Historical Biography - Royalty & Nobility, Russia - Kings & Rulers - Biography, Imperial Russia - 1881-1917

Nicholas II

Name: Nicholas II
Author: Dominic Lieven
ISBN: 9780312105105

by Lieven, Dominic

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Overview

What is there new to say about Russia's last monarch? Almost everything. Previous biographies have told of the shy family man, the father of the hemophiliac heir, the victim of the infamous murder at Ekaterinburg in 1918. This book provides new insights into those parts of the story, but it looks above all at Nicholas as political leader and emperor, as it portrays the Old Regime's collapse and the origins of Bolshevik Russia in a way that will surprise readers. Nicholas II was not stupid. Nor was he nearly as weak as is commonly thought. The dilemmas of ruling Russia were vast and contradictory, and it was an illusion to think that simply by agreeing to become a constitutional monarch Nicholas could have preserved his dynasty and empire. Drawing many eerie parallels to events unfolding in Russia today, Lieven shows that social and technological change had far outstripped the existing political and executive structures. The inability of the Tsar and his government to recognize these growing anachronisms and to devise new systems constructively helped lead to the devastating chaos out of which the new order arose. Drawing on his fifteen-year study of Imperial Russia and using archival material and other sources all over the world, Dominic Lieven shows that the downfall of both the Imperial and Soviet Regimes fit into a pattern of ongoing Russian history, one that bears close scrutiny if we are to understand the turmoil of the post-Cold War period.

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Editorials

Booknews

A leading expert on the history of late Imperial Russia shows that the downfalls of both the Imperial and Soviet regimes fit into a pattern of ongoing Russian history that sheds light on recent and future events. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Margaret Flanagan

An authoritative new biography of Nicholas II by a renowned expert on imperial Russian history. While most contemporary treatments of the last Russian czar tend to highlight the sensation of his tragic private life, Lieven opts to analyze the dual roles Nicholas II played as a monarch and as a politician. He offers perspective on the doomed reign of Nicholas by providing an illuminating examination of Russia's decaying feudal order and its cumbersome, antiquated system of government. Having inherited an increasingly obsolete political, economic, and administrative structure, Nicholas was ill-prepared to adapt to the cataclysmic social and technological revolution underway. Relevant comparisons are also made between the collapse of the imperial dynasty and the disintegration of the Soviet regime less than one century later. Recommended for sizable European and Russian history collections.

From Barnes & Noble

Drawing many eerie parallels to events unfolding in Russia today, the author provides new insight into the Old Regime's collapse and the origins of Bolshevik Russia in this portrayal of Russia's last monarch as a political leader and emperor.