ePub Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy by Douglas Smith in History

Review

129 of 130 people found the following review helpful. Survivors From A Vanished WorldBy John D. CofieldDouglas Smith's engrossing history of the fate of the Russian aristocracy after 1917 focusses primarily on two families; the Golitsyns and the Sheremetevs. They lived opulent lives in St. Petersburg; Moscow; and on various country estates; taking leading roles in the Tsar's government and in the military; patronizing artists and musicians; and travelling in private rail carriages; limousines; and the earliest airplanes. This charmed world came crashing to an end in 1917; with the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II and the subsequent seizure of power by Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Many nobles fled from Russia; while others died or were murdered during the Russian Civil War and the earliest days of the Soviet Union. But many survived and remained in their motherland; hoping that the turmoil would run its course and that some sort of return to the Old Regime would occur. Instead; things went from bad to worse as Lenin was succeeded by Stalin and the nobility; now known as "former people"; became scapegoats for the new government as it struggled to create a socialist utopia. Counts and Princes were sentenced to long years of penal servitude in the gulag; often without ever being told what crimes they were supposed to have committed; and their families eked out a bare living; sometimes in a corner of their old estates and palaces; sometimes in Siberian or Arctic exile.I found this book endlessly fascinating. I've studied Russian history for many years; but my understanding of what had happened to the Russian aristocracy after the Revolution was that most had either been killed or forced into exile. I was surprised to read about nobles who managed to live on good terms with Bolshevik commissars; and I was impressed with the strength and courage of others who survived years of imprisonment. Although they had to discard their titles and hide their family history; they never forgot their heritage; even though they continually warned their children not to talk about it. Among the large number of pictures are some that I found particularly affecting; primarily those from after the Revolution including the pictures of a noble couple's wedding reception in 1921; in which the guests all look threadbare and tense and the beautifully decorated table can't hide the fact that there was little or nothing to eat and drink.The book primarily covers the Revolution and the next twenty years or so; with shorter chapters dealing with World War II; in which nobles served in the Soviet armies just as their forebears had served Russia in previous conflicts; and the modern era; in which it has once again become relatively safe to openly display an aristocratic heritage. In many ways Former People is also the history of the Soviet Union itself; covering the period from its brutal yet hopeful beginnings; through the chaos and horror of its forcible industrialization and militarization under Stalin; and finally its long decline and ultimate fall. Besides the Sheremetevs and the Golitsyns there are many other stories of other noble families and individuals; and for the two principal families Smith has provided helpful family trees.Former People is a well written and thorough study of how a group of people who before 1917 were stereotyped as frivolous bon vivants managed to cope with and survive the harshest change of fortune possible; doing so with dignity;determination; and strong religious faith.35 of 38 people found the following review helpful. Interesting historical book; but a difficult readBy Errol LevineMr. Smith has filled in a gap in knowledge about Russia in the post-revolutionary period and extending up to World War II. He has thus provided a valuable book. As he points out; there is little information about the fate of the Russian aristocracy after the Bolshevik revolution. In contrast; the Revolution itself and the fall of the Romanov dynasty have received extensive coverage. Mr. Smith does try to present an unbiased story. However; he clearly is sympathetic to the aristocratic class and; indeed; their sufferings were extreme and horrible being marked by expropriations; exile; constant fear of arrest and arbitary executions. It is also clear; however; that these people who lived lives of great luxury and privilege prior to the Revolution did so by cruelly exploiting the peasant class who were treated abysmally even after Tsar Alexander II freed the serfs. The aristocracy lived lives of indolence and their rent rolls provided the basis for their many country estates and unparalleled luxury. Few ever worked in any meaningful way and were therefore almost incapable of survival after the Revolution. As Mr. Smith points out; the living conditions of the peasants did not improve after serfdom was abolished. So there existed a situation in which a brutalized underclass wreaked revenge on the fallen aristocracy whom they viewed as blood suckers. The Bolsheviks clearly understood this hatred and capitalized on it to remain in power using the fallen aristocracy or former people as scapegoats for all manner of events. The book clearly shows what a tragic empire Russia was.Although Mr. Smith tries to focus the book on the fate of two of the great aristocratic families; namely the Sheremetevs and the Golitsyns; many other families are included in the book because of their ties by marriage to the two main families. After a while; I found it difficult to determine who was who despite the provision of a list of principal figures and two family trees. Only a couple of family members stood out as real people - the others were just names or statistics and their individual fates are recounted in exhaustive detail. In conclusion; I would recommend this book to anyone interested in Russia's painful and tortured history. However; it is not for the casual reader. One is left wondering whether if Alexander II had not been assassinated and replaced by his reactionary son; Alexander III; Russia could not have evolved in a different way without the terrible violence which characterized the fall of the Romanovs in 1917 and which went on for decades after that.0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. This book has so much information it could have been written as a series of books.By wandaI had a difficult time following each aristocrat's families because their individual names were more often than not the same as their parents; grandparents; cousins; etc.. I still felt the book was more than worth the time reading it. I've always wondered about the wealthy Russian families fate's during and after the Revolution and now I have the answers. The research the author did in order to write this book is phenomenal! He tracks down each family members fate with admirable detail that is sometimes gleamed from the most minimal of sources. He relentlessly strives for information and credibly builds his story of the horror that was visited upon an entire culture/class of well bred educated people that led to their almost total extermination. They were replaced by raw ruthless powers-that-be who were not only less educated refined but who were so corrupt as to set themselves up as a justified unit of government that ended up duplicating all that was originally wrong with the Russian feudal system but without the slightest restraint in murdering masses of people for trumped up reasons in order to continually gain more power and to hold that power through horrific terror tactics. I loved this book but will have to read it a few times to take it all in. BRAVO!