Rasputin and the downfall of the Russian monarchy

early life

• Born a to a peasant family in the West Siberian Plain 
• Always considered an outsider and unruly 
• Got married in 1887 and then had 3 kids 
• Would have had 5 but 2 sons died early 
• Left his family in 1892 to become more religious  

Religious life

• He claimed to have a vision which led him to be a mystic 
• By 1900 he was said to be a strannik or "wandering pilgrim"
• People started to believe that he was a healer 
• By 1903 He began to get attention from the bishops 
• Eventually was given the task of healing the Tsar's son

Healer to Alexei

• In April 1907, he was requested to heal Alexei
• Alexei had hemophilia B which was incurable 
• The Tsarina, Alexandra was desperate for a cure
• In 1912 the boy was about to die but Rasputin healed him
• This healing gave Rasputin a large amount of power in politics

Power in Politics

• Rasputin had immense control over everyone
• Having the trust of Alexandra allowed him to do whatever he wanted 
• Anybody that opposed him was killed or fired from their positions 
• Russia went to war with Germany and the Tsar left the Tsarina in control
• ThThis means that nobody was holding Rasputin back

Death of Rasputin

• He was lured to the palace of the Tsar's cousin
• He was poisoned by cyanide and shot twice, he survives  
• He crawls outside where he is shot more and then beaten
• He was then thrown in a river in the middle of winter 

Downfall of the monarchy

• The Tsar loses his thrown a few months later
• The whole royal family was imprisoned and later executed
• Rasputin was seen as the main reason for the downfall of the monarchy
• People saw him as an embodiment of everything that is evil