Two Romanovs for the Price of One (Oldenburg, Part 2)

Some people may find it strange that the best-known dynasty in Russian history was partially (predominantly) German. I mean, it didn't start that way. The original Romanov family was from Russia, but the Danish-German Oldenburg family eventually inherited the throne through a female line and, much like the Habsburgs, kept the name of the older family for tradition's sake. But Russia's sullied past has many similar moments and the story of the House of Romanov, both Russian and German, is a rather interesting one.

Michael and Alexis, Tsars of Russia

The story of the original Romanovs begins with Ivan IV, first Tsar of Russia. His wife, Anastasia, was the daughter of an increasingly prominent politician named Roman and when she was murdered, Ivan IV became Ivan the Terrible as he spread a wave of angry destruction across Russia. Anastasia's son, Feodor, was a sickly and bad king who rivaled with his brother-in-law and various factions of the Romanov family for power. His death in 1605 ended the 700-year-old House of Rurik and prompted an era of civil war in Russia. After an almost complete loss of political power through the first decade of the 17th century, the Russian magnates gave the throne to Michael Romanov who hesitantly took power, using his in-law relationship to Ivan IV as a propaganda tool. It was a successful gambit and the early Romanov rulers were almost university acclaimed by the populace.

Peter I the Great, Tsar of Russia

Yet the old Romanov family was never one to succeed for long. Michael was succeeded by Alexis, who was a wise tsar able spread the borders of Russia far into the east. His one major mistake, however, was being too prolific. Four sons survived him as well as an ambitious daughter. When Alexis died, the five of them struggled and fought over the throne, throwing Russia back into dynastic mayhem. Feodor III came first. His progressive reforms such as removing noble privilege for a meritocracy stagnated Russian politics for centuries. His somewhat expected death in 1682 led to a rare joint-rule by his two brothers, Peter I and Ivan V. Ivan was the legitimate heir but was disfigured and mentally ill, and so Peter ruled with him. Peter I is better known now as Peter the Great, for it is he who expanded Russia's borders to the far east and modernized the state to nearly western European norms. In 1721, Peter declared himself Emperor of All Russia, a title which remained with the family until 1917. Upon Peter's death in 1725, his wife Catherine I ruled since no immediate heir was present to succeed. Catherine's rule maintained Peter's bureaucracy and established the precedent of female rule.

Elizabeth, Tsarina of Russia

Russia's history only gets more muddled after this. In normal succession practice, wives never succeed husbands, yet in Russia this happened twice. Catherine I was succeeded by Peter II, a grandson of Peter the Great by his first wife. In 1727 he succeeded to the throne but he died three years later on the day of his marriage, having accomplished nothing. His distant relative, Anna, daughter of Ivan V, came next. Anna was an intelligent ruler who worked against noble control of the government. But she was bitter and attempted to quiet the happy memory of Peter I by setting up her grandnephew, Ivan VI, to succeed her. Upon Anna's death, though, Ivan was locked up by the legitimized daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth, and died twenty years later in prison. Elizabeth inherited the throne, the last of the original Romanovs. Elizabeth is fondly remembered in Russian history as the one Romanov ruler not to surround herself with German courtiers. Rather ironically, therefore, it was Elizabeth who ensured that the dynasty continued through the line of her German nephew, Peter.

Catherine II the Great, Empress of Russia

Peter III was the first and shortest reigning emperor of the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, which was a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg. He was an unstable and immature ruler who was very pro-Prussian in his political views. In 1745, he married his German cousin, Sophia, who was converted to the Russian Orthodox faith and renamed Catherine. The couple only produced one son, Paul, whom Catherine would later claim was a bastard. At the time of Peter's death six months after his accession, he had succeeded in moving Russia toward a more capitalistic society. Unfortunately, Peter was arrested and murdered under orders of his wife, and Catherine II ascended the throne. Catherine the Great was a non-dynastic ruler who took the Russian Empire and made it into a Great Power in the age of absolutism. From 1762 until 1796 she ruled Russia with the authority of an autocrat, but she also spread the bureaucracy across the whole of Russia, dividing the country up into districts, townships, etc.

 With her death, the Romanov family began its slow decline as a force to be reckoned with. Peter III and Catherine II's son, Paul I, succeeded to the throne finally but his primary goal was to pass legislation to establish succession law. He downsized the military and bureaucracy and, because of that, was assassinated in 1801. Alexander I, his son, succeeded and the Napoleonic Wars came soon after. Although Alexander began his reign by being a reformist, he ended it repealing the majority of those reforms. He mysteriously died in 1825 and was succeeded by his brother, Nicholas I. Nicholas began the persecution of non-Russians and non-Orthodox which would continue into the 1910s. He led successful wars against the Ottomans but died during the Crimean War in 1855. Alexander II, his son, came next and Alexander was again a liberal emperor. His great achievement was the emancipation of the serfs (peasants), which somewhat led to the overthrow of the monarchy two generations later. His assassination in 1881 led to his son's short reactionary reign where Alexander III undid much of his father's progressive reforms. His son, Nicholas II, was likewise against reform, preferring to maintain the autocracy that had been a part of Russian politics since time immortal. Entry into World War I sparked the end of the Romanov dynasty as disenchanted peasants and communists rallied against the state-run tyranny of conscription. Nicholas was finally forced to abdicate the throne in 1917 but even in prison, his family was deemed too dangerous. In 1918, all of them—Nicholas, his wife, and his five children—were murdered by their Bolshevik captors. The Bolsheviks then went throughout Russia, hunting down and killing any Romanovs they could find. Most fled to western Europe where they still live in exile today.

Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his Family

The end of the Romanov dynasty in Russia was a harsh and bitter moment in history. In reality, it paralleled the fate of many Russian monarchs throughout the centuries, but no royal murder has become as well-known. The surviving Romanovs descend from Alexander II or through female lines from Alexander III. Their are two rival lines of pretension: that of Cyril, Grand Duke of Russia, and that of Nicholas, a descendant of Nicholas I. The rivalry is due to different interpretations of succession law regarding unequal marriages (those between royalty and a commoner).