The Romanovs: 1613-1918
Simon Sebag Montefiore
Language: English
Pages: 784
ISBN: 0307266524
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world’s surface for three centuries. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world’s greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?
This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore’s gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance, with a global cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy and Pushkin, to Bismarck, Lincoln, Queen Victoria and Lenin.
To rule Russia was both imperial-sacred mission and poisoned chalice: six of the last twelve tsars were murdered. Peter the Great tortured his own son to death while making Russia an empire, and dominated his court with a dining club notable for compulsory drunkenness, naked dwarfs and fancy dress. Catherine the Great overthrew her own husband (who was murdered soon afterward), enjoyed affairs with a series of young male favorites, conquered Ukraine and fascinated Europe. Paul I was strangled by courtiers backed by his own son, Alexander I, who in turn faced Napoleon’s invasion and the burning of Moscow, then went on to take Paris. Alexander II liberated the serfs, survived five assassination attempts and wrote perhaps the most explicit love letters ever composed by a ruler. The Romanovs climaxes with a fresh, unforgettable portrayal of Nicholas II and Alexandra, the rise and murder of Rasputin, war and revolution—and the harrowing massacre of the entire family.
Dazzlingly entertaining and beautifully written from start to finish, The Romanovs brings these monarchs—male and female, great and flawed, their families and courts—blazingly to life. Drawing on new archival research, Montefiore delivers an enthralling epic of triumph and tragedy, love and murder, encompassing the seminal years 1812, 1914 and 1917, that is both a universal study of power and a portrait of empire that helps define Russia today.
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to please the emperor, deliver children—and turn a blind eye to Alexander’s adventures. She succeeded at all three, becoming beloved by the courtiers. Alexander was kind and solicitous, but she was hardly the lubricious partner for this breezy Lothario: he was probably still in love with Kalinovskaya, now Princess Oginski: her son Bogdan, born in 1848, was widely believed to be his. Meanwhile Alexander was groomed for power. He attended the State Council, commanded the Guards, served on the
stay one,” she told her brother’s tutor Gilliard. “I don’t want to leave Russia (and) papa has promised not to make me”—loving paternal sentiments except that a foreign marriage would have saved her life. After the Romanians had left, the family headed to Livadia.6 — “We’ve had two very happy months,” the tsar reflected after one of his Crimea hikes—but there was a fat lovesick fly in the ointment. Since the empress was so often ill, her moon-faced friend Anna spent more time with the tsar,
Elizabeth 245–8. Longworth, Empresses 228–9. 17. Peter III letters to/from Frederick: RA (1898) 1, December 1760–March 1762 (hero, 15 March, Peter to Frederick) 7. Soloviev 42.1–12 and 22–8. PSZ 15.11.445, 21 February 1762; PSZ 15.11.444, 18 February 1762; PSZ 15.11.481, 21 March 1762; PSZ 15.11.538, 18 May 1762. Blanning 253–7—Frederick quotation “one woman dies…sports of fortune.” The reign: Soloviev 42.79–87; Gudovich as hetman, Peter warns Dashkova 42.78–82; janissaries/Guards disbanded
was passed on to Sheremetev, who employed her as laundrywoman (and probably mistress), before presenting her to Menshikov, who likewise employed her as a laundress (and probably mistress). Peter and Anna Mons had drifted apart after he discovered that she was romancing two foreign ambassadors simultaneously. Peter merely confiscated her mansion and jewels—and her family remained at court. Now he became fond of Martha the Lithuanian laundress, converting her to Orthodoxy and giving her the name
the knout could kill a strong man and Alexei suffered many more. (An expert executioner could kill a man with a few lashes by breaking the backbone or keep him alive for weeks.) The body lay in the Holy Trinity Church for four days but on 27 and 29 June Peter held parties to celebrate Poltava and his nameday. On the 30th, Peter wept at the funeral as Alexei was buried in the family’s new Peter and Paul tomb. On 9 December Alexei’s confessor and servants were beheaded while others had their