127-468: Knyaz Felix Felixovich Yusupov, Count Sumarokov-Elston ( Russian : Князь Фе́ликс Фе́ликсович Юсу́пов, Граф Сумаро́ков-Эльстон ; 24 March [ O.S. 11 March] 1887 – 27 September 1967) was a Russian aristocrat from the House of Yusupov who is best known for participating in the assassination of Grigori Rasputin and for marrying Princess Irina Alexandrovna , a niece of Emperor Nicholas II . He
254-457: A German chemical works. Bismarck stubbornly refused to listen to Georg Herbert Münster , ambassador to France, who reported back that the French were not seeking a revanchist war and were desperate for peace at all costs. Bismarck and most of his contemporaries were conservative-minded and focused their foreign policy attention on Germany's neighboring states. In 1914, 60% of German foreign investment
381-475: A Mexican sculptor who, as a young art student in the 1960s, met Yusupov and lived with the family for five years in Paris. Descendants of Felix and Irina are: [REDACTED] Media related to Felix Yusupov at Wikimedia Commons Knyaz Knyaz , also knez , knjaz or kniaz ( Old Church Slavonic : кънѧѕь , romanized: kŭnędzĭ ), is a historical Slavic title, used both as
508-782: A classmate. He rented an apartment in Curzon Street , Mayfair , and met several times with the ballerina Anna Pavlova , who lived in Hampstead . The engagement took place in the fall of 1913 in the Yusupov Palace in Koreiz . He married Princess Irina of Russia , the tsar's only biological niece, in the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg on 22 February 1914. The bride wore a veil that had belonged to Marie Antoinette . The Yusupovs went on honeymoon to
635-575: A degree, still exist in Germany today. Bismarck's paternalistic programs won the support of German industry because its goals were to win the support of the working classes for the Empire and reduce the outflow of immigrants to America, where wages were higher but welfare did not exist. Bismarck further won the support of both industry and skilled workers by his high tariff policies, which protected profits and wages from American competition, although they alienated
762-507: A government body controlled by Protestants. Nearly all German bishops, clergy, and laymen rejected the legality of the new laws, and were defiant in the face of heavier and heavier penalties and imprisonments imposed by Bismarck's government. By 1876, all the Prussian bishops were imprisoned or in exile, and a third of the Catholic parishes were without a priest. In the face of systematic defiance,
889-521: A great hero to German conservatives, who erected many monuments to his memory and tried to emulate his policies. Bismarck's post-1871 foreign policy was conservative and sought to preserve the balance of power in Europe. British historian Eric Hobsbawm concludes that he "remained undisputed world champion at the game of multilateral diplomatic chess for almost twenty years after 1871, [devoting] himself exclusively, and successfully, to maintaining peace between
1016-521: A hereditary title of Russian nobility patrilineally descended from Rurik (e.g., Belozersky , Belosselsky-Belozersky , Repnin , Gorchakov ) or Gediminas (e.g., Galitzine , Troubetzkoy ). Members of Rurikid or Gedyminid families were called princes when they ruled tiny quasi-sovereign medieval principalities. After their demesnes were absorbed by Muscovy, they settled at the Moscow court and were authorised to continue with their princely titles. From
1143-482: A hospital for wounded soldiers. Felix was able to avoid entering military service himself by taking advantage of a law exempting only sons from serving. Irina's first cousin, Grand Duchess Olga , to whom she had been close when they were children, was disdainful of Felix: "Felix is a 'downright civilian,' dressed all in brown, walked to and fro about the room, searching in some bookcases with magazines and virtually doing nothing; an utterly unpleasant impression he makes –
1270-700: A lot of rumors that Yusupov’s family was involved in misprision of treason , according to Alexander Spiridovich : Sunday, June 13, 1915: There were also stormy demonstrations at the gates of the Convent of Martha-and-Mary , the abbess of which is the Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna , the Empress's sister and widow of the Grand Duke Sergei . This charming woman, who spends her whole life in devotion and good works, has been smothered with insults, for
1397-520: A man idling in such times," Olga wrote to Nicholas on 5 March 1915 after paying a visit to the Yusupovs. "Yusupov's plan, as he described it in his book, was to seek closer acquaintance with the healer Grigori Rasputin , and win his confidence. He asked Rasputin to cure a slight malady from which he suffered." These sessions stopped early January 1915 when, according to Maurice Paléologue , the most absurd stories were spread about Alexandra Feodorovna being
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#17329084608151524-470: A multi-ethnic Empire with a considerable German-speaking population, would remain outside of the German nation state. Bismarck's policy was to pursue a solution diplomatically. The effective alliance between Germany and Austria played a major role in Germany's decision to enter World War I in 1914. Bismarck announced there would be no more territorial additions to Germany in Europe, and his diplomacy after 1871
1651-401: A perfect fit. He had ceased doing that one night when he impersonated a singer at a club when a member of the audience spotted the family jewelry. Yusupov made a quick exit by smashing a champagne bottle over the nightclub's power box to cause a temporary blackout and ran off into the winter's night. From 1909 to 1913, he studied Forestry and later English at University College, Oxford , where he
1778-414: A population of 41 million people; by 1913, this had increased to 68 million. A heavily rural collection of states in 1815, the now united Germany became predominantly urban. The success of German industrialization manifested itself in two ways in the early 20th century; German factories were often larger and more modern than many of their British and French counterparts, but the preindustrial sector
1905-497: A relatively smooth economic and political revolution from above that pushed them along the way towards becoming the world's leading industrial power of the time. Bismarck's "revolutionary conservatism" was a conservative state-building strategy designed to make ordinary Germans—not just the Junker elite—more loyal to the throne and empire. According to Kees van Kersbergen and Barbara Vis, his strategy was: granting social rights to enhance
2032-529: A result of the legal precedent set by the Yusupov case. In 1965, Felix Yusupov also sued CBS in a New York court for televising a play based upon the Rasputin assassination. The claim was that some events were fictionalized, and under a New York state statute, his commercial rights in his story had been misappropriated. The last reported judicial opinion in the case was a ruling by New York's second-highest court that
2159-665: A royal and noble title in different times. It is usually translated into English as " prince ", " king ", or " duke " depending on specific historical context and the potentially known Latin equivalents at the time, but the word was originally derived from the common Germanic * kuningaz (king). The female form transliterated from Bulgarian and Russian is knyaginya ( княгиня ), kneginja in Slovene and Serbo-Croatian ( Serbian Cyrillic : кнегиња ), kniahinia (княгіня) in Belarusian and kniazioŭna (князёўна)
2286-581: Is generally considered to be an early borrowing from Proto-Germanic kuningaz , a form also borrowed by Finnish and Estonian ( kuningas ). The tradition of translating Knyaz and other Slavic and Russian titles of same origin not as “King” but as "Duke" or "Prince" can be traced back to Medieval Lithuania and Poland when after invasion of Tartar Empire on the lands of Eastern Europe most part of independent Slavic and Russian Kingdoms were destroyed and their lands divided between Fathers of Rome and Rulers of their side and new, Heathen, Tartar Emperors of
2413-814: Is still used as the most common translation of "prince" in Slovenian , Bosnian , Croatian and Serbian literature . Knez is also found as a surname in former Yugoslavia . The word is ultimately a cognate of the English King , the German König , and the Swedish Konung . The proto-Slavic form was * kъnędzь , kŭnędzĭ ; Church Slavonic : кънѧѕь , kŭnędzĭ ; Bulgarian : княз , knyaz ; Old East Slavic : князь , knyazĭ ; Polish : książę ; Serbo-Croatian Latin : knez / Serbo-Croatian Cyrillic : кнез ; Czech : kníže ; Slovak : knieža ; etc. It
2540-466: Is the daughter of the prince, kniahynia (княгиня) in Ukrainian and kniazivna (князівна) is the daughter of the prince. In Russian, the daughter of a knyaz is knyazhna ( княжна ). In Russian, the son of a knyaz is knyazhich ( княжич in its old form). The title is pronounced and written similarly in different European languages . In Serbo-Croatian and some West Slavic languages ,
2667-451: The Bundesrat , the federal council of deputies from the 27 states. Executive power was vested in the emperor, or Kaiser , who was assisted by a chancellor responsible only to him. The emperor was given extensive powers by the constitution. He alone appointed and dismissed the chancellor (so in practice, the emperor ruled the empire through the chancellor), was supreme commander-in-chief of
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#17329084608152794-573: The Austrian Empire and its allies on one side and Prussia and its allies on the other. The war resulted in the partial replacement of the Confederation in 1867 by a North German Confederation , comprising the 22 states north of the river Main . The patriotic fervor generated by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 overwhelmed the remaining opposition to a unified Germany (aside from Austria) in
2921-746: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania . Following the union of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , kniaź became a recognised title in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth . By the 1630s – apart from the title pan , which indicated membership of the large szlachta noble class – kniaź was the only hereditary title that was officially recognised and officially used in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Notable holders of
3048-647: The Great Depression , as well as humiliation and outrage experienced by the German population are considered leading factors in the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazism . The German Confederation had been created by an act of the Congress of Vienna on 8 June 1815 as a result of the Napoleonic Wars , after being alluded to in Article 6 of the 1814 Treaty of Paris . The liberal Revolutions of 1848 were crushed after
3175-595: The National Gallery in Washington, DC . In Crimea, the family boarded a British warship, HMS Marlborough , which took them from Yalta to Malta . On the ship, Felix enjoyed boasting about the murder of Rasputin. One of the British officers noted that Irina "appeared shy and retiring at first, but it was only necessary to take a little notice of her pretty, small daughter to break through her reserve and discover that she
3302-548: The North German Confederation and the new constitution came into force on 16 April, changing the name of the federal state to the German Empire and introducing the title of German Emperor for Wilhelm I , King of Prussia from the House of Hohenzollern . Berlin remained its capital, and Otto von Bismarck , Minister President of Prussia , became chancellor , the head of government. As these events occurred,
3429-557: The Persian front ; Purishkevich was already on his way to the Romanian Front . The last Tsar also sentenced Yusupov to house arrest upon his estate in Rakitnoye . Yusupov published several accounts of the night and the events surrounding the murder. Recent historians have cast considerable doubt, however, upon Prince Yusupov's account (see Grigori Rasputin ). According to Maklakov, Yusupov
3556-493: The Prussian -led North German Confederation and its southern German allies, such as Baden , Bavaria , Württemberg , and Hesse , were still engaged in the Franco-Prussian War . The German Empire consisted of 25 states , each with its own nobility , four constituent kingdoms , six grand duchies , five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities , three free Hanseatic cities , and one imperial territory . While Prussia
3683-464: The Russian Empire of 1809–1917, Finland was officially called Grand Principality of Finland ( Finnish : Suomen suuriruhtinaskunta , Swedish : Storfurstendömet Finland , Russian : Великое Княжество Финляндское , romanized : Velikoye Knyazhestvo Finlyandskoye ). As noted above, the title knyaz or kniaz became a hereditary noble title in the Grand Duchy of Moscow and
3810-707: The Second Reich or simply Germany , was the period of the German Reich from the unification of Germany in 1871 until the November Revolution in 1918, when the German Reich changed its form of government from a monarchy to a republic . The empire was founded on 18 January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles , outside Paris , France , where the south German states, except for Austria and Liechtenstein , joined
3937-588: The Sergei Palace . (The upper levels of the palace were occupied by the British embassy and the Anglo-Russian Hospital .) Empress Alexandra had refused to meet the two but said that they could explain what had happened in a letter to her. She wanted both shot immediately , but she was persuaded to back off from the idea. Without a trial, the tsar ordered the Grand Duke Dmitri to active service on
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4064-614: The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk . The German declaration of unrestricted submarine warfare in early 1917 contributed to bringing the United States into the war. In October 1918, after the failed Spring Offensive , the German armies were in retreat , allies Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire had collapsed, and Bulgaria had surrendered. The empire collapsed in the November 1918 Revolution with
4191-848: The Triple Alliance (1882) , would exist up until 1915, when Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary. Despite Germany, and especially Austria's, lack of faith in the Russian alliance, the Reinsurance Treaty would be first signed in 1887, and renewed up until 1890, when the Bismarckian system collapsed upon Bismarck's resignation. Meanwhile, the chancellor remained wary of any foreign policy developments that looked even remotely warlike. In 1886, he moved to stop an attempted sale of horses to France because they might be used for cavalry and also ordered an investigation into large Russian purchases of medicine from
4318-478: The Tsardom of Russia gained dominion over much of former Kievan Rus' , velikii kniaz (великий князь) ( Great Kniaz ) Ivan IV of Russia in 1547 was crowned as Tsar . From the mid-18th century onwards, the title Velikii Kniaz was revived to refer to (male-line) sons and grandsons of Russian Emperors. See titles for Tsar's family for details. Kniaz ( Russian : князь , IPA: [ˈknʲæsʲ] ) continued as
4445-513: The welfare state . German workers enjoyed health, accident and maternity benefits, canteens, changing rooms, and a national pension scheme. Industrialisation progressed dynamically in Germany, and German manufacturers began to capture domestic markets from British imports, and also to compete with British industry abroad, particularly in the U.S. The German textile and metal industries had by 1870 surpassed those of Britain in organisation and technical efficiency and superseded British manufacturers in
4572-554: The 18th century onwards, the title was occasionally granted by the Tsar, for the first time by Peter the Great to his associate Alexander Menshikov , and then by Catherine the Great to her lover Grigory Potemkin . After 1801, with the incorporation of Georgia into the Russian Empire , various titles of numerous local nobles were controversially rendered in Russian as "kniazes". Finally, within
4699-421: The 19th century. Those are officially called gradonačelnik (градоначелник) (Serbia) and gradonachalnik (градоначалник) or kmet (кмет) (Bulgaria). In early medieval Bosnia knez ( knjaz, књаз ) was a title used, along župan and duke ( vojvoda ) titles, for Bosnian rulers. One of the first such ruler, recorded in historic documents and later historiography, was Stephen, Duke of Bosnia . Later it
4826-552: The Baghdad Railway was resolved in June 1914. Many consider Bismarck's foreign policy as a coherent system and partly responsible for the preservation of Europe's stability. It was also marked by the need to balance circumspect defensiveness and the desire to be free from the constraints of its position as a major European power. Bismarck's successors did not pursue his foreign policy legacy. For instance, Kaiser Wilhelm II, who dismissed
4953-512: The Bismarck government increased the penalties and its attacks, and were challenged in 1875 when a papal encyclical declared the whole ecclesiastical legislation of Prussia was invalid, and threatened to excommunicate any Catholic who obeyed. There was no violence, but the Catholics mobilized their support, set up numerous civic organizations, raised money to pay fines, and rallied behind their church and
5080-590: The Catholic section of the Prussian Ministry of ecclesiastical and educational affairs, depriving Catholics of their voice at the highest level. The system of strict government supervision of schools was applied only in Catholic areas; the Protestant schools were left alone. Much more serious were the May laws of 1873. One made the appointment of any priest dependent on his attendance at a German university, as opposed to
5207-638: The Centre Party showed signs of gaining support among dissident elements such as the Polish Catholics in Silesia . A powerful intellectual force of the time was anti-Catholicism , led by the liberal intellectuals who formed a vital part of Bismarck's coalition. They saw the Catholic Church as a powerful force of reaction and anti-modernity, especially after the proclamation of papal infallibility in 1870, and
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5334-505: The Centre Party. The "Old Catholic Church", which rejected the First Vatican Council, attracted only a few thousand members. Bismarck, a devout pietistic Protestant, realized his Kulturkampf was backfiring when secular and socialist elements used the opportunity to attack all religion. In the long run, the most significant result was the mobilization of the Catholic voters, and their insistence on protecting their religious identity. In
5461-741: The Crimea (at Koreiz , Kökköz and Balaklava ), coal and iron-ore mines, plants and factories, flour mills and oil fields on the Caspian Sea . His father served between 1886 and 1904 as an adjutant to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich the General-Governor of Moscow (with the support of Grand Duke Nikolas Nikolaevich ). Felix led a flamboyant life. As a young man, he cross-dressed , which he later recalled to get into cabarets, which denied entrance to those in school uniforms. His brother 's mistress Polya had helped him out by giving him her clothes which were
5588-589: The Crimea, Italy , Egypt , Jerusalem , London , and Bad Kissingen in Germany , where his parents were staying. When World War I broke out in August 1914, both he and his wife were briefly detained in Berlin. Irina asked her relative, Crown Princess Cecilie of Prussia , to intervene with Kaiser Wilhelm II . The Kaiser refused to permit the Yusupov family to leave but offered them a choice of three country estates to live in for
5715-764: The Duma on the day before, and who quickly agreed to participate in the assassination. On the night of 29/30 December ( NS ) 1916, Felix, Dmitri, Vladimir Purishkevich, assistant Stanislas de Lazovert, and Sukhotin killed Rasputin in the Moika Palace under the pretense of a housewarming party . A major reconstruction of the palace had almost been finished, with a small room in the basement carefully furnished. Perhaps some women were invited but Yusupov did not mention their names; Radzinsky suggested Dimitri's step-sister Marianne Pistohlkors and film star Vera Karalli . Smith came up with Princess Olga Paley and Anna von Drenteln. Somewhere in
5842-603: The East that’s why Slavic and Russian Rulers became subdued to Latin, European Kings and Emperors of Holy Roman Empire, their titles became equal to semidependent Dukes and Princes. The rulers of the Duchy of Poland bore the title of książę , which was rendered as dux or princeps in Latin, and later adopted krol (from Karl , the name of Charlemagne ) and its equivalent rex following Bolesław I 's coronation in 1025. Similarly,
5969-557: The French lacked the strength to defeat Germany by themselves, they sought an alliance with Russia, or perhaps even the newly reformed empire of Austria-Hungary, which would envelope Germany completely. Bismarck wanted to prevent this at all costs and maintain friendly relations with the Austrians and the Russians, signing the Dual Alliance (1879) with Austria-Hungary in 1879. The Dual Aliance
6096-506: The German steel and pig iron output reached one quarter of total global production. German factories were larger and more modern than their British and French counterparts. By 1913, the German electricity production was higher than the combined electricity production of Britain, France, Italy and Sweden. By 1900, the German chemical industry dominated the world market for synthetic dyes . The three major firms BASF , Bayer and Hoechst produced several hundred different dyes, along with
6223-405: The Pacific ( Jiaozhou Bay and Tianjin in China, the Marianas , the Caroline Islands , Samoa) led to frictions with the UK, Russia, Japan, and the US. The largest colonial enterprises were in Africa, where the Herero Wars in what is now Namibia in 1906–1907 resulted in the Herero and Nama genocide . By 1900, Germany became the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in
6350-421: The Russian nation, because of its climate, its desert, and its frugality, and having but one frontier to defend", and because it would leave Germany with another bitter, resentful neighbor. Despite this, another alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy would be signed in 1882, preying on the fears of the German and Austro-Hungarian militaries of the untrustworthiness of Russia itself. This alliance, named
6477-422: The Starets' lover, Rasputin was also accused of espionage for Imperial Germany, and the tsarina was called nothing but "the German woman" (her birth nationality). The men did not meet again for almost two years. In February 1916 Felix began studies at the elite Page Corps military academy and tried joining an Imperial Russian Army regiment in August. The heavy losses by the Russian military gave rise to
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#17329084608156604-419: The Yusupovs returned to the Moika Palace before they went to Crimea . They later returned to the palace to retrieve jewels (including the blue Sultan of Morocco Diamond, the Polar Star Diamond , and the Marie Antoinette Diamond Earrings ) and two paintings by Rembrandt , the sale proceeds of the paintings helped sustain the family in exile. The paintings were bought by Joseph E. Widener in 1921 and are now in
6731-483: The abdication of Wilhelm II, which left the post-war federal republic to govern a devastated populace. The Treaty of Versailles imposed post-war reparation costs of 132 billion gold marks (around US$ 269 billion or €240 billion in 2019, or roughly US$ 32 billion in 1921), as well as limiting the army to 100,000 men and disallowing conscription, armored vehicles, submarines, aircraft, and more than six battleships. The consequential economic devastation, later exacerbated by
6858-419: The alliance and the Ottoman Empire formally allied with Germany . In the First World War, German plans to capture Paris quickly in the autumn of 1914 failed, and the war on the Western Front became a stalemate. The Allied naval blockade caused severe shortages of food and supplements. However, Imperial Germany had success on the Eastern Front ; it occupied a large amount of territory to its east following
6985-544: The anti-Catholic Kulturkampf and systematic repression of Polish people marked his period in the office. Despite his hatred of liberalism and socialism – he called liberals and socialists "enemies of the Reich" – social programs introduced by Bismarck included old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance, all aspects of the modern European welfare state . Late in Bismarck's chancellorship and in spite of his earlier personal opposition, Germany became involved in colonialism . Claiming much of
7112-419: The antique dealer Albert Stopford wrote that politics was the issue. After an hour or so, Rasputin was fairly drunk. Still waiting for Rasputin to collapse, Yusupov became anxious that Rasputin might live until the morning, leaving the conspirators no time to conceal his body. Yusupov went upstairs came back with a revolver. Rasputin was hit at close range by a bullet that entered his left chest and penetrated
7239-434: The armed forces, and final arbiter of all foreign affairs, and could also disband the Reichstag to call for new elections. Officially, the chancellor was a one-man cabinet and was responsible for the conduct of all state affairs; in practice, the State Secretaries (top bureaucratic officials in charge of such fields as finance, war, foreign affairs, etc.) functioned much like ministers in other monarchies. The Reichstag had
7366-407: The basis for conservative modernization in Imperial Japan under Emperor Meiji and the preservation of an authoritarian political structure under the tsars in the Russian Empire . One factor in the social anatomy of these governments was the retention of a very substantial share in political power by the landed elite , the Junkers , resulting from the absence of a revolutionary breakthrough by
7493-399: The basis of the modern European welfare state . He came to realize that this sort of policy was very appealing, since it bound workers to the state, and also fit in very well with his authoritarian nature. The social security systems installed by Bismarck (health care in 1883, accident insurance in 1884, invalidity and old-age insurance in 1889) at the time were the largest in the world and, to
7620-480: The building were a major-domo and a valet , waiting for orders. According to both Yusupov and Purishkevich, a gramophone in the study played interminably the Yankee Doodle when Rasputin came in. Yusupov mentions in his unreliable memoirs, that he then offered Rasputin tea and petit fours laced with a large amount of potassium cyanide . According to the diplomat, Maurice Paléologue —who in later years rewrote his diary—they discussed spirituality and occultism;
7747-440: The case could not be resolved upon briefs and affidavits but must go to trial. According to an obituary of CBS's lawyer, Carleton G. Eldridge Jr., CBS eventually won the case. In 1928, after Yusupov published his memoir detailing the killing of Rasputin, Rasputin's daughter, Maria , sued Yusupov and Dmitri in a Paris court for damages of $ 800,000. She condemned both men as murderers and said any decent person would be disgusted by
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#17329084608157874-446: The chancellor in 1890, let the treaty with Russia lapse in favor of Germany's alliance with Austria, which finally led to a stronger coalition-building between Russia and France. Germans had dreamed of colonial imperialism since 1848. Although Bismarck had little interest in acquiring overseas possessions, most Germans were enthusiastic, and by 1884 he had acquired German New Guinea . By the 1890s, German colonial expansion in Asia and
8001-446: The company to shut down. (A new business under the same name was started by others in Paris in 2008.) In 1932, he and his wife successfully sued American film company MGM , in the English courts , for libel and invasion of privacy in connection with the film Rasputin and the Empress . The alleged libel was not that the character based on Felix had committed murder but that the character based on Irina, called "Princess Natasha" in
8128-415: The corpse from Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge into an ice hole in the Little Nevka . On the empress's orders, a police investigation commenced and traces of blood were discovered on the steps to the back door of the Yusupov Palace. Prince Felix attempted to explain the blood with a story that one of his favorite dogs was shot accidentally by Grand Duke Dmitri. Yusupov and Dmitri were placed under house arrest in
8255-526: The country's population. The imperial crown was hereditary in the ruling house of Prussia, the House of Hohenzollern . With the exception of 1872–1873 and 1892–1894, the chancellor was always simultaneously the prime minister of Prussia. With 17 out of 58 votes in the Bundesrat , Berlin needed only a few votes from the smaller states to exercise effective control. The other states retained their own governments but had only limited aspects of sovereignty. For example, both postage stamps and currency were issued for
8382-421: The day-to-day burdens of child-rearing. Bébé adored her father but had a more distant relationship with her mother. After the death of his brother Nicholas in a duel in 1908, Felix was the heir to an immense fortune. Consulting with family members about how best to administer the money and property, he decided to devote time and money to charitable activities and converted a wing/floor of the Liteyny House into
8509-449: The degree of centralization grew, the ruler acquired the title Velikii Knyaz (Великий Князь) (translated as Grand Prince or Grand Duke , see Russian Grand Dukes ). He ruled a Russian : Великое Княжеcтво , romanized : Velikoye Knyazhestvo or Ukrainian : Велике Князiвcтво , romanized : Velyke Knyazivstvo ( Grand Duchy ), while a ruler of its vassal constituent ( udel , udelnoe knyazivstvo or volost )
8636-413: The domestic market. Germany became the dominant economic power on the continent and was the second-largest exporting nation after Britain. Technological progress during German industrialisation occurred in four waves: the railway wave (1877–1886), the dye wave (1887–1896), the chemical wave (1897–1902), and the wave of electrical engineering (1903–1918). Since Germany industrialised later than Britain, it
8763-489: The duration of the war. Felix's father appealed to the Spanish ambassador in Germany and won permission for them to return to Russia via neutral Denmark to the Grand Duchy of Finland and from there to Saint Petersburg. The Yusupovs' only daughter, Princess Irina Felixovna Yusupova , nicknamed Bébé, was born on 21 March 1915. She was largely raised by her paternal grandparents until she was nine. Felix and Irina, raised mainly by nannies themselves, were ill-suited to take on
8890-498: The elections of 1874, the Centre party doubled its popular vote, and became the second-largest party in the national parliament—and remained a powerful force for the next 60 years, so that after Bismarck it became difficult to form a government without their support. Bismarck built on a tradition of welfare programs in Prussia and Saxony that began as early as in the 1840s. In the 1880s he introduced old-age pensions, accident insurance, medical care and unemployment insurance that formed
9017-403: The emerging Social Democratic Party . Prussia in 1871 included 16,000,000 Protestants, both Reformed and Lutheran, and 8,000,000 Catholics. Most people were generally segregated into their own religious worlds, living in rural districts or city neighbourhoods that were overwhelmingly of the same religion, and sending their children to separate public schools where their religion was taught. There
9144-417: The empire as a whole. Coins through one mark were also minted in the name of the empire, while higher-valued pieces were issued by the states. However, these larger gold and silver issues were virtually commemorative coins and had limited circulation. While the states issued their own decorations and some had their own armies, the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. Those of
9271-665: The ferocity of Rasputin's killing. Maria's claim was dismissed. The French court ruled that it had no jurisdiction over a political killing that had occurred in Russia. Irina and Felix were married for more than 50 years. When Felix died in 1967, Irina was stricken by grief and she died three years later, on 26 February 1970. He was buried in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery , in the southern suburbs of Paris. Yusupov's private papers and several family artifacts and paintings are now owned by Victor Contreras,
9398-413: The film, was portrayed as having been seduced by the lecherous Rasputin. In 1934, the Yusupovs were awarded £25,000 damages, an enormous sum at the time, which was attributed to the successful arguments of their barrister, Patrick Hastings . The disclaimer that now appears at the end of many American films, "The preceding was a work of fiction, any similarity to a living person ...", first appeared as
9525-478: The first two letters of their first names. Irina modeled some of the dresses the pair and other designers at the firm created. Yusupov became renowned in the Russian émigré community for his financial generosity. Their philanthropy, their continued high living, and poor financial management extinguished what remained of the family fortune. Felix's bad business sense and the Wall Street crash of 1929 eventually forced
9652-582: The five smaller firms. Imperial Germany built up the world's largest chemical industry, the production of German chemical industry was 60% higher than that of the United States. In 1913, these eight firms produced almost 90% of the world supply of dyestuffs and sold about 80% of their production abroad. The three major firms had also integrated upstream into the production of essential raw materials and they began to expand into other areas of chemistry such as pharmaceuticals , photographic film , agricultural chemicals and electrochemicals . Top-level decision-making
9779-722: The four states south of the Main, and during November 1870, they joined the North German Confederation by treaty. On 10 December 1870, the North German Confederation Reichstag renamed the Confederation the "German Empire" and gave the title of German Emperor to William I , the King of Prussia , as Bundespräsidium of the Confederation. The new constitution ( Constitution of the German Confederation ) and
9906-421: The integration of a hierarchical society, to forge a bond between workers and the state so as to strengthen the latter, to maintain traditional relations of authority between social and status groups, and to provide a countervailing power against the modernist forces of liberalism and socialism. Bismarck created the modern welfare state in Germany in the 1880s and enacted universal male suffrage in 1871. He became
10033-500: The larger states, such as the Kingdoms of Bavaria and Saxony, were coordinated along Prussian principles and would, in wartime, be controlled by the federal government. The evolution of the German Empire is somewhat in line with parallel developments in Italy, which became a united nation-state a decade earlier. Some key elements of the German Empire's authoritarian political structure were also
10160-447: The lawyer Vasily Maklakov for advice. Yusopov then asked Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, a Preobrazhensky Regiment officer recovering from war injuries, who was also a friend of his mother. Grand Duke Dmitri welcomed Yusupov's suggestion as an indication that killing Rasputin would not be a demonstration against the [Romanov] dynasty. On 20 November, Felix visited Vladimir Purishkevich , who had delivered an angry anti-Rasputin speech in
10287-675: The leftover territory that was not yet conquered by Europeans in the Scramble for Africa , it managed to build the third-largest colonial empire at the time, after the British and the French ones. As a colonial state, it sometimes clashed with the interests of other European powers, especially the British Empire. During its colonial expansion, the German Empire committed the Herero and Nama genocide . After
10414-551: The liberal intellectuals who wanted free trade. As it was throughout Europe at the time, antisemitism was endemic in Germany during the period. Before Napoleon 's decrees ended the ghettos in Confederation of the Rhine , it had been religiously motivated, but by the 19th century, it was a factor in German nationalism . In the popular mind, Jews became a symbol of capitalism and wealth. On
10541-406: The major ports of Hamburg and Bremen . By 1880, Germany had 9,400 locomotives pulling 43,000 passengers and 30,000 tons of freight, and forged ahead of France. The total length of German railroad tracks expanded from 21,000 km (13,000 mi) in 1871 to 63,000 km (39,000 mi) by 1913, establishing the largest rail network in the world after the United States. The German rail network
10668-665: The pagan title 'khan' of his predecessors. The new titles were applied to his sons Vladimir Rasate (889-893) and Simeon I (893–927), however knyaz Simeon took the higher title of tsar soon in 913. According to Florin Curta , the primary sources have a variety of names for the rulers of the Bulgars before christianisation - such as including ‘rex’, ‘basileus’ and ‘khagan’. Omurtag (814–831) and his son Malamir (831–836) are mentioned in inscriptions as ' kanasubigi '. However, secondary sources are almost always ' khan '. In Kievan Rus', as
10795-400: The peasants in combination with urban areas. Although authoritarian in many respects, the empire had some democratic features. Besides universal manhood suffrage, it permitted the development of political parties. Bismarck intended to create a constitutional façade that would mask the continuation of authoritarian policies. However, in the process, he created a system with a serious flaw. There
10922-515: The people of Moscow have long been convinced that she is a German spy …. All this news has caused the greatest consternation at Tsarskoye Selo . The Empress is violently attacking Prince Yusupov…. On 19 June 1915, after anti-German pogroms in Moscow, he was dismissed from the post of chief of the Moscow Military District, and on September 3, 1915 from the post of commander-in-chief over Moscow. Early November 1916, Felix Yusupov approached
11049-435: The power to pass, amend, or reject bills and to initiate legislation. However, as mentioned above, in practice, the real power was vested in the emperor, who exercised it through his chancellor. Although nominally a federal empire and league of equals, in practice, the empire was dominated by the largest and most powerful state, Prussia. It stretched across the northern two-thirds of the new Reich and contained three-fifths of
11176-402: The powers". This was a departure from his adventurous foreign policy for Prussia, where he favored strength and expansion, punctuating this by saying, "The great questions of the age are not settled by speeches and majority votes – this was the error of 1848–49 – but by iron and blood." Bismarck's chief concern was that France would plot revenge after its defeat in the Franco-Prussian War . As
11303-418: The relations between the educated, well-off middle-class liberals and the urban artisans broke down; Otto von Bismarck 's pragmatic Realpolitik , which appealed to peasants as well as the aristocracy, took its place. Bismarck sought to extend Hohenzollern hegemony throughout the German states; to do so meant unification of the German states and the exclusion of Prussia 's main German rival, Austria , from
11430-431: The resignation of Otto von Bismarck in 1890, and Wilhelm II 's refusal to recall him to office, the empire embarked on Weltpolitik ("world politics") – a bellicose new course that ultimately contributed to the outbreak of World War I. Bismarck's successors were incapable of maintaining their predecessor's complex, shifting, and overlapping alliances which had kept Germany from being diplomatically isolated. This period
11557-450: The ruler of the Duchy of Lithuania , called kunigaikštis (also derived from kuningaz ) in Polish, was called magnus dux instead of the Polish word for "king", karalius (also derived from Karl ). Medieval German records, however, translated knyaz as koning (king) until at least the 15th century. The meaning of the term changed over the course of history. Initially the term
11684-450: The same. The empire had a parliament called the Reichstag , which was elected by universal male suffrage . However, the original constituencies drawn in 1871 were never redrawn to reflect the growth of urban areas. As a result, by the time of the great expansion of German cities in the 1890s and 1900s, rural areas were grossly over-represented . The legislation also required the consent of
11811-506: The seminaries that the Catholics typically used. Furthermore, all candidates for the ministry had to pass an examination in German culture before a state board which weeded out intransigent Catholics. Another provision gave the government a veto power over most church activities. A second law abolished the jurisdiction of the Vatican over the Catholic Church in Prussia; its authority was transferred to
11938-418: The stomach and the liver. The wounds were serious, and Rasputin would have died in 10–20 min, but he succeeded in escaping outside. A second bullet from a distance with a firearm lodged into his spine after penetrating the right kidney. Rasputin fell into the snow-clad courtyard and his body was taken inside. It is not clear whether or not Yusupov beat Rasputin with a sort of dumbbell . It is also not clear if it
12065-563: The subsequent German Empire. He envisioned a conservative, Prussian-dominated Germany. The Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864, the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870–1871 sparked a growing pan-German ideal and contributed to the formation of the German state. The German Confederation ended as a result of the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 between the constituent Confederation entities of
12192-461: The synthesis of materials that were subject to import restrictions and for chemical weapons and war supplies. Lacking a technological base at first, the Germans imported their engineering and hardware from Britain but quickly learned the skills needed to operate and expand the railways. In many cities, the new railway shops were the centers of technological awareness and training, so that by 1850, Germany
12319-462: The tightening control of the Vatican over the local bishops. The Kulturkampf launched by Bismarck 1871–1880 affected Prussia; although there were similar movements in Baden and Hesse, the rest of Germany was not affected. According to the new imperial constitution, the states were in charge of religious and educational affairs; they funded the Protestant and Catholic schools. In July 1871 Bismarck abolished
12446-531: The title knez was Pavle Radinović of Radinović-Pavlović noble family, while other include several noblemen from Radojević-Mirković family , such as Batić Mirković . Further families that bear this title are for example Šantić noble family and most members of Hrvatinić . The title used in Macedonian historiography for Medieval local leaders. German Empire The German Empire (German: Deutsches Reich ), also referred to as Imperial Germany ,
12573-505: The title kniaź include Jeremi Wiśniowiecki . In the 19th century, the Serbian term knez (кнез) and the Bulgarian term knyaz (княз) were revived to denote semi-independent rulers of those countries, such as Alexander Karađorđević and Alexander of Battenberg . In parts of Serbia and western Bulgaria, knez was the informal title of the elder or mayor of a village or zadruga until around
12700-558: The title Emperor came into effect on 1 January 1871. During the siege of Paris on 18 January 1871, William was proclaimed Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles . The second German Constitution , adopted by the Reichstag on 14 April 1871 and proclaimed by the Emperor on 16 April, was substantially based upon Bismarck's North German Constitution . The political system remained
12827-456: The word has later come to denote "lord", and in Czech , Polish and Slovak also came to mean "priest" ( kněz , ksiądz , kňaz ) as well as "prince/duke" ( knez , kníže , książę , knieža ). In Sorbian it means simply "Mister" (from "Master". Compare French monsieur from mon sieur "my lord"), and the Catholic title " monsignor " for a priest. Today the term knez
12954-538: The world behind the United States and the British Empire , which were also its main economic rivals. Throughout its existence, it experienced economic growth and modernization led by heavy industry. In 1871, it had a largely rural population of 41 million, while by 1913, this had increased to a predominantly urban population of 68 million. For 30 years, Germany struggled against Britain to be Europe's leading industrial power. Representative of Germany's industry
13081-468: The world. Germany also became a great power , building the longest railway network of Europe, the world's strongest army, and a fast-growing industrial base. Starting very small in 1871, in a decade, the navy became second only to Britain 's Royal Navy . From 1871 to 1890, Otto von Bismarck's tenure as the first and to this day longest-serving chancellor was marked by relative liberalism at its start, but in time grew more conservative. Broad reforms,
13208-454: Was Purishkevich who shot him point-blank into the forehead. A curious policeman on duty on the other side of the Moika had heard the shots, rang at the door, and was sent away. Half an hour later, another policeman arrived, and Purishkevich invited him into the palace. Purishkevich told him that he had shot Rasputin and asked him to keep it quiet for the sake of the tsar. The conspirators finally threw
13335-654: Was a defensive alliance that was established against Russia, and by association France, in the event alliance did not work out with the state. However, an alliance with Russia would come not long after the signing of the Dual Alliance with Austria, the Dreikaiserbund (League of Three Emperors), in 1881. During this period, individuals within the German military were advocating a preemptive strike against Russia, but Bismarck knew that such ideas were foolhardy. He once wrote that "the most brilliant victories would not avail against
13462-645: Was a member of the Bullingdon Club , and established the Oxford Russian Club. Yusupov was living on 14 King Edward Street , had a Russian cook, a French driver, an English valet, and a housekeeper, and spent much of his time partying. He owned three horses, a macaw , and a bulldog called Punch. He smoked hashish , danced the tango, and became friendly with Luigi Franchetti, a piano player, and Jacques de Beistegui, who both moved in. At some time, Yusupov became acquainted with Albert Stopford and Oswald Rayner ,
13589-473: Was a significant disparity between the Prussian and German electoral systems. Prussia used a three-class voting system which weighted votes based on the amount of taxes paid, all but assuring a conservative majority. The king and (with two exceptions) the prime minister of Prussia were also the emperor and chancellor of the empire – meaning that the same rulers had to seek majorities from legislatures elected from completely different franchises. Universal suffrage
13716-436: Was able to make more efficient use of capital. Germany was not weighted down with an expensive worldwide empire that needed defense. Following Germany's annexation of Alsace-Lorraine in 1871, it absorbed parts of what had been France's industrial base. Germany overtook British steel production in 1893 and pig iron production in 1903. The German steel and pig iron production continued its rapid expansion: Between 1911 and 1913,
13843-501: Was able to model its factories after those of Britain, thus making more efficient use of its capital and avoiding legacy methods in its leap to the envelope of technology. Germany invested more heavily than the British in research, especially in chemistry, ICE engines and electricity. Germany's dominance in physics and chemistry was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. The German cartel system (known as Konzerne ), being significantly concentrated,
13970-534: Was also very charming and spoke fluent English." From Malta, they travelled to Italy and then to Paris. In Italy, lacking a visa, he bribed the officials with diamonds. In Paris, they stayed a few days in the Hôtel de Vendôme before they went on to London. In 1920, they returned to Paris. The Yusupovs lived in the following places in France: The Yusupovs founded a short-lived couture house, IRFĒ , named after
14097-563: Was born in the Moika Palace in Saint Petersburg , the capital of the Russian Empire . His father was Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston , the son of Count Felix Nikolaievich Sumarokov-Elston . Zinaida Yusupova , his mother, was the last of the Yusupov line , of Tatar origin, and very wealthy. For the Yusupov name not to die out, his father (1856, Saint Petersburg – 1928, Rome, Italy)
14224-466: Was called udelny knyaz or simply knyaz . When Kievan Rus' became fragmented in the 13th century, the title Knyaz continued to be used in East Slavic states, including Kiev's Principality , Chernigov's Principality , Novgorod Republic and its princes , Pereiaslavl Principality , Vladimir-Suzdal , Muscovy , Tver's Principality , Kingdom of Ruthenia , and in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania . As
14351-560: Was focused on stabilizing the European system and preventing any wars. He succeeded, and only after his departure from office in 1890 did the diplomatic tensions start rising again. After achieving formal unification in 1871, Bismarck devoted much of his attention to the cause of national unity. He opposed Catholic civil rights and emancipation, especially the influence of the Vatican under Pope Pius IX , and working-class radicalism, represented by
14478-555: Was followed by Austria-Hungary (43,280 km; 26,890 mi), France (40,770 km; 25,330 mi), the United Kingdom (32,623 km; 20,271 mi), Italy (18,873 km; 11,727 mi) and Spain (15,088 km; 9,375 mi). The creation of the Empire under Prussian leadership was a victory for the concept of Kleindeutschland (Smaller Germany) over the Großdeutschland concept. This meant that Austria-Hungary,
14605-532: Was granted the title and the surname of his wife, Princess Zinaida Yusupova, on 11 June 1885, a year after their marriage, but effective after the death of his father-in-law in 1891. The Yusupov family, one of the richest families in Imperial Russia, had acquired their wealth generations earlier. It included four palaces in Saint Petersburg, three palaces in Moscow, 37 estates in different parts of Russia, in
14732-523: Was held by several of most powerful magnates (in Bosnia vlastelin ) of the era, sometime along with an office title given to a person through service to the monarch, such as Grand Duke of Bosnia ( Veliki vojvoda bosanski ), which was office of the supreme military commander of the realm. Other noble titles included the knez , the duke ( vojvoda ) and the župan . The title knez is equivalent to that of prince . Among most influential of Bosnian nobleman with
14859-558: Was in Europe, as opposed to just 5% of British investment. Most of the money went to developing nations such as Russia that lacked the capital or technical knowledge to industrialize on their own. The construction of the Berlin–Baghdad railway , financed by German banks, was designed to eventually connect Germany with the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Gulf , but it also collided with British and Russian geopolitical interests. Conflict over
14986-468: Was in the hands of professional salaried managers; leading Chandler to call the German dye companies "the world's first truly managerial industrial enterprises". There were many spinoffs from research—such as the pharmaceutical industry, which emerged from chemical research. By the start of World War I (1914–1918), German industry switched to war production. The heaviest demands were on coal and steel for artillery and shell production, and on chemicals for
15113-577: Was little interaction or intermarriage. On the whole, the Protestants had a higher social status, and the Catholics were more likely to be peasant farmers or unskilled or semiskilled industrial workers. In 1870, the Catholics formed their own political party, the Centre Party , which generally supported unification and most of Bismarck's policies. However, Bismarck distrusted parliamentary democracy in general and opposition parties in particular, especially when
15240-499: Was marked by increased oppression of Polish people and various factors influencing the Emperor's decisions, which were often perceived as contradictory or unpredictable by the public. In 1879, the German Empire consolidated the Dual Alliance with Austria-Hungary , followed by the Triple Alliance with Italy in 1882. It also retained strong diplomatic ties to the Ottoman Empire . When the great crisis of 1914 arrived, Italy left
15367-413: Was more backward. The success of the German Empire in the natural sciences, especially in physics and chemistry, was such that one-third of all Nobel Prizes went to German inventors and researchers. During its 47 years of existence, the German Empire became an industrial, technological, and scientific power in Europe, and by 1913, Germany was the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in
15494-467: Was not the mastermind. Fuhrmann thinks that Yusupov was the man who hatched the plot and who carried it out. "The clumsy way the assassination was carried out shows it was the work of an amateur." Fuhrmann also thinks Yusupov's "...candid Memoirs were corroborated by the other conspirators." On 2 March, one week after the February Revolution , Nicholas abdicated the throne. Following the abdication,
15621-528: Was one of four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds of the Empire's population and territory, and Prussian dominance was also constitutionally established, since the King of Prussia was also the German Emperor ( Deutscher Kaiser ). After 1850, the states of Germany had rapidly become industrialized, with particular strengths in coal, iron (and later steel), chemicals, and railways. In 1871, Germany had
15748-548: Was self-sufficient in meeting the demands of railroad construction, and the railways were a major impetus for the growth of the new steel industry. German unification in 1870 stimulated consolidation, nationalisation into state-owned companies, and further rapid growth. Unlike the situation in France, the goal was support of industrialisation, and so heavy lines crisscrossed the Ruhr and other industrial districts and provided good connections to
15875-571: Was significantly diluted by gross over-representation of rural areas from the 1890s onward. By the turn of the century, the urban-rural population balance was completely reversed from 1871; more than two-thirds of the empire's people lived in cities and towns. Bismarck's domestic policies played an important role in forging the authoritarian political culture of the Kaiserreich . Less preoccupied with continental power politics following unification in 1871, Germany's semi-parliamentary government carried out
16002-473: Was the steel giant Krupp , whose first factory was built in Essen . By 1902, the factory alone became "A great city with its own streets, its own police force, fire department and traffic laws. There are 150 kilometers of rail, 60 different factory buildings, 8,500 machine tools, seven electrical stations, 140 kilometers of underground cable, and 46 overhead." Under Bismarck, Germany was a world innovator in building
16129-508: Was used to denote the chieftain of a Slavic tribe . Later, with the development of feudal statehood, it became the title of a ruler of a state, and among East Slavs ( Russian : княжество ( knyazhestvo ), Ukrainian : князівство , romanized : kniazivstvo ) traditionally translated as duchy or principality , for example, of Kievan Rus' . In First Bulgarian Empire , Boris I of Bulgaria (852–889) changed his title to knyaz after his conversion to Christianity in 864, abandoning
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