Russia

In 1773, writes A. Lentin, the radical philosophe paid a difficult visit to his patroness in St Petersburg.

To deal with revolutionary violence and social unrest, writes Patricia Wright, the Tsar granted one of his generals almost dictatorial powers.

The great Emperor was a powerful sovereign, but, writes Ian Grey, disappointed in his weak and nervous son, Peter proved a stern and cruel parent.

The uprising by officers in 1825 in St Petersburg was premature, writes Ian Grey, but even contemporaries recognised that seeds had been sown which one day would produce important consequences.

Shafirov accompanied Peter the Great on his grand embassy to western Europe and, writes W.E. Butler, was one of the Tsar’s closest advisers on foreign affairs.

The circumstances in which the Emperor Nicholas decided to send troops into Hungary in 1849, writes Ian Young, were remarkably similar to those which brought Soviet tanks swarming over the Carpathians in November 1956.

W. Bruce Lincoln describes how Nicholas exercised a more personal control in state affairs than any other ruler since Peter the Great.

Catherine’s cordial relations with the greatest thinkers of her day were no mistake, writes A. Lentin, but an integral part of her statecraft.

It was Russia’s tragedy, writes Leonard Schapiro, that a greater man than Stalin supplied Stalin with the means to put his nightmare Utopia into practice.

The crossing of the Beresina alone cost Napoleon more than 20,000 men. But, writes Alan Collis, some fortunate survivors of the terrible retreat from Moscow struggled home to tell the tale.