David Schwinghammer's Blog - Posts Tagged "nicholas-and-alexander"
THE ROMANOV SISTERS
Helen Rappaport describes the Romanov princesses--Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia--as the "Princess Dianas" of their day. Her objective here is to describe their personalities more extensively than such well-known writers as Robert K. Massie, author of NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA.
As a result such historical markers as the Russo-Japanese war and the Revolution of 1905 are barely mentioned. She goes into more detail about the Assassination of Rasputin, since one of the assassins was once a candidate for the hand of Nicholas's older daughter, Olga.
THE ROMANOV SISTERS has been criticized for not including the murders of the family. That can be explained by Rappaport's last book which describes their deaths in great detail. There is something new for me however. I was under the impression that Alexey's sailor caretaker died with the family. That was not the case. I'm thinking of the one we see in the pictures on the Standard, the Romanov yacht. He was radicalized during the revolution and was replaced by another sailor who was indeed shot, but separately from the family by the Cheka.
After Nicholas's resignation for himself and his son, we follow the family from the Alexander Palace, to Tobolsk, to Ekaterinburg, each place increasingly more depressing. Nicholas was an active man all his life and is reduced to spending most of his time chopping wood for the frigid Siberian winters.
Unfortunately most of the information on the princesses is from letters that survived that had been censored. They sound like little ever happened during their captivity. We do learn that the sisters were great nurses during the war, especially Tatiana. Tatiana comes across as the most adult and adaptable of the sisters. Olga isn't as intelligent and is more emotional. She's constantly falling in love, with soldiers mostly, and grows morose when they're sent to the front. Maria, affectionately called "the fat one," is the most amiable of the girls; she is chosen to accompany Nicholas and Alexander to Ekaterinburg ahead of the rest of the family. Anastasia, as we know from previous accounts, is the family clown. They put on one act plays, and she is always the star.
Rappaport does not spend much time on the Ekaterinburg segment. We do learn in the epilogue what happened to the major and minor players, including the kitchen boy, who was allowed to leave the house the morning of the murders.
If you're a Romanov addict, this book will give you a few tidbits you didn't know and satisfy the itch until the next one is published. Another one will be published. The Romanovs are a cottage industry.
As a result such historical markers as the Russo-Japanese war and the Revolution of 1905 are barely mentioned. She goes into more detail about the Assassination of Rasputin, since one of the assassins was once a candidate for the hand of Nicholas's older daughter, Olga.
THE ROMANOV SISTERS has been criticized for not including the murders of the family. That can be explained by Rappaport's last book which describes their deaths in great detail. There is something new for me however. I was under the impression that Alexey's sailor caretaker died with the family. That was not the case. I'm thinking of the one we see in the pictures on the Standard, the Romanov yacht. He was radicalized during the revolution and was replaced by another sailor who was indeed shot, but separately from the family by the Cheka.
After Nicholas's resignation for himself and his son, we follow the family from the Alexander Palace, to Tobolsk, to Ekaterinburg, each place increasingly more depressing. Nicholas was an active man all his life and is reduced to spending most of his time chopping wood for the frigid Siberian winters.
Unfortunately most of the information on the princesses is from letters that survived that had been censored. They sound like little ever happened during their captivity. We do learn that the sisters were great nurses during the war, especially Tatiana. Tatiana comes across as the most adult and adaptable of the sisters. Olga isn't as intelligent and is more emotional. She's constantly falling in love, with soldiers mostly, and grows morose when they're sent to the front. Maria, affectionately called "the fat one," is the most amiable of the girls; she is chosen to accompany Nicholas and Alexander to Ekaterinburg ahead of the rest of the family. Anastasia, as we know from previous accounts, is the family clown. They put on one act plays, and she is always the star.
Rappaport does not spend much time on the Ekaterinburg segment. We do learn in the epilogue what happened to the major and minor players, including the kitchen boy, who was allowed to leave the house the morning of the murders.
If you're a Romanov addict, this book will give you a few tidbits you didn't know and satisfy the itch until the next one is published. Another one will be published. The Romanovs are a cottage industry.
