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Catherine the Great and Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair

By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Phoenix
ISBN: 0753818345
ISBN-13: 9780753818343
Released: 03 Jun 2004
RRP: £10.99
Average Rating:

Customer Reviews

Change of title - By: Virginia Rounding, 12 Sep 2007
Readers should be aware that this is not a new book about Catherine the Great & Potemkin, but a reissue of the book previously callled 'Potemkin: Prince of Princes'. It's a very good book about Potemkin, & previously had a picture of Potemkin on the cover. The repackaging can, I am sure, have nothing to do with the appearance of my book on Catherine the Great in paperback a couple of months prior to this reissue (in 2007, not 2004, by the way).
A fascinating subject and a great read - By: , 10 Nov 2001
Potemkin is nowadays mostly known in the expression "Potemkin village", describing achievements that are basicallly a sham.
In reality Potemkin was a fascinating character responsible for a great number of very real achievements. Very Russian in a lot of ways, he was on the other hand way ahead of his time - & very un-Russian - in his treatment of common soldiers & labourers. Simon Sebag Montefiore has managed to write an eminently readable book on this man, his complex relationship with his Empress & his very eventful life. I will gladly forgive his slight tendency to try & find a deep meaning or strategic reasoning behind almost any of Potemkin's acts: he probably was a true Russian in doing a lot of things just for the hell of it. Beautifully illustrated as well as well written, this book is very hard to put down. And since the author has had the good sense of starting the book with the last chapter - Potemkin's death - you are saved the trouble of searching through the last chapters for an advance peek on the subject. Well worth alll of it's 5 stars!
What a guy! - By: plana@valles.com, 14 Aug 2001
Grigory Potemkin. I knew the name, but not the man. I had heard of Potemkin Villages but not Potemkin's towns & cities. I too could not put the book down & have ordered four more for friends. I was in St. Petersberg with this book in my hand & found it hard to believe that no one wanted to talk about him or Catherine the Great for that matter. He was nothing & she was a nymphomaniac. I am now reading Vincent Cronin's biography of Catherine & fallling in love with her as I did with him in this book. They don't make them like that anymore though I'm not sure whether that is good or bad. It has been a priveledge to read this book, & I would like to thank the author for making the enormous effort of bringing this man to life.
Compelling reading - By: , 07 Jul 2001
Despite the fact that this is not exactly the flimsiest of booklets, you will be sorely tempted to read this book in one go. Mr Sebag has made a fine effort in giving a much-maligned man his rightful place in history; even if he has indeed a slight tendency to find a solid stategic reasoning behind almost every one of Potemkin's actions. The necessity of re-establishing Potemkin's role in Russia's development is made self-evident by one of the other reviewers firmly maintaining that Potemkin worked in a "Guards'restaurant". His old regiment buddies would find this typical of the too low esteem he has been held in over the centuries.
Okay - By: Tom Munro, 18 Mar 2001
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 & run a centralized state in a modern way. Peter had defeated the Swedes & thrown them out of Russia. His campaigns in the south were not successful & he was forced to sign a humiliating peace with Persia.

Potemkin expanded Russia to the South. Detaching the Crimea from the Turkish Empire & making it an independent state was the first step. Later it was annexed as was some of the territories in the Caucasus & 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 & sparsely populated. Potemkin filled these areas with peasant farmers & they became some of the richest agricultural areas in Russia. He also designed & built cities such as Odessa & Sebastapool. One thing which was important to Russia's history over the next hundred years was that he developed good relationships with the Cossacks & 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 & most successful empires. Potemkin is one of its architects & 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 & interests were greater than that of a normal military leader & 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 & 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 callled the Orlovs to overthrow her husband & later murder him & 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 & continuallly flirted with Catherine & threw himself at her feet. She succumbed & they were lovers for a while & probably were married secretly. His power & 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 & Catherine to the fore & to discuss the history as something of an afterthought. It seems designed at selling to a larger market than normal academic histories. Despite alll this it is an interesting work both from the point of view of discussing Catherine & also documenting the rise of the Russian empire.