A historian looks back at the success – and failure – of mass mobilization efforts by Russia and the Soviet Union.
Articles on Russian history
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Gorbachev failed in his two main aims: to hold togteher a reformed Soviet Union and cement its place in a new world order.
During the Cold War, Russia’s refusal to allow Jews to leave the country reflected its political aims. The same is likely true today, a Jewish studies scholar explains.
Russia has secured gains in the east but Ukraine is pushing back in the south.
Russia’s national history and origin story remain unclear.
The idea of a ‘witch’ was usually female in Western Europe, but not so in Orthodox Russia – partly because of the period’s rigid social hierarchies.
Russia’s test of ‘nuclear-capable’ missiles in Kaliningrad is intended to send a message to Nato.
Russia’s annual Victory Day parade is being seen as a symbol of how well the Ukraine war is going.
Ukraine war: Vladimir Putin is struggling to convince people why history is on his side – both internationally and at home.
The war in Ukraine is just the latest chapter in a long, tangled relationship between the Kremlin and the Russian Orthodox Church.
History always served as a weapon in the former Soviet Union, a way to control the narrative and deny the truth of the past. Vladimir Putin is now attempting to control this narrative through war.
To Russian nationalists, if the Ukrainian language is classified as a derivative of the Russian language, the invasion looks less like an act of aggression and more like reintegration.
Just because deep-rooted Russian fears might not seem reasonable doesn’t mean they aren’t real in Vladimir Putin’s mind.
The Russian leader’s assertion that Ukraine is an ‘artificial construct’ is not borne out by the historical record.
The two countries have a lot of shared history, but Ukraine has a distinct and independent past.
After a century of debate, Europe still hasn’t figured out how to deal with its giant of a neighbour.
Vladimir Putin’s Russia is as much an imperial power as its Soviet and Tsarist predecessors were.
The Death of Stalin has been banned in Russia. While the film is hardly disrespectful to Russian people, it does make Putin uncomfortable with its satirical take of leadership.
The physical and political space of cities can be shaped from above or below, but few have had more revolutionary changes, first under the tsars, then the communists, than St Petersburg.
The Godfather effect: how higher levels of education helped Italian mobsters earn more money and live in wealthier neighbourhoods.
Top contributors
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Postdoctoral Associate in History
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Hansen Professor in History, The University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor in International Politics, University of Southampton
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Professor of Russian Studies, Tufts University
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Assistant researcher, University of Sydney
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Assistant Professor in Economics, University of California, Merced
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Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Essex
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Associate Professor of Russian, University of Oklahoma
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Lecturer, Department of Social and Political Sciences, Philosophy, and Anthropology, University of Exeter
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Professor of Economics, University of Essex
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Professor of Political Economy, University of Sydney
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Professor of Russian History, American University
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Lecturer on Government and Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard University
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Lecturer in Sociology, Newcastle University
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Associate Professor of History, College of the Holy Cross