How does a Siberian peasant mystic end up controlling the most powerful empire in Europe? Could the rumours that destroyed a dynasty have been entirely false — and did they matter anyway? And, without Rasputin, would there have been no Lenin — and would the 20th century have looked completely different? Peter sits down with Sir Antony Beevor — bestselling author of Stalingrad, Berlin, and D-Day — to dig into his new book on one of history's most mythologised figures: Grigori Rasputin, the Siberian wanderer who charmed the Tsarina, antagonised everyone else, and whose murder was so catastrophically bungled it reads like black farce.
0:00 From Siberia to the Imperial court — how a peasant mystic reached the centre of power
5:30 Holy fools, wandering pilgrims, and why Russia was always fertile ground for figures like Rasputin
10:00 The voice, the eyes, and the seduction: how Rasputin actually worked on people
13:00 The Tsarina's obsession — and why Antony Beevor is certain the rumours were fake news
17:30 How Rasputin's ministerial choices set the railways on fire and sparked a revolution
24:00 Rasputin was right about the war — and then made everything worse anyway
27:30 The assassination: poisoned cakes, Yankee Doodle, and a murder plot of spectacular incompetence
32:00 Putin, Nicholas II, and why historians should be wary of historical parallels
36:00 Without Rasputin, no Lenin? The counterfactuals Antony loves but won't fully follow
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