1
00:00:09,000 --> 00:00:12,160
I'm making my first trip to Russia,

2
00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:15,240
a country I've been wanting
to visit for years.

3
00:00:17,280 --> 00:00:20,880
Because, if you're fascinated by
stories of royalty and royal power,

4
00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:23,480
there's nowhere better than this.

5
00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:26,800
CHURCH BELL TOLLS

6
00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:31,560
This is Red Square.
It's a vast and diverse place.

7
00:00:31,560 --> 00:00:34,640
This is the huge, scary-looking
fortress of the Kremlin.

8
00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,320
This is an absolutely ginormous
department store.

9
00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:41,160
And over there is
the Cathedral of St Basil.

10
00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:47,680
Red Square is the centre of a country
that goes all the way to China.

11
00:00:47,680 --> 00:00:52,720
Now, how do you rule over a place
that enormous and that confusing?

12
00:00:52,720 --> 00:00:55,400
Well, in Russia,
for more than 300 years,

13
00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:59,640
one family managed to do just that.
The Romanov dynasty.

14
00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,160
That's as if, in Britain,
the Stuarts had hung onto power

15
00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:06,120
right into the 20th century.

16
00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:12,160
Now, I'll be following in
the footsteps of the Romanovs,

17
00:01:12,160 --> 00:01:15,960
the most powerful monarchs
in modern European history.

18
00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:20,000
It's a roll call of
extraordinary characters.

19
00:01:21,240 --> 00:01:26,360
Peter the Great. The visionary
who built a navy from nothing...

20
00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:28,040
Ready for attack!

21
00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:31,280
..and transformed a country
into an empire.

22
00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:38,640
Catherine The Great,
empress of the glittering palaces.

23
00:01:40,680 --> 00:01:43,120
The minor princess from Germany

24
00:01:43,120 --> 00:01:45,560
who became the mightiest woman
in the world.

25
00:01:48,400 --> 00:01:53,520
Alexander I, who led his country
through its darkest hour.

26
00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:54,880
SOLDIERS ROAR

27
00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:57,120
He defeated Napoleon.

28
00:01:57,120 --> 00:02:01,360
And took the triumphant Russian army
all the way to Paris.

29
00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,360
But behind the spectacular facade
were stories of intrigue,

30
00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:11,560
betrayal, scandal, even murder.

31
00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:17,440
And, for all their efforts
to place themselves

32
00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:19,520
at the forefront
of modern Europe,

33
00:02:19,520 --> 00:02:22,880
the Romanovs failed
to change a system that kept

34
00:02:22,880 --> 00:02:27,360
millions of their subjects
in medieval servitude,

35
00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:29,560
until it was far too late.

36
00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,960
When their end came,
it was astonishingly brutal.

37
00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:37,240
GUNSHOT

38
00:02:39,040 --> 00:02:43,440
Slaughtered by the revolution
that shook the world.

39
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:47,640
To understand the end
of the Romanovs,

40
00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:50,960
you need to understand
their whole story -

41
00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,200
of a royal family with unparalleled
control over their people.

42
00:02:55,200 --> 00:02:58,640
And you might ask yourself what
you would have done in their shoes

43
00:02:58,640 --> 00:03:02,040
with such absolute personal power.

44
00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:33,480
For anyone who grew up
during the Cold War,

45
00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:36,400
it's hard to shake off
the image of Russia

46
00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:38,880
as intimidating and impregnable.

47
00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:45,160
A bona fide superpower under
the iron rule of the Kremlin.

48
00:03:49,120 --> 00:03:52,800
Images of military might on display
in Red Square

49
00:03:52,800 --> 00:03:55,520
have been seared into our minds.

50
00:03:59,160 --> 00:04:03,640
Yet the age of the Romanovs
began in a power vacuum.

51
00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:07,800
And, in this programme, we'll see
how, in little more than a century,

52
00:04:07,800 --> 00:04:11,520
this dynasty turned around
Russia's fortunes.

53
00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:20,920
Back in 1613, Russia was leaderless.

54
00:04:20,920 --> 00:04:24,440
There had been years of anarchy
since the previous royal dynasty,

55
00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:26,640
the Ruriks, had collapsed.

56
00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:30,120
The country was so weakened that
the Polish army had marched right in

57
00:04:30,120 --> 00:04:32,280
and occupied the Kremlin.

58
00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:36,720
Once the Poles had finally
been driven out,

59
00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:40,520
the great and good of Russia realised
that they needed to stop squabbling,

60
00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:42,560
and unite around a leader.

61
00:04:42,560 --> 00:04:46,160
What they wanted,
the Romans had called a Caesar,

62
00:04:46,160 --> 00:04:50,160
the Germans, a Kaiser,
and, in Russian, a tsar.

63
00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:53,000
They argued for weeks
about who it should be.

64
00:04:53,000 --> 00:04:55,080
But, finally, they made their choice.

65
00:04:55,080 --> 00:04:58,880
The only problem was that nobody
had asked this prospective tsar

66
00:04:58,880 --> 00:05:01,800
if he actually wanted the job.

67
00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:10,280
The high-powered delegation
set out from Moscow

68
00:05:10,280 --> 00:05:13,800
to find their hoped-for leader,
and bring him the good news.

69
00:05:15,400 --> 00:05:18,280
Their number included nobles
and leading churchmen,

70
00:05:18,280 --> 00:05:23,240
the power brokers of Russia,
or Muscovy, as it was also known.

71
00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:28,360
Their journey took them
more than 200 miles north,

72
00:05:28,360 --> 00:05:33,400
across countryside that was
still dangerous and largely lawless.

73
00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:44,040
And this was their destination -
the Ipatiev Monastery,

74
00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,440
overlooking the mighty River Volga.

75
00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:49,160
SHIP'S HORN

76
00:05:51,120 --> 00:05:53,960
It was still winter and,
with no bridge back then,

77
00:05:53,960 --> 00:05:57,800
the delegation had to cross the ice
to get to the monastery.

78
00:06:13,000 --> 00:06:18,120
Sheltering here was the object
of the delegation's quest.

79
00:06:18,120 --> 00:06:21,560
A 16-year-old boy called
Mikhail Romanov.

80
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,440
But, although the Romanovs
were a well-known noble family,

81
00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,520
power was the last thing
that he wanted.

82
00:06:40,000 --> 00:06:43,800
It's said that when Mikhail Romanov
was offered the crown,

83
00:06:43,800 --> 00:06:48,000
he burst into tears.
He didn't feel equal to accepting it.

84
00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:52,280
And his mother was furious with
the delegation. She said, "Niet."

85
00:06:52,280 --> 00:06:58,000
"No, you shouldn't have offered my
son such a dangerous responsibility."

86
00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:02,440
But the delegation said, "It's
not up to us, it's not up to you.

87
00:07:02,440 --> 00:07:05,280
"It's God who wants you
to do this thing."

88
00:07:07,840 --> 00:07:10,720
After several hours of deliberation,

89
00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:14,240
Mikhail and his mother caved in.
They accepted.

90
00:07:16,840 --> 00:07:19,560
Of course,
regardless of what God wanted,

91
00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:23,800
other considerations had played
a role in Mikhail's selection.

92
00:07:25,360 --> 00:07:28,840
Mikhail Romanov came from
a well-established noble family.

93
00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,120
The family had long
dynastic connections

94
00:07:32,120 --> 00:07:35,920
with the previous dynasty.
His father, Filaret,

95
00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,600
was the nephew of the last wife
of Ivan the Terrible.

96
00:07:39,600 --> 00:07:45,040
During the election of Mikhail,
Filaret was in Polish captivity.

97
00:07:45,040 --> 00:07:51,640
So, different groups in Russian
society were satisfied with

98
00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,720
Mikhail's position,
with his social status.

99
00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:58,480
And, at the same time, they thought
it would be easy to manipulate him,

100
00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:02,800
because his father, who was a very
influential figure, was not around.

101
00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:09,920
Under heavy protection,

102
00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:13,320
Mikhail now travelled
to his coronation in Moscow.

103
00:08:13,320 --> 00:08:15,840
Here, in a lavish ceremony
before the massed ranks

104
00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,160
of Russia's nobility and churchmen,

105
00:08:19,160 --> 00:08:22,880
he was given the all-important
divine seal of approval

106
00:08:22,880 --> 00:08:27,200
at the Kremlin's
Cathedral of the Assumption.

107
00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:30,200
This is the Russian equivalent
of Westminster Abbey.

108
00:08:30,200 --> 00:08:34,240
All the tsars and emperors came here
for their coronations.

109
00:08:34,240 --> 00:08:37,760
Mikhail Romanov was just short of 17

110
00:08:37,760 --> 00:08:41,840
when he was presented with
the crown, the orb and the sceptre,

111
00:08:41,840 --> 00:08:45,960
presumably to a great big sigh
of relief from the Russian people.

112
00:08:48,440 --> 00:08:54,320
PRIEST LEADS CHURCH CHOIR SINGING

113
00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:02,240
The coronation conferred
absolute power on the Tsar.

114
00:09:04,320 --> 00:09:08,000
Although the different noble families
and the church were keen

115
00:09:08,000 --> 00:09:11,280
to influence Mikhail, they agreed
that a strong leader was essential

116
00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:16,640
to prevent the kind of chaos
from which Russia had just emerged.

117
00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:21,720
And they were proved right.

118
00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:27,000
More than half a century
of relative stability

119
00:09:27,000 --> 00:09:29,760
and reconstruction followed

120
00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:34,760
under Mikhail, and then
his successor, his son, Alexis.

121
00:09:39,400 --> 00:09:43,560
The idea that the tsars ruled
as part of a divinely ordered system

122
00:09:43,560 --> 00:09:46,520
helped justify their immense power.

123
00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:52,960
I have come to the Tretyakov Gallery
in Moscow to see an icon

124
00:09:52,960 --> 00:09:58,120
from the reign of Alexis
which features the tsar himself.

125
00:09:58,120 --> 00:10:01,760
Painted by an influential Russian
artist, Simon Ushakov,

126
00:10:01,760 --> 00:10:05,840
it's called
The Tree Of The Muscovite State.

127
00:10:07,360 --> 00:10:11,440
Philip, this picture reminds me
of Jack And The Beanstalk,

128
00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,360
because it's got an enormous tree
growing right out of the cathedral,

129
00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,720
that's planted in the middle
of the fortress of the Kremlin.

130
00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:20,880
Yes, and the roots are common.

131
00:10:20,880 --> 00:10:28,800
You see, there is a common root for
both church power and state power.

132
00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:34,920
They grow together,
they act together.

133
00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:38,400
A very central idea
for medieval Russia.

134
00:10:38,400 --> 00:10:41,640
And here we've got the first
Archbishop of Moscow.

135
00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:44,400
The first Archbishop of Moscow.
And the first Prince of Moscow.

136
00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,480
Planting the tree together.

137
00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:50,880
I'm more interested in...
Yes, here's the monarch, Alexis,

138
00:10:50,880 --> 00:10:53,200
or Alexei in Russian.

139
00:10:53,200 --> 00:10:57,480
The Tsarina, his wife. And the
two little children, look at them.

140
00:10:57,480 --> 00:11:00,280
Yes, two children.

141
00:11:00,280 --> 00:11:04,480
Where did power really lie
at this point in the 17th century?

142
00:11:04,480 --> 00:11:10,600
Symbolically, it was hand-in-hand
with civil power.

143
00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:16,880
But, in reality, of course,
the civil power was much stronger,

144
00:11:16,880 --> 00:11:19,960
which is not depicted here.

145
00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:23,000
Secretly, he is the most important
person in the picture.

146
00:11:23,000 --> 00:11:24,480
He is the most important.

147
00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:27,280
Of course, political power
belonged to the Tsar.

148
00:11:31,080 --> 00:11:35,160
'But something else about
the painting is very telling.

149
00:11:35,160 --> 00:11:37,120
'For all its beauty,

150
00:11:37,120 --> 00:11:41,160
'by Western European standards,
it looks pre-Renaissance.

151
00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:45,800
'Even by the late 17th century,

152
00:11:45,800 --> 00:11:50,280
'foreign visitors considered Russia
to be almost medieval,

153
00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,920
'and not just in its art
and its religious piety.'

154
00:11:58,400 --> 00:12:03,000
Beyond the walls of Moscow
lay a vast, sparsely populated,

155
00:12:03,000 --> 00:12:04,880
backward country.

156
00:12:04,880 --> 00:12:08,960
Russian territory stretched from
the southern Steppes to the Arctic.

157
00:12:11,400 --> 00:12:14,560
And thousands of miles
east into Siberia.

158
00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:20,440
In the late 17th century,

159
00:12:20,440 --> 00:12:25,800
Russia was 100 times
the area of England and Wales.

160
00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:28,640
But it had less than twice
the population.

161
00:12:31,800 --> 00:12:37,120
And this overwhelmingly rural country
was hugely underdeveloped.

162
00:12:38,320 --> 00:12:41,280
Apart from churches
and fortifications,

163
00:12:41,280 --> 00:12:45,360
stone buildings were
virtually unknown in Russia.

164
00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:56,240
Peasant huts and clothes barely
changed for hundreds of years.

165
00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,880
At the Museum of Wooden
Architecture in Kostroma,

166
00:13:00,880 --> 00:13:02,880
they preserved some examples.

167
00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,600
I'm modelling a traditional dress
called a sarafan.

168
00:13:09,480 --> 00:13:12,760
While village life looks
idyllic on a sunny day,

169
00:13:12,760 --> 00:13:15,840
for most of the year
it was quite the opposite.

170
00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,120
Russia's climate
was notoriously harsh.

171
00:13:25,120 --> 00:13:28,440
Imagine trudging along here
through the mud in the wet,

172
00:13:28,440 --> 00:13:30,840
or the snow in winter.

173
00:13:30,840 --> 00:13:34,320
But, despite
the inhospitable terrain,

174
00:13:34,320 --> 00:13:37,280
the majority of Russians,
right into the 19th century,

175
00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:40,920
had to scratch out a living
from the land.

176
00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:45,000
They also had to cope with
the social reality of serfdom.

177
00:13:45,000 --> 00:13:48,480
This is a practice that was
dying out in Western Europe.

178
00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:52,520
But, in 17th-century Russia,
it was actually on the rise.

179
00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,160
And, if you were somebody's serf,

180
00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:59,240
you were effectively their property,
to be bought or sold.

181
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:07,920
Agriculture was the mainstay
of Russia's economy.

182
00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:13,120
And serfdom guaranteed the landowning
nobility a captive workforce.

183
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,800
The peasants
couldn't just up and leave,

184
00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:19,800
in search of better pay
or conditions elsewhere.

185
00:14:21,200 --> 00:14:25,840
Serfdom lasted and increased
in the 17th century simply because

186
00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:29,800
it was found in the interests of
both nobles and state to do so.

187
00:14:29,800 --> 00:14:31,680
The nobles had already established

188
00:14:31,680 --> 00:14:34,720
that they needed to have control
over the movement of the serfs.

189
00:14:34,720 --> 00:14:37,640
And, to some extent, it was in
the interest of the state as well,

190
00:14:37,640 --> 00:14:41,080
to keep people in one place,
to tax them, to control them,

191
00:14:41,080 --> 00:14:43,960
and to reward the nobility
for their service.

192
00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,840
So, serfs were wealth, in a way
that they weren't in the West.

193
00:14:49,840 --> 00:14:51,400
Bodies were wealth.

194
00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:57,360
But, towards the end
of the 17th century,

195
00:14:57,360 --> 00:14:59,960
it looked like things might change.

196
00:15:01,400 --> 00:15:03,240
Russia gained a new tsar.

197
00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,720
Driven by an obsessive desire
to modernise the country,

198
00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:15,520
he was convinced that Russia's future
depended on it looking westwards,

199
00:15:15,520 --> 00:15:16,640
to Europe.

200
00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:25,440
Hey-hey-hey! Meet Peter the Great,

201
00:15:25,440 --> 00:15:27,800
or at least the next best thing,

202
00:15:27,800 --> 00:15:31,000
because this is
a super-accurate wax effigy,

203
00:15:31,000 --> 00:15:33,480
made just after his death

204
00:15:33,480 --> 00:15:36,920
and using his actual
death mask for the face.

205
00:15:36,920 --> 00:15:40,840
These are Peter's real clothes
and that's even his real hair.

206
00:15:42,120 --> 00:15:45,880
You might be thinking,
"It must be larger than life,"

207
00:15:45,880 --> 00:15:48,680
because his arms are
so freakishly long,

208
00:15:48,680 --> 00:15:51,200
but no, he was six
and a half feet tall.

209
00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,960
ORTHODOX CHORAL SINGING

210
00:15:55,960 --> 00:15:58,280
I think he looks pretty terrifying

211
00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,200
and in real life
he was absolutely terrifying.

212
00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,880
But Peter the Great was
Russia's most far-sighted

213
00:16:05,880 --> 00:16:08,440
and hard-working sovereign.

214
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:16,240
Peter's ruthlessness was a result
of his traumatic childhood.

215
00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,560
In 1682, his accession to
the throne at the age of nine

216
00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:24,880
was followed by a brief
but bloody revolt.

217
00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,440
A faction at court regarded
Peter's half-brother Ivan

218
00:16:32,440 --> 00:16:33,640
as the rightful tsar.

219
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:38,720
When rumours spread that Ivan
had been killed,

220
00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,320
a mob stormed into the Kremlin

221
00:16:41,320 --> 00:16:44,200
and they were led by
the royal guards themselves.

222
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:48,880
To calm the situation,

223
00:16:48,880 --> 00:16:51,720
Peter's mother walked out
onto the palace balcony

224
00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:53,560
at the top of this staircase.

225
00:16:55,040 --> 00:16:57,960
She was holding hands
with both Peter and Ivan,

226
00:16:57,960 --> 00:17:01,080
to prove to the mob that they
were very much still alive.

227
00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,160
It must have been a terrifying
moment for the little boys,

228
00:17:11,160 --> 00:17:13,040
for Peter and his brother.

229
00:17:13,040 --> 00:17:15,840
But when the rebels saw
that they were still alive,

230
00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:18,000
everything calmed down.

231
00:17:18,000 --> 00:17:20,040
It seemed to work.

232
00:17:20,040 --> 00:17:24,480
But then, a second wave of violence
came sweeping through the palace.

233
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:26,800
The rebels came rushing up
this staircase,

234
00:17:26,800 --> 00:17:28,600
and when they got to the top

235
00:17:28,600 --> 00:17:33,160
they seized the family's closest
advisors and leading noblemen

236
00:17:33,160 --> 00:17:37,760
and they threw them down over
that balustrade so they fell

237
00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:42,280
and were impaled upon the spears
of the guards below.

238
00:17:44,640 --> 00:17:47,480
Eventually,
the rebels agreed a compromise,

239
00:17:47,480 --> 00:17:51,320
but not before they'd slaughtered
two of Peter's uncles.

240
00:17:53,080 --> 00:17:56,000
Peter would have to
wait for his revenge.

241
00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,720
The revolt left Peter
with a loathing of Moscow.

242
00:18:02,960 --> 00:18:04,920
As soon as he could get away,

243
00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:06,200
he did.

244
00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,680
This is Lake Pleshcheyevo,
90 miles north of the capital.

245
00:18:32,840 --> 00:18:37,720
And it's on these waters that
the teenage Peter felt truly at home.

246
00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:49,920
So where did Peter the Great get his
very un-Russian passion for sailing?

247
00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:51,960
Well, he discovered an old boat

248
00:18:51,960 --> 00:18:56,000
lying around on one of
the royal estates near Moscow.

249
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,080
But in order to learn how to use it,

250
00:18:58,080 --> 00:19:00,680
he had to come up here
to the nice big lake,

251
00:19:00,680 --> 00:19:03,640
where he could get up some speed.

252
00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:07,480
And it was on the waters of
this lake that a new vision

253
00:19:07,480 --> 00:19:11,840
of the future of Russia began
to take shape in Peter's mind.

254
00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,600
Peter took every opportunity
to come up to the lake.

255
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:26,400
He employed foreign
experts to teach him

256
00:19:26,400 --> 00:19:29,520
not just how to sail the boats,
but how to build them.

257
00:19:34,800 --> 00:19:38,840
This is the only survivor of Peter
the Great's flotilla of little boats

258
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:42,840
that he had made here
on the shores of Lake Pleshcheyevo.

259
00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:45,840
He and his friends would go out
onto the water

260
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,160
and amuse themselves
with mock sea battles.

261
00:19:49,160 --> 00:19:53,680
The small ships became known
as Peter's "toy navy",

262
00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,800
but his ambition went much further
than simply messing about with boats.

263
00:20:08,120 --> 00:20:13,080
Peter realised that if Russia
was to have prosperity, security

264
00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:17,520
and influence in the wider world
then it needed to be powerful at sea.

265
00:20:21,320 --> 00:20:24,880
There's a saying that a ruler
with an army has one hand,

266
00:20:24,880 --> 00:20:27,760
but a ruler with a navy has two.

267
00:20:27,760 --> 00:20:31,520
Whether or not this saying really
was coined by Peter the Great,

268
00:20:31,520 --> 00:20:33,800
there's no question
that he believed it.

269
00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,160
European powers like
the English and the Dutch

270
00:20:41,160 --> 00:20:43,640
were making fortunes
from maritime trade.

271
00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:50,240
But, despite its size,
Russia was effectively landlocked.

272
00:20:50,240 --> 00:20:53,840
It had just the one proper seaport,
in the far north,

273
00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:56,400
and that was frozen up
for half the year.

274
00:20:58,920 --> 00:21:02,800
More urgently, Russia's two most
threatening neighbours,

275
00:21:02,800 --> 00:21:08,240
Sweden to the west and Turkey to the
south, both had formidable navies.

276
00:21:11,080 --> 00:21:12,920
Russia needed a fleet of its own.

277
00:21:14,960 --> 00:21:17,080
It needed maritime expertise.

278
00:21:19,120 --> 00:21:22,480
It needed a major new seaport

279
00:21:22,480 --> 00:21:25,320
that could be
its gateway to the world.

280
00:21:27,760 --> 00:21:32,520
Peter the Great made it his mission
to get these things for Russia.

281
00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:40,160
And to fulfil that mission
he took an extraordinary step.

282
00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:49,560
In 1697,

283
00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:54,400
at the age of 24, Peter left his
kingdom in the hands of his advisors

284
00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:58,080
and set off to spend
a gap year in Europe.

285
00:21:58,080 --> 00:22:00,000
Here he was to study shipbuilding

286
00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,640
and the latest developments
in maritime science.

287
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:10,600
The journey became known
as Peter's Grand Embassy.

288
00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,000
He spent several months in Holland,
working in a shipyard.

289
00:22:17,000 --> 00:22:19,120
HAMMERING AND SAWING

290
00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:31,520
Then, early in 1698, Peter and his
entourage pitched up in London.

291
00:22:35,040 --> 00:22:37,400
And one of the first
places he visited

292
00:22:37,400 --> 00:22:40,400
was the Royal Observatory
at Greenwich.

293
00:22:50,440 --> 00:22:54,320
Here at the Observatory,
Peter the Great was shown around

294
00:22:54,320 --> 00:22:58,120
by John Flamsteed,
the first Astronomer Royal.

295
00:22:58,120 --> 00:23:02,800
Together, they looked through
a telescope at the planet of Venus.

296
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:05,040
But this wasn't just sightseeing.

297
00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:09,160
Peter wanted to check out
Britain's first purpose-built

298
00:23:09,160 --> 00:23:12,000
scientific research facility.

299
00:23:12,000 --> 00:23:15,560
It's hard to think of a building that
could have appealed to Peter more.

300
00:23:15,560 --> 00:23:19,200
It had the express purpose
of using astronomy

301
00:23:19,200 --> 00:23:21,680
to improve navigation at sea.

302
00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,320
Over the coming months,

303
00:23:33,320 --> 00:23:37,760
Peter gorged himself on the best
of English science and technology.

304
00:23:40,840 --> 00:23:45,960
He visited the Royal Society, the
Royal Mint and the Tower of London,

305
00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:50,360
Oxford University and the cannon
foundry at the Woolwich Arsenal.

306
00:23:53,440 --> 00:23:54,920
During his time in London,

307
00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,240
Peter the Great stayed just around
the bend in the river from Greenwich,

308
00:23:58,240 --> 00:23:59,480
at Deptford.

309
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,280
He liked it there,
cos it was near the shipyards

310
00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,960
and he was spotted
joining in the work.

311
00:24:04,960 --> 00:24:09,000
It was said that, "The Tsar of
Muscovy works with his own hands

312
00:24:09,000 --> 00:24:11,640
"as hard as any man in the yard."

313
00:24:11,640 --> 00:24:13,960
But Peter wasn't
your regular shipbuilder.

314
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,720
He was the special guest
of King William III,

315
00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:19,360
who now gave him a special gift.

316
00:24:19,360 --> 00:24:21,800
It was the ultimate boy's toy,

317
00:24:21,800 --> 00:24:26,160
a modern, high-speed ship
called the Royal Transport.

318
00:24:29,760 --> 00:24:34,560
One of several English royal yachts,
the ship was a fairly naked bribe.

319
00:24:37,800 --> 00:24:41,440
William saw Russia as a lucrative
potential trading partner.

320
00:24:47,280 --> 00:24:51,600
Peter soon befriended the ship's
designer, the Marquess of Carmarthen.

321
00:24:53,760 --> 00:24:58,320
And this marquess also shared another
much-loved hobby of the young Tsar's.

322
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,000
This man who designed the ship,

323
00:25:01,000 --> 00:25:03,240
he and Peter became drinking buddies,
didn't they?

324
00:25:03,240 --> 00:25:06,080
I think they really found sort of
kindred spirits in each other.

325
00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,600
The became very close
and spent a lot of time together

326
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,080
during Peter's visit and, yes,
drinking was a big part of that.

327
00:25:12,080 --> 00:25:14,920
Well, I think we know what
their favourite tipple was.

328
00:25:14,920 --> 00:25:20,160
Brandy laced with peppers.
That's an interesting idea. Indeed.

329
00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:21,960
Let's see what that tastes like.

330
00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:26,600
Probably fair to say that

331
00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:30,040
the English couldn't teach
the Russians much about drinking.

332
00:25:30,040 --> 00:25:32,480
LUCY LAUGHS
But at the same time,

333
00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,840
Carmarthen did actually introduce
Peter to this drink.

334
00:25:37,480 --> 00:25:41,360
So this is the special drink of
the shipbuilders of Deptford? Indeed.

335
00:25:41,360 --> 00:25:44,640
And Peter the Great got
a taste for it? Yes. OK.

336
00:25:44,640 --> 00:25:46,200
Pepper-flavoured brandy.

337
00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,160
Ugh, that's foul.

338
00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,360
That's really not very nice at all.

339
00:25:52,360 --> 00:25:54,960
Oh, you...
You swallowed that! Oh, actually...!

340
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:56,680
THEY LAUGH

341
00:25:56,680 --> 00:25:58,920
That's not as bad as
I was expecting.

342
00:26:01,400 --> 00:26:03,560
When Peter
and his friends were in London,

343
00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:06,200
they were staying
in Deptford on the river,

344
00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:08,520
they got up to some other
naughty tricks, didn't they?

345
00:26:08,520 --> 00:26:10,760
They certainly did,
and they were described

346
00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:14,000
by one of the Sayes Court servants
where they were staying

347
00:26:14,000 --> 00:26:16,600
as being right nasty
in their behaviour.

348
00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,360
They basically trashed
the place completely.

349
00:26:19,360 --> 00:26:22,360
They used portraits
and paintings as target practice,

350
00:26:22,360 --> 00:26:25,200
they burned all
the chairs as firewood,

351
00:26:25,200 --> 00:26:28,280
they destroyed the furniture,
tore up the beds,

352
00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:30,040
knocked a hole in the wall

353
00:26:30,040 --> 00:26:33,040
so Peter could get out
to the river easily,

354
00:26:33,040 --> 00:26:35,600
and they used to race wheelbarrows

355
00:26:35,600 --> 00:26:38,720
with people inside them
through the hedges.

356
00:26:38,720 --> 00:26:41,360
Is that because they hadn't
seen wheelbarrows before?

357
00:26:41,360 --> 00:26:42,680
That's exactly right, yes.

358
00:26:42,680 --> 00:26:46,280
These were entirely new to them,
so this was seen as a great sport.

359
00:26:46,280 --> 00:26:49,760
Peter is beginning to sound like he's
a complete mass of contradictions.

360
00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,400
Is that fair? I think it is.

361
00:26:52,400 --> 00:26:55,720
We see on the one hand
his scientific interests,

362
00:26:55,720 --> 00:26:57,240
and alongside that

363
00:26:57,240 --> 00:26:59,440
he's behaving like
a complete lunatic.

364
00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:05,960
During his year in Europe, Peter
not only acquired a royal yacht,

365
00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:10,440
he also purchased several shiploads
of the latest maritime equipment.

366
00:27:11,720 --> 00:27:13,920
And who knows -
maybe a few wheelbarrows

367
00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:16,320
to remind him of
good times in Deptford.

368
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:20,560
He hired European shipbuilders

369
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,600
and sailors to bring
their expertise to Russia

370
00:27:23,600 --> 00:27:25,080
and to teach the skills that

371
00:27:25,080 --> 00:27:28,840
he and his retinue had learned for
themselves in Holland and England.

372
00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:37,440
Peter also got a feel for life in
prosperous, modern European cities.

373
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,160
He saw how their citizens behaved,

374
00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,440
where they lived, how they dressed.

375
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:47,000
The contrast with his superstitious,
conservative homeland

376
00:27:47,000 --> 00:27:48,800
couldn't have been more marked.

377
00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,640
And, as if to underline
the point, in August 1698

378
00:27:55,640 --> 00:27:58,360
he was forced to hurry back
to Moscow.

379
00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:04,520
The palace guards had rebelled again.

380
00:28:12,680 --> 00:28:15,600
The revolt was quickly crushed

381
00:28:15,600 --> 00:28:18,360
and this time there were
no deals or compromises -

382
00:28:18,360 --> 00:28:22,120
Peter was merciless
in his retribution.

383
00:28:22,120 --> 00:28:27,280
He had more than a thousand
of his guards beheaded or hanged.

384
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:30,640
Hundreds more were tortured,
flogged and banished.

385
00:28:32,360 --> 00:28:35,720
The fate of the guards,
known in Russian as the Streltsy,

386
00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,560
is depicted in this picture
by Vasily Surikov,

387
00:28:39,560 --> 00:28:43,040
one of the great Russian history
painters of the 19th century.

388
00:28:45,160 --> 00:28:49,920
This is Red Square on the morning
of the execution of the Streltsy.

389
00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:54,920
You know which ones they are, because
they have immensely long beards

390
00:28:54,920 --> 00:28:56,760
and they're in their shirts,

391
00:28:56,760 --> 00:28:59,720
because their uniforms have
been stripped off them.

392
00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,800
And each of them
is holding a little candle.

393
00:29:04,800 --> 00:29:08,200
That's his life that's
about to be snuffed out.

394
00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:10,000
All the rest of the people here,

395
00:29:10,000 --> 00:29:14,040
and there's a huge mass of humanity,
are their families.

396
00:29:14,040 --> 00:29:17,800
He's got his wife weeping on his lap

397
00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:22,440
and that must be his little boy
who's crying on his knee.

398
00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,160
There's a huge amount
of suffering going on.

399
00:29:25,160 --> 00:29:28,800
You'd think that somebody
would take pity, but no.

400
00:29:28,800 --> 00:29:31,360
Here's the man in charge,
Peter the Great,

401
00:29:31,360 --> 00:29:34,080
and he is implacable, look at him.

402
00:29:38,000 --> 00:29:41,120
He's saying this lot
are absolutely going

403
00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:43,720
to that gallows in the background.

404
00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,360
And the reason that
Peter is so determined

405
00:29:51,360 --> 00:29:55,120
is that he was once
the weeping little boy himself.

406
00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,240
These are the men who
murdered Peter's own uncles.

407
00:30:05,760 --> 00:30:08,360
But the real message of the picture

408
00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,800
is that the Streltsy
represent the old Russia.

409
00:30:11,800 --> 00:30:15,520
They're messy and dirty
and superstitious

410
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,440
and Peter the Great
is the wind of change.

411
00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:21,520
He's going to sweep them all away.

412
00:30:24,240 --> 00:30:28,600
Peter's next move was to quash any
lingering opposition to his rule.

413
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,560
He was convinced that the
rebellion had been orchestrated

414
00:30:33,560 --> 00:30:35,120
by his half-sister Sophia.

415
00:30:40,280 --> 00:30:42,960
He didn't execute Sophia,

416
00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:46,040
but he did what was considered
the next best thing.

417
00:30:47,560 --> 00:30:50,200
He forced her to become a nun...

418
00:30:51,480 --> 00:30:55,760
..and spend the rest of her life
largely in solitary confinement,

419
00:30:55,760 --> 00:30:58,120
here at the Novodevichy Convent
in Moscow.

420
00:31:05,840 --> 00:31:10,360
But, initially at least, Peter did
provide Sophia with some company.

421
00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,400
He strung up the corpses
of the Streltsy rebels

422
00:31:15,400 --> 00:31:17,360
right outside her windows.

423
00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,120
Peter now turned to the Moscow elite.

424
00:31:23,120 --> 00:31:25,360
These were the same class of people

425
00:31:25,360 --> 00:31:28,280
who put the Romanovs on the throne
nearly 90 years before.

426
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:33,520
But Peter considered them
to be reactionary and lazy.

427
00:31:33,520 --> 00:31:37,200
It was time they caught up
with the present day.

428
00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:40,200
Peter decided that the best way
to make them behave

429
00:31:40,200 --> 00:31:44,160
like modern Europeans was to make
them look like modern Europeans.

430
00:31:46,080 --> 00:31:48,480
This is rather good, isn't it?

431
00:31:48,480 --> 00:31:51,920
A bit tsar-ish, a bit furry,
a bit velvety too.

432
00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:53,360
Very nice.

433
00:31:58,080 --> 00:32:01,040
To see just how
revolutionary this was,

434
00:32:01,040 --> 00:32:04,480
I've come to the famous
Mosfilm Studios in Moscow.

435
00:32:07,800 --> 00:32:11,280
Many a historical epic
has been filmed here.

436
00:32:11,280 --> 00:32:14,360
And, while I admire
the vast costume department,

437
00:32:14,360 --> 00:32:16,800
our translator, Misha,
has volunteered

438
00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:20,080
to model some traditional
Russian clothes,

439
00:32:20,080 --> 00:32:24,400
to show what Peter's new rules
on dress actually meant.

440
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:28,440
Misha, you've been quite a long
time in there - are you ready?

441
00:32:28,440 --> 00:32:31,080
I think I am.
Let's have a look, then.

442
00:32:31,080 --> 00:32:33,640
Oh, look at you! Come out.

443
00:32:33,640 --> 00:32:35,400
SHE CHUCKLES

444
00:32:35,400 --> 00:32:38,680
You look like a lovely little tsar.
Well, I am.

445
00:32:38,680 --> 00:32:40,360
You're dressed for the 17th century,

446
00:32:40,360 --> 00:32:43,840
you're warm for the Moscow winters,
I guess. Absolutely.

447
00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:46,600
And, um, is it practical?
Can you move about in this one?

448
00:32:46,600 --> 00:32:49,880
Of course it's practical, because
this is how people were dressed.

449
00:32:49,880 --> 00:32:54,000
Yes. It also is a little bit
not really European.

450
00:32:54,000 --> 00:32:58,480
Let's see your boots.
Maybe somewhat Oriental. Sexy.

451
00:32:58,480 --> 00:33:01,000
Oh, are they?
Very nice, yes. Thank you.

452
00:33:01,000 --> 00:33:04,240
Yes, you do have a touch of
the Orient about you, looking at you.

453
00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:06,200
Oh, I would say
it's old Russian style...

454
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:08,520
Old Russian style, yes.
..rather than Oriental.

455
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:11,760
It could have some
influence of the Orient,

456
00:33:11,760 --> 00:33:15,200
just like a lot of old Russian
architecture, for example, does.

457
00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,240
Yeah. So the clothing also
may reflect that. Yes, yes.

458
00:33:18,240 --> 00:33:20,720
So along comes Peter the Great
at the end of the 17th century

459
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:23,760
and he doesn't want to see his
subjects dressed like this any more,

460
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:25,960
he wants to see them as Europeans.
Absolutely.

461
00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,240
And the first thing to go,
I'm sorry to say, is...

462
00:33:29,240 --> 00:33:31,440
Don't! ..the beard! Now, don't,

463
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:34,240
because the beard for every
old Russian...

464
00:33:34,240 --> 00:33:37,360
Very important? ..is a sacred thing.
Right, yeah.

465
00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:39,280
It's a very religious thing.

466
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,240
Yes. And the people in those days

467
00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,280
said that a man without
a beard is naked.

468
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,120
But Peter the Great,
he'd been to Europe,

469
00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:49,600
he'd seen all of these
clean-shaven people

470
00:33:49,600 --> 00:33:52,800
and he thought it was very important
that his subjects should lose

471
00:33:52,800 --> 00:33:55,840
the beards, so there's stories of him
ripping them out by the roots.

472
00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,800
Is this possible? Well, you can
try, of course, but he wouldn't...

473
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:00,080
That's going to hurt you.

474
00:34:00,080 --> 00:34:02,680
He wouldn't rip them off,
but he cut them with an axe,

475
00:34:02,680 --> 00:34:04,320
that's what the legend says.

476
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:08,160
Now, I actually know the secret
of getting your beard off you.

477
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:09,520
Are you ready for this, Misha?

478
00:34:09,520 --> 00:34:14,520
I don't know. Come on,
take it like a man! I am afraid!

479
00:34:14,520 --> 00:34:15,800
Whee!

480
00:34:15,800 --> 00:34:17,800
Argh!

481
00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:20,080
HE GROANS
You're laughing?

482
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:23,240
I am laughing, I've still got
my moustache, it's not that bad yet.

483
00:34:23,240 --> 00:34:25,720
No, you haven't! Oh, no!

484
00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:30,400
Now, we've Europeanised
your facial hair.

485
00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:33,600
Peter the Great would also have
wanted to change your clothes,
wouldn't he?

486
00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:38,040
Yeah, he didn't stop with the beards
just - he went the full way.

487
00:34:38,040 --> 00:34:39,720
Go on, back into your cubicle.

488
00:34:44,600 --> 00:34:46,240
Ta-dum!

489
00:34:46,240 --> 00:34:48,200
Very good, fantastic!

490
00:34:49,760 --> 00:34:52,080
Oh, fantastic!

491
00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,760
So here you are, all European-ed up.

492
00:34:54,760 --> 00:34:57,520
Now, it strikes me that your shoes
are better for dancing,

493
00:34:57,520 --> 00:35:01,120
but not so good for walking
across a snowy plain.

494
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:05,720
Absolutely right.
For snow, this is horrible.

495
00:35:05,720 --> 00:35:07,520
I would freeze my feet off.

496
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:10,320
And how are you feeling about it
as a Russian nobleman?

497
00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:12,480
I, for one, am extremely unhappy,

498
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,160
because I was used to my warm,
good Russian clothes... Yes.

499
00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:18,800
..where I can wander around.
In the snow.

500
00:35:18,800 --> 00:35:21,520
In the snow,
without doing a single thing,

501
00:35:21,520 --> 00:35:24,840
just direct my hundreds
of thousands of serfs

502
00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:28,720
and do nothing. Are you feeling a
bit draughty in the chin department?

503
00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:30,400
Absolutely naked, Lucy.

504
00:35:30,400 --> 00:35:35,360
And what can you do about this
as an early-18th-century nobleman?

505
00:35:35,360 --> 00:35:39,400
Well, the thing is that the noblemen
had really no choice.

506
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:42,640
The clergy and the people
in the fields, the peasants,

507
00:35:42,640 --> 00:35:45,960
as they were called at the time,
they continued having beards.

508
00:35:45,960 --> 00:35:49,800
They could actually pay
for their beards

509
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:52,760
and there is a little token here

510
00:35:52,760 --> 00:35:58,440
and it shows that I have paid...
or whoever...paid a beard tax.

511
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:02,440
Once you wear it around your neck
to show that you have paid for it,

512
00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:06,240
you can have your
proud Russian beard.

513
00:36:06,240 --> 00:36:08,360
A tiny little beard on it,
look at that.

514
00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:12,640
I think that there's
something that I owe you,

515
00:36:12,640 --> 00:36:14,640
as you're clearly a beard taxpayer.

516
00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:20,040
You can have your beard back.
Oh, thank you!

517
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:23,480
Thank you so much.
Enjoy your facial hair.

518
00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:24,960
Do svidaniya.

519
00:36:35,000 --> 00:36:37,200
And all this applied
to the ladies too.

520
00:36:38,800 --> 00:36:40,760
Although they're said to have enjoyed

521
00:36:40,760 --> 00:36:44,160
wearing their elegant European
dresses rather more than the men did.

522
00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:54,520
Peter's assault on the traditions of
old Moscow left the capital reeling.

523
00:36:54,520 --> 00:36:58,920
But the Tsar was already planning
what was to be his boldest move yet.

524
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:05,680
In 1703, Peter packed up
and left Moscow once again.

525
00:37:09,640 --> 00:37:13,440
ANNOUNCER: 'Dear passengers, please
prepare your tickets to be checked

526
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:16,080
'and listen to
the information announcements.'

527
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,720
Peter was leading a military
expedition west,

528
00:37:26,720 --> 00:37:30,720
towards the Gulf of Finland,
the gateway to the Baltic Sea.

529
00:37:33,760 --> 00:37:37,480
On the high-speed train,
it takes me less than four hours.

530
00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:39,920
On horseback, though,
it took Peter weeks.

531
00:37:45,800 --> 00:37:49,080
He was venturing into barely
chartered territory,

532
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:53,440
swamplands with just a few
isolated fishing settlements.

533
00:37:57,200 --> 00:38:00,840
Most dangerously of all,
this was land claimed by Sweden,

534
00:38:00,840 --> 00:38:03,800
the most powerful country
in the Baltic region.

535
00:38:07,400 --> 00:38:10,840
It was when Peter reached
the banks of the Neva River

536
00:38:10,840 --> 00:38:13,640
that the objective of the exercise
became clear.

537
00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:22,400
Peter had found
his gateway to the sea,

538
00:38:22,400 --> 00:38:26,040
the ground zero of
a new maritime Russia.

539
00:38:27,960 --> 00:38:31,720
Legend has it that this
is pretty much the exact spot

540
00:38:31,720 --> 00:38:34,600
where Peter the Great
got off his horse

541
00:38:34,600 --> 00:38:37,680
and declared, "Here will be a city."

542
00:38:37,680 --> 00:38:42,120
Luckily, there was even an eagle
hovering over his head as he spoke

543
00:38:42,120 --> 00:38:45,760
to make it even more like
an epic Bible story.

544
00:38:45,760 --> 00:38:50,200
And Peter did have Pharaoh-like
powers over his subjects.

545
00:38:50,200 --> 00:38:56,360
He was able to bend his serfs, his
nobles and even nature to his will.

546
00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:58,560
So, with frightening speed,

547
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:02,800
what had been a mosquito-ridden
marshland over there

548
00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:05,400
was turned into this great city.

549
00:39:08,080 --> 00:39:10,280
ORTHODOX CHORAL SINGING

550
00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:20,120
Peter christened his city
St Petersburg

551
00:39:20,120 --> 00:39:23,080
and it would become the home
of the Romanov dynasty,

552
00:39:23,080 --> 00:39:26,480
eclipsing Moscow for more
than two centuries.

553
00:39:29,160 --> 00:39:33,360
The first building Peter constructed
was the Peter and Paul Fortress.

554
00:39:35,040 --> 00:39:38,080
St Petersburg began
as a military base,

555
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:41,360
because Peter had declared war
on Sweden.

556
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:45,640
The timing seemed right.

557
00:39:47,280 --> 00:39:51,760
Sweden had a new and teenage king,
Charles XII,

558
00:39:51,760 --> 00:39:55,520
and Peter hoped to take advantage
of Charles's inexperience

559
00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:57,800
to establish Russia
as a Baltic power.

560
00:40:01,560 --> 00:40:03,560
I think there was the thought

561
00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:07,160
that the young Charles XII
might prove an easier target

562
00:40:07,160 --> 00:40:10,280
than his more celebrated
ancestors had done,

563
00:40:10,280 --> 00:40:13,240
but it was still quite
a risky project to take on.

564
00:40:13,240 --> 00:40:16,720
There was no sense that Sweden
was in any sense a declining power

565
00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:18,760
and, of course, behind Sweden -

566
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:21,160
this was the crucial
Swedish advantage -

567
00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:23,480
lay the diplomatic power
of Louis XIV,

568
00:40:23,480 --> 00:40:26,120
the greatest international
power of all.

569
00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,920
The Swedes were French
clients in diplomacy,

570
00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,520
so it was certainly risky
to try anything on.

571
00:40:34,360 --> 00:40:36,920
War with Sweden gave Peter the excuse

572
00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:40,640
to fulfil perhaps
the longest-held of all his dreams.

573
00:40:42,120 --> 00:40:44,520
With its easy access
to the Baltic Sea,

574
00:40:44,520 --> 00:40:48,240
St Petersburg became the base
for Peter's next grand project...

575
00:40:49,400 --> 00:40:51,160
..the building of a navy.

576
00:40:56,720 --> 00:40:59,760
Hello! Are you Captain Vladimir?

577
00:40:59,760 --> 00:41:03,240
Hello. Welcome on board Shtandart.
Ah, thank you! May I help you in?

578
00:41:03,240 --> 00:41:06,120
A fine ship, the Shtandart.

579
00:41:06,120 --> 00:41:08,120
Thank you very much.

580
00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:10,360
Please come on board. Thank you.

581
00:41:10,360 --> 00:41:13,080
Let's have a look.
Guns, cannons, ropes.

582
00:41:18,840 --> 00:41:22,600
This is a replica of
Peter the Great's flagship frigate,

583
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:25,200
his pride and joy,

584
00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:26,520
the Shtandart.

585
00:41:28,720 --> 00:41:31,920
Peter sailed in
the 1703 original himself.

586
00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:34,480
It was modelled on
the Royal Transport,

587
00:41:34,480 --> 00:41:36,920
the English ship
he was given by William III.

588
00:41:39,840 --> 00:41:41,520
Stand by for departure.

589
00:41:45,720 --> 00:41:48,480
The Shtandart was the biggest
of ten ships

590
00:41:48,480 --> 00:41:51,320
that Peter managed to build
in just five months.

591
00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,520
As the war with Sweden escalated,

592
00:41:56,520 --> 00:41:59,920
the fleet had to be constructed
at breakneck speed.

593
00:42:01,640 --> 00:42:03,400
She's brave!

594
00:42:03,400 --> 00:42:04,760
Oh!

595
00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:09,160
SHE GASPS
What's the word for "fantastic"?

596
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:11,120
Fantastic. Fantastic!

597
00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:25,680
Now Peter's time in the shipyards of
Amsterdam and London really paid off.

598
00:42:26,880 --> 00:42:30,200
He set his imported Dutch
and English experts to work,

599
00:42:30,200 --> 00:42:32,920
alongside Russians who'd
learned shipbuilding

600
00:42:32,920 --> 00:42:34,440
during the Grand Embassy.

601
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:42,920
Above all, it was probably Peter's
own hands-on involvement

602
00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:47,080
that ensured the Shtandart
was completed so quickly.

603
00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:49,240
Midships now. Yes, Captain Vladimir.

604
00:42:52,920 --> 00:42:55,720
Peter's new and untested navy

605
00:42:55,720 --> 00:42:58,680
would be like David taking on
the Swedish Goliath.

606
00:42:59,840 --> 00:43:01,920
The Shtandart had to be more powerful

607
00:43:01,920 --> 00:43:05,960
and more manoeuvrable than anything
the Swedes could muster.

608
00:43:11,560 --> 00:43:16,080
Captain Vladimir, in 1703,
when the Shtandart was completed,

609
00:43:16,080 --> 00:43:18,480
was she a very
state-of-the-art vessel?

610
00:43:18,480 --> 00:43:20,960
For that time, the steering wheel

611
00:43:20,960 --> 00:43:24,480
was a kind of technological
innovation, very advanced.

612
00:43:24,480 --> 00:43:27,240
The steering wheel came on the stage
in 1700, 1701.

613
00:43:27,240 --> 00:43:28,840
Oh! Not very long before...

614
00:43:28,840 --> 00:43:32,800
In 1703, the Russian fleet was
equipped with a steering wheel,

615
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:35,600
which made ships very manoeuvrable

616
00:43:35,600 --> 00:43:39,640
and very well controlled,
so that was something very special,

617
00:43:39,640 --> 00:43:43,640
and artillery, the cannons were
very powerful. That was six-pounders

618
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:47,320
and, for a ship of that size,
that is quite powerful cannons. Yes.

619
00:43:48,720 --> 00:43:52,520
What was it like, then, when Peter
the Great and his crew were sailing?

620
00:43:52,520 --> 00:43:54,800
Who would be here?
What would be happening?

621
00:43:54,800 --> 00:43:59,960
150 people, 28 cannons,
four persons per cannon,

622
00:43:59,960 --> 00:44:03,160
so they would be standing by
next to the cannons,

623
00:44:03,160 --> 00:44:06,840
and the sailors, they would have
to operate all sails at once,

624
00:44:06,840 --> 00:44:11,120
so in battle, during the manoeuvres,
the sailors would be standing by

625
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:15,200
on lines for bracing the yards, for
hoisting sails, for shaking sails.

626
00:44:18,840 --> 00:44:22,360
'Peter was gambling that
his new ships and their crews

627
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:25,560
'would give the Swedes a nasty
surprise, and they did.'

628
00:44:25,560 --> 00:44:26,720
Ready for attack!

629
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:31,840
The Shtandart soon saw action,

630
00:44:31,840 --> 00:44:34,880
exchanging fire with Swedish warships

631
00:44:34,880 --> 00:44:37,520
while defending Kronstadt...
CANNONS BOOM

632
00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:41,080
..the Russian naval base
in the Gulf of Finland.

633
00:44:41,080 --> 00:44:42,560
Over the next six years,

634
00:44:42,560 --> 00:44:45,880
in what became known
as the Great Northern War,

635
00:44:45,880 --> 00:44:47,840
Peter used sea and land forces

636
00:44:47,840 --> 00:44:51,920
to consolidate his position
in the Baltic region.

637
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:55,120
On several occasions,
he led his own men into battle.

638
00:44:59,360 --> 00:45:00,680
Do you admire him?

639
00:45:00,680 --> 00:45:03,840
He's my hero, and that is
because he was thinking

640
00:45:03,840 --> 00:45:07,200
more about the country,
not about himself.

641
00:45:07,200 --> 00:45:10,920
His own wealth was
not that important.

642
00:45:10,920 --> 00:45:15,920
His life has a really clear target,
goal and mission.

643
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:23,360
The Great Northern War
dragged on for two decades

644
00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:26,400
and in the early years
Peter was sorely tested.

645
00:45:27,680 --> 00:45:30,960
Charles XII of Sweden
may have been young,

646
00:45:30,960 --> 00:45:33,880
but he proved to be a formidable
military commander.

647
00:45:36,120 --> 00:45:38,640
Charles was preoccupied with war.

648
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:41,280
War was his main passion.

649
00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:43,800
Peter was also very
interested in war

650
00:45:43,800 --> 00:45:47,680
and there is an argument that
all reforms initiated by Peter

651
00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:51,080
were actually dictated
by his interest in war,

652
00:45:51,080 --> 00:45:55,360
so we have two figures who had
a very strong interest in war,

653
00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:59,800
a very deep sense of involvement
in international affairs,

654
00:45:59,800 --> 00:46:02,240
so the conflict was unavoidable.

655
00:46:07,520 --> 00:46:12,080
Despite the length of the war,
Peter's decisive battle with Charles

656
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:15,360
came as early as 1709,

657
00:46:15,360 --> 00:46:16,960
and it wasn't at sea,

658
00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:21,360
it was hundreds of miles inland,
at Poltava in the Ukraine.

659
00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:28,000
The viciousness of
the battle is captured

660
00:46:28,000 --> 00:46:30,960
in this 18th-century mural
in St Petersburg.

661
00:46:32,640 --> 00:46:36,160
As you get closer,
you realise that it's a mosaic.

662
00:46:37,560 --> 00:46:41,640
It was painstakingly assembled
from thousands of tiny pieces

663
00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:46,920
of stained glass by an artist and
scientist called Mikhail Lomonosov.

664
00:46:53,840 --> 00:46:57,840
Here is Peter the Great with his
very distinctive mullet haircut,

665
00:46:57,840 --> 00:47:01,680
and he's got his sword out, ready
to cut the heads off some Swedes,

666
00:47:01,680 --> 00:47:07,040
and he's leading the troops
in person, as he did in 1709.

667
00:47:07,040 --> 00:47:10,320
The leader at the other side

668
00:47:10,320 --> 00:47:15,400
is King Charles XII of Sweden up
there. He's riding in a sedan chair,

669
00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,400
because he'd hurt his foot
before the battle.

670
00:47:18,400 --> 00:47:21,640
You might also notice that
he's much, much, much smaller

671
00:47:21,640 --> 00:47:23,760
than Peter the Great in this image.

672
00:47:26,960 --> 00:47:30,600
And in this little scene
a blood-thirsty Russian,

673
00:47:30,600 --> 00:47:32,400
showing his white teeth,

674
00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:35,680
is about to skewer this
poor Swede with his sword.

675
00:47:37,080 --> 00:47:39,640
It was a decisive victory
for the Russians,

676
00:47:39,640 --> 00:47:42,480
but not just because
of their bravery.

677
00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:45,600
They also completely
outnumbered the Swedes.

678
00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:48,280
SHOUTING AND GUNFIRE

679
00:47:53,440 --> 00:47:57,160
Poltava was a pivotal battle
for Peter the Great,

680
00:47:57,160 --> 00:48:00,360
because it allowed Russia
to overtake Sweden

681
00:48:00,360 --> 00:48:03,640
to become the dominant power
in Baltic Europe.

682
00:48:07,280 --> 00:48:10,400
The security of St Petersburg
was now assured.

683
00:48:12,440 --> 00:48:17,320
And in 1712, just three years
after his victory at Poltava,

684
00:48:17,320 --> 00:48:21,520
Peter made St Petersburg
the new capital of Russia.

685
00:48:25,840 --> 00:48:29,560
The city had grown rapidly
in its first decade.

686
00:48:29,560 --> 00:48:32,520
Large numbers of nobles
and wealthy citizens

687
00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:35,160
had relocated there from Moscow,

688
00:48:35,160 --> 00:48:37,840
not out of choice -
Peter had demanded it.

689
00:48:42,840 --> 00:48:49,200
With its canals and stone buildings,
resembling Venice or Amsterdam,

690
00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:53,760
St Petersburg presented foreign
visitors with Peter's vision

691
00:48:53,760 --> 00:48:56,360
of a modern, Europeanised Russia,

692
00:48:56,360 --> 00:49:00,160
one full of thriving commerce
and rational order.

693
00:49:05,520 --> 00:49:08,880
But the great irony
was that the city only existed

694
00:49:08,880 --> 00:49:13,240
because of Peter's autocratic
and despotic powers

695
00:49:13,240 --> 00:49:16,720
and because of the medieval
institution of serfdom,

696
00:49:16,720 --> 00:49:19,760
which he actually reinforced.

697
00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:27,000
Thousands of serfs
and forced labourers perished

698
00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:29,000
while constructing his new capital.

699
00:49:31,040 --> 00:49:32,560
It's famously said, of course,

700
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:35,960
that St Petersburg was a city
built on human bones

701
00:49:35,960 --> 00:49:39,160
and there's no doubt that it
was an extraordinary business

702
00:49:39,160 --> 00:49:41,800
to get it off the ground,
because most of the ground

703
00:49:41,800 --> 00:49:44,280
was totally unsuitable
for building on it.

704
00:49:44,280 --> 00:49:50,800
It's a swamp. The climate is very
severe, the ground is very damp,

705
00:49:50,800 --> 00:49:53,800
so a vast effort had
to be put in by the state,

706
00:49:53,800 --> 00:49:56,520
by the troops and
by the state peasantry

707
00:49:56,520 --> 00:49:59,880
in order to achieve what
Peter wanted to achieve.

708
00:50:01,320 --> 00:50:04,360
St Petersburg was built
at enormous human cost,

709
00:50:04,360 --> 00:50:07,000
so much so that it's almost
obscene to discuss

710
00:50:07,000 --> 00:50:10,880
whether it was worth it or not.
We don't know how many people died.

711
00:50:10,880 --> 00:50:13,600
It could have been up to 100,000.

712
00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:17,960
What we do know is that every year
40,000 peasants were conscripted

713
00:50:17,960 --> 00:50:19,520
to work on St Petersburg.

714
00:50:19,520 --> 00:50:21,320
Now, some of them
may not have arrived.

715
00:50:21,320 --> 00:50:23,280
They may have fled
before they got there,

716
00:50:23,280 --> 00:50:26,680
they may have fled into the forests
once they're in St Petersburg,

717
00:50:26,680 --> 00:50:29,800
but the population of the city
itself rose very slowly,

718
00:50:29,800 --> 00:50:33,160
so I think we have to assume
that many of those peasants died.

719
00:50:38,240 --> 00:50:42,160
Peter's ruthlessness didn't
stop at the palace gates.

720
00:50:45,400 --> 00:50:48,640
When he got bored of his
first wife, Evdokiya,

721
00:50:48,640 --> 00:50:51,320
he packed her off to
the convent in Moscow.

722
00:50:57,200 --> 00:51:01,040
With her love of hard drinking
and dwarf entertainers,

723
00:51:01,040 --> 00:51:03,560
Evdokiya's replacement, Catherine,

724
00:51:03,560 --> 00:51:06,320
was far more to Peter's taste.

725
00:51:10,800 --> 00:51:14,640
Peter's eldest son, and his
putative successor, Alexei,

726
00:51:14,640 --> 00:51:17,480
presented a more intractable problem.

727
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:23,520
Now in his 20s,
Alexei seemed incapable of

728
00:51:23,520 --> 00:51:27,480
and uninterested in following
in his father's footsteps.

729
00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:39,120
Peter was willing to give
Alexei one last chance.

730
00:51:39,120 --> 00:51:41,560
He wrote him a letter
full of admonitions

731
00:51:41,560 --> 00:51:44,400
telling Alexei to
get his act together

732
00:51:44,400 --> 00:51:48,760
and if Alexei failed, well,
then Peter had a threat to make -

733
00:51:48,760 --> 00:51:52,840
"I will cut you off
like a gangrenous member,

734
00:51:52,840 --> 00:51:57,080
"for if I have not spared myself
in the service of our country,

735
00:51:57,080 --> 00:51:59,320
"why should I spare you?"

736
00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:11,120
In 1716, poor old Alexei
fled Russia for Vienna.

737
00:52:12,720 --> 00:52:17,600
Peter was furious.
He suspected a conspiracy.

738
00:52:17,600 --> 00:52:20,080
He knew that elements of the nobility

739
00:52:20,080 --> 00:52:23,920
resented the way he'd unilaterally
declared war on Sweden

740
00:52:23,920 --> 00:52:27,160
and moved the court to St Petersburg.

741
00:52:27,160 --> 00:52:30,800
Might they now be
rallying around his son?

742
00:52:32,000 --> 00:52:35,600
Peter enticed Alexei
back to St Petersburg.

743
00:52:35,600 --> 00:52:37,440
He promised him clemency.

744
00:52:39,760 --> 00:52:42,720
But then he had him locked up.

745
00:52:44,640 --> 00:52:49,120
Here at the fortress, Alexei
was interrogated under torture.

746
00:52:49,120 --> 00:52:52,160
He was whipped, and when his back
was all covered in blood

747
00:52:52,160 --> 00:52:54,440
he admitted,
as anybody would do,

748
00:52:54,440 --> 00:52:58,880
that he HAD conspired and
plotted against his father.

749
00:52:58,880 --> 00:53:02,800
A court sentenced poor
Alexei to execution,

750
00:53:02,800 --> 00:53:07,800
but before this could happen
he was discovered mysteriously dead.

751
00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:10,880
Some people think that this was
the effects of the torture,

752
00:53:10,880 --> 00:53:12,800
others, that he'd been poisoned,

753
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,920
in order to spare Peter the Great
the humiliation

754
00:53:15,920 --> 00:53:19,280
of having to publicly
execute his own son.

755
00:53:31,360 --> 00:53:36,440
Every single day at noon, a gun fires
from the Peter and Paul Fortress.

756
00:53:37,600 --> 00:53:41,720
This tradition stretches right back
to the early days of St Petersburg,

757
00:53:41,720 --> 00:53:44,360
when cannon shots served
as a warning of floods

758
00:53:44,360 --> 00:53:46,480
or marked important state occasions.

759
00:53:49,000 --> 00:53:53,720
In 1725, Peter the Great heard
the sound for the last time.

760
00:53:53,720 --> 00:53:56,720
Odin, dva, tri,
chetyre, pyat', ogon'!

761
00:53:56,720 --> 00:53:59,080
LOUD BANG

762
00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:10,360
He took ill and died
on February 8th.

763
00:54:10,360 --> 00:54:14,520
An autopsy reveals that Peter
had gangrene at the bladder.

764
00:54:15,880 --> 00:54:18,520
He was just 52.

765
00:54:18,520 --> 00:54:21,760
Russia had lost more than a tsar.

766
00:54:21,760 --> 00:54:24,960
Just three years earlier,
on the back of his Baltic conquests,

767
00:54:24,960 --> 00:54:27,400
Peter had been proclaimed Emperor.

768
00:54:29,000 --> 00:54:34,240
The Russian Empire would now last as
long as the Romanov dynasty itself.

769
00:54:39,440 --> 00:54:41,040
TRAIN HORN BLARES

770
00:54:44,160 --> 00:54:47,320
In little more than
a century of Romanov rule,

771
00:54:47,320 --> 00:54:50,640
Russia had undergone
an extraordinary transformation.

772
00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:56,640
Mikhail I had inherited
a war-torn backwater,

773
00:54:56,640 --> 00:55:00,560
but he and his son Alexis
used their absolute power

774
00:55:00,560 --> 00:55:03,440
to bring stability and continuity.

775
00:55:06,440 --> 00:55:10,280
But Russia would have remained
obscure and backward

776
00:55:10,280 --> 00:55:14,320
if Peter the Great hadn't
developed a boundless vision

777
00:55:14,320 --> 00:55:17,080
and then let nothing
stand in his way.

778
00:55:21,840 --> 00:55:24,520
He gave his country a navy,

779
00:55:24,520 --> 00:55:27,720
a new capital, an empire,

780
00:55:27,720 --> 00:55:30,080
and, above all, a future.

781
00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:42,360
Peter reinvented Russia, and that's
why they call him Peter the Great.

782
00:55:52,400 --> 00:55:54,960
Half a century after Peter's death,

783
00:55:54,960 --> 00:55:58,360
this statue was erected
to him in St Petersburg.

784
00:56:04,280 --> 00:56:06,600
It was designed by a French sculptor,

785
00:56:06,600 --> 00:56:10,600
but the face was done by his
18-year-old female assistant...

786
00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:16,720
..who modelled it on Peter's
own real-life death mask.

787
00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:25,880
The enormous granite boulder
on which the Bronze Horseman sits

788
00:56:25,880 --> 00:56:31,600
is said to be the largest stone
ever moved by human hands.

789
00:56:31,600 --> 00:56:35,160
It's hard not to think of all
the broken backs and crushed limbs

790
00:56:35,160 --> 00:56:41,040
involved in transporting it,
but then, perhaps that's appropriate.

791
00:56:41,040 --> 00:56:44,360
For all of Peter the Great's
tremendous achievements,

792
00:56:44,360 --> 00:56:47,320
I think it's hard to warm to him.

793
00:56:47,320 --> 00:56:52,480
He may have dragged Russia kicking
and screaming into the modern world,

794
00:56:52,480 --> 00:56:57,920
but he did so with ruthlessness
and sometimes with downright cruelty.

795
00:56:57,920 --> 00:57:01,480
It's hard to think of another
sovereign who worked so hard

796
00:57:01,480 --> 00:57:05,440
for his people, yet who treated them
with so little compassion.

797
00:57:09,040 --> 00:57:11,800
Nevertheless,
Peter changed Russia for ever.

798
00:57:13,480 --> 00:57:16,120
He set the benchmark against which

799
00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:19,360
all future Romanov rulers
had to be measured.

800
00:57:24,240 --> 00:57:28,920
But one of them would unashamedly
claim Peter's mantle.

801
00:57:28,920 --> 00:57:32,440
She was the woman who erected
this monument to him.

802
00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:35,920
THEY CHEER

803
00:57:37,880 --> 00:57:42,360
Catherine II,
also known as Catherine the Great.

804
00:57:43,680 --> 00:57:46,600
But if you look at their names
on the base of the monument,

805
00:57:46,600 --> 00:57:48,880
you might think that Catherine's

806
00:57:48,880 --> 00:57:51,760
is in a slightly
bigger font than Peter's.

807
00:57:51,760 --> 00:57:54,400
Does this mean that
she was even greater?

808
00:57:56,160 --> 00:57:59,000
MUSIC: 1812 Overture
by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

809
00:57:59,000 --> 00:58:02,200
Next time,
we meet Catherine the Great,

810
00:58:02,200 --> 00:58:04,160
the small-time German princess

811
00:58:04,160 --> 00:58:07,040
who becomes a big-time
Russian empress.

812
00:58:10,120 --> 00:58:15,200
We'll explore a golden age
of imperial architecture and culture.

813
00:58:17,520 --> 00:58:21,320
And we'll see how everything
that the Romanovs have achieved

814
00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:25,680
ends up hanging in the balance,
when Napoleon invades Russia.

815
00:58:25,680 --> 00:58:28,120
THEY ROAR