ACT I — THE WEIGHT OF THE CROWN
ROMANOV 1613
PSKOV. 15.III.1917
НИКОЛАЙ II
MARCH 15, 1917
The Last
Signature
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates the throne, effectively ending the 304-year reign of the Romanov dynasty and triggering the collapse of the Russian Empire.
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ACT II — THE TRAIN AT PSKOV
The imperial train is rerouted. Pskov becomes the final terminus of an empire running out of track. The streets of Petrograd are already lost to the revolution.
Credit: A. A. Pasetti | Public domain
Military support evaporates. The State Duma forms a Provisional Government. The generals command the Northern Front to stand down. The Tsar is isolated, surrounded by paper and telegraph wires.
INTERCEPTED TELEGRAM // MAR 14
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MUTINY SPREADING STOP GARRISON REFUSES ORDERS STOP SITUATION CRITICAL STOP
— General Khabalov to Imperial Headquarters
Credit: Peter Elfelt | CC BY-SA 4.0
IMPERIAL COMMAND // MAR 15
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RUZSKY ADVISES SURRENDER STOP NO LOYALTY REMAINS STOP
Credit: Rhododendrites | CC BY-SA 4.0
ACT III — THE INK DRIES
MANIFESTO OF ABDICATION
In the days of the great struggle against the foreign enemy, who has been striving for almost three years to enslave our homeland, the Lord God has been pleased to send down a new and heavy trial upon Russia. The outbreak of internal popular disturbances threatens to have a disastrous effect on the further conduct of the hard-fought war...
We have recognized that it is for the good of the country to abdicate the Crown of the Russian State and to lay down the Supreme Power.
May the Lord God help Russia.
PSKOV. 15 MARCH 1917. 15:00.
MINISTER OF THE IMPERIAL COURT: COUNT FREDERICKS
The Empire Falls
304 YEARS OF ROMANOV RULE EXTINGUISHED.