The History of Russia Podcast

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! 

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....

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.

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

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

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.