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Why Nicholas II did not cancel the coronation celebrations after the mass death of people
Why Nicholas II did not cancel the coronation celebrations after the mass death of people

Video: Why Nicholas II did not cancel the coronation celebrations after the mass death of people

Video: Why Nicholas II did not cancel the coronation celebrations after the mass death of people
Video: Кузнецов – война и Фантастические твари / Kuznetsov – Fantastic Beasts and war - YouTube 2024, March
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The coronation day of the last emperor went down in the history of the Russian State not only with the accession to the throne of the new tsar, but also as the day of one of the most terrible events, when more than a thousand people died in a stampede at a festivities in a few hours. And after that, the coronation celebrations were not even canceled, and the indifference of Nicholas II seemed truly cynical. What made him continue celebrating?

Large-scale promenade that led to the tragedy

Nicholas II and his wife after the coronation
Nicholas II and his wife after the coronation

Preparations were made for the coronation celebrations with all seriousness. Numerous guests were invited to Moscow, representatives of royal families from different countries. Each of them demanded special attention, a high meeting and appropriate accommodation status. The ceremony itself was scheduled step by step: who follows whom, how he participates in rituals. And all this was supposed to be correlated with traditions and carried out at the highest level.

Separately, according to tradition, mass festivities were organized, where gift sets were handed out, and you could also treat yourself to beer and honey. About 400 thousand gifts were prepared. Simple gifts and a mug with monograms were wrapped in a chintz shawl with portraits of the emperor and empress and views of the Kremlin.

The crowd at the Khodynskoye field
The crowd at the Khodynskoye field

It seemed that everything was provided so that everyone was satisfied and remembered the coronation of Nicholas II for a long time. She, of course, was remembered, but not at all as we would like. The biggest mistake was the poor organization of the gift giving. It could be assumed that a large number of people would arrive for them at a time, but for some reason no one expected such an influx.

About half a million people lined up in 150 pavilions for the imperial gifts since the night, and then there was a rumor that there would not be enough gifts for everyone, because bartenders are rapidly distributing gifts among their own. A commotion began among the people, the crowd began to press against the stalls where the gifts were given out. The bartenders, frightened by the strongest onslaught, began to simply throw gifts into the crowd, where a fight immediately began for them. The resulting crush and confusion led to tragedy. According to the testimony of Vladimir Gilyarovsky, who was present at Khodynka, some died standing, strangled by the crowd, others fell into the ravines that surrounded the field, and others died in a fight.

Nicholas II accompanied by the coronation squad
Nicholas II accompanied by the coronation squad

All this happened in the early morning, and after only a few hours it seemed as if nothing had happened on the field: the bodies of the dead were removed, music began to play, the anthem began to sound, and Nicholas II and his wife, who arrived at the promenade, were greeted with loud cheers. He was already aware of what had happened, however, the number of victims was not yet known at that time, the king was told about three hundred dead. And even after that, right from Khodynskoye field, he went to dinner "at Mom's", as the newly-made emperor would write later, and then to a ball to the French ambassador Montebello.

The celebrations continue

Nicholas II
Nicholas II

The Emperor and his uncle, the Moscow Governor-General Sergei Alexandrovich, already knew about the tragedy. Nicholas II for dinner, according to the testimony of his other uncle Konstantin Romanov, came out crying. And he expressed his reluctance to go to the ball at Montebello, but he was persuaded at least to appear at the French ambassador. And Nikolai agreed.

He arrived at the ball, was going to pay his respects to the guests and leave, considering himself not entitled to indulge in amusements when so many people, his subjects died. And again the relatives of the tsar, his uncles Vladimir, Alexei and Sergei (the same Moscow general - governor). They persuaded the Tsar to stay for dinner, so that, as Sergei Alexandrovich said, his departure from the ball would not seem "sentimental." It is worth noting that the last Russian emperor was very influenced, did not have much firmness in his intentions. According to the recollections of the same Konstantin Romanov, if anyone wanted to achieve the decision he needed, he just had to go to the tsar with a report immediately before the tsar made a decision.

Nicholas II
Nicholas II

Then he, too, succumbed to the persuasion of relatives. In order not to consider him too sentimental, he continued to take part in the celebrations. In fact, his uncles knew exactly which buttons to press in order to convince his nephew to do what they needed. So they convinced me. Perhaps it was precisely in order to discredit the king in the very first days after his coronation.

But the scale of the disaster was too great, and therefore all the nobility discussed what had happened and clearly condemned the king for the heartlessness shown towards his subjects. After Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Fedorovna personally visited the wounded in hospitals and gave gifts to the wounded. But they could not change anything. The people remembered: in the first hours after the tragedy, when there were groans and weeping all over Moscow, the Russian tsar continued to participate in entertainment events, celebrating his coronation.

Even after the February Revolution, it was clear that the family of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II was in danger and had to be saved somehow. At that time, in many royal houses, the question of removing the king and his loved ones from the country was discussed, but at the same time no one took the liberty of sheltering the monarch, who was forced to abdicate. Only the British agreed to provide shelter for the Romanovs, but then they withdrew their invitation.

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