In my efforts to solve the mystery of the young girl
who claimed to be Princess Anastasia,
the sole surviving heir of the Russian imperial family,
I was joined by someone who'd
known her all her life, her aunt.
Your Imperial Highness.
Olga.
Just Olga now.
The resemblance is only slight.
The physical evidence...
debatable.
If she is my little Pixie, I'll know.
Pixie?
My nickname for her as a toddler.
What does your gut say?
She tried to kill herself.
She must have been through something terrible to do that.
But so many others have made claims.
I know.
But it's not the lies,
it's how they force you to rake it all up again.
The body of Grigori Rasputin
was discovered beneath the ice of the Malaya Nevka River
on the 19th of December, 1916.
The infamous mystic had been poisoned,
beaten and shot in the head.
But while the imperial family mourned,
many hoped that this was Russia's second chance
to rule free of Rasputin's poisonous influence.
He's gone.
The only man who could save our son.
What do we do now?
We carry on.
He had faith in us. He said God shines on us.
Now we must have faith in ourselves.
Mm.
Rasputin has been murdered.
There is a chance for Nicholas to reform and to make changes.
And yet, Nicholas continues exactly the same way as before.
Everyone realizes suddenly,
that actually it wasn't Rasputin who was governing Nicholas.
It was Nicholas governing Nicholas.
I understand you need time to mourn, Nicky.
But you must put this behind you
and listen to your family.
The country needs your leadership.
My family murdered Grigori.
Felix should be punished.
He deserves a parade.
Here, give me that.
Nicky, Nicky,
listen to your sister.
You need to act now.
Appoint new ministers,
and regain the confidence of your people,
- or there will be total anarchy. - I have to go, Mother.
But please have faith.
All they do is criticize.
What would Father Grigori say?
To trust my instincts.
I will head back to the war.
That's where I'm needed, not here.
I can keep the ministers in line.
We will continue the way we were.
This is a decision that could doomÂ the Romanovs.
When Nicholas goes back to military headquarters,
Nicholas is in fact leaving control of government,
exactly when government needed him the most.
When Russia needed to be held together by its Czar.
The war by this time is deeply unpopular.
It's not only unpopular,
it's also arguably the engine that's causing economic crisis,
that's causing general unrest.
Partly because of the war,
there's food shortages in the cities,
there's bread rationing,
people are starving.
To help the Russian war effort,
workers are toiling under horrendous conditions,
and winter has made life even more unbearable.
The very day that Nicholas leaves, there is a strike
at the Putilov armaments factory.
This strike is joined by more and more workers
throughout Petrograd,
and over the dayÂ we see a snowball striking effect.
Workers are turning to revolution as
the only way to change their fate.
There aredozens of political groups and factions,
all with different agendas and varying levels of extremism.
And at the radical edgeÂ of the revolutionary parties
are the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin.
Lenin's vision of the rule of the working class
means the utter annihilation
of the royal family, headed by the Czar himself.
Nicholas returns to a catastrophic situation at the front.
Not only is the Russian army losing everywhere
but the Russian army is also falling apart.
The Czar's reputation amongst the
military has completely collapsed.
It was the revolutionaries that were much more popular
amongst the military rank and file.
Men like Yakov Yurovsky,
whose hatred of the Czarist regime
has turned him into a fervent Bolshevik.
Up!
Get up!
Get rid of that corpse.
Fucking peasants.
Rife with disease.
He was under your command, sir.
Doesn't he deserve some respect?
So, that's what we get for serving Mother Russia?
No!
Keep up your Bolshevik bullshit
and you'll get the bullet.
Up!
Across the Russian empire, resentment of the Czar is building.
And in February 1917,
this resentment is displayed in Saint Petersburg
by one of the most unlikely groups.
It's International Women's day.
A hundred thousand women flood the streets of Petersburg,
protesting the shortages of bread.
As they go intoÂ the street, factoryÂ workers join them.
More strikes spread from factory to factory.
It begins to spread even to Moscow
and becomes huge in scale.
How many?
But I was told these protests were small.
Perhaps your Interior Minister is holding back bad news, sir.
Then my wife will deal with him, General Ruzsky.
In Saint Petersburg you haveÂ this crazy situation
where Alexandra, who all her life had isolated herself
and disdained politicians,
now she found herself running the Russian Government.
Sorry, Your Highness.
The children were asking where you were.
I'm in mourning.
Also, the ministers are still waiting inside for you.
They have some urgent news from the city.
Tell them to come back tomorrow.
Nicholas and Alexandra are completelyÂ unableÂ to understand
what's happeningÂ in the streets of Petrograd.
They do not understand the discontent.
Their mentality has become so isolated
that they really believe that the central link
between the Czar and the Russian people remains unbroken.
This is a major mistake.
What begins with a female bread riot,
begins to acquire a political context.
The streets are filled with protestersÂ and revolutionaries
who are no longer just demonstrating.
They're calling for the overthrow of the regime.
200,000?
My report says nothing like that.
Your Interior Minister, sir,
is not only incompetent,
he is a liar.
Send out the Petrograd garrison to disperse the crowds.
We need to put this down.
Now.
It's chaos in the streets.
The soldiers obey the orders. They fire into the crowds.
Hundreds of people are killed.
This is a horrible atrocity.
There is a child that is poignantly crucified by bullets
on a fence near the Winter Palace.
Some soldiers at this point are even joining the protesters.
This is a make or break moment for the Czarist regime.
Despite the massacre the people won't back down.
The next day, a group marches to the palace itself.
Apologies, Your Highness.
But the doctor wants you to see something.
Measles.
What about the Czarevich?
He's got it, but not so badly.
Right, come on everyone, to bed.
- Your Highness. - Come on.
Maybe now is a good time to leave the palace.
The girls would benefit from a warmer climate.
There are protesters atthe gates.
Well, the children are far too sick to be moved.
The people will come to their senses.
As Father Grigori used to say, "No fear. No hate.
Only love."
Alexandra is oblivious,
she believes that this revolution is just a few hooligans,
that the army is totally loyal to them.
In fact, morale is very low at the front.
The war is going very badly.
And nothing drives revolution like political and military defeat.
Get up!
You have your orders.
On your fucking feet!
- Up that ladder! - You don't have to.Â Stand firm.
You do know the penalty for mutiny?
Same as if he climbs that ladder.
You will follow my orders.
That time is gone.
The Russian army is, at this point,
dissolving.
We've got mass desertions,
entire battalions simply deciding
to walk away from the battlefield.
Even more worryingly for Nicholas,
those battalions are heading home
to cities in the grip of rising revolutionary fury.
Russia is ready to explode.
This morning, sir,
thousands more soldiers deserted to join the uprising.
Where are my family?Â Are they safe?
Your wife refusesÂ to leave the palace, sir.
The children are too sick.
Deploy the entire Marine Guard to the palace.
I want loyal soldiers guarding the imperial family.
Get me home, General.
Sir.
We have to take the route east, via Malaya Vishera.
How much time will that add to the journey?
Look, I need to be home now.
Sir, it is the troops you dispatched to reinforce Petrograd,
we need to keep the main line open for them.
Alright. Let them through.
Before long, a number of soldiersÂ have taken to the streets,
some of them begin waving red flags, they commandeer vehicles.
And by evening, it is clear that the government has lost control
of public order inÂ Petrograd.
The strange thing is
that there'sÂ no leadership in this revolution.
Nicholas's secret police have beenÂ incredibly effective.
They've arrested
or exiled
all the leaders of the revolutionary parties.
Stalin is in Siberia.
Lenin is in Switzerland.
This is that rare thing, a truly spontaneous revolution.
No one can contact Nicky.
Telegrams aren't getting through.
Petrograd is falling to the mob,
and the Ministry have no idea where my son is.
Don't worry, my darlings.
It's nothing the guards can't handle.
Your Highness.
We have to leave.
We are in a fortress,Â Monsieur Gilliard.
And you are scaring the children.
It's very important to understandÂ how many deserters
from the front lines have made their way back to the city.
It was a situation
that was pregnant with disaster
because never before had so many people
been armed in the streets of the Russian capital.
We've had no news for six hours.
Will somebody please tell me what's going on with my family?
How is he?
The guards did their best.
He bled to death in the lobby.
Er..
Er...
I, uh...
I need to telegram Nicky.
He needs to tell me what to do.
A revolutionary gang has captured the railway line ahead.
How far are we from Petrograd?
We're 60 miles. But it's no use.
They've commandeered machine guns.
Then find another route!
One of the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison
assassinates an officer that had slapped him the day before
during the protests, and the entire regiment joins the protest.
The next day, they tie red ribbons around their rifles.
Suddenly, the military has joined the revolution.
Nicholas has long relied on militaryÂ force
to keep his empire together.
He has just lost the military.
Mama, the taps aren't working.
There's no water.
The electricity is off too.
Well, then we will use candles.
There's no need to be afraid.
Everything is in the hands of God.
And tomorrow,
your father will be back.
Mama?
Your Highness,
the soldiers are leaving.
My own Marine Guard.
I don't believe it.
And where the hell is Nicky?
Why hasn't he replied?
If the entire Marine Guard has deserted,
then who is protecting my family?
Telegram the President of the Duma.
Tell him he can have whatever he wants.
Sir.
Nicholas offers concessions,
he offers to make a representative government,
give the Duma much more control,
but it's way too late by this point.
None of the forces that were destroyingÂ the monarchy
were stoppable.
The war could not have been won overnight,
major grievances like food shortages,
employment could not be resolved.
There was nothing at this point that Nicholas could truly do
to repair the political situation.
Your Highness.
Petrograd is lost.
Any further troops we send will only mutiny.
So, what do you want me to do?
You must renounce the throne in favor of your son, Alexei.
With your brother Michael as regent.
This...
is the unanimous decision of all your generals,
as well as the Admiral of the Baltic Fleet
and Grand Duke Nicholas.
Nikolasha...
It is, sir,
the only choice you have left.
Telegram the generals.
Tell them that...
as a duty of conscience for our people,
I have decided to renounce the throne of the Russian Empire.
In favor of your son, sir?
Sir?
My son has a condition.
Hemophilia.
He may only have a few years left.
So, surely, we have a right to keep him for ourselves.
Yes, sir.
I will renounce the throne in both my name and his.
My son will live with his family.
All of us.
Together.
Your Highness.
No.
Nicky.
Nicholas' abdication is one ofÂ the most important moments
in the twentieth century.
With just one stroke of the pen,
he eliminates 300 years of Romanovs' rule.
This event sends shockwaves throughout the world.
He ends the last full autocracy in Europe.
He has a huge effect on the outcome of World War I,
but he also brings about instability
in Russia that ultimately leads
to a revolution.
One feels sympathy for Nicholas,
but he brings everything upon himself, ultimately.
It's his cascade of catastrophic decisions
that ends up culminating with the loss ofÂ an empire.
He's abdicated!
It's true.
It's actually happened.
I'm going home, back to Ekaterinberg.
To a war we can win.
You didn't have to come all the way here.
I'll be fine.
Oh, this is so humiliating.
Kept here under armed guard, like a criminal.
They're taking me to the palace, Mother.
It's hardly Napoleon's exile to Saint Helena.
Will you go back to Kiev?
Yes,
but Russia is no longer safe for you.
Promise me, Nicholas.
You'll get the family out as soonÂ as you can.
I was thinking the retreat in Livadia.
I like the flowers there.
No!
Another country!
England, perhaps.
Speak to cousin George.
I'm going home, Mama.
Then...
God protect you.
Heaven knowswhen we shall meet again.
Where is Mama?
She's talking to your sisters.
She asked me to speak toyou.
Your father...
doesn't want to be Czar anymore.
Why?
It's complicated.
He's trying to do his best for everyone.
Am I going to be Czar then?
No.
But
if there isn't a Czar,
who is going to rule Russia?
Nicholas abdicates in favorÂ of his brother Michael,
who is only Emperor for less than one day.
His brother realizes that thisÂ is absolutely a poison chalice,
he wants no part of this whatsoever.
So, he turns down the throne
and once that happens
it's clear that Russia no longer has a Czar.
Russia had gone from one-man rule to political chaos.
The Czar doesn't really understand
what's happening around the country.
He doesn't understand the revolution.
And he seems to be in denial about the situation.
And that is why neither Nicholas nor his family leave the country.
I'm sorry.
You are more precious to me as my husband
than as Czar.
Oh, my boy.
I'm so sorry.
Russia's political condition
in the weeks after the abdication of the Czar
is sometimes referred to as
dvoyevlastiye, which means 'dual power'.
Now, we have got two main bodies
competing for legitimacy on power in Petrograd.
We have got the Duma.
On the other hand,Â we have got the far more radical
and deeply revolutionaryÂ Petrograd Soviet.
Neither of them is powerful enough
to outmaneuver the other, so they join together
and create the provisional government, a temporary government,
that's meant to just hold things together,
hold the war effort together
until somethingÂ more permanent can be decided on.
The real dynamo, the real energy
in this new Provisional Government
is Alexander Kerensky.
He's a member of the Soviet and the Duma.
He's a socialist revolutionary,
but he's also worked with the Duma,
and so he's trusted to a degree by both sides.
It is ironic that a man
who had called for the overthrow
of the Czar several weeks earlier is nowÂ in charge
of keeping the royal family safe.
Hello.
I'm the "medieval regime."
Shall we take a walk?
I assure you, you can have complete
confidence in the Provisional Government
to keep you and your family safe.
But there are rules.
The telephone line has been cut.
Any communication must be via my office.
Your belongings...
your belongings will be searched.
And like all public servants,
you will survive on a ration for food.
So, my home is a prison.
Am I allowed outside to exercise?
At first, it looks like Alexander KerenskyÂ is the ultimate radical
hostile to the family.
But gradually, as he begins to take charge of them,
they realize that actually he's rather sympathetic to them.
He becomes almost fond of them.
And he begins to worry about howÂ to protect them
from the more extreme elements, the Bolsheviks and others
who might threaten their lives.
The position of the Romanovs has changedÂ beyond imagination,
one incident really sums this up,
as they sit as prisoners in their old home, the Alexander Palace,
soldiers actually dig up the remains of Rasputin,
the Empress Alexandra's most beloved advisor,
and mutilate the body in full view of the palace.
The Romanov family rely on Kerensky for their protection.
But by the middle of the summer,
Kerensky's own position becomes increasingly tenuous.
It does not look like Kerensky will actually be able
to convince the Russian population
to stay in the war and to sacrifice for it,
and his political power is under serious threat.
So, we have to leave?
It is no longer safe here.
And not just for you.
My officers will escort you.
I trust them.
If you say we must leave now, we will.
Just in time, Kerensky moved them in great secrecy
to Tobolsk, far away in Siberia
where they'll be safe from the extremists,
fanatics, and revolutionaries
who threaten them in Petrograd.
Three months after the Romanov familyÂ leaves Petrograd,
Kerensky's government itself is overthrown
in a coup d'état
by Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
As the Bolsheviks are taking over, duringÂ a period of only
twenty hours,Â Kerensky is forced to flee. At one point,
he's almost shot at a checkpoint as he tries to leave Petrograd.
Suddenly we're in a more merciless,Â more flint-hearted,
more ruthless era.
Lenin had spent 20 years calling forÂ the violent overthrow
of the monarchy, even for the execution of the Czar.
Now, the Bolsheviks are in chargeÂ of the royal family.
The fate of the imperial family is in Bolshevik hands.
And those hands happen to include formerÂ army medic,
Yakov Yurovsky.
I'm the Military Commissar
from the Ural Soviet.
Honored to meet you, Comrade Goloschekin.
Your work for the secret police has been noticed.
But I need your diligence for a little more delicateoperation.
Top secret.
Straight from Moscow.
From Comrade Lenin.
A house is being prepared here in Ekaterinberg
for some high-profile guests.
They will arrive in secrecy
and need to be kept under maximum security.
How many?
It's a family of seven and their servants.
By the Spring of 1919, the imperial family are in huge danger.
They are split into two groups,
Nicholas, Alexandra and one of the girls are taken
to their new safe-house deep in Bolshevik territory.
A few weeks later,
the Romanov children are sent to
join their parentsÂ inÂ Ekaterinburg.
Let's move, the truck is waiting.
Move! Move!
- Where are you taking us? - Not you, just the children.
No, no, I am their teacher!
Then you understand my words.
I promised their father I would stay with them.
You have no right to stop me from doing my duty.
We are no good to them dead.
Look after each other.
Stay safe.
Anastasia!
No! Please!
Anastasia!
Let's go.
My poor niece.
Hoping desperately that someone would come and rescue her.
She's waited long enough.
Shall we?
I am so sorry.
She asked to come out to meet you.
Please. Just a moment.
I am so happy to meet you.
Is the hospital treating you well?
If there's anything you need...
you must let us know.
Aren't you lovely, my dear.
Please,
I'm your little Pixie.
What did you say?
Say it again.
Pixie.
I am the only person in the world
that called her that.
Subtitle translation by Metia Bethell