Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia

In this first episode, Lucy Worsley investigates the beginning of the Romanovs' 300-year reign over Russia. When Russia was without a leader in 1613, 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov was offered the crown of Russia.

Worsley examines the extraordinary reign of Catherine the Great, and the traumatic conflict with Napoleonic France that provides the setting for the Leo Tolstoy's classic novel War and Peace.

Worsley concludes her study of the Romanov dynasty, investigating how the family's grip on Russia unraveled in the last century of their reign. She shows how during the years 1825-1918 four tsars tried to deal with the growing pressure for constitutional reform and revolution.