Czarina Alexandra was the last monarch of Russia. She had virtually no power, but she is important to history, so this post is about her. After her death, she was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Why did the death of a monarch create such a reaction? Let us examine the Czarina a little further.
The Czarina was the wife of Czar Nicholas II of Russia. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and she carried the hemophiliac disease. She was married to the Czar late in life considering her status as the granddaughter of the Queen of Britain. It is said that she was supposed to marry a member of the family, but she did not want to because she was so smitten with Nicholas, the Grand Duke of Russia. Most people did not support the marriage between Alexandra and Nicholas because there was strong anti-German sentiment (including the present Czar Alexander III). Another hurdle to the match was that she would need to renounce Lutheranism and become an Eastern Orthodox Catholic. She was eventually persuaded to do this, and the two were engaged in 1894. They married later that year after Nicholas became the Czar.
Unlike Marie Antoinette, Alexandra was disliked by her people from the very beginning. The Czarina seemed cold and unemotionally whenever she appeared in public, and this made her hard to relate to. She also didn't appear to really embrace any part of Russian culture (from food to dancing). According to those close to her, she was actually just very shy, and she feared Russian reactions to her statements. Another thing that fed general dislike of her was the fact that she supported divine right to rule regardless of whether popular support was behind the monarch (or Czar). The final thing that made her disliked by her people was the fact that she could not bear the Czar a son. THey had many daughters, but a son was finally born. Unfortunately, this was not the blessing people hoped for because the young Czarevich, Alexei, was a hemophiliac, and he was sick much of the time.
After a particularly bad bout of disease, a holy man named Rasputin claimed that he could cure the young Czarevich. He proved unsuccessful at curing Alexei, but he did cure the symptoms of the disease. This was after doctors had already failed. Alexandra latched onto Rasputin and held him in the highest regard for this. Rasputin, however, was a known drunk who it was said would expose himself at restaurants. This led the people to have a serious distrust of Alexandra and the monarchy as a whole. Rasputin was eventually killed, but Alexandra continued to refer to him as a saint. This led people to dislike Alexandra even more.
During World War I, the monarchy was blamed for the immense expense in capital and life that Russia lost. This led the people to hate the monarchy for getting and keeping them in the war. The economic conditions were correct, and the Bolshevik Revolution came around. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne. The royal family was imprisoned in 1917.
During imprisonment, the Czar and his family pleaded with many other nations to help them by giving them asylum. Not wanting to anger the new Soviet Union, the nations refused. Thus, the Romanovs were stuck in Russia despite the fact that death could be around any corner. The new leader, Lenin had already personally ordered the execution of the Royal family.
The Royal family offered an alternative to the Bolshevik government, so they were a threat to the Soviet Union. Also, they were a rallying point to international discontent with the Soviet Union. If they wanted to tear down the Soviet Union, it would be easy with people that had a legitimate claim to the throne. On July 17, 1918, the Romanovs were taken into the basement of their prison palace, and they were all shot and killed. Their bodies were then mutilated, buried, and dissolved in acid. Their bodies were found later, but Anastasia and Alexei's corpses would remain missing for quite some time.
In the end, the Czarina was powerless, but she was still killed. She was really unpopular with the people for her various indiscretions, and she was pretty much unimportant. However, she was canonized because she died such a terrible, useless death. It is that reason that she is important. She is now Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer. In all honesty, she just loved her husband and her family more than her country.
Next Time we Will Discuss
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