(1872-1918)
Part 4
Grand Duke Nicholas Nicholaievitch, a grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, was appointed Commander-in Chief of the Rusain army. He established his headqurters in Baranovichi, a Polish railway station located between the Austrian and German fronts. The camp was called Stavka. The Tsar frequently visited Stavka where he cohabited with the soldiers, which he greatly enjoyed; he used to take afternoon walks and in hot weather he rowed on the Dnieper, removing his blouse so that the sun could tan him. Sometimes he even took Alexis with him It was difficult for Alexandra to let his son to go to the headquarters with his father, but as Nicholas was decided to prepare his 11-year-old son to be the future Tsar, she had to accepted.
The first major battle took place in September 1914 at Tannenberg, in the Eastern Prussian front. The Russians, under General Alexander Samsonov and General Paul von Rennenkampf, fought against the German artillery and were beaten loosing half of their men. Deemoralized, Samsonov shot himself in the middle of the forest.
In the summer of 1915, at the German advance, Stavka had to be moved to Mogilev, a Russian town by the upper Dnieper. In December of that year, when Nicholas and Alexis were traveling by train to Galitsa to inspect some regiments of the Imperial Guard, the Tsarevitch began to bleed from the nose as a consecuence of a violent sneeze. The doctors couldn't stop the haemorrhage and Nicholas decided to go back to Mogilev. The next morning the boy had worsened and he was sent back to Tsarkoe Selo. Alexandra sent for Rasputin who arrived inmediately. When he entered Alexis's room he made the signal of the Cross over the sick boy and told the worried parents: "Don't be alarmed. Nothing would happen". then he left the room. The by fell asleep and the following morning he was all right. The doctors couldn't explain the cure and Nicholas returned to Moguilev.
Things at the front were not going well for Russia. the Germans were advancing at a rapid pace. On August 15 they took Warsaw and by the end of the summer 1,400,000 Russian soldiers had been killed or were wounded and 976,000 were prissoners. An anti-German feeling sprang out in the whole country, bringing in consequence a great impopularity to the Empress, who was herself a German. For her part, Alexandra devoted to nurse the wounded. She established a hospital in one wing of the Catherine Palace in Tsarkoe Selo. In late 1914 she and her eldest daughters, Olga and Tatiana had studied first aid as a preparator for their war work, during which they would live dreadful experiences which Alexandra relayted in her letters to Nicholas: "Three fingers were taken off today as blood poisoning had set in and they were quite rotten... This morning we were present (I help as always giving the instruments and Olga threaded the needles) at our firs big amptation; a whole arm was cut off... During an operation a soldier die..."
Alexandra had a personal hatred against Grand Duke Nicholas for several reasons: the Grand Duke, along with Seguei Witte, had influenced on Nicholas to create the Duma; she knew that he was the real strong man of the imperial family, overshadowing her husband; there were even rumours that he wnted to remove Nicholas from the throne, crowning himself as Tsar Nicholas III. But most of all, Alexandra's animosity towards the Grand uke was because he had sworn an implacable hatred against Rasputin, altough the peasant had once been under the Grand Duke's wife protection. Rasputin, in revange decided to fight against the Grand Duke; he advised Alexandra that Nicolasha (as the Grand Duke was called) was not good for the Russian army and that he was deliberatly overshadowing the Tsar to replaced him on the throne. How could Nicolasha suceed on the battlefield if he were not blessed by God buecause he had turned his back on Rasputin?
Alexandra sent a great amount of letters to her husband echoeing to Rasputin's arguments: Grand Duke Nicholas should be dismissed. But Nicholas in anyway shared his wife's point of view. he trusted and respected Nicolasha. Nevertheless, when the Russian army began to be beaten by the Germans and began to retreat, the Grand Duke's position wekened in the Tsar's opinion. When Warsaw fell in German hands Nicholas decided to take himself Nicolasha's place as commander-in-chief of the army. He sent the Grand Duke a letter announcing him he was taking his place and appointing him the Tsar's liutenant and commander-in -chief in the Caucasus. Nicolasha simply said: "God be praised. The Emperor releases me from a task which was weaving me out".
Nicholas left for Stavka leaving Alexandra at the head of the government. By her side was her friend Grigory Rasputin. During the Tsar's absence form St. Petersburg, minister were appointed and dismissed at Alexandra's and Rasputin's discernment. Men who respected and honoured Rasputin were "good men"; men who hated him were "bad". The "good men" were appointed for important charges in the government replacing the bad men, It didn't matter if they had or not any experience or were able or not for the new charge. They were acceptable if they simply favoured "Father Grigory".
When the Prime Minister, the old Ivan Goremykin, resigned his charge in 1916, Rasputin brought an almost unknown, mediocre man named Boris Sturmer, of dubious honesty and with a total lack of knowledge about state matters, to replace the old minister. The whole Russia and Goremykin himslef, were attonished when Sturmer was appointed Prime Minister in Februray 1916. Fearing that the Duma could reject the new minister, Rasputin suggested that the Tsar himself should appear before the Duma to present Sturmer. And indeed, in February 22, Nicholas had such a success when he appeared before the Duma, that the members forgot about Sturmer who was standing besides him.
Two other ministers were dismissed at Alexandra's and Rasputin's instance: Polivanov, the Minister of War who had succeded in trainning and equipping the army, and Sazonov, Minister of Foreign Relations. Both men were Rasputin's enemies. Sazonov was replaced by Sturmer himself, who added the charge the one of Prime Minister. On the other hand, Alexander Protopopov, vice-president of the Duma and friend of Rasputin, was appointed Minister of the Interior. This would be a disastrous appointment.
Without consulting Nicholas, Alexandra, Rasputin and Protopopov decided to transfere the food supplies from the Ministery of Agriculture to the Ministry of the Interior, so that Protopopov could have it in his hands. When Alexandra notified her husband what she and her friends had done, Nicholas acquised.
Not satisfied with having controlled the internal affairs, Alexandra and Rasputin began to interfere with militar strategies. In the summer of 1916, Alexandra wrote to her husband that Rasputin tought it would be better to stop the army's advance against Austria. Nicholas, at firts, decided to hear Rasputin's advice, then he changed his mind and and decided to go on with the advance. At last he ordered to stop the offensive. According to one of the Russian generals, to stop the offensive had been a premature decision.
The winter of 1916, was hard for Russia and the food supplies system had not been as efficient as it should had been. Nicholas was forced to dismissed Sturmer and his succesor, Alexander Trepov, was a zealous enemy of Rasputin. As a condition to accept the Ministery, Trepov made Nicholas to promise he would dismissed Protopopov. The Tsra wrote to his wife: "I feel sorry for Protopopov; he is a good and honest man, but a bit hesitant. It's risky to leave the Ministery of the Interior in such hands nowadays. I beg you not to drag Our Friend in this. This is only myresponsability and I wish to be free in my choice". Alexandra became desperate. She did all what she could to keep Rasputin's friends in their charges but she only suceeded with Protopopov, in whose case Trepov had lost. The nex minister tried to suborn Rasputin offering him money and a house in St. Petersburg if he arranged Protopopov's dismissal and he himself stopped his interference in political affairs. Rasputin just laughed at him.
All the Romanov Grand Dukes, generals and members of the Duma agreed that rasputin must be banished from the Imperial court. Alexandra's sister, Grand Duchess Elisabeth, tried to convince her sister of the harmful influence of Rasputin but the Empress cut the conversation and asked Elisabeth to leave. Grand Duke Nicholas Mijhailovictch, another grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, a prestigious historian and president of the Imperial Historic Society, visited the Tsar and tried to convinced him about the importance of increasing the government's support to the Duma. The Grand Duke gave the Tsar a letter explaining him his points of view. Nicholas showed the letter to Alexandra without having read it; she said the Grand Duke was committing high treason. On December 16, Grand Duke Paul, Nicholas' only surviving uncle, visit the Tsar and begged him to grant a constitution. nicholas refused; he had to hand over the autocratic power intact to his son. Neither Nicholas nor Alexandre realised the damage Rasputin was doing to the monarchy and the terrible danger they were getting in. A great discontent reigned among the people, who were tired of war and hunger.
On December 2,1916, Vladimir Purishkieveitch made a public denounce at the Duma. he was one of the most ardent monarquic memebers of the Duma. His speech was about the damage Rasputin had made to the monarchy. When he finished the whole Duma stood up and effusively applauded him. Only one man remiened seated, pale and trembling; he was Prince Felix Yusupov.
The morning following Puriskievitch's speech at the Duma, Prince Felix visited him in his appartment and exposed him the idea he had had in mind for some time: to kill Rasputin. Felix had become Rasputin's friend; they both had shared some sprees at dubious night spots and the Prince had won hte peasant's cnfidence. Purishkievitch agreeded to help him and they began to mature the plan.Three other men joined the conspiracy: an officer named Sujotin, a doctor named Lazovert and Yusupov's young friend, Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovitch, son of Grand Duke Paul and Nicholas' first cousin. The plan was simple: Yusupov would invite Rasputin to his house, the Moika Palace, to drink some wine and eat some cakes. The other conspiators would wait in the upper floor of the house. The drinks and cakes Felix would offer to Rasputin would be poissoned. The murder was planned for December 29, 1916 (December 16 in the Russianna calendar).
On the appointed date, Yusupov picked Rasputin in his car at his appartment and took him to the Moika Palace. The two men entered in the palace at 1 o'clock in the morning and went down to the basement where the Madeira wine and cakes with poisson were prepared. The rest of the conspirators were upstairs as had been planned. Felix offered the Madeira wine to his victim, who drank it slowly, tasting it. The poisson didn't seem to work. Rasputin remained erected sitting in his chair. Then he ate the cakes. He reamined the same, watching Yususpov with his penetrating look.
Felix began to get desperated as well as his partners upstairs. After several hours Rasputin began to feel bad, he asked Felix for another glass of wine. The Prince gave it to him but instead of killing the peasant, the wine seemed to reanimate him. At last, Felix lost his patience, took out a gun and shot Rasputin, who with a terrible scream fell heavily on the floor over a white bear's fur. At hearing the shot, the rest of the conspirators rushed into the room, founding Felix with the gun in his hands and Rasputin laying over the white fur, shaking in convulsions. Dimitri and Purishkievitch pulled the dying body out from the bear's fur. The convulsions ceased and Dr. Lazovert declared he was dead. The conspirators left the room, leaving the dead body alone. After some minutes Felix returned; he took Rasputin's pulse, there was not. Violently, he shook the body and threw it against the floor. Suddenly Rasputin opened his left eye and after a few seconds he opened the other. With a wild roar, he raised with the eyes jumping out from the sockets, ans tried to seized Yusupov. terrified, Felix rushed into the room upstairs where his partners were smoking, shoutin Purishkievitch to shot the peasant that was alive. Rasputin ran out of the house and running through the yard covered with snow, he shouted: "Felix!, Felix!, I will tell everything to the Empress!". Purishkievitch fired his gun several times but failed. he fired again and hit the peasant in the back; another shot hit him on the head. Rasputin fell down and began to convulse over the snow. A few minutes later his movements ceased. The conspirators put the dead body into the car that was in the yard and took it to the edge of the Neva, where they threw it into the iced water of the river.
The next morning Alexandra learned that "Father Grigory" had gone the night before to the Moika palace with Prince Yusupov and didn't return. She asked Protopopov to investigate where her friend was. When she knew that Rasputin was dissapeared and that Dimitri and Felix were suspected of having murdered him, she , unconsalable, ordered that both men were arrested, but as only the Tsar could order the rrest of a memeber on his family, the Empress demanded that the two men were confined in their respective houses. The police found Rasputin's body on January 1st. 1917. Felix was banished to an estate in Central Russia and Dimitri sent to Persia in military duty. Purishkivitch stayed free.
Rasputin's death was a great shock for Alexandra. She lay colllapsed on her cauch, crying for hours. Rasputin had told her several times: "If I die or you desert me you will lose your son and your throne within six months". Nevertheless she didn't crumble at all. She had a great faith that God would give her the strength to carry on and she was decided to preserve the autocracy at any price. The whole family expected she would retire from politics but Alexandra didn't give away. In a desperate effort to save the situation, Grand Duke Alexander Mijhailovitch, Nicholas's cousin and brother in law (he was married to the Tsar's sister Xenia), visited Alexandra and in Nicholas's presence he told her: "Nobody knows better than I your love and devotion for Nicky and yet I must confess that your interference with affairs of state uis causing harm both to Nicky's prestige and to the popular conception of monarchy. Please Alix, leave the affairs of state to your husband... The granting of a government acceptable to the Duma at this dangerous moment would lift the responsability from Nicholas's shoulders and would make his task easier". Alexandra shouted: "This is ridiculous, Nicky is an autocrat. How could he share his divine rights with a parliament". Sandro (as the Grand Duke was called) answered that Nicholas had ceased to be an autocrat on October 17, 1905. But Alexandra didn't give up and refused to continue the dispute. Sandro left the palace never to return again.
