Why were the Romanovs killed?

Question

I just finished reading a book (Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K Massie)(I would underline the book title but don't know how) well I never understood why Nicholas would be arrested and before he died he would be under constant survaliance why? And why were the killed? I know how they were killed but I don't know why.

Answer 1

They were killed by the Bolsheviks who feared they, or their descendants, would someday be able to return to the Czarist throne. If you were trying to destroy a monarchy, you would not only have to kill the king, but even more so, his family.

There are some few in Russia today who would not mind seeing the Romanov monarchy return, but since there are no direct heirs to Nicholas II, it's difficult to even agree on who the rightful heir to the throne is. So killing the family unfortunately largely did what it was intended to do.

Answer 2

Why was Saddam Hussein killed? Eerily enough recent events have illuminated the fate of Czar Nicholas and his family.
Russia was in the grip of a Civil War. Western Invaders were pounding on the gates of Mother Russia, though most of the brutal fighting was confined to the buffer zone of Poland and the Ukraine. In 1917 the Government collapsed and the Bolsheviks allied with others imprisoned the Czar and his family for the folly of Russia getting ensnared in an World War along with a host of grievances going back decades.
At the time that Czar Nicholas and family were killed the leadership of Russia was in dispute. Though the Bolsheviks did seem to have the upper hand, several other groups were capable of seizing power for their interests. The Czar and family were both asset & liablity - - - kept in the right hands he could be used to extort money power concessions, he might even be restored to (limited) power. But if the Czar and his family found themselves in the hands of certain factions disaster was possible.

There was also a very real fear that in some World Tribunial the Czar might talk and spill secrets that no one wanted revealed. And the children, any one of them could serve as a rallying point for a group pledging to restore the monarchy. SO at a point when The Bolsheviks feared that the Czar and family might fall into the hands of rival factions, the order was given to kill the Romanoffs.

Peace

Answer 3

Thomas is a bozo.
The book you just finished is considered the latest "authority" on the life and times of Nicholas II. You have a pretty thorough understanding of what led to their being arrested and subsequently murdered.
Unfortunately, it has never been uncommon for those who defeat an enemy to kill ALL members of the royal family for the reasons set forth in the answers.
Russia was a pretty miserable place to live then - if you weren't of the aristocracy - but it was before and it still is. Good old Putin still hasn't shed his KGB skin and likely never will. They were murdered by a bunch of thugs who were afraid that the Royal Family was a threat (it was) that would sooner or later - most likely sooner - send them packing.

Answer 4

The Bolsheviks considered the Romanov dynasty a danger to their own autocratic rule .They had to kill the whole family because if any were left they would be considered a thorn in the side of the ruling Communist party and could declare themselves the ruler of Russia. This could cause some serious political overtones as to how to handle things at least from a perspective of diplomatic relations as well as the support of the people. As far as the Communists were concerned as long as the Romanovs were alive they believed they could not rule peaceably nor effectively.

Answer 5

The entire Romanov family were beaten and brutalized to death by the bestial communists. Some claim members of the family were kicked to death and some raped in the process.

When Vladimir Lenin was a kid his older brother was hanged by the Czar's secret police as a subversive. Lenin never forgot this and never forgave the Czar, so one reason suggested why the Romanov's were so brutally murdered was out of revenge and another reason was that Lenin, Stalin, and Trotsky were all homocidal psychopaths. There was no reason to treat young girls and a young boy in such a brutal manner whether they were royalty or not.

In the French revolution members of royalty and the aristocracy were executed in the most humane manner at the time, the guillotine, in order to cut all the blood lines to the throne, and this may or may not have been the reasons for the Bolsheviks to have murdered the Czar and his entire family, but the cruel manner of their deaths suggests it was out of revenge.

Answer 6

Because they posed a threat to the communists. The people still revered and loved their Czar and Czarina and treated them like royalty - even in captivity. People resist change, and many of them still loved the Romanovs despite the tough conditions in Russia. Also, Alexandra was a German princess and Nicholas was a cousin to the Kaiser, so killing them severed Russia's ties to Germany. Now that you finished Nicholas and Alexandra, try Steve Berry's The Romanov Prophecy. Great story. Pax - C

Answer 7

During the Russian Civil War, in July 1918, White forces were approaching too closely to Ekaterinburg, where the royal family was being held. Fearing they might be rescued and hence serve as a symbol for the opposition, the local soviet ordered them shot.

Answer 8

The Romanovs were considered "the enemies of the Russian people" by the Bolsheviks. That's why they were killed. But who cares about stupid Romanovs? They got what they deserved.