Grigori Yefimovitch Rasputin is one of the most mysterious, notorious and disputed figures in modern history. He was a man who seemingly had strange powers and a mysterious influence over others, with eyes that many claimed changed colours when they spoke to him, and an extraordinary libido. It is hard to find reputable sources of information on Rasputin; most stories about him come from his daughter, the weak-willed Tsar or easily duped peasants. However, a few events, such as his power over the Tsarevitch's hemophilia and his assassination were witnessed by many parties and have been much analyzed.

Rasputin was born in Tobolsk, far away from the Imperial Capital of St. Petersburg, in 1871. He came to the Imperial court as a wandering holy man and soon established influence over the Tsarina. The remoteness and isolation of the Imperial Family at the Alexander Palace meant that the people believed any rumours they heard. People began to believe Rasputin had hypnotic control over the Tsar and the Tsarina.

All this was occurring at a time when Russia was attempting to establish a constitutional monarchy. Tsar Nicholas had appointed a new Prime Minister, Peter Stolypin after the October Manifesto. Stolypin’s time as prime minister saw major advances in industry and agriculture - Russia prospered. However, to the Tsarina, Stolypin was evil. Stolypin repeatedly told the Tsar that he needed to distance himself and his family from Rasputin. At one point, Stolypin brought to the Tsar documented proof of Rasputin's wild antics. The Tsar ignored Stolypin, not wanting to take away from Alexandra the one man she believed could save her sons life, but Rasputin decided to retire from court life and left St. Petersburg.
In September 1911 Stolypin was assassinated by a revolutionary who was not happy that Stolypin's industrial efforts had thwarted revolution.

Then in October 1912, while the Tsar and his family were at their hunting lodge, Alexei fell on the side of a bathtub. Bruising and bleeding, Alexei was in terrible pain. The doctors could do nothing for him, and Alexandra spent ten days without sleep at his bedside. A notice was drawn up announcing the death of the heir. In desperation the Tsarina telegramed Rasputin. "God has seen your tears," Rasputin wired back. "Do not grieve. The Little One will not die." Within hours of receiving this telegram, the bleeding had subsided and Alexei began to recover. This incident meant that Rasputin was returned to full favour within the Imperial family.

In the spring of 1915, at the urging of Alexandra (and Rasputin), the Tsar took total command of the Russian army fighting in World War I. This, while it boosted morale at first, eventually helped lead to the downfall of the Romanovs.

By late 1916, Vladimir Purishkevich, a member of the Duma, denounced Rasputin before his colleagues. It soon became apparent Purishkevich belonged to a aristocratic plot to murder Rasputin. In December, a group of aristocrats, including the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (a cousin of Nicholas), decided that Rasputin's influence on the Imperial government had grown too great and that he had to be killed in order to save the monarchy, and Russia. They lured him to the Yussupov Palace on the impression that Prince Felix Yussupov (another relative of the Tsar) would introduce Rasputin to his beautiful wife.

The prince's group had prepared chocolate cakes and wine, both heavily laced with potassium cyanide. Rasputin reluctantly ate a few cakes, then complained of a dry throat and guzzled down the wine - at this point he had taken enough cyanide to kill six men. Rasputin said he felt a burning sensation in his stomach and appeared sleepy for a few moments, then suddenly became alert and asked the prince to sing for him. The nervous Yussupov complied, then ran upstairs to inform his co-conspirators that the poison had no effect. He got a pistol from them, then went back to the waiting Rasputin, was looking at an art object, either a painting or a crucifix. The prince asked Rasputin to take a closer look, then shot him in the chest. Sure that Rasputin was dead, Yussupov got his friends, who checked the body. Soon after, Yussupov came back down. As he bent over to look at Rasputin, the formerly lifeless corpse rose and grabbed Yussupov in an unbreakable grip. Yussupov freed himself, perhaps by knifing Rasputin, and ran out of the door. According to diaries, Rasputin actually got up and ran out of the door himself, where he was chased and shot. The body was taken back inside, beaten, tied up and thrown in the river.

When Rasputin's body was found the next day, his ties were broken and his lungs were filled with water, showing that he didn't actually die until he was submerged in the frozen waters.

Evaluation of the Rasputin myth.
The matter of Rasputin's extremely active sex life is one of almost definite fact. He is reported to have held orgies in his basement of his house during the time he lived with his wife, around 1900. Later, after Rasputin became famous, he attracted a large female following. Many pictures taken of Rasputin, surrounded by women, exist. However, the reports that Rasputin raped a lot of women are generally untrue; he didn't really need to. All of these activities did not conflict with Rasputin's religious beliefs. Rasputin was a member of the renegade Khlisti sect. Followers of the Khlisti set of beliefs held that all of man's desires should be fulfilled, and members often held orgies to meet this end. In fact, some claimed Rasputin thought that he derived vitality from having sex.
Reports of Rasputin having an affair with the Tsarina are patently false; they were spread by tabloid newspapers after the royal family was deposed.

While Rasputin did not have an affair with the Tsarina, he did have considerable influence over her, along with the rest of the royal family. The Tsar would often consult with him, being impressed by the man who could heal his son, and gave Rasputin input into important royal decisions.

How much actual power Rasputin actually had is much debated amongst historians. Some maintain that Rasputin virtually controlled the Tsar, while others say that Rasputin did not have much real political clout. Certainly Rasputin had many powerful enemies who tried to control his influence.

The source of all this influence, and the main reason people still remember Rasputin, were the odd abilities he supposedly possessed. As early as 1900, Rasputin was famous throughout Eastern Russia as a sort of faith healer and strannik, or wandering holy mendicant. Rasputin also was said to have the power of precognition , predicting events that happened months later, and clairvoyance, which is the ability to see events happening elsewhere. Many claimed to have seen these abilities at work, and some attributed them to some Oriental religion, which Rasputin knew something of.

Rasputin supposedly predicted his own death, but this could have been done by simple logic, as it was well-known that many groups wished Rasputin dead.

Rasputin was also said to have a strange influence over others. People reported feeling compelled to do things while in his presence, something most sceptics attribute to some form of hypnosis.