Catherine the Great and the Question of Europe
The Bear moves west. Russia, according to Catherine the Great, is a European state. But is it really? Misha Glenny on Moscow's expansion into the largest landmass in the world.
The extraordinary tale of how a small fortressed city became the centre of the largest contiguous landmass in the world, presented by Misha Glenny. It was Peter the Great who created a new capital on the Baltic, and Catherine the Great who extended Russian influence south and west.
Sweden, Poland, and the Ottomans all feel the expansion of Russia's empire in a century of geopolitical drama. This is the build up to today's war in Ukraine.
With contributions from Virginia Rounding, biographer of Catherine the Great; Professor Simon Dixon of UCL; Professor Robert Service, author of The Last Tsar; and Dr Sarah Young of the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies.
The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
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- Mon 23 Jan 202311:00BBC Radio 4
- Mon 17 Apr 202316:00BBC Radio 4
