Russian history

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• 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. 

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• 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!”

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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.”

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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? 

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• 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. 

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• 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.”

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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. 

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• 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."

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• 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. 

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• 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.