Execution of Romanov Family Essay Example

On July 17, 1918, the Romanov family was brutally assassinated by Yakov Yurovsky and other Bolshevick assassins. The formerly royal Romanovs, several servants, and a doctor, were all shot and killed, with their bodies hidden and the murders struck from the records until the 1990s. Their deaths were a strong indicator of policy and strategy at the time of the Bolshevick reign.

A few months before their deaths, Tsar Nicholas II was removed from power and forced to go into house arrest fairly far from his previous residence in St Petersburg. His wife’s healer and possible affair partner, Gerigori Rasputin, had been murdered the past December, and the Romanovs had an idea that they would follow (Harris). The Romanovs began to drift apart from their royal relations in other countries and the proto-commmunist government in power began to plot the Romanov deaths (Miranzani). The family was put on a firm house arrest in Ekaterinberg, and as Barbara Miranzani said in “Could Anyone Have Saved The Romanovs,”  ”they still were optimistic, with Alexandra writing a hopeful diary entry hours before her execution”(Miranzani). 

Unfortunately for Lenin, Yurovsky had issues with regulating his alcohol intake. The evening before he was to perform the most important excecution to the Bolshevick cause, he got aggressively intoxicated with his co-conspirators (Maples). The family was attempting to flee that night, so there was no rain date or second try- the Romanov family had to die then and there (Maples).The assassins were intoxicated enough that it took multiple tries to kill the female members of the family.  Millions of dollars in diamonds and jewels lining their corsets certainly didn’t help the assassination attempts, although shooting someone in the torso is not the most efficient way to ensure mortality. 

Following the assassination, and knowing that appearances matter greatly to a budding government, Lenin ordered that the bodies be hidden, and that the deaths of all but Nicholas were classified (Maples).. Yurovsky similarly struggled in hiding the bodies of those he killed. He originally hid them in a mine, but following word of the White Army (a group of anti-Soviet armies) coming near, he decided to burn two of the bodies with acid and fire, and hid all of the bodies in a marsh (Maples).. Due to the fact that the government would not admit to killing anyone except Tsar Nicholas, rumors flew about surviving Romanovs (Legacy). Anna Anderson was the most famous imposter to the throne, although her lies never fooled the surviving Romanov relatives (Legacy). The bodies of all but two of the Romanovs were found in the 1970s, and the final two were found in 2007 (Maples, Harding). 

Brutal historical events like the Romanov excecution provide a crystal clear lens to view current events through. There are clear parallels between the Bolshevick revolution and the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. Innocents are often killed in the throes of politics, war and power. Killing the teenage children of an already overthrown king is paralleled by the bombings of innocent civilian hotspots, including a maternity ward.