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Genealogy Book Store > Genealogy books beginning with K
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King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War |
Author: Catrine Clay
Published: 2007-07-10 |
List price: $26.95
Our price: $17.79
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As of: January 06th, 2009 04:45:06 AM
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Customer comments on this selection.
 Don't bother w/this, there are better histories out there.
I was very surprised by the sloppy research and numerous little errors of fact that kept cropping up while I read this book. I'm not a historian, or an editor, or even much of a writer, but, as someone with a general acquaintance with memoirs and biographies of George V, Tsar Nicholas II, Kaiser Wilhelm, and other royals of the time period, it was pretty shocking to come across errors in almost every chapter. It's as if the author breezed through various histories and biographies and regurgitated facts (incorrectly) to suit herself.
For example, the author states that the Empress Frederick, who died in 1901, was buried in an English coffin according to Anglican rites, although Kaiser Wilhelm had her coffin placed in a German-made casket and German burial rites recited -- which suits her theory that the Empress "remained an English Princess to the end." What nonsense! (Gee, why not go further and repeat the old lie, put about by anti-English German reporters, that the Empress was buried naked wrapped in a Union Jack?) The author also states that the Empress' daughter Victoria fell in love with Prince Alexander of Battenberg at her Aunt Beatrice's wedding--which neither Victoria or her parents attended. Prince George of Greece married someone named Olga? No, he married Princess Marie Bonaparte. Winston Churchill was First Sea Lord when war broke out in 1914? No, it was Prince Louis of Battenberg. She has the Prince and Princess of Wales (George and Mary) leaving for their tour of Australia in 1897 instead of 1901. These are only a few examples of this author's poor workmanship. Did she even care enough about her subject to get her facts straight? It didn't appear to me that she did.
Quite frankly, I'm sorry that the publisher didn't choose to publish a full collection of the Royal letters quoted by this author, rather than this shoddy so-called history. I could have learned more from the letters of the protagonists, as opposed to being annoyed by an author who can't be bothered to get facts correct.
 Fascinating history -- but biased
"King, Kaiser, Tsar" gives a fascinating, up-close and personal look at George V of Great Britain, Wilhelm II of Germany and Nicholas II of Russia and the key roles they played in the 30-odd years that led up to World War I. Especially enthralling are the differences between the responsibilities and personalities of a constitutional monarch, an autocrat in an empire with a parliament but little real democracy, and an absolute monarch totally unsuited for his role.
Catrine Clay quotes voluminously from family letters and other sources concerning King George and Tsar Nicholas, showing how the complex intertwining of relationships among the children and grandchildren of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made statesmanship and diplomacy a family affair as well as a national one in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Where Clay's otherwise fine book falls short is in her biased and very negative treatment of Kaiser Wilhelm. Her English roots are painfully apparent every time she talks of him, with many negative comments, few positive, and almost none of the humanizing quotes from family letters she gives from the lives of the other two monarchs. Clay's noting of Wilhelm's birth trauma and the lifelong problems his withered arm and other disabilities caused him does not make up for her one-sided treatment of his life, taken as a whole.
Nevertheless, the book as a whole is well worth a read for those who want to learn what European life was like in the days when monarchs still counted for something.
Extremely interesting, a few minor flaws.
Other reviews have pretty much covered the content and general scope of the book -- a very interesting, fairly detailed (as much as the broad subject matter and limited page count will allow) biography of 3 rulers and the way they were influenced by their world, and influenced the world around them. While very critical of Wilhelm, she is also fairly sympathetic, portraying him as a man who was often 'left out', due to factors largely beyond his control.
While overall it was very well written, the structure of the text led to a few minor issues.
a) Because it covers three people, the content isn't always chronological, leading to some confusion, and occassional repetition of facts and incidents.
b)Some of the repetition got rather annoying. (The author reminds us about 20 times that George was a constitutional monarch [and therefore required to follow the demands of parliament], while Nicky and Willie were absolute monarchs.
c) More pictures would have been nice, as well as a more detailed family-tree. (Many people mentioned in the text are not included in the tree. The extremely complex interrationship between the various royal families would have made a more detailed chart very helpful.)
 Too much to take on
This book has a great premise to it. To inform us of the three cousins and leaders of the major players in the first great war. One that has read about the subject though will find that this book takes on too many tasks and leaves things unsaid. Although it does tell the early history of each king well, when they get older and the story needs to be told in some detail, many events are left out.
First of, as is with many books on this era, this is an anti German book. Laying the blame of the entire war, its continuation and practices on the German side. It lays all the blame on the Kaiser when it was know that they generals were the ones who ran the country towards the end of the war. Plus it fails to prove that one of the major reason of the war was the declining British trade to that of Germany. One thing this books does explain well though is one of the reasons why both Russia and Britain were allies was because the wives of each of the kings hated Germany since it had invaded thier country back in the 1860's. They influenced the kings and made the Kaiser feel even more uneasy than he already was because of his handicap, since he always felt as an outsider to his cousins.
This book does a fair job in both detailing the Tsar and Kaiser but does not say much about England's king. Again this book details a lot on the Kaiser and his follies and hadicaps, both physical and mental. If you are looking for a starter book on the war with an enphasis on the Kings this is a good book for you. But if you are looking into more backround on the war this is not it as this books does not touch much on the war and when it does it does not do a good job at it, even the assasination of the Tsar and why it happened is not clearly explained. So if you want an out the subject book on the Great War this is a good book but not great if you already know a lot about the War.
 How three cousins: George V of Great Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Czar Nicholas II led their nations
Their era of kingship is long gone but their legacy remains. British historian Catrine Clay has told their fascinating story in this new triple biography of the rulers and the world they lost in the guns of August, 1914. It was in that fateful autumn that the long 19th century of peace in Europe ended with the horrific beginning of the Great War which would claim 10 million lives and over 20 million casualties. Clay's purpose is not to retell that story oft told but to look at the remarkable lives of three ordinary men who led their nations in this dark and dangerous time. The chief players in this drama are:
1. Queen Victoria-She was the formidable grandmother of all three of the cousins profiled in the book. Victoria ruled the greatest military power on earth whose navy ruled the waves. Despite the Afghan, Zulu and Boer wars Britain was surpreme in its rulership over a vast empire and a democratic society in which the monarch had no real power.
2. George V-George was the second son of Edward VII (who ruled from 1901-1910 forging the Entente Cordial treaty with France and Russia pledging them to come to the aid of their allies in time of war). The oldest son Edward died in 1892 so George became king in 1910 following the death of Edward VII. George was a momma's boy and was tied to the apron strings of his beautiul mother Alexandra the Danish born queen. She suffered from deafness and putting up with her husband's constant philandering (most notable of Edward's mistresses as Alice Keppel). Alexandra hated Germany following the ravishment of her native Denmark by the Germans in the 1862 war. George is sometimes known as the sailor king due to his long service in the Royal Navy. He was a faithful husband to his wife May Teck and was a good father. He loved his stamp collection and was a good friend to his cousin Nicky the Russian Tsar. George was the only one of the three rulers who emerged unscathed and popular at the end of World War I. He would die in 1936 beloved of his nation. During World War I he left the fighting to professional soldiers encouraging the troops by frequent visits to them.
3. Kaiser Wilhelm II-He was born to Vicky (the favorite daughter of Queen Victoria) and his father Frederick. Wilhelm was born with a deformed left arm and a severe hearing problem. He had difficulty with the arm throughout his life compensating for it by becoming a militarist. Wilhelm grew to despise the views of his mother the liberally minded Vicky and his father whom he deemed weak. Wilhelm married Dona who supported him and was not very bright. In 1888 old Kaiser Wilhelm I died to be replaced by Frederick who also died that year succumbing to throat cancer. 1888 became known as the year of the three emperors for that is when Wilhelm II got his chance to rule Germany with a strong hand. He favored the extreme right wing views of Chancellor Bulow and his good friend Prince Eulenburgh and his circle of homosexual cronies, Wilhelm fired Bismarck and desired to make Germany a military powerhouse as he built up the navy and strengthened the army. Wilhelm believed that he was surrounded by enemies knowing of the alliance of France, England and Russia. He was emotionaly unstable suffering mood swings and fits of anger. He was virulently anti-semitic and favored the Junker class. Wilhelm would see his dreams turn into nightmares when Germany was crushed in World War I. The defeated Kaiser would die in Holland as an exile in 1941.
3. Tsar Nicholas II is a tragic figure. His father Alexander III died in 1894 making Nicholas the Tsar. His mother was Minnie the Danish sister of Britain's Queen Alexandra. This formidable woman hated Germany and taught this lesson to Nicholas. He was a small man with an ordinary brain. He was dominated by his German born wife Alexandra who was a favorite of Queen Victoria. Their son Alexi had hemophilia and the couple relied on faith healers like Rasputin to give them hope that the heir to the throne would triumph over the disease inherited through the mother's blood. Many Russians wrongly thought Alexandra was a German spy!Rasputin would be murdered and so would the Tsar, Alexandria and their 4 daughters and Alexis in July, 1917. The Bolsheviks under Lenin ruled supreme as Tsarist Russia and the Romanov dynasty became a casualty of war.
Clay tells us the story of these men dealing with a new modern age they were unable to deal with. Both Nicholas and Wilhelm believed in absolute monarchy which was doomed. George was guided by his advisors who believed strongly in the British constitutional monarchy the only one of the three systems that worked then and now.
The book is well illustrated including a family tree evincing just how close were the blood ties uniting the royalty of Europe prior to the holocaust of World War I. The book is recommended as a fine historical account.
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