The Bolsheviks - Source related study.

Rexford Obeng 11DS 7th October 2003

History coursework

Question 4

Source H does not prove that Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen is lying because first of all in source H it says that some are dead and some on the train but it doesn’t say that they were rescued like source J said. The part where source H says that they were on the train,’ it was not a fact it was a rumour so that cannot be totally reliable. In source J can say that they have been rescued on purpose so that they can make the British feel better especially King George because the Tsar is his cousin. Also source H isn’t fully reliable because it also said that ‘ it is believed’ which shows that it isn’t a fact but source J is a diary written by a famous agent so it can be reliable. Also Elliot got his information from the whites and the whites aren’t 100% sure on what is happening so that can’t be reliable. Overall source H is not even strong enough to prove that Colonel Meinertzhagen was lying due to the lack of reliability.

Source I was written after source J and it is more reliable because it was by an eyewitness and she says that she has seen four so that shows that source J was lying. Also in source J he said that he rescued one girl and if source I was written after and an eyewitness sees 4 daughters then source J must be false however she also said that the candle was poor and she could make out which shows that it isn’t that reliable so overall none of the sources can prove that Meinertzhagen is wrong.

After studying these sources ...

This is a preview of the whole essay

After studying these sources I believe that all the sources are wrong. The reason for this is because in the earlier sources like in source B and C they both say that the murder occurred during the time where the nurse said that she saw the four daughters and in source C it also shows that everyone was murdered. Also in source B they said that on the 17th July the lorry carried thee corpses but the nurse said that she saw four daughters on the 18th. This means that the nurse probably saw other maids.

Overall sources H and I doesn’t prove that Meinertzhagen is lying however source B and C because those sources are facts or have phrases that are facts however the other three source are opinionated and it is not over 50% reliable.

Question 5

The reason why the Bolsheviks made the announcement in July 18th is because they thought that the Whites would soon take over and capture the Tsar. First of all it is easy to see that source K is lying because they don’t want the civil war that is going on between the Reds and the Whites to get worst or they don’t even want Americans and the British to send armies down to help the reds because they would lose and also it causes a war. They do this by saying that they only killed the Tsar. That already is saying that what is the point of carrying on the civil war if the point of it is to get the Tsar back. The real truth according to sources B, and G is that all of them were killed and but 1 but if they said in that speech that they killed the children then the Americans and the British would join in n the whites would want to get revenge for killing innocent lives. The reason why they knew that the British, Americans and the French would join in is because they are already giving supplies to the whites for example ammunition, clothes, food etc. the reds didn’t want it to get worst. Another reason why I know the Bolsheviks are lying is because in sources A, B and C said that more than the tsar got killed at that time. Source A said that the doctor and two servants got killed. Source B says that all were killed so does source C.