Russia and its Rulers: War and Revolution

This episode explores how war and revolution repeatedly reshaped the political, economic and social development of Russia and the USSR from 1855 to 1964, beginning with the shock of the Crimean War and its role in pushing Alexander II toward reform, before tracing how later conflicts—from the Russo‑Turkish War to the Russo‑Japanese War and the First World War—exposed the weaknesses of tsarist rule and fuelled revolutionary pressures. We examine how the 1905 and 1917 revolutions transformed the state, how the Civil War entrenched Bolshevik authoritarianism, and how the Second World War accelerated Stalin’s centralisation of power, industrial expansion and control over society. The episode concludes with Khrushchev’s attempts to rebuild and reform a nation shaped by decades of conflict, revealing how war and revolution acted as catalysts for both dramatic change and enduring continuity in Russian governance and society.