History · Premium
Rasputin, the monk who destroyed an empire
Grigori Rasputin, an illiterate Siberian peasant, became the most influential advisor to Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna thanks to his alleged ability to heal the Tsarevich Alexei from haemophilia. His influence at court sparked the hatred of the nobility, who saw him as an impostor and a threat to the Empire. On the night of 16-17 December 1916, a group of nobles led by Felix Yusupov tried to kill him with poison, but Rasputin did not die. They shot him, but he got up again. Only after being shot in the head and thrown into the Malaya Nevka River was his body found. The legend of his "immortality" was born precisely from that night, fuelled by uncertainty about the cause of death. A few months later, the Revolution swept away the Romanovs. Rasputin became the symbol of the end of an era.
Premium story: open the app to listen to it in full.
