What year was the Romanov family imprisoned in the Urals?

Answer 1

The Romanovs were in protective custody of the Privisional Government and then under arrest by the Bolsheviks. They had been moved around several times to different places by both governments. While in custody of the Bolsheviks, they were moved to the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinberg (city of Catherine) which is in Siberia, not in the Ural mountains. This is where they were murdered in July 1918.

Answer 2

I couldn't remember the name of the western Siberian town where the provisional government first sent the Imperial family. it just now popped back into place in my mind: Toblosk. Here they were accorded the courtesy of a former tsar and imperial highnesses. It was only the historically fatal arrival of a telegram from Lenin to the Moscow Soviet that prompted the families removal from Toblosk to Ekaterinburg by much more hostile "guards". Thus diverting the advance of the White Army (loyalists' to the Empire) in efforts to liberate the Imperial family and restore the sovereignty. This answer below is good yet too broad and opens the question to myriad threads. Accordingly I've made a few geographical corrections. Please also note that DNA evidence (taken from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh) in 1995 conclusively confirmed that the Imperial family were all killed. Simply put: Nicholas II, last tsar of Russia, his wife, children and a few retainers from Tsarkoe Selo (the imperial court) were quietly packed off; late 1917. They were murdered with explicit orders from the Moscow Soviet 17 July 1918, in the Ukranian town of Ekaterinburg (seat of the Ural Soviet). The Romanov family was held in Protective Custody in Ekaterinberg in Siberia, not in the Ural mountains. The family was imprisoned from 1917 until July of 1918, when it was assumed the entire family had been executed. There is some controversy about whether the entire family was killed or not; that, however, is another subject entirely.