Welcome to Russian History Retold.

Episode 287, the Volga Part 3.

Last time, we covered the middle history of the Volga and the people who settled there.

Today we'll wrap things up.

We will discover the relationship with the mighty Volga and the last czarist period, followed by the Soviet Union's attempts at controlling

and exploiting its power through the remurgence of Russia. One of the most critical aspects of the Volga was its economic impact. As English

traveler Catherine Guthrie wrote, this about the river, quote, proud river. It bears upon its bosom cotton, machinery, and ships from England. Fish, oil, and fur from the white sea, oars and marbles from Siberia, rich bales from India and

Persia, wine, silk fruit, and hemp from the Caspian.

Its own stream and shores yielding envious quantities of salted fish, caviar, hides tallow,

and bone manure, which is largely exported.

What made the Vulga so accessible and usable in trade

was that it was navigable from about 80 kilometers from its source all the way to the

Caspian Sea.

There were only a few rapids, all found in the first part of the river.

But there was one catch.

It is frozen for a good chunk of each year.

Typically it opens in late March or early April and begins to freeze over in late October to early November.

It was also prone to flooding its banks during the spring meltdown.

During the late summer months there were issues quite often with insufficient water flowing. Oftentimes ships would be grounded

unable to move any further.

As Adam Lierius, someone we've found and we've heard about numerous times throughout the

podcast, who was a German scholar, mathematician,

...