The Romanovs
The Romanovs were a powerful family in Russia.
The family’s rule began in 1613, and ended in 1917. Though there were many years in their empire, this essay is going to talk about the very last Tsar and his family. Nicholas Romanov II inherited control of Russia in 1894. The man was born in 1868, meaning he took charge of the country at the age of twenty-eight. The Romanov family was quite large, consisting of seven people(the two parents, and their five children).
The Romanovs carried the weight of the Russian Empire for about three centuries, and the fact that they were brutally murdered in 1918 was sad to most of the Russians. The Romanovs are a very diverse royal family because of their varying personalities, their disease, and how they were killed. There were five children in the Romanov family. Nicholas and Alexandra had been hoping to have a baby boy, who would soon be a Tsar as well. The first born duchess was Olga. Olga was born on November 3rd, 1895.
Documents claim that she was the girl that would read whatever she could get her hands on, and always had a book with her. She was quiet, enjoyed peace, spent a lot of time with her father, and had a quick temper. The second born child was another girl, named Tatiana, born on May 29th, 1897. Tatiana, who was seen as the prettiest of the four duchesses, and also the slimmest, shared a room with Olga. They were very close siblings because of this. Then there was Marie, who was nicknamed “Big Bow Wow”, a surprise.
Articles claim that Marie was the most boy-crazy of the bunch, as well as accident prone. She was Anastasia’s roommate and tennis partner. Russia was surprised at the birth of a third baby girl, and Nicholas and Alexandra were hoping for a boy. Again, instead of a boy, Anastasia was born. She was another surprise, and the stars had supposedly been promised by the stars, proved that she would have an unusual future ahead of her. Anastasia did not like school, and would try to avoid having to go to it.
She was humorous and cracked jokes, as well as playing practical jokes on the family. She was called “shvibzik” by her family, the Russian word for imp. She was very close to her father, as well as her brother and grandmother Empress Marie. Her childhood was the only time she really had to enjoy and express herself. During her teen years, she had to handle her family’s political problems. Last but definitely not least, Alexei Romanov was born.
He was the only male child of the Tsar and Tsarina. Though, the boy was diagnosed with “the bleeding disease”, also known as hemophilia. Alexei’s disease caused him to have a very low immune system, and he was coddled and spoiled all of his life. There are many things that talk about the boy’s love for practical jokes. Once, as recorded in his cousin’s journal, he took off his uncle’s shoe. His father insisted that he put it back, and Alexei did—but not before putting a ripe strawberry in the shoe! Another interesting aspect of the Romanov family is the disease that is carried in their bloodline.
Tsarina Alexandra’s grandmother, Queen Victoria, was a carrier of the bleeding disease, or, hemophilia. Hemophilia is a disease that prevents the blood from clotting, so that the wound will just continue bleeding and bleeding. Females who have hemophilia are simply carriers, they’re just there to pass the disease on to their children. Because of this, Alexandra’s hemophilia went about unnoticed, as did the fact that all of her daughters carried it. It wasn’t until the birth of Alexei that the disease became a big part of their picture.
Alexei always had a low immunity because of it, and would constantly get sick. For a hemophiliac, simply a small cut or light fall could be extremely painful. Alexei had two nurses almost always with him, to make sure he didn’t fall and get things for him. Whenever the boy did get hurt, his mother and father would have to smother his screams. They didn’t want anyone to know about the hemophilia, as it would be seen as a weakness in the young heir. For a few years, Alexei went on suffering because of his hemophilia.
His mother looked for help, but no doctor quite helped him. That was, until she found Rasputin, a Russian monk. Rasputin was close to the family, and would be there to aid young Alexei whenever he got hurt. The rest of the town was a bit suspicious, disliking Alexandra even more as they thought that she was having other relations with the monk. Rasputin was later killed by one of the Romanov’s family members, as he was trying to kill Alexei during the revolution. After Nicholas Romanov gave the rule of Russia over to Vladimir Lenin, there was still a problem.
According to the majority of Russia, Nicholas was still the legitimate ruler of the country. He knew that Nicholas had many loyal followers, and if he were to escape, they would work together to bring down Lenin. On the night of July 17th, 1918 the Romanovs were told to go to stay in the basement. That it would be much safer for them, as there had been rebels trying to break in and all. When the family was in the basement, there were a group of men from the army there.
The family was then told that they were going to be killed. The Romanov’s were very shocked and saddened, they tried to bribe the executioners out of killing the children, but nothing worked. The men extended their arms with the rifles and pulled the triggers. Alexandra and Nicholas were dead by the first shot. The children, on the other hand, had the bullets bouncing off of them—literally.
After repeatedly trying to shoot them, they had to be instead bayonetted to death. Alexei wasn’t dead afterward, despite the fact that he was more vulnerable than the rest of his siblings. A guard noticed him still blinking, covered in the blood of his sisters and parents, and had to take the gun and shoot him in the head. It was later discovered that the reason the bullets had bounced off the girls was that there had been jewels sewn into their dresses. The jewels were there because, if the girls would escape, it would be a way to pay for items and other things. Anna Anderson, a woman who was put into a mental institution in Germany after trying to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, first claimed to be Tatiana Romanov.
After they noticed zero resemblance, she said that she was Anastasia. A person who was close to the Romanov family said that Anna resembled Anastasia and everything. Her words, her speech, even the way she wrote. For a while, the world was convinced that the daughter of the Romanovs had escaped. But, Anna couldn’t speak Russian at all, not even the basic words! In 1994, when DNA technology was available, scientists tested the found bones of the Romanov family, as well as Anna’s. They did not match.
The girl who was supposedly the Grand Duchess Anastasia was not. The murder of the Romanov family was definitely brutal and an act of betrayal, as the person who led them into the basement had once been a friend of the family. The remains of the family were taken, ground to bits, then drenched in acid and burned. However, the bones were later found and there was an official ceremony held to honor the last Romanovs of Russia. The Romanovs had finished their rule of Russia earlier than they could have, lives taken at the hands of Vladimir Lenin.
The family was a functioning family, with two parents and five kids. There were many hardships in their lives, such as dealing with the Russian Revolution and the disease that Alexei suffered from. They were trying their best to keep Russia strong and secure, until Lenin came in with a bunch of rebels and insisted that Nicholas give up his position and power. Overall, the family is still very different from the royalty you see in movies or in life, now. The Romanovs were diverse, carried a disease that caused others to suffer, and were brutally slaughtered.
There haven’t been any found descendants of the Romanov’s, but who knows whether or not a long lost cousin might be found?
