A self-proclaimed holy man from Russia, Grigory Rasputin, meets his end at the hands of Russian nobles eager to eliminate his influence on the Royal family.
Through his remarkable ability to halt the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, Alexei, Rasputin gained the trust and favor of Czar Nicholas II and Czarina Alexandra. Despite facing widespread condemnation for his drunkenness and lechery, the Siberian-born peasant held significant sway over Russia’s ruling family. His influence was particularly strong with the czarina; when Nicholas went to the front lines to command Russian forces during World War I, it was Rasputin who effectively governed Russia through her.
In the early morning of December 30, 1916, a cabal of nobles enticed Rasputin to Yusupovsky Palace with the intent to poison him. After consuming food and wine laced with large quantities of poison without apparent effect, he was ultimately shot at close range and fell. Miraculously, a minute later, he got back up, fought off one of his attackers, and tried to flee the palace grounds, only to be shot again. Still alive, he was then restrained and thrown into a frigid river.
A few months later, the Russian Revolution resulted in the downfall of the imperial regime.
Also on this day…in 1922…precisely six years after Rasputin’s assassination, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was formed in Russia, comprising a confederation that included Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine, and the Transcaucasian Federation (which was later divided into the Georgian, Azerbaijan, and Armenian republics in 1936). Known as the Soviet Union, this new communist state emerged as the successor to the Russian Empire and became the first nation globally to establish a system based on Marxist socialism.
Amid the turmoil of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and the subsequent three-year Russian Civil War, the Bolshevik Party, led by Vladimir Lenin, became the dominant force among the soviet troops—a coalition formed of workers’ and soldiers’ committees advocating for a socialist state in the defunct Russian Empire.
Within the USSR, the Communist Party wielded absolute control over all levels of government, and its politburo, along with its increasingly powerful general secretary, practically governed the country. The state owned and managed all industrial enterprises, while agricultural lands were consolidated into state-run collective farms.
Following its establishment, the Soviet Union grew, under Russian dominance, into one of the world’s most formidable and influential powers, eventually including 15 republics—Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, Belorussia, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.
The dissolution of the Soviet Union occurred in 1991, marking the end of its communist regime.
