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France Televisions - The Final Journey of the Romanovs (2017)

A century after the fall of Tsar Nicolas II, forced to abdicate in March 1917, we look back at the final months of the Russian Imperial family until their assassination in Yekaterinburg in July 1918. How did such a powerful monarch end up abandoned by everyone, even by his dear cousin the King of England? What role did Lenin play? Was murder an inevitable outcome? Following the February Revolution of 1917 in Russia, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated. This film is the story of the tragic weeks leading up to the assassination of the imperial family in July 1918. It is the chronicle of a tragedy that unfolds in the midst of history in progress the February and October revolutions, the end of the First World War and the bloody Russian civil war. Russia at the beginning of the 20th century was no stranger to protests and uprisings. A first revolution even failed in 1905, leading the Tsar, Empress Alexandra and their five children to settle about twenty kilometers from the capital, Saint Petersburg, in the Alexander Palace of Tsarskoye Selo. Sheltered in their haven of peace, protected by loyal Cossacks and surrounded by relatives, Nicholas II and his family led a carefree existence there without realizing that imperial Russia was collapsing. The sovereign refused to see that the majority of his 140 million subjects were illiterate, starving and often enslaved peasants who were driven towards the cities by poor living conditions. In the new factories, this proletariat will be increasingly tempted by revolutionary ideas. But the Tsar is more interested in what is happening outside his borders.

– A country drained of blood on the march towards revolution –

Worried about the expansionist policy of his German cousin, Emperor Wilhelm II, he signed the Triple Entente with France and Great Britain; and when war broke out in 1914, he sent 3 million ill-prepared men into combat. It was a real disaster. According to Sergei Mironenko, former director of the National Archives, “Nicholas naively thought that he would solve the German problem in two or three months but after the first major defeats, there was a kind of sobering up; and arms production proved insufficient.” By taking command of the army himself in place of his uncle, whom the troops revered, he made a series of mistakes, making himself directly responsible for the ensuing debacle. By early 1917, there were 1.5 million dead and 5 million soldiers had been wounded or taken prisoner. The country was bled dry and the population was dying of hunger in both cities and the countryside. In February, the bread riots brought the moderate socialists to power. Forced to abdicate in mid-March, the Tsar, who still thought he could be protected by the provisional government, took refuge in Tsarskoye Selo. But nothing would stop the revolution.

– The execution of a troublesome family –

Placed under arrest in their palace, guarded by troops, the imperial family had to face the harsh end of winter and the lack of provisions, but did not rebel. In the country, the war continued to rage. With the help of the Germans, Lenin, then in exile, returned to Russia, united the Bolshevik party and set out to conquer power. On July 31, the Romanovs learned that they were to be evacuated to an unknown destination. Very close to his cousin King George V, Nicholas II would have liked to end his days in the United Kingdom, but the British sovereign did not want his monarchy to be associated with the man who was considered a tyrant throughout Europe. In the greatest secrecy, the Russian government therefore sent the cumbersome tsar and his family to Tobolsk, in Siberia. Accompanied by several servants and a few loyal followers, the imperial family stayed in this remote town for eight months. Before being moved again, to Yekaterinburg, a Bolshevik stronghold located more than 600 kilometers away. It was in the Ipatiev House, requisitioned to house them, that, on July 17, 1918, Nicholas II, Alexandra and their five children, now considered common law prisoners, were executed by a dozen members of the secret police, along with their last four servants.

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