The Last Tsar: The Abdication Of NIcholas II And The Fall Of The Romanovs, Hasegawa - B+

                "The end of the monarchy was not a  preordained, inevitable conclusion, but rather a contingent process and where, had alternative options been taken, events would have followed a different trajectory." The empire entered the new century led by a man who was "the most ill-equipped and inadequate ruler in all of Europe." He was not prepared to be tsar, but was stubbornly committed to maintaining and passing on the Romanov autocracy. The Tsarevich, Alexi, was born in 1904. The royal couple kept their son's hemophilia a secret and withdrew further into themselves. Within a year, they welcomed Rasputin into their lives. In 1914, Nicholas acceded to his ministers' advice as the empire slipped into war. 

                Completely inadequate, the army lost 1,500,000 men by year's end. There would be occasional victories against the Austrians, but not the Germans. The people blamed the losses on the tsar, and the traditional connection between the people and their emperor unraveled. In the summer of 1915, Nicholas took two steps that sealed his fate. He left Petrograd to assume the supreme command at the front, and he dismissed the Duma, which had been working toward establishing a war government of national unity. In each situation, it was his increasingly domineering wife under the influence of Rasputin who pushed him to act. The ensuing year-and-a-half saw constant turmoil. The naive and unaware royal couple were now despised by the public. On Dec. 17, 1916, Rasputin was murdered. Revolution and dynastic collapse were in the air, and almost the entirety of the Romanov family begged Nicholas to establish a government of confidence, while Alexandra scolded them to remember that Nicholas was an autocrat by the grace of God. Nicholas was incapable of compromise, as he believed it was contrary to his sacred obligation to God. In late February, massive demonstrations rocked Petrograd. The security forces struck back, killing two hundred. On the 27th, soldiers mutinied in the capital. Nicolas decided to return to the city from the front, and the Duma Committee began to takeover the city. The revolution was at hand. Ministers were fleeing and important posts were abandoned. Nicholas countered with martial law, and left for the city at 5 on the 28th.

                  Throughout the day, the imperial train received telegrams outlining the collapse of order in Petrograd, where the insurgents controlled the entire city, and most importantly, the phone lines and the railways. Tsarskoe Selo was the tsar's objective, but the insurgents diverted his train. Meanwhile, the Duma was hoping to arrange Nicholas's abdication in an attempt to save the monarchy, not overthrow it. When Nicholas arrived at Plesko station late on March 1, there was no one there to meet him. Out of touch for two days, he learned that the revolution had spread to Moscow, the Baltic Fleet, and that the army command had recognized the Duma. Nicholas agreed to allow the Duma to form a responsible ministry, i.e. a constitutional monarchy. The following day, the army asked him to abdicate and he agreed to do so.  Fearing being separated from his son, Nicholas abdicated for both he and Alexi in favor of his brother Mikhail. 

             On March 3rd, 1917, 304 years of Romanov rule ended when Mikhail refused the throne. Russia was in disarray. Those trying to create some sense of legal continuity in the government were flailing. Amidst the confusion, the Provisional Government, so called even though it was appointed by the Duma yet under the Fundamental Law only the Tsar could appoint such a government,  announced it was succeeding to the powers of the monarchy.  On March 7th, Nicholas and Alexandra were placed under house arrest. 

          "The one most to blame for the sputtering finale of the three hundred year regime is Nicholas himself - through intransigence, inaction, weakness, stupidity, and, oddly enough, fatherly love.""Each member of the Romanovs suffered a tragic end of one kind or another, some in brutal murders by the Bolsheviks and others fleeing Russia with torturous difficulties."

             This book is extremely well done and recommended to anyone who reads 20th century history. The efforts and innumerable attempts to arrange a constitutional monarchy were unknown to me. The Russian Revolution was probably the pivotal event of the century. The German, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires all collapsed at the end of the Great War. Many of the problems that followed in Germany and the Middle East were attributable to the Paris Peace Conference's failures. All of Russia's problems were of their own creation. Nicholas's lack of intelligence and backbone, exacerbated by Alexandra's obsessions, ended Romanov rule. The consequences to his family and country were fatal. The consequence for the world was seven decades of Bolshevik terror. All in all, an unmitigated tragedy.