The End of the Romanovs

We've all heard the stories about the Russian Revolution. Nicolas II was disposed by the people and executed with his family. With no royals, the country fell under communist rule for over 70 years. However, the real tragedy started over 150 years earlier than you might think.

Let's go back to 1762. With Empress Elizabeth dead, the next in line for the Russian throne was Peter III. Most in history have labelled him as a cruel man who loved Prussia when Russia was at war with them, playing soldier, and his mistresses. Sounds like a normal king back in the day except for one thing: his wife happened to be a German princess who was more loved by the people than he was. She spent her early years in Russia studying everything she could to become a great Russian leader and nearly died of pneumonia while studying. She impressed the court and even sired an heir for Peter. However, she was also the one plotting to take the crown from him as she would be later be known as Catherine the Great.

On July 9th, 1762, Catherine and Gregory Orlov, her lover, staged a coup against Peter III while he was away at another palace. A guard let slip of the coup attempt and every plan was set in motion within 24 hours. In the end, Peter did end up abdicating the throne to Catherine, and ended up dying 2 weeks later. Some say he was assassinated, but the autopsy revealed a severe attack of hemorrhoids and a stroke. He was 34.

Once Catherine was in power, she knew she had enemies from all sides and did everything she could to keep power. She assassinated a former king who had been in prison for 20 years as well as kept anyone who could take the throne at arms reach. This included her own son, Paul. Many believed that Catherine took the throne as a placeholder for her son when he turned 18. However, she kept the throne as taking it away would mean certain doom for her. Her enlightened ideas did help the Russian people, such as inoculation, but keeping Paul at arm's reach meant that every day she didn't teach him how to govern was one more day he grew to idolize his father, Peter III.

When Catherine died in 1796 and Paul I came into power, he signed in the Pauline laws, meaning that the throne would only go to a woman if every single male in the line of succession was no longer there. This law was still in effect when Nicolas II came to the throne and was later deposed, meaning Catherine the Great was the last empress of Russia.

The rule caused great strain on the Romanov line when Nicolas seemed unable to produce a son, having 4 daughters by 1901. In 1904, the long awaited son was born, Alexi. However, Alexi had "the royal disease", also known as hemophilia, where blood takes a lot longer to clot. This disease had already killed members of the British royal family such as Prince Leopold, and Nicolas was second cousins with his wife, Alexandra, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria. If the royal family appeared week, especially with high tension from the people, revolt would follow.

Alexandra called upon the help of Rasputin, the mystic who did help Alexi get better, but the over-reliance on him caused issues among the upper class, especially when it came clear that the prince needed to be carried everywhere. In 1916, members of the Russian nobility assassinated Rasputin. This, along with horrible working conditions and a war no one wanted to be a part of, led to the February revolution of 1917 where Nicolas had to abdicate. Alexi was not fit to be the next emperor, so the government tried to pass the title to Nicolas's brother Michael. When he wanted no part of it, the Romanov dynasty of Russia crumbled. Nicolas would go on to be executed with his wife, son, and 4 daughters in 1918.

Without the Pauline laws, there would be a chance that the Romanovs would still be in power as the crown would have gone on to whomever Nicolas chose, male or female. Would it be Olga, his eldest who cared for sick soldiers? Would it be Tatiana, the most beautiful and maternal? Would it be Maria, the one who wanted nothing more than marriage and children? or would it be Anastasia, the family clown who is best known after death? It's hard to know for certain, but maybe the Romanov line wouldn't have depended on a sickly child if Catherine the Great brought her son under her wing so that he saw women as valuable in leadership.