Alexei; Russia's Last Imperial Heir: A Chronicle of Tragedy

From the first day of his birth to his last hour, Alexei's medical crises weave throughout the book. The inherited ailment affected his behaviour and influenced the education he received. Using medical data, Nelipa exposes the truth about Rasputin's telegrams that purportedly alleviated Alexei's near fatal condition in Spala in 1912. Despite his hemophilia, Nelipa discovered that Alexei, like all Romanov males, did have a planned military career and yet the malady swayed Nikolai II to also abdicate on his son's behalf. During his lifetime, Alexei participated in several momentous national events, including the centenary of the Battle at Borodino in 1912 and the Romanov Tercentenary in 1913. Accompanying his father, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Alexei witnessed several theaters of war during 1915-16. Though he, like his sisters did not witness the revolutionary conflict on the streets of Petrograd or Tsarskoe Selo, he did suffer the consequences of his father's downfall - firstly as a prisoner of the Provisional Government and after that, by the Leninist Regime. Supported by documentary evidence, Nelipa explains why the Provisional Government forced the imperial family into exile. Nowhere else can one read the full harrowing account of the imperial family's life in Siberia that began with their detention in Tobolsk. It is impossible not to develop compassion for Alexei, who towards the end of his short life, unable to walk, died in a cellar because of who he was. The story of the family's exile reveals a close loving family who focused on Alexei's well-being despite the hardships imposed on all of them by the revolutionary forces.