Original subtitles

July 5th 1762 the Tsar of Russia

Peter the third prepares to play a

sonata

it will be his last then from the Czar's

own guard surprise him with a visit

and leave him strangled in the past

in st. Petersburg the army elite

launched a rebellion the coup to knock

the Emperor off the throne and replace

him with a woman his own wife

the German princess will make history as

Catherine the Great

Catherine was one of the greatest

monarchs at the time she cemented

Russia's position as a great power

catherine was deeply motivated by a

desire to make russia better at the end

than it was when she inherited it

catherine stands poised to transform

herself from german princess to the most

powerful woman in russian history but

chaos looms over her reign a bloody

rebellion fueled by the anger of

Russia's oppressed people and led by a

ghost a man claiming to be Russia's

rightful Zhou

Catherines murdered husband the rise of

Catherine loved the way she came to

Russian Court and learn Russian it's a

sort of fairy tale but it's a fairy tale

with death with murder born without

privilege she schemes her way through

the cutthroat Russian court

but to hold on to her crown she'll have

to exploit everything she's ever learned

on her climb to ultimate power

[Music]

February 1740 for the Russian crown is a

dangerous prize hard to claim harder

still to keep no one knows this better

than the reigning Empress of Russia

Elizabeth Petrovna ho Manoa

Elizabeth rules over a vast empire home

to a handful of the richest people on

earth and a virtual slave camp for

millions

[Music]

and Russia men and women can be bought

and sold like livestock and every soul

in the Empire exists to serve the will

of the crown

[Music]

the Empress is the last full-blooded

heir to the Imperial Romanov dynasty but

even she had to claw her way onto the

throne

now to reinforce her grip on power

Elizabeth needs one more thing in air

hard-drinking empress has no children of

her own

Elizabeth very early on realized that it

might in fact be to her advantage to

designate an heir and start grooming an

heir and that's why she invites her

nephew from Germany and has him

designated heir and he takes on the name

the Grand Duke Peter the only task left

is to find a bride for her nephew a girl

who can produce the next generation of

Romanovs in the winter of 1740 for

Elizabeth's summons a 14 year old German

princess to Russia the girl destined to

shake the world as Catherine the Great

enters history as a mail-order bride

Catherine came from a not wealthy at all

but a very well-connected family she was

born on the lower rungs of nobility she

isn't even Russian but the young sophia

von unobserved fits the profile for an

18th century imperial bride family with

good bloodlines but no power at least

not yet for an obscure princess in a

small German estate to be summoned to be

the wife of the prospective Emperor

Russia was a fulfillment of a whole

family's dreams and that total

aspiration the lowly princess harbors

grand ambitions but her Imperial dreams

come with a price

an immature buffoon for a husband

Russia's Crown Prince Grand Duke Peter

Peter was born and bred in the german

duchy of Holstein the 16 year old

germanic heir to the Russian throne

scorns books politics and Russia Peter

keeps everything Russian at an arm's

length he looks down his nose on Russian

culture on the society on the religion

as somehow inferior to his Germanic

background the mismatched teenager is

married in August 1745

[Music]

young bride even takes a Russian name a

Katrina Katherine right from the start

Katherine vows to win over the Russian

Court she turns her back on her German

roots and launches into a full-scale

transformation Katherine throws herself

into learning the language into

converting to orthodoxy to learn the

ways and habits of her customs to become

in a sense of Russian she has to change

her name from Sophie to Katherine just

change her religion from Lutheran to

Orthodox and basically at the age of 14

just to become more Russian in the

Russians secretly Katherine reveals her

ambitions for the throne she will write

to one confidant I am resolved to perish

or reign as a foreigner it is unlikely

that Katherine could win the crown

but the ruthless Russian Court has

witnessed less likely contenders for the

throne

only five years before the court was in

chaos the largest empire on earth was

ruled by an infant after the death of

Peter the great rival factions wrestled

for supremacy for 15 years in 1740 the

crown landed on the most unlikely head

of all Ivan the sixth a baby not even

one year old the succession of it of a

baby to the autocratic throne was an

absurdity that really marked bankruptcy

of politics at that time the Ivan's

mother really placed him on the throne

he was obviously unable to rule himself

and his time on the frame was bound to

be very short Ivan's claim to the throne

rested on his lineage as a distant

relative of Tsar Peter the Great

but a claim by birthright alone was no

guarantee of the crown in an era when

fascination and intrigue and a chaotic

succession made politics completely

uncertain the essential thing was to

have armed backing

st. Petersburg the Russian capital the

muscle that mattered was the Imperial

Guard

no one took the throne or sat on it for

long without arm backing from the

all-powerful guards

[Music]

[Applause]

barely 12 months after baby Ivan was

crowned Elizabeth Petrovna the daughter

of Peter the Great rallied the Imperial

Guard she ordered her troops to lock up

the infant Emperor her own cousin and

grabbed the throne for herself

[Music]

ivenn six will spend his days in prison

cut off from contact with the rest of

the world

his fate offers a lesson on the danger

of the Russian throne lesson even his

jailer the new Empress Elizabeth takes

to heart Empress Elizabeth haven't got

the heart to murder him

she's a soft-hearted Russian woman but

she orders that if any attempt is ever

made to free him and place him on the

frame again he's to be instantly killed

by his guard with the Youngs are locked

away Elizabeth needs to cement her

dynasty's hold on the throne she has the

military support now she needs an heir

and it's up to the Grand Duchess

Catherine to produce one ambitious in

all things Catherine is eager to fulfill

all her duties including those in the

Imperial bedroom okay this is blessed

but her husband is less interested in

the obligations of marriage than in

playing with his military toys in

England the wedding night itself was a

fiasco I think any bride has had a more

disappointing and clumsy and in fact

totally uneventful wedding night than

Catherine Peter didn't take a virginity

didn't sleep with her

and prude proved to have no interest in

has a woman whatsoever

can you hidden Peters disinterest in his

new bride prevents Catherine from

conceiving a child

for the Grand Duchess producing an heir

to the Russian throne is more than just

a duty it's a matter of survival

Kathryn clearly no fool

she knows that by being brought to

Russia by marrying the Grand Duke her

first and foremost job is to get

pregnant and produce heirs and she

failed at that miserably through seven

years of marriage

Katherine fails to deliver a child court

gossip claims Peter is impotent

still Elizabeth will take no excuses

she even plants informers in Catherine's

inner circle there's surveillance that

Empress Elizabeth had placed over

Catherine grew ever more intense trying

to figure out what is going on with the

Grand Duke in the Grand Duchess why

don't I see babies in the end after

about seven years Elizabeth decided it

wouldn't be bad to have Catherine

introduced to sexual matters and

allowing her to have a lover or two

[Music]

in court salons rumors spread that

Elizabeth will look the other way if the

grand duchess needs to step outside of

marriage to breed an heir to the empress

catherine is simply a woman

so that 23 she is also a virgin

then Catherine's confidants introduced

her to a notorious ladies man their gaze

saltykov

at one of her entourage as a young

aristocrat Sergei saltykov he began an

affair with the Grand Duchess and he was

actually sanctioned to go ahead and

impregnate the Grand Duchess and provide

the air Catherine succumbs to saltykov

charms and loses her virginity but keeps

her head if she's going to survive at

court and pursue her ambitions any

pregnancy must be perceived as

legitimate

soon after beginning her affair with

saltykov

Catherine initiates a new lover her own

husband after seven years Peter and

Catherine finally consummate their

marriage

it may be common knowledge at court that

catherine has a lover

still they create a deception to provide

proof of her chastity go-betweens

deliver the empress elisabeth evidence

from the belated bridal bed so that

catherine can pass off any child she

bears as Peters lawful heir by fall

Catherine's plan is on the verge of

success the Grand Duchess is pregnant at

last

quietly court wonders whether the father

is in fact her husband Peter or her

lover Sergey saltykov Katherine will

never confess her secret

[Music]

December 17 52

Catherines security is shaken she loses

the child in a miscarriage the following

year she miscarries again with each year

that passes without an heir Catherine's

position grows increasingly tenuous if

she fails to deliver a healthy boy she

could be stripped of her royal titles

locked up in a convent shipped off to

her German homeland and a whole new

power struggle could consume Russia

quite the crown is ours

September 20th 1754

Empress Elizabeth Petrovna the daughter

of Peter the Great has reason to

celebrate

she finally has an heir to the throne

[Music]

Catherine had come from a distant German

state married into the Romanov dynasty

and made herself a Russian now after

nine years of marriage and two

miscarriages Catherine finishes the job

she was picked for she delivers an heir

to the Russian throne a healthy boy the

grand youth fall

[Music]

the Empress Elisabeth promptly claims

her prize and leaves with it Elizabeth

plans to raise the boy as her own

catherine is finally able to give birth

not only to a child but to a son which

is of course what everyone wanted and

instead of being you know embraced by

the Empress Elizabeth embraced by her

husband the Grand Duke they immediately

come in remove the young infant fall

from her arms I was disgusting

Catherines left alone in a room with her

after birth no one caring about her for

hours after performing her dynastic duty

Catherine is abandoned by the Empress

and by her own husband her separation

from the baby Paul spawns a lifelong

chasm between mother and son the

devastating realization Catherine's

place in the Russian Court is far from

secure the crown of the Romanovs now has

several contenders all less than perfect

catherine is not one of them

[Music]

Katherine's husband Peter the Empress

Elizabeth immediate air is childish and

still despises Russia

the Grand Duke Hall the next generation

faced doubts about his birthright

forever is his father really Peter or

Catherine's lover saltykov

there may have been questions about the

paternity of Paul and he was born

however everyone kept him quiet because

this was the air that everybody wanted

that would provide stability in the

succession to the throne for now Paul is

an infant long way from the throne but

in the Russian Court it never takes long

to develop a hunger for power

children have taken the crown before and

the last child to sit on the throne Ivan

the sixth still lives for most of his

life Ivan has been a prisoner growing up

in isolation his existence essentially

erased the guards refer to him only as

nameless prisoner number one he has no

education and he grows up to be a sort

of idiot uneducated no one truly talk to

him he's only seen the inside of this

cell but weirdly he knows that he's an

emperor so on one hand he knows that

he's the rightful monarch on the other

hand he is simpleton in 1756 Ivan

receives a visitor

the Empress Elizabeth

[Music]

the Empress knows that if a prisoner

were to win supporters it would threaten

her reign and possibly her life fifteen

years after deposing him Elizabeth needs

to know if the boy harbors any ambition

for the crown this was partly a

fascination with this young freak

imprisoned in his cell but it was also a

legitimate political interest to see

whether this man really could constitute

an actual rival to the throne one

meeting is enough to convince the

Empress that Ivan poses no threat to her

reign secure on her throne she's free to

focus on enemies outside the Empire in

Europe the ambitious King of Prussia

Frederick the Great launches a crusade

to seize Poland for his new German

Empire threatening russia's regional

dominance

[Music]

Elizabeth sends 43,000 men to crush

Frederick's Imperial ambition and to

carve out new territory for her Empire

Elizabeth throws a succession of

elaborate parties hundreds of soldiers

die for Russia give us Exia

the Empress Catherin learns the ruthless

strategies for building Empire but her

husband peter is not rooting for the

russians

[Music]

Peter idolizes Russia's enemy Prussia

and its Germanic King Frederick

[Music]

Peter models his military ideals even

his clothing on the German model his

passion for all things German reduces

his standing at court from nuisance to

near traitor among those who scorned the

Grand Duke Peter our two veterans of the

ongoing war the Orlock brothers the

scar-faced alexei and his older brother

Grigory a commander in the Russian army

Grigory Orlov bravery is legendary at

the Battle of Zorn dog is wounded three

times and yet continues to lead the

fight

mr. Rohit swin Orlov total devotion from

the Imperial Guard and making the center

of attention in the salons of st.

Petersburg the celebrated warrior makes

a strong contrast to Katherine's

juvenile German loving husband Olaf was

a real Russian hero wounded in battle

against the Prussians even more than

that he was one of five brothers who

were at the heart of the guards

regiments the Imperial Guard had the

power to determine who sits on the

Russian throne the gory or lost hold

over them and his good looks proved an

irresistible combination for the Grand

Duchess in Orlov Catherine takes more

than a lover she lays the foundation for

her own power base

she knows that she needs to build

alliances that she is in a sense left

out in the wind hanging a bit given the

relationship that is deteriorating

between her and her husband she knows

she needs to find political allies that

can defend her should her husband the

Grand Duke ever decide to turn against

her for the elite few the Empire's

wealthy Nobles war is a time for

celebration

but for the impoverished Russian people

there is only despair

the Empress may declare war but it's the

pool who do the fighting and die former

Empire peasants are drafted into

military service and among them is one

bro especially prized by the army the

Cossacks

legendary Horsemen of the Russian south

[Music]

Cossacks are the sort of border

cutthroats of the Russian Empire

patrolled the outlying areas they have a

huge disrespect or anything but

themselves and their love of looting and

raiding is how they traditionally make

their living

[Music]

Elizabeth's army can scripts many in the

Cossack regions in the south one Cossack

drummed into service and away from his

wife is the 18 year old amelia and polka

truck

why

[Music]

the army transforms men like pugachov

from proud and free horsemen into

military slaves his first war wounds

come at the orders of his own commander

his flock were failing to prevent the

theft of a horse all across Russia

brutal treatment fuels the rage of the

peasants soon meal Jankovic a channel

the people's wrath and to an assault

will undermine very foundations of the

Empire the front lines the war rages on

by December of 1761 the Prussians

struggled to hold the outskirts of

Berlin with the Russians poised to

destroy his empire

King Frederick considers suicide but in

st. Petersburg the 52 year old Russian

Empress also faces death after a

lifetime of excess Elizabeth has

collapsed her nephew the Grand Duke

Peter still idolizes Russia's enemy the

Prussian King Frederick and Peter is

still air to Elizabeth from the Empress

Elizabeth is old fat she died everyone

is thinking about a succession and the

horrible prospect that the German Peter

would succeed as Emperor all the

Russia's what would he do would he

betray Russia itself and make peace with

Frederick the greatest hero and save

Prussia

on Christmas Eve Empress whispers

farewell to the ill-matched couple that

will inherit her throne

the power the Russian crown is about to

change hands but whose head will wear

the crown

[Music]

Christmas 1761 in Saint Petersburg to

journey's Grand Duke Peter and his wife

Catherine stand poised to claim the

throne of the Czar's

[Music]

at the front Russia has a death grip on

the Prussian army

then on Christmas Day Elizabeth Petrovna

Empress of Russia dies

the Grand Duchess Catherine dreams of

seizing power over her husband the Grand

Duke

but for now she treads carefully and the

Russian crown passes peacefully to the

Russia hating heir apparent

the new emperor Tsar Peter the third

soon after taking the throne Peter rolls

back the gains from six years of war

Russian troops Prussia and Frederick the

Great on the verge of defeat Peter calls

of truce

he offers Russia's enemies generous

peace terms

he even returns conquered territory one

of the first things Peter that there

does is to call off the war which sends

shockwaves throughout the army and

creates an incredible deal of resentment

obviously towards the Tsar this is one

of the first things he does when he

comes to the throne

Peter's ill-conceived piece with Prussia

rescues his hero Frederick the Great

from the brink of annihilation it also

wipes out any support Russia's new Tsar

might expect from his own military in a

moment he offends the whole army all the

heroes the guards see all of brothers

everybody and everybody is longing for

Catherine to succeed especially

Catherine once a German princess is now

Empress of Russia but only by marriage

her ambition demands more than being the

wife of a Russian Tsar she knows she has

to wait before attempting to claim the

throne for herself I don't think she was

really ready in her mind I don't think

it would have been sanctioned by the

guards at that point and they needed to

see what Peter was going to be it's

going to be as a ruler there were

suspicions said he would be a wretched

Emperor but there was no proof of that

yet and it was better for her to have

taken over once he had proved himself to

be an inadequate incompetent Emperor

Peters truce with Prussia shocked the

Russian nobility but fighting men at the

front welcomed the release from the

death sentence of war for peasants

across Russia a new Tsar signals of

flicker of hope

Peter the third just might be the savior

who ease the burdens of surfed

but for noble Russian Patriots Peters

peace treaty smacks of treason the move

infuriates even those closest to the

Czar including Grigory Orlov and his

brother the captain of the palace guard

Alexei Peter insults the Imperial Guards

by changing their uniforms from Russian

green to Prussian blue when he became

Emperor he was disdainful of all things

Russian and this was one of the major

reasons that he became so unpopular the

childish Emperor Peter even manages to

take a mistress parading her openly at

court and driving a wedge between

himself and Catherine in Peters mind

Catherine is disposable

of what he doesn't know is that his own

guards the Orlov brothers are on

Catherine's side Grigory Orlov and his

brothers were crucial for Catherine

safety as things went on and

relationship with her husband so rapidly

deteriorated they were her protectors

they were her conspirators as Peter the

3rd offended every single part of

Russian society that mattered

he was absolutely loved the guards

regiments began to look to Catherine to

seize power

by spring the Orloff brothers had the

imperial guards primed for a cool tsar

peter has no idea but he soon gets a

first-hand look at the price of losing

the throne he meets with the most

notorious prisoner in Russia the

one-time Tsar Ivan the sixth nameless

prisoner number one has spent most of

his 21 years in confinement and like his

predecessor Elizabeth Peter the third

plans on making sure he stays there

Peter the third has an order that if

anyone tries to spring ivan the six from

prison that ivan is to be killed

immediately and the guards know that and

it's a secret order st. Petersburg

rumors fly that the Grand Duchess

Catherine will soon be the next nameless

prisoner a relationship with Peter has

disintegrated from civil to openly

hostile

Peter just might be planning to get rid

of Catherine for good relations had

pretty much broken down between the two

of them and there's also rumors floating

that Peter has plans for Catherine plans

like locking her up in a convent

Catherines allies the Orlov brothers

have the support of the Imperial Guard

and with an imbecile on the throne the

guards prepare to launch a coup in

Catherine's name this is a bloody game

if you reach for power and you miss it's

not a pretty picture the stakes are

incredibly high if you win you win

incredibly big and if you lose it means

banishment it means exile it can very

well mean that

at a party in June Peter lets his tongue

slip Dora he publicly calls his wife a

fool

the or lives take it as a sign that the

Tsar plans to dispose of Catherine June

21st 1762 fever's police arrest one of

or Lofts collaborators Alexei Orlov

rides out to Catherine's estate to warn

her that their cover could be blown

Alexei our law he's the one that gets

her up literally out of sleep and says

now is the moment the time has come they

realized even if our plans aren't ready

we do need to move now or we may not get

another chance

the moment has arrived Catherine to

seize her husband's crown for herself

she dons a military uniform and rallies

the city's guards the Imperial Guard

turned their backs on their Prussia

loving Tsar and throw their support

behind Catherine

but are the Russian people willing to

see a German princess take the Russian

throne and make it her own

June 17 6

[Music]

for six months Carl Peter Ulrich the

German born Prince has reigned over

Russia as Emperor Peter the third for

Russia's political in leaf six months of

Peter is six months too long since Peter

first took the throne one ambitious

court here has plotted to overthrow him

his wife

Catherine along with her lover Grigory

Orlov plans to seize the throne for

herself

but on June 28th one of her

co-conspirators is arrested Catherine

could be unveiled as a traitor six

months into the reign of the disastrous

Peter the third the conspiracy is

unveiled the secret police arrest one of

the conspirators who under torture is

bound to reveal the conspiracy early

morning June 28th Alexey Orlov rides out

to Catherine's estate and tells her her

time has come

Alexei Olaf bursts into her the $0.11

wake up

we've got to seize power now it's do or

die we don't see that this minute we

will all hang

[Music]

throwing off Tsar Peters Prussian blue

uniforms the guardsmen rally to

Catherine's side

Catherine herself suits up in military

regalia and prepares to seize the

Russian crown

the or logs direct the Imperial Guard to

escort Catherine into the palace and

install her on the throne the are lofts

were men who commanded immense respect

and the way that they went would

determine to a large extent the way the

rest of the military was going to swing

so when they marched back into

Petersburg to rally the troops there was

no dissent there was no questioning of

it people got in line and got behind

Catherine

[Music]

at one barracks a brash young officer

steps forward to present Catherine a

gift

Grigoriy Alexandrov its Potemkin

Potemkin is one of the officers who

immediately signs with Catherine there's

a story that after Catherine had donned

the uniform of the Preobrazhensky guards

she realized that her saber lacked a

sword not and it was at that instant

that Grigory Potemkin tore his off of

his saber and gave it to the Empress

Catherine will remember the temp khun's

gallant devotion long after she rides

off to st. Petersburg to reach for the

throne and so will the or Lofts with

Peter occupied outside the capital

Catherine sweeps into the palace st.

Petersburg's nobility flunk to join the

ku Kazan Cathedral Russia's elite

proclaim Catherine the new Empress of

Russia

[Music]

the success of the coup leaves Catherine

and her co-conspirators Hedy with

triumph

four days the new Empress rebels

exclaiming such a huge and powerful

Empire as mine

what a shadow hangs over her stolen

throne the shadow of her husband Peter

Russia's rightful emperor in the wake of

the coup Peter is left in a suburban

palace awaiting his fate after

surrendering his throne all Peter hopes

is to return to his German homeland in

peace in the end he wrote this letter in

which he admitted that he was not fit to

rule that was just as well that

Catherine became Empress and that if she

would just leave him alone all he would

want was his mistress his poodle his

violin and his black manservant at one

point I was just begging to be to be let

go you know just let me go back to to

Germany I'll be quiet and you won't hear

anything more about me but sending the

deposed Emperor into exile is not an

option Catherine knows that once in

Europe Peter would attract opposition

and could return to reclaim his throne

your loft brothers devised a more

permanent solution you can envision

Catherine back in the palace sitting

around the table with the art of lofts

in there

trying to figure out okay what happens

to Peter and you can imagine your loft

saying well he could have an accident

and you could imagine Catherine saying

or not saying but communicating in other

ways that that that would be to her

pleasure

July 5th locked away in an isolated

palace

the former Tsar Peter consoles himself

with his violin then receives some

unexpected visitors called led by Alexei

Orla

the Orloff send a message to Catherine

that the monster is dead

the particulars of what happened we're

sort of laid out in a letter from Lexie

or a little to the Empress after the

murder saying things got a little out of

hand over here

unfortunately Lazzara met a untimely

death as best we know he was strangled

in the midst of a kind of a drunken

fight with the Orloff brothers however

the official announcement was that he

had died of hemorrhoids and no one

really believed this the traitorous czar

is dead catherine has hijacked the

Empire and to back up her claim to the

throne she summons Russia's powerful to

a magnificent coronation at the Kremlin

in Moscow this is a hugely important

symbolic event that lends great

Authority to her as as as the Empress

Catherine immediately issued detailed

manifestos which established her right

to the throne as well as her need to

take over the throne in order to save

Russia from ruin

she then planned a brilliant week-long

coronation to which she invited all of

the leading ambassadors and monarchs

throughout Europe in order to cement

this legitimacy but the pomp and

ceremony of her coronation can't

disguise the facts Catherine was not

born to the Russian throne

to seize power that she overthrew the

rightful emperor and abetted his death

and now in many eyes she rules only as a

regent for the next right clothes on her

eight-year-old son

the Grand Duke Paul Catherine may wear

the crown clinging to power over the

Russian Empire will take more than luck

and friends in the Imperial Guard

1762 Russia is an empire of some six

million square miles 19 million people

ruled by a former German Princess

Catherine born without riches or land

Catherine has clawed her way to the very

top

now she reigns over Russia as the

Empress Catherine the second but the

Russian crown can be hazardous if

Catherine loses her power base

she could be deposed as a foreign

usurper or executed for murdering the

true Zahn

the potential news on Stan's close at

hand her own son the grand duke paul for

some at the court catherine rules only

as regent for her nine-year-old child

but paul was raised by the empress

elisabeth and now is merely a stranger

to his own mother Catherine's

relationship with Paul's again one of

these great tragic episodes of Russian

history in some ways it's sort of a

Russian Hamlet if you will the sort of

incredible tension between Catherine and

her son Catherine knows Paul isn't the

only living threat to her reign within

weeks of Peter the Third's death she

investigates one lurking rival for the

Russian throne nameless prisoner number

one

[Music]

for 21 years all but the first year of

his life Ivan the six has lived under

guard

he has encountered the cousin who

deposed him he has met the ill-fated

Emperor Peter the third now it's

Catherine's turn the last link to the

old regime Ivan's history illuminates

the dangers family rivals can pose and

as always he makes a tempting figurehead

for anyone plotting a coup Catherine is

willing to let Ivan live but on her

terms if ever anyone tries to free the

nameless prisoner his guards have orders

to kill him Catherine is insufficient no

claim to the throne

she has already murdered or allowed to

be murdered her husband the rifles are P

to the third and Ivan the six is the

other great obstacle to her legitimacy

so he remained in stressful burg

fortress in his dungeon with his God's

hand on daggers waiting to kill him if

necessary

[Music]

another priorities of the Empress is to

lock in her power base the Orleans and

their loyal Imperial Gong Catherine may

wear the crown but the Orloff stole it

for they have the power to steal it away

I'm taking the throne she rewards

Grigory Orlov his brother Alexei and

their friends Neville's Titans land and

serves at the time she gives 10,000

human souls as reward for services to

rag or off alone serfdom is the root of

Zara's power and the source of its

wealth serfs are like sharecroppers but

for life peasants legally tied to the

land and driven into slavery by

back-breaking debts owed to their noble

landlords when noblemen received new

estates from the crown peasants living

on those lands become their Sert's the

system turns thousands into slaves and

makes a few landowners richer than kings

serfdom was like flavor in the United

States the only difference was there was

no racial difference between the owner

and a serf but otherwise it was it was

pretty much identical most Russians have

little opportunity to escape lies at the

bottom rungs

but for the few on top the system works

perfectly it's the land owning nobles

who prop up the crown and the new

Empress understands well the importance

of keeping them happy

Catherine depended for her pal the

nobility and a nobility bacter long as

she left them alone on their estates

where they could do what the hell they

like with their sir nobles trade

peasants like livestock

soldiers are ripped posted to the ends

of the Empire resentment rules until

opposition begins to focus on the one

man who could challenge Catherines right

to the throne July 4th 1764 not long

after Catherine's rain buzz really near

a bitch a soldier at the fortress where

Ivan the 6th is locked away learns a

dangerous secret the identity of the

nameless prisoner

he plots to rescue I'm in the six and

restore the throughs on to the throne

Mira vich posts a proclamation declaring

I've in the six the truths are and with

a few conspirators he seizes the prison

gates

[Music]

but Ivan's would-be rescuers are not the

first to reach a self

eivin's guards under orders from the

imperial palace stab the Tsar prisoner

to death he was the infant Zhou was

locked in a prison a child sacrificed in

Elizabeth's grab for the throne at 23

years old

Tsar Ivan lies murdered his life

sentence over at last mirror which is

who ends in disaster almost as soon as

it began

this is the way the game gets played in

Russia

Catherine plays the game who keeps as a

woman in a world of men

the Empress knows her throne stands on

shaky ground

can't lead armies into battle or share

the gossip in the barracks

you must use men like the or loss as

tools of power she performs brilliantly

she rewards the conspirators like all of

them with grants of serf titles money

but she also awards the old nobility and

wins backing from all sides Catherines

partners in power like the oral arts

also know how to play the game closer to

Catherine the closer to power and

they'll do anything to protect their

position of favor during Catherine's

first year on the throne

another Guardsman makes a play to join

the inner circle the glory of attempting

[Music]

the or lofts invite the temp confer

round of business but what the temp

context will be a game turns out to be

brutal lesson in Palace politics

[Music]

1763 after the coup that brought her to

power catherine the great quickly

surrounded herself with military and

political advisors men empower the court

with experience and muscle from the very

beginning one man has worked tirelessly

to win both Catherine's heart and a

place in her inner circle handsome

Guardsman Grigory Potemkin he was not

only very good-looking Potemkin

but also enormous ly impressive

intellect a man who you know is a

specialist in religion military matters

in politics and could talk about

anything

Potemkin is a master of charm but the or

laughs control all access to Catherine

and her gatekeepers a wary of Potemkin

x' growing intimacy with the empress it

didn't help that whenever Potemkin

bumped into the M put in the long miles

of corridors of the Winter Palace he

would fall to his knees grab her hand to

kiss her hand and jamming her

passionately in love with you

your Imperial of majesty as he almost

heard about this and according to one

story they summoned him to play

billiards

[Music]

[Music]

[Applause]

the or last deliver potemkin a

bare-knuckles message leave Catherine

alone a blow to the tensions left eye

leaves him blind on one side but emkin

takes their warning to heart and

abandons Catherine's Court for now the

or loss and the Imperial Guard they have

stolen the throne for Catherine

but as she settles into the role of

Empress she makes the power of the

throne all her own catherine rewrites

russia's legal code

she turns saint-petersburg into a world

class capital filling her palace with

works by Europe's greatest artists she

personally cultivates writers like

Voltaire and Diderot the pioneers of the

Enlightenment over time she establishes

herself as the pre-eminent power in

Europe

[Music]

catherine was an expert at playing the

game of power catherine recognized that

in 18th century Europe monarchs were

classified as enlightened if they

followed certain set policies one was to

expand their nation another was to carry

out a program of reform and the third

was to patronize and indeed participate

in the arts and she fulfilled these

objectives and very very well thereby

winning the adulation of her

contemporaries still Catherine knows

Russian rulers are all judged by a

single yard the size of the Empire she

vows to expand in the south by grabbing

territory belonging to Russia's longtime

rival the Ottoman Empire

[Music]

1768 Russia collides with the Empire of

the Ottoman Turks border skirmishes

explode into a full-scale war if

catherine's forces can seize the shores

of the Black Sea she will accomplish

what even Peter the Great could not she

can open a window for Russian ships and

trade with Europe and win rich new lands

to buy the loyalty of her Nobles well

the great thing about Wars and conquests

and empire building is if you get to

reward your nobility and you get to give

them huge estates so they're happy but

the wars are paid for in cash and in

lives by the peasantry to serve so

gradually the war against the Ottoman

Empire begins in 1768 really begins to

place a huge strain on the peasantry who

provide the army provide the grain that

feeds Russia the burdens of war reach

beyond the surf villages to the outer

regions of the Empire even the fiercely

independent Cossacks can't escape the

draft this is something that is forcing

the Cossacks into a situation where

they're forced to give up more and more

of their men to go off and fight in a

war that a lot of them don't have any

desire to be

villages and families torn apart by the

draft and drained by war taxes for the

Russian people catherine's empire

building breeds only hunger hardship and

death and for now there's no end in

sight

may 17 70 the Russian Baltic Fleet sails

clear around Europe and traps the

Turkish Navy in the bay of Chazz may

[Music]

commanding the assault is the man behind

the murder of Tsar Peter the third

Admiral Lexi Orla

or lofts men launch fire ships floating

incendiary bombs at the captive Turkish

fleet

[Music]

the Bay of chess main crux in a Turkish

firestorm the defeat cripples the Turks

combined with victories on land it

projects Russian power to the edge of

the Bosphorus straits the triumph makes

Catherine the toast of the Empire and

the talk of Europe but you won't stop

there with the Mediterranean in sight

the Empress commands her troops to press

forward

on the frontlines russia's rank-and-file

face war without end

desperate soldiers look for a way out

one way of getting out of service in the

army is very old method and that's

deserting and you start to see that you

do see deserters and in a country the

size of russia there's a lot of

territory you can hide in one deserter

in hiding is the concept a million

Pugachev

war kept him from his wife he was forced

with by his own officers and at 30 years

old

Pugachev has fought in three wars

after months on the run Pugachev reaches

the eastern frontier of the IKE river

[Music]

but instead of a refuge from war he

finds an angry people on the verge of

rebellion all the rebels need is a man

to lead them against the Empire a man

like the Cossack warrior

Emiliano gotcha

summer 1773 a million pugachov a

deserter from catherine the great's

turkish war reaches a distant corner of

her empire the Yaak River Valley

pugachov had been a military man had

fought in the Seven Years War had fought

in the war against the Turks and finally

decided he'd had enough and he wasn't

coming back when he appears on the I

critter he sort of walked into a

cauldron that's been simmering for quite

some time

serfs in the countryside are tired of

being exploited and abused by noble

landlords peasants are sick of watching

family members dragged into the service

of Catherine's army

the glittering splendor that catherine

and her court and a small number of

aristocrats lived in was made possible

by you know the sweat and toil of

millions and millions and millions of

men and women who kept very little of

their labor earlier in the year cossacks

from the yike dared to protest against

the injustice 'as of catherine's regime

in response the empire cracks down paws

army inspectors punish dissenters with

brutal floggings

[Applause]

[Music]

they punish others by slicing open their

noses

million and brutality breed contempt for

the regime

[Music]

into this cauldron of anger Pugachev

casts a lightning ball he announces that

he is the deposed song

Catherines dead husband Peter the third

[Music]

Pugachev

suddenly has a brainwave he declares

himself Peter the third and of course

thousands of miles from San Petersburg

no one ever saw Peter the thirteen and

who only ruled for six months anyway so

for all they know

put the trough might well be P to the

third kumba cha was very smart to choose

to be Peter the third because no one was

really quite sure how he had died he may

have escaped after all and it did mean

that the banner he was raising was

supposedly the banner of the legitimate

Tsar whose place has been taken by his

wife in an illegitimate fashion

Pugachev is no wandering Cossack but

Catherine's husband Peter the third

returned from the dead

to lead his people to justice he says

his sword is a gift from his grandfather

Tsar Peter the Great

his back a map of the abuse he's endured

at the hands of Catherine's henchmen he

starts to promise them things that

anyone would want who will do away with

taxes we will do away with army service

we will get rid of the landlord so he

feeds on the grievances of the people as

a way of course to you know win support

to his cause they begin to follow him

and he very quickly begins to take towns

and as he takes town he wins more and

more followers priests bless him he

takes larger and larger towns

thousand miles away in st. Petersburg no

one knows history hangs in the balance

out on the Russian frontier in the court

history revolves around the Empress and

in 1773 Catherine faces challenges from

almost every side the nineteen year old

son and heir

the Grand Duke Paul wants the Russian

crown sooner not later Catherine's son

has always posed a problem

Paul bears no love for his mother and in

the eyes of son Catherine rules only as

regent for her son as Paul comes of age

he stirs up the imperial guard to

bolster his claim to the Russian throne

he was the rightful czar if she took him

into her councils if she made him czar

if she made him her Kosar co-ruler she

would lose power forever because he

actually was legitimate Catherine

strikes back she flaunts her authority

over her son by marrying him off to a

German princess banishing his loyal

Guardsmen to Siberia still Paul remains

poised to claim his birthright

[Music]

Catherine's lover Grigory Orlov has also

betrayed her trust or law has been

caught with other women and his one

political mission to secure a peace

treaty with the Turks collapsed in

failure the war continues to bleed the

empire of money and manpower

thousand miles away in the Yaak River

region gubitosi peasant army storms the

imperial fortress at aliens

[Applause]

a victory over the fortress wins the

rebellion recruits and weapons pressed

soldiers join the angry peasants who

flock to the banner of the man who

claims to be the rightful Emperor Tsar

Peter the third the rebellion spreads

like wildfire through settlements and

cities all along the Yaak Valley but

news of the revolt takes weeks to travel

a thousand miles across the Russian

Empire more than a month passes before

the first dispatch reaches st.

Petersburg and the immigrants

[Music]

[Music]

suddenly on top of a war with turkey

power-hungry son and a feckless lover

catherine has a new trial on her hands

a struggle for the soul of Russia a

battle with a ghost Cossack who claims

to be her murdered husband the undead

Peter the third

[Applause]

1773

[Applause]

in a Jankovic shock the resurrected Tsar

Peter the third publishes a manifesto he

has come to bring the peasants land and

liberty to set the serfs free they are

words the people have longed to hear for

generations

a russian revolution has begun

fuga chubs forces swell from small band

into a peasant army of thousands and

they easily overwhelm unsuspecting towns

across the countryside more fortresses

he takes the more squadrons of Imperial

soldiers he defeats the greatest

prestige the more followers he gets the

more cannons he captures the more the

rebellion expands its cause to take arms

against the regime strikes a chord with

the peasants and labourers throughout

the end there's a certain sort of you

know blind rage that's understandable

when some factory worker in an armament

facility and the southern Urals decided

to go over to kuba chalk is he thinking

we're going to bring down the empire

we're going to bring down Catherine the

Great or is he thinking you know I am

sick of going to work every day

I'm sick of paying taxes I want more

vodka and I want to give back back to

the landlords and the boss

[Music]

from his makeshift throne Pugachev doles

out harsh punishments to captured

landlords and Nobles

Pugachev caught by this point is this

sort of that rager flooring on one hand

but also an extraordinary a barbaric

picture of sordidness and chaos on the

other people have murdered women are

raped fortresses are taken and burnt

down cook at your cakes of his to serve

and any aristocratic girls he can

capture what began as a peasant revolt

spirals into a terrifying circus of

slaughter who would shock even

Commission's a royal portrait painted on

top of a picture of the Empress

Catherine

leaving her eyes exposed to further the

insect the Cossacks looking from

thousands of miles away from these

amorphous lawless Borderlands when they

looked at the Petersburg they saw a

distant corrupt mysterious world filled

with foreigners and ruled over by this

husband murdering German she-devil as

the rebellion threatens to engulf the

countryside Catherine takes bold steps

to contain it she imposes a news

blackout for months only those closest

to the throne know the scope of the

revolt

the Empress cannot afford to let the

cancer spread

Imperial soldiers chased pugachov

through the winter with her army tied

down by the Turkish war Catherine can

send only smaller forces to control the

frontier even when her troops managed to

tame the revolt in one spot fuga chuff's

forces strike in a new corner of the

Empire Luke shop actually was not a bad

military strategist he made it a point

to try to go to forges and military

installations where he would be able to

acquire weaponry and at one point which

I've had a respectable 100 cannon at his

disposal unable to capture puga job

himself Catherines forces devise a new

strategy they hunt down pulga Charles

estranged wife and children and parade

them through rebel lands as living proof

that the Cossack is not Peter the third

utter propaganda and her army failed to

stop the insurgency

[Music]

the growing momentum of pugachov

rebellion leaves Katherine at a loss

she needs an ally an experienced

military man she can trust

she entices an old admirer McGorry

Potemkin now a war hero at the distant

Turkish front Potemkin eagerly returns

to the court and soon claims the prize

he has long yearned for Katherine's

heart war hero romantic Potemkin matches

Katherine in passion and ambition of all

her lover's only attempted achieved

status as a true partner Katherine and

Potemkin were made for each other he had

charisma despite a rather odd appearance

with a blind eye and everything was

deemed incredibly virile and sexy by the

ladies of the capital and he was also

someone who had an incredibly sharp mind

Katherine had a very healthy sense of

herself and I think Potemkin was perhaps

the only man she felt equal to her

rumors swirled that the couple are

secretly married in the spring of 1774

potemkin even begins to share the powers

of the throne together the Empress and

her soulmate plot strategy for the

Empire facing fires on two fronts the

Turkish war and the pugachov revolt

Potemkin urges Catherine to end the war

if her generals make peace on the

battlefield now they can free up troops

to squash the rebellion in the heartland

for the revolt but Temkin champions a

mission to dig out the roots of the

unrest he sets up a base of operations

in a strategic spot

the greatest of Russia's eastern cities

Kazan one of the largest settlements on

the Volga River Kazan marks the gateway

between the unruly Russian frontier and

the densely populated heartland of

Russia from this outpost of civilization

Catherine's forces plan to mount their

defense July 11th 1774 two days after

the Royal Guards reached the Citadel

Pugachev arrives outside kazan with an

army of up to thirty thousand if the

rebels call for class warfare breaks

into the heart of the empire Russian

society will be turned upside down

[Music]

July 12 an army of kuba ka's brothers

launched their assault on Kazan

if the city Falls their next target is

all too clear crown jewel of Catherine's

Empire Moscow

July 12 1774 for nearly a year a million

pulled the troughs crusade to seize the

throne as barreled across the Russian

frontier

[Applause]

he has exploited generations of anger to

build an army nearly 30,000 peasants and

Cossacks

[Applause]

at Kazan his world Crusaders take their

countryside rebellion into one of

Russia's great cities heartland of

Catherine the Great's Empire is at stake

this is gone from being a minor sort of

peasant rebellion as happen all the time

in Russia to suddenly a rebellion that

threatens Moscow the ancient capital the

despised upper class concentrates in

urban hubs like Kazan

here the revolt explodes into full-on

class warfare for two days the rebels

move towards the city center plundering

noble homes along the way

they would burn the house down steal

everything they could kill the landlord

rape the women kill them and move on

[Music]

a really allure scene of complete

barbaric chaos

it was a terrifying terrifying event

that sent panic throughout all of noble

society the only safe haven from the

terror is a fortress in the center of

town kazan central city though the

fortress is Pugachev's real prize an

army garrison rich with guns and

ammunition

if the Citadel falls the path the Moscow

lie wide-open

Pugachev Kasich who would be Emperor

Kazan is the first stop on the road to

the Russian throne when Catherine

receives word that Kazan is under attack

she realizes this is no ordinary peasant

rebellion the news arrives that puka

shell has regathered his forces reformed

his army larger than ever and that he

had sacked great city of kazan not just

the strength of the empire but actually

her life itself her entire reign is

threatened catherine becomes really

really concerned they were not prepared

to take on this course they didn't

realize that sighs they underestimated

Pugachev strategies his versatility and

sort of wildly character as a military

tactician they they grossly

underestimated

for two days Pugachev's forces

terrorized the city they failed to win

the prize

Kazan central fortress

[Music]

from inside Catherine's forces fire back

slaughtering them by the thousands

[Applause]

[Music]

Pugachev's forces leave Kazan in

disarray

[Music]

Pugachev had once commanded an army of

30,000 rebels after 10 months of

violence his revolt is finally over

Booga Jeff and his men are chased out of

Kazan

they then head often in a different

direction trying to make their way down

into the dawn region where he was from

to gain support down there but they

never make it there

[Music]

Catherine puts a bounty on pugachov said

prize that will reach ten thousand

rubles

[Music]

while Catherine stamps out Pugachev's

revolt Grigory Potemkin makes history on

the Turkish front Russia's generals

force the Turks to sign a peace treaty

catherine's Turkish war is over at last

now the only enemies Catherine's troops

must fight are pugachov and the remnants

of his revolt with a price of 10

thousand rubles on his head the would-be

Tsar of Russia becomes a hunted man his

own people

the Cossacks lead the hunt catherine's

bounty has proven too much to resist if

he can reach the Volga he can swim back

to the frontier and freedom if not he'll

face the wrath of the Empress Catherine

September 1774 the self proclaimed

emperor of the Cossacks amillion

pugachov is on the run for nearly a year

he claimed to be the murdered Tsar Peter

the third he'd built a massive peasant

army and led the greatest rebellion

Russia had ever seen

[Applause]

but now the Empress Catherine's forces

are closing in on the fugitive Cossack

and they aren't the only ones booga

chops own people tempted by a royal

bounty on his head

they turn on their leader and hunt him

down like an animal everyone realizes

that his moment is up and he is betrayed

by his own followers

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Pugachev is captured by the Cossacks

he'd hoped to lead to power

[Music]

on September 15th one year after the

rebellion first erupted Cossacks hand

over the rebel leader

Pugachev is delivered to Imperial

authorities the heart of the IKE River

region breeding grounds for his revolt

instead of marching to Moscow at the

head of a rebel army

Pugachev is hauled to the Kremlin in a

cage

he's clapped in irons put into a

specially constructed metal cage like

some sort of a wild animal and is then

sent to Moscow for questioning

bye-bye

[Music]

would be ever ends up a prisoner of the

Empire his fate lies ahead at the

chopping block out in the countryside

landlords unleash vigilante justice

killing serfs who supported the revolt

[Music]

Catherine deplore the violence but the

humanitarian Empress can't bring herself

to free Russia slaves emancipating the

serfs would bankrupt every noble family

in Russia and almost certainly cost

Catherine the throne cattle is a

brilliant politician and she realized

that politics is the art of the possible

and she knew that there was things that

she simply couldn't get away with that

the other powerful groups in society

would simply not permit the members of

the nobility who only serfs felt as

though they could not operate without

the free labor that the serfs provided

them

instead of freeing the serfs Catherine

seeks to heal Russia's divide by

declaring forgiveness for all peasants

who took up arms in the revolt across

the countryside messengers post her

proclamation of amnesty an order to end

vigilante justice and forgive peasants

who join the rebellion

but for one rebel there can be no

amnesty Moscow January 14 1775 Emily on

pugachov has tried before a special

court his conviction is guaranteed

sentence for his treason to be drawn and

quartered the Empress refuses to attend

his trial or his execution

she won't set foot in Moscow until the

rebel is exterminated but even for a

traitor

Catherine retains a merciful touch even

though Foucault chav had threatened her

whole reign you Millie ated her and

almost taken Moscow she still was

thinking of her enlightened principles

and also I think she really did not

believe in torturing people in public

yeah so she sent orders that he was to

be the head is instantly

- immunity for Joel

I feel there's a car amazing

still mercy only goes so far

fuga chops dead body will be quartered

burn and his ashes scattered on the wind

[Music]

the empress catherine has weathered the

storm

instead of crippling her reign the

turmoil of 1774 marks a new beginning

she survives the revolt ends the Turkish

war and begins a lifelong partnership in

power with her lover Grigory Potemkin by

1770 for Catherine had seen off with

Potemkin backing the challenge of her

own son Paul she had one huge gains

around the Black Sea and she defeated

Pugachev so by the end of 1774 Catherine

emerges from this terrible crisis

successful and she's got away with it

Catherine comes out of the Pugachev's

rebellion much stronger and much more

aware of what it is that she needs to do

to not only secure her control of the

country but also to sort of make the

country better

Catherine purges all trace of the

rebellion from her land Pugachev's name

becomes sacrilege she even gives the

traitors hometown a new name beau Timken

skaia in honor of Potemkin her partner

in power for 21 more years

the Empress tackles the delicate job of

reforming her slave society she rewrites

Russia's laws build schools in every

corner of the land and continues to grow

her empire by the time she's finished

Russia will span across Europe and Asia

and into North America

she was immensely successful in terms of

military conquests and expansionism she

really made Russia into a sort of super

great power of its day an imperial

European power in a way it hadn't really

been even under Peter the Great for all

her achievements Catherines image has

been tarnished by centuries of

lascivious slander as a woman who

wielded enormous power she proved an

easy target the missive of Catherine and

her her sexual life in some ways is one

of the great in justices of history

these outrageous lies about her

sexuality are nothing more than a temp

simply to destroy the idea that a woman

could hold power and exercise it with

such confidence

she came from obscurity to a foreign

land married into a dynasty oversaw the

death of her rivals

and subdues a nation

there is a fairytale quality to

Catherine's life a daughter of the

lesser nobility catapulting herself to

see the empress of the largest kingdom

in the world her reign is one of the

great periods in Russian history if you

look at the patronage she had to the

arts to education she expanded the

Empire remarkably Catherine definitely

warrants being called the great she was

the German girl who became the most

powerful woman in the world

the Empress Catherine the Great

[Music]

you

you