Nicholas II: Twilight of the Empire [Paperback]

Dominic Lieven (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 15, 1996

In the tradition of Robert Massie's The Romanovs: The Final Chapter, this book sheds new light on the Tsar and the royal family. Using his 15-year study of Imperial Russia and archival material from around the world, Lieven shows that the downfall of both the Imperial and the Soviet regimes fits a pattern of ongoing Russian history, one that bears close scrutiny if we are to understand the turmoil of the post-Cold War period. of photos.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

British political historian Lieven examines Nicholas and the disintegration of the monarchy in light of the recent collapse of the Soviet system.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Lieven (London Sch. of Economics) covers the life of Nicholas II from early childhood to his death at the hands of the Bolsheviks in 1917. Though he presents interesting, new, and, at times, valuable material, his prose is neither fluid nor fluent, and his organization of the text is somewhat disjointed. Thus, he jumps from 1905 to 1850 and back again, with poor transitions that leave the reader stranded. One can hardly keep track of the subject: is it Nicholas II or his father, Alexander II? In addition, Lieven compromises his story by attempting to be an apologist while at the same time writing a sound historical biography, with awkward results. Not recommended.
- Harry Willems, Kansas Lib. System, Iola
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (June 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312143796
• ISBN-13: 978-0312143794
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,029,564 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Dominic Lieven is professor of Russian history at the London School of Economics. His previous books include Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals and Nicholas II: Twilight of the Empire. Three of his direct ancestors were generals in the Battle of Leipzig.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Lieven does the job, June 26, 2001

By 

Igor Biryukov (New Haven, CT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Nicholas II: Twilight of the Empire (Paperback)

Well-written book on Nicholas II and the last days of the Russian Empire... The last Russian Tsar is shown in this book with sympathy and good understanding of the Russian history. The author has done a very good research of Russian and foreign sources, including many official documents and private diaries of Nicholas himself, his wife Alexandra and many top officials including Witte, Benckendorff, Durnovo and others. The author is a scholar of the Russian studies of the London School of Economics and his account is well supported by the thorough analysis of the political and economic situation in Russia in the last years of the Russian Empire 1880 - 1917.

The account of Nicholas is fairly balanced, he is shown as a decent man dedicated to his family, country and its people, but neither equipped with character needed to run the huge country, nor even trained for that. Despite the fact the author clearly sympathize with Nicholas and his huge burden; there are numerous accounts in the book describing Nicholas glaring lack of vision, lack of assertiveness and simply managerial skills. For example, after the World War I started in 1914, Nicholas II, the "chief executive of Russia", for several months continued to lead a life of the country gentlemen, riding horses, playing tennis, visiting relatives for tea.

For his credit Nicholas did in the end assumed the supreme command of the Russian army, but not until after it suffered several disastrous defeats. He was on the one hand, an intelligent and decent, but soft and indecisive man trying to play a role of iron-willed autocrat, and on the other hand a member of a leisure class, a country gentleman trying to play a role of a hands-on CEO of a huge corporation called Russia. As Mr. Lieven showed, Nicholas had honestly tried, but unfortunately because of his own mistakes and disastrous external circumstances failed in both roles. Despite that, to the author's credit the collapse of the Russian Empire and fall of the Romanov dynasty is mostly attributed to the inability of the Russian State to quickly modernize itself, rather than to other coincidental factors as the presence of Rasputin or tolerated by the Tsar widespread involvement to the politics of his family and relatives.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provides a different perspective on the "puppet" of history., August 25, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: Nicholas II: Twilight of the Empire (Paperback)

Lieven offers a different perspective of the usual account
of the devoted family man and "puppet of history." The author
goes beyone the familiar recounting of the path to the Ipatiev
House with his richly detailed explanation of the reasons why
the last Tsar and his family were brought to their inevitable
end.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book on Tsar Nicholas II, April 19, 2010

By 

Peter Kono (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nicholas II: Twilight of the Empire (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books I've read on Tsar Nicholas II. The author is very thorough and knows his subject well.

Great book to read to get a balanced view of Imperial Russia and the immense problems faced by the Imperial government.