An excellently written narrative of the saga of the last Romanovs - from the time of the next-to-last Tsar, through the Revolution, and up to the 1980s when the last imperial Romanovs died. It is a tale of glitter, sadness, imprisonment, torture, flight, unfulfilled expectations and squandered opportunities. The fact is that most of the imperial family didn't have a clue about the world outside their royal cocoon and were ill-prepared to understand the rapid sweep of events that led to the loss of their status, power, money and, for some, their lives.

The authors also make understandable the changing alliances of the various nations involved in World War I - enemies became allies and allies became enemies. The book made it possible for me to 'get a handle on' the confusion of forces competing for power during the Russian Revolution (no easy task!). This is a history buff's book, but one of the best on the topic I have read. Exceptionally well researched and footnoted

I am a relative newcomer concerning the history of the Romanov family, but this has changed now. This book is just incredibly fascinating, there are so many facts as well as samll anecdotes that it is just pure delight to read this well written and extremely well researched book. The book demonstrates the lavish lifestyle of the last Romanovs, describes all the relationships between the European royal families in the late 19th and early 20th century, and goes into every single detail of the relationships within the Romanov family. The second half of the book describes the hardships hte Romanovs had to endure under the Bolshevik regime and how all their lives changed so drastically after Tsar Nicholas II abdicated and the Bolsheviks came to power.

The only slightly negative thing which came to my mind while reading this book was the vast number of names in some parts of the book. It sometimes hapens that there are eight different names in one sentence, referring to three different generations from three different parts of the Romanov family.

But this still does not cloud the impression from reading this extremely informative book which is absolutely readable for non-historians who are just interested in this topic.

Like many of you, I am fascinated by the story of the fall of the Russian dynasty. I read everything I can find, from coffee-table books to serious scholarship, and have found no other book that so clearly explains the many threads of politics, world events, and family dramas that surrounded and contributed to the demise of the Romanovs. This narrative is clear and explanatory, and the information about the entire Romanov family was enlightening. After years of listening to me go on an on about the latest "Romanov book" I was reading, my historian father also picked up "The Flight of the Romanovs" and became hooked. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this topic.

It is very interesting to learn how Russian historians view Cold War. It is well-written and easy to understand.

It seems to me, however, that the authors have some nostalgia for 19th century Russian imperialism. While ideology is described as delirium tremens, there is no criticism of Russian expansionism. Even Stalin's expansionism is justified by his concern for security. By denying Soviet Union's ambition and emphasizing economic loss which Russian people had to suffer, the authors are misleading readers to wrong direction.

Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Kruschev, opens a new dimension to those who are intrested in reading what had really happened during the Cold War. The sections about the atomic bomb preperations and effort of Stalin and three consequent letters of Khruschev to Kennedy during the Cuban Missile crisis -from which we understand caused a strategic policy change by the CPSU- are valuable pieces of information. A useful insight which could bu read as a thriller.

The Tsar's Last Armada is an interesting Russian-oriented account of the fateful voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the Pacific Ocean in 1904-1905, where it was destroyed at the Battle of Tsushima. Not many books are written about the Russo-Japanese War and this well written book is a welcome addition to the small circle on English language books on that subject. The author, currently a Russian native now turned US professor at Mount Holyoke College, has expertly mined Russian archives and diaries for a treasure trove on information about the epic voyage. The narrative of the voyage itself revolves more around personalities, rather than military or technical details. Overall, The Tsar's Last Armada is an excellent book on the subject, but other books should be consulted to provide the Japanese perspective.

The Tsar's Last Armada consists of three main sections: covering predeployment activities, the voyage of the fleet to Asian waters and the final Battle of Tsushima. There are two significant structural weaknesses in the book: use of maps and dates. Only four large scale, poor quality maps are provided to show the route of the fleet and there are no maps to depict the tactical dispositions or movements in the Battle of Tsushima. Furthermore, the author's use of old-style Russian dates is confusing and readers must remember to add 13 days to any date given. Although the author has added a section on photographs, only a few are relevant to the cast of characters or the Russian Fleet and the reader might wonder why he bothered. Nevertheless, these technical glitches are annoying but only detract slightly from an otherwise well written book.

The main focus in Pleshakov's account is the commander of the Russian 2nd Pacific Squadron (the first squadron was destroyed at Port Arthur), Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky. At times, the reader will sympathize with the admiral who was assigned this near-impossible task, to take a fleet of warships 16,000 miles around the world to fight a strong enemy fleet. Rozhestvensky was a strict disciplinarian and he tried to mold a motley collection of warships into a fighting force, without much help from his subordinates or the Russian Naval Ministry. On the other hand, at other times Rozhestvensky appears to have been a completely paranoid fool, particularly in the Dogger Bank incident where he ordered his warships to open fire on what he thought were Japanese torpedo boats; instead, he sank a British fishing trawler and caused a major international incident with England. Later, Rozhestvensky's orders resulted in the breaking of the Europe-Africa underwater cable at Tangiers and he almost provoked a military confrontation with Portugal. His sailors also rioted in Crete and caused trouble everywhere they landed. In probably never occurred to the Russians to bring a few diplomats along on the mission, in order to arrange better cooperation. Rozhestvensky's decisions at Tsushima - ordering first column, then line, then back to column - only served to disorganize his fleet and make it easy for the Japanese to slaughter. Perhaps the best that one can say about Rozhestvensky is that he was Russia's best admiral in 1905, but that was not good enough.

Military readers may be disappointed by the fairly short shrift given to technical details in this account, which focuses more on people than ships. The fact that the voyage was delayed until the four Borodino class battleships could be completed and that they sailed without "shakedown" cruises, should have been mentioned to help explain the untried nature of the four best Russian warships. Nor are logistic issues addressed in any real detail, although it would have been interesting to read how the Russian Naval Ministry planned and paid for coaling operations; nothing like this had ever been tried before. The Battle of Tsushima itself is covered in less than 50 pages and total casualties for each side are not mentioned. On the other hand, readers will learn more about the Russian sub-commanders, Nebogatov and Enkvist, than standard accounts offer. In particular, Nebogatov's surrender of several elderly Russian battleships without firing a shot is very indicative of the low quality of Russian naval leadership at this time.

The best thing about The Tsar's Last Voyage is the valuable lesson it teaches about knowing when to quit. With the fall of Port Arthur five months before Rozhestvensky's fleet reached the Pacific, the Russians lost their best naval base and the main reason for sending the fleet. Indeed, Rozhestvensky expected the fleet to be recalled, but the Tsar was obstinate. After the fall of Port Arthur, continuing the mission was virtual suicide, but the Russian High Command became irrevocably committed to a course of action despite changing battlefield realities. While recalling the fleet would have been embarrassing, allowing it to proceed to its virtual annihilation was humiliating. Thus, this book provides interesting insights into the Tsar's pig-headedness that would ultimately lead to war, disaster and revolution.

Constantine Pleshakov provides a fascinating account of an event in history that has previously received short shrift in literary circles with "The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima".

The focal point of this historical work is the Russian 2nd Fleet, and Admiral Rozhestvensky, who was appointed to lead this doomed expedition. The 2nd Fleet was dispatched from European ports by Tsar Nicholas II to defend the Russian Far East from the Japanese Navy, which had already destroyed Port Arthur and were threatening action elsewhere.

Mr. Pleshakov doesn't spare too much time in diverting his narrative, save for some background on the major "players" involved with the 2nd Fleet. He also spares little time to get bogged down in technical detail. I found this to be refreshing, because it meant staying focused on the voyage. It gave Mr. Pleshakov adequate room to give the reader a compelling account at the horrific living conditions for the sailors aboard a rag-tag collection of fine battleships, old and outdated warships, and other vessels that were barely seaworthy. All the while, these descriptions heighten the sense of awe and incredulity in the reader, given the realization that it was miraculous the 2nd Fleet was anywhere close to battle readiness when the fated encounter finally arrived. However, these passages read fairly slow, so it detracts somewhat from the story.

Whether intended or not, Mr. Pleshakov also manages to provide an interesting "picture" of the enigma that was Admiral Rozhestvensky. The reader learns of his desire to reach prominence, the unease and personal conflict as he was assigned by the Tsar to lead the 2nd Fleet, the adulterous disciplinarian who somehow kept the fleet together during the lengthy voyage, and the puzzling tactics along the way that damaged diplomatic relations and sealed the fleet's doom in battle. In essence, he was equal parts brilliant and flawed. Through the course of the book, you can sympathize with him, but then be amazed that he held the fleet together, then go back to sympathizing with him after the fleet's defeat and his wounding.

As the title would suggest, this book does not focus much on the battle itself, so many readers may find the description of Tsushima to be woefully inadequate. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more offered, but then again, given what the focus was, the battle description served its purpose well.

All in all, this is a good book to include in the collection of world naval history. The overwhelming theme of doom and tragedy that was the Battle of Tsushima permeates this book, which makes the work even more compelling when combined with the descriptions of the harsh turn-of-the-century life at sea. In the bigger scope of Russian history, this book is worthwhile in that it provides some insight into an event that contributed to the downfall of the Russian royal family.

I would recommend this to those who enjoy naval or military history, and to those who read Russian/Soviet history. I give it a four-star rating not for the content as much as for the fact that at a shade over 330 pages, and with a fairly limited focus, the book reads pretty slow.

Constantine Pleshakov's new book 'The Tsar's Last Armada: The Epic Voyage to the Battle of Tsushima' is a compelling account of the voyage undertaken by a Russian Fleet half way around the world which ended in its total annihilation at the hands of the Japanese during the Battle of Tsushima. The book concentrates more on the actual events leading up to the decision to send the Russian fleet on this journey, the voyage itself and the personalities involved. Some previous reviews have made mention of the lack of detail on the actual battle itself, however the book's titles gives you a fair idea of the content and I think it was a story told well, full of interest and drama.

In the introduction the author makes it very clear that the story is told from a Western viewpoint:
"The Russian and British archives that I have used allow one to tell the story of Tsushima with some hope of being objective and complete, yet, I know that my research is deficient. I do not read Japanese, and without Japanese archival evidence it is not possible to write anything truly comprehensive about the war. So this is the story of Tsushima told from a Western perspective, as it was seen through Russian, British, French, and German eyes - nothing more, but also, hopefully, nothing less."

Overall I found the story interesting and although I too would have liked more on the Battle of Tsushima there was enough to complete the story. The book has filled me with an urge to learn more of this decisive engagement and I will look around for another book to complete my education. The narrative was well presented and held my interest throughout the journey. Towards the end of the book I felt quite sorry for Vice-Admiral Rozhestvensky who appeared to have done the best he could under most trying circumstances.

This is decent account and I think accomplishes what the author set out to do, to tell the story "of the Russian squadron's long, difficult journey and fast, horrible defeat." One compliant that could be leveled at the author would be the standard of the maps provided. I am sure anyone who enjoys stories of mans determination and perseverance against adversity will enjoy this book. However you will need to look further for a more comprehensive account of the Battle of Tsushima.