Russia: Part Two: The Rise & Fall Of The Soviets

The second part in this fascinating Radio 4 production covers the post-revolutionary period up to the present day and includes: Civil war, The Peasant's Revolution, the End of the World Revolution in the 1922, industrialization, purges and the rewriting of history, World War Two, the Nuclear Age beginning in 1949, the death of Stalin in 1953 followed by ideological expansion in the 50s and 60s under Krushchev, Gorbachevs reforms in the 80s and 90s leading to destabilization, the Chernobyl disaster, Yeltsin and the end of the Soviet Union, Putin, and the reassertion of democracy. Finally, Sixsmith pulls all the themes of both series together and looks at Russian identity under five headings: Autocracy vs. Democracy, East vs. West, Collectivism vs. Individualism, and Multi-ethnic empire vs. Slavic nation state.