The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs

by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa

Overview

“Elegantly written and magisterially researched” (Robert Service, author of A History of Modern Russia), the definitive story behind the self-destruction of the autocratic Romanov dynasty, by the world’s foremost expert

When Tsar Nicholas II fell from power in 1917, Imperial Russia faced a series of overlapping crises, from war to social unrest. Though Nicholas’s life is often described as tragic, it was not fate that doomed the Romanovs—it was poor leadership and a blinkered faith in autocracy.

Based on a trove of new archival discoveries, The Last Tsar narrates how Nicholas’s resistance to reform doomed the monarchy. Encompassing the captivating personalities of the era, it untangles the struggles between the increasingly isolated Nicholas and Alexandra and the factions of scheming nobles, ruthless legislators, and pragmatic generals who sought to stabilize the restive Russian empire either with the Tsar or without him. By rejecting compromise, Nicholas undermined his supporters at crucial moments. His blunders cleared the way for all-out civil war and the eventual rise of the Soviet Union.

Definitive and engrossing, The Last Tsar uncovers how Nicholas II stumbled into revolution, taking his family, the Romanov dynasty, and the whole Russian Empire down with him.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781541606166
Publisher:	Basic Books
Publication date:	12/03/2024
Pages:	560
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.40(h) x 1.90(d)

About the Author

Tsuyoshi Hasegawa is professor emeritus in history at the University of California at Santa Barbara. The award-winning author of many books on Russian history, World War II, and the Cold War, he lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Editorial Reviews

The Last Tsar is filled with revelations and fresh insights…[Hasegawa’s] narrative is rich with observations about paths not taken and about the unintended consequences of the paths that were indeed taken.”—Wall Street Journal

“Mesmerizing.”—Telegraph

“An impressive, often brilliant book. The detail is mind-boggling and the skill with which political convolutions are unraveled is admirable.”—Times (London)

“Hasegawa suspensefully recounts scenes of Nicholas…[His] analysis of alternative outcomes to the unfolding tragedy makes for compelling ‘what-ifs’ and provocative history.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Compelling…A scholarly tour de force in which the author has absorbed the participants’ massive documentation and familiarized himself with a huge cast of characters, most unfamiliar even to history buffs.”—Kirkus

“Hasegawa has produced a credible, well-sourced, and readable retelling of a dramatic and consequential period in history.”—Washington Free Beacon

“This obsession with absolute power ultimately led to the downfall of the Romanov dynasty [Hasegawa] argues. His thesis is presented with clarity and conviction. It's also backed up with a wide range of new archival sources.”—Sunday Independent

“Over six decades, Hasegawa has been explaining a century of conflicts and misunderstandings between Russia and Japan with rare linguistic versatility, bringing to his work unremitting forensic research. He has also analyzed the disintegration of the Russian monarchy and the bewildering chaos of revolution. In this book, he examines microscopically how the Romanov dynasty lost power.”—Literary Review

“The capstone to a brilliant career, Tsuyoshi Hasegawa’s The Last Tsar is certain to become the definitive work on the chaotic, earth-shattering demise of the Romanov destiny. No historian before has dissected these tumultuous days with such clarity, precision, and insight.”—Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin

“The Last Tsar is a terrific account of the February 1917 Revolution in Russia that knocks down many of the pillars of our usual interpretations. Elegantly written and magisterially researched.”—Robert Service, author of A History of Modern Russia

“Hasegawa, whose previous works enriched our knowledge of what happened on the streets and in the corridors of power during that fateful year of 1917, has produced here an intimate and highly absorbing account of Russia’s last hereditary autocrat. It is likely to be the definitive one for many years to come. From the cult surrounding Rasputin to the tense minute-by-minute plotting of the generals, Duma politicians, aristocrats, and the Tsar himself, The Last Tsar brilliantly conveys the messy reality of imperial power coming apart at the seams.”—Lewis Siegelbaum, emeritus professor, Michigan State University

“Hasegawa’s masterful book is like a slow-motion picture of Russia approaching the edge. Yet only the weakness, inaction and stupidity of the last Tsar, as well as the stunning recklessness of the Russian elites, pushed the empire into the breach. A chilling lesson on how the ineptness of one man, and the opportunism of many, can pull down not only an outdated regime, but the entire temple of state, law, and civil society.”—Vladislav Zubok, author of Collapse

From the Publisher

2024-10-11
The fall of clueless Russian Czar Nicholas II.

Although hobbled by an absolute monarchy and slow to industrialize, Russia was getting its act together by the end of the 19th century. Its czars, although often reactionary, took governing seriously. Hasegawa, professor emeritus in history at UC Santa Barbara and author ofRacing the Enemy: Stalin, Truman, and the Surrender of Japan, emphasizes that Nicholas was an exception. He became czar at age 26, when his father died prematurely, though he had already shown little aptitude but much fascination with the trappings of power, if not the details. Scholars universally deplore his marriage to German princess Alexandra, who was far more strong-willed than her husband and became wildly unpopular. The book delivers a compelling biography of the pair up to early 1917, when Russia’s wartime miseries erupted in widespread violence. In meticulous detail, Hasegawa recounts the czar’s imprisonment and the bloody end of his dynasty. It’s a scholarly tour de force in which the author has absorbed the participants’ massive documentation and familiarized himself with a huge cast of characters, most unfamiliar even to history buffs. This should not be anyone’s introduction to the Russian Revolution, but readers of Robert K. Massie’s classic 1967Nicholas and Alexandra and its follow-up,The Romanovs: The Final Chapter, will appreciate the events revealed by Hasegawa’s fine-tooth comb.

An extraordinarily detailed account of the last czar’s last days.

Kirkus Reviews