God Save the Czar

World War I started with flags flying, bands playing, soldiers marching, and crowds cheering. But as the first weeks of slaughter turned to years of senseless horror, the social fabric of an entire continent began to unravel. At Europe’s pinnacle, the royal and imperial families, virtually all related to one another who had ruled the world for generations, only slowly awoke to the reality that they were in a life-and-death struggle that all might not survive. 

What did they do? How did they behave? This is a tale not found in the common histories of this time, a story of what might have been needed for survival. It is a story of last days.