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The Romanovs summary

Name: The Romanovs
Rating: 4.5 (114 reviews)
Author: Simon Sebag Montefiore

Simon Sebag Montefiore

1613-1918

4.5 (114 ratings)

29 mins

Brief summary

The Romanovs by Simon Sebag Montefiore is a comprehensive history of the Russian imperial dynasty, from its origins in the 1600s to its tragic end in 1918. The book is full of fascinating details about the private lives and political machinations of the Romanov family.

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General Knowledge Socialism & Capitalist Critique Crises & Scandals Political Figures European History Change & Evolution

Table of Contents

The Romanovs
Summary of 9 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 9

What’s in it for me? Get to grips with the Romanov rulers of Russia.

Do you like your history served with a heaping side of drama? Then you need to meet the Romanovs. The 300 years in which this family dynasty ruled Russia are brimmed with intrigue, coups, revolutions, murders, and battles.

Drama aside, the Romanovs were also one of Europe’s most powerful and influential families. They transformed Russia from a parochial strife-ridden backwater into an empire that, at its peak, was one-sixth of the world’s landmass. And then they lost it all.

From the Muscovite court of Tsar Michael I to the mad monk Rasputin and the stirrings of revolution, the story of the Romanov’s is truly epic.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how the Romanovs lost, then found, an heir to the throne;
why Peter the Great went incognito in Holland; and
what the deal was with Rasputin.

The Romanov dynasty had a shaky start.

It’s 1613. The Russian court has a problem. The rightful heir to the throne, Michael Romanov, has vanished. The nobility, known as Boyars, want Michael to become tsar. Poland, with whom Russia is in near-constant conflict, wants him dead. Roving mercenary Cossack militias are on the look out for the young prince. They want to claim the bounty the Poles have placed on the 17-year-old’s head. But no one – neither friend nor foe – can find Michael.

To put it bluntly, it’s a complete mess. How did this happen?

To understand, we need to travel all the way back to 1547. This is the year that Tsar Ivan the Terrible decides to marry. Ivan is a Rurikid prince. The Rurikids have ruled Russia since 862 AD and Ivan is desperate to continue the dynasty. For his wife, he chooses the daughter of a favored Boyar. Her name? Anastasia Romanovna.

The key message is: The Romanov dynasty had a shaky start.

Anastasia gives birth to two sons: Ivan and the sickly Fyodor.

Here’s where things get dramatic. Ivan the Terrible dies in 1584, but not before killing his power-hungry son Ivan with a spear through the head. Fyodor becomes tsar, but, in 1598, he dies – childless. There’s only one other Rurikid heir to the throne, Dmitri. But no one knows where he is: He hasn't been seen since he mysteriously disappeared aged two.

In the power vacuum, Boris Godunov, a powerful Boyar, is appointed tsar. But his hold on power is weak. Tsar Fyodor’s cousin – another Fyodor – has a claim to the throne, too. Boris acts quick to neutralize his rival. He accuses Fyodor of witchcraft, and banishes him to the Arctic.

Tsar Boris reigns until 1605, but soon after his death the throne becomes vacant again.

Next in line is a man claiming to be the long-lost heir Dmitri. He has the throne for all of nine days before the Boyars turn on him, stabbing him 21 times.

Now, the battle for the throne is really on. More than ten armies are raised, all led by supposed heirs. The Polish army rallies around yet another false Dmitri. They storm the Kremlin and take the Boyars and another claimant – Michael Romanov – hostage. The Russians fight back and, when the Poles are defeated, they pick Michael Romanov as tsar. But he and his mother are nowhere to be seen.

We’ve finally caught up with where we began. Russia has a new tsar, but he’s missing.

It took Russian forces weeks, but they finally found him hiding in a monastery. They bring him back to Moscow. Finally, the Romanovs have taken the throne.

Nobles often held more power than the tsars themselves.

On June 25, 1682, an unusual coronation takes place in the Kremlin. Ivan V, Michael Romanov’s grandson, is crowned tsar of Russia. At the same time, his half-brother, Peter I, is also crowned tsar of Russia. In other words, Russia is given two tsars. Why? This strange co-coronation is designed to ease tensions at court. Both new tsars were backed by different factions of the nobility. But 15-year-old Ivan has a mental illness. Peter is a child of ten. Neither can be expected to rule Russia – yet.

Watching the coronation from behind a grille is Sophia, Ivan’s older sister and Peter’s half-sister. As a woman, she’s not allowed to attend. But she has also just been named Regent – this effectively makes her Russia’s first female sovereign.

Peter the Great’s volatile reign transformed Russia.

When it comes to wild, alcohol-fueled antics, Peter the Great makes rock stars like Keith Richards look like amateurs. At any one time his entourage consists of between 80 and 200 members. This ragtag troupe of nobles, soldiers, jesters, dwarves, dancing girls, and circus performers is dubbed the Jolly Company. First rule of the Jolly Company? Never go to bed sober. No coincidence that several members of Peter’s entourage are reported to have died from alcohol poisoning.

No one partakes in the company’s carousing with more gusto than Peter. Yet, Peter also wakes up every morning at dawn, to begin the work of running his tsardom. Despite his wild reputation, Peter the Great is much more than a mere party animal.

The Romanovs had plenty of strong female rulers.

Peter the Great doesn’t play by the rules – including the rules of heredity. Before he dies, in 1725, he crowns his second wife Catherine tsarina. Up to now, Russia has never been ruled by a woman. But while Catherine is the first tsarina, she definitely isn’t the last.

When Catherine dies in 1727, Peter II rules for a short time before succumbing to smallpox in 1730. Peter’s reign is undramatic, but his death has drama to spare. Prince Ivan Dolgoruky, the brother of Peter’s wife-to-be Ekaterina, emerges from Peter’s deathbed waving a will that crowns Ekaterina tsarina. This would pave the way for his family, the Dolgorukys, to usurp the throne. But the will is soon found to be a fake! The throne is still up for grabs.

Catherine the Great consolidated the vast Russian empire.

From Elizabeth I to Hillary Clinton, powerful women throughout history have had to appear feminine while also demonstrating the strength and ambition that leadership demands. In eighteenth century Russia, no woman walks this fine line with more aplomb than Catherine the Great. Catherine cultivated ladylike interests, like watercolor painting and gardening, but is known to have said, “It is necessary to have a wolf’s teeth and a fox’s tail.”

Take, for example, her coronation. Catherine is a vision. She is wearing a sumptuous gown and is dripping with jewels. It is hard to believe that this enchanting woman has recently seized power from her own husband, Tsar Peter III. In his brief, six-month reign, Peter alienated crucial allies like the Russian Orthodox church and the military. Seeing the tide has turned against her husband, Catherine has him arrested, and takes charge of Russia. Her reign proves far more influential than her husband’s.

Russia and the Romanovs were swept up in the Napoleonic wars.

The nineteenth century dawns on a troubled Russia. The Romanov’s empire now stretches from the Baltic to the Black Sea, but their relations with the rest of Europe are frosty. Domestically, a bloated court makes it hard to get anything done. Meanwhile, millions of serfs are enslaved by landowners – and they’re growing increasingly unhappy with their lot.

In the face of these issues, Tsar Alexander I ascends to the throne in 1801. He has an appetite to reform and modernize.

In the nineteenth century revolutionary ideals fomented in Russia.

Liberte, egalite, fraternite: when Russian troops return from Paris, some of them bring French revolutionary ideals home to Russia.

Revolutionary cells form. One is called the Northern Society. They want to abolish Russian autocracy and replace it with a British-style constitutional monarchy. But they have to wait for the right moment. In December 1825, Alexander I dies. His heir Constantin then renounces the throne. This is the chance, and the Northern Society seizes it. The revolutionaries – known as the Decembrists – stage a coup to overthrow the Romanovs. Can they succeed? No, they are soon defeated. The new Tsar Nicholas I, has 5 Decembrists shot, 31 imprisoned, and hundreds more exiled to Siberia. The revolution has been quashed – but Russia’s appetite for revolution isn’t sated.

The Romanov dynasty was brought to its knees by a monk.

It’s 1894, and Tsar Nicholas II has ascended the throne. The class struggle is a hot-button issue and socialism is taking root among the proletariat. Nicholas needs to unify the country. But he’s started off on the wrong foot.

At the tsar’s coronation, attendees at the public celebrations are promised a gift: an enamel mug, a sausage, and some gingerbread. 400,000 gifts are prepared. 700,000 people attend. Nearly 3,000 of his subjects, chiefly workers and peasants, die in a crowd crush.

The Romanovs didn’t see the revolution coming.

The revolution that brings the Romanovs to their knees starts out small. On International Women’s Day, 1917, the female workers at a St. Petersburg textile factory go on strike. Tsar Nicholas II isn’t concerned. He’s recently had his interior minister arrest prominent socialists. His soldiers are on hand to deal with any troublemakers. Meanwhile, Russia is losing men, and money, at an alarming rate in World War I. Nicholas thinks a few women striking is the least of his problems.

He couldn’t be more wrong.

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What is The Romanovs about?

The Romanovs (2016) charts the stunning rise and dramatic fall of one of the world’s great dynasties. The Romanov family helmed the Russian empire for three centuries filled with family dramas, power struggles, political upheaval, and opulent spending.

Who should read The Romanovs?

Russophiles and Romanov fans
Fans of history with a taste for juicy drama
Revolutionaries brushing up on old-school socialist revolts

About the Author

Simon Sebag Montefiore is a prolific author and popular historian. His work has been translated into 48 languages and he has written books on Stalin, Catherine the Great, the city of Jerusalem, and more. As well as authoring numerous best-selling books, Sebag Montefiore also works as a television presenter.

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