Achievements: Rasputin and the Romanovs
The Young Tsarovich.
Aleksei, the son of Nicholas II and heir to the Russian throne, had hemophilia, and by the early 1910's his health was much weaker than normal. The monarchy desperately wanted to keep this fact a secret, as they feared that it would be viewed very negatively by the public. Nicholas II was already in contempt due to his poor handling of the Russian matters of state abroad, and many of the Russian people believed that he could not live up to the expectations of his grandfather, Aleksandr II. Alexandra was even more disliked; she was extremely shy, and was very vocal in her dislike of Russian court life. In addition, because of her German ancestry, Alexandra was heavily disliked by the people, and some even believed she was a German spy. Because of this, letting the country know that the heir to the throne could die at any moment would be disastrous, especially since his health was getting worse and worse.
By the time Aleksei’s illness had worsened, Alexandra was at her wit’s end. All of the doctors that she had hired to treat Aleksei had proved utterly useless, and nothing they did seemed to alleviate Aleksei’s illness. Not knowing where to turn, she came to one of her good friends, Anna Vyrubova, who had heard rumors of Rasputin’s supposed “healing powers.” Since Rasputin began his wandering as a strannik, rumors abounded of his supposed “faith healing” and ability to fix people’s ailments and illnesses. The other members of the Russian nobility, however, did not share Anna and Alexandra’s optimism. They were already concerned with the rumors of Rasputin’s experience with the khlysty cults east of the Urals and other bizarre Siberian experiences (whether he actually did those or not), so their expectations of Rasputin’s ability to heal the Tsarovich were slim.
To everyone’s surprise, Rasputin’s healing actually worked. The exact manner of how he did it, however, is highly debated. Some sources theorize that Rasputin used hypnosis to calm down Aleksei’s troubled heart. Other sources claim that Rasputin’s dismissal of Aleksei’s former doctors relieved Aleksei of stress, which calmed his blood. Still others say that it was Rasputin’s refusal to give the Tsarovich the brand new “wonder drug” Asprin; Asprin is an anticoagulant, and so would have therefore aggravated Aleksei’s symptoms.
After Rasputin’s healing, he became extremely popular among the Romanovs. Both Nicholas and Alexandra believed Rasputin to be a man of God, and the children were taught to refer to Rasputin as “Our Friend” or “Our Dear Friend”. Alexandra in particular was very fond of him; she believed that Rasputin talked directly to God, and spent much of her free time around him. As Rasputin got closer and closer to the Romanovs, he became more and more of a general advisor, especially to Nicholas, giving him his opinion whenever it was asked of him.
Unfortunately, it was this position of advice that would spell doom for Rasputin, the Romanovs, and the Empire. In 1914, Rasputin “received a vision” which he told Nicholas of. He said that Russia’s armies would not be victorious in battle unless the Tsar himself lead them. To the horror and protest of Nicholas’ top generals, Nicholas heeded Rasputin’s advice and assumed direct command of the Russian army against the Germans and the Austro-Hungarians on the Eastern Front, to overwhelmingly terrible results. Nicholas was a terrible military commander and had almost no tactical ability; this, combined with the fact that Russia’s military production could not create nearly enough ammunition, weapons, or railway for the massive Russian army, proved disastrous.
In addition, Nicholas’ time away from the battlefield exasperated the already scandalous rumors of both Rasputin and Alexandra. Many members of the Russian nobility were highly suspicious of the Tsarina, who was hanging around Rasputin even more than normal. In addition, words of Rasputin’s “familiarity” with many of the women of court reached noble ears, and there were even hushed words that the Tsarina herself was in a relationship with Rasputin.
This proved too much for some of the nobility. A group of nobles, lead by a nephew of the Tsar, Felix Yusupov, believed that the Tsarina was being corrupted by Rasputin, and plotted to kill him on December 29th, 1916. The group brought him into a small basement, where they gave him cakes and wine laced with enough cyanide to kill five men. To their surprise and horror, not only did Rasputin not die, he thanked them for the meal and appeared to have been unaffected. Unsure what to do, they left the room to consult amongst each other, then returned and shot him in the back. Believing him to be dead, Yusupov and the others left the building for a few hours. When they returned to get the body, Rasputin opened his eyes and leapt up, throttling Yusupov. They shot him another three times and beat him into unconsciousness before throwing him into the Neva river. When they retrieved his body from the Neva river, having been shot four times, stabbed, beaten, poisoned, and thrown into the river, his cause of death was ruled as drowning; he was still alive by the time he was dumped in the Neva.
By the time Aleksei’s illness had worsened, Alexandra was at her wit’s end. All of the doctors that she had hired to treat Aleksei had proved utterly useless, and nothing they did seemed to alleviate Aleksei’s illness. Not knowing where to turn, she came to one of her good friends, Anna Vyrubova, who had heard rumors of Rasputin’s supposed “healing powers.” Since Rasputin began his wandering as a strannik, rumors abounded of his supposed “faith healing” and ability to fix people’s ailments and illnesses. The other members of the Russian nobility, however, did not share Anna and Alexandra’s optimism. They were already concerned with the rumors of Rasputin’s experience with the khlysty cults east of the Urals and other bizarre Siberian experiences (whether he actually did those or not), so their expectations of Rasputin’s ability to heal the Tsarovich were slim.
To everyone’s surprise, Rasputin’s healing actually worked. The exact manner of how he did it, however, is highly debated. Some sources theorize that Rasputin used hypnosis to calm down Aleksei’s troubled heart. Other sources claim that Rasputin’s dismissal of Aleksei’s former doctors relieved Aleksei of stress, which calmed his blood. Still others say that it was Rasputin’s refusal to give the Tsarovich the brand new “wonder drug” Asprin; Asprin is an anticoagulant, and so would have therefore aggravated Aleksei’s symptoms.
After Rasputin’s healing, he became extremely popular among the Romanovs. Both Nicholas and Alexandra believed Rasputin to be a man of God, and the children were taught to refer to Rasputin as “Our Friend” or “Our Dear Friend”. Alexandra in particular was very fond of him; she believed that Rasputin talked directly to God, and spent much of her free time around him. As Rasputin got closer and closer to the Romanovs, he became more and more of a general advisor, especially to Nicholas, giving him his opinion whenever it was asked of him.
Unfortunately, it was this position of advice that would spell doom for Rasputin, the Romanovs, and the Empire. In 1914, Rasputin “received a vision” which he told Nicholas of. He said that Russia’s armies would not be victorious in battle unless the Tsar himself lead them. To the horror and protest of Nicholas’ top generals, Nicholas heeded Rasputin’s advice and assumed direct command of the Russian army against the Germans and the Austro-Hungarians on the Eastern Front, to overwhelmingly terrible results. Nicholas was a terrible military commander and had almost no tactical ability; this, combined with the fact that Russia’s military production could not create nearly enough ammunition, weapons, or railway for the massive Russian army, proved disastrous.
In addition, Nicholas’ time away from the battlefield exasperated the already scandalous rumors of both Rasputin and Alexandra. Many members of the Russian nobility were highly suspicious of the Tsarina, who was hanging around Rasputin even more than normal. In addition, words of Rasputin’s “familiarity” with many of the women of court reached noble ears, and there were even hushed words that the Tsarina herself was in a relationship with Rasputin.
This proved too much for some of the nobility. A group of nobles, lead by a nephew of the Tsar, Felix Yusupov, believed that the Tsarina was being corrupted by Rasputin, and plotted to kill him on December 29th, 1916. The group brought him into a small basement, where they gave him cakes and wine laced with enough cyanide to kill five men. To their surprise and horror, not only did Rasputin not die, he thanked them for the meal and appeared to have been unaffected. Unsure what to do, they left the room to consult amongst each other, then returned and shot him in the back. Believing him to be dead, Yusupov and the others left the building for a few hours. When they returned to get the body, Rasputin opened his eyes and leapt up, throttling Yusupov. They shot him another three times and beat him into unconsciousness before throwing him into the Neva river. When they retrieved his body from the Neva river, having been shot four times, stabbed, beaten, poisoned, and thrown into the river, his cause of death was ruled as drowning; he was still alive by the time he was dumped in the Neva.