Stalingrad: The Unbreakable City
The Battle of Stalingrad began in August 1942, subjecting its residents to months of living hell. But few doubted that the city was worth defending.
Russia
Was the Cold War the Biggest Change in Russia’s Relationship with the West?
Announced on 12 March 1947 with the intention of containing Soviet expansion, the Truman Doctrine is sometimes seen as the first declaration of the Cold War. Four experts ask whether the conflict’s legacy is a defining one.
Can’t Go On
Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, had aimed to bring new life to a system in which he believed until the last.
One Giant Leap for Tortoise-Kind
The first of Earth’s creatures to hurtle into the Moon’s orbit were slow and sedentary residents of the Great Steppe.
Writ in Water
A kaleidoscopic tour of the Volga and the history of the people who have resided by it.
On the Defensive
From the founding of Kiev in the ninth century through to the present, the Russian Empire has been both a predator and a victim.
Could the Soviet Union Have Survived?
We ask four historians of the Cold War whether the demise of the USSR was as inevitable as it now seems.
The Western Gaze
Russian history through western correspondents.
‘The Russia Anxiety’ by Mark B. Smith review
Why is the West so suspicious of Russia? The Russia Anxiety: And How History Can Resolve It by Mark B. Smith attempts to answer.
Postcards and the Russian Revolution
Short, angry missives pinged across the world – Russian propagandists used postcards to get their message across.