{"id":61288,"date":"2017-02-20T08:01:41","date_gmt":"2017-02-20T14:01:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=61288"},"modified":"2017-02-20T08:01:41","modified_gmt":"2017-02-20T14:01:41","slug":"the-holy-alliance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=61288","title":{"rendered":"The Holy Alliance"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve fallen a little behind on our World War I series. \u00a0Over the next few weeks\/months, we\u2019re going to work to get caught-up to the calendar.<\/em><\/p>\n

It was well after midnight on December 29th, 1916, but the staff of the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg was preparing for a party.<\/p>\n

The Palace’s wine cellar had been temporarily redecorated for their expectant visitor. \u00a0Furniture and carpets had been moved in, along with a gramophone playing “Yankee Doodle” on a continuous loop. \u00a0Several bottles of wine had been set aside for the occasion, in addition to a variety of sweet petit fours<\/em>. \u00a0The number of attendees were unknown – only a few key members of Russia’s nobility and their assistants would later amid to being present. \u00a0The host, Prince Felix Yusupov, was attempting to entertain his guest of honor – Grigori Rasputin. \u00a0Yusupov had sought out the supposed “mad monk” weeks earlier to attempt to learn some of the controversial holy man’s healing techniques.<\/p>\n

What followed was a mixture of partial facts blended with mysticism and politically-motivated exaggeration. \u00a0Popular legend states that Yusupov fed Rasputin treat after treat laced with potassium cyanide to no effect. \u00a0Re-interpretation suggests that one of the night’s conspirators, a doctor, couldn’t violate his Hippocratic Oath to poison the famed mystic. \u00a0Reality suggests the food was either never poisoned or was administered before being baked, evaporating the cyanide in the process.<\/p>\n

After an hour, an exasperated Yusupov had tired of playing guitar and listening to an increasingly drunk Rasputin. \u00a0The Prince would retrieve his gun and, according to his testimony years later, “a\u00a0shudder swept over me; my arm grew rigid, I aimed at his heart and pulled the trigger.” \u00a0Rasputin was seemingly dead – only to reanimate himself and stumble out the door where he kept moving despite four more shots. \u00a0Only a following head shot supposedly slayed the infamous corruptor of the House of Romanov.<\/p>\n

In reality, Yusupov’s first shot had passed through Rasputin’s mid-section without major damage. \u00a0One of the Prince’s co-conspirators, politician Vladimir Purishkevich, had fired multiple times at Rasputin and connected only once – a bullet to his spine. \u00a0The body was dumped in the\u00a0Malaya Nevka River with such haste that one of Rasputin’s galoshes was stuck in the bars of the bridge. \u00a0Unsure of how to react, the participants dismissed the police sent to investigate the gunshots heard at the Palace, only to re-invite them back to brag about killing Rasputin…all the while insisting the officers keep the incident quiet.<\/p>\n

Grigori Rasputin had been an enigma in life – his role in Tsarist Russia a subject of heated debate then and now. \u00a0In death, the man from the Siberian Plain would become a legendary indictment of Russia’s nobility and government in the First World War.<\/p>\n

The truth of Rasputin is difficult to uncover – many “facts” of his life have later been proven false. \u00a0Allegations abound as to his behavior and influence over the Romanovs<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

By the winter of 1916, St. Petersburg had become a national paradox – the seat of government for Tsarist Russia, yet a capitol increasingly void of political power.<\/p>\n

Tsar Nicholas II had long since left the capitol for\u00a0Moghilev, some 400 miles away, after appointing himself Commander-in-Chief following the Russian army’s rout in the summer of 1915<\/a>. \u00a0Left behind in St. Petersburg to manage the domestic affairs of state were Nicholas’ wife, the\u00a0Tsarina Alexandra, and a deeply divided State Duma with little actual authority. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Neither the Tsarina nor the Duma held favor with the Russian peasantry, only a couple generations removed from serfdom, the growing\u00a0borgeous<\/em> or the Empire’s royal families. \u00a0Alexandra had isolated herself since arriving in the country, due in part to a near total lack of understanding of Russian culture, and was viewed with suspicion given her Germanic roots (St. Petersburg’s name was changed to Petrograd after the start of the war to avoid sounding “too German”). \u00a0Alexandra’s Russian relationships further deteriorated following the revelation that her son and Nicholas’ heir, Alexei, suffered from\u00a0hemophilia. \u00a0Increasingly protective of the boy, the Tsarina nearly completely withdrew from public life, as Russia’s nobility castigated her for literally weakening the Romanov’s blood line. \u00a0Put in charge by her husband to govern in his absence, Alexandra turned to barbiturates in cope with the stress.<\/p>\n

Tsar Nicholas II and his family. \u00a0The Romanovs would rule Russia for just over 300 years, starting with the reign of Michael I in 1613<\/p><\/div>\n

The State Duma\u00a0wasn’t any more popular. \u00a0Reduced to a glorified consultative body by the Tsar, the Duma had actively supported the war by passing war credits to help fund the conflict and had volunteered to self-dissolve. \u00a0Even the supposed liberal members of the Duma actively aided the war effort. \u00a0The Constitutional-Democratic Party, also known as the Cadets or \u201cThe People\u2019s Freedom Party,\u201d in theory consisted of some of the most radical-liberal Duma members. \u00a0But motivated by the “Holy Alliance” between the “people and the State”, Cadets leadership helped form the Zemgor – a public\/private coalition to provide charitable relief and boost war-time production.<\/p>\n

Such unity in the Duma hid public frustration with the lack of meaningful reforms, and papered over the deep divisions in the body that had existed long before the war. \u00a0As one Duma member put it:<\/p>\n

“Everyone believes in victory and no-one believes in the government: yet nonetheless all settling of accounts with them is unconditionally set aside\u2026. There is a time for everything. When the army returns from the trenches then we\u2019ll deal with our Germans at home” (within the government)<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

A Russian breadline. \u00a0The average Russian waited 40 hours a week in line for food<\/p><\/div>\n

The Russia that the Tsarina and the Duma were being asked to govern was on the verge of complete economic and societal collapse. \u00a0By late 1916, dairy goods cost four-to-five times as much as they did in 1914. \u00a0Flour and fuel supplies had evaporated<\/a> between the demand for consumption and the breakdown of the nation’s railways – Russia had gone from 20,000 trains to 9,000 by 1917, the result of wear and tear. \u00a0In February of 1917 alone, 1,200 trains lost their boilers to misuse, further reducing the available supply.<\/p>\n

The war had actually interrupted one of the most robust periods of economic growth in Russian history. \u00a0From 1905 to 1914, Russia’s GDP grew at a rate of 6% per year, driven largely by small, private industry. \u00a0While the working conditions in St. Petersburg and other major cities was horrendous – a 1904 survey showed the average occupancy of a St. Petersburg apartment was 16 people – something approaching a Russian middle class was evolving.<\/p>\n

The percentage of Russian laborers working in industrial jobs grew by 62% during the war<\/a>, and with war-related industries consuming 94% of all Russian workers, the political leverage of the Russian working class had never been higher. \u00a0Skilled laborers were at a premium, even moreso as the Russian army dipped into the cities to find draftees. \u00a0Keeping such former labors within the ranks of the military was a more difficult task as by the end of 1916, an estimated 1.5 million Russian troops had already deserted.<\/p>\n

Russian workers (and their families) protest. \u00a0What started as protests largely run by Bolshevik activists grew into a popular revolt<\/p><\/div>\n

The conditions on the front and back in the cities would only lead to a more politicized workforce. \u00a0While the later half of 1914 only saw 41 strikes by 9,500 workers in St. Petersburg, 1916 would see almost 700 different strikes with over 620,000 workers participating. \u00a0The “Holy Alliance” between the people and the government was coming undone.<\/p>\n

\n

Few probably ever cared about Grigori Yefimovich Novykh’s backstory before he arrived in St. Petersburg in 1904.<\/p>\n

The facts of Novykh’s life remain shrouded in mystery, including his exact year of birth as differing accounts place it as 1869 or 1872. \u00a0Known as a\u00a0strannik<\/i>, a religious wanderer, and a follower of the Khlyst sect of the Russian Orthodox Church which reportedly practiced orgies to attain divine grace, Novykh’s reputation for debauchery literally changed his name – Rasputin was similar to the Russian phrase for “debauched one.” \u00a0How much these known “facts” are accurate are up to interpretation; Rasputin denied most of these accusations during his life.<\/p>\n

Rasputin with three of his children. \u00a0Despite his reputation, Rasputin was still married in 1916, having fathered seven children with his wife<\/p><\/div>\n

Rasputin’s relationship with the Romanovs would begin in 1907 as a healer for the\u00a0 Tsesarevich Alexei after an life-threatening injury on account of the boy’s hemophilia. \u00a0Rasputin cut-off contact for the boy from his doctors and prayed at the foot of his bed. \u00a0He likely unintentionally saved Alexei’s life as his doctors had been prescribing aspirin, which acts as a blood-thinner. \u00a0Following even more serious episode in 1912 – Alexei was administered last rites before Rasputin’s intervention – Rasputin became part of the Tsar’s court with Alexandra’s support.<\/p>\n

St. Petersburg was initially taken with tales of the “mad monk.” \u00a0Rasputin’s charm, coupled with his piercing eyes and intricate knowledge of scripture, made him a celebrity among Russia’s nobility. \u00a0Tales of Rasputin’s sexual exploits, largely spread by his detractors, only served to increase his influence, with the tales becoming more and more outlandish and lurid. \u00a0To this day, Rasputin’s supposed severed manhood is venerated<\/a> by a small cult of Russian \u00e9migr\u00e9s.<\/p>\n

But it was the size of Rasputin’s influence over the royal family that generated the most scandal in St. Petersburg. \u00a0While no one could prove Rasputin held any sway over Nicholas II, it was clear that the Tsarina was the one granting the “holy man” access to the halls of power. \u00a0Despite a preponderance of evidence that Rasputin was drinking and carousing around St. Petersburg while bragging that his relationship with “the old woman” allowed him to do whatever he wanted, Nicholas II found himself unable to get rid of the Siberian mystic. \u00a0As such, rumors followed that Rasputin had become Alexandra’s lover.<\/p>\n

A anti-Rasputin\/Romanov poster – it underlies the popular opinion of the time that Rasputin controlled the crown<\/p><\/div>\n

\n

The scandal of Rasputin’s influence would probably have reached no further than the salons of St. Petersburg had it not been for Nicholas II’s decision to leave the capitol. \u00a0Many of the Tsar’s ministers, terrified at the thought that Alexandra and Rasputin would effectively be put in charge of the government, tendered their resignations, believing in doing so it would communicate to the Tsar the level of disapproval St. Petersburg’s governing class had in the Tsarina. \u00a0It backfired. \u00a0The Tsar appointed a new Prime Minister. \u00a0Outlining his legislative agenda, Prime Minister Boris\u00a0St\u00fcrmer effectively deferred to the Tsar – there would be no talk of constitutional reform until the war was won. \u00a0The shocked Duma members were left with little recourse. \u00a0Despite fears of German influence stemming from his wife, Nicholas II had refused to accept any reforms, or limitations on his wife’s power, all the while appointing a German-surnamed Prime Minister.<\/p>\n

Throughout 1916, criticism of Rasputin and the Tsarina escalated as ministers deemed to be political opponents were removed from power. \u00a0One-by-one, the ministers who had fought against the Tsar taking over as Commander-in-Chief were replaced or otherwise minimized. \u00a0In the 17 months of the “Tsarina’s rule”, from September 1915 to February 1917, Russia would have four Prime Ministers, five Ministers of the Interior, three Foreign Ministers, three War Ministers, three Ministers of Transport and four Ministers of Agriculture. \u00a0Critics in the Duma decried the “ministerial leapfrog,” placing more and more of the blame on Rasputin.<\/p>\n

Another anti-Rasputin poster. \u00a0In reality, Rasputin likely had limited influence, at least on Tsar Nicholas II<\/p><\/div>\n

But was Rasputin the culprit behind the consolidation of power behind the royal family, or was it Tsar Nicholas II? \u00a0The interpretation of events at the time was that Nicholas II had lost touch with what was being done in his name back in St. Petersburg. \u00a0There was definitely a degree of truth in the analysis – being at the front, the Tsar had little ability to appreciate domestic concerns – but considering Nicholas II called his allowance of a Constitution and Duma his “moment of weakness,” it would appear that Rasputin provided a worthy scapegoat for policies that the Tsar himself would have (or did) endorse.<\/p>\n

By November, the situation had reached it’s boiling point. \u00a0Rasputin and the Tsarina (mocked as “Rasputin and Rasputuiza”), were both attacked by name in the Duma. \u00a0“Dark forces” had enveloped the government, with Cadet Duma member Pavel Milyukov asking of the government’s leadership: “Is this stupidity or is it treason?” \u00a0For many, the answer was clearly the latter. \u00a0Vladimir Purishkevich, one of the co-conspirators in Rasputin’s murder, spoke in the Duma accusing the Tsarina of governing the nation like it was her personal salon and that\u00a0“an illiterate moujik<\/em> shall govern Russia no longer!”<\/p>\n

Discussions in the Duma began to take on a narrative – perhaps the Tsarina and Rasputin weren’t the only ones who needed to go…perhaps the Tsar did as well.<\/p>\n

Toppled statue of Alexander III – the Russian Revolution sought to tear down any history of the Tsars, not just Nicholas II<\/p><\/div>\n

Alexandra demanded that in retaliation for the Duma speeches, more ministers be fired and the Duma itself be disbanded or at least dismissed for a few months. \u00a0The Tsar’s brother, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, attempted to warn Nicholas II about the condition of affairs back in St. Petersburg:<\/p>\n

“The public hatred for certain people who allegedly are close to you and who are forming part of the present government has, to my amazement, brought together the right, the left and the moderate; and this hatred, along with the demands for changes are already openly expressed.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

If the Tsar appreciated the situation, he didn’t take any actions to forestall the brewing revolution. \u00a0It might have already been too late.<\/p>\n

\n

The Tsarina’s reaction to Rasputin’s murder was simple – Yusupov and his conspirators should be immediately shot.<\/p>\n

Prince Felix Yusupov – he would become the subject of rumors himself, including a late 20th century book suggesting he was Rasputin’s lover (or tried to be). \u00a0There’s little concrete evidence to prove that, or other theories<\/p><\/div>\n

But with the conspirators consisting of members of the royal family (Yusupov had married into the Romanovs) and prominent politicians in the Duma, executions were out of the question. \u00a0Some conspirators were shipped off to the front as punishment; Yusupov was banished to his estate until the February Revolution of 1917. \u00a0None of them ever stood on trial for the murder.<\/p>\n

Yusupov would enjoy a celebrity status for his role in Rasputin’s assassination in the West, penning several books. \u00a0Rasputin’s daughter Maria would eventually sue Yusupov in 1928, claiming damages of $800,000. \u00a0Despite Yusupov’s admission of guilt, the French court where the case was heard dismissed the suit – the crime had been committed in Russia and the French court claimed jurisdiction prevented the case from proceeding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019ve fallen a little behind on our World War I series. \u00a0Over the next few weeks\/months, we\u2019re going to work to get caught-up to the calendar. It was well after midnight on December 29th, 1916, but the staff of the Yusupov Palace in St. Petersburg was preparing for a party. The Palace’s wine cellar had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":425,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,281],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-first-ringer","category-ww1-fact-and-myth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/425"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61288"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62206,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61288\/revisions\/62206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}