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

324 Pages·2014·7.95 MB·English

by  Candace Fleming

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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 978-0-375-89864-8 (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.
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A C F
LSO BY ANDACE LEMING
Young Adult
The Lincolns: A Scrapbook Look at Abraham and Mary
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The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School
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Younger Readers
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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”
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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
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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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