December 30, 1916: The Assassination of Grigori Rasputin

In the early part of the 20th Century,

Russian women found this guy irresistible.

December 30, 1916: Grigori Rasputin is assassinated. Apparently, it wasn't easy.

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born on January 21, 1869 in Pokrovskoye, in what is now Tyuman Oblast, in the central Siberia region of Russia. Little is known of his youth, although it is believed that he didn't learn how to read until he was an adult. In 1886, he went to Abalak, about 150 miles northeast of his hometown, where he met Prakovya Dubrovina. They married the next year, and had 7 children, though only 3 survived to adulthood.

In 1897, Rasputin had a religious awakening, and became a monk in Russian Orthodox Catholicism. By 1905, he had developed a following, particularly among women, who found him irresistible. With his long hair and long beard, he might not match a modern American woman's idea of an attractive man, but he was said to have had hypnotic eyes. He was also renowned for... how shall I put this... being extraordinarily well-endowed.

Czar Nicholas II wrote in his diary for November 1, 1905 (Russia was still using the Julian Calendar, so it was November 14 in most of the world) that he and his wife, Czarina Alexandra had "made the acquaintance of a man of God -- Grigory, from Tobolsk province." They met again on July 18, 1906, and again in October, when Rasputin first came into contact with the Romanov children. He was told that the heir to the throne, Czarevitch Alexei, had hemophilia, and that they had heard that Rasputin could heal the sick.

In 1907, Rasputin appeared to have saved Alexei during a hemophilic episode. In 1912, he did so again. One of the doctors who had been treating Alexei on this occasion wrote, "The recovery was wholly in explicable from a medical point of view." Alexandra, born a German Princess and raised Lutheran, had reluctantly converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, was now convinced that Rasputin was a holy man and a miracle worker.

It has been speculated that the real reason Alexei recovered is that he told the doctors not to disturb the boy, and that allowed him to rest and regain his strength; or that, by keeping his mother calm, Rasputin kept him calm, and that allowed him to regain his strength; or that he stopped Alexei's treatment through aspirin, which had helped with his pain, but prevents clotting of the blood. Indeed, that's what hemophilia is: An inability to have one's blood clot, so that bleeding continues. Maybe Alexei never had hemophilia at all, and he was just improperly treated with aspirin.

From this point on, Alexandra was convinced that Rasputin could do no wrong. And, since the Czar trusted the Czarina, and the Czarina trusted Rasputin, the Czar gave Rasputin pretty much anything he asked for. This meant access to the imperial family at any time. It also allowed Rasputin access to pretty much any woman he wanted, although the rumors of his having had an affair with the Czarina, or any of the 4 Romanov daughters (Grand Duchesses), have never been backed up by any evidence.

(At the time of Rasputin's assassination, Olga was 21 years old, Tatiana 19, Maria 17, Anastasia 15, and Alexei, the youngest but the heir because he was the only son, 12.)

By the Autumn of 1915, World War I was going badly for Russia. Their Army had huge numbers, but little else in the way of preparedness: Training, weapons, transportation, infrastructure. Every so often, Russia falls behind, and becomes a backward country, and needs a great leader to, as Maximilian Schell said while starring in the 1986 NBC miniseries Peter the Great, "drag you, kicking and screaming if I have to, into the modern world!"

Ivan IV, a.k.a. Ivan the Terrible, did it in the 1550s. Peter I, a.k.a. Peter the Great, did it in the 1680s. Catherine II, a.k.a. Catherine the Great, did it in the 1760s. Alexander II tried it in the 1860s, but it didn't take. In the 1910s, Nicholas II was on the throne, and he had neither the heart nor the will to do it, nor the mind to know how to do it if he wanted to.

This was made all too clear when Nicholas left St. Petersburg, then the capital, to take personal command of the Army. This left Alexandra in charge. Except, many saw her as having left Rasputin in charge. They, rather than the Czar, got blamed for everything going wrong in the country. After all, the Czar wasn't there, was he?

Finally, conditions in the country, and rumors about Rasputin's hedonistic behavior, became too much for some Russian noblemen. One was Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, a grandson of Czar Alexander II and thus a first cousin of Nicholas II. Another was Prince Felix Yusupov, husband of Princess Irina Alexandrovna, Nicholas' niece. Another was Vladimir Purishkevich, a right-wing member of the Duma, the Russian Parliament. They invited Rasputin to the Moika Palace, Yusupov's home.

The date, on the Russian/Julian Calendar, was December 17, 1916 -- in most of the world, December 30. Historian Douglas Smith has written, "What really happened at the Yusupov home on 17 December will never be known." Yusupov's memoir contains the best-known version, and while it can't be certain that he was telling the truth, it is certain that he stuck by his story for the rest of his life. Here's that story:

Rasputin arrived shortly after midnight. Yusupov walked him into the basement, and offered him tea and small cakes. Rasputin drank the tea and, after first refusing the cakes, ate them. Then he asked for Madeira wine. He got it, and drank it. At about 2:30 AM, Yusupov excused himself, and went upstairs.

Upstairs was where the other conspirators were waiting. The tea, the cakes, and the wine had all been laced with poison. Rasputin had ingested enough doses to kill several men. So Yusupov decided to be certain. Dmitry Pavlovich gave him a loaded revolver. He took the gun, went downstairs, and, pointing to a crucifix on the wall, said, "Better look at the crucifix and say a prayer. And he fired once, hitting Rasputin in the chest. Rasputin slumped to the floor.

As cover, another conspirator, who had long hair and a long beard, was given Rasputin's coat and hat, was driven to Rasputin's apartment, and went in, so that witnesses could see that "Rasputin" had arrived home, thus moving suspicion away from the conspirators. They then drove back to the Moika Palace, to complete their plausible deniability.

But when Yusupov went back to the basement, Rasputin jumped up from the floor, and started hitting Yusupov. He'd been poisoned several times over and shot in the chest, and was still alive. Yusupov managed to get away, and run into the courtyard. Rasputin ran after him, but was shot by Purishkevich. He collapsed into a snowbank. Purishkevich then finished the job, by firing point-blank at Rasputin's forehead. "The Mad Monk" was 47 years old.

The conspirators wrapped his body in cloth, drove it to the Petrovsky Bridge, and dropped his body into the Malaya Nevka River. Grigori Rasputin now slept with the fishes.

Two days later, the body was found. An autopsy was conducted. Three bullet wounds were found, including the one to the head. No evidence of poison was found. According to legend, the autopsy found that the cause of death, after all that had happened, was drowning, that he had still been alive when he was thrown into the river. But the bullet in the head was found, and was proven to be the cause of death.

If the conspirators thought that getting rid of Rasputin would solve Nicholas' mismanagement of the Empire, they were wrong. They were proven wrong on March 15, 1917, when revolution had reached the point where the Army told the Czar that he had no choice but to abdicate, and he did. They were proven wrong again on November 7, 1917, when the Bolsheviks took control of the country. And they were proven wrong again on July 17, 1918, when the Bolsheviks executed the Czar, his wife, and all 5 of their children -- including Alexei, only 14 years old.

In 1932, the Barrymore family made the film Rasputin and the Empress, with Lionel as Rasputin, Ethel as the Czarina, and John as Prince Paul Chegodireff. Ralph Morgan played the Czar. In 1966, Hammer Films produced Rasputin the Mad Monk, starring Christopher Lee.

In 1997, Disney made Anastasia, an animated musical, far from the first version of the story where Grand Duchess Anastasia survived the execution, fled to the West, and tried to live a normal life. But, unique to this version, Rasputin, voiced by Christopher Lloyd, also survived, and is the villain of the story.

Through his daughter, Maria, Rasputin has descendants living in America.

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December 30, 1916 was a Saturday. Baseball was out of season. All the college and pro football teams had completed their schedule. The NBA hadn't been founded yet.

Nor had the National Hockey League, for 1 more year. But in the National Hockey Association, the Ottawa Senators beat the Montreal Canadiens, 7-1 at Dey's Arena in Ottawa. And the Toronto Blueshirts beat the Quebec Bulldogs, 8-5 at the Mutual Street Arena in Toronto.