Alexandra - The Last Tsarina

Alexandra - The Last Tsarina

Carolly Erickson

Language: English

Pages: 372

ISBN: 0965203786

Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub


The lives and deaths of the Romanov family are redolent with color and drama, but the personal life of the beautiful Tsarina Alexandra has remained enigmatic. Under Erickson's masterful scrutiny the full dimensions of the Empress's singular psychology are revealed: her childhood bereavement, her long struggle to attain her romantic goal of marriage to her handsome cousin Nicholas, anguishing shyness, the struggles with her in-laws, a false pregnancy, her increasing eccentricities as she became more preoccupied with matters of faith, and her growing dependence on a series of occult mentors, the most notorious of whom was Rasputin. With meticulous care, long-practiced skill, and generous imagination, Erickson has brought Alexandra and her family back to life. Taking advantage of material unavailable until the fall of the Soviet Union, Erickson portrays Alexandra's story as a closely observed, enthrallingly documented, progressive psychological retreat from reality.

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urging Nicholas for months to avert catastrophe by exiling himself to Livadia, and especially removing Alix from the capital so that she would have no further influence on the government. 3. Buxhoeveden, pp. 249–50. Buxhoeveden herself was alarmed, having been cautioned in January by General Ressine, in command of the regiment that mounted guard inside the palace, that morale among the men was low as ‘revolutionary propaganda had been active among them’. Ressine added that the police had given

Mother Maria see Michaelovna, Maria Mouchanow, Martha ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6, ref 7, ref 8, ref 9, ref 10, ref 11, ref 12, ref 13, ref 14, ref 15, ref 16, ref 17, ref 18, ref 19, ref 20, ref 21, ref 22, ref 23, ref 24 Mukden battle ref 1 Munitions Committee ref 1 mutiny, of armed forces (1917) ref 1 Nagorny ref 1 Naryshkin, Madame ref 1, ref 2 Nest of the Gentry (Turgenev) ref 1 Nevsky Prospekt ref 1, ref 2, ref 3, ref 4, ref 5, ref 6 Nicholaevich, Nicholas, Grand Duke

the city officials, even the doctors for the huge loss of life. Serge was called ‘The Prince of Khodynka’, the tsar ‘Bloody Nicholas’. Alix became ‘The German Bitch’, and it was said that she had laughed and danced in heartless abandon at the French ambassador’s ball, heedless of the suffering of the people. Alix faded, suffered, and in the end, succumbed to her weariness and anxiety. Her body rebelled, and she miscarried her baby.12 What had begun in joy and celebration was ending in a season

made no difference to the outcome.5 And his own belief in his abilities compelled trust and belief in others. As to the accusation of greed, this too collapsed in the face of Father Gregory’s simple manner of living and his habit of giving away the money grateful clients brought him. He was not poor, and was shrewd enough to manage his financial affairs adroitly, but he had few possessions – even the furniture in his apartment was not his.6 To assess Father Gregory with anything like objectivity

family, indeed Russia itself. And the dark forces were growing strong, or so it seemed to Alix as the second decade of what she saw as the barbaric, inhumane twentieth century advanced. They were gathering, like a towering thundercloud, over the capital. 21 A reckless hedonism reigned in Petersburg in the mild winter and warm spring of 1911. There was a mania for skating, and the indoor rinks were full of eager skaters racing, leaping and turning with perilous abandon. The gaudy red, orange

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