Nicholas II abdicates, and civil war erupts. In May 1918, a year after the revolution, the Bolsheviks sent Anastasia, Alexei, Tatiana and Olga to join the rest of the family in Ekaterinburg. They're put in the Ipatiev mansion and It's given the name 'The House of Special Purpose.' As pro-royalist forces close in on the house where the Romanovs are imprisoned, the family's fate is sealed.

In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Russia's ally Serbia. This was fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its allies. The Battle of Tannenberg, where the entire Russian Second Army was annihilated, cast an ominous shadow over the empire's future. The already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of the war and rumours of corruption. World War I takes Nicholas to the front. Back home, outrage grows over high casualties and Alexandra and Rasputin's political intrigues.

The Romanovs retreat into a bubble of luxury while the czar's forces brutally suppress protests by a starving populace. Rasputin's influence grows, never mind the rumors and scandals. Many people believe Prime minister Peter Stolypin is the last hope of the Romanov Dynasty as reformer-in-chief. He is horrified by the rise of Rasputin. The fight between Stolypin and Rasputin is a battle for influence over Nicholas II. But Stolypin is shot in the Kiev Opera in 1911.

Nicholas felt enormous pressure to continue the dynasty and expand the empire. He saw his opportunity in the Far East. This brought him into conflict with a rising power, Japan. Russia's disastrous war against Japan prompts civil unrest. The birth of Prince Alexei is incredibly important. He's the long-awaited son that they had hoped so much for. But when Alexei is diagnosed with haemophilia, Siberian mystic Rasputin steps in. He's very good at realizing when something is open that will enable him to increase his power and wealth. The pressure of keeping the secret of Alexei's illness affects the political decisions that Nicky and Alix made for the rest of their reign.

This acclaimed docudrama is a chronicled look at the fall of the Romanov dynasty in Russia. When social upheaval sweeps Russia in the early 20th century, Czar Nicholas II resists change, sparking a revolution and ending his reign.
In the first episode, Czar Nicholas II takes the Russian throne in 1894 and rejects modern ideas to embrace a pure autocracy. Tragedy marks his coronation day.

Lucy Worsley continues her journey through Russia in the footsteps of the Romanovs, the most powerful royal dynasty in modern European history. In this episode she examines the extraordinary reign of Catherine the Great, and the traumatic conflict with napoleonic France that provides the setting for the novel War and Peace. At the magnificent palace of Peterhof near St Petersburg, Lucy charts the meteoric rise of Catherine the Great, who seized the Russian throne from her husband Peter III in 1762 and became the most powerful woman in the world. Catherine was a woman of huge passions - for art, for her adopted country (she was German by birth) and for her many lovers.
Catherine expanded her empire through military victories overseas, while at home she encouraged education and introduced smallpox inoculation to Russia. But Catherine struggled to introduce deeper reforms, and the institution of serfdom remained largely unchanged. Lucy explains how this injustice fuelled a violent rebellion. Nevertheless, Catherine left Russia more powerful on the world stage than ever. But all she had achieved looked set to be undone when Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. Lucy relives the pivotal battle of Borodino, when the Russian army finally confronted the French forces; the traumatic destruction of Moscow; and, under Catherine's grandson Alexander, the eventual victory over the French that provided the Romanov dynasty with its most glorious hour.