Nicholas II of Russia - Final Months and Assassination (1918)

Final Months and Assassination (1918)

Nicholas desperately wanted to go into exile in the United Kingdom following his abdication. The British government initially offered him asylum in England, but this was overruled by King George V who, acting on the advice of his secretary Lord Stamfordham, was worried that Nicholas' presence in the UK might provoke an uprising.

In August 1917, the Kerensky government evacuated the Romanovs to Tobolsk in the Urals, allegedly to protect them from the rising tide of revolution. There they lived in the former Governor's Mansion in considerable comfort. In October 1917, however, the Bolsheviks seized power from Kerensky's Provisional Government; Nicholas followed the events in October with interest but as yet no alarm.

He continued to underestimate Lenin's importance. In the meantime he and his family occupied themselves with keeping warm. Conditions of imprisonment became more strict, and talk of putting Nicholas on trial grew more frequent. The Tsar was forbidden to wear epaulettes.

On 1 March 1918, the family was placed on soldier's rations, which meant parting with ten devoted servants and giving up butter and coffee as luxuries. What kept the family's spirits up was the belief that help was at hand. The Romanovs believed that various plots were underway to break them out of captivity and smuggle them to safety. But on 30 April 1918 they were transferred to their final destination: the town of Yekaterinburg, where they were imprisoned in the two-story Ipatiev House, the home of the military engineer Nikolay Nikolayevich Ipatiev, which ominously became referred to as the "house of special purpose".

In May 1918, central Russia was invaded by the Czech Legion ("White Czechs"). On 26 May they captured Chelyabinsk, executing all members of the local Soviet; on 31 May at Petropavlovsk they shot all 20 members of the local Soviet. The Komuch government formed on 8 June in Samara after the Czechs occupied the city. More than 5,000 people in the Volga region fell victim to this regime through the autumn of 1918.