“The Mad Monk”: Grigori Rasputin
From homeless to the Winter Palace
Best known for being a mythical advisor to the Russian royal family, the life of Rasputin is one shrouded in mystery, awe, and controversy. Some claim he was a cancer to the Russian government, and nothing more than a power-hungry man, while others say his story is the embodiment of the phrase “from rags to riches”. Regardless, the “mad monk” is one of history’s most fascinating individuals and someone you will never forget.
Rasputin was born around 1869 to a peasant family in Pokrovskoye, a village in western Siberia. Originally named Grigori Yefimovich Novykh, he, along with the rest of his family were dirt poor. Understandably, Novykh received very little education, and most likely could not read or write.
Even in his early years, strange stories were being told of Novykh. Some villagers claimed he possessed supernatural abilities, such as psychic and telepathic powers, while others told stories that showed extreme cruelty and licentiousness in the young boy.
Once a teenager, Novykh self-declared himself a “holy-man” and changed his name to Rasputin (what this name means is still debated by historians). Later he would soon enter the Verkhoture Monastery with ambitions of becoming a monk, but that would all end as he abandoned the monastery to marry Proskovia Fyodorovna at age 18. Rasputin had three kids with his wife, but he abandoned them too in order to pursue his religious duties by making pilgrimages to Greece and the Holy Land (traveled mostly on foot!).
After wandering around for some time, Rasputin would soon arrive in St. Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire. While there, Rasputin gained the reputation as a prophet and healer, even attracting the attention of the Russian Orthodox Church. His incredible charisma, along with seemingly magical powers, eventually led to members of the imperial family and Church clergymen to introduce Rasputin to Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. The royal couple had a son named Alexei who was tormented by Haemophilia. So when Alexandra called in Rasputin during one of Alexei’s hemophiliac episodes and he seemingly did the impossible by curing the boy, Rasputin became very close with the royal family, especially Alexandra.
However, this was a horrible look for the Tsar, as Rasputin was, to say the least, a very “freaky” man. He indulged in lascivious behavior, had multiple affairs with women - which he often boasted about - and seduced many more (At one point there was even a huge scandal claiming that Rasputin had an affair with the Tsarina). The “holy-man” also threw crazy parties, loved alcohol, and most nights could be found either in a bar or brothel. As expected, the nobility and general public were furious that a promiscuous, immoral crazy-homeless guy was influencing the royal family. Tsar Nicholas II ignored reports of Rasputin’s behavior, and for a brief period even banned the press from talking about it. But soon after the ban was lifted, news outlets and liberals condemned the whole situation, and used Rasputin as ammunition against the Tsarist government and for calls of reform.
In truth, the entire situation wouldn’t be as big if it weren’t for Russia’s entrance into World War I. Nicholas II declared himself commander-in-chief, and went to the front lines, leaving his German wife Alexandra in charge. Due to his close ties with the regent, Rasputin became her personal advisor and even began calling some of the shots (e.g., ministerial appointments).
Determined to save Russia and break Rasputin’s spell over the royal family, three extreme conservatives, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Prince Feliks Yusupov, and Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich formed a conspiracy to lure Rasputin and murder him. They believed then, with Rasputin eliminated, Nicholas II would be able to restore the Tsar back to its former reputation, be more accepting of advice from the nobility and Duma, and less dependent on his wife Alexandra.
So on December 29, 1916 the three conspirators invited Rasputin to a party at Yusupov’s palace. The story goes that they offered him cake and wine secretly laced with Cyanide. Rasputin ate the cakes and wine, but besides from being drunk, was completely unaffected by the poison. Astonished and confused yet determined to end the mad monk’s life, a desperate Yusupov shot Rasputin multiple times, yet miraculously he was still not dead.
Yusupov in his memoir would describe the scene:
“This devil who was dying of poison, who had a bullet in his heart, must have been raised from the dead by the powers of evil. There was something appalling and monstrous in his diabolical refusal to die.”
Rasputin collapsed, but managed to get back on his feet and ran into the palace courtyard, where he was shot in the head at close range by Purishkevich. The conspirators wrapped Rasputin in a carpet, and then threw his body into the Neva River, where presumably he finally died. His body would be found three days later.
The actual cause for death is still not exactly certain. Some debate that Rasputin survived the headshot and ultimately died from drowning, while others say the bullet to the head is what did it, and others argue that the assassination of Rasputin was probably not that intense. But regardless of cause of death, it is no question that the influence of Rasputin, while alive and dead, was a major cause in the ultimate downfall of the Tsarist regime and would forever change Russian history. His life symbolized the corruption and failures of the monarchy, and paved way for the Bolshevik Revolution. Rasputin himself even predicted this. He told Nicholas II that if he was murdered by government officials, then the royal family would in turn by killed at the hands of the Russian people. This prediction came true 15 months later, when Nicholas II and his entire family would be murdered by Bolshevik revolutionaries.
References:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-rasputin-100-years-later-180961572/
https://www.biography.com/political-figure/rasputin
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Grigory-Yefimovich-Rasputin
https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/grigori-rasputin/
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/murder-rasputin-100-years-later-180961572/
