Russia

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Pod Martin Sixsmith WL

Cold war mind games . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin. (Getty Images)

First World War

Did a British agent murder Rasputin?

Soviet infantrymen charge in a counter offensive during the battle of Moscow, 1941.

The 1941 battle of Moscow: how successful was Operation Typhoon?

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Mary Sarotte reveals how US and Russian leaders squandered the opportunity to forge a lasting partnership at the dawn of the 1990s. (Image by Getty Images)

How US-Russian relations fractured in the 1990s . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

A portrait of Russian empress Catherine the Great

Hypocrite, reactionary, usurper, sex maniac: is Catherine the Great’s reputation justified?

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Christina Ezrahi shares the story of Nina Anisimova, a premier Soviet ballerina arrested for supposed counter-revolutionary activity. (Image by Getty Images)

How a ballerina survived the Gulag . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Soldiers disembark a landing craft with a battle on the beach beyond

How to win a 20th-century battle

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John F Kennedy with US Army officials during the Cuban missile crisis

“We are eyeball to eyeball, and I think the other fellow just blinked”: how the Cuban Missile Crisis escalated

Ruined buildings in the village of Mitlino, one of at least 20 settlements evacuated after the Mayak explosion. Radioactive particles spread across an estimated area of over 23,000 sq km (SVF2/Getty Images)

Before Chernobyl: the secrets that paved the way for disaster

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As the world’s best athletes congregate in Tokyo for the 29th Summer Games, David Goldblatt answers your questions on the history of the Olympics. (Image from Getty Images)

Olympic history: everything you wanted to know . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

An 18th Century cartoon satirises reactions to Louis XVI's attempt tp flee France. The french Revolution shows what can happen when the state fails on a catastrophic scale

Are revolutions doomed to failure?

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A colourised portrait of Anton Chekhov, from 1901

History hero William Boyd chooses Anton Chekhov (1860–1904) . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Jane Rogoyska explains how more than 20,000 Polish prisoners-of-war were murdered on Stalin’s orders in 1940, and explores the decades-long coverup that followed. (Image by Getty Images)

Uncovering the truth about WW2’s Katyn massacre . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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Serhii Plokhy discusses the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, and reveals just how close the world came to nuclear disaster. (Image by Getty Images)

How close to nuclear war did the Cuban Missile Crisis get? . This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

Happier days: The tsar and his family pose for a portrait in c1910, years before he was swept from power and murdered. Maria, Olga and Tatiana (left to right) are at the back. Alexandra and Nicholas are seated with Alexey at their feet. Anastasia is far right. (Photo by Getty Images)

The last days of the Romanovs: could George V have saved the family?