Grigory Rasputin

On the centenary of the death of Rasputin comes a definitive biography that will dramatically change our understanding of this fascinating figure A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra's confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery and sinister political influence are the stuff of legend, and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty was laid at his feet. But as the prizewinning historian Douglas Smith shows, the true story of Rasputin's life and death has remained shrouded in myth. A major new work that combines probing scholarship and powerful storytelling, Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the real life of one of history's most alluring figures. Drawing on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries, Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity--man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. Rasputin is not just a definitive biography of an extraordinary and legendary man but a fascinating portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.

The murder of Rasputin on the night of 17 December 1916 has always seemed extraordinary: first he was poisoned, then shot and finally drowned in a frozen river by Russian aristocrats fearful of his influence on Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra.

Grigori Rasputin Rasputin began life as a peasant in the poorest reaches of Siberia and ended his life as the virtual second-in-command of Tsarist Russia. How did he achieve such a rapid change in fortunes? Was it through palace intrigue or magic and mind control? Or perhaps, the causes were a combination of hypnosis and haemophilia? The tsar's son Nicholas had been born with the dreaded "royal disease" otherwise known as the blood clotting deficiency named haemophilia. The slightest cut or scrape could be life-threatening for the young boy. The self-proclaimed healer managed to convince the royal family that he was the only way that their son would stay alive. With a role this vital, there was no way that Rasputin would be dropped from the imperial payroll anytime soon. Inside you will read about... - From Peasant Monk to Royal Holy Man - Rasputin's Miracle - Immoral Rumors - Rasputin's Banishment - Rasputin During World War I - The End of Rasputin's Reign And much more! Through intrigue, divine intervention, or perhaps just the sheer force of his personality, he forever cemented his place in Russian history. Read about the mad monk turned master minister-read about the astonishing rise and fall that comprised the life of Grigori Rasputin.

A biography of Grigory Rasputin, a poor peasant from Siberia who charmed his way into the court of Czar Nicholas and his wife Alexandra of Russia.

Errors, omissions, rumors and fabrications abound in retellings of the life story of Grigori Rasputin. Born to a peasant family in a small village in Siberia, Rasputin was an unusual child and, like many unusual children, believed that he was going to change the world. From a young age, Rasputin believed himself to be a mystic, a spiritual being who was closer to God than anyone else he encountered. Rasputin never held an official position in the Orthodox Church in which he was raised. Instead, he followed his own spiritual code and quickly amassed a dedicated group of followers who believed him to be a true staret (holy man). Had Rasputin's followers been exclusively of the peasant class his life would likely have had little impact on modern Russian history. But, through a series of introductions and invitations, Rasputin eventually made the acquaintance of the most powerful couple in the country, tsar Nicholas II and tsarina Alexandra. Rasputin's remarkable ability to seemingly heal the tsar and tsarina's son, and heir to the Russian throne, Alexei, who suffered from hemophilia, made him indispensable to the imperial couple. Over the years of Rasputin's friendship with Nicholas and Alexandra he increasingly used his influence to meddle in the affairs of both Church and State, accruing a number of powerful enemies in the process. With Russia's entry into the First World War, the popularity of the tsar and tsarina reached an all-time low. Rasputin too had a terrible reputation as a drunkard, an abuser of women and an opportunist who readily took bribes, even from German sympathizers. All of this may have been true. The Russian people couldn't understand the hold Rasputin had over the imperial couple and, when Rasputin finally met his violent end, the nation rejoiced. The story of Rasputin's death is almost as difficult to unravel as that of his life. The most reliable account of Rasputin's murder describes him being lured to the palace of Prince Felix Yusupov where he was poisoned, shot and badly beaten. Presumed dead he was thrown into the icy Neva River where he eventually drowned. A Soviet policy that aimed to strictly control how information about the Soviet Union circulated in the world and sought to limit what we know about Nicolas II and his reign has made it difficult for biographers to confirm details about Rasputin's life. The date he was born, details about his parents, how he lived and, finally, how he died, have been debated by scholars over the years until archival information released by Russia in the early nineties helped to give clearer answers. The question of whether Rasputin was a saint or satanic, whether he was a holy man or a debauched lunatic, cannot be answered satisfactorily using archive material. Although undeniably a spiritual man, Rasputin was painfully human and the trajectory of his life entered its downward spiral due to painfully human failings. Lust, greed and a desire for power brought Rasputin down, as it has done many men and women throughout history. We may never understand why Rasputin reached the heights he did, nor why he became so reviled, but we can at least understand how.

The murder of Rasputin on the night of 16-17 December 1916 has always seemed extraordinary: first he was poisoned, then shot and finally drowned in a frozen river by Russian aristocrats fearful of his influence on Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. Or was he? Dramatic new evidence from previously unpublished documents, diaries, forensic reports and intelligence records now means the plot takes a remarkable twist. Grigori Rasputin is probably one of the best-known but least understood figures in the events that ultimately led to the downfall of the Russian tsars. His political role as the power behind the throne is obscured today, as it was then, by the fascination with his morality and private life. Andrew Cook's re-investigation of Rasputin's death reveals for the first time the real masterminds behind the murder of the 'mad monk'. Why does the story of a peasant from a distant Siberian village becoming the all-powerful favourite of the last Russian tsar excite us more than almost any other episode in Russian history? Why are there more lies and concealment than truth in the story of his murder? Was this extraordinary man an evil demon who brought down the royal family, or somebody who could have been its saviour? 'To Kill Rasputin' finally provides the answers to the many mysteries surrounding this pivotal moment in Russian history.

Based on new sources—the definitive biography of Rasputin, with revelations about his life, death, and involvement with the Romanovs A century after his death, Grigory Rasputin remains fascinating: the Russian peasant with hypnotic eyes who befriended Tsar Nicholas II and helped destroy the Russian Empire, but the truth about his strange life has never fully been told. Written by the world's leading authority on Rasputin, this new biography draws on previously closed Soviet archives to offer new information on Rasputin's relationship with Empress Alexandra, sensational revelations about his sexual conquests, a re-examination of his murder, and more. Based on long-closed Soviet archives and the author's decades of research, encompassing sources ranging from baptismal records and forgotten police reports to notes written by Rasputin and personal letters Reveals new information on Rasputin's family history and strange early life, religious beliefs, and multitudinous sexual adventures as well as his relationship with Empress Alexandra, ability to heal the haemophiliac tsarevich, and more Includes many previously unpublished photos, including contemporary studio photographs of Rasputin and samples of his handwriting Written by historian Joesph T. Fuhrmann, a Rasputin expert whose 1990 biography Rasputin: A Life was widely praised as the best on the subject Synthesizing archival sources with published documents, memoirs, and other studies of Rasputin into a single, comprehensive work, Rasputin: The Untold Story will correct a century's worth of misconception and error about the life and death of the famous Siberian mystic and healer and the decline and fall of Imperial Russia.

From the bestselling author of Stalin and The Last Tsar comes The Rasputin File, a remarkable biography of the mystical monk and bizarre philanderer whose role in the demise of the Romanovs and the start of the revolution can only now be fully known. For almost a century, historians could only speculate about the role Grigory Rasputin played in the downfall of tsarist Russia. But in 1995 a lost file from the State Archives turned up, a file that contained the complete interrogations of Rasputin’s inner circle. With this extensive and explicit amplification of the historical record, Edvard Radzinsky has written a definitive biography, reconstructing in full the fascinating life of an improbable holy man who changed the course of Russian history. Translated from the Russian by Judson Rosengrant.

A "biography of Rasputin, spiritual guide to the Romanovs and source of great political intrigue, based on many new documents"--