The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia

337 Pages·2014·8.01 MB·English

by  Candace Fleming

Text copyright © 2014 by Candace Fleming
Jacket photographs courtesy of the Library of Congress
Map of Russia and family tree by Holly Pribble All rights reserved. Published in the United States
by Schwartz & Wade Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random
House LLC, a Penguin Random House Company, New York.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fleming, Candace.
The family Romanov : murder, rebellion, and the fall of imperial Russia / Candace Fleming.
pages; cm
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-375-86782-8 (hc) — ISBN 978-0-375-96782-5 (glb) —
ISBN 978-0-37589864-8 (ebook)
1. Russia—History—Nicholas II, 1894–1917. 2. Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, 1868–1918—
Family. 3. Romanov, House of. 4. Soviet Union—History—Revolution,
1917–1921. I. Title.
DK258.F5725 2014
947.08′30922—dc23
[B]
2013037904
Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.
v3.1
A C F
LSO BY ANDACE LEMING
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CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Other Books by This Author
Before You Begin …
Family Tree
Map
Russia, 1903
Beyond the Palace Gates: Peasant Turned Worker
Part One: Before the Storm
Chapter One: “I Dreamed That I Was Loved”
Beyond the Palace Gates: A Peasant Boyhood
Chapter Two: “What a Disappointment!”
Beyond the Palace Gates: Lullabies for Peasant Babies
Chapter Three: “A Small Family Circle”
Beyond the Palace Gates: Another Family Circle
Part Two: Dark Clouds Gathering
Chapter Four: The Year of Nightmares
Chapter Five: Lenin, the Duma, and a Mystic Named Rasputin
Beyond the Palace Gates: House No. 13
Chapter Six: “Pig and Filth” and Family Fun
Beyond the Palace Gates: An Occupation for Workers’ Daughters
Chapter Seven: Gathering Clouds
Chapter Eight: Three Centuries of Romanovs
Beyond the Palace Gates: A Different Kind of Education for a Different Kind of Boy
Photo Insert 1
Part Three: The Storm Breaks
Chapter Nine: “My God! My God! What Madness!”
Chapter Ten: In Defense of Mother Russia
Beyond the Palace Gates: Vasily’s Diary
Chapter Eleven: “The Reign of Rasputin”
Chapter Twelve: It All Comes Tumbling Down
Beyond the Palace Gates: Molecule in a Storm
Chapter Thirteen: “Ye Tyrants Quake, Your Day Is Over”
Beyond the Palace Gates: “Ye Tyrants Quake, Your Day Is Over”
Part Four: Final Days
Chapter Fourteen: “Survivors of a Shipwreck”
Beyond the Palace Gates: The “Tsar’s Surprise Party”
Chapter Fifteen: Into Siberia
Beyond the Palace Gates: Swarming the Palace
Chapter Sixteen: The House of Special Purpose
Chapter Seventeen: Deadly Intent
Chapter Eighteen: “The World Will Never Know What Has Become of Them”
Beyond the Palace Gates: Life Under Lenin
Photo Insert 2
Acknowledgments
Bibliography
The Romanovs Online
Notes
B Y B
EFORE OU EGIN …
The ruler of Russia is called the tsar or emperor (the titles are
interchangeable), his wife is either the tsaritsa or empress, and his male
heir is called the tsarevich. His other children are given the title of grand
duke if male or grand duchess if female. These last titles are passed
down just one more generation, so a tsar’s grandchildren are also grand
dukes and grand duchesses. But a tsar’s great-grandchildren hold only
the rank of prince or princess. Thus grand dukes and grand duchesses
outrank princes and princesses.
Russians have three names: a first name; a father’s name with -ovich or
-evich (meaning “son of”) added if male, or -evna or -ovna (meaning
“daughter of”) if female; and a last, or family, name. Therefore, Nicholas
II’s daughter’s full name was Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova; his son’s
full name was Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov.
Russian dates can be bewildering. That’s because during Nicholas’s
reign, Russia used the old-style Julian calendar to record dates, when
most of the world was using the new-style Gregorian calendar. This
meant Russian dates lagged twelve days behind during the nineteenth
century, and thirteen days behind during the twentieth. Thus Anastasia
was born June 5, 1901, according to the Julian calendar, but June 18,
1901, by the Gregorian calendar. Since readers of this book are familiar
with the Gregorian calendar, all dates in this book are given in the new
style.
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