On July 16, 1918, in the crowded basement of a former imperial mansion, one of the most unjust and tragic events in the history of Russia. The Romanov line, which ruled Russia for over 300 years, has come to an end. Lenin and the Bolsheviks took power in October 1917 after the popularity of Tsar Nicholas II had declined sharply, forcing the Romanovs into exile in Yekaterinburg. The radicals took it upon themselves to murder the entire family without trial or orders from Lenin and the Bolshevik high command. Tsar Nicholas II [body paragraph 1] Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov was the last emperor and autocrat of all the Russias. Eldest son of Alexander III, he was born on May 18, 1868 in Tsarskoye Solo, Russia (Nicolas II). Nicholas received his education through a network of private tutors who taught him many languages, including very good English. One of these tutors and the most influential was a renowned university professor named Konstantin Pobedonostsev (Nicholas II). Pobedonostsev is known for teaching Nicholas that the Romanov family ruled as "agents of God" and that the unlimited powers of a tsar could never be relinquished without throwing away a valuable and ancient part of Russian tradition (Nicholas II ). Nicholas spent many happy years as a young military commander in the Imperial Guard, a position he hoped to hold for a long time. During these years, Princess Alix of Germany agreed to be his wife. Just when everything seemed to be going perfectly for the young man, tragedy struck. Alexander III suddenly fell ill with kidney disease and died just days before his son's wedding. That left a grieving 26-year-old to take charge of the largest ...... middle of paper ......t Yekaterinburg). The real corpses of the Romanovs were not found until 1991. The murder of the Romanovs will forever remain one of the darkest parts of Russian history. Nicholas II was known to all as a kind and extremely well-mannered man who, although too weak to rule a country, did not deserve such a horrible death. As for his wife and children, it is truly disgusting that they were murdered for no other fault than being married/born into the Romanov line. Russia lost much of its culture the day the Romanovs died; the family that had ruled for more than three centuries disappeared, leaving no heirs. In an act of national repentance, a memorial service was held in honor of the tsar and his family in 1998 in St. Petersburg. The Russian Orthodox Church recognizes Nicholas and his family as holy martyrs and they are buried in the magnificent Peter and Paul Cathedral..