Russia and its Rulers: Empire

This episode explores how Russian and later Soviet rule shaped the lives, identities and political destinies of national minorities and satellite states from 1855 to 1964, tracing the shift from tsarist Russification and repression in Poland, the Baltic regions and Central Asia to the Bolsheviks’ contradictory mix of national self‑determination and centralised control. We examine how Stalin’s dictatorship intensified this dynamic through forced population movements, purges, cultural suppression and the creation of tightly controlled satellite states in Eastern Europe after 1945, transforming entire societies under the weight of Soviet ideology and security concerns. The episode concludes with Khrushchev’s attempts to ease repression while maintaining dominance, revealing how empire, ideology and coercion shaped the complex relationship between the Russian core and the diverse peoples under its rule.