NO SPOILERS!!!On completion: I very highly recommend this book to those interested in Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov, to anyone interested in Russian history, to those interested in the beginning of Bolshevism in Russia and also to those who enjoy historical biographies written by talented authors. Massie can write. He knows his subject, in and out, backward and forward. There are detailed notes to every chapter. You never have to doubt the accuracy of that which you are reading. He analyzes all the possibilities. Moreover, he does all this without ever boring the reader. I feel I truly understand who Nicholas, Alexandra and Alexis were as people. I come away with an understand of who these individuals really were. No other books I have read has ever done this to wonderfully. The book included photos and a family tree. You do have to be awake to read the book :0). At one point there I was getting kind of tired..... Beyond praising the book, I praise the author. Massie has written a book on Peter the Great, Peter the Great: His Life and World, and it is said he will come out with a book on Catherine the Great in November, Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. I want to read both very, very much. I find none of them available in Kindle, which is quite a disappointment......but I haven't given up searching.If you like crime novel, read this instead! This is the real thing. Oh, one more thing, you must read this book to learn about Rasputin and hemophilia! And if there is a moral to the book, it is tell people what is going on. If you don't, others will dream up a bunch of incorrect explanations. Through page 358: This book gives an engaging and very clear description of the time period leading up to WW1. The author explains in both in broad terms and then with interesting details. I must say very clearly that this book is detailed, and it is a book of history. There are sections where I am fatigued by military strategies and battles. To say this doesn't happen would be untrue. Or maybe I am just plain tired and should go to bed.....Through page 161: The research is thorough and impeccable. There are tons of details, but never do I feel swamped. I believe some sections will appeal to one reader and others to another. None is boring. I was less drawn to the detailed analysis of the 1905 Revolution, but then the next chapter switched to life at Tsarskoe Selo, and I was enchanted. The Catherine and Alexander Palaces situated on the grounds, although diametrically different, are both beautifully described. Then the text goes on to describe the minute characteristics of the five children and Alexandra. You cannot leave this chapter without feeling immersed into each one's personal traits. All is documented and accurately portrayed. And terribly interesting. Through Part One, page 114: The book details the political alliances and military occurrences taking place at the beginning of the 20th century. To enjoy this book you must be interested in history. The Russian war against Japan, the French, English and German alliances, Kaiser William II's maneuvering all of this is discussed.Throgh: page 77: If you are curious about the last Tsar of Russia, read this book. It will not disappoint. You are given a thorough understanding of what shaped Nicholas and Alexandra. Childhood experiences are always life-determining, and here they are laid out in a clear and interesting manner. You understand why Alexandra is shy, why she feels a kinship with the Russian people, the serfs freed by Alexander II, rather than the elite. You come to understand why, in turn, she was not welcomed by the Russian elite, at least not now in the beginning, immediately after her marriage with Nicholas. You come to understand the tension that arose between her and the Empress Dowager. Alexandra's German mother died when she was six. She was primarily raised by her grandmother, Queen Victoria. She and Nicholas were married only one week after the funeral of Nicholas' father. His death was unexpected. He was only 49! She was forced to convert to the Russian Orthodox Church from the Lutheran faith, a prerequisite for the marriage. She was totally unprepared for what lay before her. And the same was true for Nicholas. It was a marriage of love, they chose each other, and they got their way. Of course there were several important leaders that approved!Not only do we learn about Nicholas and Alexandra in a fascinating manner, but also other individuals. We learn of Lenin's (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov's)youth. He was an excellent student in school, and when the other Ulyanov children brought their marks home and solemnly reported them to their parents, Volodya (as he was called at home) simply burst through the door and up the stairs, shouting "Excellent in everything!"(page 76)His mother, Maria Blank, was a Volga German. Enough! If you find this fascinating I recommend the book to you. **********************************Having just begun the book, I am blown over by the author's way with words. Wow, can Robert Massie describe landscapes so you can see them, sparkle or huddle in the cold. I am not going to tell you what the book is about. For that you can read the book description. Here follows a quote so you can taste the writing:Despite the Mediterranean style, St. Petersburg was a northern city where the Arctic latitudes played odd tricks with light and time. Winter nights began early in the afternoon and lasted until the middle of the following morning. Icy winds and whistling snowstorms swept across the flat plain surrounding the city to lash the walls and the windows of the Renaissance palaces and freeze the Neva hard as steel. Over the baroque spires and the frozen canals danced the strange fires of the aurora borealis. Occasionally a brilliant day would break the gloomy monotony. The sky would turn a crystal blue and the snowflakes on the trees, rooftops and gilded domes would sparkle with sunlight so bright that the eye could not bear the dazzling glare. Winter was a great leveler. Tsar, priest and factory worker all layered themselves in clothing and upon coming in from the street, headed straight to the bubbling samovar for a glass of hot tea. (page 7)Don't you want to be there and breathe in the cold crisp air? Doesn't the teas scorch your throat? For me, how a book is written is much more important than the plot line! This is beautiful writing, and the author wonderfully blends in history so you do not even know you are learning! I like this book
Nicholas Alexandra is a fascinating and insightful look into the final days of the Romanov Dynasty and Imperial Russia. For 300 years, Russia was an Orthodox Christian autocracy. Nicholas II took the throne as emperor of Russia when his father Alexander II died at a young age. Nicholas confessed his wasn't ready, but there was no recourse, he was supreme ruler of the vast empire: millions of square miles and 120 million subjects. Nicholas married the German princess Alix, a relative of Queen Victoria and Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Nicholas and Alexandra were both religiously devout. Four daughters were born to Nicholas and Alexandra and with each girl, apprehensions increased as a boy was needed to be heir to the throne. Alexandra was always seen as an outsider to most Russians. She hardly spoke Russian when she married Nicholas. Her reserved disposition was seen as aloofness perceived as haughtiness. When a son was finally and joyfully born to the Romanov’s in 1905 it was soon discovered that he was a hemophiliac. Throughout his life, the Tsarevich Alexis was under careful watch and every slight injury was painful and nearly fatal. During this time, Alexandra’s prayers were fervent and she became desperate in her religious fervor. She had heard of a Siberian mystic and miracle worker named Gregory Rasputin. Rasputin was initially praised by authorities and Orthodox priests as a simple, pious country peasant. Rasputin acted devout and seemed sincere but he was in fact, a licentious and lust-driven man. His reputation suffered as his sexual exploits widened. Rasputin’s twisted Theology was founded on the idea that a person could never truly be clean unless they first engaged in great sins. Rasputin’s countenance and presence was hypnotizing. His piercing eyes and persuasive disposition marveled, and at the same moment repulsed people. Despite all these vices, Rasputin somehow, some way, by fortune, circumstance, demonic forces or God himself was able to cure Alexis’ condition. Whenever Rasputin came and Alexis was suffering from bleeding, he was immediately cured. Alexandra chose to discard any talk of Rasputin’s antinomian life if it meant he son lived. During this time, Rasputin wielded his influence in the role of the government. As the masses in Russian heard of Rasputin’s position and relationship to an empress they already distrusted, the ambivalence turned to hatred. During this time, Nicholas was engaged on the Eastern front fighting Germany in WWI. Russia suffered substantially during the war—losing over 1.5 million men. The trust in the government was waning and the corruption among the autocracy was rampant and well-known. The unrest fell into the hands of the Bolsheviks and the Soviet who gained power in the legislature known as the Russian Duma. The Duma eventually succumbed to the Soviet leadership. Rasputin was assassinated in 1916 by a distant member in the royal family. Finally, civil unrest reached its zenith and Nicholas was forced to abdicate. His family was imprisoned and moved to various provinces of Russia during subsequent months. The noble Nicholas remained dignified and devout, patriotic and hopeful. The crude and ruthless Soviet leadership was set on eliminating the entire family. Tragically, Britain and Germany essentially washed their hands of the Romanov’s and did little to help them escape their enemies. In 1918 the Soviet, led by Lenin decided to kill the entire family. They had two gunmen take the family of 7 into a basement and slaughter them in cold blood. The tragic ending was a miniscule taste of the horrible years of brutal, murderous Soviet dictatorship until the dissolution of the regime in 1989. Nicholas and Alexandra were, as Robert Massie, said, “born a century too later.” While Nicholas was a sincere Christian, a competent, but not brilliant ruler, he did not adapt to the times. His son’s unfortunate condition and his wife’s desperate reliance on a dissolute mystic spelled doom for a country in uncertain times.
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Reading "Nicholas and Alexandra" was like watching a train wreck in progress... you knew where it was going, you knew how it had to end, yet you continued to stare, fascinated and horrified, hoping against hope that things might turn out differently, but of course they didn't. Massie's account is decidedly sympathetic to the Tsar and Tsaritsa, but their memories have been so dragged through the mud of history that I think it's only fair that they should have someone come down so emphatically on their side.Fascinating historical account of the life and death of Nicholas II, the last Tsar of Russia, and his wife Alexandra Federovna and their children, the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and the Tsarevich Alexei. The book opens with a description of life in Imperial Russia and quickly moves on to discuss the Tsarevich Nicholas's youth and marriage to Princess Alix of Hesse, who later became Alexandra Federovna, and his ascension to become "Tsar and Autocrat of all the Russias." The deck was stacked against "Nicky" and "Alix" right from the beginning - both were shy and unready to become rulers. Nicholas was overwhelmed by his role as Tsar and unable to take a stand against his forceful uncles and his cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who exerted too much control over him in the beginning of his reign, while Alexandra, being very serious and reticent, was immensely unpopular in frivolous Russian society. Being German, she became even more unpopular when World War I broke out - although she considered herself a loyal Russian, she was dogged by rumors of treason and secret sympathy for the German cause. Alexandra didn't much care what society thought of her - although she was devastated, at the end, to realize how much the Russian peasants, who she always believed loyal, had been goaded to hate her - because she was much more occupied with a serious family concern: her son, the heir to the throne, was a hemophiliac in a time when most boys with his condition didn't live past childhood. Worried about his future, frustrated by the medical community's inability to cure him, and devastated by having to helplessly stand by and watch her child in excruciating pain, Alexandra turned to religion and through it to Rasputin the monk. Rasputin was able to bring relief to Alexei when no one else could - Massie suggests that he worked through a powerful hypnotic influence to calm Alexei, explaining that hemophiliac episodes often abate when the patient relaxes - and so won the unquestioning devotion of Alexandra, who refused to hear anything negative said about him even as, away from her eyes, he caroused in a disgustingly lewd fashion and won himself hundreds of enemies. Rasputin used his influence with Alexandra to begin exerting more and more control over Russian policy, particularly when Nicholas left to take charge of the troops at the front. Under Alexandra's stumbling adherence to Rasputin's recommendations, the government crumbled, paving the way for Lenin to introduce his particularly bloodthirsty brand of Communism. As Alexander Kerensky, a Russian revolutionary turned Minister during the tumultuous days of upheaval, later wrote, "If there had been no Rasputin, there could be no Lenin." Nicholas abdicated; soon after, he and his family were imprisoned and ultimately brutally murdered.I've been interested in the Romanov story for quite some time and this book was a fantastic, thorough retelling of the family's saga, and through it, Russia's saga. Thanks to a rather... unconventional... teacher I had for A.P. European History, I never fully understood the fall of Imperial Russia, but I did know that Rasputin was extremely lascivious and difficult to kill. Thanks to Massie, I now have a much more comprehensive understanding of what happened - the most logical version of what happened, that is. I'm looking forward to reading his new(ish) book with its updates on the finding of most of the Romanov remains, and to following the coverage in the news now that the final two bodies have been located and identified.
—Jaclyn
"Nicholas and Alexandra", Robert K. Massie, 1967. An incredible piece of writing. -A love story, a war story. Political, psychological, historical, a book of intimate details and of sweeping, world changing events. In subtle ways, Robert K. Massie points to the endless, seemingly irrelevant events of fate. -events that snow ball, gather tremendous velocity and then forever alter the lives of millions. Robert K. Massie's own life parallels a similar course. Massie's interest in Russian history began with the diagnosis of his son with hemophilia. Trying to make understanding of how other families dealt with this disease eventually led to his interest in the son of Czar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra. The chain of events that followed the diagnosis of the royal family's son, altered world history in staggering ways. It was an autocracy that allowed itself to become distracted by their son's illness, resulting in unimaginable suffering, destruction, and the death of perhaps tens of millions. In the fifty years that have past since Robert K. Massie's son was diagnosed with hemophilia and hence his budding interested in the son of the last Czar, he has become one of the best reviewed and the most renowned scholars of Russian history. Robert K. Massie's wife, Suzanne Massie, who helped edited and research "Nicholas and Alexandra", became an important bridge between the Reagan administration and Russian culture, eventually becoming a messenger between Reagan and Gorbachev. Her contribution in ending the Cold War is notable. Robert K. Massie is a Pulitzer Prize recipient, a Rhodes Scholar, a Yale graduate and one of the most talented, nonfiction writers in America.
—Jeff
tl;dr Another tremendous work of history by Robert Massie. Read in combination with Peter The Great and Catherine The Great, one feels as though he has a grasp on Russia in the building up to the Bolshevik revolution.In this book, Massie outlines a sequence of events that ultimately led to the rise of Communism in Russia. In short, Empress Alexandra possessed a recessive trait which bequeathed her son, the heir, with the condition hempophilia. Seeking solutions for his agony, Alexandra turns to the peasant and soothsayer Rasputin, who insists that she resist the retreat into a constitutional monarchy at a key moment of change in Russian history. This inflexibility ultimately leads to revolution and their untimely deaths.Of course, when I lay it out so nakedly like that, I'm not doing Massie's work -- or indeed the historic figures themselves -- justice. And the characters in this work of non-fiction are of the kind that you simply couldn't make up if you tried.Nicholas II is a quiet, decent man. He's deeply committed to his native Russia, but he lacks the vigor and determination needed of an autocrat, particularly in this time of special trial for his country.Alexandra comes across as a neurotic, feckless worrier. The illness of the young tsarevich turned her already weak character and warped it. As Massie sketches her, she represents all that is wrong with motherhood: the endless stress, the utter contempt for reason and logic, the insistence on bearing others' pain.And of course Rasputin! The peasant priest figure is equal parts monk and Charles Manson. He assuages Alexandra's fears with prayer, while also apparently trying to sleep with any woman within a five mile radius. Russian elites bristle that this unwashed peasant has the ear of the monarchy, and rumors that he is sleeping with the empress abound. But the man also advocates for peace, and seems to be the only figure trying to keep the leaders of the country focused on the fact that the peasants don't have any food to eat.The characters here are abundantly complex, and their ambiguities are only further heightened through the cloud of history. I don't have much of a capacity to judge Massie's scholarship, but even for a book written in 1967, it seems as though he treats the subject with an even hand.There had to be a temptation at that time to make more of the human tragedy of the death of the Romanovs than was strictly necessary. But Massie kept a pretty even keel.If there was anything this book was missing, it was about the rise of the Soviets. He explores Lenin's early career at a certain point, but I never felt like I had the total picture of how communism came about. Case in point: Stalin just shows up at some point with no background. Obviously, he's not as important a figure in the Romanov killings as Lenin or Trotsky, but you can't gloss over a figure of that importance.Now I just wish Massie had done a Russian history of the 20th century, so I could catch up to the days of Putin.
—Chris Chester
