The cataclysm of the First World War ultimately swept away many of the great monarchies of Europe, but none of the casualties were more tragic or poignant in their passing than the Romanovs of Russia. The violence of the Russian Revolution brought about an inevitable regicide which dispatched the entire royal family in the tawdriest circumstances. Students of the period have always been fascinated by the story of the doomed Romanovs, and this book, written by a Swiss academic and French language tutor to the five children of the Tsar, Nicholas II, has become a classic on the subject. It offers intimate and invaluable insights into the personal lives of the last reigning Russian royal family, and into the politics and personalities-including the infamous Rasputin-that surrounded them. Details of those turbulent times, as the storm of disaffection in Russia grew to become a clamour for great change that consumed the centuries-old established order, are graphically portrayed. The final chapters of this book are especially touching, as they concern the period during which the author experiences the final departure of the by now powerless captive family on the journey which would lead to their deaths in a cellar at the hands of the communist revolutionaries.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.