Episodes
Rasputin's Secret War: The German Spy Panic
In 1916, as the Russian Empire teetered on the brink of collapse, a different kind of war was being waged in the shadows of St. Petersburg. This episode moves beyond the sensational myths of Rasputin as a mere mystic or sexual deviant to examine how he became the central figure in a frantic political conspiracy theory: the accusation that he was a paid agent of Kaiser Wilhelm II. We explore the origins of this panic, the role of the Union of the Russian People and their leader Alexander…
Rasputin's Lost Daughter and the Truth About Matryona
For decades, the story of Grigori Rasputin has been defined by his influence over the Imperial Court and the sensational rumors surrounding his death. But while the spotlight was fixed on Tsarskoye Selo, a different tragedy unfolded in the remote Siberian village of Pokrovskoye. This episode shifts the lens to Rasputin’s biological daughter, Matryona, whose life offers a haunting counter-narrative to the mystic’s political rise. We explore how the Okhrana’s surveillance files, specifically…
Rasputin's Secret War: The German Spy Panic of 1916
By late 1916, Petrograd was suffocating under a paranoia that had nothing to do with military strategy and everything to do with rumor. This episode explores the explosive 'German Spy Panic' that gripped the Russian court and capital, focusing on how Rasputin became the primary scapegoat for Russia’s crumbling war effort. We examine the role of the Union of the Russian People and their leader Alexander Dubrovinsky, who weaponized anti-Semitic conspiracy theories like the Protocols of the Elders…
Rasputin's Secret War: The German Spy Panic of 1916
By late 1916, the Russian Empire was fracturing under the weight of World War I, and Grigori Rasputin had become the lightning rod for every conspiracy theory imaginable. While previous episodes have explored his Siberian roots and political influence, this episode dives into the specific panic of 1916 regarding German espionage. We examine how the Union of the Russian People and the Black Hundreds weaponized anti-German sentiment, linking Rasputin to the infamous Protocols of the Elders of…
Rasputin's Secret War: The German Spy Panic of 1916
By late 1916, Grigori Rasputin was not just a mystic at the Tsar's side but a central figure in a terrifying political conspiracy. This episode explores how the Okhrana and the Black Hundreds weaponized rumors of German sympathy to turn Rasputin into a nationalist symbol against his will. We examine the role of Aliksandrina Fyodorovna, the distribution of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and how the Union of the Russian People manipulated public fear to pressure Nicholas II. Through the…
Rasputin’s Last Letter to the Tsar
In this episode, we look past the myths of mysticism and murder to examine Grigori Rasputin’s final months in late 1916. While historians have long debated his influence over the Imperial family, we focus on a specific, overlooked artifact: a handwritten letter Rasputin sent to Tsar Nicholas II just days before his death. This document reveals not political maneuvering or occult warnings, but a desperate plea for peace and a profound sense of impending doom. We explore how Rasputin viewed the…
Rasputin's Siberian Bank: The Man Who Lended to Russia
We’ve covered Rasputin’s mysticism, his political maneuvers, and the rumors that swirled around him for decades. But in this episode of Fexingo History, we’re looking at a side of Grigori Rasputin that rarely makes it into the popular narrative: his role as a lender. Using documents from the Chrezvychaynaya Sledstvennaya Komissiya, Lucas and Luna explore how Rasputin used his connections to Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna to secure loans from the Moscow Merchant Bank. We look…
Rasputin's 1916 Political Crisis and the German Spy Panic
By late 1916, Grigori Rasputin had become the central figure in a growing political crisis that threatened to destabilize the Russian Empire. While earlier episodes explored his spiritual influence and peasant roots, this episode examines how his relationship with Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna became a liability during World War I. We look at the specific accusations of German sympathies, the role of the Black Hundreds and their newspaper Novoye Vremya, and how political…
Rasputin's Lost Daughter and the Truth About Matryona
While history obsesses over Grigori Rasputin’s death, it largely ignores his family left behind in Siberia. This episode shifts focus to his eldest daughter, Matryona, tracing her life from the remote village of Pokrovskoye to the turbulent years following the Bolshevik Revolution. We examine how she navigated exile in Petrograd and later Paris, challenging the narrative that she was merely a footnote or a victim of her father’s scandal. By looking at archival records and her own limited…
Rasputin's Siberian Bank: The Man Who Lended to Russia
While most accounts focus on Rasputin’s political influence or his violent death, this episode explores the economic engine that sustained him: his role as a private banker and land speculator in late Imperial Russia. We examine how Grigori Rasputin used his connections to the Tsarist court to secure loans from the State Bank and the Moscow Merchant Bank, leveraging his status as a peasant mystic to accumulate significant wealth. The narrative details specific transactions, including the…
Rasputin's Siberian Village: The Roots of Power
While history remembers Rasputin as a Petrograd manipulator or a murdered mystic, his true influence began in the frozen isolation of Pokrovskoye. This episode traces his early life as a pilgrim and trader, exploring how the harsh realities of Siberian peasant life shaped his worldview long before he reached the imperial court. We examine the role of the mir, the local economy of timber and salt, and the specific religious practices that defined his community. By understanding the economic…
Rasputin and the German Spy Panic of 1916
By early 1916, World War I had ground Russia into a bloody stalemate, and suspicion turned inward toward the imperial court. While previous episodes explored Rasputin’s spiritual influence and his brutal murder, this episode examines how he became the central figure in a geopolitical panic: the accusation that Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna was a German sympathizer and that Rasputin was actively sabotaging the war effort on behalf of Kaiser Wilhelm II. We trace the origins of these rumors to the…
Rasputin's Secret Network: The Okhrana’s Double Agent
While history remembers Grigori Rasputin as a rogue mystic who manipulated the Russian court, recent declassifications of Okhrana files reveal a far more calculated reality. This episode explores how Imperial Russia’s secret police didn't just watch Rasputin—they actively cultivated him as a double agent to monitor the royal family and discredit political rivals. We dive into the complex web of intelligence involving Alexei Loman, the head of the Moscow Okhrana, who used Rasputin’s influence in…
Rasputin's Siberian Roots and the Peasant World
Before he was a mystic in St. Petersburg, Grigori Rasputin was a peasant from Pokrovskoye in Tobolsk Governorate. This episode explores the specific social and religious environment of late 19th-century Siberia that shaped his worldview. We examine how the mir system, or peasant commune, influenced his communal thinking, and look at the phenomenon of the yurodivy, or holy fool, which provided a cultural script for his behavior. Lucas and Luna discuss the role of local pilgrimages to Verkhoturye…
Rasputin's Siberian Roots and the Peasant World
Before he became the infamous 'Mad Monk' haunting the Romanov court, Grigori Rasputin was a peasant from the remote village of Pokrovskoye in western Siberia. This episode explores the specific cultural, religious, and economic conditions of late 19th-century Siberian village life that shaped his worldview. We examine the role of the mir (peasant commune), the practice of pilgrimage to Verkhoturye, and the complex social dynamics of Siberian exiles who blended into local communities. By…
Rasputin's Groom: The Okhrana's Man in the Palace
Before the murder, before the myth, Grigori Rasputin had a shadow — a groom named Alexei Vladimir, hired by the Okhrana to watch his every move. In this episode, Lucas and Luna untangle the strange, intimate surveillance that shaped Rasputin's last years. From the stables at Tsarskoye Selo to the back rooms of the Okhrana, they trace how the secret police embedded a spy in the starets' daily life, what that spy actually reported, and why the Tsar's court — so desperate for control — ended up…
Rasputin's Political Weapon: The Okhrana Files
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna dig into Grigori Rasputin's double life as an informant for the Okhrana, the tsarist secret police. Drawing on the work of historian Douglas Smith and the testimony of Alexei Loman, they examine how Rasputin's reports to the police shaped his access to the imperial family, how the Okhrana manipulated his reputation, and how his secret collaboration undercut his standing with the Orthodox Church and the radical right. They trace his rise from…
Rasputin's Secular Fall: The Volkov Affair
In the winter of 1914, Rasputin was no longer just a starets healing the young Tsarevich; he was a force in the corridors of power, feared and hated across Petrograd. But a single, seemingly minor incident—an intercepted telegram from a Baltic German woman named Elisaveta Volkov—would expose a network of influence that reached into the highest circles of the Russian government. In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the Volkov affair, the Okhrana's surveillance files, and the moment the…
Rasputin's Last Days: A Saint-Making Machine
In February 1917, Rasputin had been dead for two months, but his name still burned across Petrograd. This episode goes beyond the murder at the Moika Palace to trace what happened next: how the corpse of a Siberian peasant became a political weapon, how the Provisional Government's Extraordinary Investigative Commission dug through his letters and his bathhouse, and how a strange cult of veneration grew up around his grave at Tsarskoye Selo. We look at the witnesses who came forward, the…
Rasputin and the Russian Peasant World
In this episode, Lucas and Luna step back from the imperial palaces to explore the Russian peasant world that shaped Grigori Rasputin. They discuss the mir, the village commune, the impact of the 1861 emancipation, and the peasant messianism that made a Siberian wanderer believable as a holy man. Drawing on primary sources like the zemstvo reports and recent works by Orlando Figes and Christine Worobec, they examine how Rasputin's peasant identity played in both the drawing rooms of St.…
Rasputin's Siberian Mission: The Verkhoturye Pilgrimage
Before Rasputin was the mad monk of Petrograd, he was a restless Siberian peasant who walked hundreds of miles to the Verkhoturye Monastery. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace that early pilgrimage—what drew him there, what he found, and how his years at the monastery shaped the starets who would later bewilder the Romanov court. We look at the monastery's relics, its austere rule, the starets Makariy and the hermits of the Ural forests, and the old believer communities that gave Rasputin…
Rasputin's Siberian Exile
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore a lesser-known chapter in the life of Grigori Rasputin: his 1914 exile to Pokrovskoye after the assassination attempt by Khionia Guseva. We trace the events leading to the stabbing, the political fallout in St. Petersburg, and how Rasputin's convalescence in Siberia actually strengthened his influence on the tsar and tsarina. We also examine the role of the Khlysty sect in his Siberian world, the meaning of yurodivy, and how the exile…
Rasputin's Siberian Roots: Pokrovskoye Village Life
In this episode of the Rasputin series, we trace Grigori Rasputin's early life back to the Siberian village of Pokrovskoye. We explore the harsh geography of Tobolsk province, the rhythms of peasant life, his family's status and religious practices, and the folk healing traditions that shaped his later reputation. We also examine how the village — with its wooden houses, church, and river — became a pilgrimage site after his rise, and how the Romanovs' fall cast a shadow over it. Through…
Rasputin's Daughter Matryona: A Life in Exile
After her father's murder in 1916, Matryona Rasputin escaped revolutionary Russia and built a new life in the West — as a circus performer, a nightclub hostess, a memoirist, and eventually a widow with a poisoned legacy. In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace her journey from Pokrovskoye to Petrograd, through the chaos of 1917, and into the cabarets of Paris and the dance floors of New York. Along the way they examine what her memoirs and interviews reveal about Rasputin as a father, how she…
Rasputin's Shadow: The Khlysty Sect Accusation
Did Rasputin belong to the Khlysty, a banned mystical sect accused of ecstatic rituals and self-flagellation? This episode digs into the accusations that followed him from his Siberian village to the imperial court, and how the Orthodox Church and his enemies used them as a political weapon. We trace the origins of the Khlysty, their beliefs, and the evidence—or lack of it—that Rasputin was ever a member. We also explore how the scandal shaped his reputation, fed the Romanovs' enemies, and…
Rasputin's Enemies: The Radical Right and the Dark Hundred
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore Rasputin's unlikely role as a bogeyman for the Russian far right. Before the revolutions of 1917, the Black Hundred movement—a network of monarchist, antisemitic vigilante groups—saw the Siberian mystic as a symbol of everything corrupting the Tsar's court. We trace how figures like Vladimir Purishkevich, a founding member of the Union of the Russian People, first embraced Rasputin as a defender of autocracy, then turned on him with venomous pamphlets and…
Rasputin's Rival: The Dark Tale of Iliodor
In the years before Grigori Rasputin's murder, a red-haired firebrand priest named Hieromonk Iliodor was his most dangerous enemy. Once a friend and disciple, Iliodor turned against the starets and waged a war of denunciation and violence, even attempting a half-hearted assassination. This episode digs into Iliodor's rise and fall, his alliance with Bishop Hermogen, the scandalous 'letter of the mother' that almost destroyed the tsarina, and the strange aftermath where Iliodor fled Russia to…
Rasputin and the Orthodox Church: A Fallen Shepherd
In Episode 208 of Rasputin: Mystic, Manipulator, or Political Weapon?, we explore Rasputin's tangled relationship with the Russian Orthodox Church. From his early years as a wandering staretz to his clash with church authorities and the Holy Synod, we see how a peasant mystic became both a beloved confessor and a scandalous figure. We look at key figures like Bishop Hermogen and Hieromonk Iliodor, his visits to monasteries like Verkhoturye and Optina, and the church's failed attempts to silence…
Rasputin's Murder Weapon: The Poison Plot Exposed
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the most notorious detail of Rasputin's murder: the poison plot. They examine the cyanide-laced cakes and Madeira wine prepared by Felix Yusupov at the Moika Palace on the night of December 16/17, 1916, and confront the puzzle of why Rasputin seemed unaffected. Was it the poison itself, the way it was administered, or something else? They trace the forensic evidence gathered by the Extraordinary Investigative Commission, weigh the testimony of…
Rasputin's Murder in Art: Propaganda and Memory
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore how Rasputin's murder was transformed into propaganda by both the Romanovs' defenders and the Bolsheviks. They discuss the famous painting by Vladimir Makovsky, the role of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission in shaping public memory, and how the image of the 'mad monk' was used to discredit the imperial family. The conversation also covers the aftermath of the murder, including the fates of the conspirators and the shifting narratives in Soviet…
Rasputin's Women: The Petrograd Admirers
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore Rasputin's relationships with the women of Petrograd's high society, from loyal followers like Anna Vyrubova to the aristocratic ladies who sought his blessing. They discuss the phenomenon of 'rasputinism' in the salons, the accusations of impropriety, and the investigative files of the Okhrana that tried to document his influence. The hosts examine how Rasputin's charisma and reputation for healing created a cult of personality that…
Rasputin's Ghost: How His Death Haunted the Fall of the Romanovs
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore the shadow Rasputin cast after his death. They trace how his murder in December 1916 became a weapon in the hands of the Romanovs' enemies, how his influence outlived him in the Tsarina's letters, and how the Provisional Government's 1917 investigation—led by Nikolai Muravyov—tried to use his corpse and his legacy to bury the dynasty. Along the way, they uncover the strange afterlife of the starets: the mysterious burning of his body…
Rasputin's Murder: The Moika Palace Conspiracy
In this episode of Rasputin: Mystic, Manipulator, or Political Weapon?, Lucas and Luna revisit the night of December 17, 1916, when a group of aristocrats lured Grigori Rasputin to the Moika Palace in Petrograd. They examine the conspirators' motives—Prince Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich—and trace the sequence of events: the poisoned cakes, the gunshots, the body in the Malaya Nevka. But they also unpack the many myths that have grown around the murder…
Rasputin's Death Mask: The Myth-Making After Murder
In the months and years after Grigori Rasputin was killed in December 1916, his image underwent a startling transformation. From a disgraced holy man in life, he became a martyr, a saint, and a symbol of a lost Russia. This episode traces the afterlife of Rasputin's reputation through the testimony of his killers, the memories of his daughter Matryona, and the propaganda of both the Whites and the Reds. We examine how the legends of his invincibility—the poison, the bullets, the water—grew out…
Rasputin and the Tsarina's Confidante: Anna Vyrubova
In this episode of Rasputin: Mystic, Manipulator, or Political Weapon?, Lucas and Luna peel back the layers of one of the most misunderstood figures in the Romanov saga: Anna Vyrubova, the Tsarina's closest friend and a devoted follower of Grigori Rasputin. Through Anna's diaries and the testimony she gave to the Extraordinary Investigative Commission in 1917, we trace how a shy, devout courtier became the indispensable bridge between Alexandra and the starets. We explore Anna's childhood…
Rasputin's Murderers: The Conspirators' Aftermath
Episode 200 of Fexingo's Rasputin series looks beyond the Moika Palace basement to what happened to the men who killed Grigori Rasputin. Felix Yusupov, Vladimir Purishkevich, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich expected to save the monarchy; instead they were exiled or sidelined, and their act became a symbol of the regime's decay. Drawing on Okhrana reports, the Extraordinary Investigative Commission, and memoirs, Lucas and Luna trace the conspirators' fates through exile, revolution, and war, and…
Rasputin's Healer Rival: Dr. Badmaev's Tibetan Clinic
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the shadowy world of Dr. Pyotr Badmaev, the Buryat-Mongol physician whose Tibetan remedies and political cunning made him a pivotal figure in Rasputin's circle. We trace Badmaev's rise from a Siberian Buddhist to a Petersburg doctor beloved by the Romanovs, his secret clinic on Pokrovsky Island, and his controversial 'zashka' — a stimulant that may have fueled Rasputin's excesses. We examine how Badmaev used his connections to sell fraudulent railway…
Rasputin and the Okhrana: The Secret Police Files
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna dive into the Okhrana files on Grigori Rasputin, exploring how the tsarist secret police tracked the starets from his Siberian village of Pokrovskoye to the salons of Petrograd. They examine the surveillance reports, the bodyguards, the wiretaps, and the informants who shadowed Rasputin's every move, revealing a man who was both protected and hunted by the state. The conversation uncovers the strange relationship between Rasputin and his…
Rasputin and the Secret Police: The Okhrana Files
In this episode, Lucas and Luna dig into the Okhrana's secret files on Grigori Rasputin — the surveillance reports, the agents who watched him, the spy who became his friend, and the questions those files raise about how much the secret police really knew. From the first shadowing in 1910 to the final reports before the assassination, we piece together a Rasputin the public never saw: a man who drank, prayed, and schemed under the eye of the state. Learn how the Okhrana's own records — later…
Rasputin's Final Warning: The Letter That Predicted His Death
In 1914, Grigori Rasputin wrote a chilling letter to Tsar Nicholas II, warning that he would be killed by the end of 1916 and that the Romanov dynasty would fall within two years. This episode examines the authenticity of that letter, its contents, and the context in which it was written. We explore Rasputin's prophetic self-awareness, the political intrigue of the time, and how the letter was used after his death. Discover the origins of the letter, the debates over its authenticity, and the…
Rasputin's Healer: Dr. Badmaev and the Tibetan Pharmacy
In this episode, Lucas and Luna step away from the palaces and the Okhrana to explore the strange medical world around Rasputin: the Tibetan pharmacy of Dr. Pyotr Badmaev on Pokrovsky Island. We trace how a Buryat Mongol healer, trained in Tibetan medicine, became a trusted friend of the royal family and a crucial ally to Rasputin. Badmaev dispensed herbs, powders, and a notorious love potion called 'the zashka' — a tonic Rasputin regularly gulped down. Was he a genuine healer, a clever…
Rasputin's Grip on the Romanovs: The Petersburg Salons
In this episode, Lucas and Luna explore the glittering, gossip-soaked world of Petersburg's aristocratic salons — the drawing rooms where Grigori Rasputin's legend was spun before it ever reached the front. We trace how a self-taught Siberian peasant, with no court polish, navigated the capital's most exclusive circles, winning over society hostesses like Princess Zinaida Yusupova and the Grand Duchesses, even as the Okhrana tracked his every move. We meet the key intermediaries — Anna…
Rasputin's Demons: The Epilepsy That Shaped a Mystic
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna explore the medical and psychological mysteries behind Grigori Rasputin's extraordinary abilities. From his alleged epilepsy to his supposed hypnotic gaze, they examine how a Siberian peasant with a possible brain injury became one of history's most enigmatic figures. Drawing on the work of contemporary physicians and modern neurologists, they weigh the evidence for temporal lobe epilepsy, syphilis, and even psychopathy, while considering how…
Rasputin and the Tsarina: Alexandra's Private Letters
In this episode of Fexingo History, Lucas and Luna dive into the private letters between Rasputin and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna — a correspondence that reveals the strange intimacy of their spiritual bond. They explore Rasputin's role as a healer and confessor, the Tsarina's desperate reliance on him during the war, and how their coded language ('Friend', 'Mama') masked a politically explosive relationship. The episode examines specific letters from 1915-1916, including Rasputin's telegrams…
Rasputin's Body and the Romanov Endgame
After the assassination at Moika Palace, what happened to Rasputin's body? In this episode, Lucas and Luna trace the strange journey of the corpse — from the icy Malaya Nevka to a forest clearing near Tsarskoye Selo, where it was buried in secret, disinterred during the February Revolution, and ultimately burned amid rumors of a peasant rising. Along the way, they explore the political symbolism of Rasputin's death: how Felix Yusupov and his co-conspirators tried to purge the 'dark forces' by…
Rasputin's Siberian Village: Pokrovskoye Revealed
In this episode, Lucas and Luna step back from the Petrograd salons and imperial palaces to the muddy banks of the Tura River, where Grigori Rasputin's story begins. We explore the village of Pokrovskoye in Siberia — a place of wooden izbas, horse-trading, and Orthodox piety — and how it shaped the man who would later haunt the Russian court. We meet his father Efim, his wife Praskovya, and the local clergy who first suspected him of heresy. We look at the village's economy, its distance from…
Rasputin and the Cossacks: The Holy Man's Military Allies
Most people know Rasputin as a mystic at the Romanov court, but his influence reached deep into the Siberian Cossack communities. In this episode, we explore how Rasputin's roots in Pokrovskoye, a village in Tobolsk province with strong Cossack traditions, forged lifelong bonds with the Cossack military class. From blessing troops before deployment to the appointment of Colonel Dmitry Loman as his personal bodyguard and liaison, the Cossacks were both protectors and tools of surveillance. After…
Rasputin and the Progressive Bloc: Duma's Last Stand
In the summer of 1915, as Russian armies retreated and the Tsar took personal command, a coalition of liberal and conservative deputies formed the Progressive Bloc in the Duma. Their demands — a government of public confidence, an end to Rasputin's interference — posed the last real chance for constitutional reform before revolution. This episode unpacks the Bloc's formation, its key figures (Pavel Milyukov, Alexander Guchkov, Vasily Maklakov), and Milyukov's thunderous November 1916 speech…
Rasputin's Siberian Origins: From Peasant to Starets
In this episode of the Fexingo History podcast, we trace Rasputin's early life before he became the infamous figure at the Russian court. Born in the remote Siberian village of Pokrovskoye in 1869, Grigori Rasputin was a peasant with a troubled youth, known locally as a horse thief. A pilgrimage to the Verkhoturye Monastery at age 28 set him on a spiritual path, where he studied under the elder Starets Makary. We explore his conversion, his travels across Russia as a wandering holy man, and his…
The Spala Crisis How Rasputin Saved the Heir
In October 1912, Tsarevich Alexei, heir to the Russian throne, lay bleeding internally at a hunting lodge in Spala, Poland. His hemophilia crisis was so severe that doctors gave him last rites. Desperate, Tsarina Alexandra telegrammed Grigori Rasputin in Siberia. His response—a few lines of prayer and a promise of recovery—coincided with the boy's sudden improvement. This episode unpacks the medical details, the family's anguish, the telegrams' exact wording, and the lasting fallout. We explore…
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