Gregory Efimovich Rasputin came from Siberian peasant stock and his primary activities included debauching women, public drunkenness, and even petty theft. He learned of a renegade sect of the Russian Orthodox Religion that advocated reaching God through the commission of sin. Rasputin embraced the tenets of this sect and assumed the robes of a wondering monk. Soon Rasputin embarked on a life of travel highlighted by the most outrageous behavior.

In 1903 the Tsar and his wife were horrified to learn that the Tsarevich Alexis had the disease known as hemophilia. This was a strictly guarded state secret as the heir to the throne had to be someone in good health so as to maintain the dynasty. Soon the parents of Alexis lost faith in the conventional doctor's advice and turned to a faith healer recommended by the Grand duchess. That man was Rasputin and he had a secret method of stopping the heir's internal bleeding.

That made Rasputin a valuable member of the royal family's inner circle. As his influence on the family grew ever greater his personal conduct became more and more outrageous. It was even widely rumored that the Tsarina was his lover. During drunken orgies Rasputin was heard to boast of his exploits with the Tsarina and her daughters. Rasputin's influence on the government was such that by 1911 he was able to have friends appointed to high places in the government. His influence was resented by the royal class and his patronage by the Tsar was seen as evidence that Nicolas was too weak to be Tsar and that his wife was an adulterer.

One fateful night in 1916 a group of aristocrats led by Prince Felix the Younger lured Rasputin to the Yusupov Palace under the promise that he was to meet Felix's wife, Irina, one of the most beautiful women in Russia. There Rasputin was poisoned with cyanide to no effect. He was then shot and stabbed and thrown into the frozen Neva. Within three months of his death, Rasputin's vision that if he were murdered by members of the ruling class the Tsar's government would fall came to pass. The sensational details of his death plus his unexplained ability to heal little Alexis make Rasputin one of the most fascinating figures in modern history.