Dominic Lieven

En verano de 1812, Napoleón, en el apogeo de su dominio de Europa, marchó hacia Rusia con el mayor ejército de la historia y la convicción de que la expansión de su imperio era imparable. Sin embargo, apenas dos años despues sus ejercitos fueron derrotados y Rusia salio victoriosa. Gracias a un profundo conocimiento de la singular realidad social, politica y economica en tiempos del zar Alejandro I, este ensayo muestra por primera vez el papel crucial que desempeño Rusia en las guerras napoleonicas. Dominic Lieven despliega ante los ojos del lector un autentico fresco en el que tanto el emperador y los oficiales de su Estado Mayor como los soldados cobran vida. El fascinante relato pormenorizado de los acontecimientos que marcaron primero la estrategica retirada de las tropas rusas y finalmente la marcha sobre Europa liderada por el ejercito del zar permite al autor desmantelar el afianzado mito segun el cual la derrota de Napoleon fue el resultado del inclemente paisaje invernal ruso y señalar asi el decisivo lugar de Rusia en la politica europea, un lugar que incluso hoy merece la pena recordar.

Nicolás II es una biografía exhaustiva, informativa y poco convencional que asombra, entre otras cosas, porque demuestra que los temas que hoy preocupan a Rusia son los mismos problemas clave que desafiaron el ultimo zar y su nacion.¿Que se puede decir de nuevo sobre Nicolas II, o sobre la Rusia zarista y su sangriento final? Numerosas biografias ya han hablado del hombre, del padre del heredero hemofilico, de la relacion entre la familia real y Rasputin, y del tragico asesinato -de Nicolas, Alejandra y sus hijos- en julio de 1918. Nicolas II presenta un retrato del zar muy diferente del difundido hasta el presente, pues Dominic Lieven, un gran conocedor de la historia del zarismo ruso, procura analizar el caracter y la vida de Nicolas, pero tambien el sistema de gobierno que presidio y el imperio en el cual le toco reinar, a traves de un metodo comparativo. Al igual que la historia de cualquier otra nacion -escribe Lieven-, la de Rusia se esclarece al compararla con otras naciones. Es posible comprender mejor la personalidad, los dilemas y las opciones de Nicolas H, observando, por ejemplo, la Alemania, el Japon o el Iran imperiales.

From the acclaimed Wolfson Prize-winning author, a dazzling history of the worlds emperors For millennia much of the world was ruled by emperors: a handful of individuals claimed no limit to the lands they could rule over and no limit to their authority. They operated beyond normal human constraint and indeed often claimed a superhuman or divine authority. In practice they ran the gamut from being some of the most remarkable men who ever lived, to being some of the worst and least remarkable. Dominic Lievens marvellous new book, In the Shadow of the Gods, is the first to grapple seriously with this extraordinary phenomenon. Across the world peoples, willingly or unwillingly, fell into orbit around figures who reshaped or destroyed entire societies, imposed religions and invaded rivals. Lieven describes the anatomy of imperial monarchy and the principles by which it functioned. He compares the great emperors of antiquity, the caliphs and the warrior-emperors of the steppe before he turns to the Habsburg, Russian, Ottoman, Mughal and Chinese emperors, packing the book with extraordinary stories, astute observations and a sense of both delight and horror at these individuals antics. The entire breadth of extreme human behaviour is here - from warlords to patrons of the arts, from political genius to feeble incapacity and pathological violence. As one of the great experts both on empires and on Russian history, Lieven is brilliantly qualified to write a book that brings to life a system of rule that dominated most of human history, as well as some of historys grandest and most dismaying figures.

TLS BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2016FINANCIAL TIMES BOOKS OF THE YEAR 2015WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2016 Magisterial... reveals how much is at stake for world order in Ukraine and Syria. Rachel PolonskyAs much as anything, World War I turned on the fate of UkraineThe decision to go to war in 1914 had catastrophic consequences for Russia. The result was revolution, civil war and famine in 1917-20, followed by decades of communist rule. Dominic Lievens powerful and original book, based on exhaustive and unprecedented study in Russian and many other foreign archives, explains why this suicidal decision was made and explores the world of the men who made it, thereby consigning their entire class to death or exile and making their country the victim of a uniquely terrible political experiment under Lenin and Stalin.Dominic Lieven is a Senior Research Fellow of Trinity College,Cambridge University, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His book Russia Against Napoleon (Penguin) won the Wolfson Prize for History and the Prize of the Fondation Napoleon for the best foreign work on the Napoleonic era.

WINNER OF THE PUSHKIN HOUSE RUSSIAN BOOK PRIZE 2016 'As much as anything, World War I turned on the fate of Ukraine' The decision to go to war in 1914 had catastrophic consequences for Russia. The result was revolution, civil war and famine in 1917-20, followed by decades of communist rule. Dominic Lieven's powerful and original book, based on exhaustive and unprecedented study in Russian and many other foreign archives, explains why this suicidal decision was made and explores the world of the men who made it, thereby consigning their entire class to death or exile and making their country the victim of a uniquely terrible political experiment under Lenin and Stalin. Dominic Lieven is a Senior Research Fellow of Trinity College,Cambridge University, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His book Russia Against Napoleon (Penguin) won the Wolfson Prize for History and the Prize of the Fondation Napoleon for the best foreign work on the Napoleonic era.