Russia

The great Russian author Anton Chekov drew inspiration from the countryside and explored the practical and spiritual impact of trees and the consequences of deforestation.

Almost everything written about and by Kim Philby is wrong, claims Boris Volodarsky. The Soviet spy and his KGB masters sought to exaggerate his successes against the West, beginning with the fictions that surround Philby’s first mission during the Spanish Civil War.

Mark Bryant admires a Russian artist whose lampoons of Napoleon inspired some notable British caricaturists.

A.J.P. Taylor gives a decidedly mid-20th century view of a mid-19th century war, its aims, and legacy. 

Jeremy Black examines A.J.P. Taylor’s account of the Crimean War, published in February 1951.

Embarking on a study of the Russian revolutionary’s long years in exile, Helen Rappaport unveiled the strangely compelling and sometimes surprising private life of a man

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.

Chris Corin exposes the huge apparatus created by Tsarist Russia to combat the threat of revolution.

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.