Moscow: Did you mean...?

Soviets, often called Soviets of Workers' Deputies, were worker councils first formed during the Russian Revolution of 1905 when a general strike was called against the Tsarist regime. Factory and other types of workers across the newly industrialised...

The Battle of Kiev (Kyiv) in July-September 1941 was a major Axis victory in Operation Barbarossa, Adolf Hitler's attack on the USSR during the Second World War (1939-45). Hitler wanted the resources of Ukraine since these would allow the...

Operation Barbarossa (June 22 – December 1941) was the codename for Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union during the Second World War (1939–1945). Conceived by Adolf Hitler (r. 1933–1945) as a war of conquest and ideology, it aimed...

The Bolshevik, oil on canvas by Boris Kustodiev, 1920. Dedicated to the Russian Revolution of 1917, Kustodiev depicts a collosal figure flying the red banner of the new Soviet state as he leads the Moscow crowds through the streets. The...

The Bolshevik Revolution occurred on 7 November 1917 (old calendar 25 October) and established a new republic: Soviet Russia. The Bolsheviks were radical socialists led by Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), whose goal was a fairer society where...

The Russian Civil War (1917-22) began shortly after the Bolshevik Revolution of November 1917. The Bolsheviks (the Reds) immediately found themselves in conflict with various opposition forces who disagreed with Bolshevik policies like abolishing...

Bloody Sunday on 22 January 1905 was the massacre of peaceful and unarmed protestors by soldiers outside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The crowd of workers and their families were led by Father Georgy Gapon (1870-1906), who...

Blitzkrieg ('lightning war') is a military tactic combining air and land forces deployed at speed against the enemy's weaker points while the rear lines are simultaneously disrupted by acts of sabotage and bombing. Speed, concentration, and...

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, signed on 3 March 1918, outlined the harsh conditions under which the crumbling Russian Empire withdrew from the First World War (1914-18). Negotiated by Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924), the leader of Soviet Russia...

Dmitri Shostakovich (1906-1975) was a Russian composer of operas, ballets, concertos, string quartets, and 15 symphonies. Shostakovich was frequently denounced by the repressive Soviet state, but in some periods, he also gained official favour...