Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty
Robert K. Massie., Dr. Dwight Page

Abstract
The new 2012 Random House Edition of Robert K. Massie’s Nicholas and Alexandra contains much new information and is of vital importance to both professors and students of Russian history. The work presents an extraordinarily accurate biography of the last sovereign of the Russian Empire, Nicholas II (1894-1917). For Massie, the three determinant factors in the decisions of Nicholas II were: his love of country; his devotion and obedience to the Russian Orthodox Church; his belief in the rightness of autocracy as the most effective method of government. Massie considers the two principal weaknesses of Nicholas II’s character to be: his deference to the political opinion of his consort Alexandra, who was herself misguided by Rasputin; the Tsar’s inability to adapt Russia’s anachronistic and repressive political system to the needs of the politically enlightened and progressive twentieth century.

Full Text: PDF