Harold Shukman - Rasputin

First published in 2009

The History Press

The Mill, Brimscombe Port

Stroud, Gloucestershire, GL 5 2 QG

www.thehistorypress.co.uk

This ebook edition first published in 2011

All rights reserved

Harold Shukman, 1997, 2009, 2011

The right of Harold Shukman, to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors and publishers rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

EPUB ISBN 978 0 7524 7073 3

MOBI ISBN 978 0 7524 7074 0

Original typesetting by The History Press

T he fall of an empire demands explanation in terms of historical forces that one expects to match the scale of the events themselves major war, economic collapse, social revolution. But individuals also have their place. It is, for instance, impossible to think of the Russian revolution without mentioning Nicholas II, Kerensky, Lenin or Trotsky. Yet among these names we also invariably encounter that of Gregory Rasputin, usually described as a drunken, lecherous pseudo-holy man, a debauched peasant whose baneful influence over the Empress Alexandra was to prove fatal to the Romanov dynasty. A small private museum has been opened in his birthplace which aims to show that his reputation as an utterly amoral and mercenary reprobate is based mostly on myth. He has featured in novels and films even in a pop song that opened with Ra, Ra, Rasputin/Lover of the Russian queen/Russias greatest love machine.

The purpose of this book is to identify the qualities that enabled Rasputin to enter Russian history, and that lent themselves to this sort of treatment, to ask what made the Romanov dynasty susceptible to his influence, and to explain why the relationship was ultimately disastrous.

We shall examine a number of related areas: the condition of Russia from the turn of the century to the First World War; the relationship between the tsar and society; religious attitudes among peasants and aristocrats. The activities of Rasputin can only be properly understood in the context of these settings.

The vast multi-national empire was struggling to modernize: to continue the economic upsurge begun in the 1880s; to tackle peasant land-hunger by major reform; to enable popular participation in the political process by the introduction of a parliament, called the State Duma; and to raise public awareness by a huge expansion of the press and a reduction in state censorship.