Ra, Ra, Rasputin, I’m sure you’ve all heard of the man, the myth, the legend. Be it through Boney M’s 70’s hit or some place else. Rasputin has certainly solidified himself as a household name. He’s also brought himself to Hollywood posthumously with the newest release in the Kingsman franchise. - good film, check it out.
Todays edition is all about the life and times of the self proclaimed Holy Man, the Mad Monk, the Russian.. Love Machine. Let’s get into it.
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born January 21st, 1869 to a peasant family in Siberia, Russia.
He lived a relatively normal life until the age of 28 (almost nothing is known of his early life), where allegedly, he had a ‘religious awakening’ during a pilgrimage. Converting Grigori into a wandering, self proclaimed Holy Man. - and a controversial one to say the least.
A new life of mysticism ensued and by 1906, Rasputin had risen to a popular figure among the higher class in St Petersburg, becoming good friends with Tzar Nicholas II & his wife, Queen Alexandra.
Queen Alexandra saw Rasputin as a prophet, believing he possessed powers that could heal her haemophiliac son - Alexei.
Rasputins relationship with the royals caused a stir in the lower class. His power over the royal family and their political decisions kept growing, angering the poorer societies in the Motherland. The Russian people and Politicians alike started to resent Rasputin and his so called ‘Holy Man’ persona.
On July 12th, 1914, Chionya Guseva, a 33 year old peasant woman, attempted to assassinate Rasputin outside his home in Pokrovskoye by stabbing him in the stomach. Guseva claimed he was a false prophet and the antichrist.
Grigori nearly died from the injuries sustained and Chionya was subsequently deemed insane and sent to a mental asylum.
The First World War wasn’t going great for Russia, and the resentment towards the Royal Family & Rasputin grew as people believed Rasputins influence over the Tzar & the Queen was having a big effect on the war.
This led to a group of Nobles & Politicians getting together and plotting an assassination on Rasputin, spearheaded by Felix Yusupov & Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich.
Heres where it gets fucking wild, theres a lot of accounts on how this next part actually went down, a lot of hearsay. This is the most popular version -
December 29th 1916 - Rasputin is invited to a party at the Moika Royal Palace. Once he arrived, he was offered tea and cake, both of which laced with enough Cyanide to kill 4 men. He drank the tea and ate the cake, both did nothing.
Rasputin was then given Madeira wine, also laced with Cyanide.
Rasputin drank 3 glasses. Again, nothing. - Fucking hell Greg.
Enraged that nothing was working, Yusupov pulled his pistol and shot Rasputin in the chest. Seemingly dead, the politicians celebrated their achievement and kept the party going. One conspirator even left wearing Rasputins hat and jacket to make it seem as he had left for home.
A short while later Rasputin leapt up and starting attacking the party goers. After fighting off his attempted killers, Grigori stumbled into the palace courtyard where he was shot twice more in the back and was allegedly beaten by Yusupov with a dumbbell. - eh?
To finish the job, they carried his lifeless body across to a nearby bridge and threw Rasputin into the river below.
Stories say that Rasputin was last seen very much alive, thrashing about in the water as he floated down river. - how true that is? fuck knows.
2 days later on January 1st 1917, Rasputins body was found under the ice covered river. The autopsy showed that Rasputin had been shot 3 times, twice in the chest and one in the head. It is believed that he was already dead before he hit the river. There was no trace of any poison in his body.
Yusupov & Pavlovich were caught shortly after. Queen Alexandra was so angry that she ordered for both of them to be killed by firing squad immediately, without trial.
Instead, Yusupov was exiled to his country estate and Pavlovich was sent to serve in the army in Persia.
Grigori Rasputin was buried on January 2nd 1917 at a small funeral attended by the Royal Family and a few close friends.
Here’s one for you -
Rasputins penis was allegedly cut off after his death, pickled and placed in a jar on display at St Petersburg museum. - There’s a photo of it online, you can Google that one.
- M.
Thats one scary looking motherfucker, don’t you think?
On This Day -
1597 - A group of early Japanese Christians, known as the 26 Martyrs, are killed by the new government of Japan for being seen as a threat to Japanese society.
1885 - King Leopold II of Belgium establishes the Congo as a personal colonial possession.
1969 - United States population reaches 200 million.
- It hit 331 million in 2021
Very entertaining read! Thank you for sharing!
Have you ever seen this video series titled "The Russian Revolution - Good Thing, Bad Thing?" on YouTube?
They have an entire section on Rasputin and I think it's something you'd enjoy:
https://youtu.be/TklISW2wzWg?t=3012
great read, but honestly, that kingsman movie was truly, truly awful in my opinion. the other ones in the franchise are solid but the one with rasputin, good lord was it bad. Rasputin's presence was the only redeeming bit of the film, and they got rid of him rather quickly