Editing House of Romanov (section)

===Downfall===
[[File:Nicholas II and children with Cossacks of the Guard, cropped.jpg|thumb|{{center|1=The Romanovs visiting a regiment during World War I. From left to right, Grand Duchess Anastasia, Grand Duchess Olga, Tsar [[Nicholas II]], Tsarevich Alexei, Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Grand Duchess [[Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (1899–1918)|Maria]], and [[Kuban Cossacks]]}}]]

The [[February Revolution]] of 1917 resulted in the abdication of Nicholas II in favor of his brother Grand Duke [[Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia|Michael Alexandrovich]].<ref name="burkeI"/> The latter declined to accept imperial authority save to delegate it to the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]] pending a future democratic referendum, effectively terminating the Romanov dynasty's rule over Russia.

After the February Revolution, Nicholas II and his family were placed under house arrest in the [[Alexander Palace]]. While several members of the imperial family managed to stay on good terms with the Provisional Government and were eventually able to leave Russia, Nicholas II and his family were sent into exile in the Siberian town of [[Tobolsk]] by [[Alexander Kerensky]] in August 1917. In the [[October Revolution]] of 1917 the Bolsheviks ousted the Provisional Government. In April 1918, the Romanovs were moved to the Russian town of [[Yekaterinburg]], in the Urals, where they were placed in the [[Ipatiev House]]. Here, on the night of 16–17 July 1918, the entire Russian Imperial Romanov family, along with several of their retainers, were [[Execution of the Romanov family|executed]] by Bolshevik revolutionaries, most likely on the orders of [[Vladimir Lenin]].