Why Gorbachev’s legacy still threatens Putin
Reading time: 5 minutes
Little remains of the legacy of Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader and one of the greatest reformers in Russian history.
Tag: USSR
The Story of the AK-47: The World’s Most Famous and Deadliest Rifle
Reading time: 7 minutes
The AK-47 is perhaps one of the most recognizable automatic rifles in the world. This simple gun, produced by Mikhail Kalashnikov, was initially intended to replace the somewhat ineffective weapons carried by Soviet forces. However, it quickly became the weapon of choice during most conflicts following the Second World War. But, how did this weapon become the most famous and deadliest rifle in the world?
ABUSE AND TENACITY: UKRAINE’S STRUGGLE FOR AUTONOMY
Reading time: 10 minutes
The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine has rightfully outraged and shocked much of the world; a war of aggression from one nation to another, this attack and occupation has been the largest such incursion into a foreign land since the Second World War. Indeed it has also created the displacement of nearly 4 million Ukrainians, leading to Europe’s greatest refugee crisis in 80 years.
The wild decade: how the 1990s laid the foundations for Vladimir Putin’s Russia
Reading time: 6 minutes
By securing victory in a national vote on constitutional changes, Vladimir Putin could now remain president of Russia until 2036 if he chooses to stand again. After 20 years in power, the narrative of Russia’s chaotic 1990s remains core to Putin’s legitimacy as the leader who restored stability.
Kazakhstan: A Story of Endurance
Reading time: 7 minutes
As protests erupt across the former Soviet republic, the world watches transfixed. How did Kazakhstan come to be the country it is today?
Cuba without Fidel: Five Years Later
Reading time: 6 minutes
For nearly 60 years, and for better or for worse, Fidel Castro was Cuba; at least he fancied himself as such, and the Communist Party which he largely governed with total control, never questioned this image. But what about the Cuban people? Did they really view Fidel as a “modern day Simon Bolivar”, and their one defender against American imperialism?
The Russian Revolution
Reading time: 6 minutes For most people, the term “Russian Revolution” conjures up a popular set...
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Four days in August: The Soviet Union’s final blow
Reading time: 8 minutes Nearly 30 years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union in...
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51 years ago: Israel won an air battle, and lost the War of Attrition
The Israel Air Force drew the Soviet expeditionary force in Egypt into a perfect, successful...
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WERE SOVIET TANKS DEPLOYED IN EGYPT 50 YEARS AGO?
Reading time: 6 minutes On February 3, 2018, Russian Air Force Maj. Roman Filipov’s jet...
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The Cold War Ignites: The Berlin Blockade and Airlift
Reading time: 6 minutes Once the centre of Nazi ideology and power, the German capital of Berlin...
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Constructing Oppression: The Berlin Wall and the Literal Iron Curtain
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes 60 years after its initial construction, the memory of the...
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