The Rise and Fall of an Empire: A Commentary on the Romanov Dynasty

Sword shadow sword light, imperial inheritance.

The Romanovs: 1613-1918, by Simon Sebag Montefiore, published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 745 pages, £25. It will be released in the United States by Knopf in May this year.

In 1613, the Romanov dynasty slowly began. At that time, Russia was full of mourning and wars, but in just three hundred years, it became a huge empire spanning Europe and Asia. Turning to the secret history of the Russian Palace, every line is the deception of the Romanov family. Murder, torture, betrayal, fornication, cruelty, a book full of absurd words.

Simon Sibag Montefiori begins his book with the founding monarch Michael I (also known as Mikhail I), who took over the devastated Russia at the time, faced with the invasion of Poland, and the great nobles were divided and merged, and finally settled down. He then wrote about the absurd Peter the Great, Catherine the Great (also known as Catherine II) who "killed his husband and usurped the throne", Alexander III, who was "obedient and exploitative", and nicholas II, the last Tsar who was wiped out by the Communists in 1918. No matter how "elegant, stoic, humorous, and honorable" this royal bloodline is, in the end it is still tortured to death, which is probably the so-called bad luck.

At that time, Russia was a vast territory, advocating "natural kingship" (also known as "kingship to glory" by the author), and Orthodox christian thought was also deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. In this way, how to delegate the kingship becomes the key. Despite their reckless and brutal personalities, Peter the Great and Catherine were good at employing people: Grigory Potemkin, Catherine the Great's confidant, was the preeminent ruler of the time; Alexander Suvorov was equally talented in military ability. However, most of the other monarchs of the Romanov Dynasty were self-absorbed and difficult to enter the advice, which made the people of the empire unhappy.

Montefiore launched "Romanov Dynasty" this time, I believe it will not disappoint the majority of fans. The British historical novelist has long been adept at telling stories to transport readers into a little-known history, as exemplified by his series of books on Stalin. In the new book, Montefiore also describes a large number of vivid and interesting, even jaw-dropping historical materials, showing the rise and fall of the Romanov dynasty. Of course, there is no shortage of obscenity and blood in this book. The Romanov family's deceitfulness, terrible punishment, and intrigue were all exposed, which was frightening. A large number of letters and diary fragments were exposed, thus revealing the secrets of the court. Remember the infamous "demon monk" Rasputin who led to the collapse of the empire? According to the book, his second son had a wart on it, which fascinated the noble women.

Leaving aside the heavy taste plot in the book, the author's writing is smooth and natural, and the golden sentences are frequent. He wrote in the book: "The way to govern Russia is to allow only the governors to set fires, and not to allow the people to light lamps." Reflections such as these are also relevant in the present. It has to be said that the Russian court is the center of power, and every courtier exchanges loyalty for a large amount of wealth. These subordinates fought openly and secretly, but in the end they could not start a civil war or revolution, and this has been the case since ancient times.

However, this book is rich in history and is not easy to read. Many of the characters are short-lived, and if it were not for the family genealogy and character list in front of each chapter, many readers would not be able to read it. Of course, the color illustrations in the book can also help the reader remember the main characters in the book. However, the fly in the ointment is that the map of this book is too small, which inevitably makes the reader confused about the rise and fall of the empire.

This book digs deep into the secret history of the Russian Palace, showing the influence of the Romanov dynasty on European politics, but it is a pity that it only scratches the economy, commerce, society and culture of the empire at that time. Historian Alexander Etkind believes that the Russian monarchs, with the abundance of resources, exploited them recklessly and squandered them, resulting in the destruction of the country. In fact, after a series of upheavals, Russia has begun to show signs of modernization. Unfortunately, the rulers of the Romanov family were still self-imposed, and the last Tsar Nicholas II was even more self-absorbed, and ultimately failed to promote reform and revitalize Russia. From this point of view, history is indeed repeating itself.