Books.org participates in affiliate programs including Bookshop.org and the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. We may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through links on this page, at no additional cost to you.
Synopsis
Rumors, mysteries, and tales of horrifying privation and torture have echoed through the years, inspiring wild speculation and fantastic claims of the "truth" of the final days of Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II and his family. Now, in the first comprehensive account of their imprisonment and murder since the family’s remains were enshrined in St. Petersburg, The Fate of the Romanovs challenges earlier descriptions of these events with a wealth of fresh evidence and a careful re-examination of established facts.
Drawing from more than 500 previously unpublished documents, authors Greg King and Penny Wilson make compelling, controversial revisions to commonly held beliefs. They reveal that the family was not treated in a barbaric fashion during their captivity, but rather with a great deal of civility. They also dispel the legend that the family members remained devoted to each other throughout their ordeal; months of uncertainty and anxiety led to a slow but inexorable disintegration of family bonds.
This vividly narrated exposé delves deeply into the long-secret archives of the Russian Revolution to discover that Lenin did not order the family’s execution–as had been previously thought–and to reveal who actually made the decision and how it was carried out. Secret documents also disclose that the KGB orchestrated the 1978 "discovery" of the Romanov grave and that the Soviet government had known of its existence from the beginning.
Most shocking of all is the confirmation that two of the tsar’s children may have escaped execution and that the fabled Grand Duchess Anastasia could well have been one of them. Shocking in another way is the revelation of successful efforts of Imperial hangers-on to barter for their own freedom using the Romanovs’ vast cache of jewels.
Every claim and assertion in this startling new report is supported with copious documentary evidence from multiple sources. The authors cite many accounts from those closest to the actual events, including memoirs by the commandant of the Ipatiev House in which the family was imprisoned; Victor Netrebin, who participated in the murders; Bolshevik officials who revealed the betrayal of the Romanovs by their servants; and a physician who was given access to the Imperial prisoners. They also quote the statements of guards Alexei Kabanov and Alexander Strekotin and draw information from Romanov family papers, including personal letters and documents on the fate of the Romanov remains.
Supplemented with numerous, never-before-published photos and a helpful cast of characters numbering in the hundreds, The Fate of the Romanovs explodes myths, confirms long-dismissed theories, solves mysteries, and poses intriguing new questions about events that, though they occurred nearly a century ago, continue to fascinate the world.
Publishers Weekly
The family members of Nicholas II, Russia's last tsar, were executed in July 1918, soon after the Bolshevik Revolution-and the speculation as to what exactly happened hasn't died out during the past 85 years. In this comprehensive volume of one of history's great intrigues, independent scholars King and Wilson stoke the flames of controversy with a creative theory: Lenin and the other Bolshevik rulers in Moscow didn't give the orders to kill the tsar's family, as has been believed. This wasn't out of any sympathy for Nicholas and his family-in fact, the authors point out that Lenin was perhaps the epitome of realpolitik, allowing little emotion in his political decisions. Using an intriguing reading of the Russian archives, the authors argue that Lenin preferred a trial to an execution for fear of antagonizing the Germans, whom he wanted to appease in order to consolidate his own grip on power. Instead, it was local Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, where the royal family was held, who made the decision to go ahead and execute Nicholas and his family. The executions were blamed on Lenin because it served as a convenient myth for those lamenting the fall of the Romanov dynasty. While the book is somewhat longer than necessary, those fascinated with the case will find it worthwhile. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.