The History of Russia Podcast

Episode 100, Russia’s story so far, and the world in 1780.

Fri, 27 Mar 2026 08:24:14 GMT

In today’s episode there are three things on the agenda.

An overall summary of the key events and main themes of The History of Russia from 840i to 1780 and how those themes and events had made Russia what it had become by the late 18th Century

A whizz around the world in 1780 to see what was going on outside of Russia, again big-picture wise.

And then as if that wasn’t enough you’ll get to hear me waffling on about the pitiful existence of an independent podcaster and what I think the future holds for me and others like me who do the same thing.

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Episode 99 - The almost empty in-tray

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 05:32:39 GMT

This time around we'll be covering a 5 year period 1776 -1780 where Russia was going through a very rare calm period particularly when balanced against what had gone on between 1768 and 1775 and what would take place in the late 1780s.

But that’s not to say, as you will soon see, that nothing was happening.

Apologies, one Rooster in particular decided that the early part of the episode wasn't quite to his liking and decided to complain, loudly and often. I managed to edit most of it out but you can still catch the occasional bit of crowing.

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Episode 98 - Two Weddings, Two Deaths and a Cockroach

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 06:17:48 GMT

After a long lay off the boy is back!

Today, we’re going to track back to look at some other events that took place between 1772 and 1777 and in particular what was going on with Catherine and her son Paul and the steps that the empress would take to deal with yet another pretender to the Russian throne.

Oh, and right at the end I’ll tell you a bit about what I’ve been up to over the last couple of months and how that will hopefully affect, the podcast’s future, in a positive way, and apologies in advance, I’m just getting over a bout of Tonsillitis and so my voice might be a bit up and down.

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Podcast Update - November 2025

Tue, 25 Nov 2025 11:25:39 GMT

Just a short update from me about life in general and the short-term impact to the podcast.

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Episode 97 - You’re going up and I’m going down

Thu, 13 Nov 2025 11:26:57 GMT

In recent episodes we've seen how various major events - the war with the Ottomans, the first partition of Poland, Smallpox, Pugachev, and the Moscow plague outbreak, occupied every waking hour of Catherine the Great's life.

But did they?

Well in today's epsiode we are going to discover that the answer to that question was a resounding 'no'

There's no listener discretion required for this one - play it loud and play it often!

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Episode 96 - The Pugachevshchina

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 12:26:43 GMT

Pugachev's rebellion gathers steam but Catherine the Great, who has other things to worry about, fails to take it seriously.

Once again, some parts of this episode are, to say the least, a bit on the grim side....

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Episode 95 - Variolation, Expansion and Rebellion

Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:18:34 GMT

In the first part of the episode we’ll be heading back to the 1760s and looking at the steps Catherine and others had taken to counter the effects of another of the 18th century’s fatal diseases - the dreaded smallpox.

And then after that we’ll be taking a look at some further Russian territorial expansion and then finally the very beginning of and the reasons for the most serious rebellion of Catherine’s reign which was led by - Tsar Peter III, that’s right, that Peter III, the one who had died or been murdered back in 1762.

Like the last episode some of today’s content, especially during the first half is a little bit on the uncomfortable side and so perhaps the whole thing is best listened to late at night when little ears are safely tucked up in bed.

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Episode 94 - War, Plague and Peace

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 08:35:21 GMT

In today’s episode and as per the title we’ll be looking at three major items

Firstly the Russo-Turkish war, which we’ll be bringing to a close, secondly we’ll cover an outbreak of the plague and then we’ll finish things off by looking at how the war ended and what the resultant peace meant for both the Russian and Ottoman empires.

Listener discretion required - Please note that some parts of the episode are, to say the least, a liitle bit on the grim side.

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Episode 93 - Three slices of Polish Pie

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 08:55:31 GMT

Battleships are at the ready in Cheshme Bay and Frederick the Great comes up with a very cunning plan

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Episode 92 - Billiards, Tennis or Infection?

Wed, 04 Jun 2025 09:24:38 GMT

Grigory Potemkin makes his mark at court and the next installment of the Russo-Ottoman wars gets underway.

Oh, and I make not one, not two but three almost catastrophic errors.

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Episode 91 - The last King of Poland

Sat, 26 Apr 2025 13:13:12 GMT

This time around we’ll look into what the Turks objected to, see who the next, and last King of Poland will be and investigate how this whole palaver resulted in a full scale war between Russia and the Ottomans.

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Episode 90 - Poles Apart

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 08:47:18 GMT

On the home front Catherine continues to be thwarted.

However, in the field of foreign diplomacy, she plays a blinder (or does she?)

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Episode 89 - The Serfs and the Nakaz

Fri, 28 Feb 2025 10:16:41 GMT

This time around we’ll be taking a look at two part-related subjects, The condition of Serfdom and Catherine's legal reforms or Nakaz.

However if you are expecting a series of wholesale, fundamental changes - don't hold your collective breaths...

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Episode 88 - The Khitrovo Affair and the Mirovich Plot

Mon, 27 Jan 2025 19:08:30 GMT

This time around, and as the episode title indicates, we’ll be covering two main incidents, 1763’s Khitrovo Affair which would have implications for the man of the moment, Catherine’s lover, Grigory Orlov and 1764’s Mirovich Plot which would result in the sad demise of one of our other key characters and both events would, in the end, have a positive outcome for the new empress.

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Episode 87 - Time belongs not to me but to the empire.

Tue, 31 Dec 2024 10:21:35 GMT

This time around we’ll be taking a look at the steps that Catherine would take to kick start and consolidate her rule - how she would deal with the people who had helped her to seize power and how she would lay down her authority with the key institutions of the Russian state - government, church and the army..

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Episode 86 - Zero Sum

Mon, 02 Dec 2024 10:47:01 GMT

So in today’s episode we’ll be taking another break from the chronological narrative and looking instead at mainly, the last three decades and a bit, at what went on in Russia from a commercial and business perspective.

And to help us through this tumultuous and fascinating period of more recent Russian History we have someone who has spent four decades travelling and working in the Soviet Union and Russia, who speaks fluent Russian, who holds degrees from Harvard and the University of Pennsylvania and who, luckily for us, just happens to have written a book.

Zero sum - which brings vividly to life, via meticulous research and through the fascinating and sometimes tragicomic experiences of the people who were there at the time, Russia’s transformation from Soviet dinosaur through proto-capitalist free for all to today’s, difficult to pigeon hole economic situation and how we in the west just never seem, commercially, culturally or geopolitically, to get it right with Russia.

Yes today dear listeners we are joined by author, journalist, geopolitical risk consultant and self-professed Russia geek, Charles Hecker

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Episode 85 - ‘Colicgate’

Sun, 10 Nov 2024 13:14:52 GMT

In this week’s episode ware going to look at four main items

A short appraisal of Peter’s reign, a longer appraisal of Elizabeth’s time in charge, a look at the recent coup’s winners and losers and then finally, how Catherine and her advisors (well actually, one advisor) explained away the death of her husband.

Oh and there's a heartfealt apology from me regarding a mistake I made last time out....

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Episode 84 - State of the Nations (5) 1762

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 09:14:35 GMT

A longer than usual episode which provides an overall look at the world in 1762 - just at the point when Catherine was starting her reign in Russia.

Britannia ruled the waves (or was starting to) and the age of enlightenment and the trans-atlantic slave trade were approaching their respective zeniths.

The agrarian and industrial revolutions were just getting underway, and Augustus III of Poland-Lithuania and Saxony had the largest collection of hats and wigs in Europe.

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Episode 83 - Death in the afternoon

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 13:21:47 GMT

Whilst the new regime is finalising it's coup, over at Oranienbaum, a blissfully ignorant Peter has just drilled his Holstein guards and is now on his way to Peterhof to celebrate his name day.

But when he get's there, Catherine is of course, nowhere to be seen .

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Episode 82 - The New Empress of all the Russias - almost.....

Mon, 23 Sep 2024 12:58:40 GMT

This time around we’ll be looking at the latest events in the Seven Years War, Peter’s Danish campaign, how becoming Tsar had affected his relationship with his wife Catherine and finally, and as the episode title in a fairly unsubtle way hints at, what Catherine and her allies decided to do about things.

Apologies for the poor pronunciation throughout - there were just too many Schleswigs, Shlisselburgs and Oranienbaums for me to cope with....

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Episode 81 - The Empress is dead, long live the...

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 08:49:35 GMT

This time around we’ll be looking at the events that unfolded in the years 1761 and 1762 which, as the title suggests, sadly involves the end of the line for the Empress Elizabeth.

But, in an age when Russia had no clearly defined order of succession, much like today, no one was entirely sure what or who would happen next.

For one person though, the change of regime in St Petersburg would represent a long sought after miracle.

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Episode 80 - A Fresh Start

Wed, 07 Aug 2024 08:53:05 GMT

This time around we’ll be covering the years 1759 and 1760.

Years in which the Grand Duchess Catherine and Frederick the Great will be taking stock of their own respective situations and enacting plans to safeguard their own respective futures.

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Episode 79 - The Three Letters

Thu, 13 Jun 2024 10:03:35 GMT

It's Spring 1758 and Grand Duchess Catherine is attempting to extricate herself from yet another difficult situation.

Meanwhile, over in Prussia, Frederick the Great, despite having just won major battles against the French and the Austrians, is trying to work out how to deal with the enemies that still surround him in every direction.

One of them will get out of their hole, the other will keep on digging.

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Episode 78 - Death, Madness and Banishment

Tue, 14 May 2024 08:55:51 GMT

This week we’ll be putting the seven years war to one side whilst we concentrate instead on events that took place in Russia during 1757 and 1758 which, in no particular order, include the reasons for, and the political and personal fallout from, that Russian withdrawal, Catherine and Stansislaus’s affair, the Empress Elizabeth’s health and Peter’s pro-Prussian leanings.

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Episode 77 - Russia Attacks!

Mon, 22 Apr 2024 09:22:13 GMT

It's 1757 and for the first time in a long time the Russian army gets to flex its muscles.

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Episode 76 - Perfidious Albion

Mon, 15 Apr 2024 08:46:56 GMT

In this episode we’ll be taking a closer look at the affair between Catherine and Poniatowsky and we’ll be checking in on yet another health scare.

But as interesting as those subjects are, we'll be spending the majority of our time getting to grips with some new, major developments on the European diplomatic front - developments that would turn the old established order on its head and that would come as a nasty surprise for two key individuals.

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Episode 75 - An Ambassador calls

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 10:25:31 GMT

This time around there are Just two main items on the agenda - The Empress Elizabeth’s ongoing, and so-far frustrated efforts, to secure the Romanov succession and the political machinations and intrigues that would eventually lead to the outbreak of the Seven Years War.

Oh and finally and as indicated by the title there is someone from outside of Russia who gets to play quite an important and intriguing role in our proceedings.

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Episode 74 - In other news....

Sun, 18 Feb 2024 12:00:12 GMT

This week, probably much to everyone's relief, we will be taking a break from the ceaseless round of court intrigue and instead we’ll be looking at what else was going on in Russia during the Elizabethan age.

What else, apart from pilgrimages, cross-dressing balls, and controlling her dynasties destiny was Elizabeth up to and what was going on, away from St Petersburg and Moscow in the ever expanding and increasingly vast Russian Empire?

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Episode 73 - Treading Water

Sun, 11 Feb 2024 14:21:51 GMT

This week, I'm afraid, it's more court based chicanery and Intrigue (hence the title). However to avoid just doing a rinse and repeat, I’m going to speed things up a bit and the aim will be to get from where we are now, which is 1748, right through to the year 1753 where we will start to see that both at home and abroad, things were beginning to take on a different shape...

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Episode 72 - Controlled, Isolated and Miserable

Thu, 14 Dec 2023 11:28:03 GMT

This week we’ll be covering the years between 1745 and 1748 and looking at how Peter, Catherine and Elizabeth were all getting along through the events and outcomes related to yet another series of court intrigues and incidents

Plus we'll invetigate the European diplomatic and political scene in the aftermath of the recent war and then finally we’ll be waving goodbye, or saying auf wiedersehen, to a couple of characters from the supporting cast.

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Episode 71 - Sophie becomes Catherine

Wed, 22 Nov 2023 11:26:29 GMT

In this weeks episode we rejoin the main chronological narrative and take a look at the ups and downs of our key characters during 1744 and 1745..

On the up were the Empress Elizabeth, Sophie of Anhalt Zerbst, Maria Theresa of Austria and Alexei Bestuzhev

Sliding down were Johanna of Brunswick and Frederick the great

And Peter Fyodorovich..... well he's got problems of his own.

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Episode 70 - State of Empire, State of Mind

Wed, 08 Nov 2023 06:35:54 GMT

In this episode we take a step back from the goings on at the Russian court and the war of the Austrian Succession and instead take a peek at the overall state of the Russian Empire and the overall state of Eliazabeth’s mind.

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Episode 69 - Peter and ... Sophie?

Sun, 08 Oct 2023 19:59:47 GMT

It's January 1744 and Peter Fyodorovich the heir to the Russian throne and his aunt Elizabeth have got some German visitors to entertain and one of them is the almost 15 year old Sophie Friederike Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst. In the meantime Prussia and France are again plotting against Bestuzhev and the Austrian empress, Maria Theresa, has her eyes on Silesia.

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Episode 68 - The Lopukhina Conspiracy

Mon, 28 Aug 2023 08:15:10 GMT

This weeks episode is centered around the eponymous Lopukhina Conspiracy but who is doing the conspiring and who is being conspired against?

Plus events in Sweden are brought to a head, George II, the King of England gets involved in the war of the Austrian Succession, things take a downward turn for the Brunswicks and the Empress Elizabeth goes ballistic when she sees someone wearing pink!

Click on one of the links below to join the Boyar Duma where for a small monthly subscription you'll receive the following -

Exclusive membership of the Boyar Duma and a shout out on the Podcast
Ad-free podcasts - (ads may come in on the free feed at some point in the future but never for subscription members)
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Transcripts for each episode (Patreon Only)

Via Patreon

Go to the podcast website https://www.historyofrussia.net/

and visit the Membership Page or the Patreon Logo on the home page

Or go to

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Via Apple Podcasts

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Episode 67 - Venus Ascendant

Mon, 31 Jul 2023 08:35:10 GMT

Elizabeth has been busy putting her house in order which means that I have a number of loose ends to tie up.

Plus we get to meet a distant relative and we'll also see what's been going on with the Austrians, French and Prussians.

Click on one of the links below to join the Boyar Duma where for a small monthly subscription you'll receive the following -

Exclusive membership of the Boyar Duma and a shout out on the Podcast

Ad-free podcasts - (ads may come in on the free feed at some point in the future but never for subscription members)

At least one members only episode per month

General release episodes at least 1 week earlier than normal

Transcripts for each episode (Patreon Only)

Via Patreon

Go to the podcast website https://www.historyofrussia.net/

and visit the Membership Page or the Patreon Logo on the home page

Or go to

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Via Apple Podcasts

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Episode 66 - The Unlikely Empress and the Unpragmatic Sanction

Fri, 21 Jul 2023 07:12:50 GMT

Elizabeth Petrovna is the new empress of Russia. However, she's busy getting her house in order and there is a coronation to plan.

So whilst she's off doing that, we'll undertake a quick retrospective of Anna Ivanovna's reign and then we'll take a look at the causes, and the initial events, of the War of the Austrian Succession.

Click on one of the links or logos below to join the Boyar Duma where for a small monthly subscription you'll receive the following -

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Ad-free podcasts - (ads may come in on the free feed at some point in the future but never for subscription members)

At least one members only episode per month

General release episodes at least 1 week earlier than normal

Transcripts for each episode (Patreon Only)

Via Patreon

Go to the podcast website https://www.historyofrussia.net/

and visit the Membership Page or the Patreon Logo on the home page

Or go to

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Via Apple Podcasts

search in apple podcasts for ‘Boyar Duma’ or the ‘History of Russia podcast-members only’ and hit subscribe.

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Episode 65 - The Year of Living Dangerously

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 09:50:35 GMT

Today in a slightly longer episode than normal we’ll be covering the period between October 1740 and December 1741 which is 15 months and not a year but I think you’ll agree that ‘The 15 months of living dangerously’ doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

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Episode 64 - Twilight of the Miloslavskys?

Fri, 02 Jun 2023 07:21:29 GMT

If you want to sign up to get members only episodes, early access to general release episodes, ad free content and written transcripts, for the price of a cup of coffee a month, then you can in a couple of ways

You can sign-up via the podcast website https://www.historyofrussia.net/ just click on the membership page or the Patreon Logo on the home page.

Or you can go directly to patreon.com/historyofrussia And sign up there

In this episode, we’ll be concentrating on further events centred around the Russian court in St Petersburg, which taken as a whole, and as per the deliberately mysterious and enigmatic episode title, may or may not point to the beginning of the end for the Miloslavsky branch of the Romanov dynasty.

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Episode 63 - Persians, Plague and Priorities

Fri, 05 May 2023 11:02:47 GMT

Diplomacy with with the Persians, war with the Ottomans, an outbreak of Bubonic Plague and reform on the home front - plus I pronounce 'L'Hermitage' in a really strange way...

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Episode 62 - Succession x2

Thu, 13 Apr 2023 08:09:02 GMT

After a couple of decades of peace most of Europe get's back to a more normal state of affairs with The War of the Polish Succession.

Meanwhile back in Moscow, Anna had her own succesion decision to make and Elizabeth Petrovna needed to be careful.

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To contact me

Website https://www.historyofrussia.net

The History of Russia Podcast

Episode 100, Russia’s story so far, and the world in 1780.

Episode 99 - The almost empty in-tray

Episode 98 - Two Weddings, Two Deaths and a Cockroach

Podcast Update - November 2025

Episode 97 - You’re going up and I’m going down

Episode 96 - The Pugachevshchina

Episode 95 - Variolation, Expansion and Rebellion

Episode 94 - War, Plague and Peace

Episode 93 - Three slices of Polish Pie

Episode 92 - Billiards, Tennis or Infection?

Episode 91 - The last King of Poland

Episode 90 - Poles Apart

Episode 89 - The Serfs and the Nakaz

Episode 88 - The Khitrovo Affair and the Mirovich Plot

Episode 87 - Time belongs not to me but to the empire.

Episode 86 - Zero Sum

Episode 85 - ‘Colicgate’

Episode 84 - State of the Nations (5) 1762

Episode 83 - Death in the afternoon

Episode 82 - The New Empress of all the Russias - almost.....

Episode 81 - The Empress is dead, long live the...

Episode 80 - A Fresh Start

Episode 79 - The Three Letters

Episode 78 - Death, Madness and Banishment

Episode 77 - Russia Attacks!

Episode 76 - Perfidious Albion

Episode 75 - An Ambassador calls

Episode 74 - In other news....

Episode 73 - Treading Water

Episode 72 - Controlled, Isolated and Miserable

Episode 71 - Sophie becomes Catherine

Episode 70 - State of Empire, State of Mind

Episode 69 - Peter and ... Sophie?

Episode 68 - The Lopukhina Conspiracy

Episode 67 - Venus Ascendant

Episode 66 - The Unlikely Empress and the Unpragmatic Sanction

Episode 65 - The Year of Living Dangerously

Episode 64 - Twilight of the Miloslavskys?

Episode 63 - Persians, Plague and Priorities

Episode 62 - Succession x2

Episode 61 - The not so Jolly Company

Episode 60 - The Council and the Tsar’s Daughter

Episode 59 - The Prince (Part 3)

Episode 58 - The Prince (Part 2)

Quick Podcast Update - January 2023

Episode 57 - The Prince (Part 1)

Episode 56 - Cossacks and Tatars

Episode 55 - State of the Nations 4 (1725)

Episode 54 - Peter the Great (Part 9 - Reputation and Legacy)

Episode 53 - Peter the Great (Part 8 - The Emperor of all the Russias)

Episode 52 - Peter the Great (Part 7 - St Petersburg and family matters)

Episode 51 - Peter the Great (Part 6 - The conclusion of the Great Northern War)

Episode 50 - Peter the Great (Part 5 - The Great Northern War begins)

Episode 49 - Peter the Great (Part 4 - Out with the old)

Episode 48 - Peter the Great (Part 3 - The Grand Embassy)

Episode 47 - Peter the Great (Part 2 - Taking control)

Episode 46 - Peter the Great (Part 1, The early years)

Episode 45 - State of the Nation 3 (1689) and Listeners Questions

Quick Update/Comment/Request/Clarification.......

Episode 44 - The Romanovs divided (Part 3 - Sofia and Golitsyn)

Episode 43 - The Romanovs divided (Part 2 - Sofia)

Episode 42 - The Romanovs divided (Part 1 - Fyodor)

Episode 41 - Russian Society and Serfdom

Episode 40 - Tsar Alexei’s Wars

Episode 39 - Tsar Alexei; Rebellion and Schism

Episode 38 - Tsar Alexei; Riot and Reform

Episode 37 - Russia and Ukraine

Episode 36 - Tsar Mikhail

Episode 35 - The First Romanovs

Episode 34 - The end of the Time of Troubles

Episode 33 - Boris Godunov and the beginning of the Time of Troubles

Episode 32 - The Ottoman Empire

Episode 31 - The end of the Rurikids

Episode 30 - Ivan the Terrible (Part 2)

Episode 29 - Ivan the Terrible (Part 1)

Episode 28 - State of the Nation (2) 1505

Episode 27 - Ivan the Great

Episode 26 - The End of Empires

Episode 25 - Tamarlane