The Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. They first came to power in 1613, and over the next three centuries, 18 Romanovs took the Russian throne, including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander I and Nicholas II. During the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy, ending the Romanov dynasty. Czar Nicholas II and his entire family—including his young children—were later executed by Bolshevik troops.Alexandra—with a brusque demeanor and distaste for Russian culture—was unpopular with the Russian people. Her German ancestry and her devotion to Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin contributed to her unpopularity. She believed the self-proclaimed holy man could cure her son Alexei’s chronic illness.

www.history.com/topics/romanov-family

The Romanov family was the last imperial dynasty to rule Russia. ... During the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy, ending the Romanov dynasty. Czar Nicholas II and his entire family—including his young children—were later executed by ...

‎Videos · ‎Anastasia arrives in the United ... · ‎Sinking of Russian Sub Kursk

Following the February Revolution, the Romanov family and their loyal servants were imprisoned in the Alexander Palace before being moved to Tobolsk and then Ekaterinburg, where they were killed by the Ural Regional Soviet, allegedly at the express command of Vladimir Lenin.^[5] Despite being informed that "the entire family suffered the same fate as its head",^[6] the Bolsheviksonly announced Nicholas's death,^[7][8] with the official press release that "Nicholas Romanov's wife and son have been sent to a secure place."^[6] For over eight years,^[9] the Soviet leadership maintained a systematic web of disinformation as to the fate of the family,^[10] from claiming in September 1919 that they were murdered by left-wing revolutionaries^[11] to denying outright in April 1922 that they were dead.^[10] They acknowledged the murders in 1926 following the publication of an investigation by a White émigré, but maintained that the bodies were destroyed and that Lenin's Cabinet was not responsible.^[12] The emergence of Romanov impostors drew media attention away from Soviet Russia,^[10] and discussion regarding the fate of the family was suppressed byJoseph Stalin from 1938.^[13]

The burial site was discovered in 1979 by an amateur sleuth,^[14] but the existence of the remains was not made public until 1989, during the glasnost period.^[15] The identity of the remains was confirmed by forensic and DNA investigation. They were reburied in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg in 1998,^[16] 80 years after they were killed, in a funeral that was not attended by key members of the Russian Orthodox Church, who disputed the authenticity of the remains.^[17] A second, smaller grave containing the remains of two Romanov children missing from the larger grave was discovered by amateur archaeologists in 2007.^[14] However, their remains are kept in a state repository pending further DNA tests.^[18] In 2008, after considerable and protracted legal wrangling, the Russian Prosecutor General's office rehabilitated the Romanov family as "victims of political repressions".^[19] A criminal case was opened by the post-Soviet government in 1993, but nobody was prosecuted on the basis that the perpetrators were dead.^[18]

Some historians attribute the order to the government in Moscow, specifically Yakov Sverdlov and Vladimir Lenin, who wished to prevent the rescue of the Imperial Family by the approaching Czechoslovak Legion (fighting with the White Army against the Bolsheviks) during the ongoing Russian Civil War.^[20][21] This is supported by a passage in Leon Trotsky's diary.^[22] An investigation led by Vladimir Solovyov concluded in 2011 that, despite the opening of state archives in the post-Soviet years, there is yet no written document found that indicates that either Lenin or Sverdlov instigated the orders; however, they did endorse the executions after they occurred.^{[23][24][25][26]} Lenin had close control over the Romanovs although he ensured his name was not associated with their fate in any official documents.^[27] President Boris Yeltsin described the killings as one of the most shameful pages in Russian history.^[28][29]

Deftly maneuvering between the lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia’s peasants—and their eventual uprising—Fleming offers up a fascinating portrait, complete with inserts featuring period photographs and compelling primary-source material that brings it all to life. History doesn’t get more interesting than the story of the Romanovs.During the reign of Romanov leader Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great, the Russian Empire grew larger and stronger. The period of Catherine’s rule—1762 to 1796—is often called the Golden Age of the Russian Empire.“Marrying the intimate family portrait of Heiligman’s Charles and Emma (rev. 1/09) with the politics and intrigue of Sheinkin’s Bomb (rev. 11/12), Fleming has outdone herself with this riveting work of narrative nonfiction that appeals to the imagination as much as the intellect. Her focus here is not just the Romanovs, the last imperial family of Russia, but the Revolutionary leaders and common people as well. She cogently and sympathetically demonstrates how each group was the product of its circumstances, then how they all moved inexorably toward the tragic yet fascinating conclusion. Each member of the Romanov family emerges from these pages as a fully realized individual, but their portraits are balanced with vignettes that illuminate the lives of ordinary people, giving the book a bracing context missing from Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra, still the standard popular history. The epic, sweeping narrative seamlessly incorporates scholarly authority, primary sources, appropriate historical speculation, and a keen eye for the most telling details. Moreover, the juxtaposition of the supremely privileged lifestyle of Russian nobility with the meager subsistence of peasants, factory workers, and soldiers creates a narrative tension that builds toward the horrifying climax. Front and back matter include a map, genealogy, bibliography, and source notes, while two sixteen-page inserts contain numerous captioned photographs.”

—The Horn Book, starred review

“History comes to vivid life in Fleming’s sweeping story of the dramatic decline and fall of the House of Romanov. Her account provides not only intimate portraits of Tsar Nicholas, his wife, Alexandra,

No bodies were immediately found, however, and rumors flew fast and furious that one or more of the Romanovs had survived. In 1921 a mysterious woman showed up in a German mental hospital claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the czar's youngest daughter.

—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Fans of Candace Fleming (The Lincolns; The Great and Only Barnum), widely recognized for her scholarly, engaging nonfiction, will immediately notice something different about The Family Romanov. It is not filled with sidebars or artifacts that leap off the page. This fascinating, handsome book is about words--not only the author's narrative, but those of the people who lived the events.

From the first paragraph, readers enter a magical other world: Russia, February 1903, St. Petersburg's Winter Palace—a building three miles long—where a party is being held for the nobility. Once the stage is set and the guests have arrived, Fleming introduces the hosts, Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra. In contrast to this extravagance, the author then moves to the countryside, where the peasants live in “dismal” villages and don't have enough land. Sick, poor, desperate for food, some moved to the cities to work in factories where conditions proved even worse. This section culminates with an excerpt from the autobiography of a 16-year-old boy who left his village for Moscow in 1895, as he describes his living and worki

The direct male line of the Romanovs came to an end when Elizabeth of Russiadied in 1762. After an era of dynastic crisis, the House of Holstein-Gottorp, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark, ascended the throne in 1762 with Peter III, a grandson of Peter I.^[2] All rulers from the middle of the 18th century to the revolution of 1917 were descended from that branch. Though officially known as the House of Romanov, these descendants of the Romanov and Oldenburg dynasties are sometimes referred to as Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.^[3]

In early 1917 the Romanov dynasty had 65 members, 18 of whom were killed by the Bolsheviks. The remaining 47 members went into exile abroad.^[4] In 1924, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, the senior, surviving male-line descendant of Alexander II of Russia by primogeniture, claimed the headship of the defunct Imperial House of Russia. Since 1991, the succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, largely due to disagreements over the validity of dynasts' marriages, especially between the lines of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia and Prince Nicholas Romanovich Romanov, succeeded by Prince Andrew Romanov.