Russia : A Concise History

Russia : A Concise History

<p><strong>Tremendous changes in Russia have enhanced the special fascination which this powerful, enigmatic country has so long held for the world at large.</strong></p> Russia's history, from her beginnings as a pagan Slav community centered on Kiev to superpower status, has its own unique rhythm. Appalling calamities have shaped Russia: the Time of Troubles; the Napoleonic invasion; two world wars separated by a great civil war; a multitude of famines and epidemics. Not least among these scourges have been leaders such as Ivan the Terrible and Joseph Stalin.<br /><br /> In this revised and updated edition, Ronald Hingley considers the recent astonishing developments: the first steps towards liberalization, the collapse of communist rule throughout Russia's former satellite states, and above all the demise of Soviet communism and the disintegration of the USSR.<br /><br /> Russia's present can be better comprehended as the latest chapter in a long and enthralling history; a history―evoked here with the aid of over 200 illustrations―which is now being energetically reassessed by the Russians themselves. 205 black-and-white illustrations