Sadly, Family Squabbles Were To Plunge The World Into A Major Conflict in 1914

1. A provisional liberal government came to power after the Czar's abdication but was overthrown by the Bolsheviks led by Lenin months later. 2. The Bolsheviks slaughtered the Imperial Family, including Czar Nicholas II and his family, in Yekaterinburg to eliminate rival claims to power and send a message that the revolution was irreversible. 3. The secret police who killed the Romanovs were called the Cheka, led by Yurovsky. They shot Nicholas II first and Anastasia last due to her briefly regaining consciousness.

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Sadly, Family Squabbles Were To Plunge The World Into A Major Conflict in 1914

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One thing led to another and the eventual result

was revolution in March 1917, after three years of

Sadly, family squabbles were to plunge the
war with Germany. A provisional (temporary) liberal
world into a major conflict in 1914.
government came to power under the leadership of
Alexander Kerensky. The Czars brother the Grand
Duke Michael was supposed to be regent.
A few months later this government was violently
overthrown as the Bolshevik branch of the Communist Party seized power. Under the leadership
of Vladimir Lenin the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was set up and Russia plunged
into a despotism worse than anything it had experienced under the Romanovs.
A few months later, in the city of Yekaterinburg, the Imperial Family was slaughtered. A message
had been sent to the world that there was no turning back, that the revolution would go forward.
All the children had to die along with the parents, bringing the dynasty to an abrupt and bloody
end.

When all were assembled, Yurovsky (secret police

leader) re-entered the room, followed by his entire
Cheka squad carrying revolvers. He stepped
forward and declared quickly, "Your relations have
tried to save you. They have failed and we must
now shoot you."
Nicholas, his arms still around Alexis, began to rise
from his chair to protect his wife and son. He had
just time to say "What. . .?" before Yurovsky
pointed his revolver directly at the Czars head
and fired. Nicholas died instantly. At this signal,
the entire squad of executioners began to shoot.
Alexandra had time only to raise her hand and
make the sign of the cross before she too was
killed by a single bullet. Olga, Tatiana and Marie,
standing behind their mother, were hit and died
quickly . . .
The room, filled with the smoke and stench of

gunpowder, became suddenly quiet. Blood was

running in streams from the bodies on the floor.
Then there was a movement and a low groan.
Alexis, lying on the floor still in the arms of the
Czar, feebly moved his hand to clutch his fathers
coat. Savagely, one of the executioners kicked the
Czarevitch in the head with his heavy boot.
Yurovsky stepped up and fired two shots into the
boys ear. Just at that moment, Anastasia, who
had only fainted, regained consciousness and
screamed. With bayonets and rifle butts, the
entire band turned on her. In a moment, she too
lay still. It was ended.
-- Nicholas and Alexandra, by Robert K. Massie
(1968)
Rumors began circulating that some of them had survived. Only one such rumor persisted, that a
lady fished out of a Berlin canal in 1920 was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. This was never
proved. Some years after the death of the lady in the early 1980's, the new post-communist
rulers of Russia excavated the bones of the Romanovs. DNA analysis proved once and for all that
the deceased Anna Anderson could not have been the Romanov Grand Duchess and that the
family was completely eradicated in July 1918.
A tragedy for the Romanovs. But an even greater tragedy for the Russian people and even for
tens of millions in other nations.
The fall of the Romanov dynasty led directly to the advent of Communism, which then spread
through conquest, civil war, or revolution to many other countries. China, Mongolia, North Korea,
Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Cuba, and the nations of eastern Europe.

http://angela-michelle.hubpages.com/hub/Anna-Anderson-the-Romanov-Princess-Anastasia-orNot
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