1 00:00:01,120 --> 00:00:04,360 Speaker 1: Welcomed unobscured a production of I Heart Radio and Aaron Minky. 2 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,800 Speaker 1: He swam back to consciousness. The line of fire burned 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,320 Speaker 1: across his belly where the knife had slashed him open. 4 00:00:12,800 --> 00:00:16,119 Speaker 1: But Grigory Rasputant's mind was already charging ahead to what 5 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 1: came next after the attack and who was behind it. 6 00:00:20,000 --> 00:00:22,640 Speaker 1: In fact, when he came to Rasputin told the people 7 00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:24,919 Speaker 1: around him that he knew who was to blame, the 8 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 1: mad monk Iliodora. After the two men finally severed their friendship, 9 00:00:28,840 --> 00:00:31,080 Speaker 1: Grigory must have known it was only a matter of 10 00:00:31,080 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: time before one of Iliodora's followers would follow his signature 11 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: command for violence. As time would reveal, Rasputin was right. 12 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:41,920 Speaker 1: The woman who had attacked him in the street outside 13 00:00:41,960 --> 00:00:45,440 Speaker 1: his house was a follower of Iliodora's violent teachings. She 14 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,639 Speaker 1: had even met Rasputin before, when the two teachers were 15 00:00:48,640 --> 00:00:52,519 Speaker 1: still traveling together. Now, like so many others in Russia, 16 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: she had come to believe that rasputants prophecies were false 17 00:00:56,120 --> 00:01:00,000 Speaker 1: and his spirit was polluted with vile habits and selfish ambitions. 18 00:01:00,440 --> 00:01:03,480 Speaker 1: She believed that it was Rasputin who had turned on Iliador. 19 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:06,760 Speaker 1: So she set out to avenge her chosen leader with 20 00:01:06,880 --> 00:01:11,000 Speaker 1: a fifteen inch dagger on a white bone handle. In fact, 21 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:14,360 Speaker 1: she had come to see Resputant as the Antichrist. She 22 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: tracked him to Crimea a year earlier, but by the 23 00:01:17,160 --> 00:01:19,840 Speaker 1: time she arrived, he had already set out elsewhere again, 24 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: so she followed him first to St. Petersburg and then 25 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:26,160 Speaker 1: on to Siberia. When she arrived at Pokrovsko, she rented 26 00:01:26,160 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: a room and waited until she judged the time was right. 27 00:01:29,720 --> 00:01:32,039 Speaker 1: Now she had left the resputant family in a panic, 28 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 1: calling for doctors. A surgeon from the hospital in the 29 00:01:35,120 --> 00:01:38,440 Speaker 1: nearby city raced by horse and carriage to Pekrowsko to 30 00:01:38,520 --> 00:01:41,480 Speaker 1: try and save Resputant. When he arrived, he could see 31 00:01:41,520 --> 00:01:44,880 Speaker 1: how grave the situation was. Grigory was on the verge 32 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,640 Speaker 1: of bleeding out. There wasn't any time to waste. The 33 00:01:48,720 --> 00:01:52,040 Speaker 1: resputant family boiled water, and the surgeon held chlorophone to 34 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:55,760 Speaker 1: Grigory's face. He set to work. Resputant's wife and the 35 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,600 Speaker 1: other women in the house were pressed into service as nurses. 36 00:01:59,080 --> 00:02:01,880 Speaker 1: When he looked into Gregory's abdomen, he found the wound 37 00:02:01,920 --> 00:02:05,040 Speaker 1: was worse than he thought. The knife had cut the intestines, 38 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,000 Speaker 1: and when Grigory held them in they had tangled in 39 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 1: his belly. The surgeon worked feverishly to save him, cutting, untangling, cleaning, clamping. 40 00:02:15,440 --> 00:02:17,800 Speaker 1: All the gauze and antiseptic that he carried from the 41 00:02:17,840 --> 00:02:20,360 Speaker 1: hospital was put to use. When he was done, he 42 00:02:20,480 --> 00:02:23,400 Speaker 1: sutured the cut closed with knotted silk, and then it 43 00:02:23,520 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: was time to wait. A medical orderly was assigned to 44 00:02:26,639 --> 00:02:29,440 Speaker 1: the house, and he joined Rasputant's wife and their guests 45 00:02:29,520 --> 00:02:33,080 Speaker 1: in the anxious questions. Had they done enough to save him? 46 00:02:33,200 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: Had they acted quickly enough to stave off a lethal infection? 47 00:02:37,360 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: As they waited. I can only help but wonder if 48 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,440 Speaker 1: they saw the irony in it all. After Grigory's years 49 00:02:42,440 --> 00:02:45,720 Speaker 1: of cultivating a following among vulnerable women, not to mention 50 00:02:45,840 --> 00:02:49,560 Speaker 1: his support for violent cheerleaders like Iliador, it seemed the 51 00:02:49,680 --> 00:02:52,440 Speaker 1: sharp end of his project had finally come back and 52 00:02:52,520 --> 00:02:55,320 Speaker 1: caught him in the gut. Now only time would tell 53 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: whether the attacker had done enough to put an end 54 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,520 Speaker 1: to his hunting habits. So they waited, and while the 55 00:03:01,560 --> 00:03:03,760 Speaker 1: doctor went back to his post in the city hospital. 56 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:06,320 Speaker 1: It didn't take long for news of the attack to travel. 57 00:03:06,639 --> 00:03:09,880 Speaker 1: In fact, in under a day, the St. Petersburg Courier 58 00:03:10,000 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: was shouting the story in the headlines, and it was 59 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:16,359 Speaker 1: mere hours before the word passed beyond Russia's borders. English 60 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:19,360 Speaker 1: and American papers were making it known that the evil 61 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:23,360 Speaker 1: genius behind the throne of Russia, the mystical monk in 62 00:03:23,360 --> 00:03:26,200 Speaker 1: the ear of the Czar, had been stabbed in the street. 63 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: All of that is a bit overblown, of course, most 64 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,440 Speaker 1: newspapers in Russia and abroad got the basic facts wrong, 65 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: and in the big picture, Rasputin had far less power 66 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,160 Speaker 1: than the rumors about him said. But when has that 67 00:03:39,240 --> 00:03:42,320 Speaker 1: ever stopped a good story from finding an audience? And 68 00:03:42,360 --> 00:03:45,480 Speaker 1: this was an assassination attempt with all the mystery and 69 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:50,080 Speaker 1: drama anyone could desire. But as the readers across Europe 70 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: and Russia were about to learn, the only thing that 71 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: could top the story of a failed assassination attempt was 72 00:03:56,600 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: a successful one. This is an obscure yard. I'm aaron mankey. 73 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:29,880 Speaker 1: It was a ceremonial stop. The journey into town went 74 00:04:30,000 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: as you might expect, at least at first. The family 75 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:35,559 Speaker 1: sat in the open back seat of the car coming 76 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:39,200 Speaker 1: second in their motorcade. The streets were lined with happy faces, 77 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:42,600 Speaker 1: waving hands, and cheers filled the air. It was all 78 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:46,520 Speaker 1: going to plan, but as the royal motorcade approached City Hall, 79 00:04:46,920 --> 00:04:50,599 Speaker 1: something changed. The driver spotted something taking flight from the crowd. 80 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:54,440 Speaker 1: Nothing natural, though, This was a dark object thrown into 81 00:04:54,480 --> 00:04:57,520 Speaker 1: the air by an anonymous hand. As it arcd high 82 00:04:57,560 --> 00:05:00,320 Speaker 1: over the line of onlookers, the driver realized it was 83 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: headed right for them. He slammed on the gas pedal. 84 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: The car lurched forward, and it was a moment of 85 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:09,600 Speaker 1: quick thinking and quick action that saved the family's life. 86 00:05:09,960 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: Rather than dropping into their laps, the bomb bounced off 87 00:05:13,080 --> 00:05:15,440 Speaker 1: the rear of the car and skidded into the car 88 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:19,440 Speaker 1: behind them. That's where it detonated. The explosion ripped through 89 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:23,000 Speaker 1: the following members of the Imperial entourage. By the Imperial 90 00:05:23,040 --> 00:05:27,000 Speaker 1: family was unscathed, that is until they were on their 91 00:05:27,040 --> 00:05:29,920 Speaker 1: way out of town. Because there was some confusion about 92 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,359 Speaker 1: the route, a new winding way was drawn up, maybe 93 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,040 Speaker 1: to avoid further assassination attempts, or, according to some accounts, 94 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 1: to visit the injured guards in the hospital. Regardless, the 95 00:05:40,400 --> 00:05:44,679 Speaker 1: confusion began immediately. The driver of the first car forgot 96 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: that there was a route change. He turned down a 97 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:49,800 Speaker 1: street that was on the first plan in the Imperial 98 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,040 Speaker 1: car followed, But when the officials screamed, not that way, 99 00:05:53,120 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: you fool, the royal driver slammed on the brakes. His 100 00:05:56,680 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: alertness and quick thinking had saved the lives of his 101 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,640 Speaker 1: sovereigns earlier in the day. Now a brief lapse and 102 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:07,039 Speaker 1: attention would doom them. As the driver shifted gears and 103 00:06:07,080 --> 00:06:09,960 Speaker 1: tried to turn the car, he made them sit. They 104 00:06:09,960 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 1: had ground to a halt five ft from the crowd. 105 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: That's when a wiry nineteen year old jumped forward from 106 00:06:16,839 --> 00:06:20,200 Speaker 1: his side. He raised a pistol, rammed it into the car, 107 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:23,680 Speaker 1: and fired twice. Later the shooter would say that he 108 00:06:23,760 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: even turned his head away while he pulled the trigger, 109 00:06:26,600 --> 00:06:30,359 Speaker 1: but the shots came from point blank range. It didn't 110 00:06:30,360 --> 00:06:33,880 Speaker 1: take any skill to take a life. The Archduke Franz 111 00:06:33,920 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: Ferdinand had been shot and killed alongside his wife Sophie. 112 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: Today we might know this as the assassination that started 113 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:45,560 Speaker 1: the First World War, and fair enough, but at the time, well, 114 00:06:45,600 --> 00:06:48,200 Speaker 1: it was sort of seen as politics as usual in 115 00:06:48,200 --> 00:06:50,880 Speaker 1: the region. In fact, it was seen first not as 116 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:54,080 Speaker 1: an attack that began a war, but rather an assassination 117 00:06:54,120 --> 00:06:57,880 Speaker 1: that followed from a war. Here's Dr Joshua Sanborn to 118 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,599 Speaker 1: tell us more. This isn't assassin the nation, that is 119 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:04,640 Speaker 1: not random. Franz Ferdinand is in Sarajevo to oversee military 120 00:07:04,680 --> 00:07:08,279 Speaker 1: maneuvers that have just recently annexed the territory. And you 121 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:12,440 Speaker 1: have these young radicals who are inspired both by nationalism 122 00:07:12,480 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: but also by the Russian revolutionary movement now looking to 123 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:18,440 Speaker 1: change the dynamic on the ground. The people that kill 124 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:21,040 Speaker 1: Franz ferinand are not sponsored by Russia. They're not even 125 00:07:21,160 --> 00:07:24,480 Speaker 1: sponsored by the top Serbian leadership. They are sponsored by 126 00:07:24,480 --> 00:07:26,600 Speaker 1: the head of military intelligence, who was trying to run 127 00:07:26,600 --> 00:07:29,440 Speaker 1: his own sort of radical paramilitary revolutionary movement at the 128 00:07:29,480 --> 00:07:32,880 Speaker 1: same time that he's that he's heading military intelligence. It 129 00:07:32,920 --> 00:07:36,360 Speaker 1: was a complex and chaotic political moment A few years 130 00:07:36,400 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: before nationalist revolutionaries fought to shatter the grip of the 131 00:07:40,120 --> 00:07:44,800 Speaker 1: Ottoman Empire, and with support from nearby imperial powers Russia, 132 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:49,520 Speaker 1: say or Russia's German cousins, they succeeded. That fight had 133 00:07:49,560 --> 00:07:53,640 Speaker 1: been what we might call a decolonizing war. Siberia, Bulgaria, 134 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:57,920 Speaker 1: Greece and Montenegro had all formed an alliance the Balkan League, 135 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:01,200 Speaker 1: and fought a bloody war to read claim power. In 136 00:08:01,240 --> 00:08:04,240 Speaker 1: the wake of this bloodshed, the movements leading the fight 137 00:08:04,360 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: struggled to become governments, and it was a bloody process. 138 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: As with many decolonizing wars, this just opens up a 139 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 1: new question of regional power and you get these new 140 00:08:14,760 --> 00:08:17,880 Speaker 1: nations states starting to act like many empires themselves, most 141 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,400 Speaker 1: notably Serbia in this case. And this is what causes 142 00:08:20,400 --> 00:08:23,640 Speaker 1: the Second Balkan War between Serbia and Bulgaria over the 143 00:08:23,680 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: question of Macedonia. In other words, nationalism doesn't just come 144 00:08:26,400 --> 00:08:29,440 Speaker 1: when the empire leaves. That just opens up the more 145 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:31,920 Speaker 1: interesting phase of politics, honestly, and the more and the 146 00:08:31,960 --> 00:08:35,560 Speaker 1: more violent phase frankly, of the politics of decolonization. And 147 00:08:35,640 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 1: so you have these first two Balkan Wars and the 148 00:08:37,960 --> 00:08:40,360 Speaker 1: third war, as we all know, is triggered in the 149 00:08:40,360 --> 00:08:44,640 Speaker 1: Balkans in Sarajevo with the assassination. So arch Duke Franz 150 00:08:44,720 --> 00:08:47,960 Speaker 1: Ferdinand's assassination look like a third link in a long 151 00:08:48,040 --> 00:08:51,360 Speaker 1: chain of violence. Yes, the killing appalled the world leaders 152 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,120 Speaker 1: who looked on, but few expected the fighting to spread 153 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:57,920 Speaker 1: beyond the cauldron where it began, but things escalated quickly, 154 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: everyone expecting what came next to just be more Balkan 155 00:09:01,200 --> 00:09:05,000 Speaker 1: politics as usual. It was in for a shock. By August. 156 00:09:05,240 --> 00:09:11,359 Speaker 1: Alliances were secured, diplomacy failed, sides were taken, armies mobilized, 157 00:09:11,360 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: and soon even Holy Russia was entering what would become 158 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:17,880 Speaker 1: one of the bloodiest wars the world had ever seen. 159 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:24,760 Speaker 1: They were on their yacht. Of course, the splendid isolation 160 00:09:24,800 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: of life on open water kept the Romanovs refreshed. But 161 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,680 Speaker 1: the messages came fast, and whatever tranquility they had enjoyed 162 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:35,120 Speaker 1: that year was burned away. The Archduke France Ferdinand had 163 00:09:35,160 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: been assassinated swiftly. On the heels of that message, they 164 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,760 Speaker 1: learned that their friend Grigory Rasputin had been gutted in 165 00:09:41,800 --> 00:09:45,160 Speaker 1: the street. Their kingdom was suffering violence, and if they 166 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: didn't act fast, violent men would take it by force, 167 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:51,440 Speaker 1: or at least that's what Nicholas came to fear, so 168 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:55,040 Speaker 1: it was time for him to act. Gregory's daughter Maria, 169 00:09:55,240 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: had sent a telegram to the royal family just after 170 00:09:57,880 --> 00:10:01,200 Speaker 1: the attacks, and it set them in motion. Nicholas got 171 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,600 Speaker 1: hold of the Russian Minister of the Interior and told 172 00:10:03,679 --> 00:10:07,160 Speaker 1: him to put his attention on Grigory's life. Rasputin is 173 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,680 Speaker 1: a man much honored by us, Nicholas wrote. Gregory's life 174 00:10:11,720 --> 00:10:14,800 Speaker 1: was deeply valued by the imperial family. They wanted their 175 00:10:14,800 --> 00:10:19,800 Speaker 1: government to serve his welfare. Gregory and Alexandra exchanged letters. 176 00:10:20,160 --> 00:10:22,560 Speaker 1: He assured her that he was recovering, but the knife 177 00:10:22,559 --> 00:10:25,960 Speaker 1: that wounded Resputant had cut into the Czarina's heart. Our 178 00:10:26,080 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: grief is beyond description, she said in her reply. And 179 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,520 Speaker 1: with the Empress that invested in Gregory's health, the Russian 180 00:10:33,559 --> 00:10:36,320 Speaker 1: government had little choice but to comply with the orders 181 00:10:36,360 --> 00:10:39,360 Speaker 1: coming from the Romanov yacht. The Minister of the Interior 182 00:10:39,440 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 1: and his deputies set their own constant watch on Resputin. Yes, 183 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:47,680 Speaker 1: it was protection, but it was surveillance too. If the 184 00:10:47,720 --> 00:10:50,400 Speaker 1: Russian papers thought that Gregory was an evil influence on 185 00:10:50,440 --> 00:10:53,760 Speaker 1: the imperial household, well, the officers of the Russian government 186 00:10:53,840 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 1: could only have agreed. In fact, the Minister of the 187 00:10:56,480 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: Interior and his deputies had long hated Rasputin, and why 188 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,040 Speaker 1: not they were being told to spend their precious time 189 00:11:03,200 --> 00:11:07,520 Speaker 1: holding his hand. So for agents tailed Restputant as he 190 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: was carried down the river and placed on board a steamer. 191 00:11:10,760 --> 00:11:13,000 Speaker 1: It carried him to the city of Human where he 192 00:11:13,040 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: was admitted to the hospital. The surgeon who had performed 193 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: his emergency surgery could watch him there, now surrounded by 194 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 1: all his assistants, including the new doctors who were sent 195 00:11:22,559 --> 00:11:26,319 Speaker 1: by the royal family to attend him. As the doctors 196 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:30,120 Speaker 1: came in, more telegrams came out. Gregory assured the Empress 197 00:11:30,160 --> 00:11:32,520 Speaker 1: that he would pull through. In fact, he downplayed how 198 00:11:32,559 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: serious his injuries really were. In truth, the first surgery 199 00:11:36,520 --> 00:11:39,480 Speaker 1: wasn't enough to save him. They went in again and again, 200 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:42,560 Speaker 1: trying to repair the damage. Gregory had lost so much 201 00:11:42,559 --> 00:11:45,440 Speaker 1: blood that things were looking dire, but even as they 202 00:11:45,440 --> 00:11:47,800 Speaker 1: tried to heal him at seeing the doctors had respute 203 00:11:47,800 --> 00:11:51,480 Speaker 1: and once again on the brink of death. But somehow 204 00:11:51,520 --> 00:11:54,199 Speaker 1: he pulled through. The News of the attack on him 205 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:57,000 Speaker 1: had been so widespread that anyone who heard he was 206 00:11:57,000 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: still alive had to be surprised, and that made people 207 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,880 Speaker 1: start asking questions. The whispers that followed were the first 208 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:07,040 Speaker 1: hint of another rumor that would grow stronger over the years. 209 00:12:07,440 --> 00:12:11,200 Speaker 1: The idea that Grigory Rasputin was very hard to kill. 210 00:12:12,480 --> 00:12:15,760 Speaker 1: But even as Resputin recovered, the empire around him was 211 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,840 Speaker 1: coming down with a bad case of war fever. Not 212 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:21,760 Speaker 1: that it was new. Some observers in Russia had followed 213 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,520 Speaker 1: the Balkan Wars with pleasure. They had cheered on the 214 00:12:24,520 --> 00:12:27,640 Speaker 1: Balkan League through the years of violence. People that is, 215 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,720 Speaker 1: like Nicholas, along with many others across Russia. The Czar 216 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: saw the fighting through the lens of his religion. In 217 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 1: his writings, Nicholas called it the war between Christians and Turks, 218 00:12:38,720 --> 00:12:42,160 Speaker 1: and he said he gave it great attention. Others added 219 00:12:42,200 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: a layer of ethnic prejudice to the mix. To them, 220 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:47,720 Speaker 1: the Balkan League was more like a Slavic lead. The 221 00:12:47,760 --> 00:12:50,200 Speaker 1: war on the western border of the Empire wasn't just 222 00:12:50,320 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: Christians against Turks, but also Slavs against Germans. And while 223 00:12:54,800 --> 00:12:57,320 Speaker 1: Russia wasn't sending troops into the region during those first 224 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: years of fighting, they certainly were growing their forces. Russia's 225 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: armies were modernizing and expanding. The Romanov government was pouring 226 00:13:04,880 --> 00:13:07,720 Speaker 1: money into its army and navy and calling it the 227 00:13:07,800 --> 00:13:11,280 Speaker 1: Great Program. But it was a slow process, and Nicholas 228 00:13:11,280 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: thought they would not be ready for war until at 229 00:13:13,440 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: least nineteen seventeen. But the crowds in the streets weren't 230 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,040 Speaker 1: paying attention to military logistics, and Nicholas himself had his 231 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,559 Speaker 1: head turned by the open moves from Austro Hungary. They 232 00:13:24,559 --> 00:13:27,280 Speaker 1: were backed by his German cousin Wilhelm, and they had 233 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 1: just declared that they would overrun Siberia and crush the 234 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:33,200 Speaker 1: pro Slavic groups that they said were responsible for the 235 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,240 Speaker 1: death of the Austro Hungarian air But a statement like 236 00:13:36,280 --> 00:13:40,240 Speaker 1: that echoed farther than Siberia. In fact, it resonated all 237 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 1: across Russia. If anyone wanted to crush the Slavs, they 238 00:13:43,920 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 1: would have to face the world's greatest Slavic power, Russia. 239 00:13:47,679 --> 00:13:51,319 Speaker 1: So when Austria Hungary began lobbying shells into Belgrade that July, 240 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,800 Speaker 1: Nicholas felt he had no choice. The Russian military went 241 00:13:54,880 --> 00:13:58,200 Speaker 1: on the march to the Austrian border. A sense of 242 00:13:58,280 --> 00:14:02,320 Speaker 1: Russian patriotism and slav pride swept the country. The Duma, 243 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:05,760 Speaker 1: which had so recently been tearing into the Romanovs, saw 244 00:14:05,760 --> 00:14:08,679 Speaker 1: which way the wind was blowing. They pledged full support 245 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:11,880 Speaker 1: of the Czar in the Romanov's household. The children's French 246 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,760 Speaker 1: tutor wrote that the enthusiasm of the masses was obvious. 247 00:14:16,720 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: Of course, we know that ethnic violence had flamed up 248 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:23,119 Speaker 1: across Russia for years in groups like Eliodora's terrorist supporters. 249 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:26,200 Speaker 1: But to the tutor writing in the Royal Palace, this 250 00:14:26,280 --> 00:14:30,240 Speaker 1: new desire for Slavic soldiers to smash German enemies felt 251 00:14:30,280 --> 00:14:34,280 Speaker 1: like a spontaneous fever. The targets of their political violence 252 00:14:34,360 --> 00:14:38,040 Speaker 1: had shifted to enemies outside the Russian Empire. Nicholas and 253 00:14:38,080 --> 00:14:41,800 Speaker 1: Alexandra felt that finally they had the whole country behind them. 254 00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,840 Speaker 1: They were united for bloodshed. Telegrams flew out to the 255 00:14:45,880 --> 00:14:50,480 Speaker 1: German Kaiser, Wilhelm convinced the Austrians to back down, Nicholas demanded, 256 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 1: but the fact that Russian troops were on the move 257 00:14:52,880 --> 00:14:56,400 Speaker 1: infuriated the man that Alexandra knew as cousin Willie. The 258 00:14:56,440 --> 00:14:58,680 Speaker 1: response that Nicholas got from him was kind of a 259 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:02,640 Speaker 1: back yourself to on first. But after so many years 260 00:15:02,640 --> 00:15:05,480 Speaker 1: of trouble, and with flags waving in the streets lifted 261 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:08,320 Speaker 1: on cheers of war, Nicholas did not want to look 262 00:15:08,360 --> 00:15:14,080 Speaker 1: weak again. His forces continued to march in Germany, declared war. 263 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:22,920 Speaker 1: Grigory Resputant spent forty six days in the hospital. He 264 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,720 Speaker 1: was surrounded by well wishers, friends and family. Journalists tried 265 00:15:26,720 --> 00:15:29,120 Speaker 1: to get to him too, and at least one photographer 266 00:15:29,160 --> 00:15:32,480 Speaker 1: managed to snap a photo of Resputin in his hospital bed, 267 00:15:32,800 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 1: even though police were stationed outside to hold back onlookers. 268 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: As he recovered his strength, Grigory was also collecting his thoughts. 269 00:15:40,840 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 1: He closely followed the situation in Europe and the rising 270 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 1: tensions in the Balkans. People who had been hearing about 271 00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 1: Rasputin as a power behind the throne assumed that he 272 00:15:50,440 --> 00:15:54,440 Speaker 1: shared the thirst for blood. Papers published all across Russia 273 00:15:54,480 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: and Europe speculated that Resputant was filled with Slavic fever. 274 00:15:58,400 --> 00:16:01,640 Speaker 1: They called, after all, he was Orthodox. What about all 275 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:03,480 Speaker 1: those things he said when he came back from the 276 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 1: Holy Land, and didn't he champion the reign of the 277 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:09,320 Speaker 1: czar over the Russian Empire? Surely he was committed to 278 00:16:09,480 --> 00:16:13,000 Speaker 1: uniting all Slavs under the Romanov dynasty. Maybe he was 279 00:16:13,040 --> 00:16:16,240 Speaker 1: even going to enlist in the army himself, As in 280 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,680 Speaker 1: so many other times in Resputant's life. They actually got 281 00:16:19,720 --> 00:16:22,480 Speaker 1: the story dead wrong. The idea that he was cheerleading 282 00:16:22,520 --> 00:16:25,360 Speaker 1: for the war was pure fabrication. It was one more 283 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:29,040 Speaker 1: way of stirring up controversy and criticism, but it certainly 284 00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,200 Speaker 1: wasn't a look at the truth. In fact, when news 285 00:16:32,200 --> 00:16:34,840 Speaker 1: of the fighting in the Balkans reach Resputants hospital bed, 286 00:16:35,120 --> 00:16:37,920 Speaker 1: the news hit him like a blow. Whatever else was 287 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:41,680 Speaker 1: true about Gregory, he was not an engine driving toward war. 288 00:16:42,120 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 1: When he considered the idea, he didn't see a glorious 289 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,520 Speaker 1: future for the dynasty. Instead, as Douglas Smith says, for once, 290 00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:54,160 Speaker 1: Resputant saw clearly the devastation it would bring. He foresaw 291 00:16:54,960 --> 00:16:58,160 Speaker 1: that if Russia were to go to war, that it 292 00:16:58,160 --> 00:17:05,080 Speaker 1: would lead to seas of blood, millions of innocent Russian 293 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: peasants killed, and bloody slaughter, and he pled with Nicholas 294 00:17:09,640 --> 00:17:12,800 Speaker 1: in the most powerful and prophetic of terms, to not 295 00:17:13,080 --> 00:17:16,399 Speaker 1: go to war. In fact, during the earlier fighting in 296 00:17:16,440 --> 00:17:20,439 Speaker 1: the Balkans, Rasputin had urged Alexandra to intervene. He wanted 297 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:23,919 Speaker 1: her to convince Nicholas to hold back. Even then, Rasputin 298 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:28,080 Speaker 1: believed war would be a disaster. Once in nineteen twelve, 299 00:17:28,240 --> 00:17:31,480 Speaker 1: when the Czar's cousin Nikolasha was trying to convince Nicolas 300 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:35,040 Speaker 1: to send Russian forces into the Fray, Rasputin begged him 301 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,480 Speaker 1: not to listen. A year later, in nineteen thirteen, when 302 00:17:38,520 --> 00:17:40,880 Speaker 1: he was asked to comment on fighting in the Balkans, 303 00:17:41,000 --> 00:17:44,160 Speaker 1: Rasputin actually said something that would have surprised his readers. 304 00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:48,160 Speaker 1: Going to war, he said, kills your own soul. Even 305 00:17:48,200 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: the vicious army will live in fear after it has 306 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:53,880 Speaker 1: beaten its enemies into submission, because the violence of conquest 307 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 1: will breathe the violence of retaliation. And in some ways 308 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:00,560 Speaker 1: this was really sharp insight the violence of that first 309 00:18:00,560 --> 00:18:04,439 Speaker 1: Balkan War. It led to the second, and on and on. 310 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,639 Speaker 1: Not that Resputin didn't share the ideas that fuel the 311 00:18:08,680 --> 00:18:12,200 Speaker 1: war's loudest cheerleaders, the idea that the Russian spirit and 312 00:18:12,320 --> 00:18:16,320 Speaker 1: even Russian Christianity were superior to all others. Well, he 313 00:18:16,400 --> 00:18:19,119 Speaker 1: had been clamoring that for years, but it was that 314 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,639 Speaker 1: very Russian spirit he was most worried about, and no 315 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:25,679 Speaker 1: one remembered this better than Grigory's own family, the people 316 00:18:25,720 --> 00:18:28,720 Speaker 1: around him as he recovered from his injuries. His daughter 317 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,320 Speaker 1: Maria would later write, the Resputant was fixed on the 318 00:18:31,400 --> 00:18:34,679 Speaker 1: horrors and cruelty of war. His thoughts weren't on the 319 00:18:34,720 --> 00:18:36,960 Speaker 1: triumphs of the Czar, but on the people who would 320 00:18:37,000 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: be crushed by armies criss crossing the countryside. It seems 321 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: Grigory had a deep seated conviction that war and violence 322 00:18:43,840 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: were a violation of his Russian faith. Rasputin saw this 323 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:49,879 Speaker 1: as the clear and simple problem at the center of 324 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:52,840 Speaker 1: a clash between nations, and he wanted the Tsar to 325 00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,560 Speaker 1: see it too. As Douglas Smith says, he begged the 326 00:18:56,560 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: Tsar to back away from the coming storm, and one 327 00:18:59,520 --> 00:19:02,360 Speaker 1: letter he sent to Nicholas makes for an eerie warning 328 00:19:02,480 --> 00:19:08,120 Speaker 1: of the devastation to come. Rasputant wrote, dear friend, I'll 329 00:19:08,119 --> 00:19:12,280 Speaker 1: say again, a menacing cloud is over Russia, lots of 330 00:19:12,320 --> 00:19:15,840 Speaker 1: sorrow and grief. It's dark and there's not a ray 331 00:19:15,880 --> 00:19:20,800 Speaker 1: of hope, a sea of tears immeasurable. And as to blood, 332 00:19:21,480 --> 00:19:26,000 Speaker 1: what can I say? There are no words indescribable horror. 333 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:31,000 Speaker 1: I know they all want war from you, evidently not 334 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:35,240 Speaker 1: realizing this this means ruin. I'm gonna redo that little 335 00:19:35,240 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 1: bit there. I know they all want war from you, 336 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: evidently not realizing that this means ruin. Hard is God's 337 00:19:43,040 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: punishment when he takes away reason. It's the beginning of 338 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,159 Speaker 1: the end. You are the czar, father of the people. 339 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:54,600 Speaker 1: Don't allow the madness to triumph and destroy themselves and 340 00:19:54,680 --> 00:19:58,640 Speaker 1: the people. Yes, they'll conquer Germany, but what of Russia. 341 00:19:59,600 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 1: If one thinks than truly, never, for all of time 342 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: has once suffered like Russia drowned in her own blood. 343 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:13,640 Speaker 1: Great will be the ruin grief without end grigory. As 344 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,679 Speaker 1: the following years went on, the show, more prophetic words 345 00:20:16,800 --> 00:20:21,440 Speaker 1: have rarely been spoken, and for Resputin it was deeply personal, 346 00:20:21,720 --> 00:20:25,280 Speaker 1: because the lives of Russian soldiers weren't just abstract to him. 347 00:20:25,320 --> 00:20:27,720 Speaker 1: In fact, he was worried about his own son, Dmitri. 348 00:20:28,240 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: The boy was of fighting age. If Russia went to war, 349 00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: Rasputin's own son would be among those sent to the 350 00:20:34,040 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: front line. In his agitation about the coming catastrophe, Rasputin 351 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:42,600 Speaker 1: even managed to tear open his wounds once again. Nicholas 352 00:20:42,640 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: and Alexandra were always concerned with the health of Alexei, 353 00:20:45,840 --> 00:20:49,159 Speaker 1: their son and heir, and Rasputin was no different, and 354 00:20:49,240 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 1: that concern made the prospect of marching into the looming 355 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: conflict deeper and more terrifying for him than it could 356 00:20:55,440 --> 00:20:58,560 Speaker 1: possibly be for the royal family. And as far as 357 00:20:58,560 --> 00:21:01,600 Speaker 1: we can tell, Respute the letter to Nicholas did nothing 358 00:21:01,680 --> 00:21:04,760 Speaker 1: to change his mind. Gregory may have hoped that, as 359 00:21:04,800 --> 00:21:08,080 Speaker 1: a spiritual adviser to the Romanov household, his words would 360 00:21:08,119 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: carry authority, but the Russian Empire had already marched too far. 361 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:21,719 Speaker 1: Rasputant's letter landed on deaf ears. Unfortunately, it didn't have 362 00:21:21,880 --> 00:21:24,680 Speaker 1: enough of an in fact on the Czar. And I 363 00:21:24,720 --> 00:21:26,880 Speaker 1: always think it's one of those great what if moments 364 00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:30,360 Speaker 1: in the history of the twentie centuries. What if Nicholas 365 00:21:30,400 --> 00:21:34,800 Speaker 1: had listened to Respute and and not agreed with his generals. 366 00:21:34,800 --> 00:21:37,560 Speaker 1: How the course of history might have been different. But 367 00:21:37,640 --> 00:21:41,040 Speaker 1: this wasn't resputants only attempt to change history. He sent 368 00:21:41,080 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: a series of letters and telegrams to the Czar. In 369 00:21:44,000 --> 00:21:48,359 Speaker 1: another shorter message, he simply wrote, let Papa not plan war, 370 00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 1: for with war will come the end of Russia. Once 371 00:21:52,080 --> 00:21:56,879 Speaker 1: the fighting began, though Gregory believed disaster was inevitable, not 372 00:21:57,000 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: that he was completely alone either. There were other State 373 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:02,960 Speaker 1: of shoals who argued against war. A few voices here 374 00:22:03,000 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: and there rose up to call the plans madness and 375 00:22:05,960 --> 00:22:09,159 Speaker 1: to dismiss the idea of Slavs fighting for Slavs as 376 00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 1: a form of old fashioned romanticism. But these objections were 377 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:16,080 Speaker 1: too few and too far between to catch the Tsar's ears, 378 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:20,760 Speaker 1: and by now Nicholas was determined. When he received the telegram, 379 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:23,679 Speaker 1: he was furious. Not only was respute and meddling in 380 00:22:23,760 --> 00:22:26,760 Speaker 1: matters beyond his authority, but he was also undermining the 381 00:22:26,880 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: very thing that was uniting Russia around the Czar. Besides 382 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,640 Speaker 1: England and France appeared ready to join Russia in the fight. 383 00:22:33,960 --> 00:22:36,320 Speaker 1: There was a whole network of allies who were rising 384 00:22:36,400 --> 00:22:39,199 Speaker 1: up to crush Germany, and the Czar's army was so 385 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 1: huge that even without friends at their side, most Russians 386 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,280 Speaker 1: believe that the war would be over in just a 387 00:22:44,320 --> 00:22:48,000 Speaker 1: few months. Officers in the army even planned to pack 388 00:22:48,080 --> 00:22:50,520 Speaker 1: their dress uniforms so that they would be ready for 389 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:54,320 Speaker 1: the parades after their quick victory. The generals agreed, they 390 00:22:54,359 --> 00:22:57,800 Speaker 1: laid plans for a quick victory. A few supplies, weapons 391 00:22:57,840 --> 00:23:01,080 Speaker 1: and ammunition was all they really needed. Nicholas had been 392 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:03,440 Speaker 1: trying to live up to his role as an absolute 393 00:23:03,440 --> 00:23:06,280 Speaker 1: monarch for his entire life. He was not about to 394 00:23:06,320 --> 00:23:08,640 Speaker 1: give up now, when the fighting on the western edge 395 00:23:08,680 --> 00:23:11,520 Speaker 1: of his empire offered him the chance to solidify his 396 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 1: role with the Russian people, a pact sealed with the 397 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:25,240 Speaker 1: blood of their enemies. Gregory was released from the hospital 398 00:23:25,280 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 1: towards the end of August, but his wounds weren't fully healed. 399 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: In fact, he could barely stand. The pain in his 400 00:23:31,240 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: gut was constant. He wore loose robes because nothing else 401 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,679 Speaker 1: would fit over his bandages. But more than all the 402 00:23:37,680 --> 00:23:40,320 Speaker 1: pain in his body were the thoughts that wouldn't leave 403 00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:44,920 Speaker 1: his mind. The attack had left him shaken, frail, even paranoid. 404 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: He was being hunted. Danger surrounded him on every side. 405 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: Even so, he didn't retreat to his home in Siberia 406 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,840 Speaker 1: this time. When he was released from the hospital, Rasputin 407 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:59,480 Speaker 1: set out for the capital fighting had begun. Grigory did 408 00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:01,119 Speaker 1: not want to be cut off from the heart of 409 00:24:01,160 --> 00:24:04,240 Speaker 1: the empire, where decisions of grave importance were being made. 410 00:24:05,119 --> 00:24:07,400 Speaker 1: When he arrived, he found a city as changed as 411 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:10,400 Speaker 1: he was. On the first of September, the government dispensed 412 00:24:10,400 --> 00:24:14,159 Speaker 1: with the name St. Petersburg. It was to European, to German. 413 00:24:14,720 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: They preferred something more Slavic, so they chose the name Petrograd. 414 00:24:19,240 --> 00:24:21,520 Speaker 1: But if Grigory feared that he would have to overcome 415 00:24:21,600 --> 00:24:24,119 Speaker 1: his differences with the Czar, he found the opposite was 416 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: the case. Two days after he arrived, he had his 417 00:24:26,680 --> 00:24:29,760 Speaker 1: first meeting with Nicholas, and any anger or ill will 418 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,160 Speaker 1: on the Czar's parts had faded. After all, the first 419 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:36,320 Speaker 1: victories on the battlefield had given way to some serious defeats. 420 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,120 Speaker 1: All those supplies the generals had sent to the front, 421 00:24:39,480 --> 00:24:42,480 Speaker 1: they were far too few. Despite the millions of soldiers 422 00:24:42,520 --> 00:24:44,480 Speaker 1: added to the Russian army, they found that they had 423 00:24:44,560 --> 00:24:46,800 Speaker 1: entered the war with only half the artillery that they 424 00:24:46,800 --> 00:24:49,080 Speaker 1: were facing from the Germans. And when it came to 425 00:24:49,119 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 1: mobilizing their forces, the Germans had ten times the length 426 00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:56,080 Speaker 1: of railroad to rush soldiers into the battlefield. There would 427 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: be no swift Russian victory. The Empire was in the 428 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:01,760 Speaker 1: war for the Long Hall, and that left Nicholas in 429 00:25:01,800 --> 00:25:06,200 Speaker 1: a foul mood. His confidence was shaken. As the city 430 00:25:06,200 --> 00:25:09,359 Speaker 1: and the czar changed. Grigory followed suit. Now that he 431 00:25:09,400 --> 00:25:11,840 Speaker 1: was back in the emperor's presence and the war had begun, 432 00:25:12,040 --> 00:25:14,919 Speaker 1: Rasputin joined the chorus of Russians who were supporting the 433 00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:17,679 Speaker 1: war effort. If Nicholas needed someone to tell him that 434 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: the war was the right choice and Russia would be victorious, well, 435 00:25:21,080 --> 00:25:23,640 Speaker 1: Grigory Rasputin would tell him what he wanted to hear. 436 00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:28,080 Speaker 1: Soon enough, Nicholas came to treasure their meetings once. That October, 437 00:25:28,119 --> 00:25:30,359 Speaker 1: he wrote in his diary that the difficulties of the 438 00:25:30,400 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: war had left him anxious and afraid, but Rasputin brought 439 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:38,040 Speaker 1: him peace. It was Grigory's calming talk, Nicholas wrote that 440 00:25:38,160 --> 00:25:41,840 Speaker 1: lifted his spirits. But even as Grigory was rekindling his 441 00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,720 Speaker 1: relationship with the Romanovs, he was finding it difficult to 442 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:47,840 Speaker 1: resume his old habits in the capital. Back at his 443 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:51,760 Speaker 1: Petrograd apartment, Resputant found himself flooded with the constant throng 444 00:25:51,800 --> 00:25:55,159 Speaker 1: of well wisher's friends and new followers. People came to 445 00:25:55,240 --> 00:25:59,359 Speaker 1: him asking for money, prayers, healing, and advice. Once they 446 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: found out where he lived, they started lining up before sunrise. 447 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:05,600 Speaker 1: The police watching Grigory reported that he met with over 448 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:10,280 Speaker 1: one people every single day, and the police themselves were 449 00:26:10,280 --> 00:26:14,399 Speaker 1: a constant presence around Resputin. Here's more from Douglas Smith. 450 00:26:15,240 --> 00:26:17,920 Speaker 1: There was typically, you know, dozens of agents that were 451 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:21,040 Speaker 1: tracking him in any one time, and not only were 452 00:26:21,080 --> 00:26:23,719 Speaker 1: they tracking him, but they were tracking everybody that he 453 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:27,480 Speaker 1: came in contact with, and would would do investigations into 454 00:26:27,560 --> 00:26:31,320 Speaker 1: his circle and his contacts and associates and what have you. 455 00:26:31,760 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: And part of it was surveillance, but part of it 456 00:26:34,600 --> 00:26:37,600 Speaker 1: was also after the summer of nineteen o fourteen, when 457 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:41,480 Speaker 1: he was almost murdered, supposedly they were also charged with 458 00:26:41,600 --> 00:26:44,919 Speaker 1: keeping him safe from another such attempt on his life. 459 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:48,359 Speaker 1: But these officers only went part of the way toward 460 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,760 Speaker 1: lifting Grigory's fear of assassination. He had spent too many 461 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:55,480 Speaker 1: years dodging the secret police to suddenly appreciate them. Now 462 00:26:56,240 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: there were some perks though. He no longer went to 463 00:26:58,520 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: the Czar's Palace by train. Instead, he was now chauffeured 464 00:27:01,520 --> 00:27:03,520 Speaker 1: by a car to and from the palace for his 465 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:06,760 Speaker 1: meetings with the royal family. But even that left Grigory 466 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: open to more rumors. The car itself became the subject 467 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:12,960 Speaker 1: of legends and rumors about the machine guns being carried 468 00:27:13,000 --> 00:27:15,520 Speaker 1: to and fro to protect the holy Man, and even 469 00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: that he was driving through the streets, gunning down pedestrians 470 00:27:18,840 --> 00:27:22,120 Speaker 1: as he went. It was ridiculous, of course, but it's 471 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:24,840 Speaker 1: an example of just how much every move Grigory made 472 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,600 Speaker 1: was turned back on him, as if reflected in a 473 00:27:27,680 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: fun house mirror. But there wasn't too much that Grigory 474 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,119 Speaker 1: found fun about it. Having been robbed of his quiet, 475 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:37,520 Speaker 1: his peace, and his sense of safety and confidence, Grigory 476 00:27:37,560 --> 00:27:40,639 Speaker 1: turned for solace to the bottle. He had been drinking 477 00:27:40,680 --> 00:27:42,880 Speaker 1: more and more over the past few years, but after 478 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,040 Speaker 1: the attack on his life, it took over. If Rasputin 479 00:27:46,119 --> 00:27:50,920 Speaker 1: had been consuming alcohol before, now the alcohol was consuming him. 480 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:53,919 Speaker 1: He was rarely sober. His wealthy followers kept up a 481 00:27:53,960 --> 00:27:57,240 Speaker 1: regular supply of Madeira wine, so when he was huddled 482 00:27:57,240 --> 00:27:59,320 Speaker 1: at home in his apartment, he always had a drink 483 00:27:59,359 --> 00:28:01,720 Speaker 1: at hand, all the more when he would decide to 484 00:28:01,720 --> 00:28:03,960 Speaker 1: throw caution to the wind and go out on the town, 485 00:28:04,480 --> 00:28:06,360 Speaker 1: like the night that he hopped on a train from 486 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 1: Petrograd to Moscow and wrote one of the most sordid 487 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:13,160 Speaker 1: chapters of his personal legend. Here's Douglas Smith to walk 488 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,480 Speaker 1: us through it. The so called incident at the Yar 489 00:28:16,880 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 1: is one of the iconic UH moments in the biography 490 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 1: of Respute, and it's in every book on him, UM 491 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:29,560 Speaker 1: and it's sometimes told in in somewhat different versions, but basically, 492 00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:33,679 Speaker 1: the the standard story is that Uh, in March of 493 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, Respute and took the train from uh Petrograd 494 00:28:39,800 --> 00:28:43,880 Speaker 1: as Petersburg was now called, down to Moscow where you 495 00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: met with some friends. And one night they went out 496 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: to this famous restaurant called the Jar, which had this 497 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:54,360 Speaker 1: uh gypsy choir and chorus and everything. That he got 498 00:28:54,600 --> 00:29:00,000 Speaker 1: outlandishly drunk. He started chasing the girls in the gypsy choir. Uh, 499 00:29:00,200 --> 00:29:04,280 Speaker 1: he started being rude and vulgar Uh. And then it's 500 00:29:04,320 --> 00:29:08,480 Speaker 1: sort of culminated in him jumping up on the table, 501 00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:14,920 Speaker 1: exposing himself, dropping his trousers, waiving his member around and 502 00:29:14,920 --> 00:29:18,080 Speaker 1: and claiming in front of the astonished guests at the 503 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,680 Speaker 1: r restaurant that this was the the altar at which 504 00:29:21,800 --> 00:29:25,640 Speaker 1: the Empress worshiped, at which point the police were called 505 00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:29,720 Speaker 1: and they dragged him, snarling and screaming and cursing out 506 00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,760 Speaker 1: and put him into jail. Now, this is the standard 507 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,120 Speaker 1: story that you'll read over and over and over, and 508 00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:41,959 Speaker 1: indeed agents tracked Respute and from Petrograd to Moscow on 509 00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:45,760 Speaker 1: the train in March. They followed him around literally by 510 00:29:45,800 --> 00:29:48,719 Speaker 1: the minute, and indeed he did go to the r restaurant. 511 00:29:49,280 --> 00:29:52,240 Speaker 1: But what's interesting is you read the policeman's report of 512 00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:56,000 Speaker 1: what happened there. There's no talk of drunkenness. There's no 513 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: talk of chasing chorus girls, gypsy chorus girls, there's no 514 00:30:00,040 --> 00:30:03,240 Speaker 1: talk of you know, dropping his trousers and waving his 515 00:30:03,320 --> 00:30:06,280 Speaker 1: member around, and there's no talk of any arrest. In fact, 516 00:30:06,360 --> 00:30:09,720 Speaker 1: they had dinner, he went back to someone's house. Uh. 517 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:11,840 Speaker 1: He did get drunk the next day and drove around 518 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,640 Speaker 1: with some friends, and then the agents followed him back 519 00:30:14,680 --> 00:30:17,200 Speaker 1: to the train station and he went back to Petrogratte. 520 00:30:17,600 --> 00:30:21,200 Speaker 1: End of story. The report of the simple truth didn't 521 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: satisfy Grigory's enemies, and that's a problem when those enemies 522 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: include the head of the Okrana. When the initial report 523 00:30:27,280 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: reached him the simple narrative of resputants tripped to and 524 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,640 Speaker 1: from Moscow, he sent word back down the line. Clearly 525 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: there was a mistake somewhere. Something must have happened worth 526 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:41,040 Speaker 1: reporting something terrible. Of course, the police in Moscow knew 527 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:43,560 Speaker 1: how to read between the lines. They knew what was 528 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: being asked of them, so they put their heads together 529 00:30:45,960 --> 00:30:49,520 Speaker 1: and they drafted a second report. This time they brainstormed 530 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 1: the bizarre and disturbing story that would become a mainstay 531 00:30:52,600 --> 00:30:57,440 Speaker 1: of resputants legend. They literally, you know, quote unquote sex 532 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:00,360 Speaker 1: it up if you will, to make it more out amish, 533 00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,200 Speaker 1: and add all sorts of crazy elements to it, not 534 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,360 Speaker 1: only sexual stuff, but in fact that he was meeting 535 00:31:06,360 --> 00:31:10,240 Speaker 1: with various shady figures who are involved in in vast 536 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:15,400 Speaker 1: graft and corruption schemes to defraud you know, the the 537 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:18,080 Speaker 1: National Treasury of all sorts of millions and millions of 538 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 1: roubles and what have you. And so finally they create 539 00:31:21,880 --> 00:31:25,880 Speaker 1: this outlandish story on official police letterhead, and Alexandra says, 540 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:29,000 Speaker 1: this is this is total nonsense. And here Alexandra was right, 541 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:31,480 Speaker 1: this is a pack of lies, and I refused to 542 00:31:31,480 --> 00:31:35,440 Speaker 1: believe it. Uh. And so it again is then taking 543 00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:39,200 Speaker 1: as proof that nothing can damage resputing in the eyes 544 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:41,760 Speaker 1: of Nicholas and Alexandra, and he can go to any 545 00:31:41,840 --> 00:31:45,520 Speaker 1: lengths he he wishes, and his place is secure. But 546 00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,600 Speaker 1: in fact he really never did anything wrong. That night 547 00:31:48,760 --> 00:31:53,360 Speaker 1: at the r restaurant, the fights went on and on. 548 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:57,600 Speaker 1: Church officials, a Krona, officers and journalists took aim at 549 00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:02,080 Speaker 1: resputing members of parliament open he condemned him within the Duma. 550 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,320 Speaker 1: When their words had no effect, they added outlandish lies 551 00:32:05,360 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: to their observations about resputants real wrongdoings, and those outlandish 552 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,320 Speaker 1: lies gave the Empress the very excuse she needed to 553 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:16,240 Speaker 1: ignore the charges altogether. As each new twist and turn 554 00:32:16,320 --> 00:32:19,960 Speaker 1: in Grigory's life gave his enemies new ammunition, the struggle 555 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:23,280 Speaker 1: to control rasputants relationship with the Romanovs took on a 556 00:32:23,360 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: stranger and stranger shape. He was hacked down in the 557 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,720 Speaker 1: street and his reputation was ripped apart by the police. 558 00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:34,520 Speaker 1: But somehow Resputant endured in this little war behind the 559 00:32:34,560 --> 00:32:43,520 Speaker 1: big war, rasputants enemies never seemed to win. It was 560 00:32:43,560 --> 00:32:46,760 Speaker 1: supposed to be Nikolasha's our. He was always the man 561 00:32:46,840 --> 00:32:51,160 Speaker 1: who exuded power. His violence was legendary, his physical strength 562 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:53,680 Speaker 1: was an echo of the old Czar. It was only 563 00:32:53,760 --> 00:32:56,040 Speaker 1: right that he be made the commander in chief of 564 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,640 Speaker 1: Russia's armies. At first, Zar Nicholas had wanted to take 565 00:32:59,640 --> 00:33:02,760 Speaker 1: the role on himself. He held a firm and almost 566 00:33:02,840 --> 00:33:05,760 Speaker 1: mystical belief that the czar's place was with his troops, 567 00:33:06,080 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: and the memory of his younger days spent among the 568 00:33:08,600 --> 00:33:12,320 Speaker 1: officers only strengthened his belief that he should command, But 569 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,280 Speaker 1: his ministers talked him out of it. Any losses that 570 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,960 Speaker 1: his inexperienced and unready army suffered as the conflict began 571 00:33:19,000 --> 00:33:21,080 Speaker 1: should not be placed at the feet of the czar. 572 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:24,720 Speaker 1: So it was agreed his cousin Nikolasha should take the reins. 573 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: He had, the war lord's frame and the war lord's pedigree, 574 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,560 Speaker 1: ferocious and imperious, or those qualities what they needed to 575 00:33:32,640 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: lead a fight. Nikolasha himself seemed to think so. But 576 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: despite his confidence and his personality, there was one thing 577 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,560 Speaker 1: at least that Nikolasha did not have experience. He had 578 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 1: never actually commanded in battle, not to mention that modern 579 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:50,120 Speaker 1: warfare was more of a clash of logistics than heroics, 580 00:33:50,520 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 1: and however strong Nikolasha was, that was not his strong suit. 581 00:33:55,680 --> 00:33:58,240 Speaker 1: As the first brief burst of victories gave way to 582 00:33:58,360 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: a string of astonishing defeat Nikolash's officers were devastated when 583 00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: the Russian second Army was destroyed at the Battle of Tannenburg. 584 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,440 Speaker 1: The Empire lost one and ten thousand men. The commander 585 00:34:10,480 --> 00:34:13,120 Speaker 1: of the destroyed forces went off into the woods and 586 00:34:13,160 --> 00:34:16,279 Speaker 1: took his own life, and even worse losses were to 587 00:34:16,360 --> 00:34:19,759 Speaker 1: come even steeper and more devastating. In the summer of 588 00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: nineteen fifteen, for example, the Russian army was in retreat. 589 00:34:23,520 --> 00:34:28,040 Speaker 1: Russian forces fled the Carpathian Mountains. Withdrawal from Ukraine followed 590 00:34:28,040 --> 00:34:31,600 Speaker 1: after that, as German attacks blue holes in the Russian lines, 591 00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:35,080 Speaker 1: Nikolasha and his officers failed to bring up enough reserves 592 00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:38,800 Speaker 1: to reinforce them. The surviving soldiers fell back in fear. 593 00:34:39,719 --> 00:34:42,879 Speaker 1: Soon they had abandoned all of Poland. They fled Lithuania, 594 00:34:43,040 --> 00:34:46,800 Speaker 1: they fled Belarus. The Empire was drowning in her own blood. 595 00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:50,480 Speaker 1: Nikolasha and his armies ran so far that their withdrawal 596 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:54,720 Speaker 1: was given a name a Great Retreat. The Russian spirit 597 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,480 Speaker 1: was broken and the Romanovs were in despair. As a 598 00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:02,960 Speaker 1: prophetic pen had written to Czar, the Russian Empire was 599 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:07,919 Speaker 1: in ruins. That's it for this week's episode of Unobscured. 600 00:35:08,480 --> 00:35:11,760 Speaker 1: Stick around after this short sponsor break for a preview 601 00:35:11,880 --> 00:35:17,720 Speaker 1: of what's in store for next week. He had already 602 00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:20,240 Speaker 1: been spending as much time as he could at Stavka, 603 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:24,120 Speaker 1: the Russian military headquarters. The camp where battle plans were 604 00:35:24,200 --> 00:35:27,919 Speaker 1: laid was established off the Moscow Warsaw Road, nestled between 605 00:35:27,960 --> 00:35:30,560 Speaker 1: the trunks of pine and birch trees and surrounded by 606 00:35:30,640 --> 00:35:34,520 Speaker 1: ring after ring of centuries. Nicholas found all of that 607 00:35:34,640 --> 00:35:38,360 Speaker 1: invigorating to him. It was a masculine place, a place 608 00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:41,800 Speaker 1: for a rugged, disciplined life, a place where every second 609 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,800 Speaker 1: counted and every man was about his work. The urgency 610 00:35:44,840 --> 00:35:48,160 Speaker 1: in order reminded him of his fondest memories his younger 611 00:35:48,239 --> 00:35:50,520 Speaker 1: years in the cavalry, before he had taken up the 612 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:54,880 Speaker 1: responsibilities of the czar, But in the summer of nineteen fifteen, 613 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:58,120 Speaker 1: it was the responsibilities that he shouldered. The czar's place 614 00:35:58,280 --> 00:36:01,240 Speaker 1: was with his troops. Niko Us believed it so strongly 615 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,040 Speaker 1: that it was almost mystical. He even made up his 616 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:06,920 Speaker 1: mind in the church. It was while he was standing 617 00:36:07,040 --> 00:36:10,040 Speaker 1: in the cathedral with his eyes fixated on an image 618 00:36:10,040 --> 00:36:13,120 Speaker 1: of Jesus, that he felt a voice speak in his mind. 619 00:36:25,880 --> 00:36:29,480 Speaker 1: Unobscured was created by me Aaron Manky and produced by 620 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:33,399 Speaker 1: Matt Frederick Alex Williams and Josh Thane in partnership with 621 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:37,279 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio, with research by Sam Alberty, writing by 622 00:36:37,320 --> 00:36:41,239 Speaker 1: Carl Nellis, and original music by Chad Lawson. Learn more 623 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:45,319 Speaker 1: about our contributing historians, source materials, and links to our 624 00:36:45,400 --> 00:36:49,799 Speaker 1: other shows over at grim and mild dot com, slash Unobscured, 625 00:36:50,320 --> 00:36:52,760 Speaker 1: and as always, thanks for listening.