@@jedithekitten8891 because the rifles were too loud to be used inside in the small basement room because people could have hearing loss & disorientation, etc, from that. The grenades were used outside & thrown down a pit. I understand the commenter was trying to make a joke, but it doesn't work.
@@msstarlight4770 The grenades weren't used until they were deep in the forest. So it has no relevance to what happened in the Ipatiev house. It was a firing squad that killed most but bullets began bouncing off the Grand Duchesses Marie and Anastasia. This was due to the jewels they had sewed into their corsets, causing bullets to bounce off. The shooters did not know this and some were very superstitious, wondering if God was saving the young women. They switched to bayonets. How horrible their final minutes must have been!
I don't remember his name but there was this famous composer who loved Shakespeare's Hamlet so much that when he died he donated his skull to The Royal Shakespearean Theatre so they could use it for the "Alas, poor Yorick" scene. So, if you know who he is, I would like him to be your next Iconic Corpse please.
I'm glad you mentioned the servants and the physician, in almost all accounts even in that poorly rated Netflix series they get glossed over. They were just as much victims as the Czar and his family.
I’m writing a paper on the Romanovs and their execution, until now I didn’t really know who else was executed along with the family, just that “some servants” were. I’ll be sure to include them in my paper!
I know one of the Romanov descendants was upset that the servants were not buried with the family...stating their loyalty to the family to the horrific end was unmatched. Many Romanov blood relatives had abandoned them, denounced them while the servants stayed, begging the question "Who IS family, after all?" But, that concept apparently wasn't good enough for the Russian Orthodox Church, either.
@@coldwar45 It is a bit more complex than you might think. At least the doctor was formally offered a chance to leave. By Yurovsky´s own reports. If you want to take everything else from Yurovsky as true, and it looks like mostly it is, then the doctor was very much aware they were about to die. In fact, it does seem the family had more of a feeling they were about to die too. There is the report of how they all kneeled and did not sing in their very last religious service. The priest for that service reported this and reported he felt them all like already somewhat away. Back to the servants, there was a kitchen boy who was removed from the house a bit before the execution. Which also points out that maybe they did offer the other staff to leave too. Tough, Yurovsky seems to only have reported about the doctor. Additionally, the family had more staff which did not travel with them to their final stay. Some of that staff remained alive and even wrote memoirs which are part of the current day knowledge we have on the family. In this very video you had Pierre Gilliard mentioned has visiting the wanabe Anastasia years after. This Pierre was none other than the kids former french teacher. He had been with the family up till their imprisonment at Tobolsk. Lucky him, he did not go with them in their last journey to the Ipatiev house. Here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Gilliard
This year on the anniversary of the massacre, the church announced their "additional testing" had confirmed the identities of the remains. Now, hopefully, the family can be laid to rest.
@Right Hand I learned about the fate of the Romanov family when I was 10 years old because I was very determined to try to figure out why the world is so fucked up and decided I had to look at major shifts of power throughout history. I remember I was so incredibly horrified to know what was done to those children out of anger at their parents. The fact that people are so willing to kill people they believe have wronged them is already insane, but to kill innocent children too? To believe a child can be worthy of death because of a "tainted bloodline"? The murder of Marie Antoinette's children was just as insane. Revolutions start with good reasons and good intentions, but always lead to the most cruel acts of violence in the name of progress.
Its also rumored that Yurovsky's men also got really drunk before the execution to better deal with what they were about to do, so their aim was made even... more awful.
I can't blame them. If I had to kill those children or be killed myself knowing they would die anyway I would have had to have been drunk first and probably would have been a drunk for life dealing with it.
@@jimwilliams4532 Honestly, I would have just shot myself at that point. I would rather die than live the rest of my life as an alcoholic, trying to drink away the memories of murdering children.
@@LammasDeluge One of Stalin's executioners lost it for a little bit during the worst of the purges, and during the Katyn massacre, where they killed thousands in just a few days, they had to drink very hard. I would wager a guess that it takes a severe mental toll on most people.
@@jimwilliams4532 Actually, I've decided that if I was in that situation, I would shoot at my commander. At least try to take out the evil fuck if I'm going to kill myself anyway.
"We were working on moledular genetic testing at one time, then mr Stalin shot the entire team. As a result, we began lagging behind" i want this quote embroidered
Genetics proves that people are different, communism says everyone is the same. Stalin searched for an alternative and settled on the theories Trofim Lysenko. That decision led to 50 years of Russian crop failures and mass starvation. www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786/
For me the fascination comes from so many things … the fairy tale lives of the Romanovs, the love story between Nicholas and Alexandra, The innocence of the children , the creepiness and “super strength” of Rasputin, the family’s grisly murders , fake Anastasia’s and of course the long held mystery of if one of the girls survived before their skeletons were ultimately recovered. If it didn’t really happen you would think it was all made up in a book…
Guard: "All of my evil thoughts about the Tsar disappeared after I had stayed a certain time. I began to pity them as human beings. I kept saying to myself, 'Let them escape. Do something to let them escape.'" That's just fucking heartbreaking, yo.
Now repeat that same scene for decades and for countless millions of people and you can appreciate the true scale of the atrocities the Soviets inflicted upon Russia.
As a kid, the Anastasia movie gave me so much hope she had survived. Imagine my heartbreak when I found out that she died so terribly with her family. Yep, I was a wreck. I loved this episode!!
Katherine you should see the sadness in the fandom of the History anime of Hetalia. The Russia character is so loved and we all cry when the movie is mentioned.
Yeah, it would´ve been more human just to tell them to look at the wall and shoot them in the head. That bloodbath seemed more like a revenge than anything else.
I have to admit to being heartbroken when I heard Anastasia had definitely died and had lain in an unmarked grave for so long. It was a hopeful story that she had escaped
I'd really like to see you cover the Jonestown dead. Most of the coverage of Jonestown discusses what happened up until the deaths but what happened after is just as intriguing.
That's an excellent idea! While I know about Jonestown, your comment made me realize I don't have a clue as to what happened after! I could tell you about Jim Jones' childhood, his former jobs, how the cult began, rose, and ended....yet I couldn't tell you what happened to the deceased. Caitlin, I hope you'll consider xlanbc's idea because it's an awesome one!
I know that only maybe six were actually identified with maybe a couple of autopsies. Everyone else was loaded one on top of the other and carried away. There is a memorial in Oakland, CA but I highly doubt any remains are there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were buried in a mass grave and/or cremated. “Raven” is a really good book (forgot author and too lazy to look up) and “The Road to Jonestown” by Jeff Guin is on my TBR list. And there are numerous documentaries - I think Netflix or Prime has one that uses a lot of re-enactments so it’s more like watching a regular show (or was that the History Channel ...?). This is my very long winded way of saying “Maybe these will have an answer.”
The funny thing about the legacy of the Romanovs is that for near a century, the Soviet Union wanted to erase the Romanovs from history and yet when their remains are found, the family were canonized as saints. Guess the Romanovs had their last laugh.
They were. They were also canonized and interred in Church of the Resurrection in the Kremlin (I was there in 1993 and saw their coffins) . Anastasia had just been added to that about 2 months before I got there if I remember right. It was very beautiful.
@Otto Sump Do the lives of common russians dead because of the autocracy even rate to you? The children were both products & victims of their birth - they did NOT deserve to die. But neither did striking workers or soldiers conscripted to fight against workers in other countries. The Tsar had the most capacity to look deeper into what was going on & he chose not to. He was THE most powerful man in the country prior to the revolution - yet STILL you absolve him of responsibility. This continuing worship of royalty demonstrates the need to extinguish it. Wars of restoration have to be prevented as far more lives of people with far less responsibility would die. The royal family were a liability to peace.
@Jason Voorheese The uploader covered that. The bolsheviks were in charge of the territory they controlled militarily. A Civil War is a state of emergency. The Royals continued existence if freed could be a cause of restoration war. Their lives were insigificant in comparison to the lives their continuing existence would put in peril. They had to die. Deal with it. If the children were too young to understand & remember, they could have been adopted out & spared.
@Jason Voorheese "....a group of jews...." Oh - you're one of THOSE people. The person that brought about that dark era of history was Stalin, and he was one of you - he didn't like jews either.
This video made me way more sad that I thought it would, damn :/ That picture of the basement wall completely destroyed sent chills down my spine. I hope they're resting in a better place now, no one deserves to die like that, specially the children
quærēns I mean sure, yea, in order for a revolution to occur it helps to fully dispose of the previous rulers. But uh....it’s not like the starvation and stuff exactly went away after the regime change 😬
@@Ravierave this is a bit condescending, don't you think? It is easy to judge from the position of your modern, sheltered first world man, for sure. Now think about the horrible, oppressive regime that persisted for generations, with total technological and political stagnation. Heck, even with the military stigma of the Paper Tiger. Royal family had to go. It wasn't the first monarchy that was executed with utmost prejudice and bolsheviks weren't the ones who came up with the idea to shoot the Family either. And, yes, USSR was totally an improvement compared to the previous regime. For a western man, who had years of political and social development behind his back, it was still a totalitarian despotism, no question in that. But for Russians it was certainly the move forward.
I guess, but even if they escaped the house, where would they go? Everyone for a hundred miles around hated them. They wouldn't have been able to make it anywhere safe before being captured or killed.
@@greywolf7577 and who knows, even if anastasia escaped she could have had an even worse death by the hands of people who hated the czars. (raped and then killed)
@@greywolf7577 they were most definitely not hated by "most people" around... their biggest critics were in St Petersburg, due to propaganda by the terrorist organization, aka the Bolsheviks.
To comfort you, and humanize Yurovsky, the Romanov family (except from the kids) weren’t innocents. The horrible things they made the people go through was enough to fill them with rage to the point of celebrating something like this. Think of the French Revolution.
@Sunny bob Quackers I'm not justifying what was done to the kids, read it again. I'm just explaining how someone can be so cold blooded to the point of doing something like this. And I want to humanize him because he was a human.
Remy N. They had the opportunity to leave months earlier but the mother wouldn’t leave because some of the children had been ill (I forget if it was tb or what, plus the boy was a hemophiliac). Ended up being a deadly decision. By the time they were ready to leave, their cousins in England, George VI and family, were afraid to help them.
Remy N. Yes, but when it comes to royals they never do. Look what’s happening in Saudi Arabia right now. No one should ever want to be a royal, not that the children had any choice in the matter.
@@remyn.9198 sadly it wasn't an real option. Keeping the children alive would give them the possibility to claim the right to the throne one day and since the royal family still had support and relatives in other countries, the new government couldn't risk to keep any flame of hope alive. Revolutions in Europe were damn cruel. The French one was even bloodier than the russian
Me too, I wish they could just rest in peace and be buried properly even if not in the cathedral :'( it's so sad what happened to the children, it is never the childrens fault for the actions of their parents, they could have grown up and done great things but well never know now, what a horribly way to die it wasn't even quick 😫
I'm a member of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, formally ROCOR and I think it's awful the family is not buried together. I watched the burial of the family and retainers years ago. How much more proof do they want? !
@@dawndonivan3089 'Needing more proof' is just a cover when in reality it's purely political. Burying the final family members would be a front page news story across the globe. Putin doesn't want the headlines, nostalgia, or the accompanying journalistic analysis of Russian leaders of the past. In his authoritative regime, it's all about keeping control and avoiding stirring up sentiments that could be critical. Unfortunately, the church is toeing the line. It makes me sad.
@Shirley Bailey you are probably right but it's the principal of the matter, ya feel? Like it just seems wrong to keep people's remains in a lab to me, it's so impersonal
@@JustPeachy998 Yeah. It was Boris Yeltsin that was present at the first funerals. My understanding is Vladimir Putin didn't attend the 100 year anniversary of their death even though it was a big event at Yekaterinburg.
That little video clip of the sisters running with Alexi between them breaks my heart. A sweet little sick boy doted on by his sisters. Say what you will about the czar but a dictators children don’t deserve the same punishment unless they are adults and actively involved in their parents crimes
You’ve actually done a decent job pronouncing my hometown’s name, Caitlin! Yes, you have a fan from Yekaterinburg and I would be honored to have you come visit and take you to some places connected with Romanov’s last days. :)
So were the countless children who starved and died under Romanov rule. But nobody cares about them, because they don't have a heartwarming story to their deaths.
It may also be because of the name Anastasia itself, and how fitting it is for her story? The name Anastasia is derived from the ancient Greek name Anastasios (Ἀναστάσιος), which means "resurrection", from the elements "ana" ("up") and "stasis" ("standing"). The name also bears a similarity to the ancient Greek "Athanasius", meaning "immortal", from "a" ("anti" or "not") and "thanatos" ("death"). For her to be horrifically put to death, only to later sit up and scream... Is it any wonder she is so immortalized?
Actually, both Anastasia and Anastasios come from the word "Anàstasis" which means ressurection. As for the word "Athanasia" (immortality), it has nothing in common with Anastasia. It might look similar and even sound kinda similar, but grammatically speaking, they don't have anything in common.
@@Eleni1002 That's interesting. It's surprising to me that the Greek words for "resurrection" and "immortality" aren't related, especially since they sound so similar. Do you have any sources on their etymology? (I'm not doubting you, I'm just a linguistics nerd and would like to learn more.)
@@aeronalto1065 Think of these two like this: Anastasia for example translates to resurrection, meaning someone who has died and was brought back to life. It is a very common name in Greek Orthodox societies because it holds a more religious meaning (Jesus Christ and all that) and is commonly given to girls born around Easter time. Now as for the name Athanasia, it translates to eternally alive, it uses the -a- deprivation (A- deprivation + the word thanasia derived from Thanatos the Greek word for death) to signify the immortality of the person who is given this name. As you can see, even though these words may sound similar, they do not share the same exact meaning and they are not etymologically related. I hope I helped a bit more and sorry for the lengthy comment hehe ^^
I read Dr. William Maples book _Dead Men Do Tell Tales_ back in the '90s. He was a good storyteller too. I remember he wrote that he was sure the Russian anthropologist had mixed up some of Nicholas' bones with those of his valet, but added that the arms and hands of the valet had served Nicholas in life and it was all right if they did so in death. I also remember that he was impressed with Alexandra's dental work -- gold and porcelain crowns. Nicholas was scared of dentists and his teeth were bad.
I can only imagine the terror cursing through the fathers veins when he got shot, his last thought probably just panic aimed towards the well-being of his family. I know too little about politcs and what either side of the afflicted patries did to anger the other or such, but I am so very sad that five children had to die so tragically and brutally.
I got food poisoning twice and one of them I was so delirious that I just kind of came up with that awesome plot for a story I kind of might have hallucinated during that power barfing haze and exhaustion.
Such a haunting story. While I understand that Nicholas was completely out of touch with his people, the murders of him and his family - and doggie too - haunt me. And the ensuing cover-up. It is all so awful. Thank you, Caitlyn, for handling it quickly and covering such an expanse of information so succinctly. Truly horrific times.
Own Petard From what I’ve read Jimmy (Anastasia’s dog) was killed in the basement with her. One of the other dogs was shot outside the home for barking. Alexei (the heir’s) dog survived as she had run away. She was later found on the streets and lived a very interesting life before living out her days at Windsor Castle. Obviously I’m not sure of the truth of this (and who knows if it was the same dog), but it’s a sad story all around.
If I had had a teacher like Caitlin when I was in school, I might have actually liked learning about history. As it was, it was taught in an incredibly uninspiring and boring way, which led me to avoid taking history classes whenever I could. Way to go Caitlin. You've reawakened a hunger I didn't even know I have.
Stalin's political philosophy was that there was no problem that could not be solved through the application of high velocity lead poisoning, aka; a bullet in the head! Also the Ural Mountains run in a north/south line and are considered the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, so west of the Ural's is Europe/east Asia. Some 42 years later Yekaterinburg (later Sverdlovsk) pops up in history again when the U-2 was shot down on May 1st 1960.
OK, honestly, this is by far one of the most chilling stories out there. Despite the fact that I already knew the story, hearing it again and letting it sink in just one more time makes it unbearably tragic.
right! i feel like everytime i research more into the romanovs even when i come up with similar info each time, i still feel like i learn something new or yet another crazy thing that happened. it's so interesting
Yes, the story of that family is tragic but considering the general state of the country and how many people lived miserable lives and died horribly that the tsar could have helped but didn't, the Romanov family's death is by far not the biggest tragedy. It is just that the names and faces of the millions that died have been forgotten and are therefore not as emotionally charged as the Romanov's.
"We were working on molecular genetic testing at one time... Then Mr. Stalin shot the entire team. As a result, we began lagging behind" So passive agressive I love it
I had great grandparents who were Ukrainian. My great great grandfather was a cosack. They got out of Russian on 1903 Great timing. I'm glad that you mentioned the four retainers who died with them. They get ommited from history a lot. I have always been fascinated with the deaths of the Romanovs. And even more so about what happened to the bodies of the three servants and the doctor after they were found. I had heard that the relatives of the tzar had said "these people died with the family, they should be buried with them ". Or were the servants buried in separate graves? I've looked on the internet but found nothing. Would you happen to know what their fate was?
I loved the movie Anastasia as a kid and it lead me to research into what really happened to her. All these years later I'm still reading books and watching films and documentaries about the Romanovs. Very interesting video and very informative! I'll have to check out your other content!
Oh hey, me too! Fascinated to this day. It just resonates with me, ya know? It's amazing, actually, how as I learn and grow and the world around me changes, my feelings on the subject have also metamorphosed. I have a lot less sympathy for Nicholas II and Alexandra than I used to. Nicholas was a shitty dude in quite a few respects - it goes beyond mere incompetence. He actively hated Jewish people and was privately pleased with the brutal pogroms that took place against them in Russia. He also held a grudge against Japan, viewing the Japanese people as small, effeminate, and weak. He spread those bigoted views to his kids, who cheerfully parroted his bullshit during the Russo-Japanese War, saying stuff like they hoped all the Japanese people died and that they were strange "little people" who did bad things, sinking the Russian peoples' ships and killing their sailors. I don't blame the kids for that - they were being fed propaganda during a time of war, and they were very young at the the time, and very sheltered. Plus, when their governess Margareta Eager explained to one of the daughters, Olga, that the Japanese people weren't all bad, and specifically the women and children didn't deserve death (which is still not a great viewpoint, but it's a step up from 'i hope all the Japanese die') Olga actually listened, took it to heart, and admitted she didn't realize the Japanese were also people - she thought they were more like monkeys or something. So... yeah. I could go on and on about the bullshit of Nicholas and Alexandra. I still feel bad for them though, and acknowledge that they were human. They had redeeming qualities, but we definitely shouldn't gloss over the bad shit.
@@WhistleAndSnap Yeah that kind of speaks for itself. Nicholas and Alexandra were so incompetent and ignorant about the people that they supposedly served it's insane, but their story is so interesting because so many factors came together to create the perfect storm that ended up destroying their lives. It's been romanticized a lot but the actual raw history of it is still very fascinating.
Just FYI, Dr. Maples wrote a book before he passed away, called 'Dead men do tell tales". There is a whole chapter about his work on the Romanov case, and all the chapters are really interesting.
He was a brilliant man. I am thoroughly disgusted by the lack of intelligence in the people that follow this channel. I've seen some dumb shit comments here before, but it just keeps getting worse in every new video that is put out. You would think anyone listening & halfway grasping this multi-MULTI-faceted, long story here (OR OTHERWISE BUT ESPECIALLY WATCHING THE WHOLE DAMN VIDEO)would be smart enough to know better. "You Would Think", being the operative key to that narrative.
Yes, it's a fascinating book. Dr. Maples has solved many police mysteries based on what he found at the scene of a death. All "deathlings" would enjoy reading his book.
I understand that revolutions are bloody and whatnot but killing kids, including a disabled kid, is just so brutal it made me feel weird. How terrifying and awful their final moments must have been.
That was & occasionally still is the way of governments & monarchies & angry mobs. They don't see a kid as an innocent so much as an enemy, a witness or a possible FUTURE enemy. Some people get stuck in mob mentality & make evil decisions under that influence, some people are just plain evil to the core.
The White Russians absolutely would have used the Romanovs as figures to rally around, even if the former czar and his family didn't want that. The Bolsheviks thought they didn't have any better option, unfortunately.
When I was in collage, I took a Russian Lit class. What I remember most were the stories of our professor who was a White Russian. It was fascinating, She told of how each of them carried a cynide pill. If they were captured they would take the pill, killing themselves, rather than risk divulging any information. She told us how she met and married her husband. It sounded so romantic, but she corrected us and explained how their marriage was based on their trust of one another, not on love.
@@iuliya95 Its not about skin colour. White or black Russians are more to do with politicosociological groups. But you're right, I can see why that would be confusing.
As a Russian I’m very thankful ❤ you made this legend feels so real and vibrant! You are an amazing person and talented speaker! Love your videos with my whole heart ❤️
My father died on October 15th 2019 and I discovered these videos about two weeks after the fact. THANK YOU CAITLIN. I had never dealt with the death of anyone close to me before this. I was scared of going through the process. I almost avoided it but am happy that I didn't. My dad is not a ghoul. He is not a zombie. He is not a scary skeleton. He was a person who died. His passing has helped me to understand my own life that much more. Your Vlogs about death, and the many different things that happen when it happens, has made it easier for me to accept my fathers passing. For that, I do not have the words to thank you. Thank you for bringing a realistic conversation up about that one act that we all (the living) go through. Always looking forward to your newest vlogs.
My father passed away on Nov 9th, 2019. Giving you nothing but hugs and peace. I know how hard it is. Thank you Caitlin for normalizing death for us. I used to have anxiety about death, especially immediately after my dads death. Since watching your videos it's become MUCH less taboo and is something special I share with him. I've even spoken to my 5 year old about it. I'd like to give him the gift of not fearing such a natural process of life.
@@THEKINGDOGE__ My sympathies to you both , my dad passed Nov. 9th 1993 , I was 13 years old , I choose not to go to his viewing ( looking at the body before burial) I wasn't scared I just didn't want to remember him died and lifeless , still stand by that ( my choice) . Death is natural, may they all rest in peace ❤
14:47 "They chose some guy in Florida over the US government." Umm, William Ross Maples was a significant contributor the the field of forensic anthropology. He was a great man for the job and most likely far more qualified than anyone that the Feds would have put forward. He also worked as an independent scientist, not an agent of the US government. Which was something probably far more appealing to the paranoid among those making the decisions. The University of Florida "Maples Center for Forensic Medicine" being named after him and the fact that his writings/work are still studied by forensics students just might give you the idea that more than just some Russian bureaucrats valued his skill.
I'm probably in a positive mood this morning but I thought she was saying it in a good way, also Florida man meme hehe. Alas, great info and respect for William Ross Maples.
Love this story ... GO GATORS! My university has a wealth of important research studies & programs with the commitment to knowledge. UF is more than just Gatorade, and “Florida Man” could be repeated in every state. We all have plenty of dumdums. 🐊🐊🐊
i mean he did also spend the better part a year trashing the reputation of the molecular genetic scientist Dr Peter Gill, who actually performed the DNA testing to identify the bones, bc Maples was pissed he didn’t get to do it first.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'" -Ronald Reagan US federal govt is completely and totally corrupt, and screws up absolutely everything it touches. I don't blame them a bit for not wanting to involve the US govt. Smart move, IMO.
the confusion that is in russian masses' heads is astounding... they canonized the royal family, literally worship them (disrespecting this Stalin-founded version of russian Orthodox church is literally a prison sentence in russian federation), AND at the same time, worship their murderers, Lenin and the communist party.
All this horror is even more heartbreaking because, ultimately, things never really got better for the Russian people, and all these years later they're back to absolute rule. At least they've got vodka?
All the more reason for those of us in the west, who have come to value our democratic equality/values, to resist our own growing radicalism and extremes on both sides.
What on earth are you talking about? The Soviet Union was practically a miracle for the Russian people, it turned their nation into an industrial superpower that eventually rivaled the United freaking States. Millions upon millions lifted out of poverty and allowed to actually LIVE their lives. Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and roses; the trauma of World War 2 made sure of that. But overall, the founding of the USSR was an objective improvement for Russian life, and its dissolution was an objective decline.
When I was younger I was legitimately obsessed with the Romanov family. I got to see the Musical Anastasia a couple months ago and it reminded me why I loved the idea of her escaping it's really tragic that her entire family was murdered because of her father. I wish the Palace was open so I could go see it but it is under construction.
well, it goes deeper then just her father, basically when you really get into the history of it all you'll see that the fall of the tzar was basically guaranteed to happen. even before Nicholas II became tzar there had already been attempted assassinations on the royal family, One I believe was even a train bombing. If you ever watch the documentary of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna life (the last grand duchess) I believe they touch on that a bit.
Honestly it just makes me really mad. I understand this was Russia and I understand why they wanted to execute them. But what I don't understand was why they had to kill the entire family and the servants. They really could have just executed Nicholas and sent the family into exile. They could have sent away the servants. They could have sent away the romanovs save Nicholas and then just executed Nicholas. But they literally killed helpless women and children which puts them on the wrong side of History.
it's always been interesting to me that genealogy is so much easier to scientifically trace through the maternal line yet it's the fathers who pass on their name. many family trees are based on patrilineage too despite maternity being much easier to prove haha. i wonder how many more generations we'd be able to trace ourselves back :)
A little correction The two pictures that she points to be Anastasia, is not her, but her older sister Olga. Nothing to complain about because they were 4 sisters and at some point they wore the same hairstyles and wardrove, until Olga and Tatiana decided their own style when they grew up enough. If you wanna know who of them is her, is the tinniest of them, plus her hairstyle keeps always the same, long haired and with a front straight cut hairbang.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. It's not a huge deal and it can be hard to keep the straight seeing as Anatasia and Maria looked a lot alike. But Tatiana, imho was gorgeous. Her eyes are just stunning. Alright I'm done...
I noticed too. I always thought Maria (or Marie) was so beautiful. So tragic for the kids who did nothing but be born into a family. I know it sucked for the Russian people at the time...but they didn't get to even have a fulfilling life!
@@emilyharms456 Yeah, but it isn't our work, she added a lot of facts, even with some years investigating this anybody could miss or confuse something so, she worked at this video and this reached to many people, now if they want, they will investigate and read for their own. I mean, there is a lot of versions of Romanov's execution, since Anna, Alexandra's maid, was the last on die, to that Tatiana used her body for defend her younger sisters of bullets, working as an human shield and that's not true. There is always wrong facts. And yeah, there is people that won't read anything about this, but at least is better something than nothing, but that's my opinion.
Not only did they pour acid on their bodies to disfigure them, but they also mashed their faces with gun butts to make identification more difficult. Those poor people.🥺
I remember reading that they did that to kill them. The daughters were both stabbed with bayonets and bludgeoned to death because all that jewelry was stopping the bullets. It took them 20 minutes to finally kill them. They were children. Horrifying.
What the bolsheviks did by silencing other leftist and Anarchist parties was fucked, but no sympathy for a monarch. I wouldn’t have executed them. But as an Anarchist I don’t feel sorry for an oligarch losing their power.
@@squiddiewalsh2324 as an anarchist, you should be against punitive justice as a whole. They had no power, they were literally in prison. Murdering them had nothing to do with removing them from power.
"So there are these two skeletons found in the same place as all the other Romanovs, they are in the perfect age ranges to be Alexei and Maria, and our examinations put the likelihood of that being the case at 8,000,000,000,000 to 1 for Alexei and 4,000,000,000,000 to 1 for Maria" Russian Orthodox Church: "Yeah, not convinced"
Same. Most people don't realize because I'm from a catholic country where most women are called "Maria", but I was originally going to have just my middle name (the one people uses), but she added Maria because of Romanova.
i mean a timeline where kids weren’t shot would be nice. maybe one where Russia got its act together before nicholas even took the throne? but yeah. florida man > FBI? maybe. that’s the scary part.
Florida man is a well known forensics anthropologist- I have read his book on all the cases he worked on, and he very much knew what he was doing(The book is "Dead men do tell tales", its a very good read ^_^)
Largely because they were trying to build communism and America is not the biggest fan of that and has a teensy tendency to screw with those sorts of plans.
Apparently, the Maria/Anastasia question is very complicated due to the fragmentation of the skeletons. It's almost impossible to be 100% sure which body was in which grave.
It’s pretty much agreed it’s Maria, but the meaning of Anastasia’s name makes it more romantic in stories. Apparently though, Maria was sweet and kind and her sisters DID kind of pick on her in life.
I just realized after watching this several times that the reason that people believed a daughter escaped is because they knew that Alexei would have been killed as well because of his heritage. Even though two bodies were missing, which one was for sure Alexei because it would have been very obvious he wasn't in the initial grave.
Nicholas once said, "I just want to be home with my kids." He was a family man & that's all he wanted. I've been fascinated by the Romanovs ever since I saw a documentary about the woman who claimed to be Anastasia.
Nicholas didn't deserve what happened to him but he was far from an innocent family man, he could've prevented WW1 and then handled it terribly which caused all the unrest, then repressed the dissidents against him
Prince Albert was the same way. Even after marrying Queen Victoria, he never really took up the title of King, even though he could. Albert just wanted to be with his wife and kids, which was very abnormal behavior for men of his position. Most noble and royal men cheated on their wives. Nicholas and Albert were the exception to this rule. They wanted no drama nor complications of a ruler. They left the ruling to their wives and wanted to play house all day (be a faithful husbands and great attentive fathers to their children). I love reading about these men who stood out from the norm and behaved appropriately and respectfully to their wives and children (back then it was the norm for men to cheat on their wives give them all sorts of STDs, pass that shit to their children and then the physical abuse or abandonment of their children).
Never kill anyone. Killing adults is horrible too. Adults are human as well. Murder in general is disgusting and awful and all killers should be put to justice.
Politically, it made sense for the Communists. If they let any of the children live, they could have garnered enough support from the rest of the world to get them reinstated on the throne. As far as their cause went, horrible as it was, they really had no other options.
If movies and books have taught me anything is if you want to wipe families out you have to kill everyone including the kids. Kids grow up, kids learn revenge.
Luckily, Stalin got what he deserved. Because of the Doctor’s Plot executions and the fear his underlings had toward him, he died of a stroke with nobody there to help him. He literally got a taste (or more accurately the lack of a taste) of his own medicine.
To be fair, the British monarchy was fighting for it's own survival, as were most monarchies at that time. The two cousins were very close and King George did not easily make the decision to refuse refuge in England to the Romanovs.
I doubt the Royal family was bothered abou public opinion back then. They had the power to bring their Russian relatives to the UK but a higher power blocked them.
@@frances-if5fp The Prime Minister and Parliament forbade the king to bring the Romanovs to England .And in England, the Prime Minister and Parliament have all of the power. The king or queen are only ceremonial. It's been that way since 1688, when the Parliament deposed KIng James and appointed William and Mary to rule.
Scientists: we tested the two new bodies for Romanov DNA. The church: yep. Scientists: the two new bodies match the Romanovs. The church: yep. Scientists: therefore, the two new bodies must be the missing Romanov children. The church: that makes sense. Scientists: so put them in the family tomb. The church: but they're not Romanovs.
@@BarbieBando yeah i know. This ones not though😞 I legit cant even read a map. I forget my right from my left. I cant read an old fashioned clock with the lines. I count on my fingers alot. I cant whistle. Dont know how to ride a bike. Never pumped gas in my life. And i barely learned the difference between youre and your because someone on youtube made fun of me for it in a really mean way so i figured id better remember. "You're" goes where "you are" would fit and anywhere else you can put "your"☺ But the fact im proud of that just proves my point....now that i think about it. So yeah. Strippers can be smart but alot i know me included arent and even if we were no one would believe it. I try and read the biggest books I can find, i Really do, but all i learn from them is that i know less than i thought and so i actually think theyre making me even more dumb, theyre just making me realize _how_ dumb i am. sorry for the rant. I'm sure u were just trying to be nice lol
I know WAY too much about this family to enjoy watching most things about them - particularly that Netflix mini-series. I refuse to even consider it because i know it's going to be inaccurate in some way. BUT this video was 10/10 - my only thing is that you're showing photos of Olga when intending to show Anastasia.
As a fellow Romanov researcher(My dad's great-uncle was a guard for the Romanovs who was rumored to be close to the family. The docu-series honestly was not that bad. A few too many conspiracies for me but still not as bad as some....other documentaries.
Isn't it true that Nicholas did not order the shooting of his people? I read somewhere that he was unaware that the army would be shooting citizens but the anti-monarchists blamed it on him.
@@jameschapman5989 yeah- the bloody sunday protests were at the winter palace and the Tsar and his family were outside st. Petersburg at Tsarscoe Seloe. He had no idea anything was happening until after the military had opened fire on the crowd.
Charlotte your dads great-uncle and my great great grandfather probably knew of each other! was he a guard at the epazief house or prior to that in st.petersburg? because my greatgreatgrandfather was the childrens teacher and nikolaus friend/hunting companion
I remember first reading about the Romanovs in the early 1960s and crying myself to sleep at night just thinking about the unfairness of their deaths, and I think that them thinking their rescue was right there at hand just makes it seem worse. Though, they would have been in extreme fear for much longer if they had known ahead of time. I just still find it heartbreaking over one hundred years later.
This tragedy always got to me, and that was before I knew all the details of their deaths. What an absolutely awful way to die. Whatever you think of the politics of the father, the children, his wife, and the servants were totally innocent. And no one deserves to die in the way that they all did, trusting their captors as they were lead to the slaughter. Thank you for covering this so well, and so thoroughly. I hope one day the family can be laid to rest together.
After watching multiple documentaries on the Romanovs, all I've got to say is, "listen to your mother". (And try not to fall for conmen.) Had Nicholas II heeded his mother's advice and banished Rasputin, who she saw as a dangerous conman and charlatan, from court, his family might not have been killed. But he was too deferential to his wife, who out of desperation probably genuinely believed Rasputin could magically cure her son's hereditary blood disorder and resisted all attempts to remove him.
Had he known the result I'm sure he would have acted different, saddest part is that realization came too late for him. We always think we have time and time is the one thing we have no guarantee on.
There was a world war going on. Ironically Kaiser Wilhelm was also their cousin. But yeah there was a world war going on so I don’t fault king George for not wanting to deal with extracting the Russian royal family from Russia in the midst of both revolution and world war. Across a war torn Europe multiple front lines to Britain and the across the ocean where german u boats were lurking to America.
The Czar family had connections to the danish royal family but apparently fleeing to Denmark wasn’t an option either. Czar Nicolai 2. was a son of the danish Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar, or Marija Fjodorovna, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Princess Dagmar survived the revolution and moved back to Denmark in 1919 and died there in 1928 80 years old.
I remember in history class that Romanov’s assassination/execution was much darker. My professor called it “French Revolution, but much worse” btw my professor was Russian, and hated what happened to them.
While the Romanov execution was tragic, 17,000 aristocrats and others were tried and executed during the French Revolution, and as many as 23,000 priests, nuns, aristocrats and others were executed/murdered without a trial.
You have taught me a lot in the past couple of days. I enjoy your sense of humor and morality that you have towards death. It is really amusing to me, and you help shed the awkward tension that topic can bring up. I appreciate your contribution of knowledge and humor to us simple folk who do not know anything about these topics(:
It's appalling that Maria and Alexei haven't been buried yet. Their burial date keeps getting postponed because the Russian Orthodox Church believes that the "real" Romanov remains were destroyed and they keep wanting more DNA "proof" even though the proof has been there for years.
@@THENAFERATU true that. I'd feel more attracted to Russian Orthodoxy if there wasn't the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and other things. It's a sad and frustrating situation.
Keep in mind that the Russian branch of the church is controlled by the government. If church authority go against the government authorities, they get the same treatment as the Romanovs. Would *you* get yourself killed just to say “Let’s just bury them!”?
The story of Anna Anderson is absolutely absorbing. “Fraulein Unbekannt” was identified by investigators as Franziska Schanzkowska very early on. She was even confronted by her family. But she was still able to dupe Russian expats who had some realistic personal motives for hoping she was really a surviving Romanov. They would be willing to spend quite a lot of time and money on her. She was brought a steady stream of photograph albums and memorabilia and basically given tons of information she used to further sow doubt that she was a Russian Archduchess and not a Polish peasant. But she really was something special, commanding the imagination of the world for decades. “Anna Anderson” was an extraordinary woman and earned her place in history, and brought more attention to the youngest Romanov daughter than she ever had in life. She was one odd prickly lady with guts - and, probably some psychological issues, or perhaps just a world-class conwoman. I would love to see a movie about HER. I read all this in a super compelling book, “Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the Worlds Greatest Royal Mystery” by Greg King and Penny Wilson.
I feel like it was guilt that formed and fueled the rumors, it’s been said that many of the guards felt so much guilt for what they were about to they got utterly drunk before the executions. None of them really wanted to do it. Many of them had become attached to them. They wished, them alive, they hadn’t done the horrible gruesome act.
I don't know if this is true or not. I remember reading one of the royal diary books and there was a kitchen boy that they didn't want to execute so they sent away the kitchen boy. Which really makes me question why the heck they couldn't have just sent away the children.
Stalin would stay up late at night making lists of people to have killed If Hitler was not around Stalin would be the number 1 mass murder of the 20th century
@@dinofelis9343 Yes, the Chinese Communists killed more people than anyone else in history, other than Islam, which killed easily 300 million over the past 1,400 years, whereas the CHICOMS killed well over 100 million Chinese.
@@kurtnulf3362 Stalin killed much more than Hitler, it's just how Hitler is better known, that's why they see him as the greatest genocide of the 20th century when that should be Mao Zedong.
@@dinofelis9343 -- Stalin is partly responsible for those who died of starvation under Mao. Stalin lent Mao his favorite scientist, Trofim Lysenko, who came up with a three-point plan to increase crops in China. Lysenko was a Dunning-Kruger failure of a scientist who was only good at kissing up, so his three-point plan caused massive crop failures and famine.
Just finished “The Last Czars” this week. That final episode was hard. I knew they all died but was never really clear on the details. So horrible, those poor children.
Thanks so much for this. I've been looking for a comprehensive synopsis of this story for years. I know you make it look easy but you did all the work science and history. Love it and love you!
The story of the Romanovs has always interested me. People LOVED the son, Alexie. And from what I read he was an incredibly loving, empathetic person that I believe would have made a brilliant leader. I love the stories I've read about him. He spent time on a military base or something (been awhile since I read anything lol) and he was very close to the soldiers. They had a game where there tmwould purposely missed button their uniform and Alexie would "inspect" them and fix their buttons. He refused to sit with the royalty at meals and much preferred to be with the soldiers. When an officer lost a son in the war, he went and sat with him saying his father said he was sad. He had two military officers as nannies a d whennhe was recieving gifts, one officer made them bow. He confided in the other officer that he didn't like that, but when asked why he didn't tell the officer to stop, he said he didn't want to hurt his feelings. He also put a strawberry in the toe of a dinner guest's shoe which I find hilarious. I sometimes like to wonder what would have happened had the Romanovs been left alone a d Alexie became the Czar. Or if they had been dethroned and allowed to live, what kind of people Alexie and his sisters would have grown to become.
I think the color of the Russian was their political standing...like a red Russian would probably be communist. I think they should quit fooling with Lennin's body if he was the one who had the family killed. ALICE ANN LONG
Alexi had severe hemophilia. He unfortunately probably would never have lived to rule even had he not been murdered. Interesting fact not mentioned is that originally when N abdicated he passed the czar-ship to his son. Then about an hour - after thinking about it and realizing the family would probably be exiled (to Britain they thought) but that Alexi would have to stay in Russia alone if he was the czar, he changed the documents, giving up Alexi’s right to rule as well as his own, due to the boys young age and poor health. Supposedly his brother and mother were furious for him giving up Alexi’s position . I don’t understand DNA that well but why couldn’t Queen Elizabeth (or one of her offspring) donate dna to determine Nicholas’ identity? Her grandfather was Nicholas first cousin
I think you’re getting your princes confused. Alexi was in frail health and his family kept his hemophilia a secret. Plus he was only 13 when he died. He was never away from his family on a military base or anywhere else. Your story sounds more like it was the Prince of Wales who did have rapport with soldiers and was in the service himself although he was not allowed to actually see battle. The PoW as in Later Edward VIII, even later Duke of Windsor, not the current Prince of Wales
@@alexismyers6053 I’m sorry if I offended you. And you were right about his two sailor caregivers. Broke my heart because when they were - arrested, detained? There was an angry mob and one of the sailor caregivers was there. Alexi called out to him and the caregiver just turned away 🥲 I’m not an expert either but my dad was a big history buff and used to tell me history stories instead of reading fairytales. I read Robert Massey’s book in my teens and that really spiked my interest. The fact that hemophilia managed to invade almost all the ruling houses of Europe thanks to Queen Victoria’s desire to “unite” them- eventually leading to war and death and dissolution- always fascinated me . Once again my apologies for any offense I caused
little story time : a few years ago when my family visited our relatives in russia, I was sleeping next to my cousin in the living room. My uncle usually watched television till 3 or 5 am and one night I woke up. My uncle was watching a documentation or something about this event and I woke up at the moment where they started shooting everyone in the basement. It was pretty traumatizing but I was also never able to find out from which event it was till today. Thank you lol
A banished royal is still a royal. The Romanovs were cousins to half a dozen royal families. All it would take is for one cousin to get a wild hair up their butt, and then you've got a Romanov ruling Russia again after another war with Stalin/Lenin/Whoever. The servants, though, that one I don't get.
Karli Hibinger I think it’s cause these servants had chosen to stay with the family. Most when given the choice left their jobs but these few stayed and were probably attached to the family. Plus if they were set free they could cause problems later down the line depending on how much they knew/saw of the family’s murder
@@mohamstaz3618 That said, it probably would have been super easy to find alternative heirs in a cadet branch somewhere, though probably less easy to get people to follow them.
She did about the same thing when she showed the children with their heads shaved. The bottom picture was of Anastasia and the next comment was Anastasia was missing.
I asked my significant other “but isn’t that a dagger and not a knife?” I was unprepared for his ... enthusiasm. But I understand why he reacted that way.
Not as sad the hundred of thousands of families who they Killed. The Romanov's died in minutes. Try starving to death over weeks, watching your children die one by one.. while the Tsar's taxmen raid your village to take what little resources you have as taxes, shooting villagers to force them to hand over hidden grain.
@@viperswhip That's the point. The Romanovs are heretical dictators. Tsars Kill thousands of children, then they have kids who grow up to be Tsars who kill thousands of new kids. If the Tsars kids had not died and been returned to the throne they would of become Tsars and killed thousands more kids. Destroying the family was the only way to save hundreds of thousands of kids from being slaughtered by the murdering dictatorial Romanov family.
Two wrongs do not make a right , those children had no guilt or blood on their hands. Killing the Tsar can maybe be defended because of the pain and suffering he caused but forcing the inocent children to watch their father shot in the head before being slaughterd like animals is disgusting and evil , their only crime was being born. Killing children can never be condoned no matter what and if you have a heart you know this to be true in your bones, so ok make excuses why the Tsar was killed but dont you dare try and make excuses for murdering children.
Yurovsky: "rifles would be too loud"
*uses grenades on the corpses*
Your comment doesn't quite make sense, but it's still funny. 😄👍👍
Ms Starlight Why?
@@jedithekitten8891 because the rifles were too loud to be used inside in the small basement room because people could have hearing loss & disorientation, etc, from that. The grenades were used outside & thrown down a pit. I understand the commenter was trying to make a joke, but it doesn't work.
Rat Lord ok
@@msstarlight4770 The grenades weren't used until they were deep in the forest. So it has no relevance to what happened in the Ipatiev house.
It was a firing squad that killed most but bullets began bouncing off the Grand Duchesses Marie and Anastasia. This was due to the jewels they had sewed into their corsets, causing bullets to bounce off. The shooters did not know this and some were very superstitious, wondering if God was saving the young women. They switched to bayonets. How horrible their final minutes must have been!
I was named after the movie Anastasia. Boy, imagine my horror when I found out what actually happened to Anastasia
Did your inner goddess stamp her foot in indignation?
For a few years now, I was planning to name my future daughter after Anastasia since I have a bond with the Century Fox movie
@@NoNo-pg5rq most people don't know about the Romanovs and just see it as a really pretty name
Stellar Starrs I think I discovered the name Anastasia after the movie. But yeah it’s still a really pretty name
Grandmama,, its me
I don't remember his name but there was this famous composer who loved Shakespeare's Hamlet so much that when he died he donated his skull to The Royal Shakespearean Theatre so they could use it for the "Alas, poor Yorick" scene. So, if you know who he is, I would like him to be your next Iconic Corpse please.
Nice suggestion I must say! I hope she does look into it for us. That topic sounds interesting
Great suggestion! It was pianist Andre Tchaikowsky.
@@Llixgrijb Thank you
Cool suggestion!
omg i've never heard of this! that's a dedicated stan if i've ever seen one 😂
I'm glad you mentioned the servants and the physician, in almost all accounts even in that poorly rated Netflix series they get glossed over. They were just as much victims as the Czar and his family.
I’m writing a paper on the Romanovs and their execution, until now I didn’t really know who else was executed along with the family, just that “some servants” were. I’ll be sure to include them in my paper!
I know one of the Romanov descendants was upset that the servants were not buried with the family...stating their loyalty to the family to the horrific end was unmatched. Many Romanov blood relatives had abandoned them, denounced them while the servants stayed, begging the question "Who IS family, after all?" But, that concept apparently wasn't good enough for the Russian Orthodox Church, either.
More IMO. They were just servants, they had no power in anything at all.
It was also the chef
@@coldwar45
It is a bit more complex than you might think.
At least the doctor was formally offered a chance to leave. By Yurovsky´s own reports.
If you want to take everything else from Yurovsky as true, and it looks like mostly it is, then the doctor was very much aware they were about to die.
In fact, it does seem the family had more of a feeling they were about to die too. There is the report of how they all kneeled and did not sing in their very last religious service. The priest for that service reported this and reported he felt them all like already somewhat away.
Back to the servants, there was a kitchen boy who was removed from the house a bit before the execution. Which also points out that maybe they did offer the other staff to leave too. Tough, Yurovsky seems to only have reported about the doctor.
Additionally, the family had more staff which did not travel with them to their final stay. Some of that staff remained alive and even wrote memoirs which are part of the current day knowledge we have on the family.
In this very video you had Pierre Gilliard mentioned has visiting the wanabe Anastasia years after. This Pierre was none other than the kids former french teacher. He had been with the family up till their imprisonment at Tobolsk. Lucky him, he did not go with them in their last journey to the Ipatiev house.
Here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Gilliard
This year on the anniversary of the massacre, the church announced their "additional testing" had confirmed the identities of the remains. Now, hopefully, the family can be laid to rest.
That would be nice.
That would be the honorable thing to do. Then they'll finally be together again & perhaps at peace. After more than 100 years, they deserve that much.
@Right Hand I learned about the fate of the Romanov family when I was 10 years old because I was very determined to try to figure out why the world is so fucked up and decided I had to look at major shifts of power throughout history. I remember I was so incredibly horrified to know what was done to those children out of anger at their parents. The fact that people are so willing to kill people they believe have wronged them is already insane, but to kill innocent children too? To believe a child can be worthy of death because of a "tainted bloodline"? The murder of Marie Antoinette's children was just as insane. Revolutions start with good reasons and good intentions, but always lead to the most cruel acts of violence in the name of progress.
@Right Hand I'm an atheist, but I can definitely relate to the desire for justice against cruel people.
@@LammasDeluge And they killed the servants too. Weren't they supposed to act in service of the working class?
Its also rumored that Yurovsky's men also got really drunk before the execution to better deal with what they were about to do, so their aim was made even... more awful.
That always gets to me when people talk about executing someone. What happens to you, mentally and spiritually, when your job is to kill people?
I can't blame them. If I had to kill those children or be killed myself knowing they would die anyway I would have had to have been drunk first and probably would have been a drunk for life dealing with it.
@@jimwilliams4532 Honestly, I would have just shot myself at that point. I would rather die than live the rest of my life as an alcoholic, trying to drink away the memories of murdering children.
@@LammasDeluge One of Stalin's executioners lost it for a little bit during the worst of the purges, and during the Katyn massacre, where they killed thousands in just a few days, they had to drink very hard. I would wager a guess that it takes a severe mental toll on most people.
@@jimwilliams4532 Actually, I've decided that if I was in that situation, I would shoot at my commander. At least try to take out the evil fuck if I'm going to kill myself anyway.
"We were working on moledular genetic testing at one time, then mr Stalin shot the entire team. As a result, we began lagging behind" i want this quote embroidered
"(Cheerfully) Stalin did do things like that. It's one of the problems with Stalin." Caitlin is Iconic
I didn't know I needed it....but I do.
Lou a
Klister Klister 😂
Genetics proves that people are different, communism says everyone is the same. Stalin searched for an alternative and settled on the theories Trofim Lysenko. That decision led to 50 years of Russian crop failures and mass starvation.
www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/12/trofim-lysenko-soviet-union-russia/548786/
For me the fascination comes from so many things … the fairy tale lives of the Romanovs, the love story between Nicholas and Alexandra, The innocence of the children , the creepiness and “super strength” of Rasputin, the family’s grisly murders , fake Anastasia’s and of course the long held mystery of if one of the girls survived before their skeletons were ultimately recovered. If it didn’t really happen you would think it was all made up in a book…
*fake Anastasias
You don't add an apostrophe, because that would make it singular possessive or a contraction, not plural.
Guard: "All of my evil thoughts about the Tsar disappeared after I had stayed a certain time. I began to pity them as human beings. I kept saying to myself, 'Let them escape. Do something to let them escape.'"
That's just fucking heartbreaking, yo.
Welcome to THE REAL WORLD. Life is not a Martha Stewart episode...never has been, never will be.
@@YouDontKnowAsMuchAsYouThinkUDo Doesn't mean we've gotta keep it that way tho.
@@YouDontKnowAsMuchAsYouThinkUDo username checks out.
@@YouDontKnowAsMuchAsYouThinkUDop
Now repeat that same scene for decades and for countless millions of people and you can appreciate the true scale of the atrocities the Soviets inflicted upon Russia.
As a kid, the Anastasia movie gave me so much hope she had survived. Imagine my heartbreak when I found out that she died so terribly with her family. Yep, I was a wreck. I loved this episode!!
Katherine - that sounds incredibly sad. How old were you when you found out?
@@seaturtlepoppy7679 I was about 10, I was doing a report on her and I found a book that had all the gory details.
Katherine - I can see how that would have left an impact on you.
I also thought that to as a kid
Katherine you should see the sadness in the fandom of the History anime of Hetalia. The Russia character is so loved and we all cry when the movie is mentioned.
That's just sad. As a person, to another person. It's a terrible way to die.
Yeah, it would´ve been more human just to tell them to look at the wall and shoot them in the head. That bloodbath seemed more like a revenge than anything else.
@@vilwarin5635 Hearing it described just broke my heart for the family.
...history....it can be ugly. But, by now, some have learned better n some have not. One of those damn things in the world. You know??? Take care.🤗🤔🧐✌
Fuck communists
@@TobiBaronski fuck you
I have to admit to being heartbroken when I heard Anastasia had definitely died and had lain in an unmarked grave for so long. It was a hopeful story that she had escaped
And all those sightings turned out to be false
When you read what actually happened, it's impossible to believe anyone could have survived, much less escaped.
if you knew anything at all about Anastasia and her siblings, you would know she wouldn't have wanted to live after losing her family.
No one who actually studied what happened thought that she was alive.
I'd really like to see you cover the Jonestown dead. Most of the coverage of Jonestown discusses what happened up until the deaths but what happened after is just as intriguing.
That's an excellent idea! While I know about Jonestown, your comment made me realize I don't have a clue as to what happened after! I could tell you about Jim Jones' childhood, his former jobs, how the cult began, rose, and ended....yet I couldn't tell you what happened to the deceased. Caitlin, I hope you'll consider xlanbc's idea because it's an awesome one!
I know that only maybe six were actually identified with maybe a couple of autopsies. Everyone else was loaded one on top of the other and carried away. There is a memorial in Oakland, CA but I highly doubt any remains are there. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were buried in a mass grave and/or cremated. “Raven” is a really good book (forgot author and too lazy to look up) and “The Road to Jonestown” by Jeff Guin is on my TBR list. And there are numerous documentaries - I think Netflix or Prime has one that uses a lot of re-enactments so it’s more like watching a regular show (or was that the History Channel ...?). This is my very long winded way of saying “Maybe these will have an answer.”
@@seaturtlepoppy7679 thanks I'll check.those out. I've actually read quite a bit about it, I'd just love to see Caitlin's take.
@Shirley Bailey - The Johnstown flood was indeed horrid. However, the Jonestown mass murder/suicide was a different event altogether, also horrid.
She actually covered it in her podcast "Death in the Morning." It was episode "Don't Drink the Koolaid." :)
The funny thing about the legacy of the Romanovs is that for near a century, the Soviet Union wanted to erase the Romanovs from history and yet when their remains are found, the family were canonized as saints. Guess the Romanovs had their last laugh.
The romanov are dead and rotten under ground FUCKING LMAO
The romanovs are dead and rotten underground
Paloma Rufete yea but their legacy isn’t
@@besos4169 So is the Soviet Union.
@@jtdavis598 🔥🔥🔥
Those children really didn't deserve any of what happened to them, and I hope those last two children are eventually buried with their family
They were. They were also canonized and interred in Church of the Resurrection in the Kremlin (I was there in 1993 and saw their coffins) . Anastasia had just been added to that about 2 months before I got there if I remember right. It was very beautiful.
@Jason Voorheese How were they criminals? They wrote the laws, just like the capitalists do now.
@Otto Sump Do the lives of common russians dead because of the autocracy even rate to you? The children were both products & victims of their birth - they did NOT deserve to die. But neither did striking workers or soldiers conscripted to fight against workers in other countries.
The Tsar had the most capacity to look deeper into what was going on & he chose not to. He was THE most powerful man in the country prior to the revolution - yet STILL you absolve him of responsibility. This continuing worship of royalty demonstrates the need to extinguish it. Wars of restoration have to be prevented as far more lives of people with far less responsibility would die.
The royal family were a liability to peace.
@Jason Voorheese The uploader covered that. The bolsheviks were in charge of the territory they controlled militarily. A Civil War is a state of emergency. The Royals continued existence if freed could be a cause of restoration war. Their lives were insigificant in comparison to the lives their continuing existence would put in peril. They had to die. Deal with it.
If the children were too young to understand & remember, they could have been adopted out & spared.
@Jason Voorheese "....a group of jews...."
Oh - you're one of THOSE people. The person that brought about that dark era of history was Stalin, and he was one of you - he didn't like jews either.
This video made me way more sad that I thought it would, damn :/ That picture of the basement wall completely destroyed sent chills down my spine. I hope they're resting in a better place now, no one deserves to die like that, specially the children
I'm sure the anti semite family who planned pogroms did not diserve to be shot
That wall did not look like that immediately post execution. It was torn apart because Lenin wanted to know exactly how many bullets were fired etc.
Absolutely awful. I can’t imagine the panic and fear they must’ve felt
Truly. Twenty minutes? Jesus.
I no, the terror they must've felt is disturbing to think about.
quærēns I mean sure, yea, in order for a revolution to occur it helps to fully dispose of the previous rulers. But uh....it’s not like the starvation and stuff exactly went away after the regime change 😬
@@Ravierave this is a bit condescending, don't you think? It is easy to judge from the position of your modern, sheltered first world man, for sure. Now think about the horrible, oppressive regime that persisted for generations, with total technological and political stagnation. Heck, even with the military stigma of the Paper Tiger. Royal family had to go. It wasn't the first monarchy that was executed with utmost prejudice and bolsheviks weren't the ones who came up with the idea to shoot the Family either. And, yes, USSR was totally an improvement compared to the previous regime. For a western man, who had years of political and social development behind his back, it was still a totalitarian despotism, no question in that. But for Russians it was certainly the move forward.
@@Sirzhukov Still doesn't mean that the Romenov's deserved every single bullet put into them.
I bet the guard who's intuition was telling him to let the family free felt terrible after he learned their fate.
I guess, but even if they escaped the house, where would they go? Everyone for a hundred miles around hated them. They wouldn't have been able to make it anywhere safe before being captured or killed.
@@greywolf7577 and who knows, even if anastasia escaped she could have had an even worse death by the hands of people who hated the czars. (raped and then killed)
I couldn't have that hanging over my head like a dark cloud.......
@@greywolf7577 they were most definitely not hated by "most people" around... their biggest critics were in St Petersburg, due to propaganda by the terrorist organization, aka the Bolsheviks.
@@robinlrice The Tsar himself said he would go anywhere but Yekaterinburg.
"they trusted Yurovsky" somehow give me goosebumps, it's just very sad.
Yet I can see from photos of him that I would not trust him for a moment.
To comfort you, and humanize Yurovsky, the Romanov family (except from the kids) weren’t innocents. The horrible things they made the people go through was enough to fill them with rage to the point of celebrating something like this. Think of the French Revolution.
@Sunny bob Quackers I'm not justifying what was done to the kids, read it again. I'm just explaining how someone can be so cold blooded to the point of doing something like this. And I want to humanize him because he was a human.
@Sunny bob Quackers it is justified
He looks like he’s constantly mocking you. He definitely loves to murder families.
The story of Anastasia seems like a happily ever after fairy tale but when you know the truth it's actually really tragic
It's all tragic.
Sad that the last two are not buried with the rest of their family.
My god, what happened to this family was extremely cruel. I cannot even imagine how terrified they were especially the children.
Remy N. They had the opportunity to leave months earlier but the mother wouldn’t leave because some of the children had been ill (I forget if it was tb or what, plus the boy was a hemophiliac). Ended up being a deadly decision. By the time they were ready to leave, their cousins in England, George VI and family, were afraid to help them.
@@jennifermcgoldrick6323 This story just hurts my heart, they should have at least spared the children.
Remy N. Yes, but when it comes to royals they never do. Look what’s happening in Saudi Arabia right now. No one should ever want to be a royal, not that the children had any choice in the matter.
@@remyn.9198 sadly it wasn't an real option. Keeping the children alive would give them the possibility to claim the right to the throne one day and since the royal family still had support and relatives in other countries, the new government couldn't risk to keep any flame of hope alive.
Revolutions in Europe were damn cruel. The French one was even bloodier than the russian
welcome to communism
I am sad that all of the Romanovs aren't buried together in St. Petersburg.
Me too, I wish they could just rest in peace and be buried properly even if not in the cathedral :'( it's so sad what happened to the children, it is never the childrens fault for the actions of their parents, they could have grown up and done great things but well never know now, what a horribly way to die it wasn't even quick 😫
I'm a member of the Russian Orthodox Church in America, formally ROCOR and I think it's awful the family is not buried together. I watched the burial of the family and retainers years ago. How much more proof do they want? !
@@dawndonivan3089 'Needing more proof' is just a cover when in reality it's purely political. Burying the final family members would be a front page news story across the globe. Putin doesn't want the headlines, nostalgia, or the accompanying journalistic analysis of Russian leaders of the past. In his authoritative regime, it's all about keeping control and avoiding stirring up sentiments that could be critical. Unfortunately, the church is toeing the line. It makes me sad.
@Shirley Bailey you are probably right but it's the principal of the matter, ya feel? Like it just seems wrong to keep people's remains in a lab to me, it's so impersonal
@@JustPeachy998 Yeah. It was Boris Yeltsin that was present at the first funerals. My understanding is Vladimir Putin didn't attend the 100 year anniversary of their death even though it was a big event at Yekaterinburg.
That little video clip of the sisters running with Alexi between them breaks my heart. A sweet little sick boy doted on by his sisters. Say what you will about the czar but a dictators children don’t deserve the same punishment unless they are adults and actively involved in their parents crimes
You’ve actually done a decent job pronouncing my hometown’s name, Caitlin! Yes, you have a fan from Yekaterinburg and I would be honored to have you come visit and take you to some places connected with Romanov’s last days. :)
Elina Khaneeva HEY! I know you!!! haha ❤️❤️❤️
My best friend Maria Zatsova was adopted from there! X
That would be so cool. Russia and England are on my bucket list
@@elizabethsisco4946 Add Ireland! My fave place ever. Going back in not too long! Gorgeous, friendly, full of history.
Elina, I actually know someone from there too, but I thought it was pronounced like Yehk-a-terin-burgh. No?
It's really haunting to see the videos of the children playing and just being innocent children.
:’/
So were the countless children who starved and died under Romanov rule. But nobody cares about them, because they don't have a heartwarming story to their deaths.
@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus how can a child's death be heartwarming?
@@wasserruebenvergilbungsvirus just because those things happened under Romanov rule doesn’t mean it was their fault
Yeah, but all kinds of monsters were children.
It may also be because of the name Anastasia itself, and how fitting it is for her story? The name Anastasia is derived from the ancient Greek name Anastasios (Ἀναστάσιος), which means "resurrection", from the elements "ana" ("up") and "stasis" ("standing"). The name also bears a similarity to the ancient Greek "Athanasius", meaning "immortal", from "a" ("anti" or "not") and "thanatos" ("death").
For her to be horrifically put to death, only to later sit up and scream... Is it any wonder she is so immortalized?
Actually, both Anastasia and Anastasios come from the word "Anàstasis" which means ressurection. As for the word "Athanasia" (immortality), it has nothing in common with Anastasia. It might look similar and even sound kinda similar, but grammatically speaking, they don't have anything in common.
@@Eleni1002 That's interesting. It's surprising to me that the Greek words for "resurrection" and "immortality" aren't related, especially since they sound so similar. Do you have any sources on their etymology? (I'm not doubting you, I'm just a linguistics nerd and would like to learn more.)
@@aeronalto1065 Think of these two like this:
Anastasia for example translates to resurrection, meaning someone who has died and was brought back to life. It is a very common name in Greek Orthodox societies because it holds a more religious meaning (Jesus Christ and all that) and is commonly given to girls born around Easter time.
Now as for the name Athanasia, it translates to eternally alive, it uses the -a- deprivation (A- deprivation + the word thanasia derived from Thanatos the Greek word for death) to signify the immortality of the person who is given this name.
As you can see, even though these words may sound similar, they do not share the same exact meaning and they are not etymologically related. I hope I helped a bit more and sorry for the lengthy comment hehe ^^
As an atheist, this has always cracked me up so much!
Dawn of the Dead: Romanov Resurrected
Anastasia is back. And she hungers for flesh!
Coming soon to a theatre near you.
I read Dr. William Maples book _Dead Men Do Tell Tales_ back in the '90s. He was a good storyteller too. I remember he wrote that he was sure the Russian anthropologist had mixed up some of Nicholas' bones with those of his valet, but added that the arms and hands of the valet had served Nicholas in life and it was all right if they did so in death. I also remember that he was impressed with Alexandra's dental work -- gold and porcelain crowns. Nicholas was scared of dentists and his teeth were bad.
According to Dr. Maple's book, Alexandra's dental work was actually PLATINUM! The servants could afford merely gold.
I can only imagine the terror cursing through the fathers veins when he got shot, his last thought probably just panic aimed towards the well-being of his family. I know too little about politcs and what either side of the afflicted patries did to anger the other or such, but I am so very sad that five children had to die so tragically and brutally.
From all the people in this story, the father is the only one who doesn't deserve any of your pitty
@@pedrocavalcantesantana7378 The father was a really incompetent leader, but he was not a bad person.
@@oscarc.3597 tell that to the people who were shot in the street due to him
@@pedrocavalcantesantana7378 He didn't give the order.
@@oscarc.3597 it happened ynder his order, due to his incompetence
My power-barfing hazes have never led anywhere this interesting.
You and your barf will get there... one day
I got food poisoning twice and one of them I was so delirious that I just kind of came up with that awesome plot for a story I kind of might have hallucinated during that power barfing haze and exhaustion.
Mine led me into a deep investigation of Johnny Gosch
...zat like power pooping???🤗💩🎃😂🕊👻💩
Have you tried going to India? It's like a power-barfing pilgrimage spot!
Such a haunting story. While I understand that Nicholas was completely out of touch with his people, the murders of him and his family - and doggie too - haunt me. And the ensuing cover-up. It is all so awful. Thank you, Caitlyn, for handling it quickly and covering such an expanse of information so succinctly. Truly horrific times.
@Rach They where murdered by untrained thugs. Remind any one of what would happen if those thugs who started CHAZ got any control?
Jimmy the dog survived. "Read" (scanned something) recently. Ended up in Scotland? I think.
He was at the wrong place at the wrong time. If they kept them alive, he'd be a symbol for the whites to gain new life.
Own Petard From what I’ve read Jimmy (Anastasia’s dog) was killed in the basement with her. One of the other dogs was shot outside the home for barking. Alexei (the heir’s) dog survived as she had run away. She was later found on the streets and lived a very interesting life before living out her days at Windsor Castle. Obviously I’m not sure of the truth of this (and who knows if it was the same dog), but it’s a sad story all around.
@@sadar171 I may have read it wrong. Thought it was Jimmy. I remember they didn't change the dog's name.
If I had had a teacher like Caitlin when I was in school, I might have actually liked learning about history. As it was, it was taught in an incredibly uninspiring and boring way, which led me to avoid taking history classes whenever I could. Way to go Caitlin. You've reawakened a hunger I didn't even know I have.
“Stalin did do things like that... it’s one of the problems with Stalin” LOLOL
laundromat understatement of the century!
I literally laughed out loud at that
Stalin's political philosophy was that there was no problem that could not be solved through the application of high velocity lead poisoning, aka; a bullet in the head!
Also the Ural Mountains run in a north/south line and are considered the geographic boundary between Europe and Asia, so west of the Ural's is Europe/east Asia. Some 42 years later Yekaterinburg (later Sverdlovsk) pops up in history again when the U-2 was shot down on May 1st 1960.
It's kinda funny, if Stalin didn't kill all the doctors in Russia he probably would have survived his stroke.
@@laundromat003 the irony around his death was so thick it probably was the clot that caused the stroke.
OK, honestly, this is by far one of the most chilling stories out there. Despite the fact that I already knew the story, hearing it again and letting it sink in just one more time makes it unbearably tragic.
right! i feel like everytime i research more into the romanovs even when i come up with similar info each time, i still feel like i learn something new or yet another crazy thing that happened. it's so interesting
Yes, the story of that family is tragic but considering the general state of the country and how many people lived miserable lives and died horribly that the tsar could have helped but didn't, the Romanov family's death is by far not the biggest tragedy. It is just that the names and faces of the millions that died have been forgotten and are therefore not as emotionally charged as the Romanov's.
"We were working on molecular genetic testing at one time... Then Mr. Stalin shot the entire team. As a result, we began lagging behind" So passive agressive I love it
I couldnt help but laugh at this. 😂
Graybe not that Stalin anything WRONG mind you. Just sayin
Graybe It’s so wonderfully Russian.
say it on tinder- bam gang bang
Probably has happened before
I had great grandparents who were Ukrainian. My great great grandfather was a cosack. They got out of Russian on 1903 Great timing. I'm glad that you mentioned the four retainers who died with them. They get ommited from history a lot. I have always been fascinated with the deaths of the Romanovs. And even more so about what happened to the bodies of the three servants and the doctor after they were found. I had heard that the relatives of the tzar had said "these people died with the family, they should be buried with them ". Or were the servants buried in separate graves? I've looked on the internet but found nothing. Would you happen to know what their fate was?
I always feel so bad for those innocent children :(
Wow. That is a heavy one. It’s really sad that they thought they were leaving and then were murdered
Not to mention they were happy to go and fully cooperating. It kind of turns my stomach.
Finally someone also understands how utterly creepy it was. Not only horrific, but incredibly creepy
The sadistic cruelty of it is truly almost incomprehensible.
I'm a simple gal. I see Death Mother, I click play.
SAME
Such an original comment
@@flipgunderson1946 yours too ;)
@@THENAFERATU see what I did there? You get it!
@@flipgunderson1946
I loved the movie Anastasia as a kid and it lead me to research into what really happened to her. All these years later I'm still reading books and watching films and documentaries about the Romanovs. Very interesting video and very informative! I'll have to check out your other content!
The truth is vastly different from the movies isn't it?
Oh hey, me too! Fascinated to this day. It just resonates with me, ya know? It's amazing, actually, how as I learn and grow and the world around me changes, my feelings on the subject have also metamorphosed. I have a lot less sympathy for Nicholas II and Alexandra than I used to. Nicholas was a shitty dude in quite a few respects - it goes beyond mere incompetence. He actively hated Jewish people and was privately pleased with the brutal pogroms that took place against them in Russia. He also held a grudge against Japan, viewing the Japanese people as small, effeminate, and weak. He spread those bigoted views to his kids, who cheerfully parroted his bullshit during the Russo-Japanese War, saying stuff like they hoped all the Japanese people died and that they were strange "little people" who did bad things, sinking the Russian peoples' ships and killing their sailors.
I don't blame the kids for that - they were being fed propaganda during a time of war, and they were very young at the the time, and very sheltered. Plus, when their governess Margareta Eager explained to one of the daughters, Olga, that the Japanese people weren't all bad, and specifically the women and children didn't deserve death (which is still not a great viewpoint, but it's a step up from 'i hope all the Japanese die') Olga actually listened, took it to heart, and admitted she didn't realize the Japanese were also people - she thought they were more like monkeys or something.
So... yeah. I could go on and on about the bullshit of Nicholas and Alexandra. I still feel bad for them though, and acknowledge that they were human. They had redeeming qualities, but we definitely shouldn't gloss over the bad shit.
@@WhistleAndSnap Yeah that kind of speaks for itself. Nicholas and Alexandra were so incompetent and ignorant about the people that they supposedly served it's insane, but their story is so interesting because so many factors came together to create the perfect storm that ended up destroying their lives. It's been romanticized a lot but the actual raw history of it is still very fascinating.
Just FYI, Dr. Maples wrote a book before he passed away, called 'Dead men do tell tales". There is a whole chapter about his work on the Romanov case, and all the chapters are really interesting.
I have that book too. It's fascinating!
He was a brilliant man. I am thoroughly disgusted by the lack of intelligence in the people that follow this channel.
I've seen some dumb shit comments here before, but it just keeps getting worse in every new video that is put out. You would think anyone listening & halfway grasping this multi-MULTI-faceted, long story here (OR OTHERWISE BUT ESPECIALLY WATCHING THE WHOLE DAMN VIDEO)would be smart enough to know better. "You Would Think", being the operative key to that narrative.
Yes, it's a fascinating book. Dr. Maples has solved many police mysteries based on what he found at the scene of a death. All "deathlings" would enjoy reading his book.
I really enjoyed that book
I understand that revolutions are bloody and whatnot but killing kids, including a disabled kid, is just so brutal it made me feel weird. How terrifying and awful their final moments must have been.
lumipaint I seriously doubt they would've tried to put Alexei on the throne if they discovered his haemophilia. He would have been to ill to rule
@@aluminium4303 inbreeding is a b*!@h
That was & occasionally still is the way of governments & monarchies & angry mobs. They don't see a kid as an innocent so much as an enemy, a witness or a possible FUTURE enemy. Some people get stuck in mob mentality & make evil decisions under that influence, some people are just plain evil to the core.
War fucking sucks and humans put politics over life itself.
The White Russians absolutely would have used the Romanovs as figures to rally around, even if the former czar and his family didn't want that. The Bolsheviks thought they didn't have any better option, unfortunately.
When I was in collage, I took a Russian Lit class. What I remember most were the stories of our professor who was a White Russian. It was fascinating, She told of how each of them carried a cynide pill. If they were captured they would take the pill, killing themselves, rather than risk divulging any information. She told us how she met and married her husband. It sounded so romantic, but she corrected us and explained how their marriage was based on their trust of one another, not on love.
what do you mean by "white russian"? There are literally no black russian people
White Russians were the group opposing the revolution.
@@iuliya95 Its not about skin colour. White or black Russians are more to do with politicosociological groups. But you're right, I can see why that would be confusing.
@@robertcranston529 I see now, but it really has another name: The white guard (Belaya gvardiya).
@@minstrelcat1951 yeah, now I understand the point, there were “white” and “red” guards
As a Russian I’m very thankful ❤ you made this legend feels so real and vibrant! You are an amazing person and talented speaker! Love your videos with my whole heart ❤️
My father died on October 15th 2019 and I discovered these videos about two weeks after the fact.
THANK YOU CAITLIN.
I had never dealt with the death of anyone close to me before this. I was scared of going through the process. I almost avoided it but am happy that I didn't. My dad is not a ghoul. He is not a zombie. He is not a scary skeleton. He was a person who died. His passing has helped me to understand my own life that much more.
Your Vlogs about death, and the many different things that happen when it happens, has made it easier for me to accept my fathers passing.
For that, I do not have the words to thank you.
Thank you for bringing a realistic conversation up about that one act that we all (the living) go through. Always looking forward to your newest vlogs.
My father passed away on Nov 9th, 2019. Giving you nothing but hugs and peace. I know how hard it is. Thank you Caitlin for normalizing death for us. I used to have anxiety about death, especially immediately after my dads death. Since watching your videos it's become MUCH less taboo and is something special I share with him. I've even spoken to my 5 year old about it. I'd like to give him the gift of not fearing such a natural process of life.
@@THEKINGDOGE__ My sympathies to you both , my dad passed Nov. 9th 1993 , I was 13 years old , I choose not to go to his viewing ( looking at the body before burial) I wasn't scared I just didn't want to remember him died and lifeless , still stand by that ( my choice) . Death is natural, may they all rest in peace ❤
@@RavenMacy my uncle committed suicide on November 9 1993. I too was 13 years old
14:47 "They chose some guy in Florida over the US government." Umm, William Ross Maples was a significant contributor the the field of forensic anthropology. He was a great man for the job and most likely far more qualified than anyone that the Feds would have put forward. He also worked as an independent scientist, not an agent of the US government. Which was something probably far more appealing to the paranoid among those making the decisions. The University of Florida "Maples Center for Forensic Medicine" being named after him and the fact that his writings/work are still studied by forensics students just might give you the idea that more than just some Russian bureaucrats valued his skill.
I'm probably in a positive mood this morning but I thought she was saying it in a good way, also Florida man meme hehe. Alas, great info and respect for William Ross Maples.
Love this story ... GO GATORS!
My university has a wealth of important research studies & programs with the commitment to knowledge. UF is more than just Gatorade, and “Florida Man” could be repeated in every state. We all have plenty of dumdums.
🐊🐊🐊
@@azuxiv I agree
i mean he did also spend the better part a year trashing the reputation of the molecular genetic scientist Dr Peter Gill, who actually performed the DNA testing to identify the bones, bc Maples was pissed he didn’t get to do it first.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are 'I'm from the government, and I'm here to help.'"
-Ronald Reagan
US federal govt is completely and totally corrupt, and screws up absolutely everything it touches.
I don't blame them a bit for not wanting to involve the US govt. Smart move, IMO.
I love that it’s literally their bodies and no one feels like burying them or disclosing the real culprit 100 years later
the confusion that is in russian masses' heads is astounding... they canonized the royal family, literally worship them (disrespecting this Stalin-founded version of russian Orthodox church is literally a prison sentence in russian federation), AND at the same time, worship their murderers, Lenin and the communist party.
@Tereigh Keating-Hart Sarcasm.
All this horror is even more heartbreaking because, ultimately, things never really got better for the Russian people, and all these years later they're back to absolute rule. At least they've got vodka?
Communism sucks!
All the more reason for those of us in the west, who have come to value our democratic equality/values, to resist our own growing radicalism and extremes on both sides.
@@thedriszen8350 take your both sides bulls**t elsewhere
Why do you think they drink so much vodka?
What on earth are you talking about? The Soviet Union was practically a miracle for the Russian people, it turned their nation into an industrial superpower that eventually rivaled the United freaking States. Millions upon millions lifted out of poverty and allowed to actually LIVE their lives.
Of course, it wasn't all sunshine and roses; the trauma of World War 2 made sure of that. But overall, the founding of the USSR was an objective improvement for Russian life, and its dissolution was an objective decline.
When I was younger I was legitimately obsessed with the Romanov family. I got to see the Musical Anastasia a couple months ago and it reminded me why I loved the idea of her escaping it's really tragic that her entire family was murdered because of her father. I wish the Palace was open so I could go see it but it is under construction.
Me too! I had a full-blown obsession with the Romanovs. Also, the Titanic disaster, but that's a story for another time.
well, it goes deeper then just her father, basically when you really get into the history of it all you'll see that the fall of the tzar was basically guaranteed to happen. even before Nicholas II became tzar there had already been attempted assassinations on the royal family, One I believe was even a train bombing. If you ever watch the documentary of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna life (the last grand duchess) I believe they touch on that a bit.
@@bdoglance Didn't Nicholas's father execute Lennin's older brother?
The Romanov family has always intrigued me, I always felt the fate of the family too tragic.
Honestly it just makes me really mad. I understand this was Russia and I understand why they wanted to execute them.
But what I don't understand was why they had to kill the entire family and the servants. They really could have just executed Nicholas and sent the family into exile. They could have sent away the servants. They could have sent away the romanovs save Nicholas and then just executed Nicholas. But they literally killed helpless women and children which puts them on the wrong side of History.
it's always been interesting to me that genealogy is so much easier to scientifically trace through the maternal line yet it's the fathers who pass on their name. many family trees are based on patrilineage too despite maternity being much easier to prove haha. i wonder how many more generations we'd be able to trace ourselves back :)
I love your ice princess pic.
caramel coffee Good old misogyny...
Y haplotypes follow only the male lineage, so it's not hat hard anymore to trace the patrilineal line.
That idea is how we get the so called mitochondrial Eve concept. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitochondrial_Eve
... "You only know who your Mother is and can only guess at who your Father is" ...
I just want to say that this is by far one of the most entertaining videos about historical figures that I have ever seen.
EXCELLENT WORK.
A little correction
The two pictures that she points to be Anastasia, is not her, but her older sister Olga.
Nothing to complain about because they were 4 sisters and at some point they wore the same hairstyles and wardrove, until Olga and Tatiana decided their own style when they grew up enough.
If you wanna know who of them is her, is the tinniest of them, plus her hairstyle keeps always the same, long haired and with a front straight cut hairbang.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed that. It's not a huge deal and it can be hard to keep the straight seeing as Anatasia and Maria looked a lot alike. But Tatiana, imho was gorgeous. Her eyes are just stunning. Alright I'm done...
I noticed too. I always thought Maria (or Marie) was so beautiful. So tragic for the kids who did nothing but be born into a family. I know it sucked for the Russian people at the time...but they didn't get to even have a fulfilling life!
Thanks
That's not the only mistakes in this video.
@@emilyharms456
Yeah, but it isn't our work, she added a lot of facts, even with some years investigating this anybody could miss or confuse something so, she worked at this video and this reached to many people, now if they want, they will investigate and read for their own. I mean, there is a lot of versions of Romanov's execution, since Anna, Alexandra's maid, was the last on die, to that Tatiana used her body for defend her younger sisters of bullets, working as an human shield and that's not true.
There is always wrong facts.
And yeah, there is people that won't read anything about this, but at least is better something than nothing, but that's my opinion.
“This can only end in tears...”- Bartok the bat, ‘Anastasia’ the movie
(P.s. whose lips and nostrils are those on that plaque behind you?)
It's something she bought from an artist who recreated illness marks and sores. I don't remember the illness this piece shows.
@@omorocca4946 what's the artist?
@@Greta2002 here 😁
th-cam.com/video/n3EAVCNftB0/w-d-xo.html
Its syphilis!
Camels can close their nostrils.
Not only did they pour acid on their bodies to disfigure them, but they also mashed their faces with gun butts to make identification more difficult. Those poor people.🥺
I remember reading that they did that to kill them. The daughters were both stabbed with bayonets and bludgeoned to death because all that jewelry was stopping the bullets.
It took them 20 minutes to finally kill them. They were children. Horrifying.
What the bolsheviks did by silencing other leftist and Anarchist parties was fucked, but no sympathy for a monarch. I wouldn’t have executed them. But as an Anarchist I don’t feel sorry for an oligarch losing their power.
They also chopped the two bodies buried together up with axes.
@@squiddiewalsh2324 I feel like they should've just been ran out of the country.
@@squiddiewalsh2324 as an anarchist, you should be against punitive justice as a whole. They had no power, they were literally in prison. Murdering them had nothing to do with removing them from power.
"So there are these two skeletons found in the same place as all the other Romanovs, they are in the perfect age ranges to be Alexei and Maria, and our examinations put the likelihood of that being the case at 8,000,000,000,000 to 1 for Alexei and 4,000,000,000,000 to 1 for Maria"
Russian Orthodox Church: "Yeah, not convinced"
I'm named after one of the daughter Tatiana my mom always thoughr the name was beautiful it keeps me close my Russian heritage
Same. Most people don't realize because I'm from a catholic country where most women are called "Maria", but I was originally going to have just my middle name (the one people uses), but she added Maria because of Romanova.
Im french and my sister is called Tatiana too. I wish I was called Anastasia lol.
I’m not Russian but I was named Tatiana too
My step aunt is named olga
For me it’s the same with Anastasia!
Florida man is chosen over the FBI to identify the Romanov remains. We live in the best timeline
i mean a timeline where kids weren’t shot would be nice. maybe one where Russia got its act together before nicholas even took the throne?
but yeah. florida man > FBI? maybe. that’s the scary part.
@@lildramatic4760 Being facetious on the "best" part. More like craziest but whatever floats your boat
Florida man is a well known forensics anthropologist- I have read his book on all the cases he worked on, and he very much knew what he was doing(The book is "Dead men do tell tales", its a very good read ^_^)
Largely because they were trying to build communism and America is not the biggest fan of that and has a teensy tendency to screw with those sorts of plans.
@@felixhenson9926 yeah XD plus this was when we were getting out of the cold war, I do beleive...so.. theres also that XD
Poor Maria
Anastasia gets all of the credit when it’s her sister that’s the REAL mystery
Typical sibling rivalry!
Apparently, the Maria/Anastasia question is very complicated due to the fragmentation of the skeletons. It's almost impossible to be 100% sure which body was in which grave.
Hopefully somewhere in the great beyond they’re pulling each other’s pigtails about it
Marsha Marsha Marsha!
More like Masha, Masha, Masha! That was Maria's nickname.
It’s pretty much agreed it’s Maria, but the meaning of Anastasia’s name makes it more romantic in stories. Apparently though, Maria was sweet and kind and her sisters DID kind of pick on her in life.
I just realized after watching this several times that the reason that people believed a daughter escaped is because they knew that Alexei would have been killed as well because of his heritage. Even though two bodies were missing, which one was for sure Alexei because it would have been very obvious he wasn't in the initial grave.
Nicholas once said, "I just want to be home with my kids." He was a family man & that's all he wanted. I've been fascinated by the Romanovs ever since I saw a documentary about the woman who claimed to be Anastasia.
How could those fucking guys shoot women and children. Just has to make you sick your mind sick for the rest of your life
I have some doubts about that documentary. It seems pretty genuine, but that talking bat has me skeptical.
Nicholas didn't deserve what happened to him but he was far from an innocent family man, he could've prevented WW1 and then handled it terribly which caused all the unrest, then repressed the dissidents against him
Prince Albert was the same way. Even after marrying Queen Victoria, he never really took up the title of King, even though he could. Albert just wanted to be with his wife and kids, which was very abnormal behavior for men of his position. Most noble and royal men cheated on their wives. Nicholas and Albert were the exception to this rule. They wanted no drama nor complications of a ruler. They left the ruling to their wives and wanted to play house all day (be a faithful husbands and great attentive fathers to their children). I love reading about these men who stood out from the norm and behaved appropriately and respectfully to their wives and children (back then it was the norm for men to cheat on their wives give them all sorts of STDs, pass that shit to their children and then the physical abuse or abandonment of their children).
He was also a dictator that starved his people to death, but I'm sure you don't feel fascination for people with that profile do you?
Never kill the kids, just...never kill the kids.
Never kill anyone. Killing adults is horrible too. Adults are human as well. Murder in general is disgusting and awful and all killers should be put to justice.
Politically, it made sense for the Communists. If they let any of the children live, they could have garnered enough support from the rest of the world to get them reinstated on the throne. As far as their cause went, horrible as it was, they really had no other options.
Always kill the kids. Especially the sons
If movies and books have taught me anything is if you want to wipe families out you have to kill everyone including the kids. Kids grow up, kids learn revenge.
Ok kill the kids, let the dog live :)
"we were working on molecular genetic testing at one time, then Mr. Stalin shot the entire team...as a result, we've been lagging behind"
Luckily, Stalin got what he deserved. Because of the Doctor’s Plot executions and the fear his underlings had toward him, he died of a stroke with nobody there to help him.
He literally got a taste (or more accurately the lack of a taste) of his own medicine.
They were stallin'
@@ifacro I feel bad for gigglesnorting so loudly at that 🤣🤣
@@kugelblitzkrieg That what Stalin gets lol. Lenin did say to never let Stalin get anywhere near in power before he died.
🤣🤣
To be fair, the British monarchy was fighting for it's own survival, as were most monarchies at that time. The two cousins were very close and King George did not easily make the decision to refuse refuge in England to the Romanovs.
I doubt the Royal family was bothered abou public opinion back then. They had the power to bring their Russian relatives to the UK but a higher power blocked them.
@@moesypittounikosWhat higher power?
@@frances-if5fp The Prime Minister and Parliament forbade the king to bring the Romanovs to England .And in England, the Prime Minister and Parliament have all of the power. The king or queen are only ceremonial. It's been that way since 1688, when the Parliament deposed KIng James and appointed William and Mary to rule.
@@SymphonyBrahms Thank you 👍🏽
Scientists: we tested the two new bodies for Romanov DNA.
The church: yep.
Scientists: the two new bodies match the Romanovs.
The church: yep.
Scientists: therefore, the two new bodies must be the missing Romanov children.
The church: that makes sense.
Scientists: so put them in the family tomb.
The church: but they're not Romanovs.
That is funny
I see that incognito Spongebob reference, and I salute you
Theodore Macewko sir... this is a Wendy’s.
Tereigh Keating-Hart....sir you’re talking to an empty cup
@Theodore Macewko Say sike, right now.
Caitlin: If your thing is genetic mutation and DNA testing, we'll link those sources below
Me, a molecular biologist: awwww yissss
🔥🔥🔥
LMFAO!!!!! 🤗🕊🦅
Woah youre smart.
Im a stripper lol.
Lit BoPeep *Strippers can be smart too 🖤💯*
@@BarbieBando yeah i know. This ones not though😞
I legit cant even read a map. I forget my right from my left. I cant read an old fashioned clock with the lines. I count on my fingers alot. I cant whistle. Dont know how to ride a bike. Never pumped gas in my life. And i barely learned the difference between youre and your because someone on youtube made fun of me for it in a really mean way so i figured id better remember.
"You're" goes where "you are" would fit and anywhere else you can put "your"☺
But the fact im proud of that just proves my point....now that i think about it.
So yeah. Strippers can be smart but alot i know me included arent and even if we were no one would believe it.
I try and read the biggest books I can find, i Really do, but all i learn from them is that i know less than i thought and so i actually think theyre making me even more dumb, theyre just making me realize _how_ dumb i am.
sorry for the rant. I'm sure u were just trying to be nice lol
I am Russian and I love your Russian accent! You just have to roll the "r" a bit harder :D
I love Russian chicks!
Caitlin is the greatest I really enjoy her wacky sense of humor but yet also serious intellect and knowledge.
I know WAY too much about this family to enjoy watching most things about them - particularly that Netflix mini-series. I refuse to even consider it because i know it's going to be inaccurate in some way. BUT this video was 10/10 - my only thing is that you're showing photos of Olga when intending to show Anastasia.
As a fellow Romanov researcher(My dad's great-uncle was a guard for the Romanovs who was rumored to be close to the family. The docu-series honestly was not that bad. A few too many conspiracies for me but still not as bad as some....other documentaries.
Charlotte agreed. The series was actually decent.
Isn't it true that Nicholas did not order the shooting of his people? I read somewhere that he was unaware that the army would be shooting citizens but the anti-monarchists blamed it on him.
@@jameschapman5989 yeah- the bloody sunday protests were at the winter palace and the Tsar and his family were outside st. Petersburg at Tsarscoe Seloe. He had no idea anything was happening until after the military had opened fire on the crowd.
Charlotte your dads great-uncle and my great great grandfather probably knew of each other!
was he a guard at the epazief house or prior to that in st.petersburg? because my greatgreatgrandfather was the childrens teacher and nikolaus friend/hunting companion
This story in particular has always bothered me. I feel so bad for the children.
I remember first reading about the Romanovs in the early 1960s and crying myself to sleep at night just thinking about the unfairness of their deaths, and I think that them thinking their rescue was right there at hand just makes it seem worse. Though, they would have been in extreme fear for much longer if they had known ahead of time. I just still find it heartbreaking over one hundred years later.
It's light work compared to what's about to happen to the rest of the Western world, and it'll be committed by the same group of people
@@turdburglar123 Pray tell... what do you think will happen to the west?
@@turdburglar123 that sounds like a threat....are you ok?
@@no-pv4km Well it is a threat, it just doesn't originate from me
This tragedy always got to me, and that was before I knew all the details of their deaths. What an absolutely awful way to die. Whatever you think of the politics of the father, the children, his wife, and the servants were totally innocent. And no one deserves to die in the way that they all did, trusting their captors as they were lead to the slaughter. Thank you for covering this so well, and so thoroughly. I hope one day the family can be laid to rest together.
You do unbelievable historical research and the presentation is top notch, but in reality I’d be spooked to be around you in person!
After watching multiple documentaries on the Romanovs, all I've got to say is, "listen to your mother". (And try not to fall for conmen.)
Had Nicholas II heeded his mother's advice and banished Rasputin, who she saw as a dangerous conman and charlatan, from court, his family might not have been killed. But he was too deferential to his wife, who out of desperation probably genuinely believed Rasputin could magically cure her son's hereditary blood disorder and resisted all attempts to remove him.
So true.
15:38 Ooh, you should cover Stalin's death. He was a real piece of work.
I second this idea
Pretty please. M'lady?
Iconic Corpse vid! Even has connections to Lenins corpse
There was a movie a couple of years ago with Steve Buscemi as Khruschev. Half docu-drama, half black comedy. Worth watching.
@@billd66 "- I mean, I'm smilin', but I am Very Fucking Furious."
When Czar Nicholas' cousin King George of England turned down the Romanov's request for asylum in England, the family's fate was sealed.
You would think he could have given them safe passage to the Americas!
Had he known the result I'm sure he would have acted different, saddest part is that realization came too late for him. We always think we have time and time is the one thing we have no guarantee on.
And then they bought the Russian royal family jewellery for a song from some female survivors in exile...so much for family
There was a world war going on. Ironically Kaiser Wilhelm was also their cousin.
But yeah there was a world war going on so I don’t fault king George for not wanting to deal with extracting the Russian royal family from Russia in the midst of both revolution and world war. Across a war torn Europe multiple front lines to Britain and the across the ocean where german u boats were lurking to America.
The Czar family had connections to the danish royal family but apparently fleeing to Denmark wasn’t an option either. Czar Nicolai 2. was a son of the danish Princess Marie Sophie Frederikke Dagmar, or Marija Fjodorovna, daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark.
Princess Dagmar survived the revolution and moved back to Denmark in 1919 and died there in 1928 80 years old.
OUTSTANDING RESEARCH AND PRESENTATION!! Kaitlin..you knocked this on out of the Ballpark!! WOW!
I remember in history class that Romanov’s assassination/execution was much darker. My professor called it “French Revolution, but much worse” btw my professor was Russian, and hated what happened to them.
While the Romanov execution was tragic, 17,000 aristocrats and others were tried and executed during the French Revolution, and as many as 23,000 priests, nuns, aristocrats and others were executed/murdered without a trial.
@@wisteria808 I have to admit I forgot "the details" of what else happened to common people, aside from the death of the Romanovs.
of course he hated what happened to them; they were the first victims of Communism; first of many millions.
@@ulfsark78 They were hardly the first...
@@wisteria808 There was way more people executed during communist era aswell.
Winston Churchill quote describing Russia: "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma,"
Someone has probably mentioned this, but you showed Olga twice instead of Anastasia.
I blame google images, half the time when I google anastasia romanov they give me any assortment of OTMA
Glad I’m not the only one who noticed. Lol
At least I know I wasn't going crazy. I thought I was for a moment. LOLOLOL.
I came into the comments to say that! :D
@@dootdoot94xo44 They're just mentioning it. No need to be so rude
You have taught me a lot in the past couple of days. I enjoy your sense of humor and morality that you have towards death. It is really amusing to me, and you help shed the awkward tension that topic can bring up. I appreciate your contribution of knowledge and humor to us simple folk who do not know anything about these topics(:
@Audra Byrd I stumbled onto Caitlin's channel more than 2 years ago and feel as you do about her and the channel content. Isn't she great? 😁
@@loisreese2692 .. I think she's very compassionate and her humor although a little dark,, isn't disrespectful..
It's appalling that Maria and Alexei haven't been buried yet. Their burial date keeps getting postponed because the Russian Orthodox Church believes that the "real" Romanov remains were destroyed and they keep wanting more DNA "proof" even though the proof has been there for years.
Kinda like the Russian Orthodox Church doesnt want everyone to have them all buried together to keep them with the fantasy that one survived 🤷♀️
I feel gutted. I really do. That the church still has that much power over the country's wishes.
Churches don’t operate on proof, just on wishful thinking and pre-conceived notions.
@@THENAFERATU true that. I'd feel more attracted to Russian Orthodoxy if there wasn't the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory and other things. It's a sad and frustrating situation.
Keep in mind that the Russian branch of the church is controlled by the government. If church authority go against the government authorities, they get the same treatment as the Romanovs. Would *you* get yourself killed just to say “Let’s just bury them!”?
The story of Anna Anderson is absolutely absorbing. “Fraulein Unbekannt” was identified by investigators as Franziska Schanzkowska very early on. She was even confronted by her family. But she was still able to dupe Russian expats who had some realistic personal motives for hoping she was really a surviving Romanov. They would be willing to spend quite a lot of time and money on her. She was brought a steady stream of photograph albums and memorabilia and basically given tons of information she used to further sow doubt that she was a Russian Archduchess and not a Polish peasant. But she really was something special, commanding the imagination of the world for decades. “Anna Anderson” was an extraordinary woman and earned her place in history, and brought more attention to the youngest Romanov daughter than she ever had in life. She was one odd prickly lady with guts - and, probably some psychological issues, or perhaps just a world-class conwoman. I would love to see a movie about HER.
I read all this in a super compelling book, “Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson, and the Worlds Greatest Royal Mystery” by Greg King and Penny Wilson.
There have been several. The one I saw on tv was the 1956 version "Anastasia" starring Ingrid Bergman and Yul Brynner.
@@AudieHolland Not movies about Anastasia, but about Franziska, from her POV, about her con.
I feel like it was guilt that formed and fueled the rumors, it’s been said that many of the guards felt so much guilt for what they were about to they got utterly drunk before the executions. None of them really wanted to do it. Many of them had become attached to them. They wished, them alive, they hadn’t done the horrible gruesome act.
Some thought the bullets bouncing off the princesses was divine intervention, and fled the basement.
Avalon sheeps there were a couple guards who refused, they were sent away that night.
@@dxonnie1571 'sent away'
I don't know if this is true or not. I remember reading one of the royal diary books and there was a kitchen boy that they didn't want to execute so they sent away the kitchen boy. Which really makes me question why the heck they couldn't have just sent away the children.
@@EmmaAppleBerry lol
The way the Romanovs were murdered was just horrific.
Imagine that killer’s smug ass face being the last thing you see.
_"Stalin did stuff like that. That was one of the problems with Stalin"_ I snorted 😂
Stalin would stay up late at night making lists of people to have killed If Hitler was not around Stalin would be the number 1 mass murder of the 20th century
Pretty sure the "number one" is Mao.
@@dinofelis9343 Yes, the Chinese Communists killed more people than anyone else in history, other than Islam, which killed easily 300 million over the past 1,400 years, whereas the CHICOMS killed well over 100 million Chinese.
@@kurtnulf3362 Stalin killed much more than Hitler, it's just how Hitler is better known, that's why they see him as the greatest genocide of the 20th century when that should be Mao Zedong.
@@dinofelis9343 -- Stalin is partly responsible for those who died of starvation under Mao. Stalin lent Mao his favorite scientist, Trofim Lysenko, who came up with a three-point plan to increase crops in China. Lysenko was a Dunning-Kruger failure of a scientist who was only good at kissing up, so his three-point plan caused massive crop failures and famine.
Who else expected Bentham's Head to roll right on in just before the end of the video?
I was hoping for it.
He showed up earlier.
I wish we could see him in EVERY video. It makes me snicker. 🙃😂
Oh he popped in!
Just finished “The Last Czars” this week. That final episode was hard. I knew they all died but was never really clear on the details. So horrible, those poor children.
Thanks so much for this. I've been looking for a comprehensive synopsis of this story for years. I know you make it look easy but you did all the work science and history. Love it and love you!
This is such a disturbing story, so insanely sad.
"and I'd kick her sir!" 😂😂😂😂 Wouldn't be an Anastasia reference with out Bartok!
The story of the Romanovs has always interested me. People LOVED the son, Alexie. And from what I read he was an incredibly loving, empathetic person that I believe would have made a brilliant leader. I love the stories I've read about him. He spent time on a military base or something (been awhile since I read anything lol) and he was very close to the soldiers. They had a game where there tmwould purposely missed button their uniform and Alexie would "inspect" them and fix their buttons. He refused to sit with the royalty at meals and much preferred to be with the soldiers. When an officer lost a son in the war, he went and sat with him saying his father said he was sad. He had two military officers as nannies a d whennhe was recieving gifts, one officer made them bow. He confided in the other officer that he didn't like that, but when asked why he didn't tell the officer to stop, he said he didn't want to hurt his feelings. He also put a strawberry in the toe of a dinner guest's shoe which I find hilarious. I sometimes like to wonder what would have happened had the Romanovs been left alone a d Alexie became the Czar. Or if they had been dethroned and allowed to live, what kind of people Alexie and his sisters would have grown to become.
I think the color of the Russian was their political standing...like a red Russian would probably be communist.
I think they should quit fooling with Lennin's body if he was the one who had the family killed.
ALICE ANN LONG
Alexi had severe hemophilia. He unfortunately probably would never have lived to rule even had he not been murdered. Interesting fact not mentioned is that originally when N abdicated he passed the czar-ship to his son. Then about an hour - after thinking about it and realizing the family would probably be exiled (to Britain they thought) but that Alexi would have to stay in Russia alone if he was the czar, he changed the documents, giving up Alexi’s right to rule as well as his own, due to the boys young age and poor health. Supposedly his brother and mother were furious for him giving up Alexi’s position .
I don’t understand DNA that well but why couldn’t Queen Elizabeth (or one of her offspring) donate dna to determine Nicholas’ identity? Her grandfather was Nicholas first cousin
I think you’re getting your princes confused. Alexi was in frail health and his family kept his hemophilia a secret. Plus he was only 13 when he died. He was never away from his family on a military base or anywhere else. Your story sounds more like it was the Prince of Wales who did have rapport with soldiers and was in the service himself although he was not allowed to actually see battle. The PoW as in Later Edward VIII, even later Duke of Windsor, not the current Prince of Wales
@@suekelley2109 that’s just what I read about him, I’m not an expert in the subject.
@@alexismyers6053 I’m sorry if I offended you. And you were right about his two sailor caregivers. Broke my heart because when they were - arrested, detained? There was an angry mob and one of the sailor caregivers was there. Alexi called out to him and the caregiver just turned away 🥲
I’m not an expert either but my dad was a big history buff and used to tell me history stories instead of reading fairytales. I read Robert Massey’s book in my teens and that really spiked my interest. The fact that hemophilia managed to invade almost all the ruling houses of Europe thanks to Queen Victoria’s desire to “unite” them- eventually leading to war and death and dissolution- always fascinated me . Once again my apologies for any offense I caused
The world needs history teachers like you! Thank you
little story time :
a few years ago when my family visited our relatives in russia, I was sleeping next to my cousin in the living room. My uncle usually watched television till 3 or 5 am and one night I woke up. My uncle was watching a documentation or something about this event and I woke up at the moment where they started shooting everyone in the basement. It was pretty traumatizing but I was also never able to find out from which event it was till today. Thank you lol
It’s so messed up that they killed the children and servants. I don’t know why they didn’t banish them.
A banished royal is still a royal. The Romanovs were cousins to half a dozen royal families. All it would take is for one cousin to get a wild hair up their butt, and then you've got a Romanov ruling Russia again after another war with Stalin/Lenin/Whoever. The servants, though, that one I don't get.
Karli Hibinger I think it’s cause these servants had chosen to stay with the family. Most when given the choice left their jobs but these few stayed and were probably attached to the family. Plus if they were set free they could cause problems later down the line depending on how much they knew/saw of the family’s murder
@@kristallhawthorne6785 Fair enough.
It gave any monarchists a reason to rise up against Lenin if there was an heir, and Lenin couldnt allow or probably afford more civil war
@@mohamstaz3618 That said, it probably would have been super easy to find alternative heirs in a cadet branch somewhere, though probably less easy to get people to follow them.
"...though some insisted it was _not_ Maria, but Anastasia."
*shows picture of Olga*
She did about the same thing when she showed the children with their heads shaved. The bottom picture was of Anastasia and the next comment was Anastasia was missing.
I noticed that, too.
Ahhhhh I was looking for this comment
So sad, that the cruelty was extended so far beyond their deaths. And disappointed about Anastasia, I so wanted her to be real.
She was real. The legend wasn't.
Your distinction between a pistol and a revolver did not fall on deaf ears. This has been a pet peeve of mine for years! Thank you SO MUCH! 😆
I asked my significant other “but isn’t that a dagger and not a knife?” I was unprepared for his ... enthusiasm. But I understand why he reacted that way.
The story of the Romanov's death is really sad.
And infuriating
Not as sad the hundred of thousands of families who they Killed. The Romanov's died in minutes. Try starving to death over weeks, watching your children die one by one.. while the Tsar's taxmen raid your village to take what little resources you have as taxes, shooting villagers to force them to hand over hidden grain.
@@sisyphusvasilias3943 Ya, ya, ya, but kids don't deserve to die, I side with Ned Stark on this one.
@@viperswhip That's the point. The Romanovs are heretical dictators. Tsars Kill thousands of children, then they have kids who grow up to be Tsars who kill thousands of new kids.
If the Tsars kids had not died and been returned to the throne they would of become Tsars and killed thousands more kids. Destroying the family was the only way to save hundreds of thousands of kids from being slaughtered by the murdering dictatorial Romanov family.
Two wrongs do not make a right , those children had no guilt or blood on their hands. Killing the Tsar can maybe be defended because of the pain and suffering he caused but forcing the inocent children to watch their father shot in the head before being slaughterd like animals is disgusting and evil , their only crime was being born. Killing children can never be condoned no matter what and if you have a heart you know this to be true in your bones, so ok make excuses why the Tsar was killed but dont you dare try and make excuses for murdering children.
I’ve lived both in Saint Petersburg and Ekaterinsburg but I didn’t know the full history of exhumation. Thanks for educating Russians about Russia!
Just my 2nd video but really love your channel. Totally love the way you mix history in with your death stuff. I learned a lot I didn't know before.