Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
Director: Franklin Schaffner.
Cast: Michael Jayston (Tsar Nicholas), Janet Suzman (Tsarina Alexandra), Tom Baker, Harry Andrews, Jack Hawkins, Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Alexander Knox, Curt Jurgens.
British film about the fate of Russia's last Tsar and his family.
The story follows the lives of Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia beginning with the birth of their hemophiliac son, Alexis. The Tsarina became desperate and brings the Mad Monk Rasputin in to help heal her son. This merely complicates the Tsar's task of fending off revolutionary fever in Russia. The mini-series "The Fall of Eagles" makes the Tsar and his wife very unsympathetic people. But in this movie, concentrating on the problems facing the couple, one does have a certain empathy for them.
Historical forces were so much stronger than anything the monarchists could prevent. Shortly before the start of World War I, who could have known that the world war would prove to be so devastating that it eliminated four monarchies/empires: the Kaiser of Germany, the Tsar of Russia, the Emperor of Austria, and the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire? And given the isolated position of the monarchs, how could they foresee what would happen? If they had any real understanding of the events that were overwhelming, I'm sure they would have been more compromising, but since they could not see into the future, they stubbornly defended their every monarchial privilege and duty.
It was sad to watch the ending of the film. Kaiser Wilhelm was given sanctuary in the Netherlands, but it was claimed by the new Russian governors that no country would receive the Tsar. I really doubt that. Russia broke out into a civil war and the Bolsheviks wanted to eliminate the Tsar and his family to prevent any rallying point for the anti-Bolshevik forces. Dr. Patrick L. Cooney.
Historical Background:
1868, May 18 -- Nicholas Alexandrovich Romanov born to Tsar Alexander III and Empress Marie Fedorovna of Russia.
1894 -- upon the death of his father, Nicholas II becomes Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias. Later in the same month, he marries the unpopular German Princess Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt, the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Britain, a genuine love match rather than a political one.
1895 January -- Nicholas gives a speech in which he, an opponent of the westernization of Russia, denounces the supporters of those who favor democratic reforms.
1899 -- Nicholas was devastated by the early death from tuberculosis of his younger brother Georgy.
1904 -- the start of the Russo-Japanese War when the Japanese Navy launches a surprise attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur. The Tsar had previously made plans to seize Constantinople and expand into Manchuria and Korea.
1905 Jan -- Tsarist troops open fire on a peaceful demonstration of workers in St Petersburg, an event that came to be known as Bloody Sunday.
June, 1905, -- revolt of sailors on the battleship Potemkin. the mutiny spread to other units in the army and navy.
1905 October -- a General Strike forces the Tsar to promise a constitution for the nation.
The son of Nicholas and Alexandra suffered from hemophilia. This allowed them to come under the influence of the alcoholic peasant priest, Rasputin.
1905 -- the Tsarina asked her best friend Anna Vyrubova to to secure
the help of the Rasputin. Rasputin alienated the court and they sought to
get rid of the man. Later conspirators poisoned, shot, stabbed
and threw Rasputin's body into the river.
1906 -- the parliament, the Duma, is dissolved because of its anti-government
majority.
1907 -- Although Germany was ruled by the Tsar's cousin, Kaiser Wilhem II, Nicholas joined Britain and France in forming the Triple Entente.
1911 -- a new wave of worker unrest begins.
1914 -- outbreak of World War I. Russia faces off against Germany.
Russia attacks East Prussia with Königsberg as the goal.
1914 (August 17-September 2) – Germany defeated Russia in a series of battles collectively known as the Second Battle of Tannenberg. Under generals Hindenburg and Ludendorff, the Germans drove the Russians back from East Prussia by victories at Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes.
The German 8th Army's Chief of Operations, Max Hoffmann, made a plan to defeat the Russians: he left a screening force to delay the Russian 1st Army (under General Paul von Rennenkampf) approaching from the east, and set a trap for the Russian 2nd Army (under General Alexander Samsonov) moving up from the south. German General Hermann von Francois let the Russian 2nd Army to advance and then cut them off from their supply route. This led to the almost complete destruction of the 2nd Army near Frogenau with 130,000 soldiers killed and 100,000 captured.
1914 (August 29) -- rather than report the loss of his army to the Czar, Samsonov committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
1916 (December 16) -- Rasputin killed in Youssoupov's Petrograd palace.
1917 Feb -- government troops fire on demonstrators in Petrograd (formally St Petersburg); the troops mutiny the next day; Moscow joins the revolt; Tsar Nicholas abdicates. A provisional government set up under Lvov. Nicholas and his family arrested. They were later moved to the remote Siberian city of Ekaterinburg where the Bolsheviks held the family captive.
1917 July -- a new provisional government in a series of such governments is set up under Kerensky.
1917 Oct -- the Bolsheviks overthrow the Provisional government.
1918 Feb 18 -- the Germans invade Russia which is virtually defenseless as
almost the entire army has deserted.
1918 March -- the Bolsheviks accept the dictated peace of Brest-Litovsk.
1918 July -- Nicholas and his family executed.
Return to Home Page (Vernon Johns Society)