A huge crowd gathers to demand better working conditions.
[Montefiore] This was a peaceful protest, and the idea was that the good Czar, the 'Little Father, ' would smile on them and help them.
That was their dream.
[mother] What does Mirsky say? It's under control.
He called troops to reinforce the garrison.
Alix wants us to leave St.
Petersburg.
You can't.
Alix is at breaking point.
You have no idea how difficult it's been with Alexei.
The people need to see their Czar.
You must stay and accept the petition.
- It's not that simple, Mother.
- You have to be strong.
You need the people behind you.
Nicky you have no choice.
[Alix] All packed.
Cars are ready.
I don't think we should panic.
The army's been alerted.
We'll stay.
Duty, my dear.
In times such as these, the Romanovs have to be strong Your first duty is to your family.
Your children, your heir his safety.
I've heard there are thousands coming.
Thousands of angry peasants and workers.
Why else would the army have been alerted? - All the more reason why you should stay.
- Oh, what? Like sitting targets? [mother] As Czarina, you should be behind the emperor's decisions, - not challenging them - As Czarina, I will protect my children.
[Alix] By all means, stay if you want.
[receding footsteps] [Dr de Orellana] This is not only a mistake for Nicholas, this is a huge missed opportunity.
This would have been an excellent opportunity for him to symbolically play exactly the character that he saw himself as.
The divinely appointed 'Little Father' that listens to the crying pleas of his people.
[Dr Alexandrova] He panics, and he leaves the capital.
He should have stayed, he should have received the protesters, and he should have received the petition.
He basically hides from the situation in another palace.
[Dr de Orellana] Nicholas decides to leave behind the regiment of guards with orders to fire on protesters that get too close to the Winter Palace.
[Dr Alexandrova] The protesters are advancing towards infantry, the infantry hopes that they will stop at the stop line, but they don't.
The crowds keep pushing forward.
[bang] [gunfire] The troops fire a couple of warning shots, and the shots actually hit the kids who are hiding in the trees, starting a horrible carnage.
- [screaming] - [sound of horses' hooves] [bang] [screaming] - [gunfire] - [screams] [screaming and shouting] [Dr de Orellana] The troops start shooting, and at least 1,000 people die.
[bang] 2,000 more are wounded.
This is a disaster, and a very, very visible bloodbath in the streets of St.
Petersburg.
They say the people were cautioned again and again that they were going to shoot.
So they were warned? But they didn't stop.
They say there were thousands running towards the soldiers, that there was no way of knowing if they were armed.
What else are the soldiers meant to do? Of course they had to shoot.
The people.
Apparently, they were singing "God Save the Czar.
" "Apparently.
" Does it say that in the report? [Nicky] They will never forgive me for this.
Look at me.
Look at me.
You've done nothing wrong.
For every 1,000 that march, there are 10,000 that look to you for guidance right now.
Just as I do.
I couldn't have survived the last few months without you, Nicky.
Now it's time to show the people how strong you really are.
[Dr de Orellana] This is a huge turning point in Russian history.
It becomes known as Bloody Sunday.
This is a moment that leads many people to lose faith in autocracy altogether.
People start to talk about the need for an elected, representative government.
What's called in Russian, a "Duma.
" In fact, Bloody Sunday radicalizes a lot of the political body of Russia.
Russia is now cursed with a plethora of terrorist organizations, revolutionary parties, all of whom are using violence and terrorism to destroy society and recreate a new workers' paradise.
And from now on, though no one knew at that moment, you know, politics in Russia would be a fight to the death.
[gun fires] The people spearheading the revolution are not the type of people you might imagine.
These are educated men that are passionate about the cause of overthrowing the monarchy and changing Russia.
They're willing to give their lives.
Men, like Ivan Kalyayev, he's an educated man, he's a published poet.
[footsteps] [Dr de Orellana] They have taken, shall we say, the terrorist-anarchist experience of the previous 20 years to a fine art.
They're assassinating imperial officials all over the country by late 1905, and seriously jeopardizing the imperial administration that relied on these officials.
[match strikes] [fizzing] [rattle of paper] - [Sergei] Rubbish.
- [crumpling] They'll print any crap.
Don't, darling.
You'll make yourself ill.
[wife laughs] [Dr de Orellana] Grand Duke Sergei is very much the greatest nemesis of the revolutionaries.
As governor of Moscow, he has hunted down revolutionary groups.
He's a reactionary, brutal, bloody-minded man.
No wonder revolutionaries want to kill him.
[door clicks] [Sergei grunts] [click] [knocks] [horses' hooves] [fizzing] [sound of carriage wheels] - [fizzing] - [sound of carriage wheels] - [bump] - Fuck! [sound of carriage wheels] - [fizzing] - [kicking] [Sergei shouts] Fuck! [explosion] [wife gasps] [wife whimpers] [wife whimpers] [crying] No, no [gasps] [wife gasps, sobs] I've done my duty! [wife sobs] [struggling sounds] [wife sobs] [door rattles] [mother] Oh, this is dreadful.
After all those years of selfless public service.
Nicky, is there really no way we can get to the funeral? No.
It's not safe.
We have to stay here.
[mother sobs] [Alix sobs] My poor sister.
[Montefiore] Nicky and Alix understood very little what was really happening in the streets.
They lived in what today we'd call a bubble.
Incredibly, Sergei's widow, Ella, actually goes to see Kalyayev in prison.
She's desperate to understand why he's committed this atrocity, which, I think, shows us how out of touch the Romanovs were with public feeling at this time.
[whispers] I want to forgive you.
I don't need your forgiveness.
[Ella] Why him? Why my husband? Remember the ninth of January? Thousands marching to see the Czar, and That wasn't his fault.
Did you really think there'd be no price to pay? He was a good man.
He had blood on his hands.
Like all of you.
I will pray for you.
I don't want your prayers.
Keep them for yourself.
This is just the beginning.
Sergei's death sets off a snowball of indiscriminate violence and revolution.
And in fact, the whole Russian Empire now starts to sort of unravel.
Huge swathes of it start to fall out of the Czar's control.
Nicholas says to his Minister of the Interior, "You're talking as if this is a revolution.
" And the minister says, "Your Imperial Majesty, this is revolution.
" [ship's horn blasts] [Dr de Orellana] As Russia slips out of Nicholas' control, the war in the Far East is going from bad to worse.
They've lost on the ground, and when the Baltic fleet finally finishes its epic journey around the world, to meet the Japanese fleet, it is defeated in only 40 minutes at the battle of the Tsushima Straits.
[sound of ships' engines and steam] [explosions] [Montefiore] This is a terrible moment for Nicky.
Russia is totally humiliated.
Nothing drives revolution like political and military defeat.
[general] Riots, and strikes.
Schools and factories shut.
Disorder, bloodshed This cannot go on, sir.
We need military dictatorship.
No! Give the people the government they're asking for.