On the Bizzare Deaths thread, slortar writes: “The story of Rasputin’s assasination is a personal favorite. Failed poisoning, failed shooting, crossdressers…”
slortar then goes on about his Russian History prof giving a lecture about the guy. He certainly was a character, and I can recall my high school history teacher talking about him. Is the “Mad Monk” part of the standard curriculum in high school and college?
I took AP European History my sophomore year and my teacher went off on the guy. He told us the story about his assasination. But passed it off as legend. I’m not sure if this is part of standard curriculum. I go to a private high school and this guy is in love with history, so he goes off on stuff like that.
I have taught AP European history before and Rasputin was definitely a part of my discussion of WWI and the Russian Revolution. He had enormous impact on both Tsar Nicholas and especially the Empress Alexandra because of his seeming ability to control the hemophilia that the prince Alexei suffered. He overstepped his bounds when he started giving militiary advice to the royal couple regarding Russian generals. Many people thought he was acting on behalf of Germany, because of course his advice was lousy. It also didn’t help matters that Alexandra was German herself, and therefore of suspect loyalty. Rasputin ended up being assassinated (yes it took a loooong time to complete the deed) by a Russian prince who was convinced that he was sabotaging the Russian war effort.
I learned about Rasputin marginally in high school world history, but more than the basics I had to find out on my own. Interesting fellow, that one.
When my dad’s hair and beard get too long, we call him Rasputin. He gets those “helter skelter” eyes once in a while, when he’s angry, and the resemblance is uncanny.
One too many commas.
Yep, Rasputin is a HUGE figure in Russian history. Or at least, 20th century pre-communist Russian history.
There are some who blame the downfall of the Tsarist system on him.
Rasputin and the fall of the Tsar was not mentioned much in my history classes in school. I am from Indiana FWIW.
Everything I needed to know, I learned from Boney M. He was indeed “Russia’s greatest love-machine”.
I was upset to learn that the story of his death was fabricated.(I’ve got cites in books at home. But, I’ll have to get one of the web later)
The story was spread by several factions because it served their ends.
It made the killer look macho instead of wimpy.
It made Rasputin even more supernatural.
His enemies could use his inhuman toughness as proof of
his diabolical power.
His followers could use it as proof of divine power.
Remember that the prince’s hemophilia was kept secret. The public had no idea why the Empress was keeping this drunken, lecherous, unwashed lunatic in the palace. I’ve got a copy of a political cartoon depicting Rasputin as a wild-bearded hillbilly leading orgies in the palace.
To me, the fascinating question is whether Rasputin was a madman or a conman. IMHO, the evidence points to a lunatic who honestly believed he was doing God’s work and loved the royal Family.
BTW- The Mad Monk and I share the same birthday, January 22nd. My Mother’s family is of Ukranian descent, so there is even some resemblance between Grigori and I.
Let’s not forget “The Onion’s” parody in the book they wrote on the 20th century:
“The Committee to Kill Rasputin has announced that they should have completed the deed by 1924”
My guess is that he was shot and drowned, but the poisoned cakes and stabbings and all that were mere embellishments.
The most reliable person in on the conspiracy was Grand Duke Dmitri, and he refused to discuss it.
“I’m going to tell the Empress, Felix! I’m going to tell the Empress!”
I was not taught of Rasputin in a Catholic high school.
As I recall reading, there definately were gunshot wounds, they definatley had been hit with fists, and he appears to have tried to have broken his bonds, but there was never a toxicology test, so the poison is quite likely a myth.
I remember reading in Time Magazine in the 1970s that Rasputin was the latest hot trend in soul music— as exemplified by that Boney M tune. “Rah rah Rasputin…”
He also put in an appearance on the album cover of One Nation Under a Groove by Funkadelic. A photograph of him was captioned “Rasputin Raps” and a word balloon had him saying, “Ah, dese Funkadelic is very good for America!”
Rasputin’s rep for sexual prowess is connected to his membership in a bizarre Russian Orthodox sex cult, the Khlysti. They carried out ritual orgies which included ecstasy-inducing dances of men and women in a circle and mutual whipping, ending wholesale copulation. The Italian philosopher Julius Evola made a study of this connection in his book Eros and the Mysteries of Love: The Metaphysics of Sex, p. 112-114.