Catherine the Great & Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair

by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Book Overview

A widely acclaimed biography from the bestselling author of The Romanovs: One of the great love stories of history" (The Economist) between Catherine the Great and the wildly flamboyant and talented Prince Potemkin. - Captures the genius of two extraordinary Enlightenment figures--and of the age as well. --The Wall Street Journal

Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525431969
• ISBN13: 9780525431961
• Release Date: April 2016
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 688 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 5.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

One of the greatest love stories of history, impeccably researched, beautifully written

What an exhilarating read! If it was a novel you wouldn't believe it, but it really happened in 18th century Russia! A splendid biography, as magnificent and exotic as its subjects, Potemkin, the prince of princes, most beautiful man in St.Petersperg, most extraordinary man in all Europe. Born a son of a poor Nobleman, he was not made by his friendship with Catherine the Great, but by her recognition of his talents, he became important because of his intelligence, originality, drive, and imagination, he brought himself to her attention with irresistible exuberance on the day she seized power, he was an impossible man, but a wonderful character! a control freak and an appalling hypochondriac who always made his point in a characteristically flamboyant manner, one can't help but become a fan. He died at the young age of 52. Running a country at the time was immense pressure, not only was he co-emperor of Russia, he was also running the army, building a navy, founding cities all around the black sea, conducting umpteen love affairs, sending shopping expeditions to Paris and Milan, he was collecting art, he was building English gardens, this was a man who was living every minute of his life, an insomniac, so he did a lot of it at night! Catherine the Great, a legendary figure, an incredibly talented and adept politician, second to none, she survived almost 20 years before she became empress herself, ruled triumphantly for thirty years, a very sensuous woman, married at the age of 14, a marriage arranged by her very ambitious mother, she had a very miserable life, in fact the marriage she had with Peter was so unhappy and so unsatisfying for such passionate inelegant woman. She needed a life partner, and after going through a series of lovers , finally there was Potemkin who (as the letters would prove) was the love and the best friend of her life, it was very romantic, for she knew him for 12 years before she took him as a lover, all that time he was passionately in love with her. They shocked Europe by taking younger lovers, yet they secretly married and ruled together as best friends and lifelong lovers. Their secret letters, are the most romantic and unique letters ever written, simply because of the intelligence, politics,and power all mixed in with an incredible sexual passion and friendship. He carried her letters by his heart, and when he died he had them out and wept on them. Simon Sebag Montefiore is an exceptional historian and writer. After reading his novel Sashenka, I couldn't wait to read all of his work, he tells it with joyful verve, The writing is fluent, with a dazzling mastery of detail. Montefiore's skill really shines in making a page-turner out of the most profound scholarship, that was massively researched in Russian archives as is all of his work, I highly recommend this book.

A great history book

Catherine the Great and Potemkin, it is a story based on a private correspondence, it is a book that runs on two main levels that can satisfy both the historical interest and fascination for human psychology. It is the intimate story of Catherine and Potemkin, how they fell in love and how they ruled Russia together. In the background, the complex situation of 18th century Russia and Europe. The way that Sebag Montefiore fuses together the actual documents, the epistles, with the historical facts is so smoothly articulated that the reader can go throw the chapters absorbing the content effortlessly. The vivid and colorful narration, the juicy descriptions of facial expressions, interiors, fabrics, smells, makes the reader see also the other side of history, the one that makes it more tangible and real. It is easy to imagine Potemkin in his bandana, having his tantrums, or Catherine, not really a beauty, but sensual in her sumptuous dresses, both with their doubts, insecurities, and fierce ambitions. The author sensitively describes their intense need to communicate to each other during the apex of their love and in the aftermath, like a duet. Sometimes Potemkin and Catherine were separated, and wrote long letters, other times they were under the same roof, and enjoyed sending short messages from one bedroom to the other one. Sometimes the letters have historical value, sometimes personal content, or just, "good night dear, sleep well". Letters sent with the same swinging simplicity with which we now send emails. The rhythm never, not for a single moment, fails. Catherine and Potemking has the captivating fluidity of a novel but is actually a serious history text (see the accurate note apparatus, bibliography, archive reference). Also, a special merit to Sebag Montefiore for having given Potemkin a different exposure other than the Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, for which his name is generally known for. Brilliant reading, I read it in one go. And the beginning... is like in a movie!

A great history book

Catherine the Great and Potemkin, it is a wonderful story based on a private correspondence, it is a book that runs on two main levels that can satisfy both the historical interest and fascination for human psychology. It is the intimate story of Catherine and Potemkin, how they fell in love and how they ruled Russia together. In the background, the complex situation of 18th century Russia and Europe. The way that Sebag Montefiore fuses together the actual documents, the epistles, with the historical facts is so smoothly articulated that the reader can go through the chapters absorbing the content effortlessly. The vivid and colorful narration, the juicy descriptions of facial expressions, interiors, fabrics, and smells, makes the reader see also the other side of history, the one that makes it more tangible and real. It is easy to imagine Potemkin in his bandana, having his tantrums, or Catherine, not really a beauty, but sensual in her sumptuous dresses, both with their doubts, insecurities, and fierce ambitions. The author sensitively describes their intense need to communicate to each other during the apex of their love and in the aftermath, like a duet. Sometimes Potemkin and Catherine were separated, and wrote long letters, other times they were under the same roof, and enjoyed sending short messages from one bedroom to the other one. Sometimes the letters have historical value, sometimes personal content, or just, "good night dear, sleep well". Letters sent with the same swinging simplicity with which we now send emails. The rhythm never, not for a single moment, fails. Catherine and Potemkin has the captivating fluidity of a novel but is actually a serious history text (see the accurate note apparatus, bibliography, archive reference). Also, a special merit to Sebag Montefiore for having given Potemkin a different exposure other than the Eisenstein's The Battleship Potemkin, for which his name is generally known for. Brilliant reading, I read it in one go. And the beginning... is like in a movie!

Potemkin : Catherine the Great Imperial partner

This book is really the kind I wanted to read a few pages at a time without losing the continuity of the action. It is simply but very well written with true historical accounts of the lives and events described. Potemkin and Catherine are two fascinating personages I would have loved to meet.

Great fun to read

Potemkin was a Russian statesman who exercised power in the reign of Catherine the Great. He had a position of importance for about 17 years in the last part of the 17th Century. He was associated with the "Southern Strategy". In the early years of the 17th Century Peter the Great had modernized the Russian army, organized society in such a way that it could support a standing army and run a centralized state in a modern way. Peter had defeated the Swedes and thrown them out of Russia. His campaigns in the south were not successful and he was forced to sign a humiliating peace with Persia. Potemkin expanded Russia to the South. Detaching the Crimea from the Turkish Empire and making it an independent state was the first step. Later it was annexed as was some of the territories in the Caucasus and Besserabia. Not only did Potemkin add these territories to Russia but he made them what they are today. These areas had been largely pastoral areas dominated by the Turks and sparsely populated. Potemkin filled these areas with peasant farmers and they became some of the richest agricultural areas in Russia. He also designed and built cities such as Odessa and Sebastapool. One thing which was important to Russia's history over the next hundred years was that he developed good relationships with the Cossacks and in fact created the Kuban Cossacks. As a result the Cossacks became one of the pillars of Czarism.In the 19th Century Russia was one of the largest and most successful empires. Potemkin is one of its architects and laid the basis for its relentless eastward expansion. He is remarkable in many ways. A good deal of what he achieved was through diplomacy. His skills and interests were greater than that of a normal military leader and involved setting up the infrastructure of a nation state. This book is something that could not fail to be interesting because of its subject matter. The writer however tends to focus on the dramatic and scandalous parts of Potemkin's life to make a dramatic story somewhat at the expense of the historical narrative. Catherine the Great was married to a Czar who was probably insane. It seems that her son was the product of an affair. Shortly after her husband came to the thrown she became fearful that she would be divorced. She conspired with two brothers called the Orlovs to overthrow her husband and later murder him and to make her the Czar. In her forties Catherine had an affair with Potemkin who was a very minor noble in a guards restaurant. He had shown bravery in battle and continually flirted with Catherine and threw himself at her feet. She succumbed and they were lovers for a while and probably were married secretly. His power and office derive from her trust in him. After their affair ended he continued to exercise power in the South of Russia. The book tends to push the romance between Potemkin and Catherine to the fore and to discuss the history as something of an afterthought. It seems designed at selling to