German forces race across the Soviet Union, but need to take Moscow before winter. Stalin evokes heroes of the past to inspire Russian heroism against Hitler. Show more

An 'iron curtain' dividing Europe comes to define the realities of post-war Europe. The first flashpoint in this conflict of ideologies centres on Berlin. The Cold War has begun. Show more

Soviet society becomes an all-consuming military state as Stalin attempts to rebuff the Germans. Leningrad suffers the most, the siege epitomising the courage of the Soviet people. Show more

Victory at Stalingrad in February 1943 turned the tide of the war, and the retreat westward gathered pace. On May 9, Berlin fell to Soviet troops and Germany surrendered. Show more

Victory was a chance for national unity but ethnic tensions resurface after the war. Stalin crushes all hopes of greater freedom as the party-state reasserts its grip on power. Show more

Leonid Brezhnev's 'era of stagnation' returns the country to the conservatism of the past. The USSR begins the inexorable decline that would end in collapse 25 years later. Show more

By Martin Sixsmith. The Kronshtadt rebels force the Bolsheviks to rethink how they exercise power. Lenin sends Trotsky to crush the uprising but has to offer economic concessions. Show more

By Martin Sixsmith. Stalin crushes all opposition to emerge as Lenin's successor. He abandons world revolution, centralises state and party rule and suppresses national minorities. Show more

Martin Sixsmith shows how collectivisation produced famine on an unimaginable scale. Millions of people starved to death, the majority of them in Ukraine. Show more

Mikhail Gorbachev takes power backed by the Kremlin's arch conservatives, but his reforms lead to the destruction of the communist party and the Soviet state. Show more

China turns communist and the US and USSR clash in Korea. At home Stalin faces insubordination in the annexed states, but dies before he can carry out his next round of purges. Show more

When Stalin died in March 1953, the USSR was militarily strong, but economically fragile. Nikita Khrushchev denounces Stalin's record as Stalin's henchmen vie to take his place. Show more

Khrushchev determines to prove the USSR equal to the US, but struggles to modernise. Initial triumph in the space race is followed by economic failure and he is forced to resign. Show more

Stalin's Five Year Plans transform a backward agricultural nation into a modern industrialised one at breakneck speed, financed by heroic sacrifices on the part of the workers. Show more

Martin Sixsmith speaks to the artists and the henchmen of the regime who lived through the persecution of the Stalin years, to try to understand the role of art in a time of fear. Show more

The murder of Sergei Kirov unleashes years of paranoia, terror and suffering for millions of people as Stalin begins his purges of political enemies, real and imagined. Show more

Stalin cuts a catastrophic deal with Germany. But when Hitler invades, Russia isn't prepared for war. The struggle for survival revives deep-seated fears of national annihilation. Show more

Martin Sixsmith resumes his major Russian history series as the Bolsheviks consolidate their monopoly on power. The communist state would last until 1991 when it was overturned. Show more

Gorbachev's liberalisation reveals the extent of public discontent with the whole Soviet system. Yeltsin becomes Russian President and challenges the authority of Gorbachev's USSR. Show more