English Every Day: Last of the Tsars

Your Daily English Programme #12 - Execution of the Tsar Family (Listening C1)

Think Before You Listen

Do you know who the people in these photos are?

Russia Feb 1917 ©Wikimedia Commons

The Russian Imperial Family ©revolution-1917.org

Have you ever read anything about the Russian Revolution of the 1917 and how it all happened?

On July 17, 1918, the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, along with his wife and their five children were executed by bolshevik troops led by Yakov Yurovsky. This happened less than a year after the October 1917 revolution that put soviet socialists in power and led to the establishment of the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) in 1922.

The execution has been described as one of the most horrible and shameful events in the history of the Russian Revolution¹.

Watch and Listen

Before You Listen: Can you use the following words in the sentences below? (see the answers in the first comment)

move your mouse over the words to see a definition

anarchists	house of exile	cellar
unrest	savage	carnage

1. The bloody battle left behind a huge scene of dreadful _________ .

2. A group of __________ tried to overthrow the government in office and create fear and confusion in the country.

3. It was a brutal and _________ attack that killed hundreds of people.

4. The king was sent to his ________________ before he was killed by members of the army.

5. The current political ________ in the country could lead to civil war between opposing political groups.

6. The house had a large ________ where they had stored hundreds of guns and explosives.

Watch the Video: How did the killing of the Romanov family take place?

(Click to see the full transcript)

Let's Practice

This quick quiz tests your comprehension of the video. Listen again if you need to, before moving on to the quiz:

Your Turn

- Have there been any revolutions or other significant events in the history of your country? What started the event(s)? How did they end? What were the results?
(write your responses in the comments below)

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1 The Associated Press (July 18, 1998) Address by Yeltsin: 'We Are All Guilty', The New York Times; Retrieved July 17, 2017^↩