I'm going to go. He's

a-a-ra-s-s-s-s-a-s-s-a-s-a-s- Welcome to the Russian rulers podcast.

Episode 39.

Catherine the first to Elizabeth the first. 39. of Peter Alexeiovich Romanov.

Son of Alexis the first, grandson of the first Romanov Tsar, Michael the first.

The man who we've followed since episode 27 cast a shadow on his native Russia as white as the country

was long.

Those of us who love history come across people who we admire are fascinated by or are awed by. But Peter transcends these emotions. He was

a tyrant, a beneficent man, cruel yet gentle, but never dull.

I reminded of a friend who passed from this world last year,

the noted nutritionist Robert Crayhorn, who helped me become a not too shabby public speaker

by telling me that the kind of speakers that were successful and he wanted for his health conferences

could piss him off, could make him laugh, cry or think.

They could challenge or infuriate, but above all, they should never bore his audience.

Peter Alexeiovich could have been one hell of a speaker,

as his personality would certainly never bore anyone.

Now, last week I said I'd recount Peter's accomplishments here, but I'd rather do that in a slapshot episode later on this week.

Because Peter had not named a successor, there was a small debate as to who was to take

over as the one true ruler.

The reason I say small is because, in all honesty, Catherine's claim was most obvious as she had been

lavishly crowned as Empress just a few short years before the Tsar's death.

Still a woman had not ruled over the people known as the

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