Russian history 
-
6/18/2023
Jared McBride Sheds Light on the Darker Parts of Ukraine's History
by James Thornton Harris
The issue of Ukrainian collaboration with Nazi genocide has been a propaganda point in the war with Russia. Historian Jared McBride talks about the complexities of ethnic violence and the complications of archival research in Russia and eastern Europe.
-
6/4/2023
A Trip Through the Mind of Vlad the Conqueror: A Satire Blending Imaginary Thoughts with Historical Facts
by Lawrence S. Wittner
"Today I am Vlad the Conqueror! Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!”
-
SOURCE: New York Times
5/9/2023
This is Putin's Last War, and He's Losing
by Timothy Snyder
Predictions that Russia's nuclear arsenal would be a bulwark against strong Ukrainian resistance or western support have shown that Putin wields these weapons like a bully to threaten, but can't win the war he started.
-
SOURCE: The Guardian
3/30/2023
From Trump to Putin: How People Came to Look to Timothy Snyder for Predictions
Although some had dismissed his warnings of an autocratic seizure of power as "doomerism," the events of January 6 and the Russian invasion have made the historian a widely-read public intellectual.
-
SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
3/12/2023
Oscar Documentary Winner "Navalny" Part of Long Protest Tradition
by Lynne Hartnett
Without traditional or legal support for dissent and free speech, Russian activists have long turned to martydom as the way to dramatize injustice and criticize power. The recent Best Documentary winner is part of this tradition.
-
SOURCE: The New Yorker
2/17/2023
Stephen Kotkin on How the Ukraine War Could End
The historian of Russia and the USSR argues that Putin's invasion will ultimately be seen as a disaster for Russia. Its unclear, however, if that view is sufficiently widespread in Russia to change Putin's strategic outlook or the regime.
-
1/22/2023
What's Hiding in Putin's Family History?
by Chris Monday
The details of Vladimir Putin's personal and family life are surprisingly (and by design) difficult to pin down. A historian suggests that his grandfather was more powerful, and more influential on the future Russian leader's fortunes, than Putin's common man mythology suggests.
-
1/15/2023
Revisiting Kropotkin 180 Years After His Birth
by Sam Ben-Meir
The rise of automation and the concurrent squeeze of workers in the name of profit offer an opportunity to revisit the ideas of Russian anarchist Pyotr Kropotkin as a forward-looking critique of power.
-
1/8/2023
My First Trip to Russia 30 Years Ago Is a Cautionary Tale Now
by Steven Knipp
The decades since the fall of Communism have borne out a Russian saying: "The horses of hope gallop. But the donkeys of experience go slowly.”
-
SOURCE: Washington Post
11/25/2022
"Nutcracker" Rooted in Dark Parts of Russian History
The ballet's roots in the celebration of czarist absolutism and imperial expansion doesn't jibe with its modern status as an anodyne holiday classic.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
11/21/2022
What Will Russia Look Like Without Putin?
by Joy Neumayer
A transformation of Russia after the end of Putin's leadership will require unwinding the countless institutions that have been molded and warped around his power for decades, so that another authoritarian can't step right in to use them.
-
SOURCE: The Atlantic
11/7/2022
Putin's Nuclear Threats are Warping the West's Ukraine Strategy
by Anne Applebaum
Nuclear bluster is a purposeful strategy to leverage fear to make NATO nations less willing to defend Ukraine and other nations neighboring Russia. How can they have a better response?
-
SOURCE: New York Times
11/1/2022
Putin, Contending Ukraine Doesn't Exist, Seeks its Destruction
by Olesya Khromeychuk
Unfortunately for the Russian leader, despite widespread global ignorance of the substance of Ukrainian nationhood, repeated attempts to destroy it testify to its reality.
-
SOURCE: New York Times
10/29/2022
Russia's Memorial Forced to Downsize its Tribute to Stalinist Victims
“The point in returning the names is that we’re naming the victims,” said Yan Rachinsky, the chairman of Memorial’s board. “But the question inevitably arises: If there are victims of crime, then there are criminals, and there are reasons for the crime. These are no longer things that our authorities are ready to discuss.”
-
SOURCE: New York Times
10/7/2022
Honored by Nobel Peace Prize, Memorial Preserves Knowledge of Soviet Atrocities and Warns of Present Imperialism
The Nobel committee gave an implicit rebuke to Russian President Vladimir Putin in honoring the organization, which was shut down as a "terrorist" group last year, forcing some leaders into exile.
-
SOURCE: NPR
9/21/2022
Sergey Radchenko on Putin's Mobilization Speech
Putin's cautious declaration of a partial mobilization reflects his increasingly desperate military situation and the growing unpopularity of the Ukraine war in Russia.
-
9/11/2022
Russians' Disapproval of Gorbachev Shouldn't Dominate How He is Remembered
by Walter G. Moss
The combination of post-Soviet hardship, resurgent nationalism, and the destructiveness of the Ukraine war have led many Americans to embrace Russians' dim view of Mikhail Gorbachev. A historian of Russia says the leader had his faults, but his furtherance of humane values has been underrated.
-
SOURCE: The Conversation
8/31/2022
The Contradictory Legacy of Gorbachev and "Revolution From Above"
by Ronald Suny
"A great emancipator, Gorbachev left a mixed legacy. He expanded freedom for millions but at the same time unleashed roiling waves of nationalism and left the upturned soil for renewed authoritarianism."
-
SOURCE: The Atlantic
8/31/2022
Gorbachev Never Understood What He Set in Motion
by Anne Applebaum
Sometimes seen as a visionary reformer, Gorbachev may have started the USSR's economic death spiral by restricting the sale of vodka to increase worker productivity.
-
SOURCE: The Atlantic
8/31/2022
Gorbachev's Greatness Was in His Failure
by Tom Nichols
Gorbachev's personal decency made him the wrong man for his chosen task of saving Soviet Communism from collapse; today his reputation is far higher in the west than in the former USSR.