All language subtitles for infamous_assassinations_s01e23_tsar_nicholas_ii

July the 17th, 1918, Ekaterinburg,
Russia.

At two in the morning, an imperial
family waits in a dimly lit cellar with

doctor and three servants.

They are prisoners, expecting to be
moved.

Suddenly, armed men burst in and open
fire.

Why have the Tsar of all the Russians
and his family been massacred.

July 1918, the Patiev House,
Ekaterinburg.

This is the latest prison for Russia's
deposed Tsar and his family.

For more than a year, they have been
moved around his former empire as it

collapses into civil war.

The new communist government has
determined that forces loyal to the Tsar

not rescue him and use him as a
figurehead to overthrow its new regime.

Finally, at Ekaterinburg, about 500
miles west of Moscow, it seems that this

might be about to happen.

Anti -communist white Russian troops are
closing in.

Some Bolsheviks argue that the royal
family is becoming too dangerous to be

alive.

November 1st, 1894, St. Petersburg.

The bitter road which will lead to this
crisis begins as Nicholas II becomes

Tsar.

Within weeks, he marries the strong
-willed Princess Alexandra of Hesse

-Darmstadt. The couple have four
daughters.

The Grand Duchess is Maria, Olga,
Tatyana, Anastasia,

and finally, in 1904, her son, the
Tsarevich Alexei.

Tragically, he turns out to be
haemophiliac.

The royal children live an idyllic
existence.

Playing with carefully selected
courtiers, and totally cocooned from the

increasingly difficult political
situation that confronts their father.

For Nicholas is weak and indecisive, and
frequently dominated by his wife.

Both are convinced of his right to be an
absolute ruler, but the number of

people who question this is growing
rapidly.

For more than 300 years, the Romanovs
have ruled without any constraints.

There is no council or parliament.

All ministers are responsible to the
Tsar alone.

And his rule is secured by the largest
army in the world and a huge secret

police apparatus.

The autocracy of the Tsar is also
supported by the Russian Orthodox

which regards him as divinely appointed.

But Russia is beginning to develop
industry, and a middle class which

greater freedom.

By 1904, rising unrest prompts the Tsar
to try to divert popular attention by

provoking a war with Japan.

But when the Imperial fleet sails
halfway round the world from European

confront the Japanese, it is
annihilated.

at the Battle of Tsuchima.

News of this humiliating defeat leads to
open rebellion.

Workers in St. Petersburg and Moscow
hold protest meetings and strikes.

January 22, 1905, St. Petersburg.

On Bloody Sunday, Several hundred
peaceful protesters are shot down in

the Tsar's Winter Palace.

Order is only restored when the Tsar
agrees to allow a Duma, or elected

parliament.

But this is soon sidelined, and massive
repression resumes.

Among those who flee abroad is Vladimir
Ilyich Lenin.

the Marxist leader who will one day
prove the Tsar's nemesis.

He goes to London and becomes the
nucleus of revolutionaries intent on

overthrowing the Romanovs.

August the 1st, 1914, Vienna.

The last act in the downfall of the
Romanovs begins.

as Austria -Hungary declares war on
Serbia following the assassination of

Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife.

An insignificant local incident in the
Balkans then spirals inexorably into a

world war.

Russia mobilizes in support of its
fellow Serbian Slavs, prompting Austria

-Hungary's ally Germany to declare war
on Russia.

Russia's mobilization of its vast forces
is unexpectedly quick.

Within a week, two armies are thrusting
into Prussia, the vulnerable eastern

province of Germany.

But they are both outmaneuvered and
utterly defeated by the German generals

von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff at
the Battle of Tannenberg.

Then, in early summer 1915, a massive
German and Austro -Hungarian offensive

occupies Russian -controlled Poland.

September 5, 1915, Petrograd, formerly
St. Petersburg.

Following these debacle, the Tsar takes
personal command of the army and leaves

the capital for a headquarters nearer
the front.

Unfortunately, his wife is left in
Petrograd under the malign influence of

evil monk, Rasputin, and this further
antagonizes the country.

But the military disasters continue, and
there is growing discontent caused by

the defeat and increasing hardships and
food shortages at home.

The winter of 1916 is bitter.

and food supplies to most of the major
cities break down.

Early in March 1917, crowds queuing for
food start rioting.

March the 10th, 1917, Petrograd.

Workers go on strike, marching through
the streets with banners saying, Down

with the war.

From his headquarters near the front,
Nicholas demands that the disturbances

put down by force, but yet again the
Tsar is completely out of touch with

reality.

March the 12th, 1917, Petrograd.

Troops refuse to fire on the
demonstrators and then mutiny and join

The Duma sets up a provisional
government which demands the abdication

Tsar.

March the 15th, 1917, Pskov.

In a railway siding on the way back to
Petrograd, Nicholas abdicates.

and control passes to the provisional
government increasingly dominated by the

charismatic Social Democrat Alexander
Kerensky.

When the news of the downfall of the
Tsar reaches him, Vladimir Lenin is in

Switzerland.

Knowing that he is implacably opposed to
Russia continuing to fight, the Germans

arrange for Lenin to be secretly
transported in a sealed train back to

homeland via neutral Sweden and Finland.

On April the 16th, Lenin gets back to
the Finland station in Petrograd.

He immediately begins undermining the
parties trying to establish a liberal

democratic government by promising
peace, land and bread.

While these political maneuverings are
going on, the Tsar and his family are

placed under house arrest at the summer
palace at Tsarskoe Selo, near Petrograd.

At first, the provisional government
tries to continue fighting the Germans.

But yet another unsuccessful offensive
in June 1917 leads to another army

and political chaos.

Ostensibly to keep the royal family
safe, it's moved 1400 miles east to the

remote town of Tobolsk, beyond the Urals
in Siberia.

Conditions are fairly relaxed.

The Tsar cycles in the ground.

And two of the princesses pose with
their guards after their heads have been

shaved following an attack of measles.

Meanwhile, Popular hatred of the war
causes a collapse in support for the

provisional government.

And the Bolsheviks achieve majorities in
the elections for local governing

bodies, the Soviets, in Petrograd and
Moscow.

Announcing that the time is now ripe for
a takeover of power, Lenin makes his

move.

November 7th, 1917, Petrograd.

The firing of a gun on the cruiser
Aurora signals an armed uprising.

Bolshevik Red Guard seize key points in
the city and then occupy the Winter

Palace where the provisional government
is meeting.

Kerensky flees abroad and Lenin seizes
power.

As a symbolic break with the previous
regime, the Bolsheviks moved their

to Moscow.

But in reality, they control little of
the country and now provide a focus for

all parties which oppose the
dictatorship of the proletariat, whether

they wish to see the Tsar restored.

The immediate effect of this upheaval on
the imperial prisoners in Tobolsk is

that conditions become stricter and
there is talk of putting the Tsar on

In March 1918, the Bolsheviks deliver on
their promise to bring peace.

Leon Trotsky negotiates the Treaty of
Brest -Litovsk with the Germans.

The price paid is considerable.

Poland and the Ukraine are ceded to
Germany, and imperial troops advance to

occupy them.

The Bolsheviks are now faced with civil
war.

as white Russian opponents of their
regime begin to advance on Moscow and

Petrograd.

Russia's former allies are quick to send
forces to help the whites.

British and French troops arrive in the
northern port of Murmansk and at the

Black Sea port, while Japanese and US

forces move into Vladivostok and the far
eastern regions.

Soon there is widespread but sporadic
fighting with the Bolsheviks pinned in

area based on Moscow and Petrograd, but
stretching east to the Europe.

It is against this chaotic background
that the Romanov family is moved with a

few servants in April 1918 to a
Bolshevik stronghold, Ekaterinburg, some

miles east of Moscow on the Trans
-Siberian Railway.

In Ekaterinburg, they are imprisoned in
a substantial mansion known as the

Hypatia House, after its former owner.

For added security, the local Bolsheviks
put a wooden palisade around the house.

They also give it an ominous new name,
the House of Special Purpose.

In this time of chaos in Russia, One of
the few professional armed forces still

left after the collapse of the old
Imperial Army is a corps of some 60 ,000

Czechs.

They had been recruited by the Russians
to fight for Czech independence against

Austria -Hungary.

And following the peace of Brest
-Litovsk, the Bolsheviks had promised

passage back to their homeland, but the
long way round.

so as to avoid the Germans, via the
Trans -Siberian railway to Vladivostok

then a sea voyage to Europe.

But as the Czech legion is travelling
eastwards along the Trans -Siberian, the

Bolsheviks renege on their promise and
begin trying to disarm and arrest them.

The Czechs promptly team up with the
local white Russian forces, about to

and start to fight their way back along
the Trans -Siberian.

By the beginning of July, their advance
units are beginning to approach

Ekaterinburg.

A decision is made that the Romanovs
must not be allowed to fall into their

hands.

July the 4th, 1918, Ekaterinburg.

Yakov Yurovsky, a former shoemaker who
had become an ardent Bolshevik, A member

of their newly formed secret police, the
Cheka, takes charge of the Apatiev

house.

Eight days later, the leader of the
Bolsheviks in the Ekaterinburg area is

called to Moscow.

Whether he is specifically instructed by
Lenin to execute the Romanovs, or

whether he is simply told to make sure
they don't fall into white Russian

is not known.

All that is sure is that a fatal
decision has been taken, and the

the killing of Nicholas II and his
family has begun.

July 16th, 1918.

The Patieff House, Ekaterinburg.

It is a routine day for the imprisoned
Romanovs.

Some of them are seen relaxing in the
grounds.

But in the early hours of the next
morning, shots are heard coming from the

house.

And later that day, the British Consul
General in Moscow receives a telephone

call from the Soviet Foreign Office
telling him that the Tsar has been

July 18, 1918, Moscow.

The assassination of the Tsar is
confirmed by a communique from the

Soviet news agency.

This states that the Tsar has been shot
and that the wife and son of Nicholas

have been sent to a safe place.

July 25, 1918, Ekaterinburg.

White Russian forces capture the town.

An immediate investigation into the fate
of the Romanovs is begun.

In the Apatios house, a cellar is found
to have 27 bullet holes in the walls,

some with the bullets still embedded in
them.

The floor has been washed, as if to
remove bloodstains.

The inhabitants of a village 13 miles
from the town report strange activities

a Red Army squad early on the morning of
July the 17th.

The investigators go to a deserted
mineshaft nearby, called the Four

There they find some charred clothing
and a handbag, together with some

jewellery and a pair of false teeth,
which are identified as belonging to the

Tsar's doctor, Yevgeny Botkin.

This investigation concludes that the
Tsar and some other members of his

entourage have been killed at the
Apatiev house, but that the rest of the

family... has been spirited away.

There are reports of a sealed train
leaving Ekaterinburg for Perm, about 200

miles to the northwest.

Have the rest of the family been on
board?

Surprisingly, this is not what the white
leadership wants to hear.

Most are ambitious to defeat the
Bolsheviks and take control of Russia.

A martyred imperial family will be a
fine rallying point and proof of the

depravity of their enemies.

Searching for a missing family will be a
distraction.

So another investigation is ordered.
More burnt clothing and bones are found

the mine, and a coded telegram is
discovered at the Ekaterinburg telegraph

office, apparently sent to the Kremlin
by the head of the local Soviet.

It reads, The entire family suffered the
same fate as its head.

Officially, the family will perish in
evacuation.

Although some doubt is cast on its
authenticity, the telegram is taken as

decisive proof that all the imperial
family has been murdered and their

disposed of either by burning or acid.

The Bolsheviks are only too happy to let
the matter rest, so this becomes the

official story of the fate of the
Tsarist family for the next 70 years.

But in 1989, as the Soviet Union begins
to collapse, a vital document is

released from the Soviet State Archives.

It is the secret report written by Yakov
Yurovsky in 1920 and then buried in the

vault. This finally reveals what really
happened.

July 16, 1918, the Apatiev House.

During the evening, Yurovsky selects ten
men of the local militia and tells them

that the Roman officer to be executed
that night in the cellar below the

A truck will be coming at midnight to
take the bodies away, but the family

not be taken to the killing room until
it has arrived.

At 11 in the evening, Yurovsky gathers
the murder squad again and distributes

pistols and ammunition.

The room is small, and there would not
be space to use rifles.

It is not until well after midnight that
the truck finally arrives.

Yurovsky goes upstairs to wake the
Romanovs and their servants.

He tells them that they are being moved
to a place of greater safety because

there is fighting in the tower.

The prisoners finish dressing just
before two in the morning.

Yurovsky leads them down into the cellar
to a small empty room at the back.

The eleven crowd in, the Tsar and the
Tsarina.

Their four daughters and son, their
doctor, Yevgeny Botkin, lady -in

Anna Dimidova, cook, Ivan Karitonov, and
footman, Alexei Tup.

The Tsar asks for chairs and two of
them.

The Tsarina takes one and his son the
other.

Yurovsky then leaves them alone.

At 2 .30, Yurovsky comes back in.

followed by the ten militiamen.

Yurovsky hurriedly tells the Tsar that
because attempts are being made to

them, he and his family are to be
executed.

The Tsar does not understand and says,
What? What?

as Yurovsky shoots him and then the
Tsarevich Alexei.

The militia then open fire chaotically
and the prisoners begin to run around

screaming. The bullets seem to be
bouncing off the bodies of the

They are finished off with bayonets.

But Tsarevich Alexei is still moving, so
he is killed with three more shots.

The bodies are taken out to the truck,
which then drives off, apparently to

them at a disused mine north of the
town.

When the truck reaches the mine, the
bodies are stripped so that the clothes

be burned.

It is then discovered that the
princesses had diamonds thrown into

bodices, which was why the bullets had
appeared to bounce off them.

The mine turns out to be too
waterlogged, so the bodies are then

into the forest.

When the truck becomes bogged down, a
pit is hastily dug by the road.

Most of the bodies are thrown into this
and covered with acid.

An attempt is made to burn those of
Alexei and one of the daughters beside

pit.

Then the grave is filled with rubble,
covered over with railway sleepers, and

then earth.

In July 1991, the grave is located,
under railway sleepers, just as Yurovsky

stated.

Inside are the badly crushed remains of
nine bodies.

Those of Alexei and one of the
daughters, either Maria or Anastasia,

missing.

When DNA samples are matched with
surviving relatives of the Romanovs,

be little doubt that most of the missing
family has been found.

And this is backed up when computer
reconstructions are used to match the

with photographs of the Tsar and his
family.

The remains of the last Tsar of Russia
and his family are finally reburied in

St. Petersburg Cathedral in 1995.

And then in 2007, two more bodies are
found near the pit, almost certainly the

two missing children.

It has taken almost 90 years to discover
the true facts about the assassination

of Tsar Nicholas II and the gruesome
murder of his family.

Amid the chaos of the Russian Civil War,
the Tsar was too powerful as an

imperial figurehead for Lenin to allow
him to live.

But the rest of the slaughter was a
cruel and unnecessary tragedy.