Romanovs and the Okhrana: Spies, Traps, and the Azef Affair

The Romanov Dynasty: Rise, Power, and Bloody End — Fexingo History · Sep 2, 2026 · 11m · transcript

While we often focus on the imperial court’s glitter or the tragic end of Nicholas II, this episode dives into the shadowy machinery that kept the Romanovs in power for centuries: the Okhrana, Russia’s secret police. We trace the evolution from Ivan the Terrible’s Oprichnina to the sophisticated surveillance state of the late 19th century, focusing heavily on the infamous case of Yevno Azef. As both a high-ranking officer in the Okhrana and the leader of the Socialist Revolutionary Combat Organization, Azef embodied the paradox of imperial Russia—fighting revolutionaries while being one…