Fast Past

Rasputin: the man, the myth, the legend, the person who was the cause for the Russian Revolution. In this episode we break down his early life, his path to religion, how he got close to the Tsar, and his very long assassination. Sources for this episode are below:“What Really Happened during the Murder of Rasputin, Russia’s ‘Mad Monk’?” The Smithsonian. Accessed September 14, 2025. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-really-happened-during-murder-rasputin-russia-mad-monk-180961572/. “Rasputin Is Murdered | December 30, 1916.” History.com, May 28, 2025. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/december-30/rasputin-is-murdered. Halliday, E. M. Rasputin Reconsidered. [Place of publication not identified]: New Word City, Inc, 2017. https://research-ebsco-com.turing.library.northwestern.edu/linkprocessor/plink?id=8eb33869-8cde-34a9-963e-dfee6277ca5d. Plitnik, George  R. “Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin: Research Starters: EBSCO Research.” EBSCO. Accessed September 14, 2025. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/grigori-yefimovich-rasputin#bibliography. Smith, Douglas. Rasputin: Faith, power, and the twilight of the Romanovs. New York: Picador / Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017. Moynahan, Brian. Rasputin the saint who sinned. S.l.: Random House Publishing Group, 2012.

Hello! Welcome to Fast Past, the history podcast in close to thirty minutes less! We're back! After a hiatus, we decided to start the pod up again and wanted to revisit some episodes from our past pod. Today we'll be talking about the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand whose death was the catalyst for World War I. Sources:Mindich, Talia. “8 Things You Didn’t Know about Franz Ferdinand.” PBS, June 27, 2014. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/8-things-didnt-know-franz-ferdinand. “The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.” History.com. https://www.history.com/articles/the-assassination-of-archduke-franz-ferdinand. Nugus, Philip, and Jonathan Martin. The Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. London, England: British Broadcasting Corporation BBC, 2007.Shackelford, Michael. “The Black Hand.” The black hand. https://net.lib.byu.edu/estu/wwi/comment/blk-hand.html. Mutschlechner, Martin. “Franz Joseph and Franz Ferdinand – a Tense Relationship.” Die Welt der Habsburger. https://www.habsburger.net/en/chapter/franz-joseph-and-franz-ferdinand-tense-relationship. 

Sex, drugs, and rock n' roll: Megan and Jason discuss what really happened at Woodstock.