These lines reflect the situation around 1914, when Russia entered World War I. Tsar Nicholas took command of the army, leaving Rasputin with greater influence back at court.

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin was born in 1869 in the village of Pokrovskoye, in Siberia, a part of the Russian empire. He was a self-taught peasant who left his family farm to become something of a ...

With Rasputin out of the picture, Yusupov hoped to restore the reputation of the tsar, as well as help Nicholas rely more on his extended family, the nobility, and the Duma.

Rasputin claimed he could heal the disease and provided treatment to the young Alexi, who showed signs of recovery. As a result, Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, placed their trust in him.

The Empress Alexandra, wife of Tsar Nicholas II, believed Rasputin had mystical healing powers that could help her haemophiliac son Alexei, the heir to the throne.

The story itself, broadly familiar from popular treatments over the years, is well told by Tsuyoshi Hasegawa in “The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs.” ...