Kick Us Again!

Does your pocketbook feel any lighter theses days? Unless you're a wealthy investor, it should feel lighter, quite a bit lighter. As oil and gasoline prices have soared, the wealthy now have natural gas soaring ever higher, and they don't even have a "Katrina" to use as an excuse. And this is spring, a time when natural gas prices usually come down. If you use natural gas for your main heat source, wait until you get you bills next winter.

Then there's the skyrocketing price of food to contend with. The wealthy investors (known to me as "the sit on their ass class") have been all over the board to give justification for the escalating price of many food stuffs. And talk about going in circles, only this bunch of greedy, ruthless SOBs would drive up the cost of fuel, and then turn around and say that higher gasoline costs are one of the main reasons food prices are climbing. Of course, the main reason is, they are driving up the cost of everything. By the time they're done (will they ever have enough money?), none of us may have a "pot to pee in, or a window to throw it out of."

More than one analyst on CNBC (a cable business station, for those unaware) last week had the good sense to say what I said in a blog a few months ago; that is, these wealthy SOBs will NEVER let you enjoy that "stimulus" money from Uncle Sam, and that the economy will suffer even more because of it. They're going to take the stimulus money, and much more. Then one analyst, who essentially said the same as above, had to go and ruin his just uttered common sense by saying to the effect that, of course, the people making money on oil will take that money and spend it, and that will help the economy. And here I thought he was smart. The idea that millionaires and billionaires who made an extra several million on oil last week will now be prompted to run out and buy a new car or a refrigerator or a new pair of underwear is pure nonsense! They have so much money that they can buy virtually anything without making any further money on oil, or gas, or corn or wheat, or soybeans, or rice... just pretty much name it! I'll tell you what they WILL do with the extra millions, they'll use them to keep driving up the price of everything, until none of US will be able to afford a new pair of underwear. If you thought the transfer of wealth from the "unrich" to the wealthy has been bad up until now, hold onto you hats, or maybe I should say , your wallets.

Food riots have broken out in several places around the world in recent weeks. I'm still waiting to see how long Americans will sit here and keep telling the wealthy, "Kick me again, that last wasn't hard enough."

Some Comments About Nicholas & Alexandra

Just a few comments about Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra:

Nicholas was not all that passionate about being Tsar. His diaries, kept for much of his life, survived the Bolsheviks. His daily observations, full of details about the weather and family life, seem to tell the story of a man who wished to be more of a country gentleman and family man than a tsar. For a man who had so much power, Nicholas actually wrote remarkably little about governing on a day-to-basis, or even at times about the major events taking place in his vast empire. He was only in his mid 20s when his father, Alexander III, died, and he was terribly unprepared for the duties he had to assume. For the most part, this was not his fault, as those in the Romanov family and in high level government positions assumed that Alexander III would be tsar for many, many more years than actually happened, as Alexander, a true bear of a man, died at the age of only 49.

The death of the Tsar also had a major impact on Alexandra (Alexandra being her Russian name, as the German born Tsarina's given name was "Alix," the closest German rendering of her mother's name, Alice, a daughter of England's Queen Victoria), as her wedding plans were moved up, since Nicholas wanted to marry her as he began his rule of the Russian Empire. Just as Nicholas was not prepared to become Tsar, so too was Alexandra unprepared to assume her new role as Tsarina. Her religious instruction had to be hastened along (she was a Lutheran by birth***), so that she could convert to Russian Orthodoxy as required of any spouse of a Tsar. Further, she had not fully learned the Russian language, nor even the overall customs of the Russian people. These problems only further complicated Alexandra's intense shyness. This all came to play a part in how the Russian nobility and the Russian public perceived their new Tsarina. Further, Alexander III's wife, Marie (a daughter of the King of Denmark), was still a fairly young woman when her husband died (I believe she was 47), and she had a very outgoing personality, and was highly popular with the nobility and the public (interestingly, she was a small woman, especially when compared to her almost gigantic husband. Nicholas took after his mother.) Many historians and people from that era have commented on the tremendous contrast in personalities and public popularity between Alexandra and Marie.

Tsar Alexander III was much feared, including by many of the revolutionary groups which had proliferated during the 1800s.### When Nicholas became Tsar, these groups took on new life, especially somewhat later, as Nicholas seemed nowhere near as firm as his father had been. Nicholas chose to go to war with Japan over Korea in 1904. It was a disastrous decision and nearly brought an end to his rule back then.+++ Anti-war sentiment grew, as the public saw no end in sight for the disastrous war, a war which they had difficulty understanding. Strikes began to take place, and the violent revolutionary movements received many new recruits for their causes. Eventually, a true revolution broke out, but much of the "action" remained in the countryside, rather than in most of the cities. The Tsar and his family basically remained "confined" to their palace on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, as fear of attacks on the Tsar by revolutionaries remained high, even after the revolution died out. Nicholas was finally persuaded to give in and grant some basic rights, which slowly but surely diffused the violence in the country. The result, however, was that the Imperial family never traveled as freely thereafter, and this only served to divide the Tsar and Tsarina from their subjects even more, although Alexandra was undoubtedly just as happy, since public appearances were not something she especially enjoyed. The Imperial couple spent a good deal of time with their children and regardless of any faults the two may have had, they were devoted parents.

When the heir to the Russian throne, Alexei, was born, it was discovered that he had "the bleeding disease;" that is, hemophilia. The boy's condition was kept as a closely guarded secret, and when the Tsarina called upon Rasputin to help her ill son, the public didn't understand why such a man as Rasputin was invited into the palace; thus, the rumors began to circulate that he was having a sexual affair with Alexandra. The problem was, the Tsar and the few advisers who knew of the boy's illness felt that they could never make the boy's condition known to the public, because many Russians saw the tsar as "semi-divine." To admit that the heir had a defective gene and an incurable ailment that was likely to end his life before adulthood, would have undermined the already shaky dynasty. On the other hand, some historians have speculated that the Tsar and Tsarina should have made the heir's condition known, and that the Russian public would then have given them deep sympathy and understanding. We shall never know.


*** When Nicholas first asked Alix of Hessen to marry him, she turned him down, as she refused to change religions. Various people tried to convince her to convert, perhaps the most influential being her own sister, Ella, who had married Tsar Alexander's brother, Sergei, who was therefore an uncle to Nicholas. Ella had converted to Russian Orthodoxy and it seems that she was the person who really convinced Alix to convert.


### Some revolutionary groups wanted democratic and social reforms; others were out and out ruthless, with their ultimate goals somewhat unclear, except that they seemed to desire the fall of the dynasty. They also believed in and practiced killing by any means.


+++ Japan was not seen as a major military power at that time, and Nicholas and some of his advisers thought that Russia could score an easy victory over the Japanese, thus solidifying public support for the monarchy, and to be quite honest, diverting attention from other issues that were gaining support among many in the public, like basic freedoms and an elected assembly. The Japanese inflicted some staggering defeats on the Russian military in the Far East. One of the problems for the Russians was the sheer distance between the Russian industrial and population centers, which were in European Russia, and the area where the fighting took place, which was in Korea, a distance of thousands of miles. There was only one rail line, and if I remember correctly, it was not totally complete, and in mountainous areas, trains were frequently delayed by snow. The Russian Army suffered thousands of casualties, and Nicholas and his military advisers decided to send the vast bulk of the Russian European Fleet all the way to the Far East to crush the Japanese Fleet and thus prevent Japan from conveying men and supplies from their island nation to the Korean peninsula. After the long voyage of thousands of miles, the Japanese virtually destroyed the Russian Fleet.


Related blogs:

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/we-all-love-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/07/some-additions-to-we-all-love-mystery.html

http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2007/10/update-on-mystery.html


http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2008/04/rasputins-importance-to-history.html

Rasputin's Importance to History, Conclusion

Edited and updated with a Word History October 20, 2014

With Rasputin dead, the public and the members of the Duma (Russian parliament) rejoiced. The problem was, Rasputin was only one of the symptoms of the inadequacy of the Tsar to deal with the problems facing Russia. Most times the Tsar was hundreds of miles away at the military headquarters, known as Stavka, which left the "German Tsarina" in charge of the day-to-day affairs of government. The railway system was by then so inadequate, that it could not deliver food, ammunition, equipment, and other supplies to the troops at the front, and simultaneously deliver even the basics to the cities where food shortages had become extremely serious.

Not long before Rasputin's death, he told some associates that he had a "premonition" of death. Of course, to his supporters, his "supernatural powers" were never in question, and the fact that Rasputin spoke about dying was an ominous sign to them. In reality, Rasputin was hated by many Russians, especially those in the nobility and aristocracy, and it didn't take someone with the brain of Einstein to figure out that many of those same Russians wanted him dead, especially after less drastic means had failed. Further, the conspirators couldn't keep their mouths shut and it seems that the general nature of their plot was hardly a well kept secret in the capitol. A number of historians speculate that with his many contacts, Rasputin undoubtedly got wind that something was afoot involving people close to or even related to the Tsar. Rasputin wrote a letter to the Tsarina that was given to the grieving Alexandra after Rasputin's body was discovered in the river. Essentially the letter told her that he felt that he would be murdered and it made a prediction: if his murderers were from the common people, the Tsar and his family would be safe and Russia would overcome any difficulties, and the monarchy would continue for many years to come. If, on the other hand, the murderers were from the Tsar's family (Grand Duke Dimitri was the Tsar's cousin and Prince Yusupov was married to the Tsar's niece), then, within two years, the Tsar would lose his throne and he and his family would be "killed by the Russian people." The Tsarina, a "true believer," was terrified.

Rasputin's supporters and other people who believe in supernatural nonsense have pointed to this letter as confirmation about Rasputin's ability to see the future. First and foremost, Rasputin WAS very perceptive. Unlike the out-of-touch Tsar and Tsarina, Rasputin saw how the country was spiraling out of control and how the situation had created fear in the public and out and out contempt for the Tsarist government. He certainly was well aware that the nobility absolutely detested him, if for no other reason than that he had access to the palace, but more likely, because he had the Tsarina's ear, and she had the ear of the Tsar. He, a common peasant, had the "seeming" power that they coveted. (I say "seeming," because it is difficult to say how much Rasputin DEFINITELY influenced decisions at the top, but certainly at least somewhat.) It hardly took a genius to figure out that the nobility wanted him dead, especially when the Tsar could not be brought to send Rasputin into exile in Siberia. Further, Rasputin and the nobility saw how the country was tilting more and more toward revolution. Many in the upper classes feared and openly talked about revolution being inevitable, barring major changes by the Tsar, such as exiling Rasputin, keeping the Tsarina out of governmental matters, and the Tsar taking firm control of governing, even ruthlessly,* to right the listing ship of state. I just want to make clear that while it was Alexandra's doing that kept Rasputin in public view, not all blame belongs on her, as it was the Tsar's failure to take the necessary step to keep Rasputin from even appearing to influence governmental decisions by sending him back to his home in Siberia, and that would have meant also keeping his wife out of governmental affairs.

So much is just not documented about Rasputin's life, even his life in the capitol and around the palace, as what certainly would have been the best source about his relationship with the imperial family, the Tsarina Alexandra's diary, was destroyed by her as the revolution broke out.** The Tsar's diary survived, but Nicholas really didn't cover much of his governance in detail in his entries.***

If you have followed this series here, I hope it encourages you to check out more about this historical subject. There was a VERY good movie made about the subject, "Nicholas and Alexandra," released in the early 1970s. It didn't do especially well in America, as unfortunately, many Americans aren't much interested in the history of other countries (maybe not even our own???), and you do need a little knowledge about that era of Russian history to really appreciate the movie. Hey, now that you have a little background, the movie is available on DVD. It is really pretty accurate, too. Naturally it has some historical events compressed to fit the time element of the movie, but those scenes do a good job of making the point. There is a great scene that really captures the essence of the Tsar's inability to use his power to rule the country. In real life, this scene never actually happened, but it still makes the point. It has the Tsar's mother visiting him at the military headquarters as the country was coming apart. The writers have combined a number of visits by other historical persons, who tried to get the Tsar to act, into this one great scene. This is a bit of paraphrasing of the scene: His mother tells Nicholas that she has come to congratulate him. As the situation is a mess, Nicholas asks what she wants to congratulate him for. She gives a very sarcastic answer about how he's succeeded in finding people, seemingly from Russia's lunatic asylums, to fill top positions in his government, and how they are the least qualified people in the country. The real crux of the matter is when she tells "Nicky," as his mother called him, that she wishes his father were still alive. Nicholas was always a bit sensitive in real life about comparison to his huge, bear-like father, who was NEVER afraid to wield power. When he tells his mother not to bring up his father, she retorts that his father knew how to be a Tsar; that he would have defeated the Germans, burned Vienna down (Vienna was the capitol of Austria-Hungary, another Russian enemy in World War I), shot the strikers (the war and food shortages had caused many strikes across the country), and that he would certainly have known how to deal with Rasputin. OUCH!!! Nicholas immediately says that Rasputin is a man of God who keeps his son alive, but his mother quickly asks him if he really believes that. Nicholas sheepishly says that "Sunny" believes it ("Sunny" was Alexandra's nickname since childhood). His mother immediately tells Nicholas, "Hang him!" She tells him that if he doesn't hang Rasputin that he will destroy the country and that millions of Russians will die and all because Nicholas can't say "no" to his wife. There's more to the scene, but it does such a great job of condensing the whole matter of the Tsar's inability to deal with reality.

Rasputin is important to history because, even if he didn't have as much power and influence in actual fact, the public thought he did. His scandalous behavior, even if some of it was exaggerated by the press, was also believed by the general public, and it cast much doubt upon the Tsar's judgment and on the public's confidence in his ability to rule. Further, the public perception that Alexandra was having an affair with this peasant (and she hadn't been all that popular to start with), further undermined the monarchy, especially when the Tsarina was left to run the day to day government during much of World War One. The public then assumed, with at least some justification, that Rasputin was making many of the decisions, as Rasputin did brag in public about his special relationship with the imperial couple, and especially with the Tsarina, although he never really indicated a physical relationship with her. Perhaps more importantly, Rasputin reinforced in the Tsarina Alexandra her own notion of retaining as much of the Tsar's governing powers as possible, even though this went contrary to the views of many elected representatives and of some, likely a substantial, and growing, element of the public. He reassured her already preconceived idea of how loved she and the Tsar were by what she considered the real Russian people, as exemplified by Rasputin, a Siberian peasant. Now, Rasputin did not bring down the Romanovs all by himself, but he certainly gave the 300 year old dynasty a big push toward the cliff, as his own actions and reputation tarnished public respect for the Tsar and the tsarist system

If the monarchy had fallen and Russia had become some shining example of democracy and social fairness, history probably wouldn't care as much about him, but that didn't happen. Instead, the Bolsheviks ended up overthrowing the original revolutionary government in their own revolution, and there were ruthless and vengeful people among the Bolsheviks, willing to do anything to firmly establish their power. The tsarist system had filled many with bitterness and hatred, and it came roaring to the forefront when they took over. Much blood was spilled, including that of the entire imperial family, and many other Romanovs, nobles and aristocrats, as well as that of anyone suspected of opposing Bolshevik rule. Plus, there was really a Russian civil war for a couple of years, between the Bolsheviks and pro-monarchists, before the Bolsheviks finally gained total control, as well as a war with Poland for a couple of years beginning in 1919. Bolshevik/Communist rule may have brought down the rule of the wealthy, but it came at a severe price in freedom, as many a Soviet citizen paid with his or her life, or spent periods in Soviet prisons or labor camps. All subsequent events of Soviet rule, including the domination of eastern Europe after World War Two until circa 1990, trace back to the fall of the Tsar. That's why Rasputin is important to history.

There are many books about Rasputin, and even more books on the Russia of that time period, including about Nicholas and Alexandra. Books about Rasputin range from what I feel are serious historical works, by authors who presented their cases based on their own interpretations and perspectives of the information they researched on Rasputin, as many things about the man are really opinions, with some actual documentation upon which to base those opinions. There are also books that present lots of "claims" about Rasputin, and lots of scandal stories, but in my opinion, they rely too much on questionable sources. I've read so many books about this subject, that I did much of this series from memory, but I did check certain details and reread some passages to refresh my memory on some events (hey, I'm not Einstein!). It's difficult to credit certain books or articles (there was also a television documentary or two in the 1990s, as the fall of Communism had reinvigorated a desire to study that period in Russian history), except to list the actual books I've read, even though I may not have consulted each of these when I did the series. (I consulted this book) "The Rasputin File," by Edvard Radzinsky, published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, a division of Random House Inc., New York, 2000; "The Man Who Killed Rasputin-Prince Youssoupov and The Murder That Helped Bring Down The Russian Empire, by Greg King, published by Carol Publishing Group, Secaucus, N.J., 1995; "Rasputin-A Life" by Joseph T. Fuhrmann, published by Praeger, New York, 1990; (I consulted this book) "Rasputin-Rascal Master," by Jane Oakley, published by St. Martins Press, New York, 1989; "Rasputin-The Saint Who Sinned," by Brian Moynahan, published by Random House, New York, 1997; (I consulted this book) "The Life And Times of Grigorii Rasputin," by Alex De Jonge," published by Coward, McCann and Geoghegan, New York, 1982, (I consulted this book) "The Last Empress-The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia," by Greg King, published by Birch Lane Press/Carol Publishing Group, New York/Secaucus, N.J., 1994.
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* Keep in mind, Russia was NOT a real democracy, although the manifesto signed in 1905 by Nicholas had granted some basic rights. The Tsar had almost all power and the Russian people expected him to use it, even ruthlessly, to save the country. In some of the post-Communist period interviews of Russians still alive from the Tsarist era, it was interesting that a few people even mentioned how Nicholas was just too weak, and that he had power, but refused to use it. And a couple of these people had been Bolsheviks!!!

** Many Americans think only of the Russian Revolution as the revolution that brought the Bolsheviks (later called Communists) to power. This is not completely true. There was a revolution in March of 1917 that actually deposed the Tsar. He abdicated when his train was stopped by revolutionaries while heading back to the capitol. At first he wanted to abdicate in favor of his son, Alexei, but after consulting with the boy's physician, he abdicated for both he and his son, with the hope that his brother, Michael, would take the throne, but Michael did not; thus ending the monarchy. When I say brother, I mean the Tsar's brother, to make that clear, as again, Alexei was the Tsar's only son. The revolutionaries had planned to keep the monarchy at that time, and the government, that was called the "Provisional Government," and headed by Alexander Kerensky, hoped to hold elections to establish a democratic government. The Provisional Government's support of the unpopular war caused it to lose the confidence of many Russians and gave the Bolsheviks an opening later in the year to overthrow the government and establish a Bolshevik government in a second revolution, and it is that revolution that is known to many Americans, at least vaguely.

*** The Tsarina began keeping another diary and that diary survived her execution. It includes much about the family's captivity, first as prisoners of the Provisional Government and then as prisoners of the Bolsheviks.

WORD HISTORY:
Beard-This word, most commonly used for rather extensive facial hair, goes back to Indo European "bhard-ha," which meant "beard." This gave Old Germanic "bardaz," with the same meaning. ^ This then gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "beard" (likely pronounced back then like, "bee-ard"). Relatives in the other Germanic languages: German "Bart," Low German Saxon "Boort," Dutch "baard," West Frisian "burd."

^ I'm a bit curious as to why none of the languages from the North Germanic branch (primarily Icelandic, Danish, Norwegian, Swedish) of Germanic have forms of the word. Did it die out so long ago, there is no record of any such word? East Germanic (Gothic, Vandalic, Burgundian) had a form, but the East Germanic languages have all died out.

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part 8, Rasputin's Death

Slightly edited and updated with a Word History October 18, 2014.

As conditions worsened throughout Russia, especially the food shortage in the cities, people in the nobility and the Romanov family began to plead with the Tsar to take action by sending Rasputin back to Siberia and sharing more power with the elected parliament, known in Russia as the "Duma." By sharing power, the feeling was that it would take some of the pressure off of the Tsar, as at the time, anything that went wrong was blamed on the Tsar and the government (And correctly!!! You can't have virtually all of the power and none or little of the blame when things go wrong.) There was also the plea for him to limit Alexandra's influence and involvement in governmental affairs, often with the suggestion of sending her to their summer vacation palace in the Crimea, "Livadia." The Tsar refused to act.

Likewise, some in the nobility and the Romanov family tried to get Alexandra to rid herself of Rasputin. Even her own sister, Ella,* visited to try to bring Alexandra to her senses, but without success. The two sisters parted, never to see one another again. A princess from one of the wealthiest families in Russia, the Yusupovs, came to see the Tsarina, only to be led out of her presence by a servant who was summoned by Alexandra once the princess even dared to mention that something had to be done about Rasputin.** The Tsarina told the princess that she hoped never to see her again, a wish that was fulfilled.

Met with inaction by the Tsar and the Tsarina, others began to plot to take matters into their own hands. Prince Felix Yusupov (who was married to the Tsar's niece), Grand Duke Dimitri Pavlovich Romanov (the Tsar's cousin, who had essentially been raised by Nicholas and Alexandra), and Vladimir Purishkevich, an ultra right wing zealot and politician, devised a plan to lure Rasputin to one of Yusupov's palaces in the capitol and to kill him there. In December 1916 they were able to implement their plan. I'm not going to go into all of the details, as just as with so many other things about Rasputin's life, the particulars about his death are also in question. Supposedly, the trio provided Rasputin with cakes and wine laced with poison (cyanide). The problem was, when Rasputin ate some of the cakes and drank some wine, he did not die, although he seemed to have some labored breathing. Here again, this whole situation has caused great debate. Did the conspirators use enough poison? Had the poison lost potency? (Hey, nothing worse than spoiled poison!) I'm not a scientist, but all joking aside, from what I understand, cyanide can indeed lose potency. When Hitler planned to commit suicide in 1945, he first tested the batch of cyanide he had on his dog to make sure it was effective, which it was. So, it seems that the cyanide used by the conspirators on Rasputin was not strong enough. At first, when they saw that Rasputin survived the poison, they truly began to believe that Rasputin was a holy devil, possessed by supernatural powers.

As time passed and Rasputin did not die, Prince Yusupov took a pistol and shot Rasputin, who fell to the floor, apparently dead. The prince ran up the stairs screaming to the other two conspirators who were waiting there, that he had killed Rasputin. Upon return to Rasputin's "corpse," he saw Rasputin move. Supposedly Rasputin spoke to him, threatening to tell the Tsarina the whole story as he made his way out of the palace. The other two conspirators, joined also by the prince, took shots at Rasputin. How many of these shots actually hit him, and where they hit his body, is again a detail that is debated. The trio claimed that Rasputin should have been dead, and that his survival showed his evil supernatural powers. They beat him until he was supposedly dead. His bound body was taken by car and dumped into the river. A few days later the body was discovered and supposedly an examination showed that Rasputin had still been alive when tossed into the icy water and that he had drowned. Supposedly he got loose from some of the rope used to tie his body and he made a sign of the cross as he died, with his partially frozen arm and hand still in that position when the body was recovered.*** Again, to the believers that Rasputin had evil supernatural powers, this only confirmed that he was a holy devil. The story is disputed by others, with some saying that he was indeed dead when dumped into the river, and others saying that while he did die by drowning, that the position of his arm and hand was simply his attempt to free himself from the rope and get to the surface. I guess you could say, "The devil is in the details." (Oh Randy, you're funny!) Regardless of the details, Rasputin was dead.

To be continued in the last part  ...

* Ella had been married to one of Nicholas's uncles, Sergei, a brother of Nicholas's father, who was assassinated many years before by revolutionaries (he was literally blown to pieces by a bomb). Ella eventually became a nun, and was such when she came to see her sister about Rasputin. Ella was killed by the Bolsheviks after the revolution, when they threw her and some others down a mine shaft while they were still alive! Grenades were tossed in afterward, but autopsies on the later recovered bodies suggested that some of the victims had died from wounds, but others died of starvation.

** Note that Alexandra referred to Rasputin as "our friend" when talking with or writing to her husband. She never called him "Rasputin." If I remember correctly, to others she frequently, but not necessarily always, referred to him as "Father Grigory."

*** All of this "seems" a bit far fetched to me, like something scripted for a movie, but I can't say some or all of it is untrue. There are photographs taken by the police of Rasputin's battered face and his raised arm, but whether he was making a sign of the cross I can't say.

WORD HISTORY:
Siberia-This word came to be applied to the Asian lands that gradually came under Russian control beginning in the late 1500s, with major expansion of Russian control thereafter. Its ultimate origin is unclear,^ but it goes back to the Tatar (also often "Tartar") occupation of what became an area in the southern part of western Siberia in the late 13th Century. The Tatars spoke (and speak) a Turkic language, and they still exist today, although there are strong dialects involved in the overall language now, as they didn't remain together, but rather split into groups settling in various regions of Siberia and European Russia. The Tatars called this settlement the Khanate of "Sibir." A Khanate is an area ruled by a Khan. Russian borrowed the word "Sibir," and it remained the name of that specific region, but expanded in geographic meaning along with the expansion of Russian control further into Asia. It "seems" English borrowed the word as "Siberia" in the earlier 1800s. Since European Russia was the center of the Russian Empire's power, political prisoners were often banished to Siberia by the Tsarist governments in the 1800s, as the area was generally very sparsely populated. During the Soviet Union era, the Soviets established labor camps (prisons) in Siberia for opponents and those suspected of being opponents, thus the Western European and American idea of "being sent to Siberia," likely the usage of the word most recalled by many English speakers. During the latter stages of World War Two, Nazi propaganda tried to frightened Germans into resisting the approaching Soviet armies with the slogan, "Sieg oder Sibirien" ("Victory or Siberia").  

^ A "possible" source is the combination of two old Turkic words, "su," which meant "water," and "beri" (or "biri"), which meant "wilds," in the sense "wilderness." The settlement of the Khanate of Sibir came at the junction of two rivers (later called the Tobol and Irtysh).

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part 7

One of the most controversial topics about Rasputin was his "seeming" ability to stop the bleeding in the Tsar's hemophiliac son, Alexei. There were people who believed (and those who still do believe) that Rasputin had some kind of supernatural powers, and others who felt that he used some sort of trickery, including hypnosis (and likewise, there are people who still believe this), and still others who believed he had an accomplice inside the palace who helped him by administering a mysterious drug to the boy, and then Rasputin would appear just as the drug took effect. My own opinion, for what it's worth, is that as to "supernatural" powers, I don't believe in any such nonsense. There may well be things in life that appear to have some supernatural cause, but enough research will show that there is some more natural explanation (Now what brings about that natural cause is open to debate.) As to an accomplice, I doubt it. As to a mysterious drug, I doubt that, too, as such a drug could have made any person possessing it a very wealthy person. To me, the explanation is more simple. Initially, Rasputin wanted status by being introduced to the imperial family. In order to improve that status and become even closer with the Tsar and Tsarina, he saw an opportunity in their son's illness. Whether he knew what the illness was at first, I doubt it, as hemophilia was not a common affliction. One thing Rasputin did know and understand was people; that is, personalities, and the desire by people to believe in supernatural forces that could counter what had been assumed to be incurable. His first "healing" of the boy could well have been a roll of the dice. He had nothing to lose. If I come to the bedside of a very ill person, say a prayer, make the sign of the cross, and in a time, the person's condition begins to improve, did I do this, or was it a process that was already underway, and I just got the credit for it? I believe the latter. That is not to say that later on, when Alexei had other bleeding incidents that Rasputin's presence did not indeed calm the boy and provide comfort to him, and especially to his mother, thus helping to control the bleeding. This is what many doctors have attributed to Rasputin's "healing" of Alexei. Again, you have to keep in mind that once Rasputin was given credit for saving the boy by the Tsarina, there was no turning back. At the next bleeding episode, what was he to do, say that he couldn't help Alexei? Rasputin derived any "power" and status he had by virtue of his association with the Tsarina and her belief that he could keep her son alive. His whole position would have been lost. The same was true with the next episode, and the next, and the next. There was no incentive for Rasputin NOT to answer the Tsarina's calls or telegrams, nor was there any reason for him to say that he couldn't help the boy.

The most famous "healing" episode, and the one that totally solidified Rasputin's position with the Tsarina came when the imperial family was at one of their hunting lodges in Poland.* Alexei injured his leg getting into or out of a boat. At first, it was thought that the injury was not serious, but the internal bleeding grew ever worse, and the boy lingered for several days in terrible pain, as the swelling from the blood literally disfigured his leg and caused terrible pain in his lower abdomen. The boy had to be fitted with a special leg brace after his recovery, so severe had his leg been damaged. The Tsarina was beside herself. Each cry of pain by the boy terrified her, and she rarely left his bedside, nor did she sleep much for days. Some of the people present claimed that Alexandra's hair had a gray tinge to it after these days at her son's bedside.

Rasputin was at his home in western Siberia at that time. A trip to Poland would have taken many days by train, which was the most effective means of long distance transport in those times. The Tsarina sent a telegram to his village and Rasputin replied to her. The exact text of his reply has been "quoted" in a variety of ways, and if I remember correctly, the telegram did not survive those times, as far as is known. The gist of Rasputin's reply was that the Tsarina should not let the doctors** bother the boy anymore, and that the boy would recover. Within about a day, Alexei's condition improved, and after a time he recovered, although with the severely bent leg, as I mentioned above.

Doctor's have speculated to this day about what actually happened in Poland. Most have said that if anything, Rasputin gave good advice in his telegram to the Tsarina; that is, keep the doctors away! Keep in mind, this was the heir to the throne of the Russian Empire. Any doctor would have felt the need to try to do something, anything, even though knowing that not much could actually be done (with the knowledge of those times). All of this fussing and Alexandra's sobbing and terror stricken appearance would unnerve anyone, let alone a small boy in terrible pain. The speculation is, that when the doctor's were withdrawn, and Alexandra had been noticeably calmed just by receiving Rasputin's reply, the boy also calmed down, allowing the natural healing process to take place.

To be continued in "Part Eight" ...

* Technically during that time, there was no Poland as a nation, only as a geographical description. Most of what had been Poland (including Warsaw) was then a part of Russia, with a smaller section being part of Germany, and an even smaller section being part of Austria-Hungary.

** Several specialists had been ordered to Poland from St. Petersburg.

WORD HISTORY:
Poland-This word for the eastern European country goes back to Indo European "pel," which had the notion of "flat, spread out." This gave its Old Slavic offspring "pole," which meant "plain, field." The Old Slavic form produced "Polans," the name of a Slavic tribe, with the more literal meaning, "people of the plains/fields." The Slavic form also later gave Polish (a Slavic language) "polje," with the meaning "field." The area where the Polans lived was called in Polish "Polanie," and the neighboring Germans picked up the word as "Polen," likely more from the Slavic tribe name "Polans." English seems to have borrowed the word from German, more than likely from Low German,^ in the 1500s, but likely owing to a misunderstanding of the "len" ending of the Low German form, assumed it to be equivalent to "land;" thus, "Poland."

^ Many of the Germans coming into contact with the Slavic tribes in what became Poland were Low German speakers. Since standard German, which is mainly derived from High German dialect, also uses "Polen," I "assume" it got the word from Low German, but I could not find confirmation of that. 

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part 6

Slightly edited and updated with a Word History October 17, 2014

With the Tsar gone from the capital for long periods of time, the Tsarina took over the day-to-day governance of the country. She read reports, was briefed by ministers* of the various departments of the government, signed official papers, etc. All the while she and her daughters continued to nurse wounded soldiers at their palace on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. As I mentioned earlier, Alexandra earned the dislike of many in high society by her choice to associate with, and count as friends, people who were only minimally connected to the Russian nobility. Two of her closest friends were Anna Vyrubova and Lili Dehn. Vyrubova literally had a house on the Romanov grounds. She was a close friend and supporter of Rasputin, who frequented her house, as well as the palace, and Vyrubova often set up the meetings between the Tsarina (and including at times, the Tsar) and Rasputin at her house.** One rumor that spread among the public was that Rasputin also had sexual relations with Vyrubova, while another rumor had the Tsarina and Vyrubova in a lesbian relationship, while still another rumor had the two women being ravaged by Rasputin. It should be noted that there has never been any evidence of any of these rumors being true. For one thing, Alexandra was surrounded by the various people who tended to her and who took care of the palace. For her to have a sexual affair or affairs with either Rasputin or Vyrubova, or both, seems highly unlikely. Besides, her fanatic religiosity would no doubt have preempted any such relations. From all that is known and that was testified to by Alexandra's many attendants, she deeply loved Nicholas.*** The point, however, was that as the rumors continued to mount that Alexandra was in league with her cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm, and these added rumors of infidelity and her continued association with Rasputin, only solidified public hatred of her.

Then came the dizzying dismissal of ministers and other officials from the government. How much Rasputin actually had to do with all of this is a matter still debated by historians, but there's no question that he at least granted his blessing to many of the dismissals when Alexandra pressed her husband for the Tsar's official approval, as only the Tsar could actually agree to these changes in the government. It is also likely that Rasputin instigated at least some of the dismissals, as his mere dropping of a name to the Tsarina of some official disliking him would have gotten her immediate attention, and the likely action of her contacting Nicholas to get him to think of replacing that official. More rumors circulated in the public that Rasputin had drugged the Tsar and that Rasputin and Alexandra were totally running the country. To be fair to the Russian public, while there was a certain degree of freedom of the press, it was very limited by western democratic standards, so they didn't have access to much first-hand information. In a system with so much power vested in the Tsar, it was not seen as appropriate that the Tsar (or the Tsarina, for that matter) should have to make public statements to counter the rumors. It was considered to be beneath them. The rumors continued to swirl.

Many of the dismissed officials were known to be hostile to Rasputin. Again, whether Rasputin proposed to the Tsarina that they should be dismissed is certainly possible. It is also possible that the Tsarina herself took matters into her own hands, and chose to try to rid the government of any anti-Rasputin officials in an effort to protect the man who "kept her son alive." Several of the replacements were pro-Rasputin, especially later the powerful Minister of the Interior, Alexander Protopopov, who controlled the police, and whose very sanity was questioned by some in the Duma (the Russian parliament). At any rate, by 1916, the country was spiraling downward, as the war grew more and more unpopular, food prices continued to rise, and the rail transportation system began to grind to a halt, thus limiting the amount of food and other products getting into the cities. War weariness and hunger can be a powerful force. More and more the public talked about the need to rid the country of Grigory Rasputin.

To be continued in "Part Seven" ....

* In the U.S., we call Federal department heads "secretaries," as in the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of State. In Europe, government department heads are called "ministers," but the term has nothing directly to do with what we Americans think of as a "minister;" that is, a religious official heading a church congregation, such as the "minister of the First Baptist Church."

** The public reaction to the scandal stories and Rasputin's reported visits to the Romanov palace became so intense, the Tsarina, sometimes accompanied by the Tsar, chose often to meet with Rasputin at Vyrubova's home, which was just a few hundred feet from their palace.

*** A further rumor among some in the public was that Rasputin molested the Tsar's daughters, but again there seems to be no evidence of any such behavior. The children liked him, and he visited fairly often, but it was in the palace, where the children too were surrounded by caretakers and servants. Accounts note that Rasputin was careful to be sober when he visited the palace, and while his judgment may not have always been good, he would have risked his whole lifestyle with any misbehavior, let alone any advances to the by then teenage Romanov daughters. I have to say once again though, it was not whether the stories were true or false, but rather the public belief in many of these stories that hurt.

WORD HISTORY:
Bribe-The origins of this word are uncertain and it its meaning has changed a good deal from its earliest known appearance, but not necessarily illogically so. It first appears as a verb in Old French as "briber," meaning "to beg." and as a noun as "bribe," meaning "a piece of bread" ("seemingly," from the notion of "bread given to a beggar"), but where French got the word is unclear. The noun form then extended that meaning to "anything given to beggars, alms, charity,'' but then came to be applied to the act of begging for charity itself; thus "begging, living from begging." The verb form seems to have gradually changed meaning from just "beg," to "steal," which then led the noun in the same direction and the meanings "stolen goods, robbery, theft." English borrowed both the noun and verb during the 1300s with the "steal" and "theft" meanings, respectively. Gradually the meaning of "extort" (noun, "extortion") began to develop, and by the 1500s it began to often be used in reference to judges or magistrates "asking (there's the begging notion) for money or other valuables to get a favorable ruling or verdict (there's the steal, extort idea)." The meaning has since broadened to include the act of anyone asking for money or goods to obtain special treatment.          

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part 5

Historians have been divided over whether Rasputin belonged to a religious sect that practiced, to put it bluntly, group sex. If I remember correctly, his daughter did say that Rasputin had been associated with the sect, but that he had rejected it. There doesn't seem to be any clear evidence one way or the other whether he truly rejected this sect. Further, just as in other countries and other general religious denominations, there are sects that may have some views differing from the main religious body, and such was the case in Russia and in Russian Orthodoxy. One other sect espoused a belief that the more a person sinned, the better it was, as God forgave sinners. If anything, even if Rasputin didn't belong to this sect, he certainly seemed to embrace the general philosophy.

It was during World War I that Rasputin did the most damage to the Tsar and Tsarina, although certainly not without their participation. It has to be noted here that Nicholas tended to give in to his wife's wishes on many, if not most, occasions. There seems to be no question that many involved with the imperial couple said that Alexandra was indeed the strong and decisive partner and Nicholas the weaker and indecisive. I'll go out on a limb here and say that it has been my experience that when you have a person with a weak and vacillating personality, when they finally make a decision on something, even if that decision turns out to be wrong, that they then have a hell of a time changing their minds, and they tend to cling too stubbornly to their incorrect decision. In my opinion Nicholas was certainly in this category. On the other hand, Alexandra was strong and convinced that God would bless any decision made by the Tsar and supported, if not urged upon him, by her, and also supported, if not urged upon her, by Rasputin. To be quite honest, it is sometimes difficult to sort out whether Rasputin always, or even frequently, proposed policies to the Tsarina, and that then she in turn urged the policies upon Nicholas, or whether Alexandra had general ideas about certain policies, expressed them to Rasputin, and that Rasputin, ever the wily one, then gave his blessing to the policies and perhaps even filled in some detail, never wanting to actually contradict the Tsarina, as he well knew that his position depended upon her. It was likely something of a mixture. It bears repeating here, Alexandra believed that Rasputin had a special relationship with God and even talked with God, and that it was only through Rasputin that her son remained alive. As such, she certainly discussed matters of government with Rasputin, and even military matters. If I remember correctly, Nicholas was upset to learn that at one point, Alexandra had told Rasputin about a coming Russian military offensive in order that he would bless the attack and thus guarantee success. As I mentioned in a previous segment, she exhibited poor judgment when it came to Rasputin.

With the Russian armies beaten and bloodied, the Tsar made a fateful decision, one that was supported by Alexandra and Rasputin; that is, Nicholas was to take charge of the Russian forces himself. What this meant was, just as an American president is the overall commander-in-chief of the armed forces, it was the same with the Russian Tsar, although at times in history, certain Tsars had actually participated in military matters, even being involved in military operations. In this case, what Nicholas did would have been the same as if Woodrow Wilson, who was president during World War I, had gone to Europe to actually supervise every day military operations. So, Nicholas left for the military headquarters in central (European) Russia, hundreds of miles from the capitol. He saw this as a necessary symbol to inspire confidence in the army and the populace. His advisers were adamantly against the decision, at least at that time, as they explained to Nicholas that with the Russian armies in retreat, and with the Tsar in charge, any further military failures would now be directly linked to the Tsar himself.* Further, his advisers told him that, with the Tsar away from the capitol, affairs of state could not be easily acted upon, as in the tsarist system, virtually every government decision had to come before the Tsar. Nicholas stated that when he left the capitol, Alexandra would take over the day-to-day matters of governance, and that she would pass along any major matters to him for his consideration. Alexandra and Rasputin both supported the Tsar's decision. The door was opened even wider for Rasputin to do damage, even if not always in fact, at least in the public mind.

To be continued in "Part Six" ....

* Up to this point according to historians, the Russian people blamed the military commanders for the terrible defeats, but the Tsar remained popular and essentially unscathed, as Russians had pulled together against the common foes, Germany and Austria-Hungary.

WORD HISTORY:
Dacha-This word, meaning "a small home (often vacation home) in the country," goes back to Indo European "doh," which had the notion "give, present, offer." This gave its Old Slavic offspring "datya," meaning "give," which was passed to Russian as "dat" (give), which then produced the noun "dacha," originally a small home "given" by a noble to someone for their valued service. English borrowed the word from Russian in the latter part of the 1800s. It is related to "datum" (more commonly used in its plural, "data," meaning "something given," usually now, "information given") and "donation" ("something freely given for a cause"), two words of Latin derivation borrowed by English.  

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part 4

So what was it that Rasputin did that earned him a bad reputation? He had periodic bouts of heavy drinking, seemingly more so beginning not long after the start of World War One. Rasputin didn't lack ego, and when the drink took over, so did his boasting, or his sexual appetite. By all accounts, when he made visits to the Imperial family, has was totally sober, and it seems that he did forgo alcohol for various periods of time, but the fact that he was associated with the Tsar and Tsarina made any public drunken spectacle a cause for news stories. He was also known for his blunt sexual advances to the ladies. He frequented prostitutes, but it was his advances to other women that earned him the scorn of many in the Russian Orthodox Church. He was even "accused," at one point, of having raped a nun. During his drinking binges, he was prone to boast about his sexual conquests, and during one outing, he kissed a woman in one of the bars, only to add that he did the same with the Tsarina herself!*

During one drinking session in Moscow, he reportedly unzipped his pants and exposed himself to the crowd. As his association with the Imperial family grew, people from all walks of life sought his aid in getting an audience with the Tsar or Tsarina, or in getting help from some government official. There seems little doubt that he took bribes, earning quite a sum of money by some accounts.** People lined up at Rasputin's apartment in St. Petersburg*** in order to try to get help. There were so many people, that instead of scribbling a note with his signature, as he had been doing, he had cards printed up to expedite the process. (Rasputin was what most people would say was "semi-literate.") While he took money and gifts of various kinds from many people, he also gave away a great deal of money to peasants and workers who came to him with hard luck stories, and his concern for the poor seems to have been genuine.

Once World War I started, the pot really began to boil. Fairly early on, the Russian armies suffered staggering defeats at the hands of the Germans, with hundreds of thousands of casualties. Rumors began to spread that Rasputin was in the pay of the Germans. As the Russian armies retreated, the rumors became even more caustic, claiming that the Tsarina was passing information on to her first cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm (Alexandra and Wilhelm were grandchildren of Queen Victoria). Her German birth and what the public saw as her dislike of Russia (her limited use of Russian and her rare public appearances) only fed the rumors. Rasputin did associate with some surly characters supposed to be German sympathizers during this time period, and again, perception was reality to the public. Even some who supported Rasputin felt that in his drunken state of mind at times, that he might indeed say things to German agents (of the female variety). Some Russian military personnel also chose to associate with Rasputin, simply because they felt he had influence with the Tsarina and, therefore, the Tsar. Most mainstream historians have basically sided with Rasputin, saying that while he used poor judgment, he was always a patriotic Russian. Again, Rasputin's ego was his own enemy, as he boasted about being privy to important information that supposedly the Germans would have loved to have. How much information he actually had is perhaps another matter. Again, most historians have basically concluded that Rasputin was just boasting and that he had no such valuable information.**** The public didn't know this. People thought that he genuinely was an advisor to the Tsar and Tsarina, and as such, he had lots of important information. With Rasputin known to take bribes, the public felt that he would do anything for money, including selling information to the Germans. The stories about Rasputin are almost endless, and I don't intend to go into all of them, as many come from poor sources, but again, many in the public believed ANYTHING about Rasputin, no matter how sensational.

After the fall of Communism, Russians had a more open discussion about Rasputin's part in their history. One television documentary had an interview with an elderly St. Petersburg resident who claimed that she and her husband had been walking down a street one night in like about 1915 when a strange weakness came over her and she dropped to the ground. When she looked up, there a short distance away stood Rasputin. She claimed that he had that kind of evil power!!! Now, this is a lot of nonsense, but again, what people believe to be true is more important than the truth at any given moment. In more than a decade of association between Rasputin and the Imperial family, the drip, drip, drip of scandalous stories had taken a toll on the Romanov reputation. The many scandalous stories invigorated the revolutionary movement, kept the newspaper business hopping, and made the public question the capabilities and even the loyalty of those at the top.

To be continued in "Part Five" ....

* Revolutionary elements, long a part of Russian life (they assassinated Nicholas's grandfather, Tsar Alexander II), loved Rasputin's antics and never missed an opportunity to spread even more salacious stories about him. They especially targeted the Tsarina, displaying drawings of Rasputin and the Tsarina in various sexual situations. In one famous incident, a letter from Alexandra to Rasputin gained widespread circulation. In the letter, Alexandra wrote several loving expressions, only adding to the growing public belief that Rasputin was the Tsarina's lover. Later, after the Tsar had abdicated, a special board of inquiry was convened by the then provisional government. It found no evidence that the Tsarina had had any physical relationship with Rasputin. Alexandra's closest associates noted that she wrote to all of her friends in "flowery" language, and her letters to Rasputin were no exception. Things got so bad in the mainstream press, too, that the government forbid the use of Rasputin's name in the newspapers. (The Tsar's manifesto had granted basic freedom of the press in 1906, but not anywhere near like what we Americans have; therefore, the Russian government did still exercise a degree of censorship.) The newspapers got around the censorship by simply NOT mentioning Rasputin by name, but by alluding to Rasputin with statements like, "A well known peasant," "A supposed holy man," and such. The public knew EXACTLY to whom the stories were referring, and newspaper sales soared even higher!

** I must also add that Rasputin may not have had to openly ask many people for some sort of compensation (bribe), as they seem to have brought money and other items to give to him for helping them.

*** He eventually rented in St. Petersburg for his long stays there, while still maintaining his home in Siberia.

**** This is one of those difficult to determine items of Rasputin's life. Military information was, by its nature, secret, although I think he had at least some basic military information, but likely not much detail. Alexandra's judgment regarding "our friend," as she usually referred to Rasputin, was highly suspect, and if I remember right, Nicholas, in a letter to his wife from the military headquarters, once related some information to her, followed by the caution that the info should not be revealed to anyone, not even "to our friend." While Alexandra herself likely did not know many details of the military matters, even basic information could have been damaging to the Russian cause, as just imagine if Hitler had had the basic information that Normandy was going to be the site of the Allied invasion in 1944. No detail, but highly important, and likely decisive, info!

WORD HISTORY:
Babushka-This word, generally known in American English as a word for a "headscarf," goes back to Old Slavic "baba," which meant "old woman," and apparently came from baby talk. This gave Russian "babushka," an endearment term meaning "grandma, granny." The word came to America with Russian and Ukrainian immigrants and was borrowed by American English in the post World War One era. The "headscarf" meaning came from the fact that many older Russian and Ukrainian woman (including the immigrants) wore such a scarf, and the meaning thus transferred to that apparel.  

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part 3

Slightly edited and updated with a Word History October 16, 2014

One of the difficult things about Rasputin's life is trying to sort out fact from fiction. He was not a monk, as many have referred to him, nor was he any true official of the Russian Orthodox Church, nor was he in later life any kind of official in the Russian government. Rasputin derived any power he had, real or perceived, by his association with the Imperial couple, especially Alexandra, and then by way of her influence with her husband. Since he was not in any official capacity, there are scant records on him. The records available come from people who knew him, or who were associated with him at one time or another, or from police surveillance records.

One of his daughters wrote a couple of books about him, and the problem here is one of credibility, as she naturally defended her father (it does seem that Rasputin was seen by his children as a good father). His daughter tried mightily to fend off all of the negative stories about her father by saying that there was a plot by many in the Russian government, in Russian high society, and in the Russian Orthodox Church hierarchy to discredit her father because he was close to the Tsar and Tsarina. Now, there's undoubtedly some truth in this, as many in Russian high society were jealous of the fact that Rasputin was a frequent visitor to the Tsar's palaces (especially at Tsarkoe Selo, which was in what we'd call today, "suburban" St. Petersburg, which was the Russian capitol). Further, officials in the Orthodox Church clashed with Rasputin at various times during his life, and I'm sure his daughter felt they wanted to "get even" with her father. Likewise, Russian government officials feared for their positions because of Rasputin, and his daughter tried to explain away their opposition to Rasputin for this reason. Again, all of these things probably have "some truth" to them, but they don't explain all of the scandalous stories about Rasputin. Another thing to remember is, by most accounts, when Rasputin was around the Imperial family, he was on his best behavior, and undoubtedly his own children did not see the Rasputin that was written about in the newspapers. For the most part, his family remained in western Siberia while he was off for long periods in St. Petersburg and elsewhere. From a historical point of view we'd like to know what was true about Rasputin, but also a part of that historical truth is the fact that the actual truth about him in those times in Russia didn't matter, rather it was what people THOUGHT was true that mattered, and many Russians believed the scandal stories, which led them to speculate that he slept with the Tsarina, molested her children, and drugged or hypnotized the Tsar.

The Tsar held absolute power until the autumn of 1905. A revolution had broken out during 1905 and continued into 1906. While it didn't succeed, and it was not really a truly nationwide revolution,* it was serious enough that the Tsar felt forced to sign a basic constitution (in this case called a "manifesto"), thus making the monarchy a constitutional monarchy, but only of sorts, as Nicholas began to try to take back or circumvent some of the rights he had granted. Part of that "constitution" granted a degree of freedom of the press. As Rasputin grew ever closer to the Tsarina, and to some extent, the Tsar, the newspapers began to print more and more stories about this Siberian peasant** who made frequent appearances at the Tsar's palaces. The stories began to really get the public's attention and the newspapers found that running stories about Rasputin was a profitable venture, as the public couldn't get enough about him.

More in "Part Four" ...

* During this revolution, the army remained loyal to the government, while elements, but certainly not all, of the navy rebelled, as did parts of the peasantry. Much of the violence took place in the countryside or at naval ports, thus I said that it was not truly a nationwide revolt, but the Tsar and his family remained pretty much confined to their palace just outside the capital for security reasons. Just a note, as this event naturally remained in Nicholas's mind throughout his life: as a young teenager, Nicholas had witnessed the death of his grandfather, Tsar Alexander II, who was assassinated by revolutionaries. One threw a bomb at the Alexander's carriage which killed one of his guards, and wounded the driver. Alexander made the fatal mistake of leaving the carriage (which had a certain amount of metal plating for protection) to see the wounded guard. Another bomb was thrown, which landed right at his feet. One of his legs was blown off and the other almost so, along with other serious injuries, but he remained alive, and he ordered that he be carried into his palace, where he later died with his young grandson present.

** Rasputin was actually his family name. His given name was "Gregory/Grigory," or "Grigorii," in the non-Cyrillic Russian version. Russian peasants had something of a society of their own, with a segment of the peasantry literally being "dirt poor," many living in huts, but another, smaller segment, being a bit better off, with better housing and more possessions. Rasputin's family belonged more with the latter group, having a decent house and more personal possessions.

WORD HISTORY:
Borscht-This word for a common Eastern European derived soup, most often made in modern times from beets, goes back to Indo European "bharsh," which had the notion "sharp pointed." This gave Old Slavic "borsh(ch)," which was used for the name of a common plant with "bristles," a plant whose root was a type of "parsnip." This gave Ukrainian, a Slavic language, "borshch," with the same meaning, and later the name for a type of soup which used that particular parsnip as the main ingredient. Yiddish^ borrowed the word as "borscht/borsht," and it was borrowed by American English in the 1880s, when Jewish immigration from the old Russian Empire (which included modern Ukraine and much of Poland) to America increased significantly.

^ There came to be a significant Jewish population in what are today western Ukraine, eastern Poland, and Lithuania, all once part of the Russian Empire. Yiddish developed about 1000 A.D. among German Jews living in the Rhineland area from some High German dialects back then. It also used Hebrew, and, over time, spread throughout Europe's Jewish communities, incorporating some vocabulary from several Slavic languages/dialects in eastern Europe. It is written in the Hebrew alphabet, but it is classified as one of the Germanic languages, as its base is dialectal German, thus making it a close relative of English.

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part Two

(Slightly edited and updated with a Word History on October 15, 2014)

The Tsar and his family lived a fairly isolated life; this was especially so, because Alexandra was extremely shy and not fond of social events, which were therefore limited, even more so, after she began having children (she had five children between November 1895 and August 1904). She was insecure, and since she had had little time to learn the Russian language before her marriage to Nicholas, she preferred to use Russian as little as possible. This gave many Russians the impression that she didn’t like Russia. She and Nicholas conversed in English, and if I remember right, at times in her native German, as Nicholas was fluent in German (his grandmother was German). When Nicholas was away so much during World War I, the two exchanged letters in English and Alexandra kept her diary in English. Alexandra conversed with her children in English and taught them German, while Nicholas conversed with the children in Russian.

Alexandra’s preference for friends did not sit well with the Imperial Court. In a society where the nobles and aristocracy dominated, the people of high society wanted to be seen as being close to the Tsar and Tsarina; it was status and it was intensely sought after. Alexandra chose, however, to rarely see many people of high society. She was undoubtedly influenced very much by her grandmother, Queen Victoria, as Alexandra’s mother, Alice, Victoria’s daughter, died when Alexandra was only six. Queen Victoria promptly took charge of arranging for her granddaughter’s education, and Alix, her given name, spent long periods in England with her grandmother. There’s little question that Queen Victoria instilled a sense of “noblesse oblige” in her granddaughter; that is, given her status in society, she had a special duty to help others in less fortunate circumstances. The English monarchy had evolved into a constitutional monarchy over the centuries, but in Russia, such was not the case, and people of high status, and especially the Imperial family, were expected to flaunt their positions and exert power. When Alexandra tried to get women of high society to sew and knit clothes for the poor, few participated, as they saw such things as beneath them. Later, during World War I, Alexandra worked as a nurse in a hospital set up for wounded soldiers in one of the Romanov palaces. She also had her daughters trained in nursing, but the public didn’t appreciate this act of sacrifice by their Tsarina, as it was seen as being beneath the dignity of the Russian Tsarina to tend to badly wounded dirty men, crawling with lice. Early on, right after Nicholas's father died, superstitious Russians talked about the omen of Alexandra arriving in Russia behind a coffin.

The Tsar's son, Alexei, had occasional bouts with bleeding and with no cure available, Alexandra's fanatical religious side took over. She prayed often, as just about any parent would do under the same circumstances. The whole matter of the heir's illness was kept secret, with only a handful of people knowing the exact nature of his condition. Even many of the household personnel in the Tsar's many palaces did not know what was wrong with the boy, only that he was periodically ill.

The Imperial couple was introduced to a peasant who had come to St. Petersburg from western Siberia. He was a "starets," that is, a "holy man" and "spiritual adviser," but not an official in any capacity of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the time, circa 1905, he was gaining a reputation in the capitol as a devout religious figure, and relatives of the Tsar thought the Imperial couple might be interested in meeting this mysterious man. It wasn't long before he won over Alexandra, and during one of Alexei's bleeding episodes, Rasputin was brought to the boy and seemed to miraculously stop the child's bleeding. Alexandra, so filled with blame about passing this defective gene to her son, and so caught up in her religiosity, began to believe that her many prayers had been answered, and only with Rasputin's help from God could her son be kept alive. It was a relationship that would, over time, help bring down the Romanov Dynasty.

To be continued in "Part Three" ....

WORD HISTORY:
Heir-This word, related to "heredity," goes back to the Indo European root "ghe," which had the notion of "go, leave."  This gave its Latin offspring "heres," meaning "heir;" that is, "one left behind." This passed to Old French, a heavily Latin-based language, as "eir/oir," "seemingly" dependent upon dialect. The word came to England with the Normans and became "heir," and was borrowed by English in the late 1200s.  

Rasputin's Importance To History, Part One

NOTE: I published this in April of 2008, but as of October 15, 2014, I have added a "Word History," as I did not always include such back then. Also I very minimally tweaked some of the text, but only a few words here and there. I will be doing the same with the rest of this series, as there are a total of nine parts.

This is certainly not an attempt to do a comprehensive biography of Rasputin, but rather I want to put some perspective to his place in history. Many Americans have probably heard the name Rasputin, but I seriously doubt that many know much, if anything, about him. Rasputin was a Russian peasant* who came to be very close with the Russian Imperial family, and especially with the Empress Alexandra, wife of Tsar Nicholas II. First a little background on the times:

Nicholas II had unexpectedly become Tsar at a much earlier point, 1894, than had ever been anticipated. His father, Alexander III, was a true "Russian bear" of a man, standing something like 6' 4" and weighing somewhere in the mid 200s. He was physically strong, but died of kidney problems at the age of only 49. Nicholas had already asked Alix of Hessen (Germany), a granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria, to be his wife, and with the unexpected death of his father, the wedding plans were moved up so that Alix (who took the Russian name Alexandra) could be in support of Nicholas as he took the throne of the vast Russian Empire. Nicholas was only 26 and stood only about 5' 7" and was on the slim side, taking after his mother, Marie, the daughter of the King of Denmark, whose wife was also a German (from Hessen-Kassel).

Russia during those times was a country undergoing tremendous change. Peasants were flocking to the cities for work in the growing industrial complexes of Russia. Working conditions were horrendous, and death, injury and disease were commonplace. Russian society was highly stratified, with the upper classes controlling most of the wealth, and only a small middle class, which was unable to give balance to the system. The vast bulk of the population was lower class (not meant disparagingly), consisting mainly of peasants and the growing working class. At the top of the system sat the Romanov Dynasty, headed by the Tsar. In what was a throwback to an earlier time in Europe, the Tsar was considered to get his power from God himself ("Divine Right"). The Tsar was a true autocrat, being the one and only ruler, and sharing power with no one. Many Russians saw the Tsar as a kind of "semi-divine" figure, and strangely for such a top-weighted system, he was seen traditionally as the protector of the "people," called the "Little Father" by much of the populace, and many a Russian peasant feeling oppression from the wealthy landlords hoped to reach the Tsar to tell him so that he could right matters for them. The Tsar had the final word on ANY matter.

Russian society was also very superstitious and full of mysticism. There may be a tendency to think that the higher up one goes in society and in education, the less superstitious that person becomes, but this was not necessarily true in Russian high society, with many aristocrats and nobles believing in all sorts of nonsense. The wives of two of the Tsar's relatives actually believed that when this one particular mystic wore a special hat, he became invisible!!! (I don't want to imply that all of high society believed such nonsense.) Alexandra was prone to believe in such things, too. She and Nicholas produced four daughters in a system that needed a male heir, and preferably several male children. Alexandra was a religious fanatic**, and she turned to mystics in the hope of producing a male heir. Finally, in 1904, she gave birth to a son, Alexei. Unfortunately, within a short time, the boy was found to be suffering with hemophilia, a disorder that caused frequent and serious bleeding. The more serious aspect to the affliction was when the bleeding was internal, and most males failed to live into their 20s, as there was no cure. (Hemophilia is caused by a defective gene that is passed FROM the mother TO the son. It is almost exclusively a disorder in males.) Alexandra, not the most emotionally stable person to start with, was devastated. The fact that she had transmitted this faulty gene to her son only served to make matters worse. Into her life stepped an unlikely "savior."

To be continued in "Part Two''....

* "Peasant" in many parts of the world doesn't carry quite the negative connotation that it does with Americans.

** She was first a Lutheran, but by Russian law had to convert to Russian Orthodoxy in order to marry Nicholas.

Special note: The last part will contain a bibliography. For my articles on a related subject, see my two part series, " 'Nicholas And Alexandra,' The Movie and History," from the following links:

Part One: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2014/10/nicholas-and-alexandra-movie-part-one.html

Part Two:  http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2014/10/nicholas-and-alexandra-movie-and.html

WORD HISTORY:
Mystic-This word, closely related to "mystery," and meaning, "one who interprets the mysteries of faith;" and to some, "an occultist,'' goes back to Indo European "meue," which had the notion of "close, shut," usually in reference to mouth and eyes, but with the extended figurative meaning "keep secret." This gave Ancient Greek "mustes," meaning "one who has been initiated (given access to secrets)," which then produced Greek "mustikos" (secret, having to do with mysteries), and this was borrowed by Latin as "mysticus" (mystical, of secrets or mysteries), which was passed on to Old French, a Latin-based language, as "mystique" (filled with mysteries). This was then borrowed by English in the latter part of the 1300s.  

Suburban Cleveland Foreclosures Rise

Most people are aware that Ohio has a high foreclosure rate. My guess is, many people also think that most of the foreclosures are in the major cities, Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton, Akron, Toledo, etc, and much of that belief is probably true; however, The Plain Dealer reported in an article on 4/11 that even the more affluent counties are experiencing dramatic increases in foreclosures. According to the article, 73 of Ohio's 88 counties had increases in the number of foreclosure filings in 2007, representing one foreclosure for every 60 housing units in Ohio (and remember, that was just in 2007!!!). Cleveland's suburban counties saw a big jump in foreclosures in 2007, with suburban Lake County up more than 22%, suburban Medina County up nearly 18%, and suburban Geauga County up more than 21%. Cuyahoga County, which is Cleveland proper and the near suburbs, saw an increase of a little more than 7%, but continued to be the county with the highest number of foreclosures in the state, with nearly 15,000, while Franklin County, which is Columbus proper and the near suburbs, was the second highest in the state, with more than 9100.

If You're A Housing Advocate....

If you're upset with all of the foreclosures and interest rate shenanigans, you might want to check out this site, if you're looking to strike a blow at the fat cats:

http://www.naca.com/index.jsp

The Public Mood

Americans are fearful for their own and their childrens' future. More and more people see a role for government in our lives to help smooth out the rough edges of our society. As I've written before, government is NOT perfect, but we have to have it to balance some things, even if only temporarily. If you happened to see some of the testimony of the oil execs before a congressional panel the other day, one of the execs, when pressed about the high price of energy and the effect on many Americans, said something to the effect, that life isn't easy. This comes from a guy earning millions of bucks every year! I've said it here before, their attitude is "I've got my millions and the hell with you bunch of losers!" If things continue to deteriorate, I've got to believe that Americans will finally take matters into their own hands. Then this guy and others like him will find out that life REALLY isn't easy, when they're looking down the barrels of an execution squad. It has happened in other parts of the world, and don't think it can't happen here, too. If things don't change here soon, it may be the only way to get the country back from these ruthless, greedy, egomaniac SOBs.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23945126/ THIS ARTICLE IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE

Oil Production

In case you haven't already guessed the facts about oil production, this article will set the record straight about oil and gas prices and your own pocketbook, and probably about the stability of the world economy.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Extra/WhyExxonWontProduceMore.aspx?page=1