The Romanov family ruled as tsars and emperors of all Russia for just over three hundred years—nineteen men and women in total, some of them brilliant, some of them mad, most of them somewhere in between.

The story of the Romanovs begins in Moscow in 1613, and ends in Ekaterinburg in 1918, at the beginning of a revolution, where Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their five children were slaughtered by a Soviet death squad.

In this book, you will learn about the lives and reigns of each Romanov emperor and empress. Read about Peter the Great, who kept company with peasants and pie sellers but had his own son tortured to death; Catherine the Great, who finally convinced Europe that there was more to be found in the far north than just snow and barbarians; Alexander I, the gallant emperor who famously defeated Napoleon in 1812; Alexander II, who freed the serfs and survived five assassination attempts before perishing in the sixth; and Nicholas II, who ended the Romanov dynasty in 1917 when he abdicated the throne on behalf of himself and his son, the hemophiliac Alexei, who would never be emperor but is now considered a saint.

The Romanov Dynasty

Michael I (1613-1645)

Alexei I (1645-1676)

Fyodor III (1676-1682)

Sofia Alekseyevna, regent for co-tsars Ivan V and Peter I (1682-1689)

Ivan V (1682-1696)

Peter the Great (1682-1725)

Catherine I (1725-1727)

Peter II (1727-1730)

Anna I (1730-1740)

Anna, Duchess of Courland, regent for Ivan VI (October 1740-December 1741)

Elizaveta I (1741-1761)

Peter III (January 1762-July 1762)

Catherine the Great (1762-1796)

Paul I (1796-1801)

Alexander I (1801-1825)

Nicholas I (1825-1855)

Alexander II (1855-1881)

Alexander III (1881-1894)

Nicholas II (1894-1917)