Here's Where It Gets Interesting - Stalin: Man of Steel, Episode 1

Episode Date: July 8, 2024

Welcome to our newest docuseries on Joseph Stalin. Over the course of this series you will learn how a little mama's boy called Soso became one of the most ruthless leaders in history.  For decades a movement was growing. The Russian people were frustrated and angry with how the country was being run. Take a deadly war, a lack of jobs and food, combined with a leader who was totally oblivious to the problems his people were facing, and a revolution sounded like a pretty good idea. There was only one thing in the way: Tsar Nicholas Romanov. But the revolutionaries, including Stalin, had a plan.  Host and Executive Producer: Sharon McMahon Supervising Producer: Melanie Buck Parks Audio Producer: Craig Thompson Writers/Researchers: Mandy Reid, Amy Watkin, Kari Anton, Sharon McMahon, Melanie Buck Parks Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Visa and OpenTable are dishing up something new. Get access to primetime dining reservations by adding your Visa Infinite Privilege Card to your OpenTable account. From there, you'll unlock first-come, first-served spots at select top restaurants when booking through OpenTable. Learn more at OpenTable.ca forward slash Visa Dining. Here's where it gets interesting is now available ad-free. www.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca.ca. Man of Steel. Over nine episodes, I will walk you through the twisted and often disturbing life of Joseph Stalin, though he would become one of the most consequential leaders of the Soviet Union. And in the world, his early life is less well known, which is exactly the way he wanted it. which is exactly the way he wanted it.

We'll uncover the secrets he tried to hide, the women he loved and lost, and the children he fathered. From the violence and poverty of his youth, his need for murderous revenge, and his lust for power. This is the true story of Joseph Stalin. We're going beyond the tanks and guns, and we're going to dive into who Joseph Stalin really was and what caused him to become one of the most ruthless

world leaders in history. How did a little mama's boy called Soso become a mass murderer? I'm Sharon McMahon, and here's where it gets interesting. A quick note on names and dates. Most Western historians use English versions of Russian names, and we will as well, just to make it more simple for you to understand. And Russia used the Julian calendar until 1918 when it switched to the Western Gregorian calendar. There are several days difference between the two, and the dates included in this series follow the newer Gregorian calendar. In order to really dig into who Stalin was, we need to first set the stage that would allow for one of the deadliest leaders of the 20th century to rise to power. The Russian Revolution didn't happen overnight. For decades, first underground and later out in the open, a movement was growing.

The Russian people were frustrated and angry with how the country was being run. Take a deadly war, a lack of jobs and food, combined with a leader who was totally oblivious to the problems his people were facing, and a revolution seemed like a good idea to them at the time. That clueless leader, Tsar Nicholas Romanov, was born into the job as the heir to the nearly 300-year-old autocracy. And it was actually a job that he never wanted. The Romanov family claimed their right to power was mandated by God, who trusted the Tsar to rule as he saw fit over all of Russia. There were only two requirements. The Tsar had to follow the

teachings of the Russian Orthodox Church, he served as its leader, and he had to follow the laws of succession which determined who would inherit the throne. When Tsar Nicholas became the leader of all of Russia, he confessed privately to his cousin, I'm not ready to be Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I have no idea even how to talk to the ministers. Can you help me? And Nicholas was right to ask for help because time and time again, he would make bad decisions that fueled the outrage of revolutionaries who wanted to see the autocracy destroyed. And of course, Stalin was one of them. Although at this point in his life, he was not known as Stalin. He would have three

other names throughout his life, each one with its own significance, and we'll talk about each persona in depth in future episodes. At the time Nicholas inherited the throne, he was engaged to his second cousin, Princess Alex Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice, who was half German and half English. Alex and Nicholas knew each other from childhood, and they wanted to wed by the time he was in his 20s. But two things stood in their way. First, despite Nicholas's devotion to his cousin, he was actually engaged in a long-thoroughed love affair with a famous prima ballerina. And he ended that relationship with the ballerina by basically paying her off.

The second problem was that Alex was a strict Lutheran, and the Tsar's wife was required to follow Russian Orthodoxy. So Alex began studying the history of the Russian Orthodox Church, and she adopted a deep belief in mysticism and miracles performed by God through holy men. She threw herself into collecting religious icons, and was sometimes found kneeling in prayer for hours every day. The day following the death of Nicholas' father, Alex converted to Russian Orthodoxy and took the name Alexandra. A month later, despite the family still being in deep mourning, Nicholas and Alexandra wed. month later, despite the family still being in deep mourning, Nicholas and Alexandra wed. Much to the horror of the Russian population at large, they saw her German ancestry as a threat. And because they married so quickly after his father's death, people called Alexandra

the funeral bride. After that inauspicious beginning, Alexandra couldn't seem to find a way to win over the Russian population. It didn't help matters that she was naturally reserved and sort of socially awkward. Her reputation was cold and standoffish, and it was chalked up to her outsider status. And then she did something that, of course, wasn't her fault, but was inexcusable to the public. Nonetheless, she gave birth to a daughter. And then another, and another, and another. Four daughters in a row, when the inheritance of the throne required a son. In 1895, Nicholas and Alexandra's first daughter was born, and she was named Olga after Nicholas's sister.

Nicholas actually chronicled the happy occasion in his diary, and he wrote, I am glad that the child is a girl. Had it been a boy, he would have belonged to the people. But being a girl, she belongs to us. Tsar Nicholas's coronation in Moscow was postponed until 1896 while the nation mourned his father. It might seem like a long time, by the way, but these sort of lavish events were often held a year or more after a leader's death, not only to show respect, but also because coordinating them took tons of planning. The coronation celebration was a week-long affair, with Nicholas wearing a uniform and

riding a white horse. He saw the ceremony as symbolizing both his responsibilities to the nation, but also his divine right to rule. So on the day of the official ceremony was beset with problems, an already leadership-weary Nicholas felt a sense of dread. First, Nicholas's Saint Andre collar, a massive jewel-encrusted chain that draped over his robe and which was really only worn during coronation ceremonies, broke and fell into pieces on the ground. Then word got out that following tradition, Nicholas had arranged for gifts to be given out to the peasants in attendance in a field outside of Moscow. Like, the presents are over there. But only about 400,000 gifts were prepared. These are bundles in a kerchief, and in the kerchief was an enamel mug, sausage, bread roll, and gingerbread.

But his late father had done so much work expanding the railroad system that it made it really easy for lots of people to attend. And so 700,000 people showed up when they were only expecting 400,000. And so when word spread that there were not enough gifts to go around, the crowd surged forward, causing a stampede, and hundreds of people were crushed to death. and hundreds of people were crushed to death. The exact number of dead and injured varies widely among different sources, ranging from 1,300 to 5,000.

Imagine a United States president's inauguration. First of all, they're giving out gifts, right? And so there's not enough gifts. Everybody's stampeding. Now imagine like 5,000 people dying at a president's inauguration. It's kind of absurd, but that's exactly what happened. Nicholas wanted to stop the festivities. He's looking around. He's like, people are dying.

But his uncles were like, no, no, you're going to look weak. You're going to look sentimental if you stop the festivities now. So the royal family did not take responsibility for the thousands of deaths. And the optics were terrible. Here's the royal family spending the entire evening dancing at these fancy, fancy balls with their fancy, fancy jewels when there were literally thousands of dead bodies being collected by family members in fields. The coronation catastrophe earned Nicholas the nickname Nicholas the Bloody, and those who believed in omens, which, by the way, was the new Tsarina,

Alexandra, might have anticipated an unhappy ending to such an unlucky beginning. And as time passed, the gulf between the people and their rulers would only widen. Remember those meetings I just told you about, the underground ones that helped incite the revolution that Joseph Stalin also wanted to participate in, those meetings started just years into Nicholas's rule in 1898. A group of unhappy Russians gathered together in one of the first known meetings of the Russian Social Democratic Workers Party. The Social Democrats believed in the writings of Karl Marx, or Marxism, a belief that any political, social, or economic policies that disadvantage the poor should be stopped.

And they would do anything needed to make it happen, including a violent revolution. Stalin was just shy of 20 years old at this time, but he was actually no stranger to violence, having learned early that using fists got him better results than using words. His passion was ignited by what he was hearing from the revolutionaries around him. Tsar Nicholas was not exactly the type of guy that the Social Democrats were interested in having rule the country. He had never known anything but immense wealth and privilege, while the rest of the country was stuck in the class they were born into. And those most in favor of a revolution were, of course, the ones at the bottom. A classless

society sounded great to them, and they supported an overthrow of the higher classes and a systemic redistribution of land and wealth. Now, he might not have been too keen on being Tsar at first, but Nicholas was definitely not interested in having his family dynasty toppled by a bunch of people that he considered beneath him. So after hearing about their gathering, Tsar Nicholas had the group of Social Democrats arrested, which, turns out, had the opposite effect from what Nicholas wanted or expected. Not only did the group's ideas continue to spread, but Stalin's mentor, Vladimir Lenin, who we will get back to soon, saw an opportunity that he could not resist.

Lenin had some ideas about how Nicholas might be relieved of his power. By 1901, Nicholas wasn't worried about some revolutionaries he didn't think had any power to do anything. His family was growing. He and Alexandra now had four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia. In photos, you can see the young girls all dressed in identical dresses. Alexandra often referred to them as one entity, like the girls, and she used their first initials, Otma, O-T-M-A, to refer to her daughters. The girls were sweet, and they relied on each other for entertainment and companionship because their parents were extremely strict and limited their exposure to the outside world.

While Nicholas's home life was relatively happy, the people he ruled over were suffering. Author Leo Tolstoy wrote to Nicholas in 1902. He said, in part, a third of Russia is in a state of emergency. The people who work on the land, those 100 million people, become more impoverished every year so that famine has become a normal occurrence. And general discontent with the government among all classes and a hostile attitude towards it has become just as normal an occurrence. Tolstoy told Nicholas the autocracy was to blame for all of it, like he did with everyone else though. Nicholas chose to ignore Tolstoy's words, but they showed just how widespread the anger was across the country. And how many people were talking about? It's not hard to see how this led to a revolution. Nicholas had fallen ill with typhoid fever during Alexandra's fourth pregnancy, which exacerbated the couple's and the country's anxiety about him

not having a male heir. Alexandra was certain during her pregnancy that her fourth daughter was a boy, and she promised that should her husband die, she would stand in place until her then unborn son was of ruling age. Her offer was not well received, but it illustrates how profoundly Alexandra believed that her faith alone could just make things happen. At this point, widespread concern that the Tsarina was incapable of birthing a boy led to some strange interventions. Some of the wives of Nicholas's second cousins, nicknamed the Crows, decided to take Alexandra under their wing and help her conceive and birth an heir. These women practiced a mystical form of Russian

orthodoxy, but Nicholas and Alexandra were willing to try basically anything at this point. After all, as the Tsar's wife, having a boy was Alexandra's one job. The Crow's help consisted largely of introducing Alexandra to self-proclaimed holy men who could assist her in whatever capacity she required for a price. The devout and distressed Alexandra found comfort in the idea that holy men were interceding with God on her behalf. In July 1904, Alexandra and Nicholas finally welcomed a son, Alexei, but their joy was replaced with sadness and worry when they soon learned that he had hemophilia. The gene for this bleeding disorder is carried by mothers, and research shows that sons of carriers have a 50% chance of inheriting it. Hemophilia killed Alexandra's brother and uncle and is sometimes referred to as the royal disease. Alexandra was wracked with guilt over

unintentionally giving her very much wanted son such an agonizing and likely fatal condition. Nicholas and Alexandra decided to keep Alexei's diagnosis a secret from as many people as possible. If they had had bubble wrap at the time, they would most certainly have put him inside of it. Instead, they severely limited his physical exertions throughout his childhood, making their daughters look out for him. And they also hired two strong, loyal men known as Sailor Nannies, because yes, they were actually sailors, whose only task was to keep Alexei safe and alive. His condition was so perilous that a simple bruise could lead to uncontrollable internal bleeding and kill him. The pressure on Nicholas and Alexandra was tremendous. If word

got out that the future czar was ill, he might become a target for those who wished to unseat Nicholas from the throne. So the family retreated further away from the public, which generated a lot of speculation and gossip, rumors that were never addressed by Nicholas or Alexandra. The crows introduced the alleged holy man, Gregory Rasputin, to Alexandra, who immediately felt comfortable confiding in him. Rasputin quickly became a close and trusted advisor, who Alexandra turned to whenever Alexei fell ill, which was often. In fact, Rasputin was nicknamed Our Friend by the royal family. In fact, Rasputin was nicknamed Our Friend by the royal family. Despite his sailor nannies and the family's many precautions, like any young child, Alexei was desperate to play, and his frailness meant that he was frequently confined to a sickbed. The stress over his sick child wasn't all that Nicholas was dealing with. By November 1904, seeing the increasing anger from the public, Nicholas's ministers pleaded with him to create a constitutional government that offered

representation to the lower classes, which they'd been asking for, by the way, for over a decade. They warned him, do it now or you will have a revolution on your hands. Nicholas was like, nope, that's not gonna happen. I'm not czar for my own pleasure. I'm only czar because it's necessary for Russia. This is what God wants me to do. I will never agree to a representative form of government because I think it's harmful and God has put me in this position. And if that wasn't the throwing down of a gauntlet, it would come shortly thereafter. By 1905, the man who would become Stalin was honing his skills at evading the police after being arrested. He engaged in other revolutionary activities that he would continue for years, editing a small political newspaper and committing crimes to further the

revolutionaries' agenda. Early that year, protests were commonplace. Workers marched to the Winter Palace in search of Tsar Nicholas. They carried with them a petition requesting better wages, better education, improved living conditions, and an eight-hour workday. The marchers dressed in their nicest clothes and thought, if we look nice and we ask nicely, the Tsar might be willing to listen. And at this point, the workers were mostly blaming exploitative landowners. They were not directly blaming the Tsar. One of the lead organizers of the march had actually notified government officials that they were coming. Like, hey, we're coming. We would like to speak to you. Which actually just allowed Tsar Nicholas enough time to get out of town before they arrived. When the Imperial Guard, who was the Tsar's personal security force, saw the many thousands of marchers,

who, by the way, had planned to make their request peacefully. They opened fire on them. And of course, accounts vary. We're talking about thousands of different people. But by the end of the day, hundreds of protesters, men, women, and children were dead. And roughly 2,000 more were seriously wounded. This day would become known as Bloody Sunday. When Nicholas learned what happened, he blamed the marchers and thought the guards acted like they should have in the face of a mob. He did not find any fault with himself or his rule, and he was not open to listening to his advisors who suggested that he make concessions to the workers or, you know, apologize for what is going on. The people, Nicholas thought, were in

the wrong. They needed to respect him because God said so. Well, the people thought differently. thought differently. Their blood was on his hands, and it was time for action. Throughout the next few episodes, we're going to learn more about Lenin and the Bolshevik party, but for now, you need to know that he was one of the more vocal opponents to the autocratic rule of the Tsar, and Lenin loved Bloody Sunday because it helped his cause. He wrote, the uprising has begun. Force against force. Street fighting is raging. Barricades are being thrown up. Rifles are cracking. Guns are booming. Rivers of blood are flowing. The civil war for freedom is blazing up. And things only got worse from there. Assassinations were suddenly commonplace. Alexandra's brother-in-law was murdered. Thousands of people, including aristocrats, were killed. And still, Tsar Nicholas dismissed the growing threat to himself and his family.

As events and tempers snowballed, the royal family secluded themselves, which did nothing to appease the Russian people, who participated in an unbelievable 1,600 labor strikes in the nine months following Bloody Sunday. Later in his life, Stalin would minimize his role in revolutionary activity by saying, I was the hull sweeper of the revolution. In fact, Stalin was an apprentice of major leaders like Lenin, and in his role, he learned that working in the shadows was a talent of his. While Stalin usually did less public-facing work, the people became more outspoken in their demands. They wanted more than just better working conditions. They wanted a say in how the government was run. They wanted a Duma, which is a legislature like Congress that people could

elect. Tsar Nicholas was eventually persuaded that if he did not concede to the people's demands, the autocracy itself was in jeopardy of being violently overthrown. So he allowed an election. But Nicholas hated the person who was elected prime minister. He hated the new cabinet, and most of all, he hated the Duma. So the Tsar used his power to replace the prime minister with a new one that he quickly put in charge of the military. And that move enabled him to dismantle the Duma. One guess how that went over. In response, suicide bombers with explosives hidden in their jackets snuck into a party for the

new prime minister and killed the prime minister's children and dozens of others. In the five years between 1905 and 1910, violence intensified, and this is when we get our first real glimpse of Joseph Stalin. He was one of those seeking to overthrow the government. He published an article during this period advocating for an armed uprising. He wrote, what do we really need in order to win? We need three things. The first is arms. The second is arms. And the third is arms and arms again. Now sit down, because when I tell

you that nearly 16,000 people were assassinated during this time period. In turn, 3,000 people who were deemed terrorists were executed. Thousands were imprisoned or exiled to Siberia, including Joseph Stalin. We will discuss exile more later, but just know that this is a common form of punishment in Russia. Men were banished to a frozen, desolate place thousands of miles away and not allowed to return. They were sent there and they had to find their own place to live or they were put in prison. And they would have to find a way to survive. Some people were forced to do hard labor.

And for Stalin, this was his regular punishment after being arrested. Often, he simply just found a way back and hid in plain sight. And listen, there are many questions about how he was able to do that. And it's a question we will return to repeatedly over the course of our series. Why was Stalin given so many chances? You might wonder how a small political party, one that was hated by an autocratic leader, had the funding to carry out all of these bombings. How did they have the funding to assassinate 16,000 people?

The answer is bank robberies. And the most prolific bank robber of the movement was none other than Stalin. I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We are best friends. And together we have the podcast Office Ladies, where we rewatched every single episode of The Office with insane behind-the-scenes stories, hilarious guests, and lots of laughs. Guess who's sitting next to me? Steve! It is my girl in the studio! Every Wednesday, we'll be sharing even more exclusive stories from The Office and our

friendship with brand new guests, and we'll be digging into our mailbag to answer your questions and comments. So join us for brand new Office Lady 6.0 episodes every Wednesday. Plus on Mondays, we are taking a second drink. You can revisit all the Office Ladies rewatch episodes every Monday with new bonus tidbits before every episode.

Well, we can't wait to see you there. Follow and listen to Office Ladies on the free Odyssey app and wherever you get your podcasts. As the revolution was brewing outside the palace walls, Alexandra begins suffering from all sorts of health conditions, ranging from migraines to sciatica to an enlarged heart. And the family physician prescribed her a shocking cocktail of drugs like morphine, cocaine, opium, and a barbiturate. Imagine going to the doctor and being like, I'm having heart issues and sciatic nerve pain. And the doctor being like,

here's cocaine. The already reclusive Alexandra was behaving in ways so unlike what was expected of her that her own family thought she was going mad. They didn't realize she and Nicholas had distanced themselves from their extended family to lessen the chance of little Alexei's illness being discovered. Alexandra's aunt wrote to her cousin at the time saying she believed that Alexandra was suffering from a mild but morally serious kind of insanity. She also blamed Alexandra's closest advisor saying, Alex to my mind is absolutely mad. Everything she does is dictated to her by this false prophet who was Rasputin.

Alexandra was perpetually living in a state of anxiety and anguish. Her son was suffering from a disease that had no cure or effective treatments at the time, and he was the sole heir to the family dynasty dating back three centuries. Oh, and of course, everyone hated her husband. If you look at photographs of Alexandra, you will rarely see her smiling even when she's at home with her family. The worry is just plastered across her face. Her concern for her son was well-founded, by the way. When eight-year-old Alexei sustained a bruise by jumping into a boat in September of 1912, he developed massive hemorrhaging in his leg and abdomen. He was in excruciating pain for weeks on end, so much so that a priest was brought

in to give him last rites. Alexei asked his mother if the pain would end when he died, and the already hysterical Alexandra telegraphed Rasputin for help. If you conjure up an image of Rasputin in your mind, you may think of a lush beard and piercing blue eyes, which some people have called mes. Rasputin was able to calm Alexandra when she was overwrought with concern for her son, and that seemed to have an effect on little Alexei. Rasputin promised that the little one would not die. And he did not. And Alexandra believed wholeheartedly that Rasputin was a holy man who was able to protect her son. She began listening to him for things beyond the health and well-being of her family. During World War I, when Tsar Nicholas

fired his commander-in-chief and took on the role himself, Alexandra turned to Rasputin for guidance. It was totally out of character for her and unwelcomed by just about everyone, but Alexandra decided to take charge on the political front while her husband was away at war. So she starts firing people. I don't like you, you're fired. And then she replaced them with people who agreed with her. The effect that that had was more chaos in an already chaotic situation. Historian Orlando Feege wrote, In the 17 months of the quote-unquote Tsarina's rule from September 1915 to February 1917, Russia had four prime ministers, five ministers of the interior, three foreign ministers, three war ministers, five ministers of the interior, three foreign ministers, three war

ministers, three ministers of transport, and four ministers of agriculture. This ministerial leapfrog, as it came to be known, not only removed competent men from power, but also disorganized the work of government since no one remained long enough in office to master their responsibilities. And rumors swirled that Rasputin was telling Alexandra what to do and that she had German sympathies because of her half-German heritage. Her exercise of political power did not win her any new friends, and she had very few friends to begin with. As the war raged on, Russian soldiers who lacked ammunition and confidence in their ability to survive, much less win, deserted the army in droves and then returned home to find no work and no food. Bread lines were not enough to

feed people. There were no crops in the fields and no farmers left to harvest. The strikes had shuttered many businesses, and Russia was barely holding on militarily. The war had massive casualties, and the Tsar had poor leadership skills. And this allowed people like Lenin to lay the groundwork for their future plans. this allowed people like Lenin to lay the groundwork for their future plans. Lenin and the Bolsheviks considered the war a means of extending bourgeois imperialism and squelching the revolution that they wanted. Two slogans summed up their philosophy. Transform the imperialist war, meaning World War I, transform the imperialist War into Civil War, and the enemy of the workers is the government at home. Rasputin advocated for Russia to withdraw from World War I,

and that struck fear in the hearts of the British, who actually relied on their Russian ally to help ward off the German troops. Members of the extended Romanov family hated the sway Rasputin held over Alexandra. The new Duma wasn't thrilled with him either, because he advised Nicholas not to negotiate with the Prime Minister for governmental reform. Some of Rasputin's enemies had been plotting his death for years, and there are clues in letters that the British intelligence services were aware that planning for Rasputin's murder was underway. But killing him proved harder than anticipated. The first attempt at poisoning didn't succeed. After ingesting

cyanide-laced cakes and drinks, Rasputin had little more than a stomachache. Later, a gunman shot him in the chest, but that only knocked him down momentarily. And then, like some kind of superhero movie, he pulls himself up off the floor and runs away and out into the yard. And once he was outside, another conspirator shot him in the back, but that also did not kill him. It took a third gunshot to the head to finally kill Rasputin. The noise of gunfire attracted the attention of soldiers who rejoiced on the spot and offered their assistance in disposing of Rasputin's corpse in an ice-covered river. Alexandra and Nicholas did everything in their power to punish the men responsible for killing

the man who was one of their closest and most trusted friends. By February of 1917, the snowballing of personal, political, and global issues had collided. And then it got worse for the Romanovs. Their four daughters had contracted measles, and one of them got pneumonia too. They were so sick and so weak that their hair fell out. They and even their little brother Alexei all ended up shaving their heads. Outside the palace walls, the people were starving, and Russian women took to the streets protesting the lack of bread and rations. The war front, though, was the Tsar's top priority. And because of that, the infrastructure of Russia

had crumbled. The protesting women were joined by other workers and soldiers who had deserted the war, and these bread riots, not merely protesting but also looting bakeries for supplies, set off what became known as the Russian Revolution. 100,000 workers went on strike in solidarity with the women. The people were fed up and ready to fight back. They carried signs that simply said, bread or down with the Tsar. The Tsar and Tsarina were more irritated than concerned about these protests. Alexandra wrote to her husband, it's a hooligan movement. Young boys and girls running about and screaming that they have no bread. If it were very cold, they would probably stay indoors. But this will all pass

and quiet down. Meanwhile, the chairman of the Duma sent the first of many telegraphs to Nicholas, which read, the situation is very serious. The capital is in a state of anarchy. The government is paralyzed. Transport service and the supply of food and fuel have become completely disrupted. General discontent is growing. There must be no delay. Any procrastination is tantamount to death. Nicholas did what he had always done, downplayed the situation and ignored the warnings. He told his wife that he'd been sent a lot of nonsense to which I won't even give a reply. It's difficult to even describe just how out of touch Nicholas was. His country was literally crumbling all around him. His people were against him, and he just continued to brush it off.

Police forces were given orders to fire on the protesters, but some chose to side with them instead. Although he didn't know it yet, Nicholas, who was journeying home by train after visiting military headquarters 400 miles away, was no longer in charge of the country, and danger was closing in. The last leg of the trip, a mere 60 miles, took 16 hours, and Nicholas's life was spared only because of loyal guards with big guns. Many people wanted Nicholas dead to show that the Tsar and his rule had been truly toppled. By the time he arrived home, Nicholas finally understood that he needed to listen to his advisors and abdicate the throne, not just for himself,

but for his son too. So on March 15th, 1917, after a day of negotiations, the title of Tsar was handed to Nicholas's brother, Michael. And Michael ruled for a whopping 24 hours before also abdicating the throne over fears for his life. That's when the 300-year Romanov dynasty and the era of the Tsars in Russia ended. Stalin wasn't there to see it himself. He was again in exile in Siberia. The dismantling of the autocracy meant freedom for political exiles, and thus the dethroning of Nicholas enabled Stalin to return and resume his political work. The people had toppled the autocracy and replaced it with a provisional government, but what were they supposed to do with Nicholas and Alexandra and their five children now?

In the spring and summer of 1917, the Romanovs were held prisoners in their home, the Alexander Palace. The family, although they were unable to leave, was able to maintain most of the lifestyle they previously had. But political unrest where they were held meant their lives were in danger, and it wasn't long before they needed to leave. Plans were made supervised by the Prime Minister to evacuate them once their children were recovered enough from the measles to travel. In preparation for their relocation, the family secretly worked to sew as many jewels, religious icons, and money into their clothing as possible. They privately called this arranging the medicines. The family traveled on a train labeled Red Cross Mission in an attempt to disguise the people inside.

They were moved to the unoccupied former governor's house, hidden away with no freedom to even walk outside. The family was so isolated that they didn't even hear the news that radical revolutionaries, the Bolsheviks, had overthrown the recently-seated provisional government. And the Bolsheviks' leader, Vladimir Lenin, had pulled Russia out of World War I. Through the few letters that were smuggled in, they heard that a group loyal to the Tsar was planning a rescue mission. But neither Nicholas nor Alexandra wanted to leave Russia. That single decision would prove to be the worst one they ever made, even counting the many horrible decisions they'd made leading up to that point. That's because some of the letters that were

smuggled in had been intercepted and given to the new official in charge of watching over the Romanovs. He now knew about the plan to get Nicholas and his family out, and he was more than happy to share those plans with enemies of the Romanovs. Others were also catching on that the Romanovs were imprisoned out there. Others were also catching on that the Romanovs were imprisoned out there. That's when military commanders, under the guise of concern for the family, said they had to move the Romanovs farther away from the capital, saying the situation had become too unstable. The family was moved separately, with Nicholas, Alexandra, and Maria traveling to a home in Ekaterinburg where they were kept under close supervision.

The other children and their tutors were left behind to care for Alexei, who was having one of his bleeding incidents at the time. The house in Ekaterinburg was surrounded by a high fence with an imposing gate. To prevent anyone from finding out where they were, the family was literally kept in the dark. The windows were whitewashed over on the outside so that the family couldn't see out and people couldn't see in. The Romanovs were only allowed to use the first floor of the small house, which consisted of fewer than five rooms, nothing even close to the palace that they were used to. When the children on the outside, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Alexei, received letters from their family explaining the severe restrictions they were living under, the girls got to work arranging medicines again, replacing coat buttons with diamonds, sewing jewels into Alexei's underwear waistband,

and hiding as many gems as possible in the girls' underclothing, where they thought these will never be discovered. The girls, along with their tutors and a couple of maids, eventually arrived in Ekaterinburg, where the Romanovs' employees were quickly dismissed by the guards. Despite living on small rations, living in cramped spaces and under guard 24-7, the family was relieved to finally be together under one roof. And the children, especially Anastasia and Maria, won over the hardened guards, and they tried to create a new normal. As the summer of 1918 toiled on while the Romanovs were still in hiding,

Stalin's star was rising along with Lenin's. Stalin traveled around Russia as the enforcer of Lenin's policies by whatever means necessary. Lenin ordered Stalin to travel by train and squelch. Three forces engaged in fighting the Bolsheviks, the Germans, the Cossacks, and the anarchists. Fighting on multiple fronts were Stalin and his execution squads. But it's not like Stalin needed any backup. He was skilled at executing anyone who might possibly be a threat to Lenin's ideas. Talking with various groups wasn't worth his time. Stalin settled matters by silencing those who weren't unequivocally on his side. Meanwhile, the Romanovs remained unaware that the Bolsheviks, ordered by Lenin, were killing off their family members and supporters one by one,

including Nicholas's brother Michael, the one who had been Tsar for one day. That might account for why they didn't think anything was amiss when the last remaining sailor nanny who had been with Alexei since birth was suddenly dismissed from the household. He was later shot. Or when the kitchen boy was sent away. The Romanovs naively held on to the belief that some way, somehow, they would be saved. So when their family doctor was awakened in the middle of the night on July 17, 1918, and told that they needed to relocate again. The family did as they had always done. They layered on the undergarments and clothing

lined with hidden jewels and money. They prepared their things. They filed into the basement as directed. For the Romanovs, the unthinkable was about to happen. In a secret meeting, only weeks before, revolutionaries had decided to kill them all. The man in charge, Yukov Yurovsky, had plotted out the details well in advance. He had a team of about 12 men, all of whom agreed to participate. Those who had balked at killing children were quickly dismissed. Yurovsky ordered the delivery of a large truck, big enough to conceal the corpses of the seven Romanovs, their family doctor, and three family servants who had been permitted to stay with the family. The truck was set to arrive at 1 a.m.

He thought that the sound of an idling engine would mask the sound of gunfire, but the truck was delayed. He told the locals who frequently brought fresh milk, produce, and eggs to the royal family that they required a delivery of 50 eggs the following morning. Yurovsky knew they'd need the food after the big day he had planned. He also arranged for the stockpiling of two chemicals, benzene and sulfuric acid. He assigned each shooter a target. And when the truck arrived, he had the driver back it up to the rear of the home and rev the engine. And then he set to work.

Yurovsky read Nicholas his death warrant, which said, In view of the fact that your relatives continue their offensive against Soviet Russia, the Presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet has decided to sentence you to death. Nicholas was spared a hard death, perhaps in part because so many people wanted to claim that they had killed a former czar. He was shot first in the head. Then in the cramped basement, the murderers fired shot after shot. Alexandra was the next Romanov to die. Alexandra was the next Romanov to die. The children clutched each other and sobbed while they witnessed their family, even their pets, die in front of their eyes. And when the gunfire had stopped, all five Romanov children were somehow still alive.

Somehow, still alive. The jewels sewn into their clothing seemed to have protected them, unknowingly creating a sort of bulletproof vest. So the murderers, who had failed with guns haphazardly fired in a smoky room, and who even with the use of bayonets weren't able to pierce the hearts of the children through the jewels hiding under their clothes, they took up pistols. Alexei was the next to die, like his parents, with a shot to the head. Four quick headshots later, and all of the girls were gone. Anastasia was the last to die. Later reports said she went down screaming and fighting.

Port said she went down screaming and fighting. Yurovsky's head was pounding after the massacre, and he went in search of a cold compress as he directed the rest of his crew to load the bodies into the idling truck. When he returned, he saw that the men had stolen some of the family's belongings. He threatened them with death unless they handed over the jewels and money. And not everything went according to plan after the killings. The truck broke down in the mud, delaying their arrival at the spot Yurovsky had designated the family's final resting place. So the crew waiting for their arrival had ample time to get drunk in advance. In the early dawn hours, a peasant family who was traveling through the forest encountered a bunch of guards on horseback and a truck, and they knew something wasn't right.

An angry man on horseback raced up to the three peasants and told them to turn around, go back home, and under no circumstances should they look behind them. And of course, they did as they were told, but one couldn't resist sneaking a quick peek back over her shoulders. Two guards on horseback galloped towards the terrified family and with guns pointed at them, chased the peasants for at least a mile, threatening instant death if they did not follow orders. With the would-be witnesses chased off, Yurovsky dismissed the drunks and he and two trusted men set to work.

The bodies had to be transported by cart, and in the process of moving them, some of the jewels sewn into their clothing shimmered in the moonlight. Those would be a dead giveaway to the body's identities, so the men removed the clothing from their victims. Later, Yurovsky recounted the precious stones were found to be with Tatyana, Olga, and Anastasia. On Alexandra, there were long strings of pearls and a huge coiled golden ring, or rather a hoop about half a pound. How or who wore this thing seemed strange to me. All these valuables I pulled out here from skillfully prepared brassieres and corsets. There was no less than 18 pounds of diamonds and other precious stones. And those chemicals the killers stockpiled? Well, they used them liberally on the bodies,

first to disfigure, then to dissolve, and finally to burn. The intended grave, a mine shaft, proved to be too shallow for what remained of the victims, so they were hauled to a second shaft. There, they were unceremoniously dumped and remained there, undiscovered, for decades. On the ground not far from the fire pit where they burned the remains were a pile of eggshells left over from the men's lunch break. Initially, official reports said that only former Tsar Nicholas had been killed and that his wife and children had been allowed to move away. The truth trickled out, slowly, which led to widespread, ongoing speculation that some of the children had escaped. And over the coming years, many people would claim to be one of the Romanov children, especially Anastasia and Alexei. Only about 45 of the large and extended Romanov family managed to survive the months-long targeted attack. The rest met unhappy and untimely ends in rather unpleasant ways.

And into this new world of Russian politics, some truly evil men who would do anything to seize power were ready to make their mark. Join me next time as we delve into Lenin the Bolsheviks, and I'll give you a formal introduction to the man who would become known as Joseph Stalin. We'd like to add a special thank you to Dr. Helen Rapoport. Without the massive body of work that she's done over the course of her career on the Romanovs, so much of this information would still be a mystery or infinitely harder to access. She offered her time so graciously to us during the research of this show. I'll see you next time. Thank you for listening to Here's Where It Gets Interesting. I'm your host and executive producer, Sharon McMahon. Our supervising producer is Melanie Buck-Parks. The show is written and researched by Mandy Reed, Amy Watkin, Kari Anton,

Sharon McMahon, and Melanie Buck-Parks. Our audio producer is Craig Thompson. And if you enjoyed this episode, sharing, rating, and subscribing helps podcasters out so much. Thanks again for listening to Here's Where It Gets Interesting, and I'll see you again soon.