Shtürmer, Rasputin, and the Russian Revolution From Within

In 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power after more than a year of unrest and Russia’s disastrous involvement in World War I. In 1916, Prime Minister Boris Shtürmer had raised the prospect of a separate peace with Germany to support his aspirations to power, and with Rasputin’s help, he contrived to stir up a crisis he could control. Historian and documentarian Indy Neidell examines the facts and myths behind these claims. Before any plan could succeed, however, Rasputin was dead, Shtürmer was imprisoned, and Russia plunged into revolution.