16. Taking Advice From a Religious Charlatan About How to Run a War Backfired
Rasputin’s worst advice came during World War I. When he sought to visit the front to bless the soldiers, Russia’s army commander, who viewed Rasputin as a charlatan, vowed to hang him if he came anywhere near the front. So Rasputin bad-mouthed him to the Tsar, and claimed that he had a religious revelation that Russia’s armies would not succeed until the Tsar went to the front and took personal command. So in 1915, Tsar Nicholas appointed himself commander of the armed forces, and announced that he would take charge in person.
It was a disastrous decision. Tsardom’s absolutist rule was made psychologically palatable to the Russian masses with the myth that whatever went wrong, the Tsar was blameless. Corrupt officials were responsible, and they hid the truth from the Tsar. That myth became untenable once Nicholas took personal command. From then on, responsibility for defeat, mismanagement, and incompetence in conducting the war were laid directly at the Tsar’s feet. Since Nicholas knew nothing about running a war, there was plenty of defeat, mismanagement, and incompetence to lay at his feet.
