The Three Emperors: Three Cousins, Three Empires and the Road to World War One - Hardcover

Carter, Miranda

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670915564 ISBN 13: 9780670915569

Publisher: Fig Tree, 2009

Synopsis

In the years before the First World War, the great European powers, Britain, Germany and Russia, were ruled by three cousins: George V, King-Emperor of England, the British Empire and India; Wilhelm II, the last Kaiser; and Nicholas II, the last Tsar. 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 which 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. The Three Emperors is a brilliant and sometimes hilarious portrait of three 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 of 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 it weaves through their stories a riveting account of the events that led to World War One, showing how the personal and the political interacted, sometimes to devastating effect.

For all three men the war would be a disaster which destroyed for ever the illusion of their close family relationships, with any sense of peace and harmony shattered in a final coda of murder, betrayal and abdication.

About this title

Review:

Fascinating. A wonderfully fresh and beautifully choreographed work of history (Craig Brown Mail on Sunday)

Carter draws masterful portraits of her subjects and tells the complicated story of Europe's failing international relations well...a highly readable and well-documented account (Spectator)

Absorbing. Carter has a good eye for a quote and an ability to bring various personalities to life. A convincing and considerable achievement (Sarah Bradford Literary Review)

Carter's account of how an already dysfunctional family turned toxic is fresh and enjoyable...timely and welcome (Guardian)

Miranda Carter's story is full of vivid quotations...a romp though the palaces of Europe in their last decades before Armageddon (Sunday Times)

Well-paced, a thoroughly polished, professional piece of work. A macabre family saga (A. N. Wilson Evening Standard)

An entertaining study of power and personality portrays the strutting absurdity and grotesque glamour of the last emperors on the eve of catastrophe (Simon Sebag Montefiore Financial Times)

Fascinating. Carter is a gifted storyteller and has written a very readable account

(Independent)

Carter's intelligent, entertainging and informative book folds dynastic and political narratives into a panoramic account of Europe's road to war (London Review of Books)

In her group biography of three monarchs, Carter has succeeded in painting their personalities in vivid colours...she brings an excellent biographer's eye for the telling detail...the great appeal of this book lies in it narration and comparative analysis of the life and personality of her imperial subjects...well-researched and expertly written...an engaging and remarkably even-handed portrayal (The Times Literary Supplement)

From the Back Cover:

'An entertaining study of power and personality portrays the strutting absurdity and grotesque glamour of the last emperors on the eve of catastrophe' Simon Sebag Montefiore, Financial Times

'Dazzling' Guardian

Three cousins. Three Emperors.
And the road to ruin.

As cousins, George V, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the last Tsar Nicholas II should have been friends - but they happened also to rule Europe's three most powerful states. This potent combination together with their own destructive personalities - petty, insecure, bullying, absurdly obsessive (stamp collecting, uniforms) - led not only to their own dramatic fallouts and falls from grace, but also to the outbreak of the First World War.

Miranda Carter's riveting account of how three men who should have known better helped bring down an entire world is a gripping story of abdication, betrayal and murder.

'Masterful. Highly readable and well-documented' Spectator

'Absorbing. Carter has a good eye for a quote and an ability to bring various personalities to life. A convincing and considerable achievement' Sarah Bradford, Literary Review

'Fascinating. Carter is a gifted storyteller and has written a very readable account' Independent

'That these three absurd men could ever have held the fate of Europe in their hands is a fact as hilarious as it is terrifying. I haven't enjoyed a historical biography this much since Lytton Strachey's Victoria' Zadie Smith

About this edition

• Publisher: Fig Tree
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0670915564
• ISBN 13: 9780670915569
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 640