1 00:00:02,800 --> 00:00:05,200 I'm travelling through Russia 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,600 to learn about the most powerful European royal family 3 00:00:08,600 --> 00:00:10,000 since medieval times. 4 00:00:13,880 --> 00:00:15,560 The Romanovs. 5 00:00:16,600 --> 00:00:20,800 I've seen how the victories of Peter the Great won him control 6 00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:25,320 of the Baltic Sea, placing Russia firmly on the world stage. 7 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:31,040 At home, Peter built the magnificent city of St Petersburg. 8 00:00:31,040 --> 00:00:35,080 And he dragged his country, kicking and screaming, 9 00:00:35,080 --> 00:00:37,280 into the 18th century. 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:42,600 Peter the Great was a hard act to follow. 11 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,080 But in the century following his death, 12 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:48,080 two of his successors would bring Russia glory 13 00:00:48,080 --> 00:00:50,800 that Peter could only have dreamt of. 14 00:00:53,920 --> 00:00:57,280 The era was dominated by Catherine the Great, 15 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:00,000 possibly the most powerful woman in history. 16 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:05,120 She was super-bright and super-ambitious 17 00:01:05,120 --> 00:01:09,520 and Russia would enjoy a golden age during her reign. 18 00:01:09,520 --> 00:01:13,960 Famed for her collections, both of art and of lovers... 19 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:19,160 ..Catherine's military success transformed Russia 20 00:01:19,160 --> 00:01:21,840 into a major European power. 21 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:26,520 Not bad for a ruler without a single drop of Russian blood. 22 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:33,400 Catherine's grandson, Alexander I, was forced to defend her legacy 23 00:01:33,400 --> 00:01:35,760 when Europe collapsed into turmoil. 24 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:39,440 But Alexander would save the continent 25 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,720 from the mightiest military leader of the age - Napoleon. 26 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:49,000 And he'd even lead Russian forces onto the streets of Paris. 27 00:01:50,240 --> 00:01:53,240 But these extraordinary achievements took place 28 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,560 against a turbulent backdrop. 29 00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:00,720 There were rebellions and murders and military disasters. 30 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:05,240 This is the story of the second great age of the Romanovs - 31 00:02:05,240 --> 00:02:07,400 an age of extremes. 32 00:02:35,120 --> 00:02:38,600 This is the 18th-century palace of Peterhof, 33 00:02:38,600 --> 00:02:41,200 overlooking the Gulf of Finland. 34 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:45,920 It was founded by Peter the Great - 35 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:49,920 one of only two Romanov monarchs to have been given that title. 36 00:02:51,920 --> 00:02:54,000 The other was Catherine the Great. 37 00:02:55,120 --> 00:02:59,640 She inherited the palace when she seized the throne in 1762, 38 00:02:59,640 --> 00:03:03,080 nearly 40 years after Peter's death. 39 00:03:03,080 --> 00:03:07,200 But I bet Catherine never did what I'm about to do. 40 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,360 Let's go. Thank you. Are we going to hold hands all the way? 41 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:11,920 Just this place. 42 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:14,760 Very gallant. I like it. Be careful. Uh-huh. 43 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,720 'I'm going not just behind the scenes, but beneath them. 44 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:21,480 'And I'm not sure that I've dressed appropriately.' 45 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:26,120 Down that hole? Yes. That's really quite small and wet? Yes. 46 00:03:26,120 --> 00:03:28,040 OK. Be careful. Be careful. 47 00:03:29,960 --> 00:03:31,560 Watch your head. This is good. 48 00:03:33,720 --> 00:03:35,000 Hey, hey, hey! 49 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:38,880 'Peterhof has one of the biggest sets of fountains in the world. 50 00:03:38,880 --> 00:03:42,840 'Remarkably, all of them powered by natural springs and gravity. 51 00:03:42,840 --> 00:03:44,760 'Not by pump, as I'd expected.' 52 00:03:44,760 --> 00:03:49,760 BOTH: Five, four, three, two, one. 53 00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,680 Go! GO! 54 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,400 There are 100 fountains here, just in the cascade area, 55 00:04:20,400 --> 00:04:22,920 and I think my favourite is this golden frog. 56 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:30,880 Catherine first saw Peterhof and its fountains in 1744. 57 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:36,720 At the time, Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth was on the throne. 58 00:04:36,720 --> 00:04:39,520 Russia was enjoying an economic boom... 59 00:04:40,840 --> 00:04:44,040 ..partly due to the lucrative Baltic trade routes 60 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:45,600 that Peter had opened up. 61 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:56,520 So Elizabeth had lots of money to indulge her taste for splendour. 62 00:04:56,520 --> 00:05:01,360 She had a tame architect, an Italian called Bartolomeo Rastrelli. 63 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:03,800 And here, at the Palace of Peterhof, 64 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:06,920 she set him off on a major rebuilding project. 65 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:16,000 The Romanovs wanted palaces that rivalled 66 00:05:16,000 --> 00:05:19,280 the finest French royal buildings, like Versailles. 67 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,160 The French were seen by Russia's elite 68 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,040 as the standard setters for taste and art. 69 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,760 But this strikes me as being slightly too lavish. 70 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:39,240 Almost gaudy? 71 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:44,360 You can't help sensing the chip on the Romanovs' shoulder, 72 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:47,520 their need to convince foreign diplomats that Russia was 73 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:53,200 a sophisticated European country, not some backward Eastern despotism. 74 00:05:56,920 --> 00:06:00,880 Rastrelli created a series of grand palaces for the Romanovs. 75 00:06:02,680 --> 00:06:06,760 There was the magnificent Winter Palace in St Petersburg - 76 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:08,880 now home of the Hermitage Museum. 77 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:15,840 The Catherine Palace was named after Elizabeth's mother, 78 00:06:15,840 --> 00:06:18,440 who'd succeeded Peter the Great to the throne. 79 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:24,000 But who was going to inherit all this Baroque bling 80 00:06:24,000 --> 00:06:25,880 when Elizabeth was gone? 81 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,960 Elizabeth never married. 82 00:06:31,960 --> 00:06:35,280 There were rumours of illegitimate children, given away to be 83 00:06:35,280 --> 00:06:40,280 brought up by servants but she never had an acknowledged son or daughter. 84 00:06:40,280 --> 00:06:43,760 So she exercised her Russian sovereign's right 85 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:45,960 to choose her own successor. 86 00:06:45,960 --> 00:06:50,200 She alighted upon her nephew - the only trouble was, 87 00:06:50,200 --> 00:06:54,920 he was a 14-year-old German boy who'd never set foot in Russia. 88 00:06:59,000 --> 00:07:05,080 His name was Karl Peter Ulrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. 89 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,640 He was a grandson of Peter the Great through his mother. 90 00:07:10,880 --> 00:07:14,800 Elizabeth now needed to find young Peter a bride. 91 00:07:17,080 --> 00:07:21,120 She settled on a minor, but well-connected, German princess 92 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:25,920 called Sophie Friederike Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst. 93 00:07:27,200 --> 00:07:30,400 So in 1744, Sophie came to Russia 94 00:07:30,400 --> 00:07:34,080 and adopted a Russian name, Yekaterina - 95 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:36,760 or Catherine. 96 00:07:40,400 --> 00:07:44,920 But this teenage union quickly became an unhappy one. 97 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,440 Peter was disfigured by smallpox, 98 00:07:47,440 --> 00:07:51,520 yet still managed to embarrass his wife by having a mistress. 99 00:07:51,520 --> 00:07:54,920 Catherine claimed that he was a twisted voyeur 100 00:07:54,920 --> 00:07:56,840 who even tortured animals. 101 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:03,440 When she came to write her memoirs, Catherine said how long and dismal 102 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:06,520 the summers had been at the palace of Peterhof. 103 00:08:06,520 --> 00:08:10,240 She didn't get on with her aunt-in-law, the Empress Elizabeth, 104 00:08:10,240 --> 00:08:13,440 nor her husband, who was only interested in practising 105 00:08:13,440 --> 00:08:17,760 military drills with his very long-suffering entourage. 106 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,880 So Catherine instead turned to reading, 107 00:08:20,880 --> 00:08:25,000 particularly the philosophers of the French Enlightenment, 108 00:08:25,000 --> 00:08:27,160 Diderot and Voltaire. 109 00:08:27,160 --> 00:08:31,800 This was heady stuff for a member of an autocratic ruling family. 110 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:37,480 One of the most significant factors of Catherine's personality 111 00:08:37,480 --> 00:08:40,680 that came out when she was very young and throughout her life 112 00:08:40,680 --> 00:08:43,160 was she really believed in the self-improvement. 113 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:47,600 She had this great urge to be educated 114 00:08:47,600 --> 00:08:50,840 and that, for a woman of her time, was unusual 115 00:08:50,840 --> 00:08:54,160 and the determination to find out for herself, 116 00:08:54,160 --> 00:08:56,200 for learning as much as she could. 117 00:08:57,400 --> 00:09:01,040 She enjoyed the sense of being at the forefront of European thought 118 00:09:01,040 --> 00:09:04,920 and bringing it to this rather... place she perceived rather backward. 119 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:11,160 By her early 30s, Catherine had given birth to a son 120 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:13,080 and to a short-lived daughter. 121 00:09:13,080 --> 00:09:16,880 And she'd started taking lovers of our own. 122 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:19,760 He was just a warm-up. We'll pass over him. 123 00:09:19,760 --> 00:09:24,200 But this is Stanislaw Poniatowski, the future king of Poland. 124 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:29,480 He was witty and charming and everything that her husband wasn't. 125 00:09:29,480 --> 00:09:34,560 By 1761, though, she'd moved on to Grigori Orlov. 126 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:37,200 He was a dashing young artillery officer. 127 00:09:37,200 --> 00:09:40,640 It was said that he would dance gigantic dances 128 00:09:40,640 --> 00:09:43,520 and make gigantic love. 129 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,960 His relationship with Catherine got very serious. 130 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:50,800 It started to go beyond just a romantic intrigue. 131 00:09:50,800 --> 00:09:55,080 Catherine and Orlov agreed that Peter just wasn't up to the job 132 00:09:55,080 --> 00:09:57,360 of ruling the country. 133 00:09:57,360 --> 00:10:02,080 But in 1761, Peter succeeded to the throne, following Elizabeth's death. 134 00:10:03,280 --> 00:10:05,240 He was now the emperor. 135 00:10:06,320 --> 00:10:11,960 What he didn't know, though, was that his empress was plotting against him. 136 00:10:11,960 --> 00:10:15,360 When Peter actually did succeed, 137 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:19,120 um, it quickly became clear he wasn't going to survive. 138 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,520 He annoyed people - the military, the church - 139 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,280 and he was a disaster from the start. 140 00:10:27,720 --> 00:10:29,880 What one is aware of with Catherine 141 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:32,320 is that she had an enormous self belief. 142 00:10:32,320 --> 00:10:33,880 Having educated herself, 143 00:10:33,880 --> 00:10:37,280 she was quite sure that she could run this enormous country 144 00:10:37,280 --> 00:10:38,760 and she could improve it. 145 00:10:40,240 --> 00:10:45,280 The intrigue came to a head on the morning of 28 June, 1762. 146 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:51,320 Catherine was woken in her bed at Peterhof with the news 147 00:10:51,320 --> 00:10:53,200 that a coup was already under way. 148 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:58,040 Now events began to move at headlong speed. 149 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,240 Catherine came racing through these palace grounds 150 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:04,640 to get to her carriage, to be taken to St Petersburg. 151 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,000 She didn't even pause to get ready. 152 00:11:07,000 --> 00:11:10,520 She had to have her hair done in the coach on the way. 153 00:11:10,520 --> 00:11:14,880 When she got to St Petersburg, she was declared sovereign 154 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,200 and her husband Peter - well, he was caught napping. 155 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:21,720 When he got to hear about what was going on, it was too late. 156 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,240 He'd lost his crown. 157 00:11:25,000 --> 00:11:27,440 In tears, Peter stepped down. 158 00:11:27,440 --> 00:11:30,760 He'd reigned for just six months. 159 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,200 Within a few days, he was rather conveniently dead. 160 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:39,600 Officially the reason was haemorrhoidal colic 161 00:11:39,600 --> 00:11:41,600 but it was more likely murder. 162 00:11:42,920 --> 00:11:46,760 The nature, if any, of Catherine's involvement remains a mystery. 163 00:11:49,720 --> 00:11:53,920 Catherine was now the most powerful woman in the world. 164 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,120 She was the sole ruler of Russia. 165 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,600 And despite all of her intellectual interest, 166 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:03,880 she had shown utter ruthlessness in grabbing the throne. 167 00:12:03,880 --> 00:12:07,120 But don't forget that she wasn't a real Russian. 168 00:12:07,120 --> 00:12:09,600 She'd only married into the Romanov family. 169 00:12:09,600 --> 00:12:12,800 It was going to be a considerable challenge 170 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,040 for her to hold on to her power. 171 00:12:18,680 --> 00:12:21,720 Catherine ensured that she had a formal coronation 172 00:12:21,720 --> 00:12:24,440 as soon as possible, to seal her legitimacy. 173 00:12:29,320 --> 00:12:32,880 In the magnificent Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, 174 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,760 once home to Catherine's personal art collection, 175 00:12:35,760 --> 00:12:39,440 there's a portrait by the Danish artist, Vigilius Eriksen, 176 00:12:39,440 --> 00:12:43,680 that captures the new empress in all her coronation finery. 177 00:12:47,000 --> 00:12:51,120 Catherine had a new crown and orb designed for the coronation. 178 00:12:53,040 --> 00:12:56,280 And she's sporting these rather wonderful robes 179 00:12:56,280 --> 00:12:59,480 embroidered with the emblem of Imperial Russia - 180 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:01,160 the double-headed eagle. 181 00:13:08,640 --> 00:13:13,120 What do you think can have been going through her mind at her coronation? 182 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:18,320 On the one hand, she was an impostor. She was German, after all. 183 00:13:18,320 --> 00:13:22,680 It was only through sleight of hand that she had that crown on her head. 184 00:13:22,680 --> 00:13:27,200 On the other hand, there's something very attractively modern 185 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,800 about this 18th-century woman 186 00:13:29,800 --> 00:13:33,600 so relentlessly pursuing power and success. 187 00:13:33,600 --> 00:13:39,560 And this meant relentlessly managing every single aspect of her brand. 188 00:13:43,760 --> 00:13:49,320 Catherine was brilliant at using her clothes to create her personal image. 189 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:53,480 She managed to convey all the different things that people expected 190 00:13:53,480 --> 00:13:56,440 of a modern female Russian sovereign, 191 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:01,360 as you can see in her surviving dresses at the Hermitage Museum. 192 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:06,200 Nina, when did Catherine the Great wear this dress? 193 00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:12,480 Catherine the Great wore it during the festivals of the Guard regiments 194 00:14:12,480 --> 00:14:16,360 because she was a Chief of Guards regiment. 195 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:23,800 It is uniform because of colour, because of numbers of buttons. 196 00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:29,280 Ah, the officers have the same number of buttons? The same number, yes. 197 00:14:29,280 --> 00:14:34,200 The shape of collar is also... Ah, it has the collar of a man's uniform? 198 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:36,880 Yes, like in men's uniform. 199 00:14:36,880 --> 00:14:38,240 Um... 200 00:14:38,240 --> 00:14:42,800 And in the back, you can see very interesting details. 201 00:14:45,560 --> 00:14:48,480 Ah, so this shape... The shape of the back... 202 00:14:48,480 --> 00:14:50,840 That's like a man's coat. Yes. 203 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,280 And two details decorated with the braids. Yes. 204 00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:58,800 Also like a man's uniform. 205 00:14:58,800 --> 00:15:01,960 It's also the dress of a woman who looks to Europe, isn't it? 206 00:15:01,960 --> 00:15:03,160 Yes, of course. 207 00:15:03,160 --> 00:15:05,480 The French influence 208 00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:09,800 is in the shape of the sleeves. 209 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:12,240 Yes. You can see. 210 00:15:12,240 --> 00:15:14,840 And, of course, panniers. Oh, the panniers. 211 00:15:14,840 --> 00:15:17,440 They're shaped like that? Yes, yes, I see that. 212 00:15:17,440 --> 00:15:20,680 And is the silk French? No, the silk is Russian. 213 00:15:20,680 --> 00:15:26,000 Catherine the Great ordered to use only Russian silk 214 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:30,760 in the costumes of the Russian Imperial Court. 215 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:32,880 So, Nina, this is a fantastic dress. 216 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:37,960 It's the dress of an empress, also of a male army officer, 217 00:15:37,960 --> 00:15:40,960 also of somebody who's very elegant, who loves Europe, 218 00:15:40,960 --> 00:15:43,640 but also the dress of a true Russian. 219 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,600 Yes. All in one! All in one! 220 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,960 Back in the Peterhof Palace, Catherine can be seen 221 00:15:59,960 --> 00:16:04,880 wearing the Royal trousers in another portrait by Vigilius Eriksen. 222 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,440 But although Catherine's military uniforms were purely ceremonial, 223 00:16:10,440 --> 00:16:14,200 she knew that her reputation, both in Russia and abroad, 224 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:16,760 would be earned by military success. 225 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:22,440 Her first great test came just six years into her reign. 226 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:34,040 In 1768, Turkey declared war, threatening Russia from the south. 227 00:16:34,040 --> 00:16:37,360 On land, Russian troops could match the Turks, 228 00:16:37,360 --> 00:16:39,640 but Russia lacked naval power 229 00:16:39,640 --> 00:16:43,480 in the crucial Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. 230 00:16:45,680 --> 00:16:48,800 Russia's only fleet was the one Peter the Great had built 231 00:16:48,800 --> 00:16:53,440 in the Baltic more than 1,000 miles away from where it was now needed. 232 00:16:55,240 --> 00:16:59,600 Catherine's lover and closest adviser, Grigory Orlov, 233 00:16:59,600 --> 00:17:02,640 now made a bold but risky proposal. 234 00:17:05,400 --> 00:17:07,240 Catherine gave it the go-ahead. 235 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:11,120 The Russian fleet was to be cut in two 236 00:17:11,120 --> 00:17:14,800 and one part of it was to go south, down through the Baltic, 237 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:17,360 then all around western France and Spain 238 00:17:17,360 --> 00:17:19,600 and in through the Strait of Gibraltar. 239 00:17:19,600 --> 00:17:22,600 Then it would become, by very definition, 240 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:25,080 Russia's Mediterranean fleet. 241 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,520 In August 1769, 242 00:17:31,520 --> 00:17:34,880 the breakaway fleet left Russia on its epic journey. 243 00:17:38,280 --> 00:17:42,240 Finally, nearly a year later, in June 1770, 244 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:47,760 the Russian ships, under the command of Grigory Orlov's brother, Alexis, 245 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:52,240 took the Turkish fleet by surprise off the coast of Anatolia. 246 00:17:56,520 --> 00:17:58,920 The Battle of Chesma Bay became 247 00:17:58,920 --> 00:18:03,720 one of the most famous military engagements in Russian history. 248 00:18:06,000 --> 00:18:08,400 The Russians wiped out the Turkish fleet. 249 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:15,160 9,000 Turkish sailors were killed, but the Russians lost only 30. 250 00:18:15,160 --> 00:18:17,880 EXPLOSIONS AND GUNFIRE 251 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:27,600 Russia's staggering victory 252 00:18:27,600 --> 00:18:31,200 was the public relations coup of a lifetime for Catherine. 253 00:18:33,600 --> 00:18:37,560 Now, in paintings like this one by Heinrich Buchholz, 254 00:18:37,560 --> 00:18:41,000 she could present herself as the true heir 255 00:18:41,000 --> 00:18:44,240 to the man who had built Imperial Russia. 256 00:18:47,040 --> 00:18:52,240 This picture celebrates a triumph by her fleet over the Turks. 257 00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:54,800 Here are the boats in the boat yards 258 00:18:54,800 --> 00:18:57,240 and here are some very unhappy Turks 259 00:18:57,240 --> 00:19:00,080 being marched through Saint Petersburg. 260 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,120 And over here in the corner is Peter the Great himself 261 00:19:03,120 --> 00:19:06,040 being asked to admire this image 262 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:10,920 of Catherine being carried through the skies by Fame. 263 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:14,480 And he certainly is admiring her. Look what he's doing with his hands. 264 00:19:14,480 --> 00:19:18,080 He's saying, "Wow, Catherine! Haven't you done well?" 265 00:19:20,120 --> 00:19:23,600 And while Catherine never led armies into battle, 266 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:26,960 she found other ways to lead from the front. 267 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:33,800 Because the Russian people faced an even deadlier threat than Turkey. 268 00:19:33,800 --> 00:19:40,400 This enemy was ravaging Europe and it spared neither peasant nor monarch. 269 00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:43,080 It was smallpox. 270 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,800 Catherine was rightly terrified that she or her son, Paul, 271 00:19:47,800 --> 00:19:49,560 might catch the disease. 272 00:19:51,880 --> 00:19:56,040 But word reached her that an English physician, Thomas Dimsdale, 273 00:19:56,040 --> 00:20:00,600 was achieving unprecedented success with a controversial method 274 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:02,640 of smallpox inoculation. 275 00:20:04,400 --> 00:20:06,920 The method is called variolation 276 00:20:06,920 --> 00:20:11,680 and it involves scratching the skin, opening up the skin, and inserting 277 00:20:11,680 --> 00:20:14,240 some part of the disease. 278 00:20:14,240 --> 00:20:18,080 So effectively, you are infecting the patient with smallpox. 279 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,560 And that, of course, makes it very risky. 280 00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:24,960 It's one of the reasons why it divided the enlightened world. 281 00:20:24,960 --> 00:20:27,080 Many mathematicians, for example, 282 00:20:27,080 --> 00:20:29,800 objected to on the grounds of probability theory. 283 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:31,720 They thought that, sooner or later, 284 00:20:31,720 --> 00:20:34,040 people are going to die from this operation. 285 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:39,400 Catherine decided that the risk was worth taking. 286 00:20:39,400 --> 00:20:42,520 Dimsdale was invited to St Petersburg. 287 00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:45,680 There, he found a suitable sample of smallpox 288 00:20:45,680 --> 00:20:48,360 with which to inoculate the empress. 289 00:20:50,400 --> 00:20:52,320 But it was all very hush-hush. 290 00:20:55,640 --> 00:20:58,880 Late one night, Dimsdale was brought into the palace 291 00:20:58,880 --> 00:21:03,360 through a secret door, and in Catherine's rooms, he inoculated her. 292 00:21:03,360 --> 00:21:06,200 Now, a lot of her contemporaries would have thought 293 00:21:06,200 --> 00:21:07,800 that she was mad to do this. 294 00:21:07,800 --> 00:21:10,680 She could have been infected, she could have died. 295 00:21:10,680 --> 00:21:12,960 But she'd looked at the scientific evidence 296 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:14,840 and she was happy to run the risk. 297 00:21:14,840 --> 00:21:19,480 She even had Orlov and her son Paul inoculated too. 298 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,640 And when it became clear that everything had gone well, 299 00:21:22,640 --> 00:21:26,120 the news was proclaimed. Other people started doing it. 300 00:21:26,120 --> 00:21:30,440 Inoculation caught on and countless lives were saved. 301 00:21:34,840 --> 00:21:38,960 Her smallpox inoculation shows Catherine behaving 302 00:21:38,960 --> 00:21:43,240 like a true enlightened monarch, embracing science, 303 00:21:43,240 --> 00:21:48,200 banishing superstition, improving the lot of her people. 304 00:21:50,320 --> 00:21:53,760 And this room in the Russian Museum in St Petersburg 305 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:58,200 is almost a shrine to Catherine, the great progressive. 306 00:22:02,560 --> 00:22:06,680 These well-turned-out young ladies on the walls were pupils 307 00:22:06,680 --> 00:22:11,680 at the rather wonderfully named Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens, 308 00:22:11,680 --> 00:22:15,280 which Catherine founded in 1764. 309 00:22:16,680 --> 00:22:21,200 Its stated purpose was to raise "educated women, good mothers, 310 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:25,080 "and useful members of family and society". 311 00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:29,400 It was the first proper educational establishment for women in Russia. 312 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:34,800 Catherine was so proud of her girls that she had these portraits 313 00:22:34,800 --> 00:22:38,280 by Dmitry Levitzky commissioned to show them off. 314 00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:43,960 This statue presents Catherine in the guise of Minerva, 315 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:48,440 the Roman goddess of wisdom and icon of the Enlightenment. 316 00:22:48,440 --> 00:22:52,000 A horn of plenty overflows. 317 00:22:55,120 --> 00:22:58,800 Her hand rests on an open book of legislation, 318 00:22:58,800 --> 00:23:03,400 and the sculptor, Fedot Shubin, has tucked Catherine's crown, 319 00:23:03,400 --> 00:23:06,240 the conventional symbol of royal power, 320 00:23:06,240 --> 00:23:08,880 discreetly away round the back. 321 00:23:08,880 --> 00:23:11,760 But none of this disguises the fact 322 00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:15,200 that for all of her enlightened leanings, 323 00:23:15,200 --> 00:23:19,440 Catherine still had the absolute power of a despot. 324 00:23:19,440 --> 00:23:21,920 And she was in no hurry to give it up. 325 00:23:23,560 --> 00:23:25,440 I don't think Catherine would have seen 326 00:23:25,440 --> 00:23:28,640 a contradiction between Enlightenment values and her powers. 327 00:23:28,640 --> 00:23:31,400 For a start, she would dispute that she was a despot. 328 00:23:31,400 --> 00:23:36,120 She considered that her absolute power was tempered 329 00:23:36,120 --> 00:23:39,600 by laws within Russia, by institutions within Russia, 330 00:23:39,600 --> 00:23:43,240 which prevented Russia from succumbing to arbitrary rule. 331 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:45,200 And as an absolute ruler, I think 332 00:23:45,200 --> 00:23:48,440 she thought that she was in the best position to implement laws 333 00:23:48,440 --> 00:23:50,960 which would be in the spirit of the Enlightenment. 334 00:23:53,080 --> 00:23:58,440 In 1767, just five years into her reign, 335 00:23:58,440 --> 00:24:02,400 Catherine embarked on an ambitious nationwide attempt 336 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:06,680 to turn Enlightenment principles into actual laws. 337 00:24:08,000 --> 00:24:12,440 She convened a special legislative commission 338 00:24:12,440 --> 00:24:16,720 with representatives ranging from nobles to peasants, 339 00:24:16,720 --> 00:24:18,720 drawn from all across the country. 340 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:23,520 Catherine herself wrote the commission 341 00:24:23,520 --> 00:24:27,800 a lengthy set of instructions, known in Russian as the Nakaz. 342 00:24:29,080 --> 00:24:34,200 She declared that all citizens should be equal before the law, 343 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,840 that torture should be banned, 344 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,440 liberty was her central theme. 345 00:24:44,600 --> 00:24:47,800 For a while, Catherine looked more forward thinking than 346 00:24:47,800 --> 00:24:50,240 any of her European counterparts 347 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,920 and she made sure that they knew it. 348 00:24:52,920 --> 00:24:56,040 The Nakaz was translated into French and German. 349 00:24:58,320 --> 00:25:01,160 But actually, Catherine had already watered down 350 00:25:01,160 --> 00:25:03,320 her original plans for the Nakaz. 351 00:25:03,320 --> 00:25:07,200 In particular, the reform of serfdom. 352 00:25:09,520 --> 00:25:11,720 In her first draft of the Nakaz, 353 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:14,960 her great instruction to the legislative commission, 354 00:25:14,960 --> 00:25:17,960 in 1767, there was a chapter which implied 355 00:25:17,960 --> 00:25:20,120 that serfs ought to be freed, 356 00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:22,800 or at least, some of them ought to be freed, gradually. 357 00:25:22,800 --> 00:25:25,960 And this, when it was read by her advisers, was just thought 358 00:25:25,960 --> 00:25:28,480 far too revolutionary, and Catherine was, I think, 359 00:25:28,480 --> 00:25:31,720 genuinely surprised that even some of her closest friends, 360 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:34,240 some of the most enlightened people in the empire, 361 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,640 were so reluctant to do anything about serfdom. It took her aback. 362 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:40,440 But it made her realise the extent to which serfdom 363 00:25:40,440 --> 00:25:43,200 just underpins everything in the Russian Empire. 364 00:25:44,880 --> 00:25:49,640 Catherine's failure to address the continuing existence of serfdom 365 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:52,040 meant that millions of people remained 366 00:25:52,040 --> 00:25:54,760 little better than the slaves of landowners. 367 00:25:56,080 --> 00:26:00,320 Their plight now helped fuel the greatest domestic threat 368 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,040 to Catherine's reign. 369 00:26:03,400 --> 00:26:08,240 In 1773, a Cossack called Emelian Pugachev 370 00:26:08,240 --> 00:26:10,400 sparked a provincial revolt. 371 00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:13,880 It spread...quickly. 372 00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:19,760 Pugachev's idea was to pretend to be the deposed tsar, 373 00:26:19,760 --> 00:26:22,520 Peter III, Catherine's late husband. 374 00:26:22,520 --> 00:26:26,320 His line was that he'd just been away, he'd been in Egypt, 375 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:28,280 but now, he was back. 376 00:26:28,280 --> 00:26:31,000 He very quickly gathered around him 377 00:26:31,000 --> 00:26:34,040 a massive movement of Russia's disenfranchised. 378 00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,920 Pugachev said that as the true tsar, 379 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:41,200 he would grant the serfs all kinds of new rights 380 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:45,320 and that they should rise up against their evil landlords. 381 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:47,080 They did this. 382 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:52,280 And in the resulting bloodbath, more than 1,500 nobles were killed, 383 00:26:52,280 --> 00:26:54,480 half of them, women and children. 384 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:00,720 Panic now gripped St Petersburg. 385 00:27:00,720 --> 00:27:04,000 Catherine was forced to find a military solution 386 00:27:04,000 --> 00:27:05,800 to a civilian problem. 387 00:27:05,800 --> 00:27:10,160 Soldiers and top commanders were switched from fighting Turks 388 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,360 to fighting their fellow Russians in rebellious areas. 389 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:19,200 It was nearly two years before the revolt was finally quashed. 390 00:27:21,400 --> 00:27:24,680 Pugachev was taken to Moscow in a cage. 391 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:27,800 Then he was hanged and his body quartered, 392 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,640 which in Russia means that the limbs were lopped off. 393 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:33,000 The immediate threat was over. 394 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:36,480 But how was Catherine going to respond to this rebellion? 395 00:27:36,480 --> 00:27:39,520 With reform or with repression? 396 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:46,000 The Pugachev revolt was a great shock to Catherine 397 00:27:46,000 --> 00:27:49,440 and particularly the sense that this could happen in this country, 398 00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:52,160 that so much of it was out of her control. 399 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:57,320 And her response was to try to spread her control 400 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:01,320 and so she brought in various local government reforms and wanted... 401 00:28:01,320 --> 00:28:04,280 Again, it's this great desire to educate. 402 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,880 The fact that people could believe that this man was the Tsar 403 00:28:08,880 --> 00:28:10,840 that had come back to life... 404 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:17,640 She was horrified and so her urge was to spread her control, 405 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:19,400 to improve education, 406 00:28:19,400 --> 00:28:22,840 to make sure that local government was properly reformed. 407 00:28:22,840 --> 00:28:25,520 It certainly wasn't to abolish serfdom. 408 00:28:28,120 --> 00:28:31,480 Catherine had sacrificed the rights of the serfs 409 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:33,680 to keep the nobility on her side, 410 00:28:33,680 --> 00:28:37,320 in spite of her professed Enlightenment values. 411 00:28:37,320 --> 00:28:41,680 And nowhere were the contradictions of her reign more evident 412 00:28:41,680 --> 00:28:44,680 than at the summer palaces of the wealthiest nobles. 413 00:28:48,240 --> 00:28:51,360 The Kuskovo Palace and estate, near Moscow, 414 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:53,360 belonged to the Sheremetev family. 415 00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,080 By the late 18th century, 416 00:28:58,080 --> 00:29:02,440 they were the most important patrons of the arts outside St Petersburg. 417 00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,600 Taking their lead from Catherine herself, 418 00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:12,040 the Sheremetevs filled their palace with European treasures, 419 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,000 like these Flemish tapestries. 420 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:21,000 But it was the concerts and operas staged here that made Kuskovo famous, 421 00:29:21,000 --> 00:29:25,120 bringing the arts to a wider audience than just the elite. 422 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:29,440 Ludmila, what was it like in the 1770s, 423 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:33,280 when Count Sheremetev had his big concerts? 424 00:29:33,280 --> 00:29:36,160 SHE ANSWERS IN RUSSIAN 425 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:52,560 But the performers, they weren't 426 00:29:52,560 --> 00:29:56,480 the sort of professional actors and musicians that we think of today. 427 00:30:19,000 --> 00:30:22,640 So the serf children were taken at seven or eight from their families? 428 00:30:46,160 --> 00:30:51,000 The Sheremetevs' star performer was Praskovia Kovalyova. 429 00:30:51,000 --> 00:30:53,160 Despite her serf origins, 430 00:30:53,160 --> 00:30:56,760 she became one of the most celebrated opera singers in Russia. 431 00:30:58,200 --> 00:31:02,600 Catherine the Great herself heard Praskovia perform at Kuskovo. 432 00:31:05,120 --> 00:31:10,480 Praskovia also won the heart of Count Sheremetev's son, Nikolai. 433 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:13,240 After a long affair, they secretly married. 434 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:22,080 These mounds are all that remain of the open-air theatre, 435 00:31:22,080 --> 00:31:25,200 where Praskovia and her fellow serfs performed. 436 00:31:30,960 --> 00:31:34,560 Now, you might think this sounds awfully romantic. 437 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,960 The beautiful Praskovia standing here on the stage, 438 00:31:37,960 --> 00:31:42,080 singing a heartfelt aria to the Count, her secret lover, 439 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:44,040 in the audience over there. 440 00:31:44,040 --> 00:31:46,440 But it isn't romantic, it's creepy, 441 00:31:46,440 --> 00:31:50,520 when you consider where the balance of power between them lay. 442 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:55,760 Count Sheremetev owned Praskovia and her entire family, 443 00:31:55,760 --> 00:31:59,280 along with the rest of his 200,000 other serfs. 444 00:31:59,280 --> 00:32:01,920 In a world where serfdom existed, 445 00:32:01,920 --> 00:32:04,960 there were so many opportunities for exploitation, 446 00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:08,960 particularly sexual exploitation of the female serfs. 447 00:32:08,960 --> 00:32:11,640 It hardly bears thinking about. 448 00:32:20,000 --> 00:32:23,720 Of course, performers, artists and musicians made up 449 00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,800 just a tiny fraction of Russia's serf population. 450 00:32:29,880 --> 00:32:34,120 Most of them continued to work in the fields, driving the Russian economy. 451 00:32:35,960 --> 00:32:38,880 And they made up the bulk of the Russian army, 452 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:42,320 fuelling the expansion of Catherine's empire, 453 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:47,080 an expansion that was extraordinary in both its speed and scale. 454 00:32:52,720 --> 00:32:57,760 Catherine annexed large stretches of Belarus and Lithuania. 455 00:32:57,760 --> 00:33:01,280 Poland became a Russian dependency. 456 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:04,840 And crucially, she seized the Crimea. 457 00:33:04,840 --> 00:33:07,720 Just as Peter the Great founded St Petersburg 458 00:33:07,720 --> 00:33:09,840 to secure access to the Baltic, 459 00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:12,360 Catherine now founded the major ports 460 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:17,880 of Sevastopol and Odessa to guarantee Russia access to the Black Sea. 461 00:33:22,760 --> 00:33:27,240 Countless Russian and foreign lives were lost in the process, 462 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:30,880 but Catherine doesn't seem to have been much troubled by this. 463 00:33:32,520 --> 00:33:35,960 But the other great powers of Europe WERE troubled. 464 00:33:35,960 --> 00:33:40,800 They knew that Russia had now become a key player in world affairs. 465 00:33:42,760 --> 00:33:45,080 Catherine had to be courted. 466 00:33:45,080 --> 00:33:46,720 She had to be feared. 467 00:33:50,400 --> 00:33:54,560 Here's a British satirical print from 1791 called 468 00:33:54,560 --> 00:33:57,080 An Imperial Stride! 469 00:33:57,080 --> 00:34:01,120 And it shows Catherine the Great of Russia striding from Russia 470 00:34:01,120 --> 00:34:03,480 right over to Constantinople. 471 00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:06,560 Look, she's got her toe on the tip of a crescent moon. 472 00:34:06,560 --> 00:34:10,000 Meanwhile, all the European great powers are understandably 473 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:12,480 worried about Russia's expansion. 474 00:34:12,480 --> 00:34:14,800 But they're also taking the opportunity 475 00:34:14,800 --> 00:34:16,800 to look up Catherine's skirt. 476 00:34:16,800 --> 00:34:19,800 Here's King George III of Great Britain, for example, 477 00:34:19,800 --> 00:34:24,560 and he's saying, "What?! What?! What a prodigious expansion!" 478 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:28,520 "Never saw anything like it," 479 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,120 says Louis XVI of France. 480 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:33,280 While the Sultan of Turkey declares, 481 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:36,720 "The whole Turkish army wouldn't satisfy her." 482 00:34:39,040 --> 00:34:42,520 I think it's inevitable that Catherine, as a powerful woman, 483 00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:45,800 was targeted with sexual slanders. 484 00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,400 And it is true that she had quite a lot of lovers. 485 00:34:51,440 --> 00:34:53,160 Although he shouldn't be here, 486 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:57,240 there isn't any truth to the rumours of her and the horse. 487 00:34:57,240 --> 00:35:00,720 Though they are quite persistent. But she had no time for horses. 488 00:35:00,720 --> 00:35:03,080 She was just too busy with all these men. 489 00:35:04,520 --> 00:35:11,360 In 1774, she began an affair with a Guards officer, Grigori Potemkin. 490 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:17,760 Catherine called him "My colossus, my golden cockerel, my tiger". 491 00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:21,320 He rose to be the commander in chief of the Russian army 492 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:23,400 and effectively, her co-ruler. 493 00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:28,480 Potemkin was the love of Catherine's life. 494 00:35:28,480 --> 00:35:31,840 It's even possible that they had a secret marriage. 495 00:35:31,840 --> 00:35:35,880 And his influence endured even as she took other lovers. 496 00:35:35,880 --> 00:35:39,280 As she got older, they tended to be Guards officers, 497 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:41,160 much younger than she was. 498 00:35:41,160 --> 00:35:45,480 When she was 60, she took a last lover, Platon Zubov. 499 00:35:45,480 --> 00:35:47,640 He was 21. 500 00:35:47,640 --> 00:35:49,600 Go, Catherine! 501 00:35:52,240 --> 00:35:56,200 It's amazing that she still began each relationship 502 00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:59,040 with massive hope that this was the one 503 00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,240 and there was that romantic, 504 00:36:01,240 --> 00:36:04,120 not necessarily sexual sense, as she got old, 505 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:08,280 but very romantic - this person, I can love, he's going to love me. 506 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,800 There's also increasingly the sense 507 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:15,520 that they're largely for companionship. 508 00:36:15,520 --> 00:36:18,520 She used to love walking through her art collection, 509 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:21,800 going through her collection of cameos, poring over them, 510 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,760 cataloguing them together. 511 00:36:23,760 --> 00:36:28,400 And so, you get a sense of platonic enjoyment, 512 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,840 that brief time in her day 513 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:35,360 when she could relax and feel that she could be herself. 514 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,800 But constantly, that need to be loved. 515 00:36:43,280 --> 00:36:46,880 Catherine's other great passion was her palaces. 516 00:36:46,880 --> 00:36:51,560 But unlike the grand statements of the Winter Palace and Peterhof, 517 00:36:51,560 --> 00:36:54,640 her own commissions have a more tranquil atmosphere. 518 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:58,520 The Catherine Palace, south of St Petersburg, 519 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:02,600 was originally built by the Empress Elizabeth in a Baroque style. 520 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:07,400 But Catherine employed a Scottish architect, Charles Cameron, 521 00:37:07,400 --> 00:37:11,640 to add on a beautiful, classically inspired annexe, 522 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,160 more in tune with her own tastes. 523 00:37:24,520 --> 00:37:28,520 Although the rooms are inspired by classical architecture, 524 00:37:28,520 --> 00:37:32,480 they're constructed with a whole rainbow of Russian materials, 525 00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:34,200 like the marble... 526 00:37:36,920 --> 00:37:38,800 ..the jasper... 527 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:45,400 ..and the porphyry. 528 00:37:48,480 --> 00:37:52,640 Although they're small in scale, they are incredibly rich. 529 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:54,160 When they were complete, 530 00:37:54,160 --> 00:37:57,480 Catherine walked through with her architect, Mr Cameron, 531 00:37:57,480 --> 00:38:01,200 admiring them, but she was also heard to sigh, 532 00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:04,880 "Oh, but the cost! The cost!" 533 00:38:12,680 --> 00:38:17,080 The gallery also offered Catherine the perfect vantage point 534 00:38:17,080 --> 00:38:21,120 to look out over her English-style landscape gardens, 535 00:38:21,120 --> 00:38:25,560 a fashion that swept Europe in the late-18th century. 536 00:38:28,440 --> 00:38:32,280 English garden design had become another of her passions. 537 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:36,080 She tried to seduce the British royal gardener, Mr Capability Brown, 538 00:38:36,080 --> 00:38:38,840 to come over to Russia to work for her. 539 00:38:38,840 --> 00:38:42,960 She even shelled out a small fortune for a set of drawings 540 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:45,360 of the gardens at Hampton Court Palace, 541 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:48,360 under what was actually the mistaken impression 542 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:51,800 that Capability Brown had designed them himself. 543 00:38:51,800 --> 00:38:54,840 But this was one of her failures. 544 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:58,000 Capability Brown said, "Niet!" to Catherine the Great. 545 00:38:58,000 --> 00:38:59,960 He wasn't going to come to Russia. 546 00:39:01,600 --> 00:39:06,400 Catherine gave her young lover Platon Zubov apartments adjacent to her own. 547 00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,000 Her grandsons came here to play. 548 00:39:12,720 --> 00:39:17,200 Their father, the Grand Duke Paul, was a less frequent visitor. 549 00:39:18,400 --> 00:39:21,800 Like Peter the Great, Catherine had a troubled relationship 550 00:39:21,800 --> 00:39:23,520 with her own son. 551 00:39:23,520 --> 00:39:27,560 Paul's obsession with military ritual 552 00:39:27,560 --> 00:39:30,520 and his lack of interest in culture and ideas 553 00:39:30,520 --> 00:39:33,120 meant that he took after his father, 554 00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:35,840 whom Catherine had of course usurped. 555 00:39:37,160 --> 00:39:40,360 She found her eldest grandson Alexander 556 00:39:40,360 --> 00:39:42,760 much more of a kindred spirit. 557 00:39:46,360 --> 00:39:48,880 The classical annexe and its gardens 558 00:39:48,880 --> 00:39:52,960 offered a consoling ideal of order and rationality. 559 00:39:54,840 --> 00:39:56,080 But in Europe, 560 00:39:56,080 --> 00:40:00,280 the Enlightenment dream was turning into a darker reality. 561 00:40:01,880 --> 00:40:07,160 Catherine was horrified by the execution of Louis XVI in 1793... 562 00:40:08,600 --> 00:40:10,680 ..following the French Revolution. 563 00:40:11,840 --> 00:40:14,240 To begin with, there's a sense 564 00:40:14,240 --> 00:40:19,280 that the seriousness of the French Revolution didn't dawn on Catherine. 565 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:22,800 It seems she had never imagined that this could be the outcome 566 00:40:22,800 --> 00:40:24,640 of what she'd read in her youth. 567 00:40:24,640 --> 00:40:26,680 In a way, it was that split in her 568 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:29,200 between what she liked intellectually 569 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,760 and what she saw as possible for a ruler, 570 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:38,280 and the idea that Voltaire and his free thinking had led to this, 571 00:40:38,280 --> 00:40:42,520 to the collapse of a monarchy, was utterly horrifying. 572 00:40:47,480 --> 00:40:52,160 Even in her old age, Catherine worked indefatigably. 573 00:40:52,160 --> 00:40:56,360 She rose at seven in the morning, she drank strong coffee, 574 00:40:56,360 --> 00:40:59,640 and then she wrote in her office till nine. 575 00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,440 She spent the morning listening to reports, 576 00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:06,360 the afternoon reading and going through her correspondence. 577 00:41:06,360 --> 00:41:10,600 For all her palace building and patronage of the arts, 578 00:41:10,600 --> 00:41:14,200 for all the diplomatic and military successes of her reign, 579 00:41:14,200 --> 00:41:17,440 it was in her commitment to the quiet, steady, 580 00:41:17,440 --> 00:41:19,520 backroom work of government 581 00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:23,520 that Catherine was perhaps at her greatest. 582 00:41:26,680 --> 00:41:30,880 A portrait of the empress with one of her beloved greyhounds, 583 00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:34,960 painted towards the end of her life, shows them out for a stroll. 584 00:41:45,440 --> 00:41:47,840 As she walked her dog in this park, 585 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:52,000 Catherine could have looked back on a life of extraordinary achievements 586 00:41:52,000 --> 00:41:56,120 and there were tangible reminders of them in the monuments all about her. 587 00:42:10,560 --> 00:42:14,960 But poignantly, she had little faith in the future. 588 00:42:14,960 --> 00:42:18,800 Particularly under her son and successor, Paul. 589 00:42:18,800 --> 00:42:23,840 "My labour and care and warm concern for the good of the empire 590 00:42:23,840 --> 00:42:26,560 "will be in vain," she once wrote, 591 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:31,160 "because my son hasn't inherited my frame of mind." 592 00:42:34,880 --> 00:42:39,640 On the 5th of November 1796, Catherine suffered a stroke. 593 00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:43,080 Hours later, she'd died. 594 00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:45,760 She was 67. 595 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:52,720 That very morning, she'd risen early as usual and gone through her papers, 596 00:42:52,720 --> 00:42:56,240 working for the Russian Empire to the very end. 597 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:01,600 But now, the throne went to her embittered son, Paul. 598 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:05,560 The day he was crowned, he changed the law, 599 00:43:05,560 --> 00:43:09,800 so that no woman would ever sit on the Russian throne again. 600 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:13,280 Catherine's suspicion of Paul 601 00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:18,040 and preference for his son Alexander looked to be well founded. 602 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,200 Catherine could have disinherited Paul, 603 00:43:22,200 --> 00:43:24,320 but there were two problems with that. 604 00:43:24,320 --> 00:43:27,080 One is that any suggestion of doing that 605 00:43:27,080 --> 00:43:30,440 could have given rise to some sort of conspiracy, 606 00:43:30,440 --> 00:43:32,520 even a coup against herself. 607 00:43:32,520 --> 00:43:35,960 She of course had come to the throne by virtue of a coup. 608 00:43:35,960 --> 00:43:40,120 She was very sensitive to the fact that monarchs could be replaced 609 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:44,600 by this method. That was one danger, I think, that she faced. 610 00:43:44,600 --> 00:43:47,480 The other one was, that if you're going to have a conspiracy, 611 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:49,280 you've got to have a conspirator. 612 00:43:49,280 --> 00:43:52,720 And Alexander didn't show any willingness whatsoever, 613 00:43:52,720 --> 00:43:55,600 as far as one can tell, to take on that mantle 614 00:43:55,600 --> 00:43:59,360 and to take his father's place as Catherine's heir. 615 00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,760 As well as undermining his mother's legacy, 616 00:44:04,760 --> 00:44:07,240 Paul soon alienated the court 617 00:44:07,240 --> 00:44:10,920 by his fixation with religious and military ritual. 618 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,000 Concerns also grew among the powerful Guards regiments 619 00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:18,680 about Paul's erratic foreign policy. 620 00:44:18,680 --> 00:44:21,680 While Catherine had commanded widespread affection, 621 00:44:21,680 --> 00:44:25,400 Emperor Paul knew full well that he was loathed, 622 00:44:25,400 --> 00:44:28,560 just as his father, Peter III, had been. 623 00:44:28,560 --> 00:44:31,440 And he knew how that had turned out. 624 00:44:39,880 --> 00:44:42,160 In the centre of St Petersburg, 625 00:44:42,160 --> 00:44:47,560 the increasingly paranoid Paul built the forbidding St Michael's Castle. 626 00:44:49,120 --> 00:44:52,280 It was surrounded by a moat and armed with cannons. 627 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:56,320 Here, Paul could lock himself in every night, 628 00:44:56,320 --> 00:44:59,080 with his sons, Alexander and Constantine. 629 00:44:59,080 --> 00:45:00,880 But when the end came, 630 00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:04,560 all his attempts at security counted for nothing. 631 00:45:06,480 --> 00:45:08,400 One night in March 1801, 632 00:45:08,400 --> 00:45:12,440 conspirators forced their way into the royal bed chamber 633 00:45:12,440 --> 00:45:14,920 and a grim farce followed. 634 00:45:14,920 --> 00:45:18,200 Emperor Paul tried to hide behind a fire screen, 635 00:45:18,200 --> 00:45:21,640 but he left his feet sticking out and they got spotted. 636 00:45:21,640 --> 00:45:25,920 The conspirators tried to arrest him and then a fight broke out. 637 00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:29,320 The emperor got bashed over the head with a lethal weapon. 638 00:45:29,320 --> 00:45:31,160 It was a snuff box. 639 00:45:31,160 --> 00:45:33,800 A few moments later, he was dead. 640 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,840 So the conspirators went to wake up Paul's son, Alexander, 641 00:45:36,840 --> 00:45:38,880 a few bedrooms away. 642 00:45:38,880 --> 00:45:42,280 Alexander was horrified about what had happened, 643 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:44,640 so the conspirators said to him, 644 00:45:44,640 --> 00:45:47,520 "Man up, Alexander! Stop whimpering! 645 00:45:47,520 --> 00:45:49,760 "It's time for you to rule!" 646 00:45:49,760 --> 00:45:53,440 Catherine had seen her grandson as her true heir, 647 00:45:53,440 --> 00:45:56,240 a future Russian Alexander the Great. 648 00:45:57,840 --> 00:46:01,200 Alexander had the typical male Romanov love 649 00:46:01,200 --> 00:46:04,080 of uniforms and military etiquette. 650 00:46:04,080 --> 00:46:06,920 But he shared Catherine's reforming instincts, 651 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:10,280 although he did lack her independence of mind. 652 00:46:12,320 --> 00:46:14,680 Alexander came to the throne 653 00:46:14,680 --> 00:46:18,920 at a time when Napoleon Bonaparte was upending Europe. 654 00:46:18,920 --> 00:46:23,880 Russia joined Austria and Britain in a coalition against Napoleon 655 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:28,200 and Alexander soon faced him on the battlefield. 656 00:46:31,440 --> 00:46:35,600 Napoleon was a military man who fancied himself as an emperor, 657 00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:39,960 but Alexander was an emperor who fancied himself as a military man. 658 00:46:39,960 --> 00:46:45,160 But it all went wrong for Alexander in 1805 at the Battle of Austerlitz. 659 00:46:45,160 --> 00:46:47,920 he'd taken command of the army himself, 660 00:46:47,920 --> 00:46:50,640 but he'd asked them to attack prematurely. 661 00:46:50,640 --> 00:46:51,960 It was disastrous. 662 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:05,840 Many of the Russians and their allies, the Austrians, were killed. 663 00:47:05,840 --> 00:47:09,520 Alexander realised that this had been his own fault. 664 00:47:09,520 --> 00:47:12,360 He was so upset about it that he burst into tears 665 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:15,280 and he had to be sedated with opium. 666 00:47:15,280 --> 00:47:18,200 He also had to make peace with Napoleon. 667 00:47:21,040 --> 00:47:23,960 Alexander was summoned to Tilsit in Prussia. 668 00:47:26,360 --> 00:47:29,320 Napoleon had two major demands. 669 00:47:29,320 --> 00:47:32,760 Russia was to join the economic blockade of Britain, 670 00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:35,120 the so-called Continental System. 671 00:47:35,120 --> 00:47:39,360 And France was to get control of Russia's neighbour, Poland. 672 00:47:40,880 --> 00:47:43,800 The two emperors signed their peace treaty 673 00:47:43,800 --> 00:47:46,120 on a barge in the middle of a river. 674 00:47:46,120 --> 00:47:49,080 A wobbly setting for a wobbly deal. 675 00:47:50,720 --> 00:47:54,360 On the surface, the Treaty of Tilsit was the meeting of two equals. 676 00:47:54,360 --> 00:47:57,280 The reality was, though, that these were not equals. 677 00:47:57,280 --> 00:47:58,800 Napoleon was the boss. 678 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:02,080 Why did Tilsit break down? 679 00:48:02,080 --> 00:48:05,000 Well, it broke down because that sort of imbalance 680 00:48:05,000 --> 00:48:07,120 always has to be an unstable treaty. 681 00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:10,360 In economic terms, it proved almost impossible for Russia 682 00:48:10,360 --> 00:48:13,320 to continue to be a member of the Continental System, 683 00:48:13,320 --> 00:48:16,480 but much more important than that, it was quite intolerable 684 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:19,640 for Alexander and for Russia for Napoleon to control Poland. 685 00:48:19,640 --> 00:48:21,600 That was never going to be acceptable. 686 00:48:23,280 --> 00:48:25,640 Behind Napoleon's back, 687 00:48:25,640 --> 00:48:29,800 Alexander resumed trade with France's great enemy, Britain. 688 00:48:29,800 --> 00:48:33,640 By 1812, Napoleon had had enough. 689 00:48:33,640 --> 00:48:37,600 He decided that he could bend Alexander to his will 690 00:48:37,600 --> 00:48:39,280 by invading Russia. 691 00:48:39,280 --> 00:48:40,760 Or so he thought. 692 00:48:40,760 --> 00:48:45,480 Napoleon was now facing an Alexander who was older and wiser. 693 00:48:45,480 --> 00:48:48,360 Alexander wasn't going to make the same mistake 694 00:48:48,360 --> 00:48:50,440 as at Austerlitz in 1805. 695 00:48:50,440 --> 00:48:54,560 This time, he left the command of his army to the professionals. 696 00:48:59,680 --> 00:49:02,880 Rather than meet Napoleon's mighty army head on, 697 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:06,240 the Russian commanders drew the French deeper and deeper 698 00:49:06,240 --> 00:49:09,800 inside the country, stretching their supply lines. 699 00:49:14,160 --> 00:49:17,480 Meanwhile, from the safety of St Petersburg, 700 00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:21,200 Alexander tried to govern his empire and rally his people. 701 00:49:23,240 --> 00:49:28,320 On September 7th, 1812, the Russians, under General Kutuzov, 702 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:33,080 finally confronted Napoleon at Borodino, near Moscow. 703 00:49:36,320 --> 00:49:39,480 For Napoleon, it was now or never. 704 00:49:39,480 --> 00:49:43,040 His forces and resources were at their limit. 705 00:49:45,880 --> 00:49:51,240 Borodino was a huge battle, involving a quarter of a million troops. 706 00:49:51,240 --> 00:49:55,080 And it was commemorated in this huge panoramic painting 707 00:49:55,080 --> 00:49:57,080 by the artist Franz Roubaud. 708 00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:04,560 115 metres long, it's housed in a purpose-built museum in Moscow. 709 00:50:05,880 --> 00:50:10,000 And what tricks has it used to bring it alive, as a painter? 710 00:50:10,000 --> 00:50:12,560 Well, for example, do you see 711 00:50:12,560 --> 00:50:16,200 the Russian cavalry, which are attacking the French positions? Yes. 712 00:50:16,200 --> 00:50:19,800 The troopers' heads are much more numerous than the heads of horses. 713 00:50:21,240 --> 00:50:22,880 So he's made it look like a mass, 714 00:50:22,880 --> 00:50:25,600 by doing lots and lots of heads and not so many bodies. 715 00:50:25,600 --> 00:50:27,960 Well, it was most important for the painter 716 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:30,800 to give the impression of cavalry in attack. Yes. 717 00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:33,600 Which was furious and very quick and very exciting. 718 00:50:45,200 --> 00:50:47,720 So are we right at the front line here? 719 00:50:47,720 --> 00:50:50,360 These are the Russians coming up to meet the French? 720 00:50:50,360 --> 00:50:52,600 Yes, and they are starting 721 00:50:52,600 --> 00:50:55,320 a counter-attack against the French troops. 722 00:50:59,640 --> 00:51:03,880 Also a column of French infantry is attacking the Russian position. 723 00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:10,400 Also, French cannons are firing at the Russian position. 724 00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:26,320 Hang on, haven't we missed out Napoleon? 725 00:51:26,320 --> 00:51:30,000 Well, Napoleon... Where is he? Well, you've missed Napoleon already. 726 00:51:30,000 --> 00:51:32,680 Is that Napoleon on the white horse? 727 00:51:32,680 --> 00:51:35,440 Yes, this is Napoleon and these are some of his bodyguards. 728 00:51:35,440 --> 00:51:38,640 Now, this is said to have been 729 00:51:38,640 --> 00:51:42,480 the most deadly single day of fighting in history. 730 00:51:42,480 --> 00:51:43,880 It probably was. 731 00:51:43,880 --> 00:51:47,640 In what league of casualties are we talking? 732 00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:50,640 Both sides lost about 20,000 troops. 733 00:51:50,640 --> 00:51:54,880 Many more were wounded and many more died after the battle. 734 00:51:54,880 --> 00:51:58,200 Did anybody on the day actually know who had won? 735 00:51:58,200 --> 00:52:01,480 Well, Napoleon claimed that he won the battle 736 00:52:01,480 --> 00:52:04,840 and Kutuzov also said that he defeated Napoleon himself. 737 00:52:04,840 --> 00:52:09,160 Leo Tolstoy said that the Russian side scored a moral victory 738 00:52:09,160 --> 00:52:13,160 because the Russian army are many soldiers which were inexperienced, 739 00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:16,040 fought on equal terms with a very strong army, 740 00:52:16,040 --> 00:52:18,280 which was made up of best European troops. 741 00:52:18,280 --> 00:52:21,400 Before the battle, Russian troops were preparing for death. 742 00:52:24,640 --> 00:52:26,840 They didn't want to give up Moscow. 743 00:52:29,040 --> 00:52:32,280 So it was a victory for the French, really? Not exactly. 744 00:52:32,280 --> 00:52:34,480 If you were French, would you still tell me 745 00:52:34,480 --> 00:52:37,320 that this wasn't a victory for Napoleon? Perhaps not. 746 00:52:43,240 --> 00:52:46,800 What mattered was that Napoleon had failed to destroy 747 00:52:46,800 --> 00:52:49,040 the Russian forces at Borodino. 748 00:52:50,720 --> 00:52:54,200 He realised that this was an unwinnable campaign. 749 00:52:56,120 --> 00:52:59,760 But he found a consolation prize near to hand. 750 00:53:04,160 --> 00:53:07,800 The Russians were too weakened to defend Moscow. 751 00:53:07,800 --> 00:53:11,400 The city was left wide open for Napoleon to take. 752 00:53:12,560 --> 00:53:16,120 This should have been a terrific moment for Napoleon. 753 00:53:16,120 --> 00:53:20,800 After all, St Petersburg may have been the country's official capital, 754 00:53:20,800 --> 00:53:23,000 but Moscow was still its spiritual heart. 755 00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:26,800 Tsars were still crowned in the Kremlin just there. 756 00:53:26,800 --> 00:53:29,360 But the Russians weren't going to give Napoleon 757 00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:33,360 the satisfaction of officially surrendering their city to him. 758 00:53:33,360 --> 00:53:37,520 Instead, the just abandoned it, leaving it barely governable. 759 00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:42,000 Looting quickly broke out, 760 00:53:42,000 --> 00:53:44,880 and far more deadly - fire. 761 00:53:48,880 --> 00:53:52,320 Whether they were caused by accident or arson, 762 00:53:52,320 --> 00:53:56,560 the flames devastated a city still largely built of wood. 763 00:53:58,400 --> 00:54:01,200 More than three-quarters of Moscow was destroyed. 764 00:54:03,360 --> 00:54:06,600 For Alexander, the struggle against Napoleon 765 00:54:06,600 --> 00:54:09,320 now took on divine proportions. 766 00:54:13,800 --> 00:54:17,880 He declared that the salvation of his own soul rested on 767 00:54:17,880 --> 00:54:21,080 whether he could save Europe from ruin. 768 00:54:29,440 --> 00:54:34,200 At ten o'clock on the morning of March 31st, 1814, 769 00:54:34,200 --> 00:54:37,800 nearly a year and a half after the burning of Moscow, 770 00:54:37,800 --> 00:54:41,520 Paris resounded to the arrival of a victorious army. 771 00:54:44,280 --> 00:54:47,920 But it wasn't the French returning home in triumph. 772 00:54:47,920 --> 00:54:50,560 It was the forces allied against them, 773 00:54:50,560 --> 00:54:53,000 and at their head was Alexander. 774 00:54:55,680 --> 00:54:58,920 No foreign conqueror had reached Paris 775 00:54:58,920 --> 00:55:02,760 since Henry V of England 400 years before. 776 00:55:02,760 --> 00:55:05,240 But Alexander was magnanimous. 777 00:55:05,240 --> 00:55:09,080 He presented himself more as a liberator than a conqueror. 778 00:55:09,080 --> 00:55:12,800 He even rode on a horse that the French themselves had given him 779 00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:14,720 five years before. 780 00:55:14,720 --> 00:55:17,920 And he promised them that they needn't worry about Paris. 781 00:55:17,920 --> 00:55:20,360 Unlike Moscow, their city would be safe. 782 00:55:20,360 --> 00:55:24,680 And on the very same day, he made a public declaration 783 00:55:24,680 --> 00:55:31,000 that the allies would recognise and guarantee a new French constitution. 784 00:55:33,440 --> 00:55:36,520 And while Parisians witnessed the exotic sight 785 00:55:36,520 --> 00:55:39,920 of Cossacks setting up camp on the Champs-Elysees, 786 00:55:39,920 --> 00:55:44,720 Alexander's great adversary, Napoleon, was packed off into exile. 787 00:55:46,560 --> 00:55:51,400 So, how had it all gone so wrong so quickly for Napoleon 788 00:55:51,400 --> 00:55:53,640 and so right for Alexander? 789 00:55:55,000 --> 00:55:57,480 Well, after the destruction of Moscow, 790 00:55:57,480 --> 00:56:01,880 Napoleon had ordered his grand army to withdraw from Russia, 791 00:56:01,880 --> 00:56:06,120 but on the way back, they got caught in a ferocious winter 792 00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:08,520 that devastated their ranks. 793 00:56:08,520 --> 00:56:12,200 Then, for more than a year, Russia and its allies 794 00:56:12,200 --> 00:56:15,600 had pursued Napoleon's weakened forces across Europe. 795 00:56:16,840 --> 00:56:18,960 Now, Paris was theirs. 796 00:56:20,760 --> 00:56:24,080 How Alexander must have savoured this moment. 797 00:56:25,240 --> 00:56:29,280 It was as glorious a moment as any Romanov had achieved 798 00:56:29,280 --> 00:56:31,640 in the history of the dynasty. 799 00:56:31,640 --> 00:56:34,560 Earlier Russian monarchs, like his grandmother, 800 00:56:34,560 --> 00:56:39,320 Catherine the Great, had aspired to French sophistication. 801 00:56:39,320 --> 00:56:43,280 But now, Alexander had the chance to show the French 802 00:56:43,280 --> 00:56:45,760 how things were done properly, 803 00:56:45,760 --> 00:56:50,040 how a truly civilised nation behaved in victory. 804 00:57:00,000 --> 00:57:03,800 Russian troops remained in Paris for several months. 805 00:57:03,800 --> 00:57:07,480 There's even a story that the very Parisian idea of a bistro 806 00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:09,960 dates back to 1814. 807 00:57:09,960 --> 00:57:12,920 The word in Russian means "quickly". 808 00:57:14,120 --> 00:57:17,240 And this cafe claims to be the first to take its name 809 00:57:17,240 --> 00:57:20,400 from hungry Russians shouting, "Food! Bistro!" 810 00:57:22,080 --> 00:57:25,360 But there was the whiff of something dangerous among the Russian troops. 811 00:57:26,560 --> 00:57:28,760 Especially some of the officers. 812 00:57:30,000 --> 00:57:33,920 The campaign in Europe had exposed the Russian officers to countries 813 00:57:33,920 --> 00:57:37,000 that didn't have the pernicious practice of serfdom, 814 00:57:37,000 --> 00:57:40,760 countries where the ruler didn't have unlimited powers. 815 00:57:40,760 --> 00:57:42,640 This was very exciting. 816 00:57:42,640 --> 00:57:45,160 You can imagine them sitting in Parisian cafes 817 00:57:45,160 --> 00:57:50,000 and saying to each other, "How come Tsar Alexander is going to let 818 00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:55,280 "the French have a new constitution, but he won't let us have one at all?" 819 00:57:55,280 --> 00:57:57,840 This meant that when they got home, 820 00:57:57,840 --> 00:58:02,520 some of them would be ready to call for unprecedented change. 821 00:58:02,520 --> 00:58:05,600 And quickly. Bistro! Bistro! 822 00:58:08,240 --> 00:58:13,160 Next time, the story of the Romanovs reaches its tragic endgame. 823 00:58:15,360 --> 00:58:18,280 As the tsars struggle to hold on to power, 824 00:58:18,280 --> 00:58:21,280 during the final century of the dynasty, 825 00:58:21,280 --> 00:58:25,080 they embrace reform, repression, 826 00:58:25,080 --> 00:58:26,520 and... 827 00:58:26,520 --> 00:58:27,920 Rasputin. 828 00:58:27,920 --> 00:58:30,640 And face their deadliest challenge - 829 00:58:30,640 --> 00:58:32,440 revolution.