THE LAST TSAR OF RUSSIAN EMPIRE

         On April 8, 1894, Alexandra and Nicholas II were engaged. Alexandra was the daughter of Louis IV, the Grand Duke. She was born in 1872. Her grandmother was Queen Victoria of England. On November 14, 1894, a month after the death of his father Nicholas married Alexandra and officially became the tsar of Russia.

         The first son of Nicholas and Alexandra was born in 1904. He had four elder sisters. He was called Alexei. The problem of who would rule Russia in case of an accident to Nicholas was solved. However, there was a new problem, as Alexei was diagnosed with hemophilia. Another problem, even more seri­ous appeared in 1917, when Nicholas II was forced to end the Romanov’s rule over Russia after three hundred years on March 2, 1917 because of the Revolution. He was promised that his family would not be hit, if he forfeited the throne. He agreed. He was very kind, intelligent and softhearted man. He loved his family more than all. Because of people were still so upset with him, the Soviet authorities ordered the arrest of Nicholas II and all the members of the Romanov dynasty on March 3, 1917. The family was to be isolated from the outside world within the confines of Alexander’s Palace, complete with an inside and outside guard. However, soon after, rumours were spreading that claimed the imperial family had escaped to England. Therefore, the government sent the family and their servants to Tobolsk, in Siberia, on July 31, 1917.

        After spending about nine months under heavy supervi­sion, the family was going to be transported to Moscow to stand trial for treason against Russia. However, this plan was only a fake, as the family was never intended to make it to Moscow. The real plan was that the Ural Bolsheviks would seize the train on its way to Moscow and take the family to the Ural capital of Ekaterinburg.

         In Ekaterinburg, the family was put in a prison in one of the town’s largest houses, the Ipatiev House. Two months later, when Ekaterinburg was surrounded by the Czech Legion and the White Army who were intent on overthrowing the Bolsheviks and releasing the imperial family, a decision about the family was made. The Bolsheviks sent a telegram to Mos­cow containing the plans for an execution of the imperial fa­mily on July 16, 1918. The consent was received. The family was awakened in the early hours of July 17 and taken down to the cellar for what they thought was a family photograph, but there was no photographer. Yakov Yurovsky read out the fa­mily’s death sentence. As soon as he had finished, the shots began and minutes later, the family was murdered. They loa­ded up the bodies into a truck and buried them in a pre-selec­ted gravesite. Then their remains were poured over by acid and reburied again.

         All their relatives in Russia were murdered following the direct order of Lenin.

QUESTIONS:

1. When were Alexandra and Nicholas II engaged?

2. When did Nicholas officially become the tsar of Russia?

3. When was the son of Nicholas and Alexandra born?

4. What diagnosis did Alexei receive?

5. When was Nicholas II forced to end the Romanov’s rule over Russia after three hundred years?

6. What was Nicholas II promised?

7. Why did the Bolshevik government send the royal fa­mily and their servants to Siberia?

8. Where did the royal family spend their last days?

9. When was the royal family executed?

10. What was the reason for execution?

11. What happened to their bodies?

VOCABULARY:

to engage — быть помолвленным, обручать(ся)

to solve — решать, разрешать (проблему и т. п.)

to diagnose — ставить диагноз

hemophilia — гемофилия

to force — оказывать давление, заставлять, принуждать, вынуждать

to promise — обещать, давать обещание

to hit (past hit, p.p. hit) — зд.тронуть, повредить

to forfeit the throne — отказаться от трона; лишиться трона

soft-hearted — мягкосердечный

upset — расстроенный, огорченный

authorities — власти

to remain — оставаться

confine — граница (в пространственном отношении)

rumour — молва, слух(и), слушок, толки

to spread (past spread, p.p. spread) — разносить(ся), рас­пространяться) (тж. о слухах, информации, новостях, вес­тях и т. д.)

to claim — требовать, предъявлять требования; заявлять о своих правах на что-л.

servant — слуга, служитель, прислуга

supervision — надзор, наблюдение; заведование, конт­роль

treason — измена, предательство

fake — хитрость, обман, мошенничество

to seize — завладевать, захватывать

to put (past put, p.p. put) in a prison — посадить в тюрьму

intent — полный решимости; настойчиво стремящийся, склонный к чему-л.

to overthrow — свергать; побеждать; низвергать, унич­тожать

consent — согласие; позволение, разрешение

to awake — будить; просыпаться, очнуться от сна

cellar — подвал, погреб; подвальный этаж

to bury — хоронить, зарывать в землю

to pour — заливать, обливать, выливать