The fact that it is supported by five sources makes it more useful for the historian as he would need a reliable source to study the deaths of the Tsar and his family accurately.
However Source F would not be very useful to the historian studying their deaths in detail as there is limited information concerning this e.g. he cannot actually see their murder or even their corpses. Therefore there is no evidence from the picture that the Tsar and his family were actually even murdered here, it is only “claimed” to be so.
This source G is unreliable as it is based on Source D which is an interview from a supposed “eye-witness” of Tsar’s and his family’s deaths. The person interviewed, Medvedev, was tortured by the whites and may have exaggerated or lied to protect himself. Moreover, he also claimed to be “out on the street” at the time of shooting. Therefore as this painting is based on an unreliable source, it would not be useful to the historian as it is not accurate. Also the fact that it is a painting makes it unreliable and therefore unuseful to the historian as the painting is only the interpretation of the artist and not what actually happened. This is because the artist couldn’t have possibly seen their exact facial expressions or how they were standing. The artist would have also wanted his painting to sell so had to make it seem dramatic and interesting and used exaggerated imagery to do this. his source does not make clear exactly who died, and whether some of the family survived or not. However this Source would be useful to the historian studying the deaths as he can see how they died, and their relative positions. It is supported by both Sources F and G in some aspects as it shows that shooting took place, and that the positions are the same- i.e. by the storeroom. It is supported by both source A and B as it shows the Tsar “kneeling down” like it says in Source B and also that some of the family were not killed their as the Tsarina and the daughters don’t look as if they are being shot at in Source G. Source H is a diagram of Room the Romanov family were killed and their positions from a book written by Judge Sokolov. It might not be accurate as he wasn’t there himself. It is not very useful to the Historian studying their deaths as it doesn’t indicate who exactly was killed (if they were killed) and who is who, it only shows a general picture with the black dots being representative of everyone: the doctor, the maid, the servants and the family, it would be unuseful for the historian studying the Tsar and his family’s death, as he would not be able to differentiate between The maids position or the Tsars position. However it is supported by Source F concerning the position (the storeroom in same place) and the fact that they were in the “basement”. Source G supports the fact that the storeroom is in the place and that 3 people were standing in front of it.
In Conclusion I believe that neither of these sources would be useful to the Historian investigating the deaths of the Tsar and his family as they all offer very limited information concerning the Imperial family’s deaths,
I believe Source H , is the least useful, as it is very vague, not even indicating that the family or the Tsar or anyone was actually even killed there, it only shows their supposed positions, and even that is unclear as the Historian would have no way of telling who is who exactly. Further more the integrity of Judge Sokolov is also questionable as he was on the Reds side, and may want to give the public false information to mislead them, in favour of the Reds. There is no hint of who the witnesses are so his diagram loses even more credibility. All this makes it very useless to the Historian studying their deaths. Source G is also useless to the Historian; mainly because it is based on an unreliable source so would not give the historian an accurate account of how the family and the Tsar were killed. It has evidence of exaggeration and also the artist could not have known the family’s exact facial expressions or their stance unless he was there himself (and the other sources that show no indication that an artist was present there) also, he cannot have obtained this information from D. It is also unclear exactly who was shot, or whether there were any survivors as Source A suggests. Out of all these sources However, Source F would have been the most useful to the Historian studying the Tsar and the family’s deaths. This is because it is a photograph so there is no chance of bias or lying: he can see for himself exactly what happened, though one photograph can be interpreted in different ways. It is supported by 5 sources making it very credible and reliable for the Historian if he was using it as a source. Source F also establishes the method applied, i.e. shooting. But like sources G and H this source is ambiguous as it does not identify who the victims were (if there were any) It is only “claimed” that the Tsar and the Royal family were killed here. I believe that none of these Sources can be useful to the Historian studying the Deaths of the Tsar and the Royal Family on their own, however they could be used in support of or reinforcement of other sources and accounts of the Tsar and the Families murder.
