For about 70 years of its long history, Russia was part of the Soviet Union. Explore before-and-after stories about the country and its people, writers, artists, culture, rulers and worldwide influence.
Because Ivan IV (also known as Ivan Grozny - Russian for Ivan the Terrible) was one of his heroes, Joseph Stalin commissioned film maker Sergei Eisens...
During July of 1917, demonstrators in Petrograd (including sailors from Kronstadt) were met with fierce opposition by soldiers of the provisional gove...
The charismatic Bolshevik leader, born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, helped to overthrow four hundred years of tsarist rule in Russia.
During the first decade of the twentieth century, political unrest threatened the fabric of Russian society.
Born on September 9, 1828, Leo Tolstoy was the writer of still-famous 19th-century Russian masterpieces. See him in this rare video from the Russian S...
In October of 1960, the leader of the Soviet delegation to the United Nations is upset and will not be ignored. To get attention, he ignores protocol ...
As the Kronstadt sailors stormed the Winter Palace, appropriating its considerable wine collection along the way, Lenin was consolidating his power ba...
During the Stalinist era, future-Nobel-Laureate Solzhenitsyn was a prisoner in a forced labor camp.
Peter the Great ruled Russia with absolute power.
Peter the Great achieved one of his most significant dreams - the building of a great capital with access to the sea - when he created a city out of s...
Peter I (later known as Peter the Great) strongly desired to move Russia forward.
Following disastrous intrigues, perpetrated by his sister Sophia - who wanted to rule Russia - Peter and his brother witnessed the murder of their clo...
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