Montefiori's "History of the Romanov Dynasty 1613-1918" Summary and Comments - Recommended! One of the best books to learn about Russian history!
I would like to introduce "History of the Romanov Dynasty 1613-1918" written by Simon Seberg Montefiori and translated by Toru Someya, published by Hakusuisha in 2021.
Let's take a quick look at the book.
The Rise, Fall, and Human Flourishing of the "300 Years of the Russian Empire
The upper volume covers the period from Peter the Great to Yekaterina the Great and the Napoleonic Wars, and the lower volume covers the period from the Crimean War to the Russo-Japanese War, World War I, and the Russian Revolution, spanning 300 years. It is a full-length history of the dynasties' glamorous historical picture scrolls and blood-soaked "secret history".... Based on the vast archives in Europe, unpublished diaries, and unpublished letters, the author follows the rise and fall of the Romanov dynasty, delving into the psychological folds of the characters and depicting them in a highly realistic manner. The author states that "the Romanovs were not only a great dynasty, but also a symbol of absolute tyranny, and their history is nothing but a collection of stories of the stupidity and arrogance that haunt absolute power.
AmazonProducts Page.
The author is a British historian and writer, and has won the "British Literature Prize" for "Stalin: The Red Czar and His Courtiers," and the "Costa Biography Literature Prize" and many others for "Stalin: The Age of Youth and Revolution" (both from Hakusuisha).
Includes 16 pages of color frontispieces each, maps, family trees, personalities, and a biographical index (lower volume).
The book's author, Simon Seberg Montefiori, has been featured on this blog before.Stalin, the Red Czar and His Courtiers., ,Stalin: The Age of Youth and Revolution.He is also the author of
These two books are just so much fun!
I was truly astonished by Montefiori's ability to depict Stalin's life in such a detailed and dramatic manner, and also to delve quite deeply into the historical background and the issues of man and power.
For me, Montefiore is an immensely trusted historian, and this "History of the Romanovs 1613-1918" was also of consistent Montefiore quality. I can only say one word: "Excellent.
As you can see from the pictures, this book is a ridiculously large volume. The upper and lower volumes together easily exceed 1,200 pages.
But surprisingly, it is an easy read.
Montefiori indeed. Anyway, it is easy to read!
You will learn in a dramatic and fast-paced manner how Russia expanded and grew in power from the beginnings of the Romanov dynasty.
The chapters are also progressed for each emperor, so it is very easy to understand the flow of the times.
The author describes the book in his "Preface" as follows
This book is, in a sense, a study of human nature, an attempt to see how the personality of a person who has absolute power in his hands is transformed by that power.
In the course of their attempts, numerous stories of family affection, marriage, adultery, and parent-child relationships unfold.
However, these stories are clearly different from those of ordinary families.
This is because absolute power, the hallmark of imperial rule, not only brought a sweet euphoria to the emperor's familial relations, but also infused them with a ruinous poison. It was not uncommon for the enchantment and corruption that accompanied power to destroy blood bonds and affections.
This book is not only a history of a succession of despots, their relatives, and the courtiers who surrounded them, but also a portrait of a dynasty that serves to paint a full picture of the absolutist system in Russia.
Whatever one's view of Russia, there is no denying that Russian culture, the Russian spirit, and the essence of Russia are unique and unparalleled in the world. And that singularity is summed up in the very nature of the Czar's family. The Romanov family is not only a great dynasty, but also a symbol of absolute tyrannical rule, and its history is nothing but a collection of stories of the folly and arrogance that accompany absolute power.
In terms of the relationship between monarch and subjects and the culture of the people, only the Caesars of the Roman Empire can compare to the Romanov dynasty, and both dynasties are very similar in that they both illustrate very clearly what happens when an individual seizes absolute power, despite the differences between the past and the present. It is no coincidence that the Romanov emperors took the name "Tsar," derived from "Caesar," rather than "Imperator," a Russian word of Latin origin, as the word for "emperor.
The world in which the Romanovs lived was a complex one, a world of antagonism and rivalry within the family, clashing ambitions for the position of ruler, venomous fascination, sexual indulgence and deviance, and abnormal tastes.
In this chaotic world, an unknown intruder suddenly appears and claims to be the reincarnation of a dead emperor, an emperor's bride is poisoned, a father abuses his son to death, a son murders his father, a wife murders her husband, a poisoned saint or a supposed saint who was shot is brought back from the dead, a barber or a farmer rises to the top, giants and madmen are collected for spectacle, dwarfs are thrown around, beheaded heads are roasted, tongues are drawn, and violent people are killed. Giants and madmen were collected for spectacle, dwarfs were thrown, beheaded heads were roasted, tongues were pulled out, flesh was ripped from bones by severe floggings, intestines were pulled out and skewered, and infants were slaughtered.
There was a wardrobe-crazed, sex-crazed empress, a lesbian love triangle, and an emperor who wrote letters containing sexually explicit language that could hardly be expected to come from the pen of a monarch.
But it was also an empire in which fearless and adventurous conquerors and able statesmen rose to conquer Siberia, annex Ukraine, and invade Paris and Berlin. This empire also produced artists such as Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, and Tchaikovsky, and a civilization of high culture and delicate, exquisite beauty.
Hakusuisha, Simon Seberg Montefiori, translated by Toru Someya, History of the Romanov Dynasty 1613-1918, vol. 1, p. 14-15.
Some line breaks have been made.
As told here, the Romanov dynasty is on a scale far beyond our common sense. Russia is a country with such a unique history.
This book is a great way to learn about the history of the country of Russia and what it has gone through to get to where it is today.
Yes, it may be thick and hard to get a hold of, but it is worth it. It will give you a pretty clear picture of the historical process.
Because of the trusted Montefiori quality, the level of readability, interest, and material is second to none.
I strongly recommend reading the Stalin biography in conjunction with this book to learn even more about Russia.
This is a great book! You should definitely pick it up.
This is "Montefiori's "History of the Romanov Dynasty 1613-1918", one of the best books to learn about the history of the Russian Romanov dynasty! The above is "Montefiori's "History of the Romanov Dynasty 1613-1918".
Next Article.
Related Articles
