The Soviet Union, Part 2 of 2

Truly a modern wonder of the world, the Hoover Dam is one of the great feats of human ingenuity. Its creation was a saga of large-scale ambition and engineering genius executed by a labour force of thousands working in gruelling conditions. The project involved the rerouting of a ...  Show more

Mary Shelley is best known today as the author of Frankenstein, a Gothic novel widely considered the first work of science fiction. As demonstrated by her Swiss sojourn with the married Percy Shelley and the scandalous Lord Byron, Mary's own life was as sensational and tragic as ...  Show more

[Episode 2 of 4] This episode of The Rest Is History marks the second instalment in our four part series on the Soviet Union, Russia and the rise of Vladimir Putin. From the 70th anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 1987 to the fall of the Soviet Union on Christmas Day 1991 ...  Show more

In August 1991 there was an attempted coup in the Soviet Union as communist hard-liners sought to re-establish the dominance of Soviet rule in Russia and its satellite states. The coup attempt collapsed after three days and it eventually led to the collapse of communism. Mikhail ...  Show more

For nearly half a century, the United States and Russia stood as adversaries, entrenched in a tense geopolitical rivalry known as the Cold War. Yet this period represents only a brief chapter in the broader, more complex history of their relationship...

In this episo ...

[Episode 1 of 4] Welcome to our new four part series on the latter years of the Soviet Union, its fall, Putin's early life and his subsequent rise to power. Today's episode focuses on Brezhnev, Putin's formative years, his early KGB career and Gorbachev's descent into chaos. W ...  Show more