I’ve been reading about the Romanovs for ages, so I’ll have to check it out. Tsar Nicholas II was a cousin of both King George V and Kaiser Wilhelm II. He was a good-hearted man, but feckless and insulated from his subjects. His decision to assume control of the armed forces in 2016 was a disaster. Putin has resurrected many Tsarist symbols, including the double-headed eagle, the renaming of regiments and the dress uniforms of the army and navy.