| | Once [[World War I]] broke out, [[Czar Nicholas II]] moved to the front lines and left his wife, Czarina (Tsarina) Alexandra, in charge of running the country. Alexis, heir to the throne, was born with the genetic disorder known as [[hemophilia]], which means blood has difficult clotting. A small cut just bleeds and bleeds in a frightful manner. His mother, the czarina, understandably was fraught with worry about his condition. She increasingly relied on the only person who seemed able to stop her son's bleeding: a peasant-turned-monk named Rasputin. Rasputin took advantage of this trust and began making decisions for the country, granting government positions to friends, and causing everyone (especially the nobles) to fear him. Rasputin had a mystical quality that has inspired many books and stories about him. | | Once [[World War I]] broke out, [[Czar Nicholas II]] moved to the front lines and left his wife, Czarina (Tsarina) Alexandra, in charge of running the country. Alexis, heir to the throne, was born with the genetic disorder known as [[hemophilia]], which means blood has difficult clotting. A small cut just bleeds and bleeds in a frightful manner. His mother, the czarina, understandably was fraught with worry about his condition. She increasingly relied on the only person who seemed able to stop her son's bleeding: a peasant-turned-monk named Rasputin. Rasputin took advantage of this trust and began making decisions for the country, granting government positions to friends, and causing everyone (especially the nobles) to fear him. Rasputin had a mystical quality that has inspired many books and stories about him. |
| | Rasputin underwent a religious conversion at the turn of the century after claiming to have visions of the [[Virgin Mary]] and when everyone else failed to help the boy's bleeding disorder, Rasputin claimed healing powers that would help. He was sometimes referred to as the "mad monk". Whatever he did seemed to work, though historians still debate if and how he really stopped the bleeding. Regardless, the nobles hated Rasputin because he was a peasant who now had power over them, and the nobles plotted to assassinate him. | | Rasputin underwent a religious conversion at the turn of the century after claiming to have visions of the [[Virgin Mary]] and when everyone else failed to help the boy's bleeding disorder, Rasputin claimed healing powers that would help. He was sometimes referred to as the "mad monk". Whatever he did seemed to work, though historians still debate if and how he really stopped the bleeding. Regardless, the nobles hated Rasputin because he was a peasant who now had power over them, and the nobles plotted to assassinate him. |