And the Welcome to Russian History Retold.

Episode 170. No foreseeable end. Vladimir Putin.

Over the past nearly six years I've covered a number of topics relating to Russian history.

In the beginning, when I planned this podcast, I was going to spend a couple of years covering

the people who ruled over the country my mother's side of the family came from.

Well, as you might well know, that plan went out the window pretty early on.

I really fell in love with Russian history.

My initial plan was to have around 60 or so

episodes. Currently this is the 196th one, a sum were not numbered.

About six months ago, I decided that it was time to end things.

My professional life was entering a new phase with some amazing opportunities coming to reality.

As the months went on, I resigned myself to putting together a plan to wrap the podcast up.

Problem was, my family knew that this podcast and the tens of thousands of my listeners

were now part of my life and who I am. On New Year's Eve, my wife and youngest daughter convinced me to continue the

podcast as long as I wanted and they'd be behind me, which I will continue to do so as long

as there are topics to cover.

Since I made the announcement on Facebook, and if you haven't been on the Facebook page,

this is why you might not have known about this, that the show will go on. I've been overwhelmed by the positive response. Thanks

to everyone for that. So what will the next phase of the podcast be? I'm going to be going back to the beginning and the premise of the

show except I'm going in reverse. I'm going to cover the Russian rulers all over

again but a little differently.

Now instead of recounting their lives, achievements, and failures,

...