The HORRORS Of Tsar Nicholas II's Opened Grave

[00:00:00]For more than 70 years, one of history's greatest mysteries surrounded the fate of Tsar Nicholas II and his family.

[00:00:07]After the last emperor of Russia, his wife, their five children, and four loyal servants were murdered during the Russian Revolution in 1918, nobody outside a small group of Bolsheviks knew exactly where they had been buried.

[00:00:21]The killers had gone to extraordinary lengths to hide the bodies, hoping that no grave would ever become a place of pilgrimage for supporters of the old Russian Empire. Instead, the secret burials created decades of rumors, conspiracy theories, and false claims that some members of the family had escaped. It was only after the collapse of the Soviet Union that archaeologists were finally able to excavate the ground and use modern science to answer one of the 20th century's greatest historical mysteries.

[00:00:52]Nicholas II became emperor of Russia in 1894 after the death of his father, Tsar Alexander III. He ruled over the largest empire in the world, stretching from Eastern Europe across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. Although Nicholas believed deeply in the divine rights of kings, Russia was changing rapidly.

[00:01:13]Industrialization, poverty, political unrest, and growing demands for reform placed enormous pressure on his government. His decision to lead Russia into the First World War only made matters worse. Military defeats, food shortages, and economic collapse destroyed public confidence in the monarchy. In the March of 1917, Nicholas II was forced to abdicate during the Russian Revolution. This ended more than 300 years of Romanov rule over Russia. Nicholas had hoped that his family might eventually be allowed to leave the country, perhaps for Britain, where King George V was his first cousin. However, political circumstances changed quickly. The family remained under guard as Russia descended into civil war between the Bolsheviks and their enemies.

[00:02:02]By the spring of 1918, Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and the young son Alexei had been moved into the Ipatiev House in the city of Yekaterinburg.

[00:02:16]They were joined by four loyal servants who had chosen to remain with them despite the danger.

[00:02:22]Conditions became increasingly strict.

[00:02:24]Windows were painted over, guards closely watched every movement, and the family had little idea about what their future would hold. During the night of the 16th to the 17th of July, 1918, the family's imprisonment came to a violent end. They were ordered into the basement of the house under the false claim that they needed to be moved because fighting was approaching the city. Instead, a Bolshevik execution squad entered the room, read out a brief statement declaring that the former Tsar had been sentenced to death, and moments later, the executioners opened fire. The small basement quickly filled with smoke, confusion, and panic. The execution did not go as smoothly as the killers had expected. Some bullets ricocheted from jewels that had been sewn into the clothing of the Grand Duchess for safekeeping.

[00:03:16]Several victims survived the initial gunfire and had to be killed with additional shots or bayonets. The horrific scene lasted far longer than the executioners had planned. Once everyone was dead, the bodies were loaded onto a truck and driven away under cover of darkness. The Bolsheviks knew they had to carry out an act that could become The Bolsheviks knew they had carried out an act that could become politically dangerous if the burial place was ever discovered. They therefore decided to hide every trace of the crime. The bodies were taken into the woodlands outside Yekaterinburg, and the executioners stripped them of valuable jewelry and clothing hoping to remove anything that could identify them.

[00:04:00]Sulfuric acid was poured over several of the bodies in an attempt to damage facial features and clothing. Some items were burned and the killers repeatedly changed their plans as they struggled to dispose of the corpses. Eventually most of the victims were buried together in a shallow grave while two bodies were buried separately nearby after further attempt to destroy them.

[00:04:21]For decades afterwards the Soviet government refused to reveal what had happened. Official accounts were often vague or deliberately misleading. The location of the grave remained one of the Soviet Union's best kept secrets.

[00:04:34]Without a known burial place rumors flourished. The greatest mystery centered on the children because the grave had never been found many people believed that one or more members of the Imperial family had somehow escaped and the most famous legend involved the youngest daughter Anastasia. Over the years numerous women claimed to be the surviving Grand Duchess arguing that they had escaped the massacre.

[00:04:59]The best known was Anna Anderson whose story attracted worldwide attention for decades. Books, films and newspaper articles helped keep the mystery alive even though historians increasingly doubted her claims. The truth only began to emerge in 1979.

[00:05:16]Two amateur researchers Alexandra Avdonin and Gely Ryabov used historical documents and the memoirs of one of the executioners to locate what they believed was the burial site in the forest of Yekaterinburg.

[00:05:30]They quietly confirmed the discovery but realized the Soviet authorities were unlikely to allow a proper investigation. Fearing political consequences they kept the location a secret. And then everything changed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

[00:05:47]For the first time, Russian authorities officially permitted archaeologists and forensic experts to excavate the grave.

[00:05:54]When the excavation began, investigators uncovered the skeletons of nine people.

[00:06:00]Historical records suggested there should have been 11 victims altogether.

[00:06:05]The discovery immediately raised new questions. Had two members of the family escaped after all? Or had they simply been buried elsewhere? The excavation itself was carried out with great care.

[00:06:17]Every bone, button, fragment of clothing, and personal object was carefully recorded and examined.

[00:06:23]Archaeologists wanted to preserve as much evidence as possible before the remains were transferred to forensic laboratories. Scientists began by studying the skeletons themselves. They estimated each person's age, height, and sex whilst also examining evidence of injuries.

[00:06:40]Many of the skeletons displayed gunshot wounds consistent with the execution described by witnesses.

[00:06:47]Some also showed damage caused by bayonets. The evidence closely matched written accounts left by members of the execution squad. However, physical examination alone could not prove that the skeletons belonged to Nicholas II and his family. The real breakthrough came through DNA analysis. During the early 1990s, DNA testing still a relatively new tool in historical investigations, but it offered an unprecedented opportunity to identify the dead.

[00:07:15]Scientists compared genetic material taken from the skeletons with DNA from living relatives of the Romanov family.

[00:07:23]One of the most important volunteers was Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh.

[00:07:28]Through his mother's family, he was directly related to Empress Alexandra.

[00:07:33]His mitochondrial DNA matched that that found in the remains believed to belong to Alexandra and her children. Other tests compared DNA from descendants of Nicholas II's relatives. Together, the results proved extremely strong scientific evidence that the skeletons really were those of the last Russian Imperial family. The investigation also explained why only nine skeletons had initially been found. Historical records written by the executioners suggested that two bodies had been removed from the main grave after the original burial plans changed, and researchers therefore continued searching the surrounding woodland. In 2007, archaeologists finally located a second burial site only a short distance from the first. The grave contained burned bones, fragments, and teeth belonging to two young people. Once again, DNA testing provided the answer. The remains belonged to Tsarevich Alexei and one of his sisters. Later analysis strongly supports the conclusion that the second body was Grand Duchess Maria.

[00:08:38]The discovery finally ended one of history's longest-running royal mysteries. Every member of Nicholas II's immediate family had been accounted for.

[00:08:48]Although the scientific evidence was overwhelming, not everyone accepted the findings immediately. The Russian Orthodox Church questioned aspects of the investigation and called for additional studies before fully recognizing the remains. Because Nicholas II and his family had been declared saints by the church, absolute certainty was considered essential. As a result, further examinations took place in the following years. Additional DNA testing, including new analysis carried out in 2015, once again confirming the earlier conclusions. Independent scientific teams continued to reach the same result. The remains belonged to Nicholas II, Alexandra, their five children, and their loyal servants. And long before these final tests, however, Russia had already begun to restore the family's place in its national history. In 1998, 80 years after their deaths, Nicholas II, Alexandra, three of their daughters, and four loyal servants were reburied with full state honors in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, the traditional burial place of Russia's emperors. Thousands of people attended the ceremony, whilst millions more watched it on the television. The funeral represented not only the burial of family, but also one of the darkest chapters in Russian history. The remains of Alexei and Maria were discovered later and have not yet been buried alongside the others because discussions involving the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian state have continued regarding their final internment. Today, historians no longer debate whether the Romanovs escaped.

[00:10:23]Modern archaeology, forensic anthropology, and DNA analysis have proved answers that earlier generations could only dream of obtaining. The excavation of the grave transformed a mystery that had fueled countless books, films, and conspiracy theories into one of the best documented forensic investigations ever undertaken.

[00:10:43]The grave of Tsar Nicholas II was dug up because historians wanted to establish the truth about the fate of Russia's last imperial family. Those excavations allowed archaeologists to recover the hidden remains, enable scientists to identify them using some of the most advanced forensic techniques available, and finally disproved decades of rumors that members of the Romanov family had survived. More than 70 years after they were murdered in a cellar in Yekaterinburg.

[00:11:13]Nicholas II, his family, and the royal servants were finally identified, honored, and restored to their rightful place in history. Thank you for watching, and if you enjoyed this video, please make sure to like and subscribe. And once again, thank you so much for watching.