The Infamous Grigori Rasputin

In December 1916, the murder of Grigori Rasputin was celebrated throughout Russia. A few months later, the Russian Revolution began, and the connection between these two events was obvious. Rasputin held a hypnotic influence over the Russian royal family, the Romanovs, due to his ability to treat the hemophiliac heir, Tsarevich Alexei, possibly through prayer or hypnosis, and he became God in the eyes of Tsar Nicholas II, and even more so in his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna. If film reviewer Louis Menashe could describe Rasputin and his influence in one sentence, it would be: "The fate of the Russian Empire was determined by a bizarre startets who enjoyed the fullest confidence of the emperor and empress."[1] His toxic influence led to his murder led by two of the Tsar's cousins, Prince Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich one of the most scandalous and mysterious murders in modern history. His influence is known to be one of the causes of the Russian Revolution, and many historians argue that Rasputin was one of the factors that led to the fall of the Romanov dynasty and the start of the Russian Revolution, and although some historians believe he was a saint-like figure, most believe that he was malicious: "Accounts have portrayed Rasputin as a sinner, a saint, a devil, a deity dedicated (in the opinion of some) to Russia's salvation or responsible (in the view of others) for the outbreak of the revolution and the fall of the Romanovs in 1917."[2] Many things about Rasputin were controversial, but the most controversial is his hypnotic influence over the royal family and how it contributed to the start of the Russian Revolution, and how his influence led to his infamous murder.

Rasputin's influence over the royal family began shortly after the heir to the throne, the Tsarevich, was born in 1904. The wife of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, was one of Queen Victoria's many grandchildren and carried the hemophilia gene, which she unfortunately passed to her son, Tsarevich Alexei. Hemophilia is a rare genetic blood disease in which the blood is unable to clot, which leads to not only death by bleeding but severe symptoms when it comes to internal bleeding. The Empress was desperate for help for her son and although doctors helped, she needed a miracle to keep her son healthy enough to eventually succeed to the throne. She sought out Rasputin, and he had a calming effect over Alexei, and his symptoms began to disappear when Rasputin was around. Alexei had his worst hemophiliac incident in 1912, and the Empress sought out help from Rasputin through a telegram. She is recalled to have said: ""I have received a telegram from Father Grigori, and it has reassured me completely." When pressed for details, Alexandra read the simple, powerful message: "God has seen your tears and heard your prayers. Do not grieve. The Little One will not die. Do not allow doctors to bother him too much." At 2 p.m. the same day, the doctors declared "the hemorrhage has stopped.""[3] From that day forward, Rasputin became godlike in the eyes of Tsarina Alexandra for his ability to bring Alexei's symptoms to a stop. "Alexei had cheated death, but no one could explain his miraculous recovery. Rasputin clearly had great powers of intuition."[4]

Although Rasputin was hated among many, the only thing that mattered to the tsar and tsarina was that he had the ability to treat the heir to the Russian throne in a time where Russia was trying to uphold the tsarist tradition in an ever changing and industrial world. Russia was an eighteenth century style country in a twentieth century style world with a traditional agrarian economy competing with industrial powers with an industrial economy such as Great Britain and The United States. Having a healthy heir was essential for Russia's survival, and his abilities to heal the heir made him god-like to the Empress, and nothing else mattered to her: "Whatever is was that Rasputin did or did not do, there was only one judge effectiveness who mattered. This was Empress Alexandra. She believed that Rasputin was able to stop Alexei's hemorrhages and she believed that he did it through the power of prayer. Whenever Alexei began to recover from an illness, she attributed it exclusively to the prayers of the Man of God."[5]