Latest / The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History / Rasputin's Murder: The Night the Romanovs Lost Their Healer
Transcript
- Lucas: So, we've talked a lot about Rasputin's influence at court, about how he seemed to have the Tsarina's ear and how the political elite loathed him. But one thing we haven't really gotten into is the night he actually died. And it’s one of the most bizarre assassination attempts in history. Luna: I've heard it involved poisoned cakes and bullets and a drowning. Is that true? Lucas: All of the above. It happened in the early hours of December 30, 1916 — though in the old Russian calendar it was still December 17th. The mastermind was Prince Felix Yusupov, a young aristocrat who was married to the Tsar's niece, Irina. He was wealthy, charming, and deeply worried that Rasputin was destroying the monarchy. Lucas: Yusupov convinced a small group of conspirators to join him: including Vladimir Purishkevich, a right-wing politician, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the Tsar's own cousin. They lured Rasputin to the Moika Palace, Yusupov's lavish home in Petrograd, under the pretext of meeting Yusupov's beautiful wife — though Irina was actually out of town. Luna: So the whole thing was a setup from the start. Lucas: Absolutely. Rasputin arrived around midnight. Yusupov later described him as restless, suspicious. They led him to a basement room that had been furnished as a sitting room. On the table were plates of cakes and glasses of Madeira wine — all laced with enough potassium cyanide to kill a horse. Luna: But he ate the cakes and drank the wine, right? Lucas: He did. According to Yusupov's memoir, Rasputin ate several of the poisoned cakes and drank two glasses of the wine. And nothing happened. He just asked for another glass. The conspirators were waiting upstairs, getting more and more panicked. After two hours, Yusupov went down and found Rasputin still alive, even burping. Luna: That's terrifying. How does someone survive that? Lucas: There are theories. Some say the cyanide was old or had degraded. Others suggest Rasputin's body had built up a tolerance because he'd been taking small amounts of poison as a kind of immunity training — he was paranoid. But in any case, Yusupov decided he had to act. He excused himself, went upstairs, borrowed a revolver from Dmitri Pavlovich, and came back down. Lucas: He shot Rasputin in the chest. Rasputin fell backward onto a white bearskin rug. The other conspirators rushed in, saw the body, and thought it was over. They started to relax, even to celebrate. But then — this is the part that's hard to believe — Rasputin's eyes fluttered open. Luna: Wait, he was still alive? Lucas: Not just alive. He lunged at Yusupov, who later wrote that Rasputin was snarling, spitting, trying to strangle him. Yusupov broke free and ran upstairs, with Rasputin chasing him on all fours, shouting, 'Felix, Felix, I will tell the Tsarina everything!'. Luna: This sounds like a horror movie. Lucas: It really does. Yusupov got away, and Rasputin stumbled into the courtyard, where he was met by Purishkevich, who fired three more shots. One hit Rasputin in the back. Another — the fatal one — hit him in the head. But even then, he didn't die immediately. They later found a bullet wound on his body that showed he'd tried to kneel and pray before being shot in the head. Luna: And then they drowned him? Lucas: Yes. To be absolutely sure, they wrapped the body in a curtain, tied it with rope, and drove it to the Neva River. They dropped it through a hole in the ice. When the body was found three days later, an autopsy showed that Rasputin had actually died from drowning — meaning he was still alive when they threw him in, despite the bullet to the head. Luna: That is one of the most incredible stories I've ever heard. But why did they go to such lengths? Why not just have him arrested? Lucas: Because the Tsarina protected him. Alexandra was convinced that Rasputin was the only one who could stop her son Alexei's hemophilia attacks. She had dismissed every minister who opposed Rasputin. By 1916, the Tsar was at the front, and she was running the government with Rasputin's advice. The conspirators saw no legal way to remove him. Lucas: They genuinely believed that killing Rasputin would save the monarchy. But it had the opposite effect. When news of the murder came out, there was little public outrage — many people were glad. But the Tsarina was devastated. She became even more paranoid and isolated. The Tsar had no one left to blame but his own family — he exiled Dmitri Pavlovich and denied Yusupov any punishment, which only fueled rumors of a cover-up. Luna: So in a way, they accelerated the revolution. Lucas: Exactly. Just two months later, the February Revolution forced Nicholas to abdicate. The conspirators' goal was to save the Romanov dynasty, but their act of violence broke the last fragile bonds of trust between the imperial family and the aristocracy. It was the beginning of the end. Luna: Do we have any idea what Rasputin's last words were? Or if he left any kind of prophecy? Lucas: There's a famous — probably legendary — letter supposed to have been written by Rasputin to the Tsar, predicting his own death and warning that if he were killed by nobles, the Tsar's family would die within two years. And of course, the entire family was executed in July 1918. Whether he actually wrote it or not, it's become part of the mythology. Lucas: But the real story of that night is a window into the desperation of the Russian elite. They had no faith in the system, no hope for reform. They resorted to murder in a palace basement. And it didn't work. Luna: It's a wild story. Thanks for walking us through it. Lucas: Absolutely. Next time, maybe we'll look at the Romanovs' art collection — the Fabergé eggs, the imperial treasures. But for now, that's the night Rasputin died. Luna: Sounds great. I'll be here.