The Twilight of Imperial Russia

Description

The fateful twenty-three years following the accession of the last of the Romanov Tsars formed the prologue to the Russian Revolution, and foreshadowed the motives and mental attitudes of Russian policy today. Richard Charques’s detailed, vivid, and objective account of the reign of Nicholas II is based upon a wide study of Russian and other sources. It is given particular force and liveliness by the portrait gallery of the leading figures of the period; Nicholas II, the Tsaritsa Alexandra, Constantine Pobedonostsev, Sergius Witte, Lenin, Trotsky, Premier Stolypin, Miluikov, and Rasputin. “Striking phrases, fine judgments, flashes of deep perception, flicker through these pages, illuminating the sad, sombre story, which Mr. Charques is not afraid to extend, by implication, into the present.”—Observer (London) “Informative and well written, and the story of the last phase of the Romanovs is...movingly told.”—New Statesman (London) “Mr. Charques writes with great lucidity and elegance; he has also unusual discernment, a healthy sense of historical reality, and a penetrating mind...Scrupulously fair.”—Times Educational Supplement (London) “An uncommonly good book about the decline and fall of the Russian empire—lucid, incisive, well balanced, and extremely well written.”—Chicago Sunday Tribune Contents List of Maps Preface 1. Russia at the Accession of Nicholas II 2. The Heritage and the Heir 3. The Hungry Village 4. The Industrial Proletariat 5. War on Two Fronts 6. The Revolutionary Year 1905 7. A Demi-Semi-Constitutional Monarchy 8. Necessities of State 9. For the Sober and the Strong 10. On the Eve of World War 11. Defeat and Dissolution The Bolshevik Epilogue Bibliography Index A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z