The Flight of the Romanovs

May 3, 1999
This history examines the Romanov dynasty as it careened into the 20th century, taking a healthy chunk of Russian tradition and society along with it. Perry, who teaches at Tufts University's Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Pleshakov, director of the Geopolitics and Pacific Studies Center at the Soviet Academy of Sciences, make no bones about placing blame for the Russian Revolution squarely on Romanov shoulders: "The failure of the Romanov will and ability to lead caused many millions to die and shattered a brilliant culture." From the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881 to the adventures and misfortunes of the Romanov migr s, the authors make every effort to view historical events from a personal vantage. Even those well-versed in Russian history will find this a refreshing treatment of events, fleshed out by oral histories of royal family members, experts, eyewitnesses and literary accounts by the likes of Bakunin, Bulgakov, Lermontov, Dostoyevski and Chekhov. The Russian public's lack of confidence in Nicholas II is described in gory detail, as is the first family's brutal extinction (the grand duchesses had to be finished off with bayonets because bullets ricocheted off diamonds sewn in their garments). Remarkably, this saga manages to keep its focus on the Romanov family without becoming distracted by the dramatic tales of Rasputin, Lenin, Stalin or other well-documented figures. The result is a compelling treatise on how royal power literally played itself out of modern Russia. 40 b&w photos.