Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra, and their five children were imprisoned after the Tsar's abdication in the February Revolution.

After the Bolsheviks seized power, the family was moved to the city of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains.

During the Russian Civil War, White Army forces were advancing on Yekaterinburg, threatening to liberate the former Tsar.

Local Bolshevik authorities, likely acting on orders from the central leadership in Moscow, decided to execute the entire family to prevent their rescue.

On the night of July 16-17, 1918, the family, along with their doctor and servants, were taken to the basement of the house where they were being held.

They were then executed by a firing squad.

The bodies were taken to a remote location, burned, and buried in an unmarked grave.

The Soviet government concealed the details of the murders for decades.

The remains of the family were discovered and identified after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

In 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church canonized the Romanov family as 'passion bearers,' a type of saint.