Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Historymakers Rasputin Rasputin, The Monk Who Brought Down A Dynasty
Historymakers Rasputin Rasputin, The Monk Who Brought Down A Dynasty
Rasputin
Brought
Who
Down
Dynasty
my torturers and will inherit the kingdom." And in an interview on the day of his
death, he told an acquaintance "Little mother, I feel my end is near. They'll kill
me and then the throne won't last 3 months."
He was advised by a friend that there was a plot against his life, and that he
shouldn't go out that night. In spite of all this he went to the house of his
murderer, Prince Yusupov. Yusupov and his co-conspirators put Cyanide into
cream cakes, enough, Yusupov later said, to kill Rasputin many times over.
Although Rasputin declined the cakes, not caring for sweets, at last he was
persuaded to eat two. There was no visible effect on him. Yusupov suggested
wine, and poured poisoned wine for him. Again, he was reluctant, but was
persuaded. Yusupov was horrified that the poison seemed to have no effect
on him and began to feel desperate. Two hours later, Rasputin seemed tired
but was still very much alive. He then got his revolver and shot him in the
heart. He appeared lifeless and Yusupov could find no pulse. He said that as
he looked at the corpse, first one eye opened, and then the next. Rasputin
leaped to his feet and attacked Yusupov, attempting to strangle him, all the
while foaming at the mouth. Rasputin then left the house and was moving
across the courtyard, saying that he was going to tell the Tsarina, when his coconspirator Purishkevich shot at him, finally striking him in the back. Rasputin
stopped and Purishkevich fired again, sending him to the ground. He then
kicked the corpse in the temple, leaving a grave wound.
The corpse was brought into the house, and Yusupov lost control, repeatedly
beating Rasputin about the head with a blackjack. There is some suggestion
that the body was sexually abused as well. They drove the body to a nearby
bridge and dumped the body in the water. The body was eventually found 226
meters downstream where it had traveled under the ice. The autopsy revealed
that he had water in his lungs, which meant that he was still alive when he
went into the water. A photograph from the autopsy suggests that he was still
trying to free himself from his bonds.
Poisoned, shot, clubbed, drowned - the man who would not die. Was Rasputin
a superhuman with protection from angels or evil forces? A recent book by
Edvard Radzinsky, using previously unavailable sources from Russia,
including autopsy photographs, suggests that Rasputin was not harder to kill
than any other mortal, but that the assassins were merely incompetent.
Yusupov may have embellished the details later (after the revolution) to cover
his bungling attempt at assassination.
The poor decisions that were made by the Tsar during the time of Rasputin's
influence and the hatred that his presence inspired in the people probably
contributed significantly to the fall of the Tsar in the last days of the dynasty.
People lost confidence in their ruler at a time of grave crisis. Russia was
fighting in World War I and losing badly. There were severe shortages of food
and supplies at home. As public confidence lapsed, the revolutionary ideas
fermenting in Russia for 50 years began to come to the surface. Finally,
shortly after Rasputin's death, the Russian Revolution swept away Nicholas
and his family forever.
Russia
copyright 1998-2008 HistoryWiz
the forest. Rasputin gained a reputation as a visionary, although some were scared of the boy and thought he was
possessed by the devil. It was a time and place where all possible magic and heeling powers were a way of life.
Grigory himself thought that he was taken over by a higher force. He was also a drunk, got into fights and harassed
women. He got married when he was around twenty and had four children.
A visit to a monastery in Verhoturye changed him; it was his first encounter with a ritual form of religion. He ended up
staying there for months. Rasputin then left his home to become a strannik, a pilgrim or wonderer. His journey took
him as far as Greece and Jerusalem. He sometimes walked for days without eating or stopping; he didnt wash or
even touch his body for months and wore shackles to increase the hardship of his journey. It is believed that during
his travels he may have encountered a secret sect called the hlysty. They organized a particular kind of worship in
which there were no priests; in one part of the service they sang and prayed and became almost drunk by spinning;
in the other part they indulged in flagellation and orgiastic sex. This type of worship, they thought, would bring them
closer to God. Driving out sin with sin was the concept that Rasputin later adopted. After his travels of more than two
years he returned to his village of Pokrovskoe. The locals saw a change in him; he was perceived by some to have a
luminescent religious essence and was even called a staryets, a wondering holy man, by others.
The topic of Rasputin to this day comes up in literature, cinema and even music. Seventies pop group Boney M had a
hit single Rasputin with the memorable lyrics Rah, rah, Rasputin, lover of the Russian Queen. More recently in
Foxs animated film, Anastasia, Rasputin is portrayed as the traitor monk who casts a curse on the Romanov family.
Rasputin aroused different feelings in the people who surrounded him. Some felt fear, others deep veneration, and
still others hatred - and even now the attitude towards him is ambiguous. Hes either a holy miracle worker or a
charlatan.
For more information on Russia's arguably most charismatic figure check RT's documentary .
Written by Maria Aprelenko, RT
Related personalities: