Biography Of Grigori Rasputin – Free PDF Download

Table of Contents

EARLY LIFE

Born to a Siberian peasant family around 1869, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin received little schooling and probably never learned to read or write.
In his early years, some people of his village said he possessed supernatural powers, while others cite examples of extreme cruelty.
There are few records of Rasputin’s parents. His father, Yefim was a peasant farmer and married Rasputin’s mother, Anna Parshukova, in 1863.

Rasputin was never formally educated, and he remained illiterate well into his early adulthood. Local archival records suggest that he had a somewhat unruly youth – possibly involving drinking, small thefts, and disrespect for local authorities.
In 1897, Rasputin developed a renewed interest in religion and left Pokrovskoye to go on a pilgrimage. he was twenty-eight, had been married ten years, and had an infant son with another child on the way.
He returned to Pokrovskoye a changed man, looking disheveled and behaving differently than he had before. He became a vegetarian, swore off alcohol, and prayed and sang much more fervently.

In 1903, Rasputin’s wanderings brought him to St. Petersburg, where he arrived with a reputation as a mystic and faith healer.
Two years later, he was introduced to Russian Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, who were seeking help for their sickly son, Alexis. Rasputin quickly gained their confidence by seemingly “curing” the boy of hemophilia. This action won him the passionate support of Alexandra.

Between 1906 and 1914, various politicians and journalists used Rasputin’s association with the imperial family to undermine the dynasty’s credibility and push for reform.
As Russia entered World War I, Rasputin predicted that calamity would befall the country. Nicholas II took command of the Russian Army in 1915, and Alexandra took responsibility for domestic policy.
Always Rasputin’s defender, she dismissed ministers who were said to be suspicious of the “mad monk.”

On the night of December 29, 1916, a group of conspirators, including the czar’s first cousin, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and Prince Felix Yusupov, invited Rasputin to Yusupov’s palace and fed him wine and cakes laced with cyanide.
Though Rasputin eventually became rather drunk, the poison seemed to have no effect. Baffled but not deterred, the conspirators finally shot Rasputin multiple times.
He was then wrapped in a carpet and thrown into the Neva River, where it was discovered three days later.

Although Rasputin was gone, the last of his prophecies was yet to unfold. Shortly before his death, he wrote to Nicholas to predict that if he were killed by government officials, the entire imperial family would be killed by the Russian people.
His prophecy came true 15 months later, when the czar, his wife and all of their children were murdered by assassins amidst the Russian Revolution.