Content Warning. This episode contains strong language.

Welcome to true spies, brief histories.

Season two, Spy Cities

Our cities are the arena in which the great game of espionage is played,

providing all manner of stage setting,

from grand embassies to average-looking suburban homes.

In these bonus minisodes,

we'll draw on the knowledge of our true spies experts

to enhance your understanding of the secret forces that have always operated in the places we call home.

It was non-stop.

They devoted incredible resources against Americans in Moscow.

I'm Joe Foley, series producer for true spies.

And this is a brief history of Moscow.

Russia is at war.

What began as a grab for territory has become a slow grind, years in the fighting.

The people are restless, critical infrastructure is failing, and the economy is in tatters.

In Moscow, a strong man looks around his court and asks himself one question.

Which one of these total bastards is going to stab me in the back? If this all sounds familiar, it's only because history has a habit

of rhyming, because the year is 1548, and Sir Ivan IV has started a war he can't finish.

It's the Livonian War, fought between Ivan's forces and a coalition of Eastern and Northern European powers.

They're vying for control of Old Livonia, a territory that covers present-day Estonia and Lithuania.

But as the war drags on, the Tsar is keenly aware of the need to maintain his grip on power.

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