Последний царь: Как Николай II хотел сохранить самодержавие, а потерял империю

Krakh dynastyy Romanovykh — odyn yz samykh tragychnykh momentov proshlogo stoletyya. Otrechenye Nykolaya II ot prestola povleklo za soboy cheredu sobytyy, kotorye yzmenyly ne tolko sudbu tseloy strany, no y polytycheskuyu kartu Vostochnogo polusharyya. Oslablenye vlasty ymperatora, ukreplenye revolyutsyonnogo dvyzhenyya, prykhod k vlasty bolshevykov — prynyato schytat, chto ety sobytyya byly neyzbezhny. No eto ne tak. Ne sudba obrekla Romanovykh na gybel — eto bylo sledstvyem plokhogo rukovodstva y slepoy very v samoderzhavye. Tsuyosy Khasegava, professor ystoryy Kalyfornyyskogo unyversyteta, rasskazyvaet, kak soprotyvlenye Nykolaya reformam obreklo monarkhyyu na gybel. Pogryazshyy v ustarevshykh ydeyakh o samoderzhavyy, postoyanno ydushchyy na povodu u zheny y Rasputyna, on upustyl mnogo vozmozhnostey smenyt kurs: vospolzovatsya patryotycheskym podemom v obshchestve posle nachala Pervoy myrovoy voyny y ukrepyt svoy pozytsyy; reorganyzovat gosudarstvennyy apparat na osnove pryntsypov narodnogo predstavytelstva; splotyt vokrug sebya elytu, chtoby mobylyzovat chynovnykov dlya zashchyty gosudarstva; uchredyt mynysterstvo doveryya y ukrepyt kabynet mynystrov. Togda by dynastyya oslabla y utratyla vlyyanye, no vse zhe sokhranylas. Poslednye dva dnya Nykolay provel v puteshestvyy po selskoy chasty Rossyy. Soydya s poezda, on tut zhe pogruzylsya v napryazhennuyu polytycheskuyu atmosferu Pskova, kotoraya razytelno otlychalas ot toy, chto tsaryla v Mogyleve. K etomu momentu Vremennyy komytet y vysshee komandovanye uzhe peresmotrely svoe otnoshenye k revolyutsyy, y to, chto gosudar na protyazhenyy dvukh dney ne mog ny na chto povlyyat, ymelo svoy posledstvyya. Poka ymperatorskyy poezd ne spesha peresekal ukrytye snegom prostory Rossyy, vlyyatelnye polytycheskye fygury sdelaly vse vozmozhnoe, chtoby navsegda lyshyt Nykolaya vlasty. Nedavno rassekrechennye arkhyvnye y ystorycheskye dokumenty, publytsystyka togo vremeny y vospomynanyya sovremennykov pozvolyayut Tsuyosy Khasegave vosproyzvesty pochty pomynutnuyu khronologyyu otrechenyya Nykolaya II y soputstvuyushchykh sobytyy Fevralskoy revolyutsyy. Poslednyy monarkh Rossyy Nykolay II — fygura krayne protyvorechyvaya. O nem rasskazyvaetsya v ogromnom kolychestve ystochnykov: arkhyvnykh, pervychnykh y vtorychnykh dokumentov. Ya ne vozmus utverzhdat, chto yzuchyl ykh vse. Udyvytelno, no mnogye vazhnye materyaly, sposobnye prolyt svet na klyuchevye momenty, do sykh por nedostupny, a te, kotorye prochytat mozhno, zachastuyu protyvorechat drug drugu. Dlya tekh, kto ynteresuetsya ystoryey Rossyy y revolyutsyy, sudboy ymperatorskoy semy.

The collapse of the Romanov dynasty is one of the most tragic moments of the last century. The abdication of Nicholas II from the throne led to a series of events that changed not only the fate of an entire country, but also the political map of the Eastern Hemisphere. The weakening of the emperor's power, the strengthening of the revolutionary movement, the rise to power of the Bolsheviks — it is generally believed that these events were inevitable. But this is not the case. Fate did not condemn the Romanovs to death — it was the result of poor leadership and blind faith in autocracy. Tsuyoshi Hasegawa, a professor of history at the University of California, tells how Nicholas' resistance to reform doomed the monarchy. Mired in outdated ideas about autocracy, constantly being led by his wife and Rasputin, he missed many opportunities to change course: to take advantage of the patriotic upsurge in society after the outbreak of World War I and strengthen his position; to reorganize the state apparatus based on the principles of popular representation; to rally the elite around himself to mobilize officials to protect the state; to establish The Ministry of Trust and strengthen the Cabinet of Ministers. Then the dynasty would have weakened and lost its influence, but still remained. Nikolai has spent the last two days traveling through rural Russia. After getting off the train, he immediately plunged into the tense political atmosphere of Pskov, which was strikingly different from that prevailing in Mogilev. By this time, the Provisional Committee and the high command had already reconsidered their attitude to the revolution, and the fact that the emperor could not influence anything for two days had its consequences. As the imperial train slowly crossed the snow-covered expanses of Russia, influential political figures did everything possible to permanently deprive Nicholas of power. Recently declassified archival and historical documents, journalism from that time and memoirs of contemporaries allow Tsuyoshi Hasegawa to reproduce the almost minute-by-minute chronology of the abdication of Nicholas II and the accompanying events of the February Revolution. The last monarch of Russia, Nicholas II, is an extremely controversial figure. It is described in a huge number of sources: archival, primary and secondary documents. I won't claim to have studied them all. Surprisingly, many important materials that can shed light on key points are still unavailable, and those that can be read often contradict each other. For those who are interested in the history of Russia and the revolution, the fate of the imperial family.