Why would the British be interested in killing Rasputin? Well, he was very much anti-war and the British knew that if the Russians gave in on the Eastern Front it would free up thousands of German troops to mob the Western Front and that could well have spelled disaster for the allies.
Some thought that Rasputin had made deals with the Germans, or he may have simply been worried about the huge loss of life that Russia had been subjected to. There were two officers of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) stationed in Petrograd at that time, but no official records remain that could back up or dismiss this theory. On his return to England, one of the SIS men – Oswald Rayner (picture above) – not only confided to his cousin that he’d been present at Rasputin’s murder but also showed family members a bullet which he claimed to have acquired at the murder scene. Here’s Rasputin’s body:
Maybe more evidence will appear over time, but it’s a mysterious end to a mysterious tale of a mysterious man. From a peasant to an internationally hated man. What a journey.
☛ Now: History Of The Hitler Moustache
