The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion and the Fall of Imperial Russia

Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key points are designed for guided reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.

Prologue-Chapter 4

Reading Check

1. Why do the Romanovs host a party?

2. Who of Nicholas II’s family was killed?

3. Who oversees Princess Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice’s education?

4. Who do the tsar and tsaritsa agree to canonize in an attempt to birth a son?

5. What disease does Alexei have?

6. What event occurs when peaceful protestors seek justice and protection and are attacked by Russian soldiers?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How are Nicholas and his wife described at the St. Petersburg party?

2. How does the author compare the lifestyles of the Russian nobles to the peasants in Russia?

3. Why does Nicholas II’s father reject him?

4. What was the result of Princess Alix’s conversion to Russian Orthodoxy?

5. How do the tsar and tsaritsa have a difficult beginning to their reign?

6. What is the impact of improved literacy in Russia?

Paired Resource

Wealth Inequalities

• This 7-minute video describes wealth inequalities and the approach to wealth inequalities worldwide.
• What is the Gini index, and how is it used? What does the Gini index fail to convey in its calculations? What government choices impact economic inequalities? What was the problem with communism in the Soviet Union and China? What is the role of taxes in wealth inequalities? How do these facts relate to the book’s themes of The Gulf Between Rich and Poor in Turn-of-the-Century Russia, The Damage Caused by Poor Leadership, and Revolution and the Russian People’s Fight for a Voice?

Chapters 5-8

Reading Check

1. Who attacks the protesters after they demand the freedom of political prisoners?

2. Whom is Nicholas II prejudiced against?

3. What is the name of the holy man who appears to spontaneously heal Alexei overnight?

4. What does Prime Minister Peter Stolypin do to Rasputin?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How are the children of Alexandra and Nicholas II described?

2. Why does Rasputin develop a bad reputation in Russian society?

3. Why does the tsaritsa become angry with Rasputin?

Paired Resource

“Political Theory - Karl Marx”

• This video presents a positive description of the political theories of Karl Marx.
• Why does Marx believe capitalist societies alienate people? What arguments are made for the workforce of capitalist societies being insecure? How does Marx argue that workers are being taken advantage of through company profit? Why do you think people in Russia may have found Marx’s theories appealing? How is the information here related to the book’s themes of The Gulf Between Rich and Poor in Turn-of-the-Century Russia and Revolution and the Russian People’s Fight for a Voice?

Chapters 9-12

Reading Check

1. What did the woman who stabbed Rasputin believe he was?

2. Why do the people turn against Empress Alexandra?

3. What do leaders in the meeting of the Duma decide to do with Rasputin?

4. What poison does Yusopov give to Rasputin at the dinner party he invited him to?

5. What does Yusopov do when the poison doesn’t work?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. How do the Russians respond when Germany declares war?

2. How do Empress Alexandra and her daughters respond to the war with Germany?

3. What were the assigned roles of the Provisional Government and the soviet?

Chapters 13-15

Reading Check

1. What are Alexei and Tatiana ill with shortly before the rebellion?

2. Who protects the royals at the Tsarkoe Selo palace before abandoning their posts later?

3. What governing system is Lenin in favor of when he returns to Russia?

4. Where does Kerensky send the Romanov family due to the violent protests around Tsarkoe Selo?

5. Who takes over when the Provisional Government disappears “with barely a whimper”?

6. What causes Lenin to withdraw from the Great War?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why are the people angered when Nicholas abdicates his throne?

2. Why do the Russian people begin to distrust the Provisional Government?

3. How does Lenin go about setting up his new system of government?

Paired Resource

“Why the British Royal Crown Failed to Save the Romanovs”

• This article explains why the British chose not to intervene on behalf of the Romanovs.
• How does Rasputin have some influence on the British royal crown’s decision to distance themselves from Nicholas II? Why does Alexandra’s ancestry play a role in the British royal family’s hesitance to accept them in the United Kingdom? Why might the British royal crown have felt a responsibility to Tsar Nicholas? How do the facts in this historical source connect to the book’s themes of The Damage Caused by Poor Leadership and Revolution and the Russian People’s Fight for a Voice?

“Vladimir Lenin”

• This article describes the life and rise of Vladimir Lenin to power in Russia.
• Who was Vladimir Lenin inspired by? What is Lenin best known for? What two major factors influenced Lenin to pursue a revolutionary career? How did Lenin use his time in exile? What was Lenin’s approach to spreading Marxist ideologies? How might the facts of Lenin’s biography connect to the book’s themes of The Gulf Between Rich and Poor in Turn-of-the-Century Russia and Revolution and the Russian People’s Fight for a Voice?

Chapters 16-18

Reading Check

1. What does one of Marie’s guards give her?

2. Who is the first officer in charge of the Romanovs in Ekaterinburg?

3. Who does Yurovsky fear will release the Romanovs from their prison?

4. Who ultimately assassinates the Romanov family?

5. What does Yurovsky take with him when he flees the city?

6. Who takes over Russia after Lenin dies?

Short Answer

Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to support your response.

1. Why does the new government want to give the world the impression that some Romanovs remain alive?

2. How do the conditions of communist Russia fail to live up to the people’s expectations?

Recommended Next Reads

The Death of Stalin by Georges Bortoli

• This nonfiction biography is about the life of Joseph Stalin and the events leading up to his death.
• Shared topics include Russian politics, antisemitism, and leadership.
• Shared themes include The Damage Caused by Poor Leadership.
• The Death of Stalin on SuperSummary

Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Family by Robert K. Massie

• This historical nonfiction book is about the lives of Nicholas and Alexandra and the fall of the Romanov empire.
• Shared topics include political unrest, the Romanovs, and Russia.
• Shared themes include The Gulf Between Rich and Poor in Turn-of-the-Century Russia, The Damage Caused by Poor Leadership, and Revolution and the Russian People’s Fight for a Voice.
• Nicholas and Alexandra on SuperSummary