Rasputin

Short History Of...

Noiser

History

4.7 • 4.9K Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2026

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

⁠A Short History of Ancient Rome⁠ - the debut book from the Noiser Network is out now! Discover the epic rise and fall of Rome like never before. Pick up your copy now at your local bookstore or visit ⁠⁠noiser.com/books⁠⁠ to learn more. At the dawn of the twentieth century, Russia was a nation on the brink. Strikes, protests, and brutal uprisings were shaking the empire. Public faith in the monarchy was hanging by a thread. It was into this fragile world that Grigori Rasputin stepped. Whether he was truly a holy man, blessed with healing powers, or a fraud and a drunkard, his closeness to the Tsarina gave him a hold over the Russian court which seemed both inexplicable and irresistible. But what was it about Rasputin that allowed him to enchant a desperate empress? How did rumours of scandal and corruption turn one man into a symbol of national decay? And why, even after his violent death, does his shadow still hang over the fall of Imperial Russia? This is a Short History Of Rasputin. Take back your personal data with Incogni! Use code shorthistory at the link below and get 60% off annual plans: https://incogni.com/shorthistory A Noiser podcast production. Hosted by John Hopkins. With thanks to Francis Welch, a historian and author of Rasputin: A Short Life. Written by Sean Coleman | Produced by Kate Simants | Production Assistant: Chris McDonald | Exec produced by Katrina Hughes | Sound supervisor: Tom Pink | Sound design by Oliver Sanders | Assembly edit by Anisha Deva | Compositions by Oliver Baines, Dorry Macaulay, Tom Pink | Mix & mastering: Cody Reynolds-Shaw Get every episode of Short History Of… a week early with Noiser+. You’ll also get ad-free listening, bonus material and early access to shows across the Noiser podcast network. Click the subscription banner at the top of the feed to get started. Or go to noiser.com/subscriptions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Poppy's come to the end of her work visa.
0:02.0	She partied most nights and now can't afford her flight back to the UK.
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0:31.6	It's October 1907 in the Alexander Palace at Zasogoyer Zerlo, Russia.
0:41.6	In a corridor of the imperial family's summer dacha, a young footman stands guard at the door to the nursery. Inside, the life of the
0:49.0	three-year-old heir to the Russian throne, Zarevich Alexei, hangs in the balance.
1:02.0	He is suffering from an internal hemorrhage, brought on by his hemophilia, a rare genetic disorder that stops the blood from clotting properly, meaning even small injuries
1:08.0	can be life-threatening. Listening at his post, the footman hears anxious, clipped voices from within.
1:15.6	None of the doctors have known what to do, and the child is in a desperate state.
1:20.6	His mother, Zarina Alexandra, fears the worst.
1:29.3	But now, a new figure appears in the corridor.
1:33.3	A tall, strong-looking man with an unkempt black beard and hair that falls to his shoulders.
1:40.3	His coarse, peasant's tunic is tied with a cord at the waist.
1:45.7	But it is his pale, piercing eyes that command the footman's attention.
1:53.8	He is the Siberian peasant holy man, Grigori Rasputin, summoned here by the imperial family
2:00.8	as their last desperate hope for the boy.
2:03.6	The footman swings the nursery door open and follows the visitor inside.
	...

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