The Sad End of Russia’s Imperial Family

It has been hard to blog about the second half of Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massey as the young tsarevich Alexis, 14, and his sisters, Olga, 22. Marie, 20, Tatiana 18, and Anastasia, 16, approach their execution, along with their parents, with revolvers in a cellar. How gross is that?

Trotsky wanted a nationally broadcast radio trial of Nicholas, which proved impossible because of military advances by “white” Russian armies, and also because of the Czech Legion, the greatest footnote in the history of the world, guys who fought their way from the Balkans to Vladivostock and back again. Do read up on their amazing accomplishment.

Through no fault of their own, the Czech Legion made the Ural Soviet (soldier/worker council) in Ekaterinberg very nervous. Indeed, the Soviet had to flee later when the Czechs and the “white”Russians took over the town.

The Ural Soviet obtained approval for what they did from Lenin’s interior minister, and clearly from Lenin and Trotsky, but, understandably, they didn’t want anyone to know what they had done. That’s how proud they were.

They bought a lot of lye to decompose the bodies, but they didn’t know that the tsarina and the grand duchesses had sewed precious jewels into their corsets. They didn’t imagine that the belt buckles of the tsar and his son would not be dissolved. And they left entire the body of Anastasia’s spaniel Jimmy.

An investigation by the “white” army that took over Ekaterinberg, together with testimony from the executioners, left no doubt about the details. Thanks to Lord Mountbatten, a cousin of the imperial family, we have 20th-century mitochondrial DNA evidence that confirms the whole disgusting story.

When Woodrow Wilson learned of the death of the imperial family, he changed his mind about Lenin and Bolshevism. I guess you could say the same for me. If they weren’t ashamed of what they’d done, why did they buy all that lye?

My impression from this book was that Lenin was a cold-blooded bastard who was no good for the human race. And as everyone knows, Stalin was worse. A murderous bastard, but he crushed Hitler as no one else could have done.

This much seems to be documented: Nicholas and Alexandra lost their thrones because a majority of the people thought Alexandra and Rasputin had betrayed their country to the Germans.

Lenin did betray Russia to the Germans. He rationalized it by saying he expected a revolution in Germany very soon, but that was a lie. He kowtowed to the Kaiser for years after that, and used the Germans wherever he could to help him crush his enemies.

I confess I am no scholar of Russian history, but it seems obvious to me that Lenin was by far the greater traitor than Alexandra or even Rasputin. When I get to heaven, I’m going to spit in his eye.

And I’m going to give Winston Churchill some serious shit for murdering Franklin Roosevelt; but that’s another story.