Nicholas II of Russia was the last Tsar of Russia who ruled from 1894 until his forced abdication in 1917. The abdication of Nicholas II and the subsequent bolshevik revolution brought three centuries of the Romanov dynasty's rule to an end.
Already an unpopular ruler fighting an unpopular war, Nicholas II was faced with the demand to abdicate as revolution swept through Russia. His family was firmly in the hands of the Provisional Government and, fearful of unleashing civil war and opening the way for German conquest, Nicholas had no choice but to submit. At the end of the "February Revolution" of 1917 Nicholas II abdicated his throne.
On 22 March 1917, Nicholas was reunited with his family and placed under house arrest by the Provisional Government. In August 1917 the Kerensky government evacuated the Romanovs the Urals, allegedly to protect them from the rising tide of revolution. There they lived in the former Governor's Mansion in considerable comfort. After the Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, the conditions of their imprisonment grew stricter and talk of putting Nicholas on trial grew more frequent.
As the counterrevolutionary White movement gathered strength, leading to full-scale civil war by the summer, Nicholas, Alexandra and their daughter Maria were moved in April to Yekaterinburg.
The family was imprisoned with a few remaining retainers in the Ipatiev House. Nicholas, Alexandra, their children, their physician, and three servants were woken and taken into a basement room and shot at 2:33 A.M. on July 17.
The bodies of Nicholas and his family, after being soaked in acid and burned, were long believed to have been disposed of down a mineshaft at a site called the Four Brothers. Initially, this was true — they had indeed been disposed of there on the night of July 17. The following morning — when rumours spread in Yekaterinburg regarding the disposal site and they were removed and concealed elsewhere. When the vehicle carrying the bodies broke down on the way to the next chosen site, most of the bodies were buried in a concealed pit on Koptyaki Road, a cart track (now abandoned) 12 miles (19 km) north of Yekaterinburg. The remains of all the family and their retainers with the exception of two of the children were later found in 1991.
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The Ipatiev House website is a fantastic resource for people researching the fall of the Romanov's and the rise of the Communists in Russia.
It could be utilized in History 20 Unit One: Death of the Old Order when talking about the results of World War I.
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I would have the students do a mini-project and/or presentation based on an aspect of World War I. This site would be helpful when talking about the fall of the Russian government, their exit from the war and the rise of the communists.
Because it is a visually appealing and detailed website, it would be interesting to show the students the interactive 3-D map of Ipatiev House along with the photos taken shortly after the assassination of Nicholas and his family.
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