Rasputin’s Effect on the Tsar’s Popularity
Jonathan Piriou
Introduction
Grigory Rasputin was the chief adviser for the Russian royal court during the World War I era. Many historians claim that he was a scapegoat for the war due to heavy losses Russia suffered in the war, about 3 million deaths in all, and the position of power that Rasputin held in assisting tsarina Alexandra while tsar Nicholas II was leading Russia on the Eastern home front. He was excessively loyal to the tsar, and a proclaimed monarchist. He was known as a starets, or an elder follower of the Russian Orthodox faith who is bestowed with powers from the Holy Spirit, and functions in the monastery as an advisor or teacher. He used his “powers” to heal the tsar’s son, Alexei, from hemophilia, a condition that causes one to continuously bleed, and can be life threatening. This caught the tsarina’s attention since they had doctors try to cure it before, but failed. The tsar, having a starets in his cabinet, is considered a “fatal disease that inflicted damage upon the tsarist regime,” by Lynch, a revisionist historian.…show more content… The research question “To what extent did Rasputin affect the tsar’s popularity” will be investigated and answered in this essay. In the research question, it is inferred that Rasputin affected the tsar’s popularity himself, but there are other factors that lead to the tsar’s reputation, so societal and political factors will also be
