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Before she became Catherine the Great, legendary empress of Russia, she was a smart but lonely girl called Sophia. 

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Catherine the Great - I: Not Quite Catherine Yet - Extra History

Before she became Catherine the Great, legendary empress of Russia, she was a smart but lonely girl named Sophia. Her mother ignored her until family connections proposed a marriage between Sophia and the presumptive heir to the Russian throne - and suddenly she was thrown from her quiet life in a backwoods mansion to the center of a cutthroat political world.

Comments

Anonymous

mother of the year wright.

Anonymous

A Russian woman rising to power. One of those things we didn't see last year. The other...

Anonymous

Third Comment and Third Like.

Anonymous

I am amazed at how interesting I found this video. History, it seems, is as entertaining as the way it is being told. I really hope schools would use your videos, learning history with them would be a blast.

Anonymous

I want to extend special thanks to Extra Credits, specifically in regards to the John Snow series. Back when it aired, I was still a young(er) aspiring student with no clear career goals, yet in one video I commented I might want to do the same thing as the archivist who had preserved the documents of London's water and sewage system for John Snow to retrieve and eventually make a miracle. Now in my current line of work, I work in the rigid medical industry where everything must be recorded to ensure quality to costumers and consideration for patients' health. And most recently, I made a presentation for customers about the work we do, in which I included a short segment about John Snow and how, in combination of problem solving, deduction and digging through information and documents, he was able to improve the public health for London and the world. The customers were impressed and I too was satisfied. And it began because I happened to watch a short YT-series highlighting something, that was for me completely unknown, and eventually paved the way for me to fulfill my career goals. So I thank you, EH, and I hope you will continue to deliver fun and informative lessons about history and perhaps inspire more people around the world to make history themselves.

Anonymous

yes i can see this becoming an interesting story over the next few weeks, expertly written as always.

Anonymous

The irony is that in one of my history games, I realized that the only way to survive was with a Russian alliance. The nation I was playing? Prussia. #accidentalhistoricalaccuracy

Anonymous

I hope there will be a series on Frederick The Great soon!

Anonymous

An excellent beginning. I can't wait for next episode!! **HUGE Kitty Hugs**

Anonymous

Do love when you get to cover women in history, even the Big Names tend to be overshadowed...

Anonymous

Yeesh, what a vain and self-centered mother. She's almost like a Disney villain.

Aaron Neumann

:) Good work... and I like how you got Fredrick der Grosse into the story.

Anonymous

I really enjoy how you guys make sure to remind us that whatever series you are doing is not occurring in a vacuum, but in a complex and interwoven society.

Anonymous

Also, any chance we could put the War of the False Dmitris (the time of troubles) up for a vote? I learned some about it in Russian History, but I would love a more in depth look. Its right along the same lines as a lot of the stories you guys do. Court intrigue, puppet Emperors, super complex bloodlines, pointless wars for power that only end up destroying the countryside. Its a lot of fun!

ExtraCredits

Sometimes they do! Our videos are always free to use for educational purposes, and nothing makes us happier than to hear from a student who either watched them in class or on their own to supplement their homework. If we're especially lucky, we inspire them to look into the story more for themselves, and learn all the details we weren't able to include!

ExtraCredits

What a great story! And I'm extra glad that John Snow got a little more attention. His methodical approach to figuring out that mystery was amazing, and deserves far more credit than it often gets as achievements like his do tend to be sidelined for military victories and the like. Thank you for watching, and here's hoping to learning about many more unknown but fascinating histories!

ExtraCredits

Catherine is pretty... great. :D Puns aside, I do think this is a great story, and I'm glad we finally get to talk about her!

ExtraCredits

I look on that sort of like reverse engineering history! Given the same geographical challenges and a game-specific set of threats, you find yourself pushed to make the same alliance as in real history and there's that moment of "Ohhhh, now it makes sense why they did that!"

ExtraCredits

It's unfortunate, isn't it? If Ned Kelly clocks in at 5 episodes like I'm expecting, the one-off will be about a woman in history. I won't say who, though. I enjoy suspense.

ExtraCredits

I had that same thought! (And she looks a little bit like Maleficent, in my opinion...)

Anonymous

@Extra Credits thank you for the info! I guess I should have looked harder at the different Patreon levels, my apologies on that. I will definitely take your advice for the future. @Aaron Jones Consider it a conspiracy! I was honestly thinking two episodes as well. One with a bit of Ivan the terrible, and background on the powers that are going to invade during the time of troubles. Another on the relationship between Fydor and Boris and the time leading up to the troubles. The series itself might only need to be 5 total though

Anonymous

Catherine is amazing and was a major player in one of the most fascinating time periods in history. It is a shame she is not as well known as other 18th century figures such as Marie Antoinette but hopefully this series helps change that :) I'm really looking forward to learning more about her!

ExtraCredits

She is amazing, and I would love it if we got more people to understand who she is and why she totally deserves the sobriquet "Great."

Jim McGeehin

The intrigues of Elizabeth of Russia and Frederick the Great are quite fascinating as well. Will the Second Miracle of the House of Brandenberg make its way into the next episode?

Anonymous

Another monarch kind of like Catherine is Elizabeth of England so maybe that would be a good ruler for the next series. If you do not think that's enough to do an entire series than you can expand it to all the Tudors because I think that Henry the 7th is won of the unsung ruler of world history.

Anonymous

sorry that word is supposed to be one not won.

Bill Lemmond

Wow. I wish I were so much better at absorbing what I hear, instead of only what I read. But this was not just educational it's fun, and I will watch agian. :)

Anonymous

It's funny that Marie Antoinette is better known than Catherine.