Romanov Execution
During the Russian Revolution in November 1917, radical socialist Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, seized power in Russia from a provisional government, establishing the world’s first communist state.
The imperial family was sent to live under house arrest in Siberia. In April and May 1918, members of the Romanov family were relocated to Ipatiev House—a merchant’s house in Yekaterinburg.
After the revolution, civil war between the Bolshevik “Red” army and the anti-Bolshevik “White” Russian forces broke out in June. By July, the White army was advancing on Yekaterinburg.
Local authorities were ordered to prevent a rescue of the Romanovs by the White army, and after a secret meeting of the Yekaterinburg Soviet, the imperial family was sentenced to death.
On the night of July 16, 1918, the family was ordered to dress and go down to the cellar of the Ipatiev House where they were lined up as if posing for a family photograph. Then, the entire Romanov family was executed by firing squad and bayoneted to death by Bolshevik troops.