The Crime Book

313

See also: The Assassination of Pertinax 304 ■ The Dreyfus Affair 310–11 ■ The Poisoning of Alexander

Litvinenko 326–31

a monastery in Verkhoturye, where

he taught himself to read and write,

and experienced a religious

conversion. Henceforth, he became

a strannik, or religious wanderer.

Meanwhile, the reign of Tsar

Nicholas II, last of the Romanov

dynasty, was proving to be

particularly turbulent. His troubles

began in 1896 with the Khodynka

Tragedy, during which 1,389

revellers were trampled to death

at an al fresco coronation banquet.

Nicholas wanted to miss a ball at

the French embassy out of respect

for all those who were killed, but

his uncles pressured him to attend.

Predictably, the public viewed this

as evidence that the tsar was cold

and uncaring. His popularity

tumbled again when he refused to

negotiate with those who believed

that Russia should become a

constitutional monarchy.

Irresistible rise

Rasputin arrived in St Petersburg

in 1903. Gurus and mystics were

in vogue at the time, and he secured

invitations to society parties, where

Rasputin impressed aristocratic

women with his spirituality.

Nicholas’s fortunes, however,

continued to sour. Russia was

defeated in the 1904–05 Russo-

Japanese war, lost its entire navy,

and conceded Manchuria. Then, on

Sunday, 22 January 1905, soldiers of

ASSASSINATIONS AND POLITICAL PLOTS

the Imperial Guard fired at unarmed

demonstrators marching towards

the Winter Palace, killing around

1,000 people. The event, dubbed

“Bloody Sunday”, resulted in a rash

of armed uprisings, mass strikes,

and suicide bombings. Nicholas’s

decision to handle the fallout with

violent suppression further damaged

the tsar’s fragile reputation.

Nicholas and Rasputin finally

met in 1905, when the mystic

healer was introduced to Tsarina

Alexandra. She had turned to faith

healing and spiritualism in the

hope of finding a cure for her son,

Alexei, who had been born with

haemophilia. Using his powerful

charisma, Rasputin quickly

endeared himself to the Romanovs.

When he claimed that he could heal

the tsarevich, however, Rasputin

became indispensable. The tsarina

was particularly entranced, sending

Rasputin gushing letters that ❯❯

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin came

from Siberian peasant stock, but used

his sexuality, charisma, and skills as a

faith healer to rise to a position of great

influence in Russian society.

The appearance of Grigori

Rasputin, and the influence

he exercised, mark the

beginning of the decay

of Russian society.

Mikhail Rodzianko

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