Announcement in the local newspaper by Bolshevik War Commissar Filipp Goloshchyokin, in overall charge of the family's incarceration in Yekaterinburg. [31] The House of Special Purpose [ edit ] The Duma formed a provisional government on March 12. A few days later, Czar Nicholas abdicated the throne, ending centuries of Russian Romanov rule. Alexander Kerensky During the Russian Revolution in November 1917, radical socialist Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power in Russia from a provisional government, establishing the world’s first communist state. On November 6 and 7, 1917 (or October 24 and 25 on the Julian calendar, which is why the event is often referred to as the October Revolution), leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir Lenin launched a nearly bloodless coup d’état against the Duma’s provisional government.

Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, a male-line grandson of Tsar Alexander II, claimed the headship of the deposed Imperial House of Russia, and assumed, as pretender, the title " Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias" in 1924 when the evidence appeared conclusive that all Romanovs higher in the line of succession had been killed [ citation needed]. Kirill was followed by his only son Vladimir Kirillovich. [1] Vladimir's only child was Maria Vladimirovna (born 1953), who had one child in her marriage with Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia, George Mikhailovich. The February Revolution (known as such because of Russia’s use of the Julian calendar until February 1918) began on March 8, 1917 (February 23 on the Julian calendar). a b Photographic scans of Sokolov's investigation, published in 1924, 18 December 2015 , retrieved 9 March 2017 In late 2015, at the insistence by the Russian Orthodox Church, [181] Russian investigators exhumed the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, for additional DNA testing, [182] which confirmed that the bones were of the couple. [183] [184] [185]McNeal, Shay. The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar: New Truths Behind the Romanov Mystery. HarperCollins, 2003. ISBN 978-0-06-051755-7 Militarily, imperial Russia was no match for industrialized Germany, and Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any nation in any previous war. Food and fuel shortages plagued Russia as inflation mounted. The already weak economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort. Demonstrators clamoring for bread took to the streets of Petrograd. Supported by huge crowds of striking industrial workers, the protesters clashed with police but refused to leave the streets. Between 1890 and 1910, for example, the population of major Russian cities such as St. Petersburg and Moscow nearly doubled, resulting in overcrowding and destitute living conditions for a new class of Russian industrial workers.

Alec Luhn (23 September 2015), "Russia reopens criminal case on 1918 Romanov royal family murders", The Guardian , retrieved 30 September 2016 The six crowned representatives of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line were: Paul (1796–1801), Alexander I (1801–1825), Nicholas I (1825–1855), Alexander II (1855–1881), Alexander III (1881–1894), and Nicholas II (1894–1917). [4] Nicholas’ son, the crown prince, Alexei, was born with hemophilia. But the family kept his disease, which would cause him to bleed to death from a slight cut, a secret. Empress Alexandra, his wife, became increasingly under the thrall of Grigori Rasputin, a mystic whom she believed had saved Alexei’s life. Rasputin’s growing influence within the family caused suspicion among the public, who resented his power.Which meant that these former pictures of thoughtless extravagance “would have to endure the humiliation of finding a job for the first time in their till now privileged lives.” All of which explains a regal Admiral Posokhov working in a garage and cleaning cars after midnight. The descent was staggering. Welch, Frances (2018). The Imperial Tea Party: Family, Politics and Betrayal: The Ill-fated British and Russian Royal Alliance. London: Short Books. ISBN 978-1-78072-306-8. and in a 1913 jubilee, Russia officially celebrated the "300th Anniversary of the Romanovs' rule". [6] His poor handling of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, subsequent 1905 uprising of Russian Workers—known as Bloody Sunday—and Russia’s involvement in World War I hastened the fall of the Russian Empire.

Her claims received public attention, though most members of the extended Romanov family believed her to be an imposter. A private investigation funded by Czarina Alexandra’s brother in 1927 found that Anna Anderson was actually a Polish factory worker named Franziska Schanzkowska with a history of mental illness. Pilgrims March in Memory of the Romanovs on the Centenary of Their Execution, The Moscow Times, 17 July 2018 , retrieved 22 July 2018There were presumed heirs to the Russian throne, but seemingly none with the gravitas to lead an invasion that would depose the Soviets. And then on January 26, 1930, General Alexander Kupetov was kidnapped in Paris. He died in transport to the Soviet Union where he would face trial. With his death seemed to die any hope or pretense of reviving the old. Which meant that the White Russians had to give up a country that they dearly loved. And love Russia they did. A Russian musician Alexander Vertinsky arguably put it best: Mystery Solved: The Identification of The Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis, PLoS One. Perry, John Curtis, and Constantine V. Pleshakov. The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga. Basic Books (A Member of the Perseus Books Group), 1999. ISBN 0-465-02463-7. The Romanovs were high-ranking aristocrats in Russia during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In 1613, Mikhail Romanov became the first Romanov czar of Russia, following a fifteen-year period of political upheaval after the fall of Russia’s medieval Rurik dynasty. He took the name Michael I. The family that had once lived in a regal home now camped out in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, a house with no bed linens, lots of dust, and not enough plates or silverware. Soldiers hassled them, drawing lewd images on the walls of the bathroom and covering them with obscene poems about Alexandra. After months of plotting, the Romanov family is assassinated by their Bolshevik captors