Hot History - Romanovs Part 3: The Heir

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

It's any Romanov Tsar's worst nightmare: 10 years on the throne, four daughters, a phantom pregnancy and no heir. NOW we're in the thick of it, guys, looking at the first half of Nicholas and Alexandra's reign, and the dynastic crisis that would plague them AND the Russian people. We're also going to introduce some other key players today, including one Vladimir Lenin!Make sure to check back in next Tuesday because we're about to get into the Rasputin of it all!Shout-out to our incredible researcher Gracie McCamish and editor Jamie Rose for pulling this together.If you're wanting more Hot History you can follow along on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Substack⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ !'Til next week, Ainslie x

Hi guys, today we are picking it up with Nicholas and Alexandra, who at the start of 1895 are really trying to figure out what their first step should be, which in the case of all monarchs is royal baby making. So they get to work straight away, born strong, healthy and a girl was a girl, girl, another baby girl. Now it was time for the coronation. Discontent was stirring, who all decided to strike. However, there was one reason to say. celebrate. Alex and Nicholas's fifth child was born a son. The long-awaited Zaravich, the salvation of the nation, the future of the Romanov dynasty, was brought into the world. But, because this is literally, guys, the story of fucking butts, her long-awaited son had hemophilia, almost like a curse

against monarchy itself. Hi guys, and welcome back to Hot History. Your Corner of the Internet where we cover all the things in history that you probably should know, but don't. I'm Ainsley Harvey, your hot historian here, ready to dive back into our series on the last SARS of Russia, the Romanovs. So this is part three, guys, of our six-part series, and today we are picking it up with Nicholas and Alexandra as new monarchs and newly wedds, who at the start of 1895 are really trying to figure out what their first step should be, which in the case of all monarchs is royal baby making. Now, as we know, kind of tracing the entire rise of the family, right? The line of succession and having an heir is everything. So there was really no time to waste here.

And with Russia already on unstable footing with the transition of power between the death of Nicholas's father and him coming to, you know, were kind of up to their coronation, a royal air would certainly steady the seas, something which for Alex and Nikki was a pleasure to do, after all, guys, like these are their childhood sweethearts. They've been wanting to get it on for fucking years now. So they get to work straight away, announcing their pregnancy in the early months of 1895, which really was welcome news guys, because Nicholas had actually made quite a display when faced with his first political action, dealing with local councils. Set up by his grandfather, the Zemstvoss, as they were called, were essential in running the wider

regions of the empire. And as we already said in prior episodes, while they're power largely lied in aristocratic overlords saying yay or nay to ideas, they were made up of officials who had grown solid reputations and thus influence, which they hoped could lead to greater power if they could appeal to their new young Tsar for some reform on how these councils kind of operated. So, in light of this, a delegation of these various councilmen travelled to the Winter Palace, which, FYI, is the Romanov's home base and office, basically there like Buckingham Palace on January 29, 1895. Stepping into the glistening gates full of hope and, to be honest, excitement at meeting their

new Tsar, these delegates were really keen for productive conversations. But that all went away pretty quickly, when Nicholas made it very clear that, quote, let everyone know that I shall maintain the principles of autocracy as firmly and unflinchingly as did my unforgettable late father. And this is a real defining moment, you guys. And it doesn't feel like it because it's like he's meeting with some councilmen. But up until this moment, the Russian people don't really know what Nicholas stands for. And I think had largely hoped he would be their great reformer following on the works,

you know, that his grandfather, Alexander II, could have done if he wasn't assassinated. But that would not be the case. And it was never really his intention, which, to be honest, even now, guys, after all of the research that I have done, I don't really know what Nicholas actually believed. because he just did his whole life whatever other people told him to do, whether it was his father instilling these principles of autocracy into him from pretty much birth or the influence of his uncles with things like basic things with the wedding, for example. He did as he was told and showed little initiative to learn new ideas and seek alternative methods,

calling these representatives' hopes for greater political participation as, quote, senseless dreams. And FYI, guys, when I say, like, I don't really know what he believed. I do know what he believed because this was drummed into him from such a young age, and we have so many quotes and evidence of what he believed. I'm just saying, like, he never had any real chance to actually ever figure this out. So God knows what he actually could have thought if he'd, you know, picked up a book and done something about it. But he is really emphatic here, guys, with these councilmen,

and while for some, like his uncles and members of the aristocracy, who relied on the Romanov's being absolute autocrats, this was welcome news, a sigh of relief that they could hold on to their money and influence and power for longer. But for others, including these councilmen, it was a shrill ringing of the bell, which would get louder and louder as time passed. Also key to note here, guys,

that with Alexander III dead, a lot of the factions that he'd driven underground. Remember we were saying how he's got the Okrana, kind of like pushing all of these kind of radicals underground. They all start emerging now and are even more radical as a result. So this decision from Nicholas was major and met with a lot of discontent. But still, guys, who can be mad at a newly pregnant young couple? And when only a year after their wedding on November 15, 1895, bought a healthy Romanov baby into the world, a lot of this initial grumbling was kind of silenced. Everyone was truly overjoyed with Nicholas writing, quote, a day I will remember forever. At exactly nine o'clock, a baby's cry was heard

and we all breathed a sigh of relief. For Alex had brought a beautiful, healthy baby into the world. But that sigh of relief? Well, I've got to be honest, guys, it hitched a little, because that baby was a girl named Olga. Now, obviously, and I want to be very clear about this, if you guys come for me in the comments over this, I don't know how many times I'm going to clarify throughout, okay? One, yeah, I'm a girl. Two, I'm not a fucking loser who thinks boys are more valuable than girls.

So I find this rhetoric and this kind of like overwhelming, it's a girl, deeply upsetting and disturbing. Like, who gives a fuck, right? This is a healthy, strong Romanov heir who could be the future empress. But that wasn't the case. For the Romanov throne was ruled by systems of primogeniture, where only the first born son could assume the throne. And then after like every other male heir from all of the other cousins and brothers and siblings and whoever had like been kind of sussed out, then a girl could rule.

So despite having a child, Olga W. wasn't an heir, something which Nicholas's sister, Grand Duchess Senior, summed up the general feeling on, saying, it's a great pity, it's not a son. Which just, I can't even deal it. So fucked up. Anyway, one person, however, who was really overjoyed about Olga's birth was Queen Victoria, who actually met and had a photo with the baby when Nicholas and Alex visited her at Balmoral in Scotland, where Victoria called her the, quote, dear fat, beautiful baby. And FYI, guys, she was really beautiful. All of the children in this saga are genuinely gorgeous and innocent. Okay. I also will not be having nonsense in my comments section saying, oh, those kids deserve it.

They deserve to die. They all should, like, yes, they should have been stabbed more. Like, we're going to get into this more, obviously, in the coming episodes, but spare me the fucking commentary that any child, right? Romanov, like aristocracy, peasantry, anyone that any child deserves to die. If you are going to come into this space with this nonsense, you will be like blocked and deleted, okay? I don't have a single spare second of time for it. Let's be fucking human beings, okay? Of course, there were also other people who were obsessed and super happy with Olga, including her parents with Alex personally breastfeeding her children, which was considered highly unusual at the time. Now, we are going to get to Olga as an adult later. But even as a baby, she was described by those around her as

incredibly strong-willed, with her dark blonde slash chestnut hair and round face, complimenting what contemporaries called big blue expressive eyes, seeming to take on her father's temperament and her grandmother's curiosity, which the imperial couple made detailed notes of in their journals. By the end of 1895 then, Nikki and Alex had grieved the loss of the former Tsar, faced their first political hurdle and become new parents, which, for any like, ordinary person, right, would be a mammoth year. But 1896 went to a whole other level, because now it was time for the coronation. Planned for the end of the official morning period in May 1896, this would be the last Russian imperial coronation the world and history would ever see.

And you best believe, my divas, that it lived up to every single expectation we could possibly have, which, thanks to the Russian History Museum, we can get a firsthand look at. Now, first things first to you guys, okay? The coronation of the Tsars did not take place in St Petersburg. Lots of people think it did. It did not. Rather, it took place in Moscow. The ancient heart of the empire, which is where Nicholas and Alexandra arrived to,

welcomed by streets lined with flags and banners and imperial eagles, with troops who manned the routes while enormous crowds gathered to see the 28-year-old czar and 23-year-old Sarina. As for the formal ceremony, it was a mix of religion and monarchy, when Nicholas was anointed as the ruler whose authority ultimately came from God. So again, guys, we talk about autocracy as this kind of system of soul leadership, right? But when we look at it in the context of monarchy like this, it becomes even more powerful and dangerous and scary, because Nicholas is really seen as being only questionable to God who put him on this earth to rule, or, you know, so he thought. So a very, very big day for Nicholas, who took the imperial crown

which was originally created for Catherine the Great and placed it upon his own head, before placing the smaller imperial crown upon Alexandras, whom he also anointed as empress. This, guys, was all done before members of the Romanov family, foreign royalty, diplomats, aristocrats, senior military officers and Orthodox clergy, with Alexandra struggling to stand up with the weight of the various jewels and regalia and court dress put upon her. So, definitely a grand occasion. As for Nicholas, he too wore the extensive robes and regalia, which included the imperial sceptre containing the enormous all-of diamond, the imperial orb and the imperial mantles and chains of the Russian orders. So if you guys picture Charles and Camillas,

coronation, and then you turn them up about a thousand notches. It's similar to this Romanov coronation, which was just like locks on toast. Something that normally most people would be up in arms about. After all, this was only five years after that terrible famine that we spoke about before with Alexander's reign. And the country's still recovering from this. And while, of course, there were some factions who were really pissed about the coronation being this grand, it wasn't necessarily viewed as just a celebration of Nicholas and Alexandra. It's actually funny, guys. I talk about this now and think back to Charles and Camilla's coronation, like bringing it up. And all of the headlines at that point were also this same kind of rhetoric where it's not about these monarchs

or even the Romanov kind of dynasty in its greatness, but of the greatness of Russia, which many citizens wanted to celebrate in person. Where some see heroes and others see egos. Bloomberg sees the era of billionaire athletes. A fad to some, the future of money to others. We see crypto's trillion dollar swings. The end of jobs or the end of human struggle. We see the endless funds fueling the AI hype.

While others follow the noise, we follow the money. Learn more at Bloomberg.com. Advertising on Spotify with audio and display ads helps brands turn attention into results. Download the 26 performance playbook and discover why Spotify belongs in your media plan. Encouraging this, Nicholas's government made many special considerations for parties and celebrations and commemorations, making ornamental-enamel-coated mugs with the coat of arms, which were to be handed out along with food and other gifts to the Moscow public, who gathered at Kadinka Field to celebrate the coronation,

an event which would turn into a disaster. Organised by Nicholas's uncle, Grand Duke Sergei, 10,000 buckets of mead, 30,000 buckets of beer, and even pop-up theatres and show booths were arranged for the public at Kadinka Field on May 18, 1896, where thousands of people flocked for their freebies and their fun time. But very soon after, rumours began spreading that there weren't enough of these like souvenir mugs to go around, which caused people to rush the front where all of these kind of stands were,

pushing the basically non-existent security out of the way, and literally stepping on top of other people, causing a stampede, which resulted in thousands of individual injuries and the deaths of over 1,300 people. With contemporary accounts estimating the total crowd numbers on May 18th were 400,000 people, which, just for context here, guys, was about half of Moscow's total population, which Vladimir Jankovsky and aide de camp of Duke Sergei all but confirmed, saying, quote, the whole field was thickly covered with people, squeezed into one square kilometre. Another famous report of the incident is from journalist Vladimir Gilarovsky,

who recalled years later in his book saying, you couldn't stir your arm, you couldn't move, with the stampede lasting 10 excruciating minutes. This was, guys, in no uncertain terms, a fucking calamity. Okay? And while Kadinka Field was used for the celebration of past Tsar's coronation, so it's not like a first-time thing,

like they're just trying this location, the planning and the management. of the whole event was disastrous. Some think Grand Duke Sergei tried to instantly hush up, but couldn't. Because the Tsar and Zarina guys, they're in all of their garb, right? They've just kind of come back from the coronation. They have to drive past Kedinka Field to get to their next destination. And when they saw carts of dead and injured people on the side of the road,

they were outraged. With Nicholas writing in his diary, these news had left me a disgustful impression. Now at this point, guys, you are probably thinking, well, this is like, fucked, right? Terrible. And obviously you're so sympathetic for these people, but like there's nothing Nicholas and Alex could really have done to prevent this. And yes, that is largely true. They weren't involved in the logistics and clearly are horrified.

Like, they're having this deeply sympathetic reaction. But this was not reflected in their actions, guys, because they drove past that field to go to a huge ball thrown by the French ambassador that evening in their finest kind of dresses and jewels. Which for the Aussies guys, he's like when Skomo went to Hawaii for like a beach holiday while our bushfires were raging. And I guess for the US is kind of like Trump like putting all of his hate comments on that presidential hall of fame fucking gaudy nonsense while like half the country can't afford their fucking groceries. So in short, it is fucked. Right? And the public outrage for such insensitivity from their new Tsar and Zarina who had kind of abandoned their people in need that were only there to actually celebrate them

in order to go drink and dance and be merry with the fucking French is outrageous. Like, really, guys, the worst PR imaginable? And while Sergey White, the Tsar's finance minister, said that Nicholas left the ball early and Alexandra didn't want to go at all because of how upset they were, They still went. And while, yes, the next day they did first thing go and visit the injured in hospital and spent time with victims' families, even offering quite a lot of financial compensation, the optics for such a young couple so early into their reign were terrible. Again, signaling to the Russian people that this is a bad omen of a cursed rule.

So objectively, guys, not a good start to 1896 and a real blow to what should have been the triumph of the coronation. So what does 1897 bring then? Well, on May 29th in Peterhoff, just outside of St. Petersburg, it brought another baby Romanov into the world. Born strong, healthy and a girl, Tatiana immediately showed a remarkable physical resemblance to her mother, described as a calm and balanced toddler who loved her older sister Olga, with the two becoming known as the big pair. As she grew into a child, Tadiana became practical, responsible and rather direct, even when she was just a little girl, with Count Peter Grab, describing her as, quote, the family's manager and organiser, and possessed more than her sister a highly developed sense

of her position as the daughter of the Tsar. So basically, guys, she would have made an amazing empress, okay? And Tatiana does not nearly get as much like clout as she should for this, because she's dutiful and organized and smart. And again, according to Count Grab, she was also known for her beauty and enjoyed all the attention that this afforded her. Of her birth in early 1897, Nicholas wrote the second bright happy day in our family. Our eldest is very funny with her, which again is true, with the big pair remaining close throughout their whole lives. And I do think, guys, this is really, I don't want to say with the Russian people, because like, not so much, but this is really what Alex and Nikki needed following their marriage and the disaster of the coronation

and a Kandinka field. And it was really a unifying family moment which brought a solid start to the year, which, to be honest, like, this is kind of rare when you look at Nicholson-Alexandra's lives, but this year was pretty uneventful other than Russia holding its first census, recording 125.6 million people across its empire, which helped the Tsar and his government obtain information with the aim of being able to collect and publish the data, regardless of social class or place of residence and kind of, you know, fold, or so they say, fold this data into government decisions, which as like sounds really boring, like census data. But as I was going through the research, this was actually noted and cited by a lot of academics is like one of the

biggest things that Nicholas did and seen as having quite a progressive and positive effect on the nation. So let's move up then, guys, to 1898, where a huge, huge event unfolds, which would ultimately go on to define the rest of Russian history. And that is the establishment of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party, aka the RSDLP, formed on Marxist ideas and built on the back of momentum from prior organizations like the Liberators of Labor in 1883. But the RSDLP was far bigger than anything that ever came before, with its radical wing headed by none other than Vladimir Lenin.

Now, we are going to save most of our Lennon chat for later episodes, but for a bit of history on him up until this point, it's kind of early life, Vladimir Lennon was born into a relatively comfortable, educated middle-class family with his father being a respected educator and his mother coming from a respected family. They were pretty stock standard of the time, with many expecting Lennon to follow in his father's footsteps. However, when his older brother, Alexander, was executed in 1887, for participating in a plot to assassinate Tsar Alexander III,

things changed for Lenin, who became increasingly radical, studying law and immersing himself in the writings of Karl Marx, becoming convinced guys that capitalism and the Russian autocracy had to be overthrown through no other means but revolution. That was it, right? Only through revolution would they get what they wanted, something which saw him arrested in 1895 by Nicholas II's government, where he was imprisoned and exiled to Siberia.

So, this is a man with fire in his belly and Marxist ideology in his head, who winds up working within the RSDLP who held their first Congress in March of 1898, and while at this stage there was only nine men involved in the party, we need to mention it now, because it will grow like fucking poison oak in the coming episodes. Which brings us up to 1899, okay, where other kinds of discontent was stirring beneath the surface, when a massive streamer. student strike erupted in February. Considered the first all-Russia nationwide student strike by academic Yulia Butte, students and police clashed in St. Petersburg after an incident of police brutality, which brought students from all over Russia together to demand human dignity, personal

inviolability, and the rule of law being upheld in all cases. At first, it was relatively small, at least small enough to dismiss. But after a while, the strike grew to 25,000 students strong, And while yes, guys, they were kind of, you know, making the point that police had no right to basically beat people and not directly calling out the Tsar or the aristocracy at large, it was particularly significant because it was many of these young people's first experience engaging in politics, acting as a smooth stepping stone to Marxism and the growing political displays which followed. In response to this, the Tsar convened a conference on higher education policy, looking for ways to wipe out such radical behaviour amongst students, writing a letter saying,

quote, the time has come to reform our entire academic structure. Things can't get worse. Despite his predictions, guys, things could get worse, not just in academic structures, but with Finland. Now, you may be thinking, Diva, what the fuck does Finland have to do with any of this? And it is a good question. So let's do a little smidge of geopolitics here and go back to Tsar Alexander I. who acquired Finland from Sweden in 1809, transforming it into the Grand Duchy of Finland. So it's kind of a part of the wider empire, but it did have a lot of autonomy,

it kind of had its own laws, it had its own parliament and its own systems. But Nicholas didn't like that, almost so. The Russian imperialist general named Nikolai Bobricov didn't like how autonomous Finland had become, as their proximity to St Petersburg posed a threat and directly combated Nicholas's plans for further Russification. So again, we've kind of had this term come up a couple of times throughout this series. Basically, it's just like a big push for Russian nationalism and patriotism and kind of patriotism and culture, right? As such, he wanted to impose greater Russian rule onto the Grand Duchy of Finland, drawing up the February manifesto in 1890, which detailed

this plan, which Nicholas then, of course, signed off on. The result of which saw backlash from the finish, who called the act the first period of oppression. So, not good vibes in the wider reaches of the empire and within the students at its heart. But by June, the vibes within the imperial family were high for yet another Romanoff baby is born on June 14th, and it is another girl. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You see, despite again being healthy and gorgeous, this was three babies in five years and all of them were girls, which started to become a real dynastic concern at this point, with court society increasingly discussing the absence of an air.

It was like everyone's favorite gossip topic, and Alexandra, the poor thing, putting immense pressure on herself to deliver on her responsibility of kind of having this son. So if eyebrows were not raised a little before, like they are full arched now. I'd arch my eyebrows if I didn't have Botox. With everyone looking to the imperial couple's bedroom for certainty on the future of the empire. But still, in all of this, Nicholas stood fast that he was blessed with his girls and reportedly countered those who shared their discontent, saying he was grateful for a healthy

child of God, which is exactly what Maria was, or at least according to her governess Margueretta, who said that she was born good with the smallest trace of original sin possible. Which, just what a fucking strange thing to say about a baby. Anyway, there was no time for resting on the laurels or soaking up this kind of newborn bliss. Because by July of 1899, Nicholas hosted the first Hague peace conference, with 26 countries coming together to discuss international peace through arms limitation. Something the booming industrial revolution had seen increased dramatically. And while the conference didn't achieve general disarmament, it produced important agreements concerning warfare, which went on to establish the permanent court of arbitration.

What good it did with World War I breathing down the neck in like the next 10 years. Anyway, the great irony of this, of course, guys, is that the whole thing was a total contradiction with Nicholas, an absolute monarch who was pursuing Russification and kind of repression on home soil, advocating for international peace initiatives abroad, to which I say, must be nice to be able to experience the duality of man. Imagine a woman doing that, never. Which brings us up to 1900, the dawn of a new century, a new age of great hope, rapid industrialisation, and as it would turn out, the fall of the Romanovs, not that they knew it at the time. So let's guys have a really quick look at what happened in 1900 and how Russia is modernising with the Times.

Now, we spoke about it a little at the top, okay, but the big thing that was introduced as part of the Industrial Revolution in Russia was the Trans-Siberian Railway, which Alexander 3rd kicked off in 1891, and Nicholas continued until its eventual completion in 1916, using the development to link European Russia with Siberia and the Pacific. All of this really with the aim, guys, of strength. Russian economic and military power in Asia. Remember we said in the first episode that Russia bordered Europe and Asia, which was significant guys here from a geopolitical standpoint, but also, as we said, economically. Because Russia had enormous natural resources. Okay, all those diamonds

that the divas are wearing, majority of them are sourced from within the Russian Empire. So there are diamonds and gemstones and a whole other kind of abundance of natural resources, which prior to this railway, they really struggled to export and import. So this is a huge step forward with significant progress being made by 1900. The other key figure in Russia's Industrial Revolution, who were going to talk about in the upcoming episodes, was Sergei White, Nicholas's finance minister from 1892 to 1903, who backed a lot of industrial work from other railways to the development of more metro-style cities and also, guys, introducing the gold standard, making the ruble,

which was the Russian dollar, more attractive and stable for international investors, which saw lots of foreign coin start to circulate in Russia itself. So all moving in the right direction here, but very, very late, with nations like Britain already heavily industrialized, while the great Russian bear was really only taking its first steps. Still, guys, progress is progress. But it didn't always have the desired effect, with the Trans-Siberian Railway and greater access to Asia, leading Russia to get involved in Chinese national conflicts, when Chinese Christians were attacked by anti-foreign and anti-Christian movements within the government, resulting in Russia, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, the United States, Austria, Hungary, and

Italy, all intervening militarily in the Eight-Nation alliance in 1900. So, the fact that like everyone's coming to the ballgame here, we really do see the impact of globalisation as a force that can bring strong defensive actions through alliances like this, but also produce great attentions, which we're going to talk about shortly when it comes to Japan. Another force we need to mention who is really a man, but to say man somehow feels a little less than what he actually would turn out to be, was Vladimir Lenin, whose Siberian exile ended in 1900, an event which saw him abandon Russia for Western Europe, where he became involved in establishing the revolutionary Marxist newspaper Iskra, aka the Spark, which was designed to unite Russian

Marxists and spread revolutionary ideas throughout the Russian Empire, which is a pretty stark contrast to what Nicholas is trying to do in kind of strengthening Russia through industrialization, pushing greater Russification in culture and nationalism, and holding fast on the ideas of autocracy, while Lenin, on the other hand, is building the political organization that would eventually help destroy this. Speaking of Nikki, what is he personally up to in 1900? I mean, we know his policies and what his ministers think, but what's going on in imperial family life? Well, it turns out a great deal of strife and anxiety, because come late 1900, the Tsar is incredibly unwell with typhoid fever while staying in Crimea. And for a period of time, it seemed he was

almost close to death. Now again, we've kind of harped on, okay, about the fact that the imperial couple are really facing dynastic concern with the birth of Maria. But Nicholas was still so, so young at this point. He's only 32. So while there was no direct air, there was absolutely every opportunity that one would arise so long as Nicholas was healthy. So this event being struck down by such a dangerous illness really exposed just how difficult the Romanov's succession problem was and again put even more pressure on the shoulders of poor Alexandra. Speaking of who, guys, I'm a very bad, hot historian and have been yammering about geopolitics and dynastic succession and blah, blah, blah, and zah, zah, zah, so what is Alex up to?

How's she doing in her new role as empress? Well, to be honest, she's kind of struggling, guys. Alexandra as a person is very different from what a normal Russian empress was like, especially Maria Fyodorovna, who was beloved by both the court and the people. But Alex, on the other hand, was painfully shy, and while she loved her time with her husband and her children and her kind of family in their home, she was deeply uncomfortable with large social gatherings, something which, as Empress, unfortunately, happened a lot. This meant that she appeared cold, arrogant or disapproving to guests, which wasn't the case by any means here, guys, but it was the optics of it.

And because of this, she never achieved Maria's popularity within St Petersburg Society, something we're going to talk more about in the next two episodes. But where she struggled in formal public events, she thrived in more private ones, throwing herself into various charitable works, with her particular interests being hospitals, nursing, poor relief and children's welfare, something that would serve her well by the 1910s. She also, of course, accompanied her husband. husband on royal visits and embraced her new religion with fervor. You remember at the top guys

who were saying that she was really nervous about converting from Lutheranism, her kind of home religion to the orthodoxy, but found this deeply rewarding, leaning into her faith as a way to understand her role, adopting the very, very autocratic belief that Nicholas was not merely a political head, but was chosen by God. And as such, so too were her children, who really guys were her number one priority at this point. And I feel like I can say, with a pretty unbiased stance here, that Alexandra was a really good mum in these early days with her first three children, who she absolutely doted on. She kind of fees off the wrong path with Rasputin, which we're going to get to her next episode later on. But at this point, she makes a plethora of time in her day to day to spend

with them. She breastfed her babies, as we said, and really ensured they had privacy and fun. taking them on holidays aboard the standard, the new imperial yacht, which was, guys, nothing short of a floating palace, like where the Brits have Britannia, the Ramanavs had the standard. But still, the anxiety, the pressure, the dynastic responsibility of bearing a son was firmly fixed on her shoulders. And she felt this enormously by 1900, trying to fall pregnant, be a mother, be a wife, an empress, and really still try and figure Russia out.

With its culture, its religion, its language, it's, people, all being very different from what she grew up with. But she still had her constance in all of this. Nikki, of course, her true love and her grandmother, Victoria, who she continued to write to throughout her whole life, including when she fell pregnant yet again by the end of 1900. In this, Alex was hopeful, as was everyone else, and by 1901, things were looking up for the Romanov's, with Alexandra doing everything possible to have a restful and relaxed pregnancy. But a giant blow would be dealt to her in January of this year, when news reached St Petersburg that Queen Victoria had died.

Alexandra broke down instantly, writing that, quote, only an hour before the fatal news I received her last letter, so you can imagine what a shock it was. She continued in letters to her sister, saying, quote, I cannot believe she is really gone, that we shall never see her anymore. It seems impossible, since one can remember she was in our life. and a dearer, kinder soul never was. This, of course, guys, is written, like not as Empress of Russia, but as a granddaughter, and being pregnant with such a high-risk child inside of her,

Alexandra was really devastated because she couldn't attend the funeral, sending her brother-in-law to England, while her and Nicholas held a memorial at the English church in St. Petersburg, where she reportedly wept in quiet for the entire duration. And I do have to say, guys, like, I feel really bad for her. I think it's so hard when we look at the Romanovs really any historical figure, which is why it's important to try not to be parisocial, which I will put my hand up and say, I often fail at, and not feel sympathy for their struggles. I mean, this is a

girl who lost her mother, who was replaced by her grandmother, who was her constant, and is practically being crushed under dynastic pressure while being very pregnant and experiencing this massive loss. Like, I do think you've got to have a pretty cold heart in your chest not to feel sympathy for her as a person and, like, a pregnant woman at that, which of course, yes, it doesn't excuse or mean I don't feel rage at everything she and her husband and kind of everyone in their names did. But I do think we need to humanise people. And I feel badly for her at this point, which only gets worse for in June of 1901 she delivers yet another baby girl. Named Anastasia, the witty and stubborn youngest daughter was described by the son of the

Romanoff's family doctor as, quote, undoubtedly holding the record for punishable deeds in her family, for in naughtiness, she was a true genius. And it's true, guys, Anastasia got up to all sorts of mischief, sharing a bedroom with her older sister Maria, with the pair becoming known as the little pair, and soon becoming a favourite of her grandmother, Maria Fyterovna, who doted on her. She really was the perfect addition to the family with a lively light that drove out the doom after the death of Victoria, with she herself embodying a lot of the spirit of the new century. But we have to be honest to you guys. Again, she wasn't what they were hoping for. And I want to reinforce here. I don't say disappointed or yet again or not what they wanted

because that's what I believe or even because that's that's. That's what Nikki and Alex felt. And honestly, guys, like, I blame this whole fucking mess of primogeniture and patriarchy, because if these divas or any of the other first-born daughters were allowed to rule, maybe things would be different. But they weren't. And the birth of Anastasia really is the next domino to fall here. Being genuinely as significant to the story of the Romanovs as the death of Alexander III.

because with her birth, the dynastic concerns of the imperial family blew completely into a massive, like, you know, a fire engine, like sirens, red flashing lights, crisis, one which would lead to a steep and slippery slope of superstition and sorcerers as one Monsieur Philippe enters the picture. Born in France in 1849, Philippe developed a reputation as a mystic step. spiritual healer and miracle worker, with claims he could diagnose illnesses without conventional examinations, heal through prayer or spiritual intervention, and even predict future events, landing him wealthy aristocratic admirers the world over. In particular, members of the

prolifically superstitious Russian aristocracy. Now, I know we've mentioned this trend of spiritualism amongst the Russian people before, but I just want to hone in here for a minute because it is an essential part of the story that a lot of people struggle to make sense of in the context of these kind of holy men and healers. Because to us now, it all seems batshit, okay? But to the Russians at the time, it was not only a part of normal Orthodox teaching, which always had a kind of powerful mystical traditions, but it was a fashion trend with any party worthy of the name featuring a seance or spiritual figure, especially those hosted by the Black Princesses, Militza and Anastasia, who got their nicknames from the Black

Mountain Region in Montenegro, where they were born, before then marrying into the Romanoff family. Together, they hosted some of the hottest parties in St. Petersburg, which featured one Monsieur Philippe, who they'd bought to the city and introduced to the imperial couple in 1901 after the birth of Anastasia. They met with him while he prayed and conducted spiritual conversations, telling the couple that by the end of the next year, Alexandra would be pregnant with a son. Already deeply religious and feeling totally crushed by this tenastic crisis, Alexandra followed every single word that Philippe said, relying on what he called divine intervention to make her pregnant,

which, by 1902 seemed to have worked. With a swelling belly and tender breasts, the Empress was convinced she was pregnant, calling for Philippe, who told her this was in fact the long-awaited Sarovic. The palace at this point was a hushed up buzz with everyone whispering and preparing for the formal announcement to drop any day. But it never came. For when Alexandra was eventually examined by her doctors, they concluded she'd never been pregnant at all, something which historians chalk up to a phantom pregnancy, although there's no real way to actually diagnose her now. Again, guys,

I just want to say, I feel so bad for her. This is like, so heartbreaking, and while like I don't think this is, but kind of historically, contextually it was, embarrassing for her, with gossip spreading from St Petersburg to Buckingham Palace, about the Empress of Russia believing herself into pregnancy, thanks to the ramblings of a crazy man. It was bad, guys, and with Philippe's credibility shot, his access to the imperial couple was cut off, which, to be fair, Nicholas was busy dealing with all sorts of other dramas inside the empire anyway, so he barely had any time for. by this point. This started late 1901, with major peasant disturbances in part of Ukraine and the

Volga, where the issues of that 1961 emancipation of the serfs, if you guys remember, we spoke about two episodes ago, rearing its head again, because millions of peasants still remained desperately poor and with no land, which, guess what, they didn't get, with Nicholas's government responding with repression to their desperate cries. This was followed in 1902 by Russian workers becoming increasingly militant with the rapid industrialisation across the nation, creating enormous factories filled with workers who are enduring long hours, low wages, and poor housing, who all decided to strike. So, by the end of 1902, guys, there's some serious reputational rehab that the Romanovs need to undertake, to kind of, one, shrug off the dynastic crisis and the fake pregnancy, along with

the discontent and uprising off. When Westjet first took flight in 1996, the vibes were a bit different. People thought denim on denim was peak fashion, inline skates were everywhere, and two out of three women rocked, the Rachel. While those things stayed in the 90s, one thing that hasn't is that fuzzy feeling you get when WestJet welcomes you on board. Here's to WestJetting since 96. Travel back in time with us and actually travel with us at westjet.com slash 30 years.

The working class. So what do they do? What's their strategy? here, right? How are they going to go about this? Because they can't just call up Dainly Mail and be like, hey, come Papshot us and, you know, getting coffees and they'll see that everything's fine. So they decide the best thing to do is to lean in and remind people just how great the original heyday of Imperial rule was by throwing one of the most expensive balls in history. I am, of course, talking about the 1903 Romanoff Ball at the Winter Palace to celebrate 290 years

of Romanoff rule. Now, I am not going to get too deep into the details here because I have actually done a whole episode on the ball, which I'll link in that playlist. But for now, let's just do a really top-line summary of this evening, because while not a domino to fall as such, it is a big, tone-deaf mistake. So, largely regarded as the last great Royal Ball in Europe, the 1903 Romanoff Ball celebrated the crowning of Michael I as the first Romanovs are 290 years earlier. and was really the brainchild of Alexandra, who decided that she wanted to go full method. Okay, honestly?

Guys, I am surprised that Lorroach hasn't invented a time machine and taken himself back to 1903 to cash that check, because she decided this would be a grand costume ball set in the style of 17th century opulence, with all 390 guests expected to dress to impress. So we are not talking about overnight Amazon costume direct deliveries here. We are talking about custom-made, historically accurate couture made by Europe's top designers, with some attendees, including the Tsar, actually wearing original 17th century pieces. The jewels, too, were expected to be authentic, with the guests being expected to shell out huge amounts of cash for their invite, so much so that many of them declined purely out of financial concern

for having to pull together such exorbitant looks. However, when the Empress made it clear this was not optional and offered to grant select guests' access to the Romanov Archives and reportedly even give them some state funds, the RSVP list filled, which was just as well here, because months went into the preparation of this event, with famous artists, organizers and ballet masters hired to put on the show of all shows, which kicked off on February 11, 1903,

when guests came into the Winter Palace in twos to greet the ensue. imperial couple with a traditional Russian bow, followed by a concert in the Hermitage Theatre, where the guests got to watch one Anna Pavlava before. Again, guys, full episode on her is linked in the playlist. The second night, two days later, however, was the real costume ball. And thanks to a photographer being on hand for the Empress's photo album, we have a lot of photos of the guests in their costumes, including Nicholas, who wore his ancestors' original robes and Alex, whose brachet dress was complemented by the huge emerald necklace chosen by the court jeweler Carl Faberier estimated at around 10 million euros today just for the necklace. Of the ball, Vian Voikov,

a member of the Tsar's suite, wrote, quote, the imagination was transported back several centuries. It gave the impression of a living dream. And while it may have been dreamland inside the palace, Outside was a different story, summed up best by Grand Duke Alexander Miklovich, who said this was, quote, the last spectacular ball in the history of the empire. But a new and hostile Russia glared through the large windows of the palace. While we danced, the workers were striking, and the clouds in the far east were hanging dangerously low. With one group in particular, glaring into those windows, with fervor and fury, the Bolsheviks. So we spoke about the Russian, Social Democratic Labor Party or RSDLP when we touched on Lenin. But by 1903, the movement split

at the second Congress of the RSDLP when Lenin butts heads with another party leader named Julius Martov. Now, while both were Marxists who wanted to overthrow Zarrism, they disagreed on what kind of organisation could actually do this. So, on one hand, we have Martoff, who wanted a broader a definition of party membership, allowing people who supported and regularly assisted the party to belong without necessarily kind of working directly inside one of its organizations. But Lenin did not agree. He wanted a highly organized revolutionary party built around committed activists and professional revolutionaries who could make real change through action, not some loose political movement which could be destroyed by the Okrana or abandoned, as we saw with the uprisings

of Nicholas I, the first where the leader just like didn't show up. And this guys is where we really call back to our first episode where we spoke about how the actual power of the Tsars worked. Okay? What autocracy is? Because it isn't necessarily in the strength of their own systems and the strength of their own leaders, but out of the weakness of other groups to act. And actually challenge them. And Lenin saw Martov's vision for the RSDLP as yet another version of this kind of limp-risted effort. So, he split, emerging as leader of the more revolutionary cutthroat Bolshevik faction at the 1903 Congress in London, while Martov led the Mensheviks, who were the slightly more centrist democratic faction. Now, I was initially going to do a whole spiel on communism

at this point, but I want to put a pin in the RSDLP for now and pick it up in the coming episode so I can give it like real air time and kind of contextualize the placing for it to make the most amount of sense because there is a lot of political theory and often exaggeration and also minimization, which is kind of lead to this big misconception about what the fuck it actually is and how the fuck it actually works. So let's put a pin in that and come back to it in coming Epps, which brings us back to our main timeline, where the year is 1904. I will put my hand up and say yes, there has been lots of doom and gloom that we've covered to date, and looking back retrospectively, it's pretty easy for us to go look at this terrible thing and this terrible guy

and this terrible decision, but in the early 1900s, there was also a fair share of good happening. As we mentioned, Alexandra was a huge champion of charity, particularly hospitals which had new grants and developments. The Trans-Siberian Railway is again expanding and the surge of in industries saw developed cities with new opportunities across classes for businesses and work in factories versus fields and agrarian work. Culturally as well, it's key to note that this early 1900 period was arguably a bit of a golden age. We have Tolstoy and Chekhov leading Russian literature, Anna Pavlovar herself at the forefront of theatre and ballet, while art and music were also thriving. Plus, despite being an autocrat who was determined to carry on his father's principles, the

young Tsar and Zarina with their four gorgeous daughters were an attractive media story, with their ties to foreign royalty giving the illusion of almost domesticity in Europe at this time, which certainly helped on the Foreign Affairs Front, with Russia up until this point not being involved in any war in over 25 years. But that was all about to change, for tensions began simmering with the nation of Japan. As we said earlier, with the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia was wanting to expand its territory into Manchuria, an area in China. They also needed ports that could be used year-round as their own ports froze in winter, bringing trade to a standstill. But Russia were not the only ones gunning for Manchuria.

For Japan, too, wanted the territory, and when it was suggested to Nicholas by Russia's Minister of the Interior, that a military victory against Japan would unite the Russian people and kind of win him some popularity, after Alexandra's phantom pregnancy, and the strikes, and the Romanov ball, and all of this nonsense, he jumped at it. Now, despite serving in the military and being very well read, Nicholas was no great military mind and believed this conflict would finish up after a few short weeks with total victory. But he was wrong. For in February, the Japanese attacked Port Arthur, a Russian naval base, and despite having a smaller force, the Japanese defeated them in January. of 1905. This was a huge embarrassment and a massive, massive mistake. For after only a year of fighting,

the resource strain on Russia was immense, with the war effort taking grain, fuel, and working men away from Russia. With the people criticising the Tsar's mishandling of the conflict, something which escalated to a whole other level when the Russian Baltic fleet, the whole fleet guys, were defeated in May of 1905, leaving Russia no choice but to pursue for peace, giving up its leases on territory in the region, including the Lydong Peninsula, which went to Japan, and control of the South Ventura Railway. So a pretty sizable hit for the Russian economy, military and people. However, there was one reason to celebrate, for on the 12th of August 1904,

on a particularly hot Friday at the strike of noon, Alex and Nicolns, Nicholas's fifth child was born, and it was a son. Finally, guys, he is here, the long-awaited Zaravich, the salvation of the nation, the future of the Romanov dynasty, was brought into the world, with a 300-gun salute rattling the furthest corners of St Petersburg to let the Russian people know that their heir had finally arrived. Writing in his diary, Nicholas said it was, quote, an unforgettable and great day on which we received so evident a sign of God's love,

no words are adequate to thank God for the consolation he has bestowed on us in this year of difficult tribulations. And he wasn't wrong, guys. Alexandra had put herself through hell to bring this baby boy into the world. And while largely dismissing Monsieur Philippe, she continued to follow alternative therapies and spiritual advice from the Black princesses and more, which included some occult practices, hypnosis, and visits from various doctors to her private quarters, which, as you can imagine, fueled all sorts of gossip of affairs and treachery. Maria Fyterofner, who we haven't spoken about in a minute, so hi to her, was really suss about all of this. And she is largely a force throughout, who I think is kind of the most plugged

in to what's happening around her, so we're going to keep checking in with her along the way, especially in the next two episodes. And she's really concerned about these rumours. and alternative methods to the point that she wanted these doctors removed from court. But Nicholas refused because of how Adam and Alex had been that these treatments were working, one of which involved taking the waters. Now, if this sounds pretty much like she's just taking a bath or a swim to you, then you're not entirely wrong. But these particular waters at Sarov were believed to be blessed by the revered Russian holy man,

seraphim. Now, this is largely believed to have been a Philippe suggestion, which the imperial couple took very seriously after Alexandra felt convinced that this is the thing that would grant her her son. So the couple visited in July 1903, bathing in the springs, visiting holy sites connected with Serafim and praying fervently for her son, which she got in August of the following year. Everyone was overjoyed, guys. I mean, we've literally spent the last, what, hour talking about how disappointed everyone is when a girl is born, so now that there was this sun, there is a feeling of real solidarity within the

Winter Palace that maybe, just maybe, everything was going to be okay. For just the year prior, Nicholas and Alex had to have a series of deeply painful conversations about who would rule Russia if they couldn't have a son. Would it be Grand Duke Michael Nicholas's brother, who was next in line for the throne, or perhaps another uncle or cousin? There was even a suggestion at one point, which I'm very much in favour of, that Olga succeed her father, though this plan obviously never came to fruition for Alexei was now here. Baptised in the coming weeks at the Orthodox Chapel in Peterhofcourt, everyone was in attendance for the happy day, including King Christian of Denmark, Maria Fidelovna's father,

who was age 87. That's how monumental this day was, okay? Even like the old divas are coming out. with everyone taking a collective sigh of relief, especially Alexandra, who was finally free from the crushing weight of her responsibility as Empress. But because this is literally, guys, the story of fucking butts, despite all of the holy people present and all of the royal family's blessings and all of the waiting, it would not protect the young baby boy from what. what came next. For while Alexei made the impression of a strong and healthy child initially, this was a farce, with the six-week-old baby boy suffering from uncontrolled bleeding from his belly button where his umbilical cord was cut. It wasn't noticed at first, thanks to his tight swaddling

and initially diagnosed as fairly benign, but when the bleeding continued day after day, Alexandra knew her worst fears on earth had been realised. For the Zarevich of Russia, her long-awaited son had hemophilia. The royal disease passed down from Queen Victoria to her descendants, which presents itself in the male offspring, almost like a curse against monarchy itself. This was the next domino to fall. Sending Alexandra on a downward spiral nearing mania, Nicholas on a frenzy for answers and the imperial family into one of the strictest lockdowns in history, with the reality of the Zarevich's condition, now a matter of the utmost national security, kept secret from all, even his own grandmother.

So things are getting crazy, guys, and we are really rapidly approaching fever pitch, which means we're at the end of this episode of Hot History, guys. Thank you so, so much for listening along so far. Like I said, we are absolutely getting into the thick of it now, guys, and it's only getting wilder from here on out. So make sure to come back next. Tuesday for part four, titled the Romanovs of the Fall, where we are dissecting exactly how the family went from this absolute peak to the throes of revolution, featuring the man you've all been

so very patient for, rah-rah, rasputin. If you are looking for some more Hot History before then, though, you can follow us on Instagram and substack at Hot History Club and on YouTube and TikTok at hot.com. As always, guys, it has been a pleasure getting down and dirty in time with you, and I will speak to you all shortly. Thanks guys. Love you. Bye. This episode of Hot History was recorded on Derek Land. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.

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