russia: what happened to the romanov family question 1 and 2

GCSE History

Russia what happened to the Romanov family
Question A
A) Sources A and B give similar accounts. Does this mean they are reliable?
Source A and B give similar accounts of what happened to the Romanov family. They both state that they believe the tsar , Dr Botkin, two servants and the maid were shot in the Ipatiev house.

Source A is a report from an American newspaper and it tells us that Judge Sergeyev investigated the murder of the Romanov family and he believes there was a murder, and it happened in the lower storey of the building, although Sergeyev also believes that not all the members of the household were shot there. He believes “the Tsar, the family doctor, the two servants and the maid were all shot in the Ipatiev house” [source A], however he believes that “Empress, the Tsar’s son and four other children” [source A] were not shot there. The fault with this source is that as it was written for a newspaper, Sergeyev may not have actually said this it could just be the journalists interpretation on what was actually said.

Source B is a report from Sir Charles Eliot to the British Government. This source although supporting a lot of what source A had said, he implies he is not as convinced by the evidence as Judge Sergeyev, He admits in his report “There is no real evidence as to whom or how many victims there were”[source B]. He then says that “It is supposed there were five- the Tsar, Dr Botkin, the Empress’ maid and two servants” Using the word supposed emphasising the fact that there was no real evidence to what he or judge sergeyev ...

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Source B is a report from Sir Charles Eliot to the British Government. This source although supporting a lot of what source A had said, he implies he is not as convinced by the evidence as Judge Sergeyev, He admits in his report “There is no real evidence as to whom or how many victims there were”[source B]. He then says that “It is supposed there were five- the Tsar, Dr Botkin, the Empress’ maid and two servants” Using the word supposed emphasising the fact that there was no real evidence to what he or judge sergeyev were saying.
As Source B was reported by someone from British government, and the British only wished to find out the truth in the matter of the shotting, they did not need gain support, Sir Charles Eliot had no reason to lie this way of looking at it means the source is reliable. However the information from the report comes from the Sergeyev, this mean the report was influenced by a white Russian.
Source A and B are similar in that the information in both originate from Sergeyev. The sources are different in that Source B is more open-minded than Source A.
Both sources A and B suggest say the Tsar, the family doctor (Dr Botkin), two servants and the maid were all shot in the Ipatiev house. Sources A and B are both taken from what judge Sergeyev had said, it is therefore not surprising that the sources are similar.
Although source A and B give similar accounts this does not necessarily mean that they are reliable ,as the information in the sources have been orientated from the same place. However, by cross-referencing to other sources I can find evidence information that supports what both Source A and B are saying.
b) How far does the account in source C differ from those in sources A and B?
Sources A and B are similar to C because that they all say that people were killed in the basement of the Ipatiev house. Sources C and A are both biased towards the whites. Sources A and B say that the Tsar and 4 others were shot in the house but the rest of the family were not. However source C says that the whole family was killed. This contradicts Sir Charles Eliot’s report, as he says “on 17 July, a train left Ekaterinburg and it is believed that the surviving members of the royal family were in it.”[source B] The date however, does agree with source C, as Sokolov states the murders occurred between the 17th and 21st.

Source C is much more certain than both source A and B. Source B seems uncertain and Eliot says “There is no real evidence as to who or how many victims there were”. Yet, in contrast, Sokolov’s report says “several people were murdered”. Source B says no corpses were discovered, nor any trace of them being burned. However source C says that under cover of darkness, a lorry carried the corpses to the Four Brothers Mine to destroy the bodies by burning them and using petrol and sulphuric acid this is very specific information.

Not only is there confusion between the sources over what happened to the corpses, source B says there is no evidence of the corpses being burned where as source C says they were burned.

Source C is written in a way that makes the murders seem very horrific using powerful words such as “the bloody carnage” and “Massacred”, words like these could suggest that the judge was not impartial. The reason for this is possibly because Judge Sokolov was appointed by the ‘Whites’. Having said this Source C appears to be the most reliable evidence in terms of key facts being mentioned in other sources for instance Pavel Medvedev also talking about the family being taken by lorries in his interview. In comparison Source B is written with uncertainty but seemingly impartially.

Source C has more differences than similarities to source A and B as it includes many opinions in it. Source A and b are uncertain accounts whereas source C sure that the family were killed. Sergeyev’s report was not biased enough this is more than likely to be the reason as to why he was sacked and source B is unbiased whereas as source C is very biased and makes the ‘reds’ look bad.

russia: what happened to the romanov family question 1 and 2

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