Messages

16

The Final Chapter / Re: People Being 'Horrified' by OTMAA's Murders?

« on: April 08, 2018, 11:49:10 PM »

I have reproduced clippings from the New York Times from August, 1918 that devotes a large multi-page article w/family photographs to the death of the IF. I believe the front page headline read; “Apparent Death Of Tsar & His Family” or “Apparent Death of the Russian Imperial Family”, or something to that effect. I’ll have to dig it up for another look.

The generally tone of the article was one of restrained shock & outrage. Perhaps because the details were sketchy and because the Tsarist rule in Russia was viewed skeptically by many Americans (especially in New York).

17

Having Fun! / Re: Coloured Pictures XXXVII

« on: March 20, 2018, 10:24:29 PM »

Stunning as always. Great work ladies! I always can count on you to (literally) brighten things up by posting a few more of your lovely colorisations every time I make it back here for a visit :-)

18

Having Fun! / Re: If Disney made a movie about OTMA...?

« on: March 20, 2018, 10:21:02 PM »

If animated than yes, I agree. If live action however the final scene could be dissolved into a series of flashbacks that reflected on happier times for the family.

Or you simply elect to focus on a chapter of their lives rather than the full scope of their existence. Maybe something that begins with the birth of Alexei (such as was done in the 1971 film) and ending with their nursing activities and father’s abdication.

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Anastasia Nicholaievna / Re: Anastasia Pictures V

« on: March 02, 2018, 09:16:25 PM »

I’m not sure I ever knew of Anastasia diphtheria either. Do we know what year and month/s the illness would have occurred and who the source of this is?

I always find it interesting how the imperial family seem to be able to downplay most of their stints with illness. You hear little to nothing about what are sometimes fairly serious illnesses in letters or diary entries yet they seemed rather common. Of course some of this cageyness or reluctance to speak of their illness makes sense given Alexei’s grave condition. I suppose the Romanov were trained at lying about health as a subject.

20

Maria Nicholaievna / Re: Maria's Tonsil Operation

« on: December 28, 2017, 10:57:31 PM »

why did she need her tonsils removed anyway? Did she have tonsillitis during that time?

Well, I'm no medical expert, but that's usually the reason they remove tonsils. 

But wouldn't have Alexandra mentioned it somewhere that Maria had tonsillitis; if she wrote in letters to Nicholas and in her diary about the girls on M. Becker I'm pretty sure she would have mentioned this but I can't find her writing about it anywhere.

Possible she decided to omit it from her diaries & correspondence on account of it being a somewhat traumatic episode for her daughter. Maria is said to have hemorrhaged during the procedure, yes? And we know Nicholas seemed to have a fear of dental work on his own teeth. Perhaps this was an episode the family was simply happy to forget about.

21

Anastasia Nicholaievna / Re: Anastasia Pictures V

« on: December 28, 2017, 10:53:59 PM »

Great find Ally! Any way of knowing whether this was part of a full session of photos?

Around 1905 I’m guessing?

22

Tatiana Nicholaievna / Re: Fake Tatiana

« on: December 02, 2017, 12:20:40 PM »

She bears some passing resemblance in my opinion...particular that second photo.

Certainly more than most of the Romanov impostor claims.

23

Having Fun! / Re: Want to have fun explaining/writing OTMAA's personalities? Come one and all!

« on: November 17, 2017, 05:51:18 PM »

Perfect depictions there Sophie. I’m trying to think of something else that would offer a similar experience but nothing really comes to mind. Perhaps something futuristic to them, like television?

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Having Fun! / Re: Coloured Pictures XXXVII

« on: November 17, 2017, 05:11:34 PM »

Wonderful Ally! Just look at those two!

25

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: Just a Few Thoughts on King & Wilson's FOTR

« on: October 30, 2017, 12:38:25 AM »

We have a tendency to magnify the murder of the Imperial Family but unfortunately it was a side note to the social & political struggles of the era and treated as a footnote by many early historians.

Had the Russian Revolution been an isolated incident, and merely an important chapter in the greater conflict that was the First World War I believe the response from other countries might have been differently. Certainly their interests in the outcome of a revolt followed by a toppling of the Tsarist regime followed by a protracted civil war might have been different. Not forced to allocate resources in the defense of their own societies would have afforded them the ability to intervene in a way that was not plausible to do so because of the Great War.

That to me is the difference between what the attitudes of foreign leaders might have been had a full scale revolution broken out in the wake of Russia's relatively small misadventure against the Japanese and their calamity against the Germans-Austrians a decade+ later.

One other thing. While the socialist revolutionary forces were hardly a united front in 1917, twelve years earlier it seems far less likely to me that popular support for the radicals could have been strong enough to topple the autocracy (or at least in keeping it from being quickly restored). Martov and the Mensheviks would have played a far more prominent role in 1905 and their brand of politics were much less radical & violent then the Bolsheviks. The average Russian subject likely would not have been as desperate for change and as accepting of a socialist government takeover as they were by 1917.

26

Books about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: Just a Few Thoughts on King & Wilson's FOTR

« on: October 07, 2017, 11:07:30 PM »

Is it also reasonable to assume however that a more successful 1905 uprising would have forced more serious reform measures from Nicholas and his government?

We are used to learning that events of 1994/05 were a dress reversal for the calamities of 1916/17. That the competitively smaller war with Japan and limited uprising by Gapon and his supporters presaged World War I and Russian revolution a dozen or so years later.

But would supportive monarchies in Germany, Austria and England essentially coming to the rescue of Tsarism in Russia spur on bitter revolutionary uprisings within their own borders? Instead of fighting each in a world war would they have spent the next decade+ submerged in Civil War at home?

Certainly monarchical governments would have had more support from their respective populations in 1905 than they had by 1917...and the draining effects of War World I - which as James points out likely would not have happened - was the main reason for that decline in support. But as the Nazi party proved in 1930s Germany and the Bolsheviks proved in 1910s Russia a noisy and violent minority can capsize a government that is already unstable or disorganised. Puppet states governed by figureheads and faux democracies along with longstanding but brittle monarchies, where the "subjects" themselves have little to no skin in the game, seem especially susceptible to this.

27

Olga Nicholaievna / Re: Olga Photographs IV

« on: September 30, 2017, 12:00:15 PM »

Possibly the best photo find in a couple of years or more! Thanks so much for posting Ally!

28

Films and TV shows about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: Anastasia: Once Upon a Time

« on: September 08, 2017, 01:42:47 PM »

I was thinking that the original story/script was composed in 1988 which might explain why they're using that year. Or because it's prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Otherwise the only thing that would make sense to me was if they chose to show an elderly Anastasia not long before her death. She would have been 87 in 1988.

Nope, they're just setting it in the 1988 and 1917 Anastasia steps into a portal that spits her out in 1988's America.

Very strange then.

Not sure what's worse...1917/18 Russia or 1980s America :-)

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Films and TV shows about the Romanovs and Imperial Russia / Re: Anastasia: Once Upon a Time

« on: September 07, 2017, 08:59:04 PM »

I was thinking that the original story/script was composed in 1988 which might explain why they're using that year. Or because it's prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Otherwise the only thing that would make sense to me was if they chose to show an elderly Anastasia not long before her death. She would have been 87 in 1988.

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Maria Nicholaievna / Re: Maria Started My Interest

« on: September 05, 2017, 09:08:08 PM »

Adam you're story is not all that dissimilar to mine, albeit several years later. I gather it's quite common with many others coming of age in an era of internet/online encyclopedias. Maria was not my first point of contact, but she's certainly become one of the most enduring figures & faces of the saga.