Scan barcode
A review by alex_hev
The Race to Save the Romanovs: The Truth Behind the Secret Plans to Rescue the Russian Imperial Family by Helen Rappaport
dark
informative
sad
slow-paced
4.0
A really deep dive into the dynamics of the royal families of Europe during the first world war. I had previously read Queen Victoria's Matchmaking which got into the closeness of all these families because they were all related, but that book largely ended prior to the war, so this picked up from there nicely. It's also interesting to get a glimpse inside Russia during this period, which seems chaotic at best.
As far as the question of saving the Romanov family, there probably was more the royal families of Europe could have done but it really doesn't look like the Bolsheviks were going to let them leave (and the family largely didn't want to leave anyway). I agree with the author that early on (before abdication) there was an opportunity to send the children out of the country at least but at that point Alexandra wasn't going to break up the family. It's unfortunate but it just doesn't seem like saving the family was ever going to be successful.
As far as the question of saving the Romanov family, there probably was more the royal families of Europe could have done but it really doesn't look like the Bolsheviks were going to let them leave (and the family largely didn't want to leave anyway). I agree with the author that early on (before abdication) there was an opportunity to send the children out of the country at least but at that point Alexandra wasn't going to break up the family. It's unfortunate but it just doesn't seem like saving the family was ever going to be successful.