He Was Extremely Difficult to Kill
The scandalous state of affairs made the Tsarist government a laughingstock and brought it into low repute. The seriousness was exacerbated by the hardships of WWI, in which Tsarist armies suffered a series of humiliating defeats. After Tsar Nicolas took personal command of the armies, the responsibility for military reversals could no longer be shunted from the crown, but was laid directly at the Tsar’s feet.
Despite the gravity of the situation, the Tsarina remained protective of Rasputin, refusing to hear any criticism of the faith healer, let alone heed advice to banish him. Against that backdrop, a group of aristocrats, led by Prince Feliks Yusupov, husband of the Tsar’s niece, decided to assassinate Rasputin in order to rid Russia of his malign influence. His death was to prove as dramatically bizarre as his life had been.
Rasputin was lured to Yusupov’s palace on the night of December 30th, 1916, on the pretext of meeting Yusupov’s wife, who was interested in “knowing” him. Many nobles had offered their wives and daughters to Rasputin before, so the invitation was not suspicious. At the palace, while waiting for Yusupov’s wife to “freshen up”, Rasputin was offered cakes and tea laced with cyanide.
He ate and drank with no ill effects. He was then offered wine, which was also poisoned. He quaffed it down without a problem, asked for another glass, then one more after that, with no ill effects. Exasperated, Yusupov then retrieved a pistol and shot Rasputin in the chest. Believing him dead, the conspirators then went about tidying up the scene of the crime and covering their tracks. They were shocked when Rasputin rose hours later and attacked Yusupov, who managed to free himself and flee up the palace stairs.
Rasputin then left via the palace courtyard, where the panicked conspirators caught up with him and shot him again. They then wrapped his body in a rug, cut a hole in a frozen river’s surface, and shoved him inside. When his body was eventually recovered, it was reported that it had not been the bullets or poison that had killed him, but drowning – he was presumably still alive when thrown into the river.