The Romanovs and the Time of Troubles: From Boris Godunov to Michael Romanov

Before the Romanov dynasty could rise, Russia had to survive the Time of Troubles — a chaotic period of famine, civil war, foreign invasion, and false tsars. This episode follows the collapse of the Rurikid dynasty with the death of Tsar Feodor I in 1598, the disastrous reign of Boris Godunov, the appearance of the False Dmitry backed by Polish-Lithuanian forces, and the brutal siege of the Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra. We explore the role of the Cossacks, the boyar infighting, and the foreign intervention that nearly ended Russian statehood. The conversation culminates in the Minin and Pozharsky uprising that expelled the Poles from Moscow and the Zemsky Sobor of 1613 that elected the sixteen-year-old Michael Romanov as tsar, beginning a dynasty that would rule for three centuries. #TimeOfTroubles #BorisGodunov #FalseDmitry #Smuta #RomanovDynasty #ZemskySobor #MininAndPozharsky #Cossacks #PolishInvasion #SigismundIII #TrinityLavra #MichaelRomanov #Rurikids #Famine #RussianHistory #History #FexingoHistory #EasternEurope Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo