ing its end. We ask what role the grand dukes and grand duchesses
played in the events in Russia that changed world history, as well as
explore what happened to those who fled and survived the Red Ter-
ror. Today, in Russia's desperate search for order, questions of leader-
ship assume fresh importance.

Many Russians now blame the Romanovs, rulers of Russia for
three hundred years, for a legacy of material poverty and political re-
pression. Many other Russians now look back on the imperial era as
a lost paradise, when a demigod presided over the nation, providing
the daily bread and insuring the physical security of his--or her--peo-
ple. How these starkly different interpretations will balance out re-
mains to be seen. "Foretelling the future of any nation is impossible;
foretelling Russia's past is impossible," the Russians say. Armed with
this caution we begin our story.

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