The Last of the Tsars

Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution

Robert Service

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English

Pan
05 February 2018

History; European history; 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000; Russian Revolution

A riveting account of the last eighteen months of Tsar Nicholas II's life and reign from one of our finest historians of Russia.

In March 1917, Nicholas II, the last Tsar of All the Russias, abdicated and the dynasty that had ruled an empire for three hundred years was forced from power by revolution. Now, on the hundredth anniversary of that revolution, Robert Service, the eminent historian of Russia, examines Nicholas's reign in the year before his abdication and the months between that momentous date and his death, with his family, in Ekaterinburg in July 1918.

The story has been told many times, but Service's profound understanding of the period and his forensic examination of hitherto untapped sources, including the Tsar's diaries and recorded conversations, shed remarkable new light on his reign, also revealing the kind of ruler Nicholas believed himself to have been, contrary to the disastrous reality.

The Last of the Tsars is a masterful study of a man who was almost entirely out of his depth, perhaps even willfully so. It is also a compelling account of the social, economic and political foment in Russia in the aftermath of Alexander Kerensky's February Revolution, the Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917 and the beginnings of Lenin's Soviet republic.

By: Robert Service
Imprint: Pan
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: Main Market Ed.
Dimensions: Height: 197mm, Width: 130mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 286g
ISBN: 9781447293101
ISBN 10: 144729310X
Pages: 400
Publication Date: 05 February 2018
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Robert Service is a Fellow of the British Academy and of St Antony's College, Oxford. He has written several books, including the highly acclaimed Lenin: A Biography, Russia: Experiment with a People, Stalin: A Biography and Comrades: A History of World Communism, as well as many other books on Russia's past and present. His book Trotsky: A Biography was awarded the 2009 Duff Cooper Prize. Married with four children, he lives in London.

Reviews for The Last of the Tsars: Nicholas II and the Russian Revolution

Brilliant, original and compelling -- Saul David * Evening Standard * The best book yet on Nicholas after his abdication -- Dominic Lieven * Financial Times * A myth-busting account of the final months of the ruler's life, from abdication to execution * Guardian * Detailed and painstakingly researched -- Peter Conradi * Sunday Times * A clear-eyed portrait of Nicholas and his limitations . . . an essential corrective * TLS *