Rasputin (and The Downfall Of The Romanovs)

By (author) Beevor, Antony
Short description/annotation:
Was Grigori Rasputin a visionary, a fraud, or a victim of history? Antony Beevor searches for the truth about the great seducer of the Romanovs, the wild mystic who laid the ground for the Russian Revolution
Description:

How could a barely literate peasant from Siberia determine the fate of the world? Undoubtedly, the so-called ''mad monk'' Rasputin bewitched Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. Yet their strange and scandalous relationship conceals a riddle , one that casts an intriguing light on the controversial ''great man'' theory of history.

Rasputin was a devoted monarchist, not a revolutionary. He had no official position, no forces at his command. Nevertheless, he contributed more to the fall of the Romanov dynasty than any other individual. So demoralised was the Tsarist officer corps by stories of corruption, to say nothing of the rumours of his debauchery with the Empress - and even her daughters - that when the February Revolution broke out, not a sword was raised in defence of the regime.

Just as Rasputin cast a spell over the Romanovs, his legend has bewitched historians. More than a century later, we still fail to comprehend fully the collapse of the greatest autocracy on Earth. Was there any truth to the wild tales that brought down the empire? Or was his true legacy an unsettling lesson on the potency of myth?

Review quote:
A stunning achievement of psychological insight, deep research, and evocative prose that adds to his illustrious career as a chronicler of the 20th century, Antony Beevor''s Rasputin not only captures the mysterious Siberian holy man in all his bizarre complexity - the feverish religiosity, the preening ambition, the drunken lust as well as the sincere concern for the peasantry and fear of war - but also paints a vivid portrait of tsarist Russia hurtling toward the abyss. A must read for understanding the epic downfall of the Romanov dynasty
Biographical note:
Antony Beevor is the author of thirteen works of non-fiction, including Crete (1991), which was awarded a Runciman Prize; Stalingrad (1998), which won the first Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden Prize for Literature; and D-Day (2009), which received the Prix Henry Malherbe in France and the Westminster Medal, and was a no. 1 bestseller in seven countries. His most recent work is the 2022 Sunday Times bestseller Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917-1921. Educated at Sandhurst, Beevor served as regular officer with the 11th Hussars, leaving the Army after five years to write.