One
hundred years ago, the Russian imperial family was murdered.
Not
being a Russophile, I was unaware of the blame game going on as to whose fault
it was that the Romanov family was killed. With all of the royal families in
Europe being related, one of them should have whisked the family to safety.
England’s
King George gets the biggest rap, but Germany’s Emperor Wilhelm seems to have
been in a better position, since Germany was dictating terms in the war with
Russia. Plus, most of the Romanov women had been German princesses.
Many
factors made escape difficult, if not impossible: the war, the political
alliances, personal antipathies, logistics, geography, and the weather. The
Soviets wanted the tsar to pay for centuries of despotism; they weren’t going
to let him go.
When
one throne toppled, the others felt shockwaves. The kings had to protect their
own thrones rather than assist the disposed. In any case, there was really only
one window of opportunity for the Romanovs to leave, and that was before
Nicholas abdicated.
The
Romanovs didn’t want to leave Russia, in any case. They would have preferred
death to being rescued by Germany. Brutal as it was, that’s what they got.
Recommended reading: The Race to Save the Romanovs by Helen Rappaport
