And the The Welcome to Russian History Retold episode 159 Leo Tolstoy, boyhood and Youth.

Last time, we covered the childhood and early boyhood of famed author Leo Tolstoy.

Today, we start with the move to Kazan with the siblings after the death of their father.

I'd like to start today with a round of thanks to all of you who graciously donated to the

podcast.

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Go to the blog site at www.

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Now before we get to the Tolstoy family, let's talk a little bit about the town of Kazan.

If you remember a few years ago in the Iven The Terrible series,

we recounted the Siege of Kazan as an important event in the growth of Russia.

Ivan the fourth actually got his moniker, The Terrible, because of his victory over the Tatars.

For centuries, the Tatars were the scourge of the Russian countryside.

While the Russians had defeated them at the Battle of Kula Kova in 1380, it wasn't until 1552 under Ivan that Kazan was finally bought under the

sousinarity of Moscow. Previous to that, tens of thousands of Russians almost every year have been captured during raids by the Kazan Tatars and sold into slavery.

These raids were burned into the psyche of the Russian people and was to create an animosity that would last for centuries and still goes on to this very day.

In Tolstoy's Kazan, there was a rift both physical and emotional between the native Tatars and the Russians.

The town had a population that made it a pretty good sized place for 19th century Russia, but it was nowhere near being considered a large city like Moscow, St. Petersburg.

The Tartars stayed away from the Russians and vice versa. The High Society of Kazan was a bored bunch, a society that Leo and his family were very much part of. Living with his aunt and uncle now, the Yushkovs,

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