The Romanovs and the Time of Troubles

Before the Romanovs, Russia was consumed by the Time of Troubles — a 15-year nightmare of famine, civil war, foreign invasion, and a shocking collapse of the state. This episode traces the chaos: the death of Tsar Feodor I in 1598 ends the Rurikid dynasty; the False Dmitrys, pretenders claiming to be Ivan the Terrible's dead son; the Polish-Lithuanian occupation of Moscow; the siege of the Trinity Lavra; and the unlikely hero, Kuzma Minin, a Nizhny Novgorod butcher who rallied a volunteer army alongside Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. We explore how the Romanovs — specifically Mikhail Romanov, a 16-year-old boy — were elected in 1613, ending the Troubles and launching a dynasty that would rule for 304 years. A story of resilience, myth-making, and the brutal birth of a new ruling house. #TimeOfTroubles #Romanovs #FalseDmitry #KuzmaMinin #DmitryPozharsky #MikhailRomanov #PolishLithuanianCommonwealth #BorisGodunov #TsarFeodorI #ZemskySobor #TrinityLavra #RussianHistory #Smuta #NizhnyNovgorod #History #FexingoHistory #EasternEuropeanHistory #Rurikids Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo