38 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
38 lines
1.8 KiB
Plaintext
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Grolier
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Rasputin, Grigory Yefimovich
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(ruhs-poo'-tin, gri-gohr'-ee yi-fee'-muh-vich)
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The scandalous behavior of Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin, b. c.1865, d. Dec.
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30 (N.S.), 1916, and the influence he wielded over the Russian imperial family
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served to erode its prestige and contributed directly to the collapse of the
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Romanov dynasty shortly after his own death. Originally surnamed Novykh, he
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was born into a peasant family in Siberia and spent much of his youth in
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debauchery,receiving the name Rasputin ("debaucher"). He entered the church,
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however, and gained a reputation as a faith healer. Appearing at the imperial
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court about 1907, Rasputin soon became a favorite of Empress ALEXANDRA
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FYODOROVNA and through her influenced NICHOLAS II. Rasputin's hold over
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Alexandra stemmed from his hypnotic power to alleviate the suffering of the
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hemophiliac crown prince, Aleksei, and from her belief that this rude priest
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was a genuine representative of the Russian people. Rasputin's conduct became
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increasingly licentious and shocking to the Russian public, however. When
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Nicholas took personal command of Russian troops in 1915, Alexandra and
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Rasputin were virtually in charge of the government. Several conservative
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noblemen, recognizing Rasputin's destructive influence on an already
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deteriorating government, assassinated him. They first poisoned and then shot
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him; when these efforts failed, they drowned Rasputin in the Neva River.
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FORRESTT A. MILLER
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Bibliography:
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Rasputin, Maria, and Barham, Patte, Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth, a
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Personal Memoir (1977);
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Rodzianko, Mikhail V., The Reign of Rasputin: An Empire's Collapse, trans.
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by Catherine Zvegintzoff (1927; repr. 1973);
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Wilson, Colin, Rasputin and the Fall of the Romanovs (1964).
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