(Generally, this is a
readable and interesting addition to the literature around the Russian
Revolution – and the “mad monk Rasputin. Review by Margaret von Klemperer,
courtesy of The Witness)
Antony Beevor is a well-respected historian, and here he
turns his attention to the extraordinary character of Grigory Rasputin and his
role in bringing about the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the
ruling Romanov dynasty.
On the one hand, he seems a curious choice of subject for another book – Rasputin and the Romanovs have been dug over almost ad nauseam, and you wonder what new information there can be to reveal. And in truth, there isn’t much.
Nevertheless, Beevor’s book is a good retelling of the story, and he emphasises all the way through that rumour, conspiracy theories and gossip are often more powerful – and more destructive – than facts. This is something we would do well to remember in these days of social media. It wasn’t only fake news that brought down the Romanov regime, but it certainly played a big role.
In Beevor’s telling, Tsar Nicholas and his wife, the Anglo-German Tsarina Alexandra were an extraordinarily hapless couple. Neither was very bright, and neither had received any training for the roles they came to occupy. In a way, they were set up to fail – revolution would probably have come to Russia without Rasputin, but once the humourless and inept Tsarina was in thrall to him, the writing was certainly on the wall. Whether his “cures” of the haemophiliac Tsarevich were a lucky coincidence, or something more, what mattered was that the Tsarina was convinced – and the Tsar was too much of a moral coward to go against his wife.
Rasputin himself is something of an enigma, and in the century and more since his deeply gruesome murder, the myths surrounding him have grown to an extent that it seems to be almost impossible to really understand him. Beevor does his best, but Rasputin still seems to be a somewhat ill-defined character. Was he in fact sincere in his beliefs, or was he a pure charlatan? It seems that the jury is still out, and will probably remain so.
Russian high society, into which he managed to insert himself, was a curious mixture of the weirdly permissive and the rigidly correct. The first category was one that Rasputin embraced wholeheartedly, and he must have been extremely charismatic – although pictures and descriptions do make that seem somewhat surprising. And with the backing of the royal couple, he could behave pretty much as he wanted.
The assassination of Rasputin was utterly shambolic as well as vicious, though it came too late to save the regime. But as Beevor makes plain, the main damage was done by the perception of Rasputin’s power over the Tsarina. That, in the eyes of the public, fatally undermined belief in an autocratic regime – and if it is not believed in, autocracy is probably bound to fail.
As in many books on Russia, wading through the Russian names, and nicknames, is something of a problem for the reader. But generally, this is a readable and interesting addition to the literature around the Russian Revolution – and the “mad monk” Rasputin. – Margaret von Klemperer
Rasputin and the Downfall of the Romanovs by Antony Beevor is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson - ISBN 978-1-3996-3337-6
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