The Last Tsar - Chapter One

The Last Tsar

and the

Downfall of the Russian Monarchy

by Renuka Ray

© 1995, by Renuka Ray

Extracts may be copied / reproduced but full attribution (title, author and web address) must be given.

This book is dedicated to the memory of

my late husband, Prabhat Kumar Ray 1922-1981

Chapter One

On 13th March 1881, Tsar Alexander II, known as the Tsar Liberator for his emancipation of the serfs, was returning home to the Winter Palace just after signing a draft law which would give the zemstvos (local councils) some power and had approved the establishment of a national representative body to advise on legislation.

As his carriage was rolling down the Alexander Bridge over the Neva river, an assassin belonging to the Nihilist Party threw a bomb at his carriage, killing some of his bodyguards and the coachman.

The explosion shattered the vehicle and wounded his horses, but the Emperor escaped unhurt. He got off his carriage and was arranging for the wounded to be sent to hospital when a second bomb exploded between his legs, shattering his body. Still alive and conscious, he whispered - 'Take me home to the Palace, to die there.'

His men carried his mutilated body to the palace, leaving a trail of thick drops of black blood, up the marble stairs, through the long, endless corridors, then to the study, where his body was laid on a couch. There the surgeon of the Imperial family sat beside him, held his blood covered wrist in his hand and declared, 'The Emperor is dead'. The horrified members of the Imperial family rushed to the Palace. The eldest son of the Tsar, and heir to the throne, Alexander, stood near the windows. He looked out and his heavy body shook for a moment, his fists clenching and unclenching. He nodded grimly and left the Palace with his wife, Dagmar, once the princess of Denmark.

Surrounded by Cossacks in attack formation, their red lances shining brightly in the March sunset, the new Emperor and the Empress rushed to the 'Anitchove Palace' where they lived. The last tsar, Nicholas II, was then a thirteen year-old boy. He was standing besides his dead grandfather, staring at his blood-covered body. Without uttering a single word he slowly left the Palace.

The late Emperor's second wife, Princess Yurovskye, rushed from her apartment towards the study crying all the way 'Sasha, Sasha', then threw herself over her husband's body, like a felled tree.

Nicholas wrote in his memoirs - 'There was no need to show us the way to the study. All the way from the Palace square to the study was covered with blood.'

Alexander III ascended the throne on the 13th March 1881. He went to the Admiralty the day after his father's assassination, tore the draft law (which granted some power to the zemstvos or local councils) into pieces. He declared himself autocrat of all Russia. He proclaimed that he would rule '.....with faith in the power and right of autocracy.' To him revolutionaries were nothing but terrorists. He had had nothing to do with them. He lumped them together. Many leaders of the 'Nihilist' Party were hanged, many of them were sent to Siberia, others were sent abroad to live in exile forever.

Alexander III really made the autocracy work. He ruled his country with an iron hand. Throughout his thirteen year reign peace was established and maintained in every corner of Russia. Law and order came back. All sorts of anarchist groups were put down ruthlessly; but he was a man of foresight. He made a peace treaty with France. As a result, France offered him a huge sum of money as a loan. With it he started constructing railways all over Russia under the direction of his famous Minister for Ways and Communication, Count Serge Witte. He built the longest railway in the world 'The Trans Siberian Railway' which started from Moscow and ended at Vladivostock on the Pacific coast. The construction of the longest railway line began in his reign and ended in his son's reign.

The Balls in the Winter Palace

The finest balls in St. Petersburg were given by their Majesties at the Winter Palace. Every year, in January, the famous elegant, dazzling balls were held in the beautiful 'Nicholas Hall' in the Winter Palace, in great pomp and splendour.

No palace in Europe was more suitable for balls than the Winter Palace. In January 1894, a ball was given by the huge Tsar, six feet and four inches tall, and the dark-haired Empress Marie, the daughter of the King of Denmark and sister of Queen Alexandra of England.

In the bitter cold of January, the whole Winter Palace was bathed in the bright floodlight. Inside, the marble staircases were covered with thick red carpets. Exotic orchids and palm trees, beautiful bouquets of flowers in every corner of the hall and on the window sills, superb hanging baskets of chrysanthemums here and there, huge glittering mirrors in gold frames, immensely huge crystal chandeliers, hanging from the high gilded ceiling, illuminated the hall brilliantly, making the Palace look like a fairyland. The ladies of St. Petersburg, covered by dazzling diamonds and fur, appeared one after another. The chevalier guards, in white uniforms with silvered plates and silver eagle-crested helmets and Cossack lifeguards in scarlet tunics, stood to attention.

The Imperial Ball began at 8.30 in the evening. The grand master of the ceremonies tapped on the floor with an ivory staff, and cried out 'Their Imperial Majesties'. The great mahogany doors, inlaid with gold, were opened. The tall, giant Tsar, Alexander III, appeared with his empress Marie. On that special night she wore a silver brocade gown, her famous diamond tiara and fabulous necklace.

The music began with dances; the Polonaise, Quadrille, Mazurka, a waltz followed one after another. At midnight three thousand guests were served with plates of lobster, salad, chicken, tarts and cream. In the middle of supper the tall, powerful Tsar was seen, stopping here and there, to chat. At 1.30 a.m. the Imperial couple left the hall. Marie wrote in her diary - 'I danced and danced until I was carried away.'

In the winter of 1894 the Tsar, Alexander III, caught influenza. He recovered but developed kidney trouble which sapped his vitality and strength rapidly. His daughter, the Grand Duchess, wrote in her memoirs how one morning she was walking with her father. After walking for a few minutes, the Emperor turned back and asked her to go back to the Palace. Being surprised Olga looked at him. 'Papa was pale and looking sick..' The Tsar was really ill. He was only forty-nine years old. He was huge and of a giant-like stature. The Empress, being worried, called the specialist from Vienna who asked the Tsar to go to 'Livadia', in Yalta, immediately, but he told his brother, the Grand Duke Vladimir secretly that the end was near. So the Tsar moved to 'Livadia'.

At the beginning he showed some improvements. His appetite came back. He was sleeping well, but it was only temporary. He again started suffering from insomnia, his legs failed, he lost his appetite, his nose was bleeding. His condition was getting worse and worse. His eldest son, Nicholas, the heir to the throne, was at his bedside with his fiancée, the Princess Alix of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. By the end of October the Emperor's condition became worse and he died on 1st November 1894.

The Grand Duke Sandro, brother-in-law of Nicholas, wrote in his autobiography - 'No-one better understood the significance of the death of Alexander III than his son Nicholas. I and Nicky were standing on the balcony of the beautiful Livadia Palace, surrounded by oxygen cylinders watching the end of a colossus. Alexander died as he lived. In the afternoon he had difficulty breathing. He whispered a prayer and died. Nicky took me by the arm and led me downstairs to his room. We embraced and cried together. He could not collect his thoughts. 'Sandro, what am I going to do?' he exclaimed pathetically. 'What is going to happen to me - to all of Russia? I am not prepared to be a tsar. I know nothing of the business of ruling.'

Nicholas wrote in his diary on that night - 'Good God! What a day! Lord God took away our beloved Papa. It is the passing of a saint. Papa has been removed to the Cathedral. We came back to an empty home and broke into tears.'

Nicholas was so depressed, even his fiancee, Princess Alix of Hesse, could not cheer him up. The body of the late Emperor was transferred to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg for burial.

Nicholas II became the tsar and autocrat of all Russia on 1st November 1894, 13 years after the assassination of his grandfather.