Catherine the Great and the Potemkin Villages Myth

The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History · Jun 3, 2026 · 8m · transcript

This episode of The Romanov Dynasty digs into one of the most persistent legends about Catherine the Great: the so-called Potemkin villages. We explore what actually happened during her 1787 tour of New Russia and the Crimea, the relationship between Catherine and her favorite Grigory Potemkin, and how the myth of fake settlements was invented by her enemies. We also cover the annexation of Crimea, the founding of cities like Kherson, Nikolaev, and Sevastopol, and the role of commanders like Alexander Suvorov and Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. Along the way, we discuss Potemkin's real…