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The Compass: The Invention Of Russia: The sacred song of war

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The sacred song of war

08/03/2023 GMT

The Invention Of Russia

BBC World Service - The Compass, The Invention Of Russia, The sacred song of war

The legacy of the great patriotic wars against Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte

The legacy of the great patriotic wars against Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte.

Misha Glenny's final programme on Russia - what it is and where it came from - looks at the country's attitude to war. What has been the long lasting effect of the great patriotic wars against Adolf Hitler and Napoleon Bonaparte? Plus the Poles, the Mongols, and the British in Crimea.  

With contributions from Antony Beevor, author of Stalingrad, Robert Service, author of the Last Tsar, Kateryna Khinkulova of BBC World Service, former ambassador to Moscow Rhodric Braithwaite, and Dominic Lieven, author of Napoleon against Russia.

Producer: Miles Warde 

(Photo: World War Two, Russian front. Street fight in Stalingrad, October 1942. Credit: Roger Viollet/Getty Images)

The Compass: The Invention Of Russia

Misha Glenny looks at the development of Russia.

Countries look so cohesive on the map - sturdy borders, familiar shapes. Don't be misled. They didn't always look like this. This is the story of Russia, biggest contiguous country on the planet, told from the time when it was still very small. 

"In my producer's history textbook it says here, on page 18, that Russia as a political entity did not exist."

With contributions across the series from Janet Hartley, author of a history of the Volga; Rhodric Braithwaite, former ambassador to Moscow; historian and sociologist, Mischa Gabowitsch; Anthony Beevor; Natalia Antelava; Kateryna Khinkulova; Dominic Lieven; Olesya Khromeychuk; and James Hill of the New York Times.

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