Soviet Union

Robert Service reconsiders Norman Pereira's revisionist account of Stalin's pursuit of power in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, first published in History Today in 1992.

After he was formally condemned to death in Moscow, the Mexican government offered Trotsky refuge and protection, on December 6th 1936.

Chris Corin ressurects the life of a Soviet survivor whose remarkable and significant career deserves to be better known.

Nikita Khrushchev died on September 11th, 1971. He was made First Secretary after Stalin's death in 1953 and gradually established himself as supreme Soviet leader. Ian D. Thatcher explains how he dealt with Stalin's legacy.

The death of Stalin in 1953 marked a shift in the Soviet Union. Robert Hornsby discusses the underground groups that mushroomed in the aftermath and how the state responded to them.

On a research trip to Moscow in the late 1990s, Deborah Kaple was given a package of papers by a former Gulag official who believed its contents would be of great interest to a western audience.

John Etty shows the vital importance of aviation in the Stalinist Soviet Union.

Ed Dutton looks at how the experience of Finland during the period 1945 to 1989 has led to a historical identity crisis for the nation that remains unresolved.

Richard Cavendish explains how, on September 12th, 1959, the Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first spacecraft to successfully reach the Moon.

Catherine Merridale examines competing versions of Russia's troubled past in the light of present politics.

Twenty years on from the fall of the Berlin Wall Martin Evans introduces a short series looking at changing attitudes to history in the former Communist states.

John Swift examines a vital element of the Cold War and assesses the motives of the Superpowers.

Ian D. Thatcher defends the record of Josef Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, and sees him as a forerunner of Gorbachev.