#tzars

[lepetitdragonvert]

The Tale of Tsar Saltan by Alexander Pushkin

1966

Editions Fabbri

Artist : Benvenuti

[usssnarfblat]

Did Anastasia deserve to die for her family's crimes against Fieval's family?

I've always found it interesting that "Anastasia" and "An American Tail" were made by the same guy...

My mom got us "An American Tail" as kids, since we were Jewish, and a Disney-like movie with Jewish characters was a one-of-a-kind thing. ("The Prince of Egypt" was still a few years away. Yes, I'm that old.) More to the point, my dad's side of the family is largely Russian Jews, who immigrated in the early 1920s, for exactly the same reasons as the Mouskewitz. Being a child of this background and very literally obsessed with cats, I had mixed feelings about the movie.

When "Anastasia" came out a few years later, Mom didn't let that history stop us from enjoying the new princess movie, but she didn't shelter us from it either. We regarded it like we did the real history behind any sugar-coated princess movie. She even got us some history books about the real Romanov family, and we were fascinated by the subject.

Still, it's an odd elephant in the room, watching "Anastasia" and knowing that her granddad was the one who sent those Cossack cats after Fievel's village, and her dad himself continued doing it to the Jewish mice who didn't leave.

"Go, Pompom, Kibble and Fluff-Baron! Kill those Jew mice, and I'll give you extra catnip treats tonight!"

Don Bluth presents both the Romannov family and their victims with equal sympathy, even opening both movies with the family celebrating a holiday, with the kid heroes getting a plot-specific present, before being viciously attacked.

"Wow Grandmama! Fieval and Tanya could use this as a merry-go-round!"

*Cough* "Yes uh, about those Jewish mice Sweetie..."

Bluth's portrayal of the Romanov family is not entirely inaccurate. By all accounts, Nicholas II was a deeply loving father who both doted on his children, but raised them not to be spoiled. Despite being royalty, the princesses shared bedrooms and did charity work at hospitals.

It's a baffling irony that Nicholas was nevertheless was a tyrant, and not remotely just to his Jewish subjects. When I was about twelve, Mom got me the Dear America book A Coal Miner's Bride, about the Catholic Polish immigrants who also fled the oppression of the Russian Tzar. (Anastasia's family conquered part of Poland in the 1800s, banning the Pols from speaking their own language and drafting their sons into the Tzar's dick-measuring contest wars.) Anyway, that's what my mom's side of the family was fleeing when they immigrated. Yes, my family has double reason to hate the Romanovs.

So, I personally don't have a lot of sympathy for Nicholas II. But the horrors his poor wife and children endured in their final moments never fails to get the reaction from me.

The rationalization for the murder of the children and queen was that it was the only way to ensure that the monarchy never returned. But I assume most modern-thinking people would say that the ends do not justify the means in this case.

That said, millions of families like Anetka's and Fievel's suffered as bad or worse than the Romanovs, because of the Romanovs, and no one remembers them because they didn't wear tiaras. This no doubt was another factor that killed sympathy for the Romanov children. But they were still children.

The question today is, if we can feel for a family that was literal royalty, despite their father being an undeniable tyrant against our own families...can we also feel for Palestinian and Israeli families, during a conflict that is vastly more complicated than Imperial Russia?

Or do they need to be cute mice and glittery princesses to get our attention?

[thesixthduke]

[mondasart]

I love the goat

little scrunkly ...

[coldshrugs]

working on my first gear upscale in blender and i wish someone would throw me in one. tbh.

[teenagedirtstache]

Manner Vogue December 1991 photos Naomi Kaltmann styling Jennifer Tzar

[storkmuffin]

Every single time he's mentioned in War and Peace this sovereign is described as being "beautiful." His "beautiful meek face" this and his "beautiful serene face" that. He's also constantly on the verge of tears (wars are upsetting idk) such as: "The sovereign began to breathe heavily and quickly, his lower lip trembled, and his beautiful blue eyes instantly became moist with tears."

Having finally looked him up after this onslaught, I must say I am rather ... disappointed.

[illustratus]

After the Battle by Wiktor Mazurowski

[loiladadiani]

Nicholas II and his cars

Nicholas II did not rush into the "motor" craze. For two years, he took rides on the car owned by Lt. General A.A. Mossolov until Nicholas' Minister, Count Fredericks, asked the Tsar if he wanted to acquire a motorcar. The Tsar responded quickly: "Yes, of course!

The Tsar fell in love with the automobile. The first car he purchased was a French Delaunay-Belleville which was the Tsar's choice for short trips and in-town use. He liked the German-built Mercedes for long trips…and speed.

Nicholas II getting into his Rolls Royce

Nicholas II's Mercedes Benz

The Imperial Garages were established in 1905 in Tsarskoe Selo and Peterhof. Later, garages were added in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and Livadia Palace in Crimea. There was a budget to maintain the Imperial Garages, which included money to purchase vehicles, training of the drivers (who were responsible for driving and fixing, and maintaining the cars), washers, uniforms for the staff and the brick-and-mortar buildings where the cars were housed. The vehicles served the Tzar, the Empress, the Imperial children, and their suite.

The Imperial family standing by their garages in Livadia

Nicholas is on a horse next to one of his Delaunay Bellevilles

This was Nicholas II's "baby," a Delaunay-Belleville '70 S.M.T

Whenever the Tzar went out in one of his cars (for business or personal matters), another car had to follow him. Security always annoyed Nicholas, more so when driving his cars (a chauffeur did that most of the time.) When Nicholas drove, he loved to speed, of course.

Like any boy, his age, Alexei got into the "motor" craze! (On the left he seems to be trying to learn how to change a tire). In the photo on top, he is driving a small car, his Peaugot "Bebe"

Some of Nicholas II's cars

Cars gave Count Fredericks, Nicholas' court minister, many headaches. He had a difficult time getting Nicholas to buy his first car, but then he could not make him stop getting new ones. Nicholas bought his first car in 1905. By 1917, he had 56 cars in his garages…more than any other European Court. 

Nicholas II ordered this car, a classic 1914-built Rolls Royce Ghost, the year before he was murdered; it is not known if or how long he used the car. It was bought by a collector at auction for an extraordinary amount.

References:

Alexander Palace Time Machine. (retrieved 2024, April 24). The Imperial Garage: The Tzar and his cars. Blog: https://www.alexanderpalace.org/palace/impgarage.php

Manaev, Georgy. (2022, May 11). Nicholas II Awesome Car Collection. Blog: https://www.rbth.com/history/335016-nicholas II-garage-car-collection

[ultimatehistorical]

ULTIMATE HISTORICAL FIGURE OF TUMBLR DOT COM!!!

[region-of-dalmatia]

Your parent is dead because Communist USA used a Tsar Bomb on them 😭

[bunboygenius]

baby boy. baby.

[master-carpenter]

[mothpdf]

the vilinization of rasputin is sooo funny.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Tzar Nicholas II of Russia

Russian vintage postcard

[psicopathya]

Jennifer Tzar