Brainstorm

◦ List any reasons (big or small!) for the decline and downfall of the Romanov Dynasty
◦ Can you decide on the 4 or 5 MAIN reasons?

◦ Excellent revision tool for this topic!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zj72pv4
 THE
EXECUTION
OF THE
ROMANOVS
◦ Following his abdication, Nicholas II became irrelevant
◦ Nicholas was hoping to take his family into exile in England,
however, King George V made it clear that he wasn’t
welcome
◦ The Provisional Government placed the royal family under
house arrest in a palace at Tsarskoe Selo, about 25km south
of Petrograd
◦ The task of carrying out the execution was given to
Commander Yakov Yurovsky
◦ On the evening of 16th July 1918, the tsar and his family were
taken to the cellar and told to wait.
◦ Yurovsky led a party of his men into the cellar and opened fire
on the family, killing them, the family doctor and three servants
◦ Some did not die from the gunshots, so were stabbed until dead
◦ The murder of the Tsar and his family was a subject of great conjecture for decades. Was
the Tsar murdered? Did any family members survive? Where were the bodies?
◦ The story of the tsar became the stuff of myth and legend. Today, the story of the tsar has
significance as the government of Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has sought to
rehabilitate Tsar Nicholas II’s reputation. With these thoughts in mind, carry out some RESEARCH
research which attempts to address the following issues:
TASK
1. What happened to the bodies of the Tsar and his family? How do we know this?
1. Read the statements and
2. DNA testing in 1993 and more advanced testing in 2008 finally explained the mystery then research the issues
of the royal family’s remains. How did this come about? How did the Queen’s
husband, the Duke of Edinburgh, become involved?
3. What was the legend of Anastasia?
4. Who are the surviving Romanovs who could claim the throne if the monarchy was
restored in Russia?
5. Why do you think President Putin has been so keen to rehabilitate Nicholas II when
history’s verdict on the Tsar is largely negative?