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The mysterious life and death of Rasputin - Eden Girma

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On a night in 1916, Russian aristocrats set a plot of assassination into motion. If all went as planned, a man would be dead by morning, though others had already tried and failed. The monarchy was on the brink of collapse, and they believed this man was the single cause of it all. Who was he, and why was he to blame for the fate of an empire? Eden Girma explores the life of the notorious Rasputin.

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Meet The Creators

  • Educator Eden Girma
  • Director Luísa Holanda
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Storyboard Artist Luísa Holanda
  • Animator Felipe Urbanetto, Luísa Holanda
  • Compositor Gabriel Maia
  • Art Director Luísa Holanda
  • Sound Designer Gabriel Maia
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Associate Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
  • Fact-Checker Liz McGlone
Additional Resources for you to Explore
Primary sources include:
Jusupov, Feliks F., and Felix Youssoupoff. Lost Splendor: The Amazing Memoirs of the Man Who Killed Rasputin. Helen Marx Books, 2003.
Foreign Office papers, held by The National Archives: specifically, FO 800/75, FO 800/178, FO 371/2994, and FO 371/2741.

For secondary sources/biographies, see:
Smith, Douglas. Rasputin: Faith, power, and the twilight of the Romanovs. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016.
Warth, R. D. (1985). Before Rasputin: Piety and the Occult at the Court of Nicholas II. The Historian, 47(3), 323–337.

Massie, Robert K. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Publishing Group, 2011.

Fuhrmann, Joseph T. Rasputin: the untold story. John Wiley & Sons, 2012.

Radzinsky, Edvard. The Rasputin File. Anchor, 2010.
Avatar for Pau Monsivais
I believe that Rasputin had no power or anything in particular, and that the only thing that made him so well known and came to work with the Romanov family was his charisma.
02/11/2020 • 
 12 Responses
 / 12 Updates
Avatar for Lyndsey Whittle
Did he truly believe in himself or was he just corrupted?
04/05/2022 • 
 1 Response
 / 1 Updates
Avatar for Atharv Kothamasu
Rasputin was murdered during the early morning on 30 December [O.S. 17 December] 1916 at the home of Felix Yusupov. He died of three gunshot wounds, one of which was a close-range shot to his forehead.
02/19/2023 • 
 0 Responses
 / 0 Updates

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About TED-Ed Animations

TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator Eden Girma
  • Director Luísa Holanda
  • Narrator Addison Anderson
  • Storyboard Artist Luísa Holanda
  • Animator Felipe Urbanetto, Luísa Holanda
  • Compositor Gabriel Maia
  • Art Director Luísa Holanda
  • Sound Designer Gabriel Maia
  • Director of Production Gerta Xhelo
  • Editorial Producer Alex Rosenthal
  • Associate Producer Bethany Cutmore-Scott
  • Associate Editorial Producer Elizabeth Cox
  • Fact-Checker Liz McGlone

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