[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.
Was Putin a nationalist or a communist? What changed from Brezhnev to Gorbachev? ... Show More
Jun 7
677. USA: The Star-Spangled Banner (Part 1)
How did the War of 1812 result in America’s national anthem, the Star Spangled Banner? Who came up with it? And, why does this origin story make the anthem so controversial? Join Dominic and Tom as they launch into the first episode of their Football World Cup special, with the s ... Show More
1h 10m
Mar 2022
The Rest Is History: Young Putin, the KGB and the Soviet Union
In our most recent episode, Alastair mentioned our sister podcast, The Rest Is History, and its recent mini-series on the Soviet Union, its fall, Putin's early life and his subsequent rise to power.
Here's the first episode of the series on Brezhnev, Putin's formative years, his ... Show More
33m 9s
Jul 2022
Putin, Power and Personality
<p>Vladimir Putin has the power to reduce the United States and Europe to ashes in a nuclear firestorm. He invades his neighbours, most recently Ukraine, meddles in western elections and orders assassinations inside and outside Russia. But who is the man behind the headlines?</p> ... Show More
31m 20s
Nov 2023
95. The History of Putin's War
Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine on 24th February 2022, but how did we get to this point? After the brutality of the Second World War, Ukraine was completely under the control of Moscow. Then in the 1980s, with Chernobyl as the catalyst, the Ukrainian nationalist movement regained ... Show More
53m 37s
Jun 2023
Wagner vs Putin: A History of Russian Coups
<p>On the 24th of June, 2023, Yevgeny Prigozhin and his paramilitary group Wagner carried out what appeared to be an attempted coup in Russia. In a seismic turn of events, his mercenaries marched across the Russian border without resistance and seized key military installations i ... Show More
24m 40s
Mar 2024
Back in the USSR: the Soviet Sixties
Within just a few years of Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet Union had sent the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit. An era of renewal and excitement beckoned. Speaking to Danny Bird, Robert Hornsby tells the story of how Soviet society embraced the 1960s – from new ... Show More
45m 50s