World War I

As most people know, World War I was sparked by the assassination of, Franz Ferdinand(The Austrian Heir). When war was initially waged between Russia and Germany, the Royal Family was at sea. On one occasion, as they were returning to port, Nicholas and the Captain went ashore to discuss tactics with some generals. The ship was to remain circling around the fjords. It was raining, so visibility was low. With the Captain and the Tsar absent, Alexei was in command. While he was playing with a friend in his state room, he was summoned to the bridge. When he arrived, they informed him that an unidentified ship was approaching. Knowing well that the war had just started and they could be in danger, he made his decision. He had the crew plot an intercept course and load all weapons. Once they were in weapons range, without hesitation, he ordered them to fire. It was a direct hit on their aft section, then the other ship came about and was preparing to return fire. Knowing this, Alexei ordered evasive maneuvers. The unidentified ship returned fire, but missed. Then as it closed on them, one of the crewman was able to see it clearly with some binoculars. He recognized it as being the Polar Star. Then, Alexei ordered the Standart to all stop and he had the crew run up the white flag. The Polar Star(His grandmothers ship), slowed it's approach. Alexei finally ordered the Standart to go alongside of the Polar Star to bring survivors aboard.

This incident was not widely known. Also, Alexei was not punished for what he did. Dispite the ending result, he did do the right thing. An unidentified ship was approaching them during a time of war. He had no way of knowing that it was his grandmothers ship, since their radio was out. Later on as the war went on, Alexei was allowed to join his father at the front. By this time, due to the way the war was going, Nicholas took full control of the army. The generals thought this was the wrong decision because if the war continued to go badly, the people would blame Nicholas. He should have listened to them.

While Alexei was at the front, he stayed at the military base at Stavka. Alexei's presence had a profound effect on the troops. He was a sign of hope for the future to these troops. He would accompany his father on inspections, and diplomatic functions. He did all this for around nine months, then something(This is only rumored, and has not been proven) may have split him and his father apart.

It is rumored that, one day in mid-summer 1915, Alexei, his Tutor Pierre Gilliard, The Tsar, and a General went into a military hospital. Upon their arrival they were greeted by a doctor. Nicholas then asked this doctor how the regiment was doing. The doctor told him that they were doing very poorly. Then Nicholas and the General were taken by the doctor into another room. While Gilliard, and Alexei waited for them to return, Alexei began to walk around the ward they were in. He came up to one soldier which had lost a leg, then he looked at this soldiers face. It was the face of a child. He looked at the medical record by this patients bed, and it said the year of birth was 1903. This patient was only one year older than Alexei. He immediately questioned his tutor about this. In response the tutor told him that he knows about it. Alexei was furious, and asked if there were anymore like this. Gilliard told him, "Yes." Then Alexei asked how many, the tutor looked at the door that Alexei's father went through, and replied, "I don't know." Alexei went to the door, and Gilliard was unable to stop him. When Alexei entered that room, a wave of horror hit him like a brick wall. In that room were between 200-300 children, with either bullet wounds, burns, or missing limbs. He was horrified, then Alexei's father realized he was there. When Nicholas reached Alexei, he told him not to over react. Alexei asked his father if he really did send these children into battle. Nicholas replied with something like, "Desperate times deserve desperate measures.". Alexei then said in extreme anger, "How long did you think that you could keep this from me." Then he stormed out of the building. That evening, Alexei and his tutor headed back to the palace.

As Alexei was returning with his tutor, something quite severe occurred. Alexei was beginning to show symptoms of a mild cold. That evening when the Tsarevich sneezed, it caused a blood vessel to rupture. With his nose uncontrollably bleeding, his condition rapidly dropped. Dr. Dervenko was running out of options. Pierre Gilliard even thought twice during the evening, that the end had come. However, when all options had been exercised the most logical one presented itself. Unfortunately this option was so painful that it caused Alexei to pass out; it did work however. They used a small device to carterise the injury. Alexei was worn, but alive nonetheless.

The war continued to go very badly for the Russians. Back home the Tsar's popularity fell drastically. His wife was running the government into the ground. And from the sideline, Alexei watched as his future fell apart. By the beginning of March, the Tsar was forced to abdicate his throne. Upon his return to Tsarskoe-Selo, him and his family were placed under arrest. How could so many things have gone so wrong?

Last Modified: Wednesday, March 4, 1998 at 12:05 AM