Ideological differences between Liberalism in England and Leninism in the Soviet Union place the two nations at opposite ends of the political spectrum. The former advocates for the importance of individualism and the ability of the market to regulate itself, whereas the latter prioritizes the stat...

During the late nineteenth century the Russian government undertook a policy of rapid industrialisation which, due to a combination of factors, drove the desire to industrialise Russia for the principle aim of keeping the 'facade' of her militaristic strength and power status. It was ev...

Joseph Stalin was the soviet communist leader who's passing molded an era, and whose iron rule determined the lives of millions of people. Considering that he shaped the direction of post-World War II Europe, we may regard him as the most powerful person to live during the 20th century. Josep...

Joseph Stalin was the soviet communist leader who's passing molded an era, and whose iron rule determined the lives of millions of people. Considering that he shaped the direction of post-World War II Europe, we may regard him as the most powerful person to live during the 20th c...

How far was Stalinism the outcome of Leninist political practice?The political system which existed in the Soviet Union under Stalin was a system of terror. The purges of the 1930s sent millions of Russians to their deaths or to the Gulags, the population was scared of the secret police, the NKVD, t...

Nikita Khrushchev is undoubtedly one of the most important and interesting political figures of the twentieth century. Rising from a background of extreme poverty, he became an early supporter of the November 1917 bolshevik revolution. During the inter war years he joined the Communist Party, and ro...

The persecution, deportation, and general abuse of those who call themselves Chechnyans, has been a heavy burden to bear over the last few centuries. Ethnically and religiously these people from the Caucasus are markedly different from their expansionist Russian neighbors. Centuries of miscommunicat...

The methods that Russia has used to deal with the break-away Republic of Chechnya has caught the eye of the world media, and not without good cause. This dynamic portion of the former Soviet Union is seen as a predecessor of things to come from other pieces of the dead communist giant. So many diffe...

To what extent was the collapse of Tsarism due to the personal weakness of Nicholas II? "[The Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II,] was very much a family man and a loving father to his children. But this all meant that he was far removed from his subjects, with little understanding of the outside w...

The fall of the Communist regime and adoption of Democracy in the Soviet Union was more than just a political affair. The resolute bond between economics and politics, which was the central characteristic of the state socialist system, created a unique situation for the successor states of the Sov...

When the Soviet Union fell in 1991, due to many pressures both internal and external, the ex-soviet satellites were given their independence, much to Russia's dismay. A new trend towards sovereignty made it difficult for the largest country in the world to deny it's former members the right to se...

When Peter inherited the throne in Russia in 1689, he was dismayed by its backwardness. His vision was to Westernise it. To answer the essay question, I first need to identify the needs of Russia. These were to improve the economy of Russia, to harness the support of the nobility, improve defence an...

The historical impact of Operation Barbarosa cannot be denied. The Soviet victory over the Nazi German invaders set up the Soviets as a world superpower and set the stage for the Cold War. Had the Germans not attacked, the Russians may not have gained their dominance in Eastern Europe, and the Wars...

Post Cold-War Soviet Union had left the country in a state of shambles. The economy was in ruins, the military was behind those of the western nations, and the government's ideologies were beginning to be questioned. When S.U. itself ceased to exist on December 25, 1991, the United States (Bush admi...

1. Catherine II (the Great). The successor of the sickly Peter III, Catherine II was his wife until his suspected murder and she took the throne in 1762. Although she made no great reforms in Russian society, she gathered many friends by her death in 1796.Catherine had to keep the nobility pleased...

Abstract This essay concentrates on two representatives of the dissident movement in the Soviet Union in the 1960s and in the 1970s--Andrei Sakharov and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn. The essay introduces the history of the dissident movement in the Russian Empire under the Tsars and in the Soviet Unio...