The Red Army holds onto Ekaterinburg a little longer

[Amuro Racer]

Let’s say that the Reds were able to secure Ekaterinburg against the Czech Legion in July 1918. How would this affect the detained Romanovs? Supposedly the SovNarKom’s plan was a public show trial for Nicholas in Moscow. How would that have played out?

 

[Pete55]

Oof, a public execution of the Tsar isn't going to help the reds at all.

 

[El_Fodedor]

It would be better for the Reds if the Czar is humbled, but not killed. Send him to the gulag to work like a common criminal, he did deserve it, after years of bathing himself in gold with the riches of the poor it's only fair if he is forced to work for the benefit of the nation.

The same for his family, but under somewhat milder conditions.

This would result in less Red Scare. Less bullshit about people crying over the fate of one family of leeches until today.

 

[McAuslan_in_the_Rough]

It would be better for the Reds if the Czar is humbled, but not killed. Send him to the gulag to work like a common criminal, he did deserve it, after years of bathing himself in gold with the riches of the poor it's only fair if he is forced to work for the benefit of the nation.

The same for his family, but under somewhat milder conditions.

This would result in less Red Scare. Less bullshit about people crying over the fate of one family of leeches until today.

I would say no chance of that. The Romanovs who fell into Bolshevik hands were almost all executed, regardless of whether they were at any risk of being liberated (most were not). If they had wanted some sort of show trial, and "punishment through hard labour" publicity stunt, they could have done it and did not.

 

[El_Fodedor]

I would say no chance of that. The Romanovs who fell into Bolshevik hands were almost all executed, regardless of whether they were at any risk of being liberated (most were not). If they had wanted some sort of show trial, and "punishment through hard labour" publicity stunt, they could have done it and did not.

They were in the middle of a war, the position was much different from the one Mao had, where no Han Chinese gave a damn about the Emperor anymore.

The gulag thing would be more in line with deciding their fate from a position of power after the main conflict was resolved, a position the Red didn't have by the time of the Romanov's execution OTL.

Nonetheless, the Reds only executed the main family when the Whites were approaching the city. It wasn't even a centralized decision, the local guy on charge was the one who decided to kill them, Lenin only endorsed it post factum. So it's realistic to create a scenario where they survive the civil war and then were directed to physical labour.

 

[McAuslan_in_the_Rough]

They were in the middle of a war, the position was much different from the one Mao had, where no Han Chinese gave a damn about the Emperor anymore.

The gulag thing would be more in line with deciding their fate from a position of power after the main conflict was resolved, a position the Red didn't have by the time of the Romanov's execution OTL.

Nonetheless, the Reds only executed the main family when the Whites were approaching the city. It wasn't even a centralized decision, the local guy on charge was the one who decided to kill them, Lenin only endorsed it post factum. So it's realistic to create a scenario where they survive the civil war and then were directed to physical labour.

Well fair point, and this is an AH forum after all. I still find it a stretch to see Nicholas himself surviving. I still think the Bolshevik ideology of the period would have to be adjusted somewhat, but I can see the grand duchesses being used as propaganda pieces of some sort. I assume Alexei was not long for the world either way.

 

[Lalli]

The imperial family probably would be still killed later. But this time Bolsheviks have probably time to liquod their remants like they planned in OTL so there owuldn't be remnants of them which could are buried after Soviet Union is fallen if it even falls.

 

[Amuro Racer]

It would be better for the Reds if the Czar is humbled, but not killed. Send him to the gulag to work like a common criminal, he did deserve it, after years of bathing himself in gold with the riches of the poor it's only fair if he is forced to work for the benefit of the nation.

The same for his family, but under somewhat milder conditions.

This would result in less Red Scare. Less bullshit about people crying over the fate of one family of leeches until today.

That’s… oddly partisan.

I can understand the motivation of the shooting as a move out of national security, and there is a lot of debate about how much say Lenin, Sverdlov, and Yurovsky had in the execution (frankly, I feel more than likely that Lenin would have preferred Nicholas sweating on the bench in Moscow for propaganda purposes and had only OK’d the execution after the fact in OTL).

Furthermore, with things like Khodynka, Bloody Sunday, and WWI still fresh in Russia’s minds, the ex-czar wouldn’t be garnering a lot of sympathy anyway.

 

[Jonah Carter]

Honestly, I think a big show trial ending in an execution of Nicholas would be a net positive for the Bolsheviks. International opinion might not be impressed, and certainly some people in Russia wouldn't like it, but among the people the Bolsheviks needed to win over (former SRs, peasants, minority nationalities), there was very little love lost for him. Any opportunity the Bolsheviks have to remind everyone of all the horrible crimes he committed and position themselves as the ones taking him to task for it is going to benefit them.

If there's no risk of them escaping and being used as White figureheads, I don't see the kids being executed. Lenin was well aware of how it would look to hand down a public death sentence to a bunch of kids who hadn't actually committed any crime. I think they're probably taken out of the public eye and subjected to a lot of reeducation efforts (a la Puyi). Maybe they get purged later, but that stays far out of the spotlight.