there lived a certain man in russia long
ago he was big and strong in his eyes a
flaming glow
most people looked at him with terror
and fear but to moscow chicks
he was such a lovely deer do not dismiss
those lines as just some funky disco
song from the 80s
these are cold hard facts about the most
influential person
that ever existed in imperial russia
gregory rasputin was a man of mystic
charms and unrestrained power the monk
of the russian orthodox church was a
close friend
counsel and healer for the family of
nicholas ii
the last emperor of russia but apart
from all those entitlements
he was also a very hard man kill he was
such a tough soul to die
that even five assassination attempts in
a single night could not kill him
entirely
today we are going to take a look at all
those efforts that it took to kill the
unkillable monk of russia
but before we begin make sure you do not
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videos about the nuttier events and
personalities
from human history back in 1916
nicholas ii might have been ruling
russia but his own family was in control
of a monk
who came into their lives on the
pretense of healing the emperor's son
however soon rasputin became influential
enough to have a say in the country's
administration
as nicholas ii left saint petersburg to
oversee russia's dwindling campaign in
the first world war
queen alexandra and her rumored lover
rasputin took over the duties of
day-to-day affairs in the royal court
his presence soon became a divisive
matter among noblemen
he was accused of corruption heresy and
rape
by his political opponents rumors about
his affair with serena alexandra
and his grasp over star nicholas ii's
decision-making
were spreading like wildfire among the
common masses
russian prime minister peter stoilepin
and the czar secret police launched an
investigation into rasputin's activities
with his findings store le pen
confronted the tsar about rasputin
but failed to convince r to apprehend
rasputin and remove the monks influence
from the government but the prime
minister did not succeed
concerned about the rapidly declining
economy the state of the war
and the removal of feudalism encouraged
some noblemen to conspire
for the death of gregory rasputin in the
winter of the year 1916.
but rasputin was not an easy man to kill
he was rumored to somehow always know
who was plotting against him
and he succeeded every time and
thwarting any attempt of his
assassination
before they happened one peasant woman
named gionya guseva
actually managed to stab him in 1914
but somehow rasputin survived the near
fatal injury against everybody's
expectation
rasputin's sheer will for survival would
again make him nearly unkillable
on the night of december 16 1916
that is the date when prince felix
yusupolf grand duke dimitri pavlovich
right-wing politician vladimir
purushkovic and their followers will try
to kill gregory rasputin
again and again and again only to still
find him warm and breathing
let's have a look at all the ways these
noblemen tried to kill rasputin
the conspirators came up with an idea of
throwing a dinner party and inviting
rasputin to poison him
the method was simple and effective as
far as history goes
they even convinced prince yusuf's wife
to lure rasputin to the party hosted at
the prince's home
after arriving at the party rasputin
first refused to eat or drink
anything but after getting comfortable
with the other party-goers
he was soon devouring pastries and wine
laced with cyanide
it was reported rasputin consumed enough
cyanide that would have killed
five men however to the shock of
conspirators
rasputin was not even mildly affected
even hours after
he was seemingly enjoying the party
without any symptom of being poisoned
prince yusupolf was now losing his mind
so he decided to consult with other
conspirators
they decided he needs to be shot and so
yusuf returned to rasputin and suggested
a tour of the house to which rasputin
gladly agreed
rasputin was admiring a statue of
crucification when you suppose shot him
in the back
from behind rasputin stumbled and fell
on the ground as the conspirators rushed
to surround him
they all saw him jerk convulsively for
one time before he
fell still everybody cheered
and started congratulating yusupov as
they all walk back to the party to
celebrate
the second part of the plan was simple
wait for later in the night
to dump the body without any chance of
witnesses
after an hour of shooting rasputin
prince usopol started to feel
uneasy he felt the urge to check on the
body again and again
and eventually he could not resist the
ill feeling
anymore when yusupov went back to check
the body to his surprise
he found rasputin still warm and his
eyes fluttering
shocked at what he saw prince yusupov
panicked and ran out of the room
shouting he is alive
he is alive as rasputin sprang on his
feet and started running out of the
house
peruscovich still had his gun on him so
he ran after rasputin
after realizing what was happening
despite his trembling hands
purushkovic finally landed a shot in
rasputin's
on which he staggered but kept walking
ruskovich then managed to shoot rasputin
ahead with the next bullet on which the
monk finally fell again
on the sidewalk they brought rasputin's
body back inside after shooting him
and they still found him breathing the
man simply refused to die
yusuf was so furious at this moment that
he found a two-pound dumbbell and
started smashing rasputin's face with it
peruscovich joined in and started
kicking rasputin in the head
some conspirators also took their turn
to beat whatever life was left in
rasputin
however it was yusuf whose agitation
began to scare others
and they had to pull him off rasputin by
then
the prince was splattered with
rasputin's blood all over his face
and clothes the scuffle and gunshots had
gained some attention on the street
and the police officer on the beat
knocked on prince's door
to check what was going on the grand
duke and pariskovich used their
political intimidation to turn the
police officer away
but to their surprise when they returned
to the body to get rid of it
they heard an audible moan from
rasputin's supposed corpse
he was simply not dead
with their hands on their knees
conspirators were now unable to think of
any other way to kill gregory rasputin
so they decided to throw him in the neva
river
that is where they had planned to dump
his dead body anyway so all they had to
do was make sure he drowns
and hopefully dies it was almost dawn so
they tied still breathing rasputin's
arms and legs with ropes and wrapped his
body with a heavy cloth
yusuf stayed at home to clean himself up
but
the rest of the conspirators carried the
body to the car
and then sped off to the river they
heaved rasputin over the side of the
bridge
however in their haste they forgot to
weigh him down with something heavy
to make sure he drowns this is where the
mystery of rasputin's death
gets interesting contrary to the
official autopsy report
a lot of witnesses reported that when
rasputin was found in an ice hole on
december 19
his hands were untied and frozen which
showed signs of a struggle underwater to
untie himself
which means rasputin was not killed by
drowning either
it was said that what actually killed
him in the end
was hypothermia so poison
three bullets a hell of a beating and
some water in the lungs
could not kill grigori rasputin it was a
cold
that eventually won the battle of life
and death against a very stubborn
rasputin
today a lot of historians blame
rasputin's reputation
and notoriety for the growth of
discredit and discontent
against the monarchs of russia and the
eventual overthrow
of the tsarist government which happened
mere weeks after his death
rasputin himself had proclaimed once to
nicholas ii
if i'm killed by common masses your
monarchy will last
centuries but if the nobleman killed me
your family's rule
will end with you it is quite amazing
how accurate that prophecy turned out to
be today historians still debate
about his mysterious death while
forensic experts argue over how rasputin
manages to survive
poison bullets and bludgeoning and still
remains alive
and we all wonder how russian history
would have been altered
if rasputin had survived in the river so
what do you think were rasputin's
assassins really that incompetent
or did rasputin actually have mystical
powers to keep him alive
tell us in the comments what you would
have done if you were in his place
and after that don't forget to check out
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