Personal Influence of Grigori Rasputin

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A. PLAN OF INVESTIGATION
Among the greatest mysteries of Russian history is the influence of the Mad Monk Grigori Rasputin. During his time in court 1907-1916, Rasputin developed a complex relationship with the ruling Romanovs and leading ministers due to his mystical ability to treat the hemophilia of the sole heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei.
The topic of this investigation is to analyze to what extent did the personal influence of Grigori Rasputin lead to the fall of the Russian Empire. The analysis will investigate the relationship of Rasputin to those in positions of power, starting from the time when Rasputin first treated Alexei to the last days of the Romanov Dynasty. Statements from those acquainted with Rasputin and historical analyses of Rasputin’s life will be analyzed to elucidate the extent of Rasputin’s influence.

B. SUMMARY OF EVIDENCE
Tsar Nicholas II and his Tsarina, Empress Alexandra, had only one son, Tsarevich Alexei. However, Alexei had inherited from his great-grandmother Queen Victoria the life-threatening genetic disease hemophilia B, a sex-linked genetic disease on the X chromosome that caused a condition of deficiency in blood-clotting and excessive bleeding, symptoms that usually remain hidden unless contracted by a male (Fuhrmann 37; King 28). To Nicholas II, it was imperative that he have a son to succeed him to secure the throne. Alexei was Nicholas’s sole male heir, giving Nicholas the incentive to protect his son at all costs. Without a scientific cure for the genetic disease, Alexandra turned to religion, namely Grigori Rasputin, a poor uneducated Siberian peasant to protect her son.
Introduced as holy man capable of cures, the Mad Monk Grigori Rasputin first arrived in the capital St. ...

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...V. The Reign of Rasputin: An Empire's Collapse. Memoirs of M. V. Rodzianko. Trans. Catherine Zvegintzoff. Gulf Breeze, FL: Academic International, 1973. Print.
Romanov, Alexandra Feodorovna. "Letters of the Tsaritsa to the Tsar from 1914-1917." Letters to Tsar Nicholas II. 1914-1915. Russian History Websites. AlexanderPalace,org, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. .
Romanov, Nicholas II. "Letters of the Tsar to the Tsaritsa 1914-1917." Letters to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. 1914-1917. Russian History Websites. AlexanderPalace,org, n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2014. < .
Romanov, Olga Nikolaevna. The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Russian Revolution: With Excerpts from Family Letters and Memoirs of the Period. Trans. Helen Azar. Yardley, Pennsylvania: Westholme, LLC, 2014. Print.

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