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Episodes

Jan. 27, 2025

Episode 88 - The Khitrovo Affair and the Mirovich Plot

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…
Dec. 31, 2024

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

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 auth…
Dec. 2, 2024

Episode 86 - Zero Sum

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 …
Nov. 10, 2024

Episode 85 - ‘Colicgate’

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 Catherin…
Oct. 25, 2024

Episode 84 - State of the Nations (5) 1762

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…
Oct. 18, 2024

Episode 83 - Death in the afternoon

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, Cathe…
Sept. 23, 2024

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

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 fairl…
Aug. 16, 2024

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

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 d…
Aug. 7, 2024

Episode 80 - A Fresh Start

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…
June 13, 2024

Episode 79 - The Three Letters

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 …
May 14, 2024

Episode 78 - Death, Madness and Banishment

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 …
April 22, 2024

Episode 77 - Russia Attacks!

It's 1757 and for the first time in a long time the Russian army gets to flex its muscles. Click on one of the links below to join the Boyar Duma where for a small monthly subscription you'll receive the following - Exclusiv…
April 15, 2024

Episode 76 - Perfidious Albion

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 …
March 17, 2024

Episode 75 - An Ambassador calls

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 eventua…
Feb. 18, 2024

Episode 74 - In other news....

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, apar…
Feb. 11, 2024

Episode 73 - Treading Water

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, whic…
Dec. 14, 2023

Episode 72 - Controlled, Isolated and Miserable

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 incide…
Nov. 22, 2023

Episode 71 - Sophie becomes Catherine

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…
Nov. 8, 2023

Episode 70 - State of Empire, State of Mind

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…
Oct. 8, 2023

Episode 69 - Peter and ... Sophie?

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. I…
Aug. 28, 2023

Episode 68 - The Lopukhina Conspiracy

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 in…