Rasputin

Summary

Short History Of... – Rasputin

Host: John Hopkins
Historian Guest: Francis Welch
Date: February 2, 2026
Podcast by: NOISER

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Overview

This episode of “Short History Of...” delves into the life, myths, and impact of Grigori Rasputin, the enigmatic Siberian peasant who became an inseparable, controversial figure at the heart of Russia’s Romanov court. Through atmospheric narrative and expert insight, the episode explores Rasputin’s reputed mystical powers, dramatic rise to influence, infamous scandals, and his murder—a turning point in the decline of Imperial Russia. Ultimately, the show poses the question: Was Rasputin a cause or just a symptom of the monarchy’s demise?

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Rasputin’s Introduction to the Russian Court

• Opening Scene (00:32 – 03:10):
  The episode opens in 1907 with a reimagining of Rasputin’s first dramatic intervention in the royal nursery, where Tsarevich Alexei’s life hangs in the balance. Amid desperate prayers and failed doctors, Rasputin’s presence brings calm and, seemingly, miraculous recovery to the heir.
• Interpretations of the “Miracle”:
  • Was it mystical healing, or did Rasputin’s calming manner (and his opposition to aspirin, a blood thinner) give Alexei a chance to recover?

2. Rasputin’s Origins and Reputation in Siberia

• Unusual Beginnings (06:16 – 08:44):
  Francis Welch details Rasputin’s odd childhood, marked by rumors of early development, prophetic powers, and eccentric behaviors, such as “staring at grass for hours and beating himself with nettles.”

• Environment of Spiritual Eccentricity (07:46):
  Siberia at the time included a variety of mystical sects and “holy fools”—making Rasputin’s eccentricity less unusual in context.

• Historian Quote:
  “Where he was, there was quite a lot of spirituality, you can call it. ... there was a lot of what we would call very eccentric behavior around.” (Francis Welch, 07:46)

3. Religious Pilgrimage and Emergence as a Mystic

• Early Adult Years (08:08 – 13:13):
  Rasputin marries, has children, and briefly tries farm life, but his restless, visionary nature leads to long pilgrimages and the embrace of fringe spiritual practices.

• Possible Affiliation with the Klisti:
  Rasputin is linked (controversially, perhaps through hostile sources) with a heretical sect combining ecstatic religious rituals and sexual practices, influencing his own beliefs about sin and salvation.

• Historian Quote (on Rasputin’s rationalization):
  “He also felt that the more girls or women that he slept with, he was reducing the general sins of the world.” (Francis Welch, 10:11)

• Gathers a Following:
  On his returns, Rasputin acquires devotees—villagers seek his blessing and cures, while critics suspect opportunism.

4. Entry to St. Petersburg and Tsarist High Society

• First Steps in the Capital (15:56 – 19:35):
  In early 1900s St. Petersburg, society is obsessed with mysticism and prophet-figures, and Rasputin’s peasant authenticity and charisma win him powerful supporters among the clergy and aristocracy.

• Connection to the Romanovs (19:35):
  Rasputin gains introduction to the Tsarina via Grand Duchess Militza—a woman “slightly cracked, actually”—who was impressed by his healing of her dog.

• Court Quote:
  “It wasn’t so odd for them to invite this rather unkempt man who sort of smelt of goat to the palace.” (Francis Welch, 20:11)

5. Imperial Crisis and Rasputin’s Rise

• Context of Upheaval (19:56 – 22:47):
  As the monarchy reels from the 1905 Revolution and the death of a royal relative, Rasputin’s calm faith appeals greatly to the anxious Tsarina, Alexandra.

• First Healing of Alexei (22:47 – 24:11):
  Rasputin’s intervention during Alexei's health crisis cements the Empress’s near-absolute trust in him—his mere presence seems to stop the boy’s suffering.

• Secrets and Scandal:
  Rasputin’s true role at court is concealed, fueling rumors and discomfort among courtiers and clergy.

6. Rumors, Scandal, and Public Backlash

• Public Perceptions (24:39 – 27:20):
  Rasputin’s visits to the palace and “compromising” interactions with the royal family stoke suspicion, especially since the heir’s illness is secret.

• Correspondence Misinterpreted (26:16):
  Warm (but standard) letters from Alexandra to Rasputin are circulated to suggest an affair—a charge unsupported by fact but widely believed.

• Historian Quote:
  “The rumors of him being with the Tsarina obviously alienated the aristocrats...the politicians started to worry about his influence.” (Francis Welch, 26:55)

• Boisterous Social Life, Police Surveillance (27:20 – 32:21):
  Ongoing reports detail Rasputin’s raucous nights out and relationships with powerful women, further damaging the monarchy’s reputation. The Tsar, however, maintains faith in Rasputin for Alexandra’s sake.

7. Second “Distant” Miracle & Entitlements

• Episode in Spala (32:21 – 33:16):
  During a medical crisis in Poland, Rasputin, far away in Siberia, sends a telegram reassuring Alexandra, after which Alexei recovers—further deepening her devotion.

8. Violence, The War, and Rasputin’s Influence

• Assassination Attempt (33:16 – 34:55): Rasputin is stabbed by a deranged follower of one of his enemies but survives, attributing this to divine protection.

• WWI and Political Meddling (34:55 – 37:00):
  With Tsar Nicholas II personally commanding the army, Alexandra and Rasputin become de facto rulers in Petrograd, pushing policies and appointments many see as disastrous.

• Rumors of German Influence and Conspiracy:
  Some claim Rasputin was advocating for peace with Germany, fueling espionage allegations.

• Historian Quote:
  “He then weighed in and was giving all sorts of advice about attacks...things that he didn’t really know much about.” (Francis Welch, 35:41)

9. Assassination Plot

• Conspirators’ Motive (37:22 – 41:24): With discontent at a breaking point, aristocrats led by Prince Felix Yusupov plot to kill Rasputin, believing his death will restore the monarchy’s reputation and stem revolutionary fervor.

• The Murder (41:24 – 47:13): A staged party with cyanide-laced cakes and poisoned wine fails to kill Rasputin; he’s shot, survives, rises again, is shot more times, and drowned—according to highly sensationalized, likely exaggerated accounts from the conspirators.

• Possible British Involvement (47:01):
  There are rumors a British agent fired the fatal shot—considered plausible by some.

• Historian Quote:
  “Stories then emerge that Rasputin was actually killed with a single bullet in the head from a British Secret Service agent, which, in a way, seems more likely to me.” (Francis Welch, 47:01)

10. Aftermath and Historical Legacy

• Immediate Impact (47:13 – 49:52):
  Rasputin’s body is pulled from the river; the Empress is devastated, but the public celebrates.

  • “The Tsar was ambivalent ... The Tsarina was absolutely mortified.” (Francis Welch, 47:36)

• Political Fallout & Revolution:
  Rather than saving the monarchy, Rasputin's murder has the opposite effect—deepening Alexandra’s paranoia and hastening revolution.

• Historian Quote:
  “The murder of Rasputin is now seen as the first shot of the revolution because actually, everything fell down like a house of cards.” (Francis Welch, 48:56)

• Within months, the Tsar abdicates, the Bolsheviks seize power, and the royal family is executed. The dynasty ends, but Rasputin’s legend only grows.

11. Rasputin: Fact and Myth

• Blame and Redemption (52:04 – 53:04): The episode considers whether Rasputin was truly responsible for Russia’s collapse, concluding he was more symptom than cause.

  • “Was he really responsible for the revolution? I can't see that. ... It's a pity they couldn't talk about why he was there, why he was healing the Tsarevich, which was obviously a huge thing.” (Francis Welch, 52:04)

• Modern Perception:
  Rasputin is both scapegoat and mythical figure: “He’s become a sort of comic creation in a way, hasn’t he? ... He was just a sort of good time guy. He loves wine, women and song.” (Francis Welch, 52:44)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• On the mystical hue of rural Siberia:
  “There was a lot of what we would call very eccentric behavior around.” (Francis Welch, 07:46)

• Rasputin’s belief about his promiscuity:
  “The more girls or women that he slept with, he was reducing the general sins of the world. So he was doing a very good thing.” (Francis Welch, 10:11)

• Rasputin’s unwavering influence at court:
  “Every time Rasputin seems cornered by public opinion, Alexandra steps in to support him. To her, these are malicious slanders against God’s chosen servant and the man she once described as Christ in miniature.” (John Hopkins, 33:16)

• On Rasputin’s legendary resilience during his murder:
  “You can’t do anything to me, [Rasputin] rails.” (Reported in the narrative, 41:24)

• Summing up his legacy:
  “He loves wine, women and song.” (Francis Welch, 52:44)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Rasputin’s first healing of Alexei: 00:32 – 06:16
• Eccentric childhood and Siberian religious culture: 06:16 – 09:09
• Sex, sin, and the Klisti: 09:09 – 10:46
• Rasputin's early influence in St. Petersburg: 15:56 – 20:43
• First encounter with the Tsarina: 20:43 – 22:29
• 1907 hematoma crisis: 22:29 – 24:11
• Public scandal, rumors, and surveillance: 24:11 – 32:21
• Miraculous telegram from afar: 32:21 – 33:16
• WWI, growing political influence: 34:55 – 37:22
• The murder plot: 37:22 – 47:13
• Revolution and Rasputin’s myth: 47:13 – End (53:32)

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Tone & Style

The episode combines vivid historical storytelling with an atmosphere of gothic intrigue and draws on both historical evidence and the layers of myth that have enveloped Rasputin’s memory. Francis Welch’s commentary injects both skepticism and wit, especially regarding the more outrageous legends.

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Conclusion

Rasputin’s story is a potent mixture of fact, fiction, scandal, and symbolism. This episode richly contextualizes his rise from the Siberian steppe to the heart of Russia’s collapsing monarchy, showing how myth and history became inseparable in the making—and unmaking—of an era.

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Next Episode: "Short History Of... the Rwandan Genocide"

Transcript

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

It's October 1907 in the Alexander palace at Zaskoye Zielo, Russia. In a corridor of the Imperial Family's summer dacha, a young footman stands guard at the door to the nursery. Inside, the life of the three year old heir to the Russian throne, Tsarevich Alexei, hangs in the balance. He is suffering from an internal hemorrhage brought on by his haemophilia, a rare genetic disorder that stops the blood from clotting properly, meaning even small injuries can be life threatening. Listening at his post, the footman hears anxious, clipped voices from within. None of the doctors have known what to do, and the child is in a desperate state. His mother, Tsarina Alexandra, fears the worst. But now a new figure appears in the corridor, a tall, strong looking man with an unkempt black beard and hair that falls to his shoulders. His coarse peasant's tunic is tied with a cord at the waist, but it is his pale, piercing eyes that command the footman's attention. He is the Siberian peasant holy man Grigori Rasputin, summoned here by the Imperial family as their last desperate hope for the boy. The footman swings the nursery door open and follows the visitor inside. The room is heavy with fear. The Tsarina clutches her child's hand while doctors linger by the walls in helpless silence. Crossing the chamber, Rasputin kneels by the bedside and begins to pray. His voice is low, insistent and thick with dialect. The footman cannot follow, but the chant is steady, rising and falling like a tide. Slowly the atmosphere shifts. Alexandra's sobs soften. The boy's moaning eases. His breath grows calmer. Quieter. Hours pass. Rasputin's voice never falters until at last he falls silent and stands. The pause vibrates in the still air until Alexandra's voice breaks it. He is sleeping, she says, trembling with relief. The footman crosses himself, murmuring prayer of his own. The boy is alive. In the days to come, the court will whisper of a miracle. Some will say Rasputin has the gift of healing. Others will insist. He simply calmed the empress and persuaded her to keep the doctors away, along with their aspirin, which was thinning his blood further for long enough to let the boy's body recover on its own. But to Alexandra, there is no doubt Rasputin has saved her son. From this night on, she will trust him above all others. It becomes a trust so fierce, it will place a Siberian peasant at the heart of the Russian court and hasten the collapse of a 300-year-old dynasty. At the dawn of the 20th century, Russia was a nation on the brink. Strikes, protests, and violent uprisings were shaking the empire. Public faith in the monarchy was hanging by a thread. Into this fragile world stepped Grigori Rasputin. Whether he was truly a holy man blessed with healing powers, or a fraud and a drunkard who inserted himself at the heart of a doomed dynasty, his closeness to the Tsarina gave him a hold over the Russian court, which seemed both inexplicable and. And irresistible. But what was it about Rasputin that allowed him to enchant a desperate empress? How did rumors of scandal and corruption turn one man into a symbol of national decay? And why, even after his violent death, does his shadow still hang over the fall of Imperial Russia? I'm John Hopkins from the Noiser podcast network. This is a short history of Rasputin. Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin is born in 1869 in the small village of Prokhovskoye, deep in the Siberian steppe. His father is a cart driver, and like most of their neighbors, his family are peasants of modest means. Life here is harsh, shaped by bitter winters, poverty, and the rhythms of the Orthodox Church. But from an early age, the boy stands out as being special, at least according to the stories told much later, after he became famous. Francis Welch is a historian and author of Rasputin A Short Life.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He was apparently very advanced as a baby, you know, sort of almost walking by six months, talking at eight months, this is what we hear. And his magic powers came through quite early on. It was discovered that when he was near cows, they produced more milk.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

From the start. Locals speak of a strange intensity in his gaze, and stories spread of visions and prophetic dreams, as well as upping the milk yield of cattle. He also apparently can spot horse thieves on sight. Whether true or not, his odd behavior, sometimes deeply devout, other times unruly and wild, marks him as different.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He was obviously strange. He used to sort of stare at grass for hours and beat himself with nettles.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

But his peculiarity is not entirely unique. This is a land steeped in mysticism, pilgrimage and wandering holy men. And young Grigori grows up surrounded by folk tales of saints and seers. His environment nurtures the possibility of religious eccentricity, where pilgrims walk for days to visit remote shrines and the faithful practice odd rituals to prove their piety. And alongside the devout are fanatics, flagellants, hermits and visionaries, all convinced of divine revelation.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Where he was, there was quite a lot of spirituality, you can call it. I mean, there were old believers living in the forests who were sort of worrying about changes to the liturgy, but also fanatics who were sort of castrating themselves. I mean, there was a lot of what we would call very eccentric behavior around.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In the Siberia of Rasputin's youth, spiritual extremism exists side by side with hardship, hunger and backbreaking work. Respite comes in the form of prayer or the bottle. As a young man, Rasputin earns a reputation for both sanctity and sin. Though some say that he is touched by God, most know him as a drinker, a thief and a brawler. Those employing his cart driving services find him to be particularly unreliable.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

You would take cartloads of furs, say, to the local town of Tyumen. The furs would be lost, the cart would be lost, the horse would be lost, he would be found in a ditch. Anyway, they began to punish him by beating him. The trouble was that he then got a taste for it. So they sent him to a monastery where he discovered this sect called the Clisti.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

This secretive sect, who take their name from the Russian word for whips, are condemned as heretics by the Orthodox Church. They've rejected formal clergy, meet in secret and claim a direct communication with God. They are known for the practice of literally whipping themselves into frenzies, as well as seeking redemption for their sins through ecstatic, often highly sexual rituals, which they call radegnye, or love feasts. Much of what we think we know about Rasputin's link to the Klisti comes from later police reports, hostile churchmen and sensational memoirs written after his rise to fame. The evidence is fragmentary at best, being part fact, part gossip and part propaganda designed to discredit him. But though association with such a sect is enough to stain his name, it also gives him a very unique outlook on his relationships with women.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Rasputin then got the idea that you could very easily combine sex and religion and have a love feast. And he very early on embraced the idea that you can sin for salvation. And in fact, chastity is the sin of pride, which suited a lot of people. What a way to live. He also felt that the more girls or women that he slept with, he was reducing the general sins of the world. So he was doing a very good thing. He was doing everybody a good turn by enjoying himself.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In 1887, when Rasputin is about 18 years old, he marries a local girl, Praskovya. Sharing his religiosity, she is also patient and long suffering, qualities she will need in spades for a life with her new husband. Over the next few years, they have several children, though only a few survive infancy. For a time, Rasputin tries to live a settled life as a farmer, but his restless nature endures. In his early 20s, Rasputin experiences a religious awakening that changes the course of his life. Again, accounts differ on what triggered it. Some say the death of one of their children led him to seek divine answers. Others suggest the idea comes as his spiritual visions intensify.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He had what he called visions of God, where he felt that God was within him and he saw the Virgin Mary pointing to the horizon, which he thought was telling him that he needed to go on a pilgrimage. And that night, after he'd seen the Virgin Mary, his icon of the Virgin Mary wept. Apparently it had water coming from it.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Having been much inspired by his weeping painting, Rasputin begins leaving his family for long stretches. He wanders barefoot to monasteries and holy sites all over Russia, seeking guidance and enlightenment and absorbing radical ideas on the fringes of Orthodoxy. By the time he returns home from these early pilgrimages, Rasputin has remade himself as a starets or a holy man. Part mystic, part preacher, part healer. He has grown his hair and beard long, adopted simple peasant robes, and cultivated an aura of otherworldly wisdom around himself. And he has a following.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He'd come back with women, with his little ladies, as he called them, sometimes dressed in nuns outfits, and Praskovia, his very understanding wife, who used to say, well, he has enough for all. That was her line. And she was quite happy for her husband, for Grigory to put himself about, with which she did. And she didn't object to these women coming back to her house.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

To his critics, he is merely using these long pilgrimages to avoid the difficult work of the harvest. To many of his neighbors, however, he radiates not only charisma, but also genuine spiritual power. Villagers seek him out for blessings, advice and cures. Despite his relative youth, he becomes a revered starets. And by the turn of the 20th century, the name Rasputin is already spreading beyond his tiny corner of Siberia. Pilgrims and curious travelers pass through Prokhovskoye to see the peasant holy man with the piercing eyes and the gift for healing. Some leave convinced he's a prophet, others that he is a fraud, but all agree that he's definitely different.

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[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

1903, Rasputin sets out once again on a pilgrimage heading west towards St. Petersburg. Though again, no single reason for this journey survives in the historical record. It is widely considered a journey both of faith and of instinct. If he is truly chosen by God, then his path must lead to the place where where God's earthly power resides, the imperial capital itself. When he arrives, St. Petersburg is still a world of palaces and processions, of carriages clattering down Nevsky Prospect and choirs echoing from the golden domes of Orthodox churches. But it's also A city of private salons, intrigue and religious debate, where his unpolished Siberian manner once again sets him apart. Here in the capital, high society seems obsessed by mysticism and prophecy, and the search for new holy figures has become a pastime. Rasputin's gift for coarse but captivating oratory and claims of divine inspiration quickly earn him a circle of admirers, particularly among the clergy. Within months, he has gained favor with influential churchmen, who delight in introducing him to aristocratic households. Yet even as his star begins to rise, the empire around him is already shifting. For more than three centuries, Russia has been ruled by the Romanov dynasty, a line of absolute monarchs who claim their authority from God. But Tsar Nicholas ii, the latest in that line, isn't well suited to leadership. Shy, indecisive and deeply conservative, Nicholas struggles to connect with his people, to whom he appears out of touch and distant. The vast empire he governs is largely poor and increasingly restless. Industrial workers in the cities have long been demanding reform, and peasants in the countryside face hunger and debt. But the Tsar's government continuously answers discontent with force rather than compromise. In January 1905, that tension finally comes to a head when thousands of workers march peacefully to the Winter palace, carrying petitions for better wages and fairer treatment. They come as loyal subjects, trusting the man they call Little Father Zah to listen. Instead, the imperial soldiers open fire on the crowd, killing hundreds. The massacre, which will be remembered as Bloody Sunday, shatters faith in the monarchy. In the months that follow, protests sweep the empire. Then tragedy strikes the royal family itself, when Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich is killed by a revolutionary bomb in Moscow. As both the Tsar's uncle and the Tsarina's brother in law, his death strikes both sides of the royal family. For Nicholas and Alexandra, the shock is profound. And it is during this period, while the royal family reels from loss and unrest, they encounter a strange holy man from Siberia.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He'd healed a dog belonging to Grand Duchess Militza, who was a cousin of the Tsar. She was impressed by him. Militza. She was slightly cracked, actually, I think, herself, but she sort of endorsed him.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Militia and her sister Anastasia, are known in St. Petersburg as the Black Peril, famous for their seances, charms and spiritual obsessions, especially with the occult. When Malicia encounters Rasputin, she is convinced he's the real thing and arranges for him to meet the Tsarina.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

It should also be said that they did have a tradition of holy fools and all sorts of oddness and eccentricities at the Russian court. They had a series of men of God or holy fools or whatever you like to call them, before Rasputin arrived, I mean, there was one just before who was actually a butcher from France who believed in invisibility hats. It wasn't so odd for them to invite this rather unkempt man who sort of smelt a goat to the palace.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Yet Rasputin proves different. However unpolished his manners, his presence is magnetic. He speaks in parables, prays with conviction, and seems to look straight through people with those intense, unblinking eyes. To the already anxious Tsarina, his humility feels pure and untouched by the vanity and corruption of the court. In no time, Rasputin becomes a regular guest at the palace. And he is more than a curiosity. Bizarre and Tsarina refer to him as Nash Droog, or our friend. And both his words and his mere presence seem to steady the Empress in particular. Soon an opportunity arises that will seal his place in court and in history. In 1907, the heir to the Russian throne, three year old Tsarevich Alexei, falls ill. The boy already suffers from haemophilia, a hereditary condition passed down from his maternal great grandmother, Queen Victoria of England. The illness damages the body's blood clotting ability and leaves him dangerously vulnerable to internal bleeding. Alexei is the Imperial couple's only son. After four daughters, his birth secured the future of the Romanov dynasty. But his illness now threatens it. With faith in the monarchy already floundering and the Empire feeling fragile, the truth of his condition is kept a closely guarded secret. Even within the Palace. Few understand the precarity of the situation.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Now.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

A recent fall has led to a severe hemorrhage that's looking increasingly life threatening. For days, the doctors have proved powerless to ease his pain. In desperation, Empress Alexandra turns to the man she has come to believe is touched by God, Grigori Rasputin.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He'd fallen in the palace and damaged his leg and his face so badly that his eyes were closed. But apparently he began to recover as soon as Rasputin saw him. And nobody quite knows how the healings were done or how real they were. Rasputin didn't like aspirin, which doctors were then giving out, which is an anticoagulant, and that may have helped his cause because obviously aspirin would have made bleeding worse and it wasn't known then that it was an anticoagulant. The other thing was that once he'd got the confidence of the Tsarina, the boy's mother, I think as soon as he arrived, her general Stress level would drop and then his would the little boy's, and that probably had something to do with it as well. But nobody knows exactly.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Having removed the doctors and their harmful aspirin from the Tsarevich's room, Rasputin's calming prayers appear to work wonders immediately, and the boy begins to recover. For his mother, Alexandra, it is nothing short of divine intervention. From that night on, Rasputin is no longer just a holy man. He is the family's protector. But outside the palace, most are unaware why he visits so frequently.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He was a regular visitor and he would visit the Tsarina and the Grand Duchesses in their bedrooms sometimes when they were wearing their bed clothes. News of that spread and was not well received, as you can imagine. And one of the crucial things is that the reasons for his visits were kept secret. It mustn't be known that the heir, this long awaited little boy, was ill. Very, very ill. So nobody knew.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

With the court and public mostly ignorant to his true role, Rasputin's new closeness to the Imperial family makes him a man of dangerous importance. Court officials resent his influence and priests question his piety to the wider world. The idea that a barefoot peasant from Siberia now has the ear of the Tsarina begins to feel like a scandal. Rasputin's involvement in courtly affairs grows steadily after his first healing of the Tsarevich. Increasingly seeing him as her spiritual guide, Alexandra invites him to the palace, consults him on personal matters, and comes to believe that his prayers are the only thing keeping Alexei alive. The Tsar, however, is more cautious, uncomfortable with governing, and prone to deferring to those around him, especially his wife. He tolerates Rasputin largely because Alexandra is so convinced of his gifts. Nicholas does, however, at times urge caution. But his reluctance to challenge his wife only fuels the impression that the Imperial household is being steered not by the Tsar, but by the Empress. As such, Rasputin's presence is even more alarming to courtiers and ministers. Here is a peasant mystic sitting in private audiences with the Tsarina, whispering advice on matters of the state. Rumors abound that he is not just her confidant, but her lover, a suggestion never substantiated, but widely believed.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

One of the clerics who he'd made an enemy of disseminated letters that the Tsarina had written to Rasputin, which said things like, I kiss you warmly, I want to sleep with my head on your shoulder. You know, very sort of affectionate letters, overly affectionate letters, which seemed to indicate that they were having an affair. In fact, they weren't because she was very effusive in her letters to her sisters, to everybody.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

But in an age when the monarchy already seems distant from its people, Rasputin's closeness to the Romanovs deepens suspicions of decay at the heart of the empire.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

The rumors of him being with the Tsarina obviously alienated the aristocrats who felt that the Tsarina was bringing the Romanovs into disrepute by allowing this sort of very disheveled, unkempt man into the palace. The clerics disapproved of Rasputin's behavior generally, and then finally, yes, the politicians started to worry about his influence.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

But he's also building a reputation for late night drinking sessions, cavorting with prostitutes and seducing society women who seek his counsel. Some of these tales are exaggerated, others well founded, but together they paint a picture of debauchery that clashes violently with his image as a man of God. Newspapers begin to report lurid details, and his name becomes shorthand for scandal. Russia's fledgling parliament, the Duma, created after the 1905 revolution to give people a voice, is soon beginning to call for his removal. The Orthodox hierarchy is also growing suspicious, with bishops and priests accusing him of heresy, and attempts are made to investigate or curb his influence. Yet inside the palace, the Tsarina remains devoted and the Tsar disinterested in dissuading her. Now, on orders from the Prime Minister, the secret police, the Okrana, begin a surveillance operation, hopeful of proving to the Tsar once and for all that the mad monk must be dismissed. It's a cool spring night in St. Petersburg, 1912. The rain falls in sheets, slicking the cobblestones and drumming a beat on the window pane. Across the road from a popular city bar, a rented room glows with a single lamp. Inside, two agents from the Okrana sit at a table littered with papers, half empty vodka glasses and surveillance files. One of the men is making notes, his pen scratching an insistent pulse over the hum of the city outside, while the other stares out of the window, watching their target. In the bar opposite, Grigori Rasputin sits at a crowded table beneath heavy chandeliers, the air thick with cigar smoke and perfume. His black robe is loose at the neck, his hair unkempt, his beard dark and wiry. Around him, women in pearls and lace lean close, their laughter exaggerated and loud. A waiter leans over to refill the monk's glass. Rasputin raises it high, his movements theatrical. At the next table, a young man whispers to his companion, eyes fixed on the scene While the pianist hammers a waltz that can barely compete with the noise. As the night deepens, oblivious to the surveillance from across the road, the tall, imposing peasant from Siberia grows more animated. With every toast. His voice becomes thunderous, his behavior more erratic, and his gestures more lewd. A woman reaches to steady him, but he merely catches her hand and kisses her roughly. The peals of laughter. At last, the doors open. Rasputin emerges into the night, coat thrown over his shoulders, followed by two women and a man in military uniform staggering across the slick street. He splashes through puddles with one of the women clinging drunkenly to his arm, their laughter cutting through the rain. A cab pulls up and he climbs inside, the women and the officer bundling in after him. The driver snaps his reins and the wheels vanish into the dark. Back in the room across the street, the lamp light flickers and the agents share a smile of satisfaction. They have proof once more that Rasputin's compromising ties to people of influence might do more than just embarrass the regime. In the morning, they'll embellish the report to hammer home to the tsar how this kind of behavior brings the monarchy into disrepute. By association, it's a decent night's work. When Nicholas is presented with these increasingly lurid accounts, he remains indignant, viewing them as a smear on his wife's judgment, and demands the surveillance is halted. But even as the scandals surrounding Rasputin grow, the Tsarina insists that he alone can save the heir, the dynasty, and perhaps Russia itself. In 1912, while on a family holiday at a hunting lodge in Spala, Poland, Tsarina Alexandra calls on Rasputin to once again heal her ailing son.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He fell over in a boat, damaged his leg. And then, as a treat, the Tsarina said, oh, I'll take you out for a ride. When he was sort of slightly recovering from his leg wound, the ride somehow upset his stomach. He ended up with quite a serious hemorrhage, and in fact, they thought he was going to die. And Rasputin was in Siberia. The Tsarina's friend and companion, Anna Vrioba, who's quite well known, she contacted Rasputin, who was walking by a river, and he said, oh, I had a headache. I knew that Alexis was ill. He sent two telegrams. One said, the boy will not die, and the other one said, do not let the doctors bother him too much. And as soon as the telegrams arrived at Spala, Alexis started recovering. And from that point on, Rasputin could do no wrong.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

With his divine right confirmed in the Tsarina's eyes once more, she doubles down on her defense of him. Every time Rasputin seems cornered by public opinion, Alexandra steps in to support him. To her, these are malicious slanders against God's chosen servant and the man she once described as Christ in miniature. But outside the palace walls, Rasputin symbolizes the secrecy, corruption and decadence that threaten the Imperial family's legitimacy, especially as Europe is hurtling towards war. For a few, especially the clergy, there is only one way to stop the problem, and that is to remove him altogether. In 1914, while at home in Siberia, after another long stint in St Petersburg, Rasputin is set upon by a fanatical female follower of the defrocked monk Iliodor, one of his fiercest clerical enemies. The woman, who happens to be missing a nose, attacks him on his way home from church, stabbing him in the stomach. The wound is so bad his intestines spill out, and yet he survives. Naturally, he attributes his recovery to divine intervention.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He was very annoyed that it was a noseless stinker, he said, who attacked him, stabbed him. He ended up in hospital at the time, and then war was declared and he sort of tore off all his bandages. Oh, if only I'd been in St Petersburg, war wouldn't have been declared.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

When the First World War breaks out, Russia is plunged into crisis. The Empire is still shaken by its humiliating defeat in the Russo Japanese War a decade earlier, and confidence in the army's leadership is low. At the start of the conflict, the Tsar's cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas, commands the Russian armed forces. But after much campaigning against the Grand Duke, especially from the Tsarina, Tsar Nicholas II makes the fateful decision to take over the job himself. In 1915, Nicholas leaves St Petersburg to assume direct command of the army at the front. This leaves the government in the hands of Alexandra and, by extension, Rasputin, who is quick to step into the role of advisor.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

He then weighed in and was giving all sorts of advice about attacks and whatnot and defences and things that he didn't really know much about.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Suddenly, the mystic from Siberia is influencing the highest appointments in the Empire. Ministers rise and fall based on Rasputin's counsel, and many top positions are given to wholly unsuitable candidates who are either too old, too infirm or too mentally unstable to cope.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Tarina would write to her husband, you know, at the front, saying that some people were ours and some people were not ours. So in other words, she divided, and mainly ours were the people who were sort of yes men for The Tsar, Tsarina and Rasputin, I suppose, and not ours, were the enemies out there, the people Rasputin called the wasps, who were all out after him, and there were a lot of them.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Rasputin's enemies accuse him of manipulating Alexander to control policy. And as the war drags on and goes disastrously for Russia, rumors even swirl that he is a German agent undermining Russia's war effort. With the Tsar away at the front, the secret service doubled down on their efforts to prove his misdeeds and forced Rasputin out.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

They were worried he was angling for a separate peace with Germany, that he was chatting up German spies in his house in St. Petersburg. I think he did. There were one or two who visited Germans, and so he was suspected of wanting to negotiate a separate peace, which was horrific for the aristocracy at any rate.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

All the while, Rasputin's boorish behavior continues unashamedly. Given so much fuel, the Okrana's reports pile up. Secret meetings, nights of drinking, lewd behavior, relations with women of influence, boasts of divine favor. Every line feeds the growing legend and the growing disgust. But even these reports are unreliable. The secret police have a reputation for padding their files with rumor and invention, especially when their superiors expect scandal. Some later claim that key details from the surveillance were embellished or simply made up. In trying to expose Rasputin, the Okrana helped create the very mythology they feared. Nicholas continues to dismiss the reports, but the concern among the people remains that Rasputin is acting as some kind of proxy leader. As the army falters and the home front seethes with unrest, the Tsarina's confidant becomes the lightning rod for popular anger. With Alexandra considered hysterical and the Tsar weak, most believe that Rasputin is the only one running the show behind the scenes. By late 1916, food is running short, prices are soaring, and soldiers are deserting the front. In the shadows, radical ideas about the complete overthrow of the current system are gaining ground even among the ruling class. Faith in the monarchy is at an all time low, and a growing number of aristocrats and politicians believe that Rasputin must be removed if Russia is to be saved. In the Duma, members of parliament rail against him in speeches. Church leaders denounce him from their pulpits. Even other members of the royal family urged Nicholas and Alexandra to break with him. But the Tsarina's devotion is unshakable, and so eventually, a small group of conspirators resolved to take matters into their own hands. Prince Felix Yusupov, husband of the Tsar's only niece and heir to one of Russia's greatest fortunes, is charming, vain and restless. Once a favorite at court, he is now consumed by a sense of humiliation at what Rasputin has done to the family name. A cousin of the Tsar shares Yusupov's outrage, as does Vladimir Puraskiewicz, a firebrand, nationalist and member of the Duma who provides the political zeal. He sees the mystic as a foreign agent and a traitor whose removal is nothing less than a patriotic duty. Together, they believe that killing Rasputin is the only way to save Russia. His death will break the Tsarina's obsession, restore faith in the monarchy and halt the slide towards revolution. Secretly, the plan takes shape. Yusupov offers his family's palatial townhouse on the Moika river as the setting and begins to plot the method of its execution.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

I think Felix Yusupov fancied the idea of the role of murderer, a savior of Russia and the murderer, Rasputin the mad monk. And he took a great deal of trouble creating the murder scene where Rasputin was going to die. Rasputin would arrive after midnight and a party would have finished, but the remains of the party would be there. A cellar was created as a room where the party would have been, the fictional party, that is, and all Rasputin would see would be the detritus of the end of the meal. And he was going to meet Felix Usupov's wife, the beautiful Irina. That was the bait for him. And they would have music playing, but they only had a record of Yankee Doodle Dandy, which went on all night.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In the guise of this party, complete with wine and cakes laced with cyanide, the conspirators hoped to stage the final act in a drama that they believe will rescue the Empire itself. But as with so many cunning schemes, it doesn't quite go according to plan. It's late December 1916 at the Moika palace in St. Petersburg. Inside, Prince Yusupov, the host of tonight's devious celebrations, has decked out the cellar with the apparent remains of a party. Music plays on a loop from the study above and the table is set with a white cloth. Though the festivities appear mostly over. Among the debris is a tea set, a decanter of Madeira wine and a plate of sugared cakes, because despite the mess, everything is in fact perfectly arranged, with Yusupov and his co conspirators having meticulously rehearsed their parts. Now, while Piraskovich the politician and the Others wait in the study above. The prince prepares for his guest. When Rasputin arrives, he does so with his familiar bluster, taking in the table in all its finery. At his host's bidding, he sits down and Yusupov serves him tea. He's offered a cake, and though at first he declines, after trying one, he proceeds to demolish several in quick succession. The game is on. Yusupov knows exactly how much cyanide they laced those cakes with, and even a big man like Rasputin should be easily felled by the dose. They settle into a discussion, but the minutes tick by and the Siberian shows no sign of weakening. Soon he demands a glass of wine, and Yusupov gladly gives it, knowing that it too is poison. The first glass goes down easy and the conversation continues to flow. But the prince's nerves are failing. Why isn't it working? Another glass is poured and drunk. And another. And now, seeming to smell a rat, Rasputin tells his host that he's wasting his time. You can't do anything to me, he rails. BY now it's 2:30am And Rasputin hasn't even stumbled. Anxiously, the host excuses himself for a moment and relays the disaster to Puriscovich and his co conspirators, who can't believe it either. If poison isn't doing the job, they'll have to use a blunter instrument. Yusupov returns to the basement with a revolver and left with no other option, he raises the gun and shoots Rasputin, who collapses onto the bear skin. Rock. On. Hearing the shot, the others rush down to see their quarry bleeding from the chest. Yusupov's assistant inspects the body and declares him dead. The job is done. They turn off the light and head upstairs to congratulate themselves on saving the empire. Even as they celebrate, however, Yusupov has a strange feeling and goes to double check his victim. There is no pulse, but as he stands to leave, Rasputin's face twitches. Then his eyes flash open, foaming at the mouth. Rasputin pulls himself to his feet, very much alive despite already being poisoned and shot. Though he lunges at Yusupov, the prince manages to slip out of his grip. He sprints out to warn the others, but before they know what's happening, the door from the cellar flies open and a bleeding Rasputin crawls out onto the courtyard, blood dripping into the snow. Roaring like an animal, Rasputin gets to his feet and runs. Puriskovich fires off two shots Rasputin totters and then falls into a snowbank. Yusupov approaches the body and finds him finally dead. The assassins bundle him into a car and drive him to the wooden bridge across the River Neva, where they throw him into the icy water below. Like every story about Rasputin, the exact details of that fateful night are uncertain. This bizarre account of his supernatural resistance to death comes from Yusupov's own memoir, written years later and almost certainly embroidered for effect. The scene he describes is strikingly similar to one in Dostoevsky's the Landlady, published long before Rasputin was even born, which casts further doubt on the fanciful tale.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Stories then emerge that Rasputin was actually killed with a single bullet in the head from a British Secret Service agent, which in a way, seems more likely to me.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Whatever the mechanics of his assassination, the outcome remains. Rasputin dies on December 30, 1916. In the days after the murder, Rasputin's body is pulled from beneath the ice of the Neva, one hand raised as if in benediction. When news reaches the palace, the reaction is mixed.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

The Tsar was ambivalent, by all accounts, the stories. He walked away whistling, having heard that Raspy had been killed. Possibly he wasn't even surprised. But the Tsarina was absolutely mortified. I mean, if the person that you rely on completely to save your child somehow has been so hated that he's been murdered. Yeah, she was devastated.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

The Tsarina collapses in grief. She orders Rasputin's body to be buried near the royal family's chapel in a final act of devotion to her favorite holy man and healer. But beyond the palace gates, the capital mostly celebrates his death, hailing the conspirators as heroes. For a brief moment, it seems their crime has worked and that Russia has been freed from the peasant monk who held its throne in thrall. But the relief doesn't last. Rasputin may be gone, but nothing improves. The war is still raging. Russia's armies are being slaughtered at the front, and the railways that once fed the cities are collapsing under the strain. Inflation soars, fuel and food become scarce. Years of mismanagement, defeat and hardship now come to a head.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

The murder of Rasputin is now seen as the first shot of the revolution because actually, everything fell down like a house of cards.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Afterwards, within weeks, bread queues stretch through the frozen streets, soldiers grow mutinous, and crowds take to the squares demanding change. Not because Rasputin is dead, but because the country is starving, exhausted by war. And desperate for a government that can save it. Worse still, the murder has unintended consequences. Rasputin's death only drives Empress Alexandra further into isolation. Convinced that dark forces are conspiring against her family, she hardens against the Duma and becomes even more determined to rule without compromise. The very act meant to save the monarchy instead deepens its crisis.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

The people were aggravated to the extent that they felt they had nothing to lose anymore. They were just going to wreak havoc. They were losing the war. People were being killed. The Tsar was basically told, your only choice is to abdicate. You've lost control.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

By March 1917, the tsar abdicates, and the royal family is placed under arrest. A provisional government is hastily formed in Petrograd, but it inherits a country broken by war, hunger and hardship. The revolutionary movements that have been building for years begin to seize their chance. Bolshevik leaders like Lenin and Trotsky, long exiled or operating in secret, now return to the capital and call for radical change. The streets fill with demonstrations. Soldiers desert the front and workers strike. When the fragile Provisional government now collapses, the Bolsheviks sweep it aside and seize control, plunging Russia into civil war and setting the stage for a new revolutionary state. Nicholas, Alexandra and all five of their children, the youngest of whom Alexei is just 13, are slaughtered in the basement of the house in which they are being kept. And with that, the dynasty that ruled Russia for three centuries is a thing of the past. And yet, even as Russia rewrites its story, one figure from the old order refuses to vanish. In death, Rasputin becomes larger than he ever was in life, and his legend is quickly magnified. To his detractors, he remains the embodiment of corruption, lust and superstition, and symbolizes the disease that poisoned the Russian monarchy from within. To others, he is a scapegoat, little more than a convenient vessel for Russia's wider failures. But can one man really be blamed for a collapsing economy, a disastrous war, and a ruling family fatally out of touch with its people?

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Was he really responsible for the revolution? I can't see that. I don't think it's fair to blame him. But it's a pity that they couldn't talk about why he was there, why he was healing the Tsarevich, which was obviously a huge thing.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

In the century since his death, Rasputin's story has blurred the line between facts and folklore. Memoirs, propaganda and myth have twisted him into whatever shape each age required. At times, he is a devil, a saint, a healer, seducer or spy. He appears in novels, operas and films. His piercing stare and black robe instantly recognizable.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

I'm afraid he's become a sort of comic creation in a way, hasn't he? Because what with the Rah Rah Rasputin and all that, he's sort of creation like most people are of the people around him. I feel a lot, a lot was projected onto him. He was just a sort of good time guy. He loves wine, women and song.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Whatever the truth, Rasputin will forever be the mad monk, the peasant mystic who rose as the Romanov dynasty was already beginning to fall, and whose story captures the tumultuous twilight moments of imperial Russia. Next time on Short History, I will bring you a short history of the Rwandan genocide.

[Trailer Narrator]

So there's people that want to essentially defect from this. Just as in the case in the Holocaust, there are individuals that say, I don't want to participate in this. During the Holocaust, in these police battalions, if somebody didn't want to participate, for the most part, they were allowed to just walk away, turn their back on what was going on. They were probably ridiculed for it. But they weren't killed. In the Rwandan case. In many of these circumstances, not all, but in many of them, if you didn't participate in the killing, you would be considered complicit and you'd be hacked up too, which increases the odds that people will participate.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

That's next time. If you can't wait a week until the next episode, you can listen to it right away by subscribing to Noiser Plus. Head to www.noiser.comscriptions for more information.

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[Trailer Narrator]

The wait is over.

[Narrator (John Hopkins)]

Tron Ares now streaming on Disney plus. We are looking for something, something you've done discovered. Give me something to believe and some of us will stop at nothing to get it ready. The countdown is complete. There's no going back. Our directive is clear.

[Historian (Francis Welch)]

Hang on.

[Trailer Narrator]

Tron Aries now streaming on Disney Plus. Rated PG 13.