Just before the First World War a shaggy, unkempt, malodorous person from the Siberian provinces of Russia pretending to be a prophet and a saint, appeared at the imperial palace in Petrograd. He claimed he was the only one who could ‘cure’ the young son of the royal Ronamoff family, who was dying of hemophilia.

Grigori Rasputin seemed almost designed to become a legend. A rough Siberian peasant with piercing eyes, a tangled beard, and the manner of a wandering prophet, he entered the glittering court of Imperial Russia and somehow became indispensable to the most powerful family in the country. His rise was astonishing. Rasputin appeared to calm the terrifying bleeding attacks of the young heir, Alexei. Empress Alexandra came to believe that this strange holy man had been sent by God to save her son. That belief gave Rasputin extraordinary access to the royal family—and enormous influence.

Outside the palace, however, his reputation was explosive. Stories spread of drunken binges, sexual affairs, wild parties, and female admirers drawn to his religious charisma. He preached repentance while allegedly indulging in the very sins he condemned. Enemies accused him of taking bribes, arranging favors, and using his connection to the royal family for personal advantage. The rumors became even more poisonous during World War I. Critics claimed that Rasputin was manipulating the empress and meddling in government appointments while Russia suffered military disasters and political chaos. Fantastic tales circulated that he was Alexandra’s lover, a German agent, or the secret power behind the throne. Much of this was propaganda and gossip, but the damage was devastating.

By 1916, a group of aristocrats decided Rasputin had to die. According to the famous story, they poisoned him with cyanide, shot him when the poison failed, watched in horror as he rose again, shot him repeatedly, and finally threw his body into an icy river. That dramatic version (above) is almost certainly somewhat ‘embellished.’ But the legend endured, turning Rasputin into a symbol of decadence, corruption, mysticism, and the approaching collapse of Imperial Russia.

The Romanoffs abdicated, were then taken captive, and murdered. Russia withdrew from the World War. It took its armies off the battlefields of central Europe. It descended into chaos, and ultimately a protracted and bloody revolution. Less that one year later, the nation emerged as the USSR with Vladimir Lennin as President.