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Film: Lenin and the birth of Soviet Russia
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
Having changed the course of Russian society Lenin now needed to secure his Bolshevik survival. Unlike his predecessor he saw no need to continue with the Imperialist policies of a war in Europe. Territory could be sacrificed for control, but would promises and rhetoric be enough to govern among people...
Film: Lenin and the birth of Soviet Russia
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Film: Lenin and the 1917 Revolutions
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
You wait a lifetime for a revolution and then two come along at once! Such was 1917 in Russia. As the world seemed in chaos and Russia and the Russian people began to collapse, Lenin and the Bolsheviks saw their opportunity and overthrew the government to create the first communist...
Film: Lenin and the 1917 Revolutions
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Film: Lenin, the 1905 Russian Revolution and WWI
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
The founders of Communism, Marx and Engels, had created a set of social structures and industrial developments that were believed necessary for Communism to be achieved. Imperial Russia did not fit these conditions and yet at the start of the twentieth century Russian revolutionaries were some of the most active...
Film: Lenin, the 1905 Russian Revolution and WWI
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Film: Lenin's early thought
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
As Lenin’s own political outlook and beliefs developed so did the European movements of Socialism and Communism. Groups emerged that wanted to radically change society and social structures. Lenin positioned himself as one of the leaders and crucially one of the thinkers behind these new ideas and movements.
Dr Lara...
Film: Lenin's early thought
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St Helena: Napoleon's last island
Historian article
Paul Brunyee asks why Napoleon ended up on St Helena, and what life was like for him in exile there.
On his return to Paris after Waterloo, Napoleon had no significant group of supporters left in Paris. He was stunned by his catastrophic defeat and knew he was being outmanoeuvred...
St Helena: Napoleon's last island
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Film: Brezhnev's legacy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon looks back at Brezhnev’s 18 years and how is has been described as an era of stagnation, producing an appetite for change from younger leaders such as Mikail Gorbachev.
Dr Bacon reflects that this was a period of relative peace, stability and predictability which...
Film: Brezhnev's legacy
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Film: Brezhnev and Détente
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon blanks about the modernisation of the soviet union in the 1960s and 70s under Brezhnev, with some scholars predicting that as the East and West evolved, they would eventually converge as modern developed industrialised societies. The problem with convergence theory is that it didn’t...
Film: Brezhnev and Détente
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Film: Brezhnev's agenda
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon talks about Brezhnev’s change in direction and approach after Khruschev, making collective leadership work and the Kosygin reforms. Whilst there were changes from the era of Khruschev, Brezhnev’s response to the Prague Spring in 1968 showed that some things had not changed. The events...
Film: Brezhnev's agenda
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Film: From Khrushchev to Brezhnev
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film Dr Edwin Bacon reflects upon the instability of the Khrushchev era and how Brezhnev positioned himself as the perfect replacement for a Soviet Communist party desperate for stability in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis. Brezhnev would be the first amongst equals looking to move forward...
Film: From Khrushchev to Brezhnev
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Medical aspects of the battle of Waterloo
Historian article
Michael Crumplin explores the medical facilities of the British Army and asks how likely soldiers wounded at Waterloo were to survive.
The road to Waterloo
One of the very few benefits of conflict is the advancement of medical practice. The recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistanhave been dealing with relatively...
Medical aspects of the battle of Waterloo
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The British soldier in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars
Historian article
Scum of the earth – or fine fellows?
Carole Divall asks whether the men of the British Army really were ‘the scum of the earth’, as often asserted, or willing soldiers who earned the respect of the French.
‘Soldiers were regarded as day labourers engaged in unsavoury business; a money...
The British soldier in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars
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Film: Khrushchev - Foreign Policy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), looks at the early thaw in relations between the Soviet Union and the West after the death of Stalin, the resolution of outstanding issues such as the Korean War, the division of Austria, and Khruschev's resetting of relations with China and...
Film: Khrushchev - Foreign Policy
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Film: Khrushchev - De-Stalinization
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), discusses how and why Khrushchev opened up discussions about Stalin and his legacy, the risk that people would blame the current leadership once the scale of repressions became known. Dr Titov examines the both the content of the secret speech (Stalin’s...
Film: Khrushchev - De-Stalinization
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Film: Khrushchev - After Stalin
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Alexander Titov (Queen's University of Belfast), discusses the leading figures jockeying for power after Stalin died, the short period of collective leadership, growing calls for reform within the Soviet Union and how Khrushchev gradually sidelined all of his rivals on his way to becoming Premiere of...
Film: Khrushchev - After Stalin
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The making of Magna Carta
Historian article
Magna Carta provided a commentary on the ills of the realm in the time of King John. Sophie Ambler looks at what grievances were addressed in the Charter, how the Charter was made, and what the Charter tells us about King John himself.
The world from which Magna Carta came...
The making of Magna Carta
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Film: Yeltsin and the West
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), looks how the positive relationship established between Mikhail Gorbachev and President Reagan and his successor President Bush continued with the ascension of Yeltsin to the presidency of Russia. Dr Bacon discusses how Russian perceptions of the West changed with the expansion...
Film: Yeltsin and the West
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Film: Yeltsin's second term and legacy
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this final film on Yeltsin, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), discusses Yeltin’s second term and how his public profile went from hero to growing embarrassment. Importantly he examines how Yeltin’s search for a successor that would secure his family’s security led to rapid changes in Prime Ministers in...
Film: Yeltsin's second term and legacy
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Film: Yeltsin and the Oligarchs
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
If you're unable to see the film below, please use the link for your Membership type:Historian members | Primary members | Secondary members | Student members
Film: Yeltsin and the Oligarchs
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Film: Yeltsin's agenda
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), discusses the emergence of Russia as a democratic country and its nascent capitalist economy. He outlines how the issues Yeltsin faced in government such as the 1993 constitutional crisis, followed by the shelling by tanks in Moscow led to Yeltsin rewriting...
Film: Yeltsin's agenda
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Film: Yeltsin and the fall of the Soviet Union
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), explores the role Yeltsin played in the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Dr Bacon takes us from the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of nationalism in the new republics, and how Yeltsin became Russia’s first elected head of state....
Film: Yeltsin and the fall of the Soviet Union
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Film: Yeltsin and Russia in the late 1980s
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Dr Edwin Bacon (University of Lincoln), examines the political and economic repercussions of Gorbachev’s reforms. Dr Bacon reflects upon the dire state of the Soviet economy in the late 1980s/early 1990s and how that led to change but also unrest. In particular he addresses the way that...
Film: Yeltsin and Russia in the late 1980s
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Film: Stalin - World War II
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Professor James Harris (University of Leeds) examines Stalin and the Soviet preparations for global war. The reasons why Stalin agreed the Nazi-Soviet pact are explored as are Stalin’s response to invasion in 1941. Professor Harris addresses the impact the war had on the USSR and how that...
Film: Stalin - World War II
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Film: Stalin & the Great Terror
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
Why was the Soviet Union so violent in the 1930s? In this film, Professor James Harris (University of Leeds) looks at differing interpretations of the origins of the Great Terror; was it the story of one man trying to obtain total control, was it a result of collective frustration against...
Film: Stalin & the Great Terror
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Film: Stalin - The Early Soviet Economy & the preparation for war
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Professor James Harris (University of Leeds) examines how the New Economic Policy transformed the Soviet economy after the civil war, and looks at Stalin’s central role in that recovery. Key during that period was Stalin’s dispute with Nikolai Bukharin and the Great Break, and the drive to...
Film: Stalin - The Early Soviet Economy & the preparation for war
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Film: Stalin - Rise to Power
Film Series: Power and authority in Russia and the Soviet Union
In this film, Professor James Harris (University of Leeds) discusses how interpretations have changed over the years regarding Stalin’s rise to power, and his transformation from rural Georgian to the ‘Man of Steel’ – Stalin. For many years, western interpretations were strongly influenced by his rival Trotsky, who defined Stalin...
Film: Stalin - Rise to Power
