Soviet Union

On March 16, 1921 the first Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement was signed; Sir Robert Hodgson headed Britain’s Commercial Mission to Moscow.

Leonard Schapiro examines the reasons behind the failure of the other revolutionary forces in revolutionary Russia.

Richard Hare recounts the history of Russia's Western metropolis.

Chris Corin elucidates important documents relating to the power struggle after Lenin's death.

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.