Secret Lives of the Tsars: Three Centuries of Autocracy, Debauchery, Betrayal, Murder, and Madness from Romanov Russia
Michael Farquhar
Language: English
Pages: 237
ISBN: 2:00244596
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
"Michael Farquhar doesn't write about history the way, say, Doris Kearns Goodwin does. He writes about history the way Doris Kearns Goodwin's smart-ass, reprobate kid brother might. I, for one, prefer it."--Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post columnist
Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world's most engaging royal historian chronicles the world's most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity. We meet Catherine the Great, with her endless parade of virile young lovers (none of them of the equine variety); her unhinged son, Paul I, who ordered the bones of one of his mother's paramours dug out of its grave and tossed into a gorge; and Grigori Rasputin, the "Mad Monk," whose mesmeric domination of the last of the Romanov tsars helped lead to the monarchy's undoing. From Peter the Great's penchant for personally beheading his recalcitrant subjects (he kept the severed head of one of his mistresses pickled in alcohol) to Nicholas and Alexandra's brutal demise at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Secret Lives of the Tsars captures all the splendor and infamy that was Imperial Russia.
at first, but as his suspicions of a conspiracy became inflamed, scores of people associated with the tsarevitch and his infamous escape were tortured to get to the truth. Soon enough, it was Alexis’s turn. With Peter’s permission, the young man was subjected to the uniquely Russian form of “interrogation” known as the knout—a thick leather strap that would slice into a man’s back with every blow. Fifteen to twenty-five lashes were considered standard; anything over that could easily prove
gentry considered to be an uncouth, greedy upstart who, with his brothers, harbored dangerous ambitions to wield imperial power. “The Empress can do what she wishes,” declared her foreign minister, Count Nikita Panin, “but Madame Orlov will never be the Empress of Russia.” Deprived of his ambition to share Catherine the Great’s power as her husband, Orlov sulked bitterly that he remained little more than the empress’s service stud, albeit a very well compensated one. “The larger her figure
quickly apprehended and brought before the uninjured emperor, who proceeded to interrogate him. “Fellows, I did this for you!” Karakozov reportedly shouted to the bystanders as he was led away. News of the tsar’s deliverance from the assassin’s bullet was greeted with patriotic acclaim across the capital, and Osip Komissarov, his savior, became an instant hero, feted as “the humble weapon of God’s providence.” The heir to the throne, the future Alexander III, recorded the celebratory mood of the
Alexandra was advised that a long-dead holy man by the name of Seraphim would intercede on her behalf, but only if he was canonized. Accordingly, Tsar Nicholas had Seraphim declared a saint—notwithstanding the fact that one of the most important indications of saintliness in the Orthodox Church, an uncorrupted corpse, was found to be lacking when Seraphim’s rotting body was exhumed. Then, in August 1904, a miracle happened: Alexandra delivered a beautiful baby boy. He was named Alexis, after the
Alexandra was advised that a long-dead holy man by the name of Seraphim would intercede on her behalf, but only if he was canonized. Accordingly, Tsar Nicholas had Seraphim declared a saint—notwithstanding the fact that one of the most important indications of saintliness in the Orthodox Church, an uncorrupted corpse, was found to be lacking when Seraphim’s rotting body was exhumed. Then, in August 1904, a miracle happened: Alexandra delivered a beautiful baby boy. He was named Alexis, after the