(from How Stuff Works)
Rasputin is probably one of the more unique figures in world history, a mystery to historians and a treat to high school students.Who was he? How did he become so powerful? And how did he really die?
He was born in 1869 in Siberia. Probably what's most notable about Rasputin's early history is that he was part of a religious sect called the Khlysts. This sect believed in the idea that in order to receive salvation from your sins, you had to perform that sin copiously, with the help of others. The usual group meeting would begin with one person flagellate him or herself, and which later culminated into a massive orgy to drive away the evil. This says a lot about Rasputin already.
In 1905, Rasputin met the Romanovs. The heir to the throne, Alexis, suffered from hemophilia, which at the time could not be medically treated. Somehow though, Rasputin managed to stop the bleeding.
Later in 1912, Alexis fell off a horse and suffered internal bleeding. Rasputin told the royal family in a letter that the son would survive. He did. Now, Rasputin became a well known name throughout Russia.
When the World War began in 1914, Czar Nicholas left his wife Alexandra in charge of governmental affairs while he trudged into battle. Indirectly, this gave Rasputin a large amount of power, as the czarina's top advisor. He participated in general crony politics, placing friends in high positions.
Many people were already upset by the rule of the Czar, and Rasputin undermined their authority even more. Why was this sex crazed corrupt peasant running the government?
Later that year, a woman named Khioniya Kozmishna Guseva attempted to murder Rasputin by stabbing him in the stomach. Though Rasputin survived, he acquired a number of medical problems.
There are two theories of how Rasputin was killed.
The first involves Prince Felix Yusupov, the husband of the Czar's niece, promising Rasputin he'll get to see his wife if he comes over for dinner. The meal was laced with cyanide, but Rasputin ate his meal, completely unaffected. Next, Yusupov decided to shoot him in the head outright. Rasputin was then presumed dead, so Yusupov decided to go upstairs to the party celebrating his murder of Rasputin.
However, later when people came downstairs, Rasputin was still alive. He started to run away, followed by Yusupov and his accomplices. They shot him two times and beat him with a rubber club. Then, they wrapped his body in a blanket, tied it up, and threw it into a freezing cold river. When the body was discovered, one arm was sticking out of the blanket, and it is presumed that Rasputin did not die from any of his injuries, but instead from hypothermia.
Some have rejected that story as nothing more than ridiculous folklore. The second theory is that the plot was actually hatched by Prime Minister David Lloyd George in an effort to uphold the Romanovs, for if Russia were to leave the World War, Germany would stop fighting on the Eastern front and focus themselves on the Western Front with Great Britain. Some notes were passed between English secret service agents Oswald Rayner and John Scales, greatly hinting at their possible involvement.
It is also still debated if Rasputin was castrated after his death. His supposed penis has been placed on display in some museums, but some biology experts claim from simple visual analysis that the penis actually belonged to a horse or a cow, and not a human. Apparently it looks a lot like a baby arm holding an orange, but I'd rather not search and find out.
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