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Thirteen years at the Russian court: (a personal record of the last years and death of the Czar Nicholas II. and his family)Gilliard, Pierre

History

Thirteen years at the Russian court: (a personal record of the last years and death of the Czar Nicholas II. and his family)

Name: Thirteen years at the Russian court: (a personal record of the last years and death of the Czar Nicholas II. and his family)
Author: Gilliard, Pierre

Gilliard, Pierre

Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, 1868-1918; Romanov, House of; Soviet Union -- History -- Revolution, 1917-1921 -- Personal narratives

There were few who suspected this secret sorrow, yet it was of vital
importance from a historical point of view. The illness of the
Czarevitch cast its shadow over the whole of the concluding period of
the Czar Nicholas II.’s reign and alone can explain it. Without
appearing to be, it was one of the main causes of his fall, for it made
possible the phenomenon of Rasputin and resulted in the fatal isolation
of the sovereigns who lived in a world apart, wholly absorbed in a
tragic anxiety which had to be concealed from all eyes.

In this book I have endeavoured to bring Nicholas II. and his family
back to life. My aim is to be absolutely impartial and to preserve
complete independence of mind in describing the events of which I have
been an eyewitness. It may be that in my search for truth I have
presented their political enemies with new weapons against them, but I
greatly hope that this book will reveal them as they really were, for it
was not the glamour of their Imperial dignity which drew me to them, but
their nobility of mind and the wonderful moral grandeur they displayed
through all their sufferings.

                                                       PIERRE GILLIARD.




CONTENTS


CHAPTER                                                             PAGE

INTRODUCTION                                                         vii

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS                                                 xi

I. MY FIRST LESSONS AT THE COURT (AUTUMN, 1905)                       17

II. ALEXIS NICOLAÏEVITCH--VISITS TO THE CRIMEA
(AUTUMN, 1911, AND SPRING, 1912)--SPALA
(AUTUMN, 1912)                                                        25

III. I BEGIN MY DUTIES AS TUTOR--THE CZAREVITCH’S
ILLNESS (AUTUMN, 1913)                                                37

IV. THE CZARINA, ALEXANDRA FEODOROVNA                                 47

V. RASPUTIN                                                           59

VI. LIFE AT TSARSKOÏE-SELO--MY PUPILS (THE WINTER
OF 1913-14)                                                           69

VII. THE INFLUENCE OF RASPUTIN--MADAME WYROUBOVA--MY
TUTORIAL TROUBLES (WINTER OF 1913)                                    81

VIII. JOURNEYS TO THE CRIMEA AND RUMANIA--PRESIDENT
POINCARÉ’S VISIT--DECLARATION OF WAR BY
GERMANY (APRIL-JULY, 1914)                                            91

IX. THE IMPERIAL FAMILY IN THE FIRST DAYS OF THE
WAR--OUR JOURNEY TO MOSCOW (AUGUST, 1914)                            105

X. THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF THE WAR                                   121

XI. THE RETREAT OF THE RUSSIAN ARMY--THE CZAR PLACES
HIMSELF AT THE HEAD OF HIS ARMY--THE GROWING
INFLUENCE OF THE CZARINA (FEBRUARY-SEPTEMBER,
1915)                                                                133

XII. NICHOLAS II. AS COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF--THE ARRIVAL
OF THE CZAREVITCH AT G.H.Q.--VISITS TO THE FRONT
(SEPTEMBER-DECEMBER, 1915)                                           147

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Thirteen years at the Russian court: (a personal record of the last years and death of the Czar Nicholas II. and his family)

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