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- Her Imperial Highness, The Grand Duchess Olga Nicholaievna Romanov was born on November 15, 1895 at Tsarskoe Selo. She was the oldest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra. She has 3 younger sisters - Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia - and one younger brother Alexei. Olga was the most like her father, the Tsar Nicholas the Second, with chestnut-blonde hair and blue eyes. She was the more thoughtful of her sisters and very intelligent, but she was sometimes difficult, and argued with her mother, Empress Alexandra. Olga was extremely close to her younger sister Tatiana, who was 18 months younger then her. Tatiana and Olga shared a bedroom and were called "The Big Pair", while Olga's other two younger sisters - Maria and Anastasia - were called "The Little Pair." Olga was going to maybe marry Price Carol of Romania, but Olga didn't want to leave Russia. "I am Russian and I mean to remain Russian!" So Olga did not marry Prince Carol. When World War I started Olga, her sister Tatiana and her Mother the Empress Alexandra became War nurses. During the War Olga became more aware of the resentment that the Russian people had for her family. Also During the war she had a mental breakdown. When her father abdicated, for himself and Alexei, Olga and her family were prisoners of the Revolution, in Tobolsk. After that, Olga's father, mother and sister Maria went to Ekaterinburg, leaving Olga with her sisters Tatiana and Anastasia and her younger brother Alexei. Olga and her sisters took care of Alexei because he got very hurt before her father, mother and sister left. After Alexei was well enough to be moved, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Alexei and some of their employees went to Ekaterinburg, to be with their parents and Maria. In Ekaterinburg the Romanov's lived in a place called "The House of Special Purpose." Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia all shared a room, while her father, mother, and Alexei shared. On July 17, 1918 the Romanovs, their Doctor, and others where set up in a basement in "The House of Special Purpose." Then, 11 executors entered and started firing. Olga and her family and servants all died. Olga was only 23 years old when she died. But, when they found the bodies of the Romanovs and their servants they realized they are missing two, Alexei and either Maria, Tatiana, or Anastasia. Recently the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia canonized the Romanovs as saints.
- Czar Nicholas II of Russia was crowned in 1894, and was the last Emperor of Russia. He was born on 19 May, 1868, the first child of Tsarevitch Aleksandr III and his wife, Maria Fyodorovna. He was christened His Imperial Highness Nicholas Aleksandrovitch Romanov, Grand Duke of Russia. He was followed by three brothers and two sisters: Grand Duke Aleksandr (1869-1870), Grand Duke Georgy (1871-1899) Grand Duchess Ksenia (1875-1960), Grand Duke Michael (1878-19180 and Grand Duchess Olga (1882-1960). He was related to the Danish, British and German royal families. As a child, Nicholas wasn't quite as bright as his younger brothers, resulting in his father's belief that Nicholas, a somewhat shy and sensitive child, wasn't "man enough" to be Emperor of Russia, and he often derisively referred to his son as a girl. His father had already picked out a French princess to be Nicholas' wife, in order to cement relations with the French. Unfortunately for him, however, he further alienated his father when he fell in love with a German princess, Alix (aka Alexandra), and decided to marry her instead. Although dead set against this marriage, his father finally gave his reluctant blessing only on his deathbed, when he realized that if Nicholas were not allowed to marry Alix he would marry no one, thus placing the continuation of the Romanov dynasty in danger). In November of 1894, he married Her Ducal Highness Princess Alix Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darstadt and By Rhine. They had five children: Grand Duchess Olga (b. 1895-1918), Grand Duchess Tatiana (b. 1897-1918), Grand Duchess Maria (b. 1899-1918), Grand Duchess Anastasia (b. 1901-1918) and Tsarevitch Aleksey (1904-1918).
Upon his ascension as the emperor of Russsia in 1894, he was given the following title: His Highness the Tsar Nicholas Aleksandrovitch Romanov, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, Tsar of Moscow, Kiev, Vladimir, Novgorod, Kazan, Astrakhan, of Poland, of Siberia, of Tauric Chersonese, of Georgia, Lord of Pskov, Grand Duke of Smolensk, of Lithuania, Volhynia, Podolia and Finland, Prince of Estonia, Livonia, Courland and Semigalia, Samogotia, Bialostock, Karelia, Tver, Yougouria, Perm, Viatka, Bulgaria, and other countries; Lord and Grand Duke of Lower Novgorod, of Tchernigov, Riazan, Polotsk, Rostov, Yaroslav, Belozero, Oudoria, Obdoria, Condia, Vitebsk, Mstislav and, all the region of the North, Lord and Sovereign of the countries of Iveria, Cartalinia, Kabardinia and the provinces of Armenia, Sovereign of the Circassian Princes and the Mountain Princes, Lord of Turkestan, Heir of Norway, Duke of Schleswig Holstein, of Storman, of the Ditmars, and of Oldenbourg.
After Nicholas became Czar, he determined to travel and see as much of the world outside of Russia as he could. However, in an ominous portent of things to come, during a tour of Japan an assassin rushed at him with a large sword, and Nicholas barely escaped with his life, although the would-be assassin managed to inflict a large gash on his forehead. In what can be seen as yet another bad omen, during his coronation a stampede occurred on a field near the scene when free food was being given out to the large crowds, and more than 1000 people died. In 1905 relations between Russia and Japan had deteriorated to a dangerous point, and there was talk of war. Nicholas was in fact in favor of a negotiated settlement and talks resulted in a compromise being offered by the Japanese, but Nicholas' advisers and generals persuaded him to reject the Japanese offer and declare war, which they were confident they would win handily. As it turned out, however, the ensuing Russo-Japanese War of 1905 was a devastating defeat for Russia, which lost much of its navy to the better trained, better equipped and better led Japanese forces, tens of thousands of its soldiers and large swaths of its territory.
The defeat caused even more discontent in the country, which had been building for quite some time among peasants, workers, students and an increasing number of members of the armed forces. In 1905 a crowd of demonstrators marched on the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to present a petition to Nicholas asking for liberalization and reform. Although the demonstration was peaceful at first - Nicholas himself saw no danger in the situation and had in fact departed to his country estate for the weekend - things rapidly deteriorated, and before anyone could really figure out what happened, the troops surrounding the palace opened fire on the demonstrators (many of whom were carrying pictures and placards of Nicholas as proof of their devotion to him), killing many of them. Although it's believed now that Nicholas did not give orders for the soldiers to fire on the crowd, many Russians at the time believed that he had, and this began to solidify opposition to the monarchy's rule. The resulting political and domestic pressure forced Nicholas to convene the Duma, the Russian parliament, in August of 1905.
He then issued what was called the October Manifesto in which he promised to introduce basic civil liberties to the Russian populace, make the Duma more than just a rubber-stamp for the Czar--which many believed, rightly or wrongly, that it was--and give it legislative and oversight authority. Although relations between Nicholas and the Duma were at first good, they quickly deteriorated because Empress Alexandra did not like or trust its leadership. Nicholas wound up dissolving the Duma, adding fuel to the fires of revolution already building up in the country. As if Nicholas' political problems weren't enough, his son Alexei, who was born in 1904, turned out to have hemophilia, a disease which prevents blood from clotting properly. At that time it was tantamount to a death sentence, as no treatment for it existed. Alexandra, desperate for anything that might save her son's life, turned to a sinister mystic and "healer" from Siberia named Grigory Rasputin. Rasputin did seem to have a calming effect on the child, whose health appeared to improve, thus solidifying Rasputin's hold on the royal family (many at the time suspected that Rasputin was secretly hypnotizing the boy into believing that he was better, in order to strengthen his hold over the Empress). The Empress became totally dependent on Rasputin, and eventually came to believe that he and God were in direct contact about her son. Rasputin was assassinated in 1916 by a group of disgruntled Russian noblemen worried about his hold on the royal family (not to mention their own future at the court). In 1914 the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, a member of "Young Bosnia", a fanatical Serbian nationalist secret society. It wasn't long before events snowballed and Europe was plunged into World War I. Russia entered the war on the side of the Allies against Germany and Austria-Hungary. At first Russian forces had considerable success against the German and Austrian armies and their Turkish allies on the Eastern front, but the fighting eventually turned into a combination of trench warfare and huge artillery barrages.
Through a combination of bad weather, poor logistics, low morale and staggeringly inept leadership, the Russian armies soon began incurring defeat after defeat and suffering huge losses (the Battle of Tannenberg alone cost them more than 100,000 dead). In 1915 Russia lost Poland to the Germans, and Nicholas himself decided to take over as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. Since he was now personally prosecuting the war, domestic policy was basically left up to Empress Alexandra, who was not popular with the Russian people, especially since she herself was German. Political opposition to the regime increased. Unfortunately, Nicholas' military leadership was almost as inept as his generals', resulting in more defeats and even larger casualties for the Russian armies. The country was now being convulsed by strikes and riots, and many military units were mutinying and joining with revolutionary forces to take over cities from Nicholas' government. By March of 1917 popular opposition to the monarchy was so strong that Nicholas was forced to abdicate. Three hundred years of the Romanov dynasty came to an end. Aleksandr Kerensky, a former schoolmate of Vladimir Lenin, became the leader of the provisional government, which detained the Romanov family under house arrest at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, a suburb of St. Petersburg. They were then transported to Siberia in August of 1917. By November of 1917, with the Russian military being torn apart by mutinies and revolts, the Bolsheviks ousted the provisional government to become the rulers of Russia. They took custody of the Romanov family and moved them to the city of Ekaterinburg. Lenin and his colleague Yakov Sverdlov urged the murder of the Czar and his family in order to shore up support for the Bolsheviks among the masses.
At 2:30 on the morning of July 17, 1918, a firing squad shot Czar Nicholas, his wife Empress Alexandra, their five children, their doctor and their personal assistants and royal secretaries. As proof of their death and to dispel stories that the royal family had managed to escape, parts of their bodies and some of the royal necklaces and jewelry were delivered to the Central Committee of the Communist Party in Moscow, although rumors persisted for years afterward that some of the family did in fact manage to bribe their would-be executioners and escape. - Her Imperial Highness, The Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna Romanova was born on June 26, 1899. She was the third daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. She had two older sisters - Olga and Tatiana, one younger sister - Anastasia, and one younger brother Alexei. Maria's siblings usually called her Marie or Mashka. She was the angel of the family, and she was very loving and warm. She said that she wanted to marry a Russian soldier and have 20 children. She was a pretty girl with light brown hair and large blue eyes, which her family called "Marie's saucers." Maria was pretty close to her younger sister Anastasia, who were known as "The Little Pair", while her older sisters Olga and Tatiana, were called "The Big Pair." As well as their older sisters, they shared a bedroom and Maria tended to be dominated by Anastasia because of her energy and enthusiasm. Maria's other sisters referred to her as their "stepsister" because she was so good and never got into trouble. Maria was a plump girl in her childhood but she became very thin after the attack of measles she and her siblings had. When her father abdicated, for himself and for Alexei, Maria and her family were prisoners of the Revolution, in Tobolsk. After that, Maria, her father and mother went to Ekaterinburg, leaving her sisters - Tatiana, Olga and Anastasia - with her younger brother Alexei who got very hurt. After Alexei was well enough to be moved, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Alexei and some of their employees went to Ekaterinburg, to be with Maria and their parents. In Ekaterinburg the Romanovs lived in a place called "The House of Special Purpose." Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia all shared one room, while her father, mother, and Alexei shared another. On July 17, 1918 the Romanovs, their doctor, and others were set up in a basement in "The House of Special Purpose." Then, 11 executors entered and started firing. Maria and her family and servants all died. Maria was only 19 years old when she died. But, when they found the bodies of the Romanovs and their servants they realized there were two missing, Alexei and either Maria, Tatiana, or Anastasia. Recently, the Russian Orthodox Church has canonized the Romanovs as saints.
- Music Department
- Composer
- Writer
Claude Debussy was born in St. Germain-en-Laye, near Paris, France. His father was a salesman and kept a china shop. His mother was a seamstress. Some traumatizing events in his childhood caused him a depression and he never spoke about his early years. Later he could not compose without having his favorite porcelain frog.
Debussy's piano teacher, Mme. Maute, had been a student of Frédéric Chopin. She sent Debussy to the Paris Conservatory, where he studied from 1872-84 with César Franck, Ernest Guiraud and others. He lived at the castle of Nadezhda von Meck and taught her children. She was a wealthy patroness of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, and eventually Debussy played all pieces by Tchaikovsky in addition to other classical repertoire. She also took Debussy on trips to Venice, Vienna and Moscow. In Vienna he heard "Tristan und Isolde" by Richard Wagner and later admitted that it had influenced him for a number of years.
Debussy won the Prix de Rome twice--in 1883 and 1884--and the money covered his studies at the Villa de Medici in Rome for the next four years. In Rome he met Franz Liszt and Giuseppe Verdi and heard more of Wagner's music, which made a strong impression on him. In 1888 and 1889 he went to listen to yet more of Wagner's music at the Bayreuth Festspiehaus. There he was very impressed by "Parsifal" and other of Wagner's works. He used the Wagnerian chromaticism for upgrades to his own tonal harmony in "Cinq poems de Baudelaire" (1889).
Debussy became influenced by the impressionist poets and artists in the circle of Stéphane Mallarmé. In 1890 he wrote his most famous music collection for piano, "Suite bergamasque", containing "Clair de Lune". His "Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun" (1892) continued the most productive 20-year period in his life. He composed orchestral "Nocturnes", "La Mer", "Images" (1899-1909), and the intricate ballet "Jeux" (1912) for "Ballets Russes" of Sergei Diaghilev. He was fascinated with Maurice Maeterlinck's play "Pelleas et Melisande", which inspired him to compose the eponymous symbolist opera which was praised by Paul Dukas and Maurice Ravel.
In 1908 Debussy married singer Emma Bardac after they had a daughter, Claude-Emma. Debussy called her Chou-Chou and composed for her the collection of piano pieces "Children's Corner Suite" (1909). His piano masterpiece "Preludes" were composed in 1910-1913. The twelve preludes of the first book are alluding to Frédéric Chopin, with more provocative harmonies, especially the "La Cathedrale Engloutie". In the second book of twelve preludes Debussy explored avant-garde, with deliciously dissonant harmonies and mysterious images.
The beginning of WW I and the onset of cancer depressed Debussy. He left unfinished opera, ballets and two pieces after stories by Edgar Allan Poe that later were completed by his assistants. He died on March 25, 1918, in Paris.- Alix of Hess-Darmstadt was born on June 8, 1872 in Darmstadt, Germany. Her parents were the Grand Duke and Duchess of Darmstadt; her mother was also the daughter of Queen Victoria. When Alix was still very young, her sister Mary and then her mother died of diphtheria. Also, her brother Frederick (1870-1873) died from a fall from a window in his mother's room, complicated by hemophilia. She spent much of her time in England, staying with her grandmother and various aunts, uncles and cousins. When she was older she continued in the role of Landsmutter (Mother of the land) for her father.
At the wedding of her sister Elizabeth (Ella) to their cousin Seril of Russia, Alix met for the first time (and fell in love with) the Tsarivitch Nicholas. Even thought she was in love with him she did not want to marry him because she did not want to give up her Protestantism to be Russian Orthodox. About 4 or 5 years after they first met Alix's brother Ernest got married to their first cousin nicknamed Ducky. Since both were cousins of Nicholas as well he went to the wedding to see Alex. During the time that he was there he continually asked her to be his wife, and thanks to their love as well as their cousin Kaiser William II Alex finally consented to marry Nicholas.
Alix spent the first part of her engagement with her grandmother Queen Victoria in England telling her everything that had transpired leading to the engagement. The rest of the engagement did not go so smoothly though. Several months after the engagement Nicholas's father became ill at one of his palaces in Russia. Alix hearing this got there as soon as she could, but shortly after she got there Nicholas became Tsar Nicholas II. After this tragedy Alix did not want to wait to become a member of the family. Shortly after the death of her future father-in-law Alix became a member of the Russian Orthodox Faith taking the name Alexandra Fyodorovna. She and Nicholas wanted to marry where they were, but family told them that they should get married after the funeral of his father in Moscow. Thus the people of Russia got their first glimpse of their future Empress through death.
They were married on November 26, 1894, shortly after the death of his father, and before 1901 had four daughters named Olga (1895-1918) Tatiana (1897-1918), Maria (1899-1918) and Anastasia (1901-1918). In 1904 Alix gave birth to a son Alexis (known as Alexei) and sadly he had hemophilia, which was passed on to her a sister and brother from their mother Princess Alice and grandmother Queen Victoria.
In 1917 Nicholas was forced to abdicate the throne of Russia. The people who would have accepted it if he had abdicated in favor of his son, did not understand why he abdicated in favor of his brother. He only did this because he knew that his son's chances of survival were not good.
He and his family were then imprisoned in Siberia, and later moved to Ekaterinburg, where on the night of July 17, 1918 the Russian royal family was massacred. In the 1990s the burial sites were investigated, although the bodies of the Tsarivitch Alexei and one of his sisters (it is unclear which one) were missing. Using DNA from HRH Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh (Alix was his great-aunt) proved that four of the bodies belonged to the Tsarina and three of her daughters. - Her Imperial Highness, The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaievna Romanov was born on June 18, 1901. She was the fourth child of Tsar Nicholas the second, and the Empress Alexandra. She was a big disappointment because by now they were hoping for a boy to be the tsarevich and the next tsar. She had three older sisters -Olga, Tatiana and Maria - and one younger brother Alexei. Out of all she siblings she was the favorite of her grandmother, Maria Feodorovna. She had brown hair and blue eyes and was the jokester of the family who liked to play pranks on people. Anastasia was very short and thin but when the family was in captivity, she became fatter and her mental development had slowed down. Anastasia was sometimes called "Imp" and "The Infant Terrible" of the family. Anastasia was pretty close to her older sister Maria who were known as "The Little Pair", while, her older sisters Olga and Tatiana, were called "The Big Pair." As well as their older sisters, they shared a bedroom. Anastasia dominated her older sister with her energy and enthusiasm. Anastasia was extremely close to her younger brother Alexei. Whenever Alexei got hurt, she would always try to make him better by telling jokes and trying to get him to laugh. When her father abdicated, for himself and for Alexei, Anastasia and her family were prisoners of the Revolution, in Tobolsk. After that, Anastasia's father, mother and sister Maria went to Ekaterinburg, leaving Anastasia with her sisters Olga and Tatiana and her younger brother Alexei. Anastasia and her sisters took care of Alexei because he got very hurt before her father, mother and sister left. After Alexei was well enough to be moved, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Alexei and some of their employs went to Ekaterinburg, to be with their parents and Maria. In Ekaterinburg the Romanovs lived in a place called "The House of Special Purpose." Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia all shared a room, while her father, mother, and Alexei shared. On July 17, 1918 the Romanovs, their Doctor, and others where set up in a basement in "The House of Special Purpose." Then, 11 executors entered and started firing. Anastasia and her family and servants all died. Anastasia was only 17 years old when she died. But, when they found the bodies of the Romanovs and their servants they realized they are missing two, Alexei and either Maria, Tatiana, or Anastasia. Recently the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia canonized the Romanovs as saints.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Anna Held was born Helene Anna Held on March 8, 1872 (some sources say 1873) in Warsaw, Poland, the youngest of eleven children in a Jewish family. Her family moved to France, where her father died from alcoholism when she was twelve years old. She began her career singing in Europe. Her signature song was "Won't You Come And Play With Me." In 1894, she married Maximo Carrerra, a wealthy South American adventurer. Their daughter, Liane, was born the following year.
While performing in London in 1886 she met producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. He brought her to New York and the two began a passionate affair. Held quickly became one of Broadway's most popular stars. She starred in the hit shows A Parlor Match, Papa's Wife, and Miss Innocence. Audiences loved her voice and her risque performances. Her lavish stage shows were the inspiration for the Ziegfeld Follies. The press reported that she bathed in milk every day and had a rib removed to achieve her perfect hourglass figure (her waist was only eighteen inches).
Maximo Carrera, her estranged husband, died in 1908. Although she referred to Ziegfeld as her husband the two never legally married and he broke her heart with his infidelity. When she became pregnant he convinced her to have an abortion. The couple ended their relationship in 1909 after he fell in love with Lillian Lorraine. In 1916, Held made the feature length film Madame la Presidente (1916), playing Mademoiselle Gobette, for which she was paid $30,000. Later, she appeared in the Broadway musical Follow Me.
During WWI, she went to France to entertain the soldiers. She was diagnosed with cancer in early 1918. On August 12, 1918, aged 46, she died of multiple myeloma. She was buried at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York. Florenz Ziegfeld was criticized in the press for not attending her funeral.- Edmund Rostand was a prominent French playwright and poet.
Rostand, who was born in Marseille on 1 April, 1868, the son of the distinguished economist Eugene Rostand (1843-1915), first achieved success in Paris at the age of twenty with his vaudeville sketch 'Le Gant Rouge". A collection of poems in 1890 entitled "Les Musardises", would also be well received. Not before too long his works were being compared to that of Belgian poet and playwright Maurice Maeterlinck (1862-1949).
Some of Rostand's more successful plays were: "Les Romonesques" (1894), "La Princess Lomtain" (1895), "La Samaritaine" (1897), "Cyrano de Bergerac" (1897), "Aiglon" (1901) and "Chantecler" (1910). Many of Rostand's plays were popular on both sides of the Atlantic. The American rights to "Chantecler" alone would make him a small fortune.
Edmund Rostand was a member of L'Académie française and a commander of the Légion d'honneur. He had dined with King Edward IV at Biarritz and read "Cyrano de Bergerac" to an audience of Paris laborers. At the outbreak of World War One his offer to enlist was politely turned down by French officials. After the sinking of the Lusitania, he wrote a long poem condemning the German ambassador to America. Rostand passed away on 2 December, 1918 after a bout of influenza. Besides his son, Jean Rostand, he was survived by his wife, Rosemonde Gerard (1871-1953), a grand-daughter of Count Etienne Gerard (1773-1852), a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars. - Director
- Animation Department
- Producer
Émile Reynaud was a French inventor born in Montreuil, Paris to Brutus Reynaud, an engineer who moved to Paris from Le Puy-en-Velay in 1842, and Marie-Caroline Bellanger, a former schoolteacher who educated Émile at home and taught him drawing and painting techniques. By 1862 he started his own career as a photographer in Paris. When his father died, him and mother both left Paris for Le Puy-en-Velay. He was taught Latin, Greek, physics, chemistry, mechanics, and natural sciences by his uncle, a doctor in the area. After reading a series of 1876 articles about optical illusion devices, he created the praxinoscope (an animation device) out of a cookie box and patented it in 1877. He started production on the device in Paris and was a financial success. He perfected the praxinoscope and invented Théâtre Optique (Optical Theatre), an animated moving picture system, which is also notable for the first known use of film perforations, and patented it in 1888. Its first regular public screenings started on 28 October 1892 with his series of animated films called Pantomimes Lumineuses. In 1895 he created the photo-scénographe, a version of the théâtre optique that could take photographs, but it was overshadowed by the cinematograph of Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière. Later, due to the success of other filmmakers the popularity of Reynaud's showings was reduced and they ended on 1 March 1900. He destroyed the théâtre optique during a fit of despair and years later he threw most of his films into the Siene. On 16 October 1902 he patented the stéréo-cinéma, a stereo camera that could take 3D film. He made several films with the camera, but was unable to find financial backing. During World War I he lived in hospitals and nursing homes before dying on 9 January 1918.- His Imperial Highness Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov was born on August 12, 1904, in the Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, Russia. He was the youngest child and only son of Their Imperial Majesties Tsar Nicholas II and Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna. His birth was a cause for much celebration throughout the Russian Empire, for he was the long-awaited heir to the throne. However, he was only a few days old when he began to bleed uncontrollably from the navel. He was diagnosed with hemophilia B, a condition that could be traced back to his maternal great-grandmother Queen Victoria. There was no treatment for this deadly blood disease in the early twentieth century, and the life expectancy was just thirteen years. This diagnosis devastated his parents, and they devoted themselves to keeping him alive and well. Two sailors were assigned to keep a close eye on Alexei, as the most minor cut or bruise could potentially be fatal. Despite his disease, Alexei was a bright, active child. He was doted on by his four older sisters, Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana, and Grand Duchess Maria, and had an especially close relationship with the family prankster, the youngest girl, Grand Duchess Anastasia. Alexei was compassionate and sweet, and suffered patiently through the frequent cruel attacks of his disease. The excruciating pain and long recovery periods left him nearly permanently disabled and put a dent in his education. He was naturally quite intelligent, though, and spoke three languages. One very serious crisis happened when he was eight in 1912 in Spala, Poland, after a tumble in a boat. He seemed fine for a few days but he later began to hemorrhage internally in his leg and abdomen and was not expected to live; he was given the last sacrament. However, Alexandra received a telegram from the faith healer Grigori Rasputin, and Alexei miraculously recovered. This incident strengthened his mother's undying faith in Rasputin that stayed until his murder in 1916. During World War I, Alexei accompanied his father to military headquarters, known as Stavka, to observe the life of a soldier. He charmed and won the hearts of both enlisted infantrymen and high-ranking officers alike with his youthful energy and simplicity. When the first Russian revolution came in March 1917, his father abdicated, and after a candid conversation with his son's doctors who told him that Alexei wouldn't survive much longer, he renounced the tsarevich's claim to the throne as well. The tsar and his family were placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace, and in August 1917 they were moved to the Governor's House in Tobolsk, Siberia, allegedly for their own safety, but in November 1917 the Bolsheviks took power and there was little hope of getting the family to safety left. While in exile in March 1918 Alexei suffered a fall and a severe hemorrhage ensued; he was in such pain that he begged his mother to let him die. He was too unwell to accompany his family to Ekaterinburg, to where they were now being exiled. Nicholas, Alexandra, and Maria left for Ekaterinburg, and the four other siblings joined them in the Ipatiev House in April. For the remaining four months of his life Alexei was unable to walk. He found consolation in writing letters to his friend Kolya and playing card games with his sisters. He was very pious and spent much time praying. In the early morning hours of July 17, 1918, the family was woken and told they were being moved to the basement to avoid being caught in the gunfire that was raging in the city outside. The tsar and the empress, the four grand duchesses, the tsarevich, and four loyal retainers were led down the steps to the basement and and were posed as though for a portrait. Alexei had to be carried in by his father. Suddenly, an execution squad of twelve, led by Commandant Yakov Yurovsky, opened fire on the family, and a messy, savage bloodbath ensued which left no survivors save Alexei's dog Joy. The tsarevich was only thirteen years old. The bodies were dumped in the forest outside Ekaterinburg and doused in acid, but Alexei's body and that of either Maria or Anastasia were taken elsewhere and unsuccessfully cremated. The location of the remains stayed a secret until 1991, when the bodies of nine of the eleven victims were discovered and identified through DNA testing. The five royals' remains were interred in the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral, but the bodies of the tsarevich and his sister were missing until 2007, when they were discovered and identified. As of 2016 they are being held in a vault in the Novospassky Monastery. In 1980, the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR) canonized Alexei, his parents, and sisters as martyrs. The Russian Orthodox Church followed suit and declared them passion bearers. The Russian state rehabilitated him and his family as victims of political repression.
- Chung Ling Soo was born on 2 April 1861 in New York, USA. He died on 24 March 1918 in Wood Green, London, England, UK.
- Her Imperial Highness, The Grand Duchess Tatiana Nicholaievna Romanov was born on June 10, 1897. She is the second child of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra. She has one elder sister, Olga, two younger sisters - Maria and Anastasia and a younger brother Alexei. Out of all of Tatiana's siblings, she was her mother's favorite companion. She was tall and a lot like her mother and the classical beauty of the family with auburn hair and grey eyes. Tatiana was extremely close to her older sister Olga, who was only 18 months apart. Tatiana and Olga shared a bedroom and were called "The Big Pair", while Olga's other two younger sisters - Maria and Anastasia - whee called "The Little Pair." She was also the leader of her brother and sisters, and they called her "Governess." Tatiana was the one who usually took charge of everything, which didn't bother the oldest, Olga. When World War I started Tatiana her sister Olga and her Mother the Empress Alexandra became War nurses. After she caught the measles, along with her siblings, Tatiana lost a lot of weight and her personality changed after she and her family were held under guard. When her father abdicated, for himself and for Alexei, Tatiana and her family where prisoners of the Revolution, in Tobolsk. After that, Tatiana's father, mother and sister Maria went to Ekaterinburg, leaving Tatiana with her sisters Olga and Anastasia and her younger brother Alexei. Tatiana and her sisters took care of Alexei because he got very hurt before her father, mother and sister left. After Alexei was well enough to be moved, Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, Alexei and some of their employees went to Ekaterinburg, to be with their parents and Maria. In Ekaterinburg the Romanovs lived in a place called "The House of Special Purpose." Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia all shared a room, while her father, mother, and Alexei shared. On July 17, 1918 the Romanovs, their Doctor, and others were set up in a basement in "The House of Special Purpose." Then, 11 executors entered and started firing. Tatiana and her family and servants all died. Tatiana was only 22 years old when she died. But, when they found the bodies of the Romanovs and their servants they realized they are missing two, Alexei and either Maria, Tatiana, or Anastasia. Recently the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia canonized the Romanovs as saints.
- True Boardman was born on 21 April 1880 in Oakland, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Tarzan of the Apes (1918), Stingaree (1915) and The Further Adventures of Stingaree (1917). He was married to Virginia True Boardman. He died on 28 September 1918 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
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Wilhelm Albert Vladimir Apollonaris de Kostrowicki (pseudonyme: Guillaume Apollinaire), born on August 26, 1880, in Rome, Italy. His Russian-born mother, Angelica Kostrovicka, claimed belonging to Polish Szlachta nobility. His father is unknown. His mother was later gambling and living in Monaco. There young Apollinaire received a French college education and assumed the identity of a Russian Prince.
Apollinaire was fluent in French, Russian, and Italian. He settled in Paris at the age of 20, and worked for a bank. In 1903 he founded his own magazines, 'Le Festin d'Esope', and 'La Revue immoraliste', alluding to the 1902 work of his friend André Gide. He also published semi-pornographic books. His first collection of poetry was 'L'enchanteur pourissant' (1909). With the publication of 'Alcools' (aka.. Alcohols) (1913) Apollinaire established his reputation as a highly original voice in modern poetry. 'Alcools' includes poems written over 15 years, ranging from transcriptions of street conversations to classical verse forms in combination with experimental imagery and absence of punctuation. It's opening poem 'Zone' is a depiction of the tormented poet, who is wandering after the loss of his girlfriend.
In 1909 Apollinaire brought Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque together. In 1911 he helped them organize the Cubist room 41 at the Salon des Independants. Living at 'La Ruche' artists community at Monparnasse, he was arranging art shows and writing reviews about his friends, such as Henri Matisse, Marc Chagall, Giorgio De Chirico, Andre Derain, Marcel Duchamp, Ossip Zadkine, Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, and other artists. He collaborated with writers Max Jacob, Blaise Cendrars, Jean Cocteau, Pierre Reverdy, Gertrude Stein. Apollinaire was the artistic adviser to Sergei Diaghilev and worked with the "Ballets Russes" in Paris. He write librettos and collaborated with composers Erik Satie and Francis Poulenc among others.
He had a talent of bringing great people together and producing a lasting impact on the world of art. After his successful introduction of Picasso and Braque, which conceived Cubism, he was instrumental in other productive partnerships. Apollinaire's role in art and literature may be paralleled to that of Gertrude Stein. In 1918, Apollinaire organized the first comparative exhibition of Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse on Montparnasse. He also published a Matisse-Picasso catalogue, where he wrote an article about the two artists. Apollinaire stimulated the extraordinary artistic dialogue between Matisse and Picasso, which took a form of a "visual conversation" and a continuous exchange of their paintings with mutual respect.
Apollinaire's unusual personality was an example of disobedience being an essential part of his powerful innovative creativity. He forged a reputation of himself as a dangerous foreigner and thief. He was once detained for a week on suspicion of stealing the Leonaro's Mona Lisa from the Louvre, which was soon found to be untrue. He helped define the movement of Cubism, in his writings about Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque. Apollinaire also coined the term Surrealism in his program note for the ballet 'Parade' by composer Erik Satie and librettist Jean Cocteau. He wrote his own play ''Les Mamelles de Tiresias' in the style described as surrealist. He also coined the term Orphism in definition of such group of artists as Robert Dalauney, Fernand Leger, Francis Picabia, and Frantisek Kupka. Apollinaire applied the term Metaphysical art to his definition of the early works by Giorgio De Chirico.
Though he never publicly admitted his authorship, Apollinaire wrote the well-known erotic novel 'Les Onze Mille Verges' (The Eleven Thousand Rods, 1907). Various underground printings of it circulated widely for many years, while it was officially banned in France until 1970, then it was made into a film titled 'The 11,000 Sexes' (1975). Apollinaire is also credited for another erotic novel 'Les Exploits d'un jeune Don Juan' (The Exploits of Don Juan), which was made into an eponymous movie in 1987.
In 1914, at the beginning of the First World War, Apollinaire took the Franch nationality and enlisted in the Army with the goal to liberate Poland from Russia. He fought at the front-line and was seriously wounded in the head. After that he became engaged to a schoolteacher named Madeleine Pages. Then he met Jacqueline Kolb (La Jolie Rousse), whom he married in 1918. She was Apollinaire's last romance and the inspiration behind some of his risqué poems. During the war he wrote experimental 'Calligrammes' (1918), also known as "Word Pictures", a collection of his concrete poetry, in which typography and layout adds to the overall effect of his verses.
Guillaume Apollinaire contracted influenza during the 'Spanish Flu' pandemic of 1918. He died on November 9, 1918, in Paris, France, and was laid to rest in the Cimetière du Père-Lachaise.
Pablo Picasso depicted Apollinaire as 'Pierrot' in several important paintings. Henri Matisse made several portraits of Apollinaire.- Writer
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Author and poet ("Trees"), educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University (BA). He was the editorial assistant for the Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary, the literary editor of 'The Churchman', the poetry editor of the 'Literary Digest', and a contributor to the New York Times Sunday Magazine and the Warner's Library of the World's Best Literature. He also lectured at the New York University School of Journalism. During World War I he served in the 165th Infantry, US Army (69th NY), and was killed in action. His works were entered into ASCAP membership in 1950. His poems that were set to music include "Trees", "Roofs", "Memorial Day", "Slender Your Hands", "The House With Nobody In It", "Christmas Eve", "Gates and Doors", "Stars", "The Peacemaker", "Lullaby for a Baby Fairy", "The Constant Lamp", "When the 69th Gets Back", and "Fairy Hills of Dream".- George Alexander was born on 19 June 1858 in Reading, Berkshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1916) and Masks and Faces (1917). He was married to Florence Jane (née Théleur). He died on 15 March 1918 in London, England, UK.
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Vernon Castle and his wife Irene Castle were the best known ballroom dancers of the early 20th Century. Beginning about 1914 they operated several clubs and studios in the New York City area, toured the country dancing, and were able to charge as much as a thousand dollars an hour for lessons.
From 1906 through 1913 he appeared in nine Broadway musicals: "The Sunshine Girl", "The Lady of the Slipper", "The Hen-Pecks", "The Summer Widowers", "Old Dutch", "The Midnight Sons", "The Mimic World", "The Girl Behind the Counter", and "About Town." In 1914, he appeared with Irene in the Irving Berlin musical "Watch Your Step." Vernon (as a military flying instructor) was killed in an airplane accident shortly before the end or World War I.
Vernon and Irene were the subjects of the movie The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939).- Gavrilo Princip was born on 25 July 1894 in Obljaj, Grahovo, Bosnia. He died on 28 April 1918 in Theresienstadt, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Terezín, Czech Republic].
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John H. Collins was born on 31 December 1889 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Children of Eve (1915), The Girl Without a Soul (1917) and Riders of the Night (1918). He was married to Viola Dana. He died on 23 October 1918 in New York City, New York, USA.- William Hope Hodgson was born on 15 November 1877 in the UK. William Hope was a writer, known for Matango (1963), Suspicion (1957) and The Rivals of Sherlock Holmes (1971). William Hope died on 19 April 1918 in Ypres, Flanders, Belgium.
- William Shea was born on 6 October 1856 in Dumfries, Dumfriesshire, Scotland, UK. He was an actor, known for Davy Jones' Parrot (1910), Davy Jones and Captain Bragg (1910) and Davy Jones' Domestic Troubles (1910). He died on 5 November 1918 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.
- Born in 1892 in Breslau, Silesia (now Wroclaw, Poland) Richthofen was the son of a hereditary baron. A daredevil for life, he was an avid hunter and mountain climber. With Germany's entrance into WW1 in 1914, Richthofen mobilized in a Silesian cavalry unit, and survived the first battle of Verdun in 1915. Soon after, he transferred to the Luftwaffe (Imperial German Air Force) as a bombardier. By 1916, however, he was tapped for training in the then-new art of fighter combat, flying an Albatros D.2 in March, 1916. By the end of 1916, Richthofen was a certified ace, having downed over 20 aircraft, including the number one British ace up to that time, Maj. Lanoe Hawker. Due to his tally, Richthofen earned the medal "Pour le Merite" (yes, the official name's in French) in December 1916. Throughout the rest of the war, the legend of the Red Baron continued to grow, as did his kill tally, officially reaching 80 kills in April 1918. On April 21 of that year, Richthofen led a routine strafing mission against the British trenches in the Somme region and was killed with a single .303 bullet to the chest, most likely fired from the ground.
- Actor
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Dark Cloud was born on 20 September 1861 in St. Francis Indian Village, Quebec, Canada. He was an actor and writer, known for What Am I Bid? (1919), The Dishonored Medal (1914) and The Woman Untamed (1920). He was married to Margaret Camp. He died on 17 October 1918 in Los Angeles, California, USA.- Myrtle Gonzalez was born on 28 September 1891 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Level (1914), The Little Sheriff (1914) and The Chalice of Courage (1915). She was married to Allen Watt and J. Parks Jones. She died on 22 October 1918 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- Between 1876 and 1883, Gustav Klimt studied at the School of Applied Arts in Vienna. A scholarship made this training possible for him. His brother attended the same school. Between 1880 and 1883, together and with Franz Matsch, they realized commissioned works and painted ceiling and theater decorations in Vienna, Karlsbad and Reichenberg. In 1883 the three opened a studio in Vienna and, among other things, accepted commissioned work. They worked on the National Theater in Bucharest, or they designed the ceilings of the Hermes Villa of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth. In 1886 a commission at the Burgtheater in Vienna followed. Two years later, the work was completed and the artists were honored by Emperor Franz Joseph I with the Golden Cross of Merit for Art. During this time, Klimt turned to monumental painting. In 1889, Gustav Klimt undertook a trip to Europe, including stops in Trieste, Venice and Munich. Especially in the period between 1890 and 1900, the artist was in search of his individual expressiveness. He increasingly broke away from the academic style.
In 1891 he joined the "Vienna's Cooperative of Visual Artists". In doing so, he placed himself between the fronts of tradition-conscious followers and the avant-gardists. During this time he met Emilie Flöge. The connection develops into a friendship. Gustav Klimt is the father of several illegitimate children that he had with his models. In 1892 his brother died. Klimt severed his studio connection with Franz Matsch. Two years later the two were commissioned to design the ceiling decoration of the "Aula Magna" at the University of Vienna. In 1897, Klimt was one of the co-founders of the Viennese artist group "Secession". He was also its first president. The group's goals were the independence of art and artists, above all, from government regulations. The magazine "Ver Sacrum" became the movement's medium in which the "Secession" artists presented their work and their goals. In the following years, Klimmt was heavily involved in the artists' association. In the period from 1898 to 1900 there was a change in the artist's painting technique. Klimt turned to an expressionist style with a flat, ornamental character. In 1900 the work "Philosophy", one of three ceiling paintings in the University of Vienna, was awarded the gold medal.
Nevertheless, the paintings met with internal criticism from professors who judged them to be ugly and pornographic. In 1902 Klimt created the "Beethoven Frieze" for Max Klinger's "Beethoven Statue". Klimt's work provoked polemical reactions. In the same year he met the important French sculptor Auguste Rodin, who was impressed by Klimt's "Beethoven Frieze". The following year the artist went on a trip to Italy to Ravenna, Venice and Florence. The discussion between naturalists and stylists in the "Secession" led to the group's split in 1905. Klimt and other artists then left. The contrary reactions to his faculty pictures at the University of Vienna increased. As a result, Klimt withheld the works and paid back the fee. The following year, Klimt's "golden period" began. The picture entitled "Fritza Riedler" was created and marked the beginning of it. This phase culminated in the picture "The Kiss". During this time, Klimmt realized an expressive language that was linked to early Christian mosaic works and icons. The artist got his inspiration for this in Italy.
During this period, numerous portraits of women with an erotic character were created and document Klimt's devotion to the female gender. In 1907 there was first contact with the Austrian painter and draftsman Egon Schiele. The expressionist artist was significantly inspired by Klimt's work. In the years 1908 and 1909 Klimt organized the "Art Show". In 1911 the artist was awarded first prize at the International Art Exhibition in Rome for his painting "Death and Life". On the other hand, Klimt's style was often criticized. He brought his pictures into harmony with the compositions of Gustav Mahler and the psychoanalytic theses of Sigmund Freud. Together with Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka and Anton Faistauer, Klimt took part in the exhibition of the "Association of Austrian Artists", which was organized by the Berlin "Secession". In 1917, Gustav Klimt became an honorary member of the academies of fine arts in Vienna and Munich.