Grigori Rasputin

How far was Rasputin responsible for the collapse of the Tsarist regime? The Tsarist regime collapsed in March 1917 when Nicholas II abdicated. By the time of the abdication the Tsarist regime had already been damaged by a number of factors that could be held responsible for the overall downfall of Tsar Nicholas II. One of these factors is the influence that Rasputin, a monk who convinced the Tsarina that he could cure her son of his haemophilia. Rasputin’s influence over the royal family made…

Introduction Innumerable historians have tried over the past century to pinpoint the exact moment and reason that led to the fall of Tsar Nicholas II, who was the Emperor of the Russian Empire. However, the downfall of Tsardom cannot be perceived as an event or even a long process, but rather as a consequence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 as well as a sequence of unmanageable and highly antagonistic acts that involved contrasting parties, which occurring simultaneously consequently led to…

In 1917, Russia pulled out of World War I due to an uprising in the motherland. The events that followed were termed the Russian Revolution. It led to the end of a 300-year-old imperial government and the creation of the first communist nation. Despite the fact that the Russian Revolution is called a single event, it was in fact first, a revolution, then, a coup. The first revolution was really a street riot over food scarcity gone out of control. Pressure from the people and Duma, the…

historian and biographer, paints the picture of the harsh realities that encompassed the life of the German-born, Alexandra Feodorovna, some of which include a quest for a seemingly unattainable lover, a miscarriage, depression, and mystic named Rasputin. The novel prolongs the entire life of Alexandra, beginning with her lack of a true loved one during her childhood and murder of her entire family during the wake of the Russian Revolution. Erickson attempts to evoke a sense of sympathy in the…

Bros. film Anastasia was released November 21, 1997, featuring actress, Meg Ryan as the voice of the famous Grand Duchess Anastasia. The movie told the fascinating story of the Russian siege of 1918 and how a former friend of the Romanov family, Grigori Rasputin cursed the whole line of royals. The young Anastasia tries desperately to escape with her grandmother but fails. She grows up in an orphanage seeking a family but suffers from amnesia. In the end, the princess is reunited with her…

protests, teas, matryoshka dolls, babushkas in their headscarves, the Red Army Choir and the Soviet Union. It is home to political figures like Boris Yeltsin, Mikhail Gorbachev and Vladimir Putin as well as historical figures like Ivan the Terrible, Grigori Rasputin and the Romanov family. When people hear the words Russian food, not much can be said. Russian food is not as wide spread in the west coast of the United States as it is in the Midwest and the East Coast. Some people think that…

The political shift that occurred during the early twentieth century in Russia remains one of the most successful anti-monarchal revolutions in history. The political and social climate leading up to the February and October Revolutions of 1917 was unique, fueled by tense relations between the Russian working class and the royal family. It was the detrimental political missteps by Tsar Nicholas II, as well as his inability to compromise and unwavering desire to retain autocratic control of the…

treatments for the young tsarevich, Grigori Rasputin, a mysterious peasant from the Russian countryside said to have magical healing powers, was invited into the royal palace to try to heal Alexei. Despite his promiscuous reputation and the horrified reactions of the Russian royal circle, he became an essential party of the royal family when he was able to “heal” the tsarevich a few times. Nicholas was not able to say no to his wife. Although he knew that Rasputin was nothing more than a…

The Devil’s Backbone (2001) Devil's Backbone (2001) - source: Sony Pictures Classics The Devil's Backbone (2001) - source: Sony Pictures Classics Del Toro's next film is The Devil's Backbone, a dense and politically charged ghost story set during the Spanish Civil War, features one of the most haunting opening sequences in modern cinema: Fade in. The camera moves toward a darkened doorway. "What is a ghost?" a voice asks. "A tragedy condemned to repeat itself time and again?" We enter the…

In 1917, Russia went through the most drastic political change in the country’s history. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, over threw Czar Nicholas II, whose family had been in control of Russia for over 300 years. After the Bolsheviks took power, Vladimir Lenin began to rebuild Russia. His focus was primarily in the political and economic spheres of Russian Life. Lenin did not place much of an importance on the cultural sphere of Russian life. This led to a period of tolerance in which…