End of Imperialism - Preceding Rasputin's Death
Peter Stolypin was Chair of the Soviet of
Ministers (1907-1911). Stolypin's goal was to seal the rift between the
government and the public. His scheme was a moderate one, based largely on
Sergey Witte's earlier suggestions. Its essence was the creation of a prosperous
and conservative element in the countryside composed of "the strong and the
sober." On the whole, Stolypin succeeded with some improvements in the civic
status of the peasantry, but did not expunge the barriers separating it from
"privilege Russia". A revolutionary assassinated Stolypin in 1911.
Peter Stolypin
Most Russians were dissatisfied with their country's "cultural barrier" between
Russia and Europe. They had an inferiority complex, thinking of themselves as
less civilized, backwards, "Asiatic," and in doing so created a lack of respect
among Russia's European counterparts. During World War I, when the Allies
bullied Russia to get back into the war after their first retreat, they seemed
to think of Russia as "stupid cowards." Germany made Russia soon to sign a
treaty with Germany, after their army - embarrassingly enough - ran away from
strong German defenses. If losing a war isn't enough to give people of a nation
an inferiority complex, nothing is.
The Russian people unconsciously accepted the flood of western standards into
Russia between 1890 and 1914. Not surprisingly, the Russians with their
extra-long-sleeved shirts were complacent to this infuse of foreign culture,
wanting to do anything to feel equal to Europeans.
In 1916, Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandria, were so estranged from the ruling circle that a palace coup was freely advocated. Before this, Alexandria had brought Rasputin, a faith-healer, to live with them in the Winter Palace at Petrograd. Alexandra believed he was holy and could save her son, Alexei, from dying of hemophilia. Rasputin ate into the woodwork of the Russian aristocracy, and Alexandra made sure that the members of the Duma did not tarnish him, and that they met his requests. Two revolutionaries murdered Rasputin in December of 1916, after being poisoned, shot, and drowned. Many members of the Imperial family and army generals in the field believed that, "If it is a choice between the Czar and Russia, I'll take Russia."
Nicholas II with Wife Alexandra
The British Ambassador to Russia, Sir George Buchanan, said to Nicholas II on
January 12, 1917, "Your Majesty, if I may be permitted to say so, has but one
safe course open to you, namely to break down the barrier that separates you
from your people and to regain their confidence."
To this, Nicholas II replied, "Do you mean that I am to regain the confidence of
my people or that they are to regain my confidence?" History took its course
with the belligerent ravings of Nicholas II, and on March 7, 1917, a major
demonstration ignited in Petrograd. After two days of heavy rioting, the
soldiers called into to control the bunch and defend the regime gave up and
joined in. On March 12, the soldiers in Petrograd would not obey the Czar's
orders, and in several days this held for the rest of Russia. On March 15, Czar
Nicholas II abdicated his Empire to the emissaries of the Duma.
Duma, 1916
In the night of July 16-17, 1918, a squad of Bolshevik secret police murdered Russia's last emperor, Tsar Nicholas II, along with his wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra, their 14-year-old son, Tsarevich Alexis, and their four daughters. They were cut down in a hail of gunfire in a half-cellar room of the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg, a city in the Ural mountain region, where they were being held prisoner. To prevent a cult for the dead Tsar, the bodies were carted away to the countryside and hastily buried in a secret grave.
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