Grigori Rasputin was born in 1869 or 1872, a fact disputed among historians; and grew up a farmer in a family in Siberia, Russia. He and his brother both fell into a river and nearly drowned, but were pulled out by a passerby and his brother died of pneumonia as a result of the accident. This detail perhaps prefigures his death, which coincidentally occurred by drowning. Not much else is known about his childhood, but there is a story that tells of his supernatural power. He was apparently able to point out a man who stole a horse without knowing any other information, and was afraid of stealing because he thought everyone had the ability to know when someone had stolen something. In his adult life, he initially tried to become a monk, but these plans failed when he left to marry at nineteen to Proskovia Fyodorovna. They had three children together. He also had a fourth child with an unknown woman. Although he was married, he led a rather scandalous romantic life that included many prostitutes. To top it off, he had a drinking problem. No one really knows why he had these problems. Maybe it had something to do with his family life or his supernatural powers that separated him from everyone else. However, Rasputin was also thought to have a supernatural power to heal, something that did not go unnoticed by the Tsar and Tsarina. He soon lived and worked closely with the royal family thanks to his gifts. I believe that for this reason Grigori Rasputin had a direct influence on Russia during the time he was alive. After Rasputin failed to become a monk, he began to wander. In 1906 he arrived in St. Petersburg and by now many people had heard of his supernatural gifts. Years later he met Tsar Nicholas... middle of paper... World War I. “Who's Who – Grigori Rasputin.” World War I, 22 August 2009. Web. 7 February 2014. Site for learning history. "Gregory Rasputin." Site for learning history. Network. 7 February 2014. La Mistica. "Rasputin." The Mystic. Network. February 7, 2014. Osborn, Andrew. "Grigory Rasputin, the hard-to-kill 'mad monk'." The Telegraph, 7 April 2011. Web. 7 February 2014. Page | 13The Mad-Monk-Who-Was-Difficult-to-Kill.html>"Prominent Russians: Grigori Rasputin." Russiapedia. Network. March 12 2014.