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

Historian Hasegawa (emeritus, Univ. of California at Santa Barbara; Crime and Punishment in the Russian Revolution) presents his latest work, an update on his 2017 book The February Revolution, Petrograd, 1917. This volume examines Tsar Nicholas II’s view of autocracy, how he and his bevy of lackeys refused to create a government that would unite the country during World War I, how he managed to alienate almost all of Russia against his rule, and the many leading personalities who played a role in his abdication during the 1917 revolution. Hasegawa argues that the Russian aristocracy and Tsar Nicholas II were primarily responsible for the end of the 300-year Romanov reign because the tsar was unable to adapt to the monarchical system and to the demands of a changing society. Hasegawa’s arguments are based on many new sources and research previously guarded in closed Russian archives that became more accessible after the 1991 dissolution of the former USSR. His interpretations may prompt criticism from academic scholars of this still-controversial story.