Grigori Rasputin: A Life from Beginning to End

Rasputin began life as a peasant in the poorest reaches of Siberia and ended his life as the virtual second-in-command of Tsarist Russia. How did he achieve such a rapid change in fortunes? Was it through palace intrigue or magic and mind control? Or perhaps, the causes were a combination of hypnosis and haemophilia?

The tsar’s son Nicholas had been born with the dreaded “royal disease” otherwise known as the blood clotting deficiency named haemophilia. The slightest cut or scrape could be life-threatening for the young boy. The self-proclaimed healer managed to convince the royal family that he was the only way that their son would stay alive.

With a role this vital, there was no way that Rasputin would be dropped from the imperial payroll anytime soon. Through intrigue, divine intervention, or perhaps just the sheer force of his personality, he forever cemented his place in Russian history. Read about the mad monk turned master minister—read about the astonishing rise and fall that comprised the life of Grigori Rasputin.