Rasputin and the Last Czar (Part I)

 The United States emerged as a superpower as the world wars drew to a close.  On cue, as the universe tried to strike a balance, Russia (then called the USSR or Soviet Union), emerged as our superpower nemesis, the Joker to our Batman.  The histories of both countries are inundated with modest beginnings, great achievements and terrible tragedies, but the history of Russia is much more secretive and eccentric.  Even among the many fantastic stories that strained credibility, the events surrounding Czar Nicholas II and Rasputin stand out.

      The origins of the country we know as Russia can be traced back to 862 AD (according to History.com), and the first czar (or tzar, or csar, or tsar) is listed as Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible in 1547.  The title of czar, like kaiser, originates from Caesar, and the history of Russia is a long tale of authoritarian rule.  But, it’s also a history of terrible winters, vodka, and secrecy. Geographically it is a land mass that covers 11 time zones, giving an impression of strength due to its size.  An impression that does not always hold up under stressful circumstances.  World War I, and the events leading up to it, are a great example.

       Czar Nicholas II was a member of the long ruling Romanov family, and was not interested in leading Russia.  He was a fantastic family man, and loved his wife, Alexandra, and his five children.  But, he was not made to be a czar, and knew it.  He was also a part of a web of related European royal families, connected with the Windsors of Great Britain and Hapsburgs of Germany through blood and marriage.  These marriages were typically set up for diplomatic purposes, prompting stronger political and economic ties between the countries involved.  Yet, the marriage of Nicholas and Alexandra resulted in an actual love affair, and they would have been very happy to live their lives outside of Russian politics.  Fate would not allow for this. 

       Under typical Czarist Russian circumstances, Nicholas struggled.  He did not know how to effectively tackle the issues that mattered to the people (food shortages, gaps in social status, etc.), and was even worse at keeping his citizens under some semblance of control.  The Bloody Sunday massacre is a prime example.  When an unarmed group of workers led by a radical priest marched to the czar’s winter palace to make their demands, Nicholas had his troops fire into the crowd, killing and wounding hundreds.  There were many other examples of this type of bad decision making, including the failures in the Russo-Japanese War.  The man was in desperate need of a PR director.

     Some of Nicholas’s stunning choices could potentially be chalked up to the distraction of his family.  Only one of Nicholas’s children was a male heir, Alexei, and he was afflicted with hemophilia,  a disease that caused his blood to not clot (and often blamed on a genetic flaw passed down from the incestious royal marriages of Great Britain).  The smallest cut, internal or external, could be fatal.  This also made him an easy target for an assassination attempt, which could really gum up the line of succession.  

      Alexandra was desperately protective of her family, especially the young Alexei.  She was not above looking to the mystical for answers to her problems, and held a powerful sway over her husband.  The combination of these two factors would lead to their fateful introduction to a priest named Grigori Rasputin in 1905.  

      According to Britannica.com, Rasputin grew up in a small village named Pokrovskoye in Siberia.  Even at a young age he was known to the villagers as someone who could heal farm animals just by laying his hands on them.  He was also most likely illiterate, and reported to be sexually active and proficient at a young age.  His questionable behavior apparently led to his being called Rasputin, or “debauched one”, a contention that is not fully verified.  But, what is more clear is the religious conversion he went through at the age of 18 with a sect known as the Khlysty (Flagellants).  He came away from his time with them believing the best way to get close to God was through sexual exhaustion brought about by long periods of heavy drinking and debauchery.  The villagers grew tired of his act and cast him away, sending him on a pilgrimage west. 

       Rasputin’s reported supernatural powers got the attention of a number of churches around St. Petersburg, and eventually the attention of Nicholas and Alexandra.  Three years after their initial meeting, Rasputin was summoned to the royal palace because Alexei was having another hemophiliac attack and experiencing the immense pain that goes with it.  Rasputin allegedly soothed the boy’s pain, and would be in the parents’ good graces from that point on.  This chance meeting would be the tragic development that would eventually seal the tragic fate of Nicholas, his family, and the entire czarist regime. 

     Adding to this perfect storm of circumstances was the fact that Europe was submerged in an intense contest of nationalism, militarism, and imperialism between the powerful, yet fragile, kingdoms of Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, and Great Britain.  One would have thought that a simple family gathering could have smoothed things over.  A royal barbeque where King George IV, Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Czar Nicholas II (all related) could work out border squabbles over burgers and beers. Instead, Europe was a dry forest waiting for a lightning strike to start an uncontrollable wildfire.  That lightning strike came in the form of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand. 

     The assassination of Ferdinand (heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary) created a domino effect where alliances kicked into play, and it didn’t take long for Europe, and then the world to be at war.  Russia suffered bitter losses, much of it due to the lack of industrialization and military leadership needed to take on the likes of Germany.  This prompted Nicholas to make two tragic decisions; to personally go to the war front to energize his troops’ morale, and even worse, leave Alexandra in charge of the Russian government in his absence.  Rasputin would act as her personal advisor.  It is hard to imagine a worse scenario than this, and the events surrounding Nicholas, Rasputin, and all of Russia, would spin out of control.

Part II Coming Soon