- [gates rattle] - [crowd screams] [bang] [whistle blows] [wheels rattle on sleepers] We've had no news for six hours.
Will somebody please tell me what's going on with my family? [distant sounds of unrest] [man clears throat] How is he? The guards did their best.
[Mr.
Gilliard] He bled to death in the lobby.
[Alix] Er.
.
Er I, uh I need to telegram Nicky.
He needs to tell me what to do.
[quick footsteps] A revolutionary gang has captured the railway line ahead.
How far are we from Petrograd? We're 60 miles.
But it's no use.
They've commandeered machine guns.
Then find another route! [angry shouting] [Dr de Orellana] One of the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison assassinates an officer that had slapped him the day before during the protests, and the entire regiment joins the protest.
The next day, they tie red ribbons around their rifles.
Suddenly, the military has joined the revolution.
[angry shouting] Nicholas has long relied on military force to keep his empire together.
He has just lost the military.
[angry shouting] [distant sounds of unrest continue] [door clicks] Mama, the taps aren't working.
There's no water.
The electricity is off too.
Well, then we will use candles.
There's no need to be afraid.
Everything is in the hands of God.
And tomorrow, your father will be back.
[child] Mama? [Mr.
Gilliard] Your Highness, the soldiers are leaving.
[Alix] My own Marine Guard.
I don't believe it.
[shouts] And where the hell is Nicky? Why hasn't he replied? [gasps] If the entire Marine Guard has deserted, then who is protecting my family? Telegram the President of the Duma.
Tell him he can have whatever he wants.
Sir.
[Montefiore] Nicholas offers concessions, he offers to make a representative government, give the Duma much more control, but it's way too late by this point.
[wind howling] [Dr de Orellana] None of the forces that were destroying the monarchy were stoppable.
The war could not have been won overnight, major grievances like food shortages, employment could not be resolved.
There was nothing at this point that Nicholas could truly do to repair the political situation.
[angry shouting] [whistle blowing] [steam hissing] [general] Your Highness.
Petrograd is lost.
Any further troops we send will only mutiny.
So, what do you want me to do? [general] You must renounce the throne in favor of your son, Alexei.
With your brother Michael as regent.
This is the unanimous decision of all your generals, as well as the Admiral of the Baltic Fleet and Grand Duke Nicholas.
Nikolasha It is, sir, the only choice you have left.
Telegram the generals.
Tell them that as a duty of conscience for our people, I have decided to renounce the throne of the Russian Empire.
In favor of your son, sir? Sir? My son has a condition.
Hemophilia.
He may only have a few years left.
So, surely, we have a right to keep him for ourselves.
Yes, sir.
I will renounce the throne in both my name and his.
My son will live with his family.
All of us.
Together.
[general] Your Highness.
[catches breath] [sighs] No.
Nicky.
[catches breath] [sighs] [Dr Alexandrova] Nicholas' abdication is one of the most important moments in the twentieth century.
With just one stroke of the pen, he eliminates 300 years of Romanovs' rule.
This event sends shockwaves throughout the world.
[Dr Antonova] He ends the last full autocracy in Europe.
He has a huge effect on the outcome of World War I, but he also brings about instability in Russia that ultimately leads to a revolution.
[Prof Fedyashin] One feels sympathy for Nicholas, but he brings everything upon himself, ultimately.
It's his cascade of catastrophic decisions that ends up culminating with the loss of an empire.
[man shouts] He's abdicated! He's abdicated! It's true.
It's actually happened.
I'm going home, back to Ekaterinberg.
To a war we can win.
[hissing of steam] You didn't have to come all the way here.
I'll be fine.
Oh, this is so humiliating.
Kept here under armed guard, like a criminal.
They're taking me to the palace, Mother.
It's hardly Napoleon's exile to Saint Helena.
Will you go back to Kiev? Yes, but Russia is no longer safe for you.
Promise me, Nicholas.
You'll get the family out as soon as you can.
I was thinking the retreat in Livadia.
I like the flowers there.
No! No! Another country! England, perhaps.
Speak to cousin George.
[Nicholas] I'm going home, Mama.
[Mother] Then God protect you.
Heaven knowswhen we shall meet again.
[gentle knocking] Where is Mama? She's talking to your sisters.
She asked me to speak toyou.
Your father doesn't want to be Czar anymore.
[Alexei] Why? It's complicated.
He's trying to do his best for everyone.
[Alexei] Am I going to be Czar then? No.
But if there isn't a Czar, who is going to rule Russia? [Dr de Orellana] Nicholas abdicates in favor of his brother Michael, who is only Emperor for less than one day.
[Dr Hetherington] His brother realizes that this is absolutely a poison chalice, he wants no part of this whatsoever.
So, he turns down the throne and once that happens it's clear that Russia no longer has a Czar.
Russia had gone from one-man rule to political chaos.
The Czar doesn't really understand what's happening around the country.
He doesn't understand the revolution.
And he seems to be in denial about the situation.
And that is why neither Nicholas nor his family leave the country.
[sniffs] [Nicholas] I'm sorry.
You are more precious to me as my husband than as Czar.
[laughs] [bump] [Nicholas] Oh, my boy.
[sobs] I'm so sorry.
[Nicholas sniffs, sighs] [Prof McMeekin] Russia's political condition in the weeks after the abdication of the Czar is sometimes referred to as dvoyevlastiye, which means 'dual power'.
[Dr de Orellana] Now, we have got two main bodies competing for legitimacy on power in Petrograd.
We have got the Duma.
On the other hand, we have got the far more radical and deeply revolutionary Petrograd Soviet.
[Dr Antonova] Neither of them is powerful enough to outmaneuver the other, so they join together and create the provisional government, a temporary government, that's meant to just hold things together, hold the war effort together until something more permanent can be decided on.
[Montefiore] The real dynamo, the real energy in this new Provisional Government is Alexander Kerensky.
He's a member of the Soviet and the Duma.
[Dr Antonova] He's a socialist revolutionary, but he's also worked with the Duma, and so he's trusted to a degree by both sides.
[Prof Fedyashin] It is ironic that a man who had called for the overthrow of the Czar several weeks earlier is now in charge of keeping the royal family safe.
Hello.
I'm the "medieval regime.
" Shall we take a walk? I assure you, you can have complete confidence in the Provisional Government to keep you and your family safe.
But there are rules.
The telephone line has been cut.
Any communication must be via my office.
Your belongings your belongings will be searched.
And like all public servants, you will survive on a ration for food.
So, my home is a prison.
Am I allowed outside to exercise? [Montefiore] At first, it looks like Alexander Kerensky is the ultimate radical hostile to the family.
But gradually, as he begins to take charge of them, they realize that actually he's rather sympathetic to them.
He becomes almost fond of them.