, joined by men of all occupations and gained enough momentum to convert the military on its own. So a genuine, 100% certified, organic revolution, where the governing bodies have to be shaped after the fact, which is awkward, because by March 2nd, Nicholas is still Tsar and still at Military HQ. In fact, he had a telegram from the chairman of the state Duma on the 26th, which said, quote, "Serious situation, anarchy in the capital, government paralyzed." And if he'd left that day, perhaps he'd have had a chance of negotiating with the Duma

• 44:17Speaker 02

  and the revolutionaries, or, like, at the very least, get his family to safety. But he decided that this was just all bullshit, with Alexandra saying it was just troublemakers and his officials with him in Molyev saying that there was nothing to worry about. So he didn't even reply to this telegram, let alone get on his train and come back home. But now, with additional governments forming, he really had to high-tail it back. And as such, boarded the imperial train on March 2nd for Petrograd, travelling for several hours with no news of the situation in the Duma and no word from his family. Leading the Tsar to become increasingly agitated, until the train came to an abrupt stop,

• 44:58Speaker 02

  blocked by revolutionaries who controlled the tracks and would not let him pass, forcing the Tsar to divert to the city of Pskov. Here, Nicholas met with senior military commanders for an update on the situation, where it became crystal clear that this was the end of the Romanov dynasty. If not altogether, at least in the way it had been for the last 300 years. With Nicholas telling the Duma and the revolutionaries, they could have whatever concessions they wanted. A total constitutional monarchy, it's yours. Me and my family, living in the countryside, away from the politics and power, yours. Our palaces, our jewels, our art collections, our wealth, all up for grabs. But that's not what they wanted.

• 45:43Speaker 02

  The only thing that anyone at this point would accept was the complete and total abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Which, I do want to clarify, guys, here, and is often a misconception. While this was an abdication of Nicholas as Tsar, it was not a dissolution of the monarchy, at least not at first. In fact, Nicholas initially agreed to abdicate the throne and hand over rule to Alexei, with his brother Grand Duke Michael ruling this region until Alexei came of age. However, would that actually happen? This sickly child, whose disease is still largely a secret, oh, I've mentioned it again. Anyway, this sickly child who's got this disease and can barely stand if he's knocked around,

• 46:26Speaker 02

  like, how can he rule through such a turbulent time without dying? Plus, this wouldn't have stopped Nicholas and Alexandra being exiled, which meant they would have been separated from their young son. So Nicholas changed his mind at the last minute and instead named his younger brother Grand Duke Michael as his heir. Which FYI, guys, if you've never seen a picture of Grand Duke Michael, do yourself a favour and look him up, okay? He is a hottie and he also has a super solid sense of character, who, unlike the majority of the Romanovs, knew how to read a room and as such, refused to accept the throne unless it was approved by an elected assembly. Something that hadn't happened since the first Romanov Tsar, whose name was also Michael.

• 47:11Speaker 02

  But this was not 1613 and the provisional government was not going to vote Michael in. So it was at this point that the Russian monarchy effectively came to an end, with Nicholas signing the abdication papers at 11:40pm on May 2nd, 1917, setting off again at 1am back to Molyev, writing in his diary, "All around me is treachery, cowardice and deceit." Back at Military HQ, Nicholas has loose ends to tie up, including formally relinquishing supreme command of the armed forces, receiving military reports, meeting senior officials and saying goodbye to the officers and staff with whom he'd been living and working with. He also had the chance, very fortuitously at that,

• 47:56Speaker 02

  to reunite with his mother and sister who were in Kiev when the revolution broke out and bravely decided to travel to Military HQ, despite the risk, to meet with Nicholas after hearing of the abdication. Here, Maria Fedorovna spent days with her son, writing in her diary, "I feel awfully sick at heart. What else might happen, Lord? Help us." And she had a reason to be nervous. For on March 8th, at 4:45pm, Nicholas boarded his train to be reunited with his family, marking the last time the mother and son would ever see one another. So that's Nicholas, guys, and that's the end of the Russian monarchy there on a train.

• 48:35Speaker 02

  How many documents and how many, like, abdications and surrenders have been done on trains, I wonder? Probably a question for Francis Bourgeois Trainspotter, he probably knows. Um, but it's pretty wild. It seems to be a consistent, a consistent kind of thread throughout this. But Nicholas has abdicated as Tsar, the Russian monarchy has been dissolved. But what about Alexandra and the imperial children? Well, during all of this, they remained at the Alexander Palace in Zarskoye Selo, with the children, as we said, in the midst of a very nasty bout of the measles, which swept through the palace with remarkable severity, killing several servants. So this place was already on lockdown, but for medical reasons, with rooms being darkened to protect their inflamed eyes,

• 49:20Speaker 02

  while fevers left them exhausted and bedridden for days on end. So how does Nicholas deliver the news?

• 49:28Speaker 03

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• 49:59Speaker 01

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• 50:26Speaker 02

  Experian. Of their future. Well, from Alexandra's side, we're not entirely certain what went down, but we do know that she found out about her husband's formal abdication on March 3rd during a brief and guarded call with the Tsar himself, who reportedly asked "you know", to which she replied "yes", before the two were then abruptly disconnected by eavesdropping operators. As for other sources within the family, we know from the children's French tutor Pierre Giliard that Alexandra was aware of the next steps a few days later, calling him into her study to inform him that General Lavar Kornilov had arrived at the Alexander Palace on behalf of the provisional government to officially place her and the children under house arrest while they waited for the Tsar, or former Tsar, to arrive.

• 51:12Speaker 02

  So what now? What logistically happens when the former rulers of the world's largest empire are transformed into prisoners and pawns? Well, unlike the French Revolution, which had a series of trials, albeit in a kangaroo court, there was no deciding the family's guilt or innocence, which is why I think so many people really find the Russian Revolution so fascinating, because it's not like what we've seen before. Nicholas isn't thrown into a prison cell or kind of paraded before the people. Instead, the government actually allow him to travel back to Zarskoye Selo to be with his family, arriving to the familiar halls not as Tsar, but as a prisoner on March 9th, 1917. Here, he was greeted by his former guards,

• 51:55Speaker 02

  whose job it was to no longer keep people out, but rather keep him in. Still recovering from the measles, the rest of the Romanovs were waiting for Nicholas upstairs, where one of the most deeply emotional and uncertain reunions in Russian imperial history took place, as Nicholas essentially has to tell his family, namely, his son, that they would no longer rule Russia. Of this, Alexandra later wrote that despite everything they had lost, they were simply grateful to be together, with Nicholas embracing each of his children, relieved that they had survived and were for the first time since the revolution now under the same roof. Although it was under very different circumstances, but now they were on total house arrest, which I've always found really fascinating.

• 52:40Speaker 02

  Like, imagine you have all of this power and that dynamic shifting like almost overnight. It's crazy. So I want to run you guys through a bit of what this house arrest for the Romanovs look like. You know, what are their daily routines? What are they getting up to? And how do you manage an imperial family from the guards' point of view? So, first and foremost, life under house arrest began immediately for the Romanovs once Nicholas returned home, with soldiers being stationed throughout the palace grounds and inside the building itself. Every moment of every day, the family's movements were both tightly watched and controlled, with no ability to leave the estate without express permission and correspondence being tightly censored, with even the telephones being disconnected.

• 53:24Speaker 02

  So this is a proper blackout for the family, right? Who were cut off from the world around them, including from Maria Fedorovna, who returned to Kiev after Nicholas departed. And despite the monarchy's dissolution, she continued to support the war effort. Which FYI, yes, was still going on. Russia is still in World War I despite this change in leadership. Here, Maria remained at the local hospital before eventually being told that revolutionary members of staff considered her presence undesirable. After which, the provisional government granted her leave to move to Crimea, kind of take her off the chessboard. But, back to the imperial family in the Alexander Palace, the kind of beating heart of this house arrest. So, at first, I don't think they actually minded that much about their day-to-day activities being lessened,

• 54:08Speaker 02

  which I think is another of the biggest misconceptions about the last imperial family, who we kind of think of in association with things like, you know, being dripping in gold and jewels and lace with their Faberge eggs and fancy swords and blah, blah, blah, blah. And yes, they had all of those things. But Nicholas and Alexandra raised their kids in far more mundane conditions. As we said, they slept on hard beds. They dressed themselves. They weren't permitted certain luxuries and remained relatively basic in their everyday lives. Again, within the context of being Grand Duchess's and the Tsarovich. So this isn't too far-fetched from them. After all, they are still living in their same imperial bedrooms, sleeping in their same imperial beds,

• 54:53Speaker 02

  continuing to dine together and yes, were served by a reduced number of loyal servants, but they were still in their own palace with servants, period. But when guards did begin searching their rooms, the confiscation of valuables and the imposition of strict rules did begin to occur. But they refused to be beaten, especially Nicholas, who was determined to maintain a sense of normality for his family, believing that a strict routine would preserve morale and dignity. So, each day, the family rose around 8:00 in the morning, washing and dressing shortly after, before gathering for prayers and breakfast, which was served very humbly in comparison to the buffets they were used to, instead consisting of porridge, bread, tea, eggs and kind of whatever scraps of additional food

• 55:37Speaker 02

  remained during wartime shortages. As for Nicholas's daily tasks, well, he devoted much of the morning to reading, which he indulged in his whole life, taking particular interest in history books, military memoirs and religious texts, all of which now have a particular kind of irony for just how spectacularly he failed in all three of those areas. He also carefully recorded daily events in his diary, noting everything from the weather to the behaviour of guards, and it actually still exists and is preserved in the State Archive of the Russian Federation in Moscow, although largely edited, I am sure. So what about Alexandra? How is she? What's going on with her? Well, she also spent hours reading religious works and writing letters, although very few were ever sent.

• 56:21Speaker 02

  And, to be honest, guys, in these early weeks after the abdication, again, her focus is on her children and her own health. Speaking of which, how are the kids feeling? Thankfully, they were on the mend, with the Grand Duchess's long flowing hair having to be shaved to treat the measles more effectively. But besides this, they remained in relatively good spirits. And, they remained busy, with Nicholas and Alexandra being determined that their children would continue their education and insisted their lessons in English, French, history and literature continue under the supervision of tutors, who were allowed to remain with them in the house arrest agreement. They also devoted time to sewing, embroidery, knitting and caring for their clothing, which becomes very important later, so we will come back to that.

• 57:06Speaker 02

  As for Alexei, his routine differed from the rest of the family because of his hemophilia, so outside time was limited and watched like a hawk. But he did supplement this by reading adventure stories, playing simple games with his sisters and spending time with his beloved Spaniel Joy, who remained with the family throughout this period. Afternoons for the rest of the family often included exercise in the gardens, as Nicholas believed physical labour was essential for maintaining health and, most importantly, dignity, which he refused to compromise on, even an inch while under house arrest. So together with his daughters, he chopped firewood, cleared snow during winter and tended vegetable gardens, much to the surprise of visitors and guards, who found it incredibly bizarre that their former emperor was kind of always carrying around logs

• 57:51Speaker 02

  or working with an axe. But, it appears Nicholas found genuine satisfaction in this, and there is a trend of kind of Tsars, Kaisers, dictators being exiled and then taking up wood chopping. The Kaiser did this like prolifically after World War I eventually finished. As for the evenings, this was when the family really clung to one another, alongside their crew of various doctors, valets, ladies maids and tutors who were allowed to remain with them. Here, in the glow of candlelight and heat of the small hearth, the Romanovs played cards, read books, sang songs around the piano and staged amateur theatricals to lift one another's spirits. The Grand Duchess's in particular were devoted to cheering the younger brother up, entertaining him whenever his illness confined him to bed

• 58:36Speaker 02

  or his mother's anxiety ultimately sent him into deep sadness. It was also in these evenings and really, throughout their entire time under house arrest, that religion became even more essential to the family, which, after the effects of Rasputin, one would think they probably had their fill of, but that was not the case. It honestly all just drove them closer to God, with increased prayer and veneration observed by all family members, but none so much as the former Empress, who ultimately believed that their suffering now was a test of their faith from God. From Nicholas's point of view, however, he used all these elements of daily life to maintain calm and normalcy, as we said, ultimately believing that this mattered more than dwelling on political events beyond his control.

• 59:21Speaker 02

  Which, guys, like, just in case there was any kind of shadow of doubt that Nicholas still had some kind of power here, he didn't. Everything was well and truly beyond his control. For not only was he no longer Tsar, but his extended family, who could have possibly helped him, was scattered, or currently scattering, across Europe. Including, as we said, his mother and his two sisters, Olga and Zhenya, while his brother Michael lived a relatively quiet life post-revolution at Kachinka Palace. As for the aristocracy and lesser imperial family members, some went into hiding, others were killed, others made backdoor deals trying to take back the throne for themselves, and a select few even tried to arrange their escape.

• 1:00:03Speaker 02

  Which is when we leave Russia for a minute and look across the pond instead to the Brits. Now, some of you may be listening to this whole series for this specific discussion and only for this discussion, so if that's you, even if it's not you, best lock in, okay? Because it's a twisty tale with a lot of exaggeration, flood-out lies, and some truths mixed in amongst there, which has really surged in popularity in the last few years thanks to the Crown's portrayal, uh, which, if you haven't seen The Crown, it's a TV show about the Windsor family, um, of the family dynamic in the episode titled "Impatiev House". So let's get into it, guys, starting with a recap on the relationship between the Romanovs

• 1:00:47Speaker 02

  and the newly-named Windsors. So, Maria Fedorovna, mother of Nicholas and grandmother of the imperial children, is the sister of Dowager Queen Alexandra of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, making Nicholas the first cousin and the near-spitting image of current King George V of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. Again, guys, if you have not seen a photo of Tsar Nicholas II beside George V, if you're on video, here it is, but if you aren't, go and look it up, I'll also post it to the socials because it is wild. George V was also the first cousin of Alexandra, whose mother was one of Queen Victoria's children.

• 1:01:28Speaker 02

  So to make this really simple, both the former Tsar and the former Tsarina have a king for a first cousin, who was alerted of the abdication on the day it happened by his officials of Buckingham Palace, writing in his diary that evening, quote, "After he has been 23 years emperor, I am in despair", obviously referring to Nicholas here. "And it would not be the kind of despair he did nothing about. Instead, George and his government, aided by the foreign ambassador, put plans in place to send a ship to bring the Romanovs safely to England", which, you may be asking, why? Well, again, let me remind you, extraordinarily in all of this, guys, Russia is still engaged in World War I.

• 1:02:11Speaker 02

  And despite the Romanovs as the family members of the Windsors being deposed, the British government still needs to maintain their reliance with the new provisional Russian government, who began having a real Romanov problem in the months after the February Revolution, with the threat of keeping the family in the country as a rallying point for pro-monarchists growing louder and louder every day. As such, the Brits offered to take the imperial family out of the government's hands, offering them asylum, which again, made sense given the ties to the Windsors, who genuinely wanted to save the family and keep the provisional government on track, plus, you know, still fighting Germany. But, this would only go ahead if the king gave his support, which, of course, he did.

• 1:02:56Speaker 02

  These are both of his first cousins, after all. So a plan was put together to rescue the Romanovs, which got so far into development, guys, that the logistics still exist today. So, what was this kind of great, daring plot? What did it entail? Well, basically, the whole plan hinged on one specific detail, that the family remained at the Alexander Palace, because only here could they be negotiated for and escorted by British officials, who would load the family onto a guarded train from Petrograd to the northern port of Memansk, which remained connected to Britain through allied shipping routes. From there, a Royal Navy vessel would carry the family across the North Sea to Britain,

• 1:03:41Speaker 02

  where they would reside quietly at one of the royal estates as extended family members of the Windsors. And as I said, guys, this version of the plan was so far in the works that the tickets for the train were even booked. Like, again, all throughout this, like, six-part series, we talk about huge what-ifs, right? The fucking tickets for the train had their names on them. But the Romanovs never made the journey, for it was never going to be so cut and dry as simply loading them on a train and stowing them away in the countryside somewhere. So what actually happened? Why did this not go ahead?

• 1:04:23Speaker 02

  Well, firstly, as we said, this plan required King George V's complete and total agreement. And as the days turned to weeks and weeks turned to months, he and his government started to have second thoughts. Not for a lack of love or wantedness to help, but for the genetics of it all. Like we said, guys, the royal families of Europe are all one big shared gene pool, thanks largely to Queen Victoria, who hailed from Germany, as did her own husband Albert, with the British royal family taking the last name of Saks, Coburg, and Gotha all the way up until July 1917, after which it was changed to Windsor to sound more British, given the rising anti-German sentiment thanks to the war.

• 1:05:06Speaker 02

  Which, for context, guys, was six-ish months after the Russian Revolution, where the Tsarina as a German-born princess was the subject of a massive anti-German hate campaign, being called "A Spy, A Bitch, and A German Witch". So the British royals are already trying to distance themselves from their German heritage, which certainly wouldn't be helped if they brought a near-full-blooded German princess into the country, which they already feared would encourage revolutionary behaviour in Britain itself, anyway. So George and his government really had to weigh up this decision, as did the provisional government and Alexander Korensky, who did want the Romanovs gone because of the rising

• 1:05:49Speaker 02

  anti-monarchical sentiment, but also because he did genuinely fear for them, with rapid political violence on the rise as the months passed since the February Revolution, which we'll get to in a minute. But let's stay on the British rescue plan for now, which unfortunately, as we said, was pulled, with all parties getting cold feet once Korensky decided to send the family to Tbolsk in Siberia, away from the rising fervour and threat in Petrograd. Which really put the nail in the coffin for any plans of rescue here, with the best chance of the Romanovs ever surviving the revolution being an escape, one in the early days around the February Revolution, like, before the abdication in that period where things were kind of going on, which, again, never would have happened as the children

• 1:06:34Speaker 02

  were too sick to travel, and Alexandra, never, ever, in a million years, would have left the country without Nicholas. Like, it's genuinely inconceivable that she would have done this, so it's not really even an option, which left the British plan, which again, went up in smoke. And while there were still plans in the works and negotiations with the Brits for weeks after the family were moved, the war left railroads fragmented, and there was no real way to ensure the mission could be pulled off. Eventually, the Brits did pull through, though, in 1919 for Maria Fedorovna and her daughter and son-in-law, Zhenya and Sandro, alongside her children, Arena Alexandrovna and several other sons, plus the Yusopovs, the Black Princesses, and their husbands,

• 1:07:15Speaker 02

  one of which was Grand Duke Nikolai, the former Supreme Commander of the Russian Army, whose job Nicholas faithfully took in 1915. But, no rescue, for the seven former imperial family members, who were now being held in the two-story mansion of the former governor of Tbolsk, which was nothing in comparison to the Alexander Palace. Not only was it unfamiliar to the Romanovs, but it was significantly more fortified. Surrounded by a high wooden fence, guards controlled every entry and every exit. And while they lived in neighbouring buildings, giving some privacy to the family within the home, the guards still patrolled the upper and lower floors on strict rounds throughout the day to account for every person and every conversation.

• 1:07:58Speaker 02

  This, now, was proper house arrest. With all of their letters being censored, newspapers arriving irregularly with large chunks missing, and visitors, if any, rarely permitted. Telephone calls were impossible, and slowly, day by day, the Romanov family had little reliable information about what was happening in their nation. For while they knew for certain, thanks to the whispers of their guards, that it was descending into chaos, they could only speculate about how, who, where, and when these events were occurring, keeping their fingers crossed always that rescue by loyal monarchists was imminent. But this wasn't the political change sweeping the nation. That was something, or should I say, someone else.

• 1:08:42Speaker 02

  That's right, my divas, it is finally his shining moment. After weeks of soft-launching him in an episode here and an episode there, we are finally giving our dues to one Vladimir Lenin. Now, as we've said, after the Tsar's abdication, power passed to the Russian provisional government, with Georgi Levov leading to July, after which Korensky took over, with the aim of organising democratic elections, writing a brand-new constitution, and continuing to fight the war, which all sounds fabulous, but the reality of doing this, guys, is very different. Because while the system may have changed, that of a Tsar to a government, the same problems still existed.

• 1:09:27Speaker 02

  You have huge mortality rates from the war, a real lack of food, a struggle for resources, and, as such, the social discontent that comes with these, which allowed the Petrograd Soviet, remember we spoke about them from the initial February Revolution on the 27th, to gain power. So while the provisional government was established by that temporary duma and Petrograd Soviet Agreement, the latter still very much existed, and within it, growing like a wild oak in spring, was Vladimir Lenin, leader of the radical Bolshevik Party, who wanted to establish the world's first communist state by promising the people peace, land, bread, and the abolishment of private property.

• 1:10:09Speaker 02

  They became known as the Reds and Lenin was their champion. Now, as we said before, he was in exile and remained in Switzerland during the February Revolution. But when word reached him that the Tsar was out and Russia belonged to the people, he arranged with the German government to travel from Zurich through Germany to Russia via train, saying before the vehicle set off, "I'm either going to be dead or ruler in a few months", which, given his travelling in the midst of a war zone, did check out. Still, he and thirty of his comrades set off and started formulating a plan for Revolution 2.0, which according to the BBC, included gaining control of the Petrograd Soviet,

• 1:10:50Speaker 02

  which they'd use to take power over the provisional government and launch yet another revolution. This one more of a coup than an organically started kind of street rave. By April 16, 1917, Lenin finally made the journey back to St Petersburg, where he was greeted by hundreds of workers and soldiers, who waited for his words with bated breath, which he delivered on top of a car, where he declared all power to the Soviets, clearly implying that the Bolsheviks did not believe in the provisional government, nor in an elected assembly, but rather they wanted to go straight to Soviet rule. It was here that he delivered this whole spiel about peace and land and bread, which became his motto, promising the Russian people an end to the war, land for the peasants, and a resolution to the food shortages.

• 1:11:36Speaker 02

  He also wanted banks to be nationalised, workers to take control of the country's industry, and a militia made up of the people to replace the police and army. So basically, just like, straight up communism. But it wasn't so easy to pull off, because the Petrograd Soviet was dominated by other revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, who he'd have to overthrow. And even once he'd done that, he'd still have to take on the provisional government. So big battles ahead for Lenin. But, he had a supporter, and a prominent one at that, Leon Trotsky, a famous Russian revolutionary who became the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet in September, making him the perfect companion for the Second Revolution. In this dynamic duo, Trotsky served as the principal organiser of the action,

• 1:12:21Speaker 02

  establishing a Bolshevik militia formed of armed factory workers, soldiers and sailors, which was called the Red Guard. Meanwhile, Lenin was the political strategist pushing for the seizure of power, and really is kind of the face of the movement, which launched on October 24, 1917, when Trotsky mobilised his Red Guard in the middle of the night to take railway stations, bridges and other strategic points. After this, Kerensky realised he needed military reinforcements and escaped the Winter Palace in the early hours of the 25th, which left the remaining provisional government ministers stranded, like, fully trapped inside the palace with no instructions and no forces to protect them,

• 1:13:02Speaker 02

  allowing Lenin to announce at 10am that, quote, "The provisional government has been deposed", which was slightly premature, because at that exact moment, the provisional government, as we said, were still alive inside the Winter Palace, which became the site of a siege. Or at least it was, until that evening when the Red Guard found their way inside, arresting the ministers and taking power by the time the sun rose on the 26th. Meaning, the October Revolution had been won. Many within the Petrograd Soviets saw this as a breach of power by tyrants and left the party in disgust, allowing the Bolsheviks to fully seize control and fully seize the goodies that come with the Romanov Treasury.

• 1:13:44Speaker 02

  That's right, guys, we've spoken about what happened to the Romanov family themselves after the revolution, and we're gonna get back to them in a minute, I swear. But what happened to all of their stuff? After all, they were the wealthiest royal family in Europe at the time, until, you know, they weren't. So, starting with the palaces, which as we already said includes the Winter Palace in St Petersburg, the kind of official home and offices of the Tsars, which was taken by the Bolsheviks when they arrested the ministers. Here, the Red Guard pillaged what remained, with many of the Romanov's personal items, including clothing, letters, documents and art, being looted in the process. I'll post some photos, um, to the socials of the kind of aftermath of their raid, but it was pretty brutal, guys.

• 1:14:29Speaker 02

  After which, the building was turned into the State Hermitage Museum, which remains one of the world's largest art museums to this day. As for the Romanov's other palaces, there was the Catherine and Alexander Palace, both located in Zarskoye Selo, the latter of which is where the Romanov family were held under house arrest, um, to begin with, we already kind of spoke about that. But interestingly, guys, I didn't know this, it was nationalised after the Bolsheviks took power in that late 1917 period and opened as a museum by 1918. So only a year after the revolution, or the February one at least, members of the public were able to waltz through the final home of the Romanov family. Pretty fucking morbid. Others were occupied by government officers and many minor palaces were abandoned.

• 1:15:14Speaker 02

  But what about the personal items of the Romanovs? Well, things like books, clothes and smaller items were allowed to be kept by the family under house arrest. But, the one possession that you really want to have if you're a royal who needs to start anew, and, pack lightly, is jewels. And with over 300 years of rule, the Romanov collection held everything, from the grand crown of Catherine the Great, to huge rubies, emeralds, diodes, tiaras and all matter of other glistening goodness, which was called the Diamond Fund. Now, these were largely the state-owned crown jewels, which were worth billions of dollars in today's figures, with some parts being liquidated by auctions in the 1920s to help fund the Soviet regime,

• 1:15:57Speaker 02

  including the 1927 auction at Christie's, which saw 569 of the total 773 pieces of the Diamond Fund sold to various buyers from European royals, to art dealers, to American businessmen, to members of the British family, all of whom wanted a piece of Romanov plunder. But the Romanovs had far more jewels than the Diamond Fund, which they managed to actually take with them, and will become prominent in next episode. But the Romanovs didn't just like jewellery you could wear, they liked jewellery you could play with. And for that, they had their famed Faberge eggs, which again, guys, I've done two episodes on, um, and you can find in the playlist in the show notes.

• 1:16:38Speaker 02

  These too were inventoried after the October Revolution, with some pieces remaining in the Kremlin, but most of them being sold off around the world, between the British royal family, wealthy Americans, Qatari princes and Russian oligarchs alike. But, we're getting very, very far ahead of ourselves. So let's stay present in October of 1917, when the Bolsheviks have won their Second Revolution, Lenin and Trotsky are in power, and not everyone is happy about it. That's right, guys, for, on top of fighting an actual world war, a civil war is now breaking out in Russia between the newly-formed Red Army and the White Army, which was basically a mix of different groups, including former officials from the Tsar's Imperial Army,

• 1:17:21Speaker 02

  monarchists who wanted the Romanovs restored, liberals who wanted a democratic government, conservatives and like, even some socialists who opposed Lenin's authoritarian rule. So, a real mixed bag, right? Which presented a unique threat for Lenin and the Bolsheviks, as the Romanov family, who were now under their control, could easily become a rallying point for the Whites. So what does he do with them? This is the big billion-dollar question that everyone's trying to figure out. What do you do with a former imperial family once they've been stripped of their titles? Well, firstly, he ensured any of the prior respectful atmosphere the family had from local guards in Tbilisq evaporated, replacing them instead with Bolshevik radicals

• 1:18:04Speaker 02

  who absolutely despised the family. So, you wanna talk about like, living with your enemy? Both the Romanovs and the Bolsheviks experienced this while under the roof of the governor's mansion in Tbilisq, which made Nicholas nervous about what this meant for his family, but still, he took the news of the revolution with relative composure. Unlike Alexandra, who regarded the Bolsheviks as the family's gravest threat. Which, to be honest, guys, this is one of her sharpest moments. For in comparison to Nicholas here, she was the savvy one, knowing that the family's woes were far from over, and as such, turned to the one thing she believed could save them: money.

• 1:18:48Speaker 02

  For while the family bank accounts had all been frozen and their possessions inventoried and kind of sold off, the Emperor still had over 150 personal jewels, valued at over 3.2 million rubles in her cases, which she gave to the nuns of the Tbilisq Ivanovsky monastery, who hid them for the family to ensure they had a nest egg tucked away should they escape. So at least she's kind of thinking practically. But that all became her last priority when in the winter of 1917, Alexei suffered another very serious hemophilia attack after a minor fall, leaving him unable to walk. Now, this is obviously terrible, right? Like, I feel so sorry for Alexei throughout this whole thing.

• 1:19:31Speaker 02

  He's just this poor boy riddled with pain and kind of everyone hates him. Everyone's speculating about him and everyone kind of blames him for Rasputin, like, it's just fucked up. But at this point, he's kind of used to the pain and the family are pretty equipped to deal with his treatment. But a spanner is absolutely thrown in the works with this. It probably all would have been fine, like, with him being sick, if not for the Bolsheviks deciding to move the family in April of 1918. For they decided that Tbilis was no longer safe for the family with the approaching White Army and as such, wanted to transfer them to Ekaterinburg instead. Deep in the Urals in Bolshevik-controlled provinces, this would hide the family from the White Army, who, as we said, are kind of making real advances,

• 1:20:15Speaker 02

  while also allowing the strictest and most loyal of guards to watch them like hawks. Now, again, this would have been fine, except Alexei was too ill to travel and the Bolsheviks wouldn't wait for him to heal, which meant Nicholas, Maria and Alexandra were forced to separate from the rest of their family, departing ASAP, leaving Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia and Alexei back in Tbilis, under the care of loyal servants until the boy could travel. And so the family were now ripped apart, with all of them uncertain if they'd ever see one another once more. But they did, with Alexei's condition improving by May 1918,

• 1:20:56Speaker 02

  after which the remaining children were transported to Empatiyev House in Ekaterinburg, unknowingly reuniting the family for the final time. Yes, it was here, in the old white mansion that was fortified like something out of Zero Duck Thirty, that the Romanovs would spend their final weeks, watched over by their new guards, who were without a doubt the most radical of revolutionaries to date. Hating the Tsar and despising his family, this troupe, loyal only to Lenin and led by Bolshevik radical and military defector Yakov Yurovsky, watched the Romanov family every moment of every day as they went about their business, unaware of what awaited them in the coming months, under the roof of the House of Special Purpose.

• 1:21:41Speaker 02

  Which, we're gonna discuss next Tuesday, guys. I know, leaving you on suspense, I'm sorry, but we are going to cover everything in that final part of the series, from the fate of the family minute by minute in their final moments, what happened to their remains and their possessions, the formation of the USSR and most importantly, whether one Grand Duchess still lived. Which brings us to the end of another episode of Hot History, guys. Thank you so much for tuning in with me on this one, guys. I know it's very, very long, but there's just so much to cover and I hope you are enjoying. If not, don't worry, we're almost at the end with the grand finale next Tuesday. If you aren't sick of the sound of my voice by now, though, you can follow us on Instagram and Substack at History Club

• 1:22:25Speaker 02

  and on YouTube and TikTok at Hot.History. As always, guys, it's been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you and I will speak to you all shortly. Thanks, guys. Love you. Bye.

• 1:22:40Speaker 02

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

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