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The History of Russia Podcast
Episode 103 - Villages, Partitions, and Revolution.
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Today we are going to zoom in on that period just after the dust had settled — roughly 1792 onwards — and have a look at what Russia looked like from a geopolitical standpoint
We'll also be talking about a man, sadly for the last time, who had become one of the titans of Russian History. Grigory Potemkin. (in a way I'm glad because for some strange reason my pronunciation of his name was inconsistent to say the least)
And then we'll be spending some time with a general who, if you remember from the last episode, had won every major battle that he had been involved in - Alexander Suvorov. Which for the Polish/Lithuanian commonwealth would spell even more disaster.
And finally, we’ll take a quick peek at what was going on in France where the Ancien Regime was being turned upside down and what Catherine’s thought about it all.
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Episode 102 - Victory and stalemate
28:36|After a decade of calmness in Russia with not much happening, the late 1780's suddenly exploded into action with wars against both the Ottomans and the Swedes and we also witness the death of another major European player.Oh and don't be alarmed but for this epsiode only, I've changed things - musically.Episode 101 - The early 1780’s
27:43|This time around we’ll be looking at, in general, more calmness and I’ll be concentrating on just four things that will take us up to the mid 1780sFurther Russian territorial expansion and a touch more provincial reform We’ll follow that with one or two family matters (not mine I hasten to add, but Catherine’s)And then in the second part of the episode we’ll look at a European geopolitical shift and the deaths of two of our major players. And then we’ll end up with the facts or rumours (you decide) that were doing the rounds regarding Grigory Potemkin Oh and as usual, there will be the odd interjection from our avian friends.Episode 100, Russia’s story so far, and the world in 1780.
35:04|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 CenturyA 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.Episode 99 - The almost empty in-tray
30:23|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.Episode 98 - Two Weddings, Two Deaths and a Cockroach
27:54|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.Podcast Update - November 2025
03:29|Just a short update from me about life in general and the short-term impact to the podcast.Episode 97 - You’re going up and I’m going down
26:08|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!Episode 96 - The Pugachevshchina
25:50|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....