Graduating from prestigious military institutes in St. Petersburg, the young Grand Duke assumes the command of the 5th Battery and all its problems therein: drunkenness, insubordination, revolutionary propaganda, te labor of training, the alien lifestyles of the Don Cossacks, etc.
His eventual poor health and spotted lung requires him to accept the kind invitation of GD Nikolai Nikolayevich to spend serious time in the Crimea at the Grand Duke's estate of "Chair" and then in the Swiss mountains of St. Moritz. Having left the Life-Guard, he is appointed to the Suite of Nikolai II and is stationed in Baranovici in 1914.
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doubrovka Joined: Jun-09-2009 |
Authored by Stephen R. de Angelis, Ph.D.