“The Empire of Russia” covers the period of 600 BC until the time of this book’s publication in the 1850s. Little info was available to John Abbott regarding the first 1.500 years, thus this period is sparsely covered.

I found this tome informative though at times the in-depth battle details proved a little tedious.

I was more interested in the characteristics of the Russian monarchs and morbidly fascinated by some of the horrific punishments that the “lesser” people endured.

Paul I, son of Catharine the Great, was not so great. He comes across as a raving lunatic. Take this quote from the text as an example of Paul I’s behaviour:

“One of the freaks of this crazy prince was to court-martial his horse. The noble steed had tripped beneath his rider. A council was convened, composed of the equerries of the palace. The horse was proved guilty of failing in respect to his majesty, and was condemned to receive fifty blows from a heavy whip. Paul stood by, as the sentence was executed, counting off the blows.”

Regarding Mr Abbott’s style, he was a good writer, apart from his tendency of favouring the passive voice over the active, which occasionally spoils the flow of the narrative.

For example, rather than stating that “the horse of Oleg fell”, why not make this clause active by stating, “Oleg’s horse fell”?

And “She was one of the maids of honor of Olga” would have read better as “She was one of Olga’s maids of honor ”.

The worse occasion of Mr Abbott’s use of the passive voice is this:

“Boris Gudenow, who, it will be recollected, was the father of the wife of Feodor”

For such a seasoned writer, one would have thought he would’ve opted for:

“Boris Gudenow, who, it will be recollected, was Feodor’s father-in-law”

This volume is available for free download from Project Gutenberg. ( )