The Mystery of Anastasia Romanov
My childhood was an eventful time for me in the form of animated movies. From Disney to Pixar, I was hooked. One very underappreciated movie that I have always kept close to my heart; that movie is Anastasia, by Fox Entertainment. This was a semi-fictional movie that was based off the unsolved mystery of the unsolved mystery of the survival of the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov Nikolaevna. This was one of my first unsolved mysteries I was to encounter in life and the one that stood out the most. Was she really dead? Did she survive and pass on her legacy, leaving descendants behind? Grand Duchess Anastasia was born on June 18, 1901, to the house of Tsar Nicholas II, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias. The fourth youngest out of five siblings, she was a mischievous and clever soul with a silver tongue, she always liked to play tricks on her tutors and even went to tripping servants. She was very bright and learned very quickly, never dallying in her studies and always seeking to impress. She was a very happy girl who lived a remarkably simple life. Unfortunately, this all changed around 1917. For a revolution was just around the corner. In February 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne and Anastasia and her family were placed under house arrest at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo during the Russian Revolution. As the Bolsheviks approached, Alexander Kerensky of the Provisional Government had them moved toTobolsk, Siberia. After the Bolsheviks seized majority control of Russia, Anastasia and her family were moved to the Ipatiev House, or House of Special Purpose, at Yekaterinburg. In October of 1917, almost directly after the Bolshevik Revolution, the Russian Civil War broke out. Negotiations for the release of the Romanovs between their Bolshevik (commonly referred to as 'Reds') captors and their extended family, many of whom were prominent members of the Royal