Карађорђевићи и крај династије Романов
The Karađorđevićs and the End of the Romanov Dynasty

Author(s): Lyudmila Kuzmičeva
Subject(s): Political history, Social history, International relations/trade, Pre-WW I & WW I (1900 -1919)
Published by: Institut za noviju istoriju Srbije
Keywords: Romanov dynasty;Karađorđević dynasty;Princess Jelena Petrovna Romanova;murder of the Tsar family in Yekaterinburg;Serbian envoy to Russia Miroslav Spalajković;memoirs of Sergei Nikolaevich Smirnov;
Summary/Abstract: The relations between the two ruling dynasties: the Romanovs (in Russia) and the Karađorđevićs (in Serbia) in the early 20th century was chronologically looped by the dramatic events: the assassination of King Alexander Obrenović in 1903 and the regicide in Russia in 1918. The problem of the strength of the monarchical system was urgent for both countries. This paper analyses the way the representatives of the two dynasties helped each other during the trials of the World War I and the Russian revolution, and raises the question of the Karađorđevićs’ attitude towards the fall of Romanov dynasty. Two dynasties were bound by mutual agreements and obligations, family ties and personal sympathy. In fact, Serbia remained the only reliable ally for representatives of the Romanov dynasty and Russian monarchists. On the other side, the Serbian government adopted a passive attitude towards the destiny of the Tsar family and other members of the Romanov dynasty. This attitude was largely caused by the position of the Serbian envoy to Russia, Miroslav Spalajković, who embraced the February revolution with joy and enthusiasm, welcoming the collapse of the monarchical system in Russia. Spalajković did not show a proper initiative for rescuing the son-in-law of the Serbian king Prince Ivan Konstantinovich Romanov and his wife Jelena Petrovna. S.N. Smirnov, who had shared imprisonment with Elena Petrovna Romanova, testified in his memoirs about the passivity of the Serbian side in the matter of her release.

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