The major new history of Russia series began last week in the 9th century with a collection of warring tribes. It looked at the events that laid the foundations of the Russian nation, the adoption of Christianity and the lasting influence of the Mongol invasion. This week Martin Sixsmith discovers the emerging forces that will make her the largest and longest-lived territorial empire in modern history.

He begins with Ivan the Terrible who centralises power in the Tsar, enslaving peasants and nobles alike. Martin Sixsmith paints a vivid portrait of one of Russia's most familiar Tsars, and uses Eisenstein's film Ivan The Terrible to explore the tenets of absolute autocracy that have characterised Russian rule ever since. This 'iron fist' which created a major obstacle to reform, and separated Russia ever further from Western Europe. He cites Ivan's correspondence with Elizabeth I, who by the 1550s was Russia's sole foreign ally. 'Ivan's letters', he says, "sound almost like love letters."

Ivan the Terrible is remembered as a wild-eyed, slightly deranged figure. But his legacy also had its positive side. Under his leadership, Russia expanded for the first time beyond the lands occupied by orthodox, ethnic Russians. It conquered the Tartar khanate of Kazan, laying the foundations for the greatest contiguous empire on earth.

Astoundingly, Russia would grow by 50 square miles a day for the next three centuries, until by 1914 it occupied eight and a half million square miles - a multiethnic, multilingual state spanning more than one seventh of the globe. Today, even after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia still spans eleven time zones and is home to a hundred nationalities and a hundred and fifty languages.

Historical Consultant: Professor Geoffrey Hosking

Producers: Adam Fowler & Anna Scott-Brown
A Ladbroke Production for BBC Radio 4. Show less