Editing Russian Revolution (section)

==Murder of the imperial family==
{{main|Murder of the Romanov family}}
[[File:Le Petit Journal, 1926 cover.png|thumb|upright|Murder of the Romanov family, ''[[Le Petit Journal (newspaper)|Le Petit Journal]]'']]
The Bolsheviks murdered the Tsar and his family on 16 July 1918.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Massie |first=Robert K. |author-link=Robert K. Massie |title=The Romanovs: The Final Chapter |date=2012 |publisher=Random House |isbn=978-0-3078-7386-6 |pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=g_Y5NmOj8LkC&pg=PA3 3–24]}}</ref> In early March 1917, the Provisional Government had placed Nicholas and his family under house arrest in the [[Alexander Palace]] at [[Tsarskoye Selo]], {{convert|24|km|mi|0}} south of Petrograd. But in August 1917, they evacuated the Romanovs to [[Tobolsk]] in the [[Urals]] to protect them from the rising tide of revolution. After the Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, the conditions of their imprisonment grew stricter and talk of putting Nicholas on trial increased. In April and May 1918, the looming civil war led the Bolsheviks to move the family to the stronghold of [[Yekaterinburg]].

During the early morning of 16 July, Nicholas, Alexandra, their children, their physician, and several servants were taken into the basement and shot. According to [[Edvard Radzinsky]] and [[Dmitri Volkogonov|Dmitrii Volkogonov]], the order came directly from Lenin and [[Yakov Sverdlov]] in Moscow. However, this claim has never been confirmed. The murder may have been carried out on the initiative of local Bolshevik officials, or it may have been an option pre-approved in Moscow as White troops were rapidly approaching Yekaterinburg. Radzinsky noted that Lenin's bodyguard personally delivered the telegram ordering the killing and that he was ordered to destroy the evidence.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Volkogonov |first=Dmitrii |title=Lenin: A New Biography |date=1994 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-0073-9267-4 |location=New York |translator-last=Shukman |translator-first=Harold |ol=258246W |language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Radzinsky |first=Edvard |title=The Last Tsar: The Life And Death Of Nicholas II |date=1993 |publisher=Knopf |isbn=0-3854-2371-3 |location=New York |translator-last=Schwartz |translator-first=Marian |ol=16232957W}}</ref>