The Beginning ;
Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was born in 1872 in the village of Pokrovskoye of Siberia. He temporarily attended school but failed his literacy. At 18yrs of age, he went through a religious transition at Verkhoture of becoming a monk but did not fulfil the desire. One year later he returned to Pokrovskoe and married Praskovia Fyodoronva having 4 children. He began travelling to places of religious significance stating to have power to heal the sick and predict the future which grew fame far and wide also being known for his scandalous sexual exploits. In 1903 he arrived in St. Petersburg and was introduced to Nicolas II and his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna through the Bishop of Saratov who favoured his healing powers. Then and there, he was in need to heal son of Emperor Nicolas II, Aleksei who was haemophilic and miraculously healed the young boy so he became a member of the royal entourage but also an accessible holy monk and healer for the people. He captivated people with his powers but also had enemies who saw him as nothing but cynical, using religion to mask his drive for sex, money, and power. In September 1915, during the time the Russian Army [RA] was on the Eastern Front, Nicholas II left as supreme command of the RA leaving Alexandra Fedorovna (wife) responsible for domestic policy. Rasputin served as her adviser and over the next few months she dismissed ministers and their deputies in rapid succession, under his persuasion. Rumours circulated that Rasputin & Alexandra Fedorovna were leaders of pro-German court group, seeking a separate peace with the Central Powers in order for the survival of the autocracy in Russia. Rasputin was also suspected of financial corruption leaving other politicians to believe he was deteriorating the popularity of the regime.
The End ;
Rasputin was murdered on the 29th of December 1916 by Prince Feliks Yusupov (husband of the Tsar's niece), Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich (a member of the duma) and the Grand Duke Dimitry Pavlovich (the Tsar's cousin). The motives of the three politically conservative aristocrats hoped to rescue the dynasty’s prestige and alter the emperor’s policies however, his death changed nothing and the emperor was overthrown two months later. The death is as famous and remarkable as his life, being poisoned had taken no affect, then shot twice where he astonishingly staggered out into the courtyard until his body was bound and thrown into the Neva River was he finally dead, proving his death was hard to establish.
Bibliography ;
- http://it.stlawu.edu/~rkreuzer/indv5/rasp.htm
- http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSrasputin.htm