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George, Nicholas and Wilhelm: Three Royal Cousins and the Road to World War I |  | Author: Miranda Carter
Publisher: Knopf
Category: Book
List Price: $30.00
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Seller: BRILANTI BOOKS
Rating:  40 reviews
Sales Rank: 33653
Format: Deckle Edge
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st American Edition
Pages: 528
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 2.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.5 x 1.9
ISBN: 1400043638
Dewey Decimal Number: 940.3112
EAN: 9781400043637
ASIN: 1400043638
Publication Date: March 23, 2010
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
In the years before the First World War, the great European powers were ruled by three first cousins: King George V of Britain, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany and Tsar Nicholas II of Russia. Together, they presided over the last years of dynastic Europe and the outbreak of the most destructive war the world had ever seen, a war that set twentieth-century Europe on course to be the most violent continent in the history of the world.
Miranda Carter uses the cousins’ correspondence and a host of historical sources to tell the tragicomic story of a tiny, glittering, solipsistic world that was often preposterously out of kilter with its times, struggling to stay in command of politics and world events as history overtook it. George, Nicholas and Wilhelm is a brilliant and sometimes darkly hilarious portrait of these men—damaged, egotistical Wilhelm; quiet, stubborn Nicholas; and anxious, dutiful George—and their lives, foibles and obsessions, from tantrums to uniforms to stamp collecting. It is also alive with fresh, subtle portraits of other familiar figures: Queen Victoria—grandmother to two of them, grandmother-in-law to the third—whose conservatism and bullying obsession with family left a dangerous legacy; and Edward VII, the playboy “arch-vulgarian” who turned out to have a remarkable gift for international relations and the theatrics of mass politics. At the same time, Carter weaves through their stories a riveting account of the events that led to World War I, showing how the personal and the political interacted, sometimes to devastating effect.
For all three men the war would be a disaster that destroyed forever the illusion of their close family relationships, with any sense of peace and harmony shattered in a final coda of murder, betrayal and abdication.
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Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
 Cousins in war and peace August 2, 2010
Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA)
This extremely well-written book gives a brief overview of European history from the middle years of Victoria's reign, basically to the end of World War I (with some additional material at the end). It is chiefly concerned with the intermarriage of European royalty and ruling houses, and how the vast majority of royals in power were related to Queen Victoria, and thus to each other.
As can be seen by the title, the book focuses on King George V of England, Czar Nicholas II of Russia, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. They were cousins, and rather familiar with each other, often exchanging visits and letters. We see how each of these rulers came to be paramount in his country, and just how much influence each had in the events which led up to the war.
The author gives a different description of Wilhelm than most casual readers are accustomed to, for she states that the German General Staff was responsible for the war, and even though Wilhelm was blamed for it, he was aghast at the thought that all of Europe would be engulfed in a conflagration. An interesting point of view, and backed up by hard facts.
Nicholas drifted into the war somewhat against his will because of being pushed by his confidants, who felt that a "little war" would unite the Russian people behind the autocracy, and eliminate much, if not all, of the unrest in the country. Had the Russian army succeeded, there would more than likely have been a different ending (if it would have ended) to the Romanov dynasty. There are many in Russia to blame for what happened, but Nicholas and Alexandra's firm belief in autocracy, and trust in Rasputin, combined with Alexandra's mishandling of the reins of power while Nicholas was at the front, led to the sad conclusion .
George has much less to do with instigating the war, because England was a constitutional monarchy, and even if he wished to insert himself into foreign affairs (other than writing letters to his cousins) the elected ministers would have kept him from doing so. One thing, though, is that he, almost alone, was responsible for England not offering political asylum to Nicholas and his family. Not a very cousinly thing to do!
This book fills in some gaps in the information given about this era, and even though some of the actions that occurred concurrently with the theme of the book are mentioned quite cursorily, I found it easy to read and very informative, and recommend it highly.
Pomp and Politics July 27, 2010
Loves the View (Hawaii)
Other reviews have noted that there is little new here, but the point of this book is not to bring out new information; It is to explore the origins of World War I from a different point of view. In examining the character of these three cousins, their upbringing and education, their role in the structure of their respective governments and the issues and attitudes of their counties Miranda Carter shows how they did and didn't influence the course of events that led to The Great War.
The cousins of this book are contemporaries born into an era where the historical role of the monarch was no longer functional. Governing had become too complex to be handled by one man as Nicholas II saw it and attempted to do. Governing needed more input from those affected by its policies, but gathering input was a skill totally lacking in Wilhelm and not considered appropriate by Nicholas. Over the years, England had structurally sidelined the monarch. An example of how this happened, on p. 43, where Queen Victoria surrenders prerogatives in order to have the title "Empress" (of India), illustrates her (monarchial) priorities.
Just a look at the book's photos shows the royals' unquestioned sense of entitlement. Carter describes the pageantry of the 17 day funeral of Alexander III, the dunbars of India and even "simple" family gatherings that were expensive, banal and contributed nothing to the well being of the monarch's respective countries. The royals profess their love and loyalty to each other, the value of which is demonstrated by George V and his abandonment of his Romanov cousin.
Carter shows how the education and upbringing of these 3 royals gave them little practical knowledge and spawned a host of self esteem issues. The most destructive result of this process was the childhood of Wilhelm (even more fully described in Victoria's Daughters). Wilhelm's actions, mostly a result of his stunted emotional self, nicely summarized on pp. 374-5, are a major cause of World War I. Wilhelm, like Nicholas, had no idea of the potential consequences of his actions.
This book, with it's focus on individuals, provides an excellent addition to the literature on this era and will hold the reader's attention throughout.
Readable introduction to a fascinating time July 10, 2010
Bruce Brocka (Quad Cities)
The forty years of peace that preceded the first World War is fertile ground for a fascinating history of personalities and events that precede the world changing events of WWI. Miranda Carter has done an admirable job of weaving together the voluminous details of the time around the three primary royal personages of the time, George V of England, Nicholas II of Russia, and Wilhelm II of Germany. She pays particular attention to events that are prelude to the Great War.
I've read many works about this period, and if you're going to read just one, this one might be it. I prefer King, Kaiser, Tsar: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War, but as it is more detailed, covers primarily the same ground, a novice to this field might prefer Miranda Carter's work. Of course, the die hard armchair historian can enjoy the autobiography and memoirs of many of the key players.
A suggested follow-up to this work would be Nicholas and Alexandra, and for video fans, Fall of Eagles, Nicholas and AlexandraEdward the King
Three cousins and one war July 10, 2010
Sacramento Book Review (Sacramento, CA)
The complex events that led to World War I have been examined in depth and from many angles. From those who use World War I as a spring board to look at World War II, the alliances that made Europe a complex environment, and an enhanced ideal of the military and what it could accomplish. Miranda Carter takes a look at the relationship of three Royal cousins. This is a look at the view at the top, looking at the people in power and their decisions or indecisions, a political history. Yet it is hard to imagine how much power these three actually had outside of Nicholas. George was just a figurehead, and Wilhelm believed that he could rule Germany alone, yet in reality he barely had control at all. While in the end it was a nightmare for all three, there was little any of them could do.
The strengths and weaknesses of the book are the same, that it focuses on these three. As a strength it gives you glimpse into their lives and how isolated they were from the rest of the world; and their familial relationships amongst each other. The weakness is that Miranda Carter places to much pressure on these three specific figures.
Reviewed by Kevin Winter
A Royal Road to War July 8, 2010
Jaylia3 (Silver Spring, MD United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Before World War I the belief that monarchs ruled by divine right was alive and well in Europe--at least among the monarchs themselves. George, Nicolas and Wilhelm were cousins who reigned in Britain, Russia and Germany during the years leading up to the war. By the end of the war Tsar Nicolas and his family had been assassinated, and Kaiser Wilhelm was in exile having been forced to abdicate. Interestingly, only the monarch with almost no political power survived the war with his title in tact, but the experiences of the war aged and haunted King George so that it is almost impossible to see the handsome young man he had been in the worn face of his post-war photos.
As the grandmother of King George, Kaiser Wilhelm, and Tsar Nicolas's wife Alix, Queen Victoria played a pivotal role in the lives of all three rulers. Though, like King George, her main functions in politics were decorative, Queen Victoria was able to strengthen her position by marrying eight of her nine children into European reigning houses, most of which had more real power than the British monarchy. All her scattered, royal children and grandchildren were brought up to believe that the close family relationships they maintained would ensure peace and harmony for Europe. Even as their countries bickered in an increasingly ominous way, the royals wrote each other loving notes, took hunting vacations together, and met on each other's yachts.
I really enjoyed this triple biography; all of its subjects are fascinating. Kaiser Wilhelm is Queen Victoria's first grandson, born to her eldest daughter. That daughter, Vicky, tried so hard to make Wilhelm venerate all things British that he alternated between rebellion, antagonizing his English family with his bombastic and pseudo-militaristic ways, and supplication, wanting only to be loved and admired by those same relations. He'd threaten dire consequences when he thought he had been disrespected, but he became happy as a child with a new toy when presented with foreign military uniforms. These were honorary tokens that he seemed to believe gave him real decision making power in the British navy and Russian army. Though he lived a cushy, royal life Wilhelm always considered himself a strong, disciplined military man. He had a withered, unusable arm from a difficult birth that was never allowed to appear in pictures. He encouraged and strengthened the Germany military--a group of men who believed in a warped social Darwinism that saw war as a necessary tool to cull the continent's population--to the point that his armed forces became so powerful they ruled themselves, unanswerable to him or the civilian government. He felt betrayed by them when he was forced to abdicate.
Tsar Nicolas was a family man who wanted nothing more than to be secluded with his wife and five children far from the seats of power. He was mainly ignorant of the devastation the Russian people were experiencing and the rebellion that was causing, and when he did have a glimpse of it he truly did not understand what he was seeing. One reason for this was that he was worried and distracted by the ill health of his only son, who had hemophilia. Also, his very religious wife kept him convinced that he alone, as the divinely appointed ruler, knew what was best for Russia, so he wouldn't listen to advisors and kept weakening and dissolving the Duma, Russia's representative assembly. The chaos this produced led to Russia's disastrous participation in World War I and then to revolution and his own death.
King George looked so much like his first cousin Tsar Nicolas that in photos of the two of them it is hard to tell them apart. Though George loved and admired his father, the rotund but stylish King Edward, he was embarrassed by his father's dalliances and so his court was much more conservative. Well into the new century he continued to dress in the fashions popular when his grandmother Queen Victoria was alive, and he insisted that his wife wear the old styles too. Miranda Carter credits his war activities--stoic visits to the front, hospitals and factories--with a resurgence in popularity of the British monarchy. His frayed ordinariness was seen as a rebuke to the claims of divine right made by the absolutist monarchies his country felt it was fighting against.
I didn't know much about this period in history before I read the book and one of the things that surprised me was the large role that Austria--land of edelweiss--played in instigating the First World War. When Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated Austria saw it as an opportunity to crush Serbia, the self-proclaimed leader of the southern Slavs. Empire building was seen as a key to wealth and power and Austria considered Serbia, which had doubled its size after the Balkan war, a threat to the Austria-Hungry Empire it had built. Austria's military leaders were just as enthusiastic about war as Wilhelm's German generals were, and the German military encouraged Austria to ignore all the appeasements and concessions the Serbs made in its fruitless effort to secure peace.
I became interested in the pre-WWI era while reading Juliet Nicholson's The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm. While Miranda Carter's book focuses on different aspects of that era--there is nothing about socialite Diana Cooper who has a prominent role in Perfect Summer--it is just as captivating and we do learn more about some of the other interesting characters in the earlier book. There is a little bit more about George's dutiful wife Queen Mary for instance, and the sections dealing with Lloyd George, who was the first and so far only Welsh Prime minister of the United Kingdom, were new to me. I'm looking forward to reading Nicholson's new book about the post-war period--The Great Silence: Britain from the Shadow of the First World War to the Dawn of the Jazz Age.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 40
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