One hundred years ago today, Vladimir Lenin’s Bolsheviks took power in Russia, only eight months after Czar Nicholas II had abdicated the throne amid a popular uprising and soldier mutiny.

The Romanov family rose to imperial power in Russia in the early 1600s ... as much as its “blinkered faith in autocracy” and the inept leadership of Tsar Nicholas II, the last ruler of the Romanov ...

For the first time, Russians have the chance to examine the evidence surrounding the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family ... which would help diffuse power at the top," he says.