Rasputin

He was a Siberian peasant with an outsized influence on the leader of Russia and his wife. While favored by Nicholas II and empress Alexandra for his spiritual knowledge and his perceived healing ability, there were detractors in the monarchy who came to viscerally loathe Grigori Rasputin. Rasputin had met the Romanovs while living his life as a wandering monk in 1905, and the empress was captivated by him. The esteem Rasputin was held in was amplified by a miraculous healing of son and future heir, Alexei, in 1907. As Rasputin’s friendship with Alexandra grew, his counsel was adhered to by Nicholas and Alexandra, which engendered resentment within the government. As war began to rock the country and rebellion stirred internally, monarchists pointed the blame at Rasputin and targeted him for death.

In Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs, author Antony Beevor (Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921) insightfully explores the relationship between Grigori Rasputin and Tsar Nicholas II and his wife. Beevor’s well-researched and fascinating work clarifies previous misconceptions about the mysterious mystic Rasputin and how Rasputin’s death became one more sign that the Romanov dynasty was fraying from within and was ripe for an epic fall.