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kiwi_fruit 's review for:
Nicholas and Alexandra
by Robert K. Massie
The portraits that Massie paints in this book of the last emperor of Russia and his wife are both sad and unflattering. Nicholas II was a peace loving man, an ill-suited leader unprepared for command of a massive empire after the death of his father Alexander III, a case of “shoes too big to fill” following in the tradition of impressive figures such as Peter the great, Catherina II and Alexander I.
Alexandra, although a tender wife and devoted mother was a liability as a political advisor and certainly unwise in her choice of friends, she was totally dominated by the charismatic wily peasant and “holy man” Rasputin. By the end of the book, the reader can appreciate the isolation of Tzar Nicholas and feel the helplessness of the imperial family to the tragic climax when the winds of change swept them away.
In my view, the thesis of the author, that it was Alexei’s hemophilia that doomed the empire, although romantic is not entirely credible. The concerns around the Tsarevich health, the consequent demands on the family and fear for the future of Russia’s imperial succession are undisputed. There are many “if only” in history but the fact that the heir was born hemophiliac can be only a factor and not the main one, in the demise of the Romanov dynasty.
The internal situation in Russia in late 19th and early 20th century combined with the concurrent international political turmoil (the need to change the old regime into modernity requiring both political and economical reforms, the imprudence and arrogance of the ruling class, the demands of the industrial revolution, the questionable appointments to critical foreign government and Duma posts, the start of WWI for which Russia was unprepared and its prolonged timeframe etc.) bear a lot more weight than the illness of the Tsarevich towards the disintegration of Russian old regime.
Reading about the imperial family ignorance and negligence about the many workers’ strikes and unrest by the poverty stricken and disaffected peasants, and, what’s more, the insistence and belief in the Tasarist autocracy as God given right, the one cannot but conclude that the collapse of the Russian imperial government and the following Revolution were largely inevitable.
Massie is an extraordinary non-fiction writer bringing to life the splendor of the jeweled nobility and their refined palaces and estates contrasting them to the squalor and poverty of the peasant life and the horror of the battlefields. I personally didn’t enjoy this book as much as did [b:Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman|10414941|Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman|Robert K. Massie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403395276s/10414941.jpg|15319151] which I highly recommend, nonetheless it was a worthy read for me.
Recommended to readers interested in the history of Russia. 3.5 stars
Alexandra, although a tender wife and devoted mother was a liability as a political advisor and certainly unwise in her choice of friends, she was totally dominated by the charismatic wily peasant and “holy man” Rasputin. By the end of the book, the reader can appreciate the isolation of Tzar Nicholas and feel the helplessness of the imperial family to the tragic climax when the winds of change swept them away.
In my view, the thesis of the author, that it was Alexei’s hemophilia that doomed the empire, although romantic is not entirely credible. The concerns around the Tsarevich health, the consequent demands on the family and fear for the future of Russia’s imperial succession are undisputed. There are many “if only” in history but the fact that the heir was born hemophiliac can be only a factor and not the main one, in the demise of the Romanov dynasty.
The internal situation in Russia in late 19th and early 20th century combined with the concurrent international political turmoil (the need to change the old regime into modernity requiring both political and economical reforms, the imprudence and arrogance of the ruling class, the demands of the industrial revolution, the questionable appointments to critical foreign government and Duma posts, the start of WWI for which Russia was unprepared and its prolonged timeframe etc.) bear a lot more weight than the illness of the Tsarevich towards the disintegration of Russian old regime.
Reading about the imperial family ignorance and negligence about the many workers’ strikes and unrest by the poverty stricken and disaffected peasants, and, what’s more, the insistence and belief in the Tasarist autocracy as God given right, the one cannot but conclude that the collapse of the Russian imperial government and the following Revolution were largely inevitable.
Massie is an extraordinary non-fiction writer bringing to life the splendor of the jeweled nobility and their refined palaces and estates contrasting them to the squalor and poverty of the peasant life and the horror of the battlefields. I personally didn’t enjoy this book as much as did [b:Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman|10414941|Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman|Robert K. Massie|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403395276s/10414941.jpg|15319151] which I highly recommend, nonetheless it was a worthy read for me.
Recommended to readers interested in the history of Russia. 3.5 stars