Rasputin, Grigori Efimovich

b. 1872; d.1916

Russian mystic, who played a fatal role during the last years of the empire. Born a Siberian peasant, Rasputin was ignorant and licentious, but was credited by all those who met him with powers of hypnotism and clairvoyance. Introduced to the imperial court in 1905, he apparently on several occasions saved the life of the heir to the throne (who suffered from haemophilia) and thus gained unlimited influence over the Empress.

During the First World War, when Nicholas II was at the front, Rasputin practically ruled Russia through ministers appointed on his recommendation after he had secured the dismissal of all the liberal ministers. This scandalised the public, and after all attempts to remove Rasputin had failed, he was murdered at a dinner party by two relatives of the Emperor and the leading right-wing Duma member Purishkevich.

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