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Rasputin's background is important to understand the tensions towards the Tsar and Tsarina during WW1 - leading to disillusionment among the upper classes as well as the lower classes...
Background
-born to a peasant family
-converted to Russian Orthodoxy in the 1890s
- Spent years on pilgrimages
- People captivated by his presence and believed he had
a gift for healing
- Promiscuous and drank a lot
-Continued to support his wife and children after fame
Tsarina and Tsar
- Presented himself as a holy man despite no formal
affiliation with the Russian Orthodoxy Church because
clergymen hated him - probably because of his
promiscuity
- November 1905 - introduced to Tsar Nicholas II
- Tsar and Tsarina deeply believed in Russian Orthodoxy,
mysticism and supernatural powers
- After Revolution of 1905, the government was losing
control so Rasputin came at the perfect time
- Political struggles
- Development of haemophilia in the heir (Alexei)
- 1912 - Alexei had severe medical crisis = Rasputin
helped him survive
- Rasputin believed to have magical healing powers
- If he died or the royal family deserted him = Alexei and the crown would be lost which is what
kept the Tsarina close to Rasputin
- Encouraged Tsar to be more courageous in his rule
- Soothed the Tsarina and dealt with her stress
- By WW1 - he was providing political advice and making recommendations for ministerial
appointments (angered the nobility)
Mixed views:
- Peasants saw him as one of their own - giving them power
- Nobles and clergy - despised him because of his promiscuity and believed he was corrupting
the royal family
- The press (now with new powers granted after the 1905 revolution) spreads rumours about his
influence each over the royal family
- Rumours = he was having an affair with the Tsarina, treason with the German enemy, starting a
cholera epidemic
Death
- December 1916 - by Yussupov and co- conspirators
- Because they wanted to restore the reputation and prestige of the monarchy
- Once Rasputin was gone, the Tsar would want advice from his nobility, family and the Duma
(and he would be less dependant on Alexandra)
- Previously 4 attempts to kill him
- Tried to poison him but he was unaffected by it so he shot him. He still didn’t die and ran away.
Until he was finally shot in the head and dumped in the river
- Peasantry - enraged = political problems contributed to this - saw the murder as one example
of the nobility controlling the Tsar
- Nobility - rejoiced and applauded the killers
He represented the broader problems within the government all the way up until his death
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