Question by Luke Skywalker: How was Grigori Rasputin able to bring down the Romanov dynasty?
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Answer by tennispimpster
He first entered the spotlight in Russia when he “cured” Czarevich Alexei’s hemophilia (then a pretty fatal illness). He obviously became very popular with the Czar and Czarina because of that. He used this power for his own advantage and often influenced political decisions. He also brought several of his friends to positions of power. Another thing that was controversial during that time was Rasputin’s personality itself. Being a dirty, sexual (he raped a nun) womanizer, he brought a trail of controversy whereever he went.
Now, you may say that those are just things that he was and there was no way he could bring down a whole dynasty. But he did. With someone like Rasputin making political decisions (he was also suspected of having an affair with Czarina Alexandra), the people of Russia started paying more attention to them and Rasputin almost never drew positive attention. Soon, faith in the Romanov family died and people conspired to have them all, including Rasputin, killed. In the end, they did. Rasputin was killed by Felix Y (a noble) and some of his partners. The Romanov familiy was killed by revolutionaries.
So basically, Rasputin lowered faith in the Romanov family among the people of Russia and many of them took it into their own hands.
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Mrs. Schneider says
I suppose I could be a real smart ass and suggest that you use the Force, Luke Skywalker. However I'll be nice.
Grigori Rasputin didn't purposefully bring down the Romanov's, he merely made a bad situation worse. When Alexei was born in 1904, he inherited Hemophilia from his mother Alexandra. This condition is the blood's inability to clot properly and even the slightest fall or bruise could lead to massive eternal bleeding that left the young boy in horrendous pains. The court doctors meanwhile, were mostly powerless to stop or even help. In 1905 a family friend Anna Vyrubova introduced Rasputin to the Tsarina who was desperate for help for her son. It's still debated how or what the supposed "Holy Man" did to help the boy, theories range from hypnosis, to herbal medicines, to plain common sense, but however he did it, Alexei improved and the grateful mother (already unpopular because of her German birth and painfully shy personality) began to relay more on more on his advice. At the start of WWI, Nicholas went to front to command the troops, leaving Alexandra to rule the government. Alone, intensley disliked, and completely unprepared to run a goverment (let alone one at war) Alexandra began taking advice from Gregori and Gregori alone. Rumors flew that the Tsarina was having an affair, while explicit and degrating flyers flew around St. Petersburg and other large cities.