Nicholas and Alexandra

36 “Austria is now going to come to a reckoning with Serbia”: ibid., 221.

37 “Count Pourtales, Russia means it”: Pares, 184.

38 “Now that Serbia has given in”: Mansergh, 226.

39 Willy-Nicky telegrams: Buchanan, I, 200–4. The telegram referring to The Hague was not included by Buchanan and is taken from Paleologue, I, 270.

40 The Kaiser’s rage: Cowles, 356.

41 “I don’t think Your Majesty can postpone”: Sazonov, 201.

42 “Think of the responsibility”: Paleologue, I, 45.

43 “The Tsar remained silent”: Sazonov, 204–5.

44 Sazonov and Pourtales: ibid., 212–13. “In that case, my government charges me”: Paleologue, I, 48.

45 Alexandra and her daughters at Peterhof: Gilliard, 105–6.

46 “He was never sincere, not for a moment”: Paleologue, I, 196–7.

CHAPTER 20 FOR THE DEFENSE OF HOLY RUSSIA

 1 The ceremony at the Winter Palace: Vyrubova, 106; Pares, 187; Almedingen, 133–4.

 2 The Tsarevich, weeping: Gilliard, 106.

 3 Salle de Nicholas: Paleologue, I, 50; Buchanan, I, 212; Vyrubova, 107.

 4 “I solemnly swear”: Paleologue, I, 51.

 5 The crowd knelt: Rodzianko, 109. “God Save the Tsar”: Gilliard, 112. “The absolute master of their bodies and souls”: Paleologue, I, 52.

 6 Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, etc.: ibid., 74; Botkin, 105.

 7 “Vive la France”: Paleologue, I, 57. “The flags of the three nations”: ibid., 59.

 8 Sack of the German Embassy: ibid., 58.

 9 “For the defense of Holy Russia”: Golovine, 205.

10 “The war with Japan”: Kerensky, Crucifixion, 235.

11 “Now all Russia is involved”: Rodzianko, 109.

12 “This is not a political war”: Paleologue, I, 71. “If we are unlucky”: ibid., 135.

13 “Not a trace was left”: Kerensky, Crucifixion, 195.

14 “Six months”: Botkin, 111. “Sausages”: ibid., 68.

15 Moscow: Gilliard, 113; Buchanan, 214–15.

16 “Alexis is complaining of his leg”: Gilliard, 113. “When Alexis found he could not walk”: ibid., 113.

17 “From this place”: Paleologue, I, 90.

18 “As it is God himself”: ibid., 95.

19 “The Heir! The Heir!”: Gilliard, 115.

20 St. Petersburg becomes Petrograd: Paleologue, I, 108. Nicholas’s patriotism: Gilliard, 121.

21 “Let Papa not plan war”: Pares, 188. Nicholas tore up the telegram: Vyrubova, 104, 173.

22 “Dear Friend, I will say again”: The original of this letter is in the Beinecke Rare Book Library at Yale, where I saw it. A version of the same letter is published by Maria Rasputin, My Father, page 23. She describes it as “the last letter my father wrote to Nicholas II before the declaration of war.”

23 “This war is madness”: Paleologue, I, 122–3.

24 Dress uniforms for the ceremonial parade: Botkin, 112.

25 Russian army on the march: Paleologue, I, 63, 77.

26 “William to St. Helena!”: ibid., 65–6.

27 “One … was very young”: ibid., 64.

28 “The troops grey with dust”: Bruce Lockhart, 95.

29 “A wide road that leads to war”: Knox, 50.

30 Numbers of soldiers: Golovine, 45, 50. “Russian steamroller”: ibid., 53. Railroads compared to France and Germany: ibid., 34.

31 Twenty-three days on the train: Knox, 17. “The railroads decided”: ibid., 449. Factories in Russia and Britain, ibid., xxxiii. Court-martial for firing more than three rounds per day: ibid., 255.

32 Russian imports and exports: Golovine, 37. Russian and British seaport traffic: Knox, xxxiii.

33 “A barred house”: Golovine, 37.

34 “His sly look”: Paleologue, I, 83, 8,000-mile round trips: Knox, 220.

35 “A drawing room soldier”: Meriel Buchanan, 107.

36 “Eager for pleasure like a youth”: Sazonov, 286.

37 German and Russian artillery: Golovine, 32. “Sukhomlinov believed”: ibid., 12. Funny stories: Knox, 220.

38 “General Fly-Off”: Pares, 194.

39 Grand Duke Nicholas: Paleologue, I, 62; Knox, 43.

40 Sukhomlinov and the Grand Duke hated each other: Paleologue, I, 57.

41 “Go to the devil”: Knox, 220.

42 “We hope in six weeks”: Mansergh, 214.

43 “Lunch in Paris”: Pares, 195.

44 France wants 700,000 men on M-15: Golovine, 35; Mansergh, 37.

45 Paleologue urges the Russians to hurry: Golovine, 212–13.

46 Paleologue’s interview with Nicholas: Paleologue, I, 60–1.

47 Paleologue’s interview with Grand Duke Nicholas: ibid., 61–3.

48 Russian strategy in East Prussia: Knox, 56; Tuchman, 65–6.

49 Grand Duke Nicholas leaves St. Petersburg: Knox, 43. Samsonov: ibid., 60. Rennenkampf, ibid., 204–5. The German machine gun: Gilliard, 111.

50 Russian cavalry charges the guns: Pares, 198.

51 Russian invasion of East Prussia: Tuchman, 293, 274. The terrain: ibid., 66.

52 Russians believe Allenstein is Berlin: Knox, 84. “Advancing according to timetable”: Tuchman, 287.

53 “To see the enemy where he does not exist”: Tuchman, 295.

54 Tannenberg. German artillery the decisive factor: Golovine, 133.

55 “The enemy has luck one day”: Knox, 74. Russian losses: Paleologue, I, 107.

56 “We are happy to have made such sacrifices”: Knox, 90. “We owed this sacrifice to France”: Paleologue, I, 106.

57 “If the Russians arrive in Berlin”: Tuchman, 293.

58 “This was perhaps our salvation”: Golovine, 214.

CHAPTER 21 STAVKA

 1 Nicholas’s desire to take command of the army: Florinsky, End, 61.

 2 “We may be forced to retreat”: Paleologue, I, 56.

 3 Stavka: ibid., 302–5; Knox, 46, 233; Hanbury-Williams, 13.

 4 “We all attended the little wooden church”: Hanbury-Williams, 246.

 5 The Tsar’s train at Stavka: Paleologue, I, 302.

 6 Red and blue lines on the maps: N to AF, 3.

 7 “I was summoned to meet the Emperor”: Hanbury-Williams, 14.

 8 Yorkshire pudding: ibid., 15. “A torchlight procession”: ibid., 18.

 9 Nicholas’s comparison of Russia and the U.S.: ibid., 75.

10 “You see what it is to be an autocrat”: ibid., 58.