Russia

Edward Acton looks to the Tsarist ancien regime of the 19th century to set the scene for a historical understanding of Russia that does not throw out the baby with its Marxist bathwater.

In the light of the revised interest in the Soviet cinema Richard Taylor questions whether our traditional view of its output after 1917 as mere uplift (dreary or otherwise) is justified.

'You played your hand well. Well done.' High praise indeed from Stalin to an uneasy ally, as John Young describes in this account of the one and only meeting of 'Uncle Joe' and France's 'Man of Destiny'.

Pamela Tudor-Craig tours the cathedrals of the Kremlin.

Julie Richards-Williams examines the millennium of Christianity in Russia

Georgy Smirnov investigates the reforming policies in the USSR under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Paul Dukes takes a look back on the Russian Revolution.

A historical pioneer of the 'longue durée' who found his own liberal vision of a European Russia clouded by the contradictions and pessimism of his own times.