Includes bibliographical references (p. 479-484) and index.

Machine generated contents note: 1 Introduction: Russia in the twentieth century 1 -- 1.1 An overview of Russian history in the twentieth century 1 -- 1.2 The writing of Russian history 4 -- Notes 9 -- 2 Russia before the First World War 10 -- Summary of events 10 -- 2.1 Russian government and society before 1905 11 -- 2.2 Revolutionary ideas and parties 24 -- 2.3 The revolution of 1905 32 -- 2.4 Russian agriculture in 1914 - how backward was it? 37 -- 2.5 Russian industry in 1914-how'modern'was it? 41 -- 2.6 The political system after 1905 - the Duma experiment 44 -- 2.7 Was the collapse of Tsarism inevitable by 1914? 49 -- Documents 55 -- Notes 61 -- 3 The First World War and the collapse of Tsarism, 1914-17 62 -- Summary of events 62 -- 3.1 Russia's foreign relations and the approach of war 65 -- 3.2 The war and its impact on the Tsarist system 75 -- Documents 86 -- Notes 90 -- 4 The failure of the Provisional Government and the Bolshevik -- seizure of power, February-October 1917 92 -- Summary of events 92 -- 4.1 The failure of the Provisional Government 94 -- 4.2 The Bolshevik seizure of power - October 1917 105 -- 4.3 Coup or mass insurrection? 108 -- Documents 114 -- Notes 118 -- 5 Lenin and the Bolsheviks in power, 1917-24 119 -- Summary of events 119 -- 5.1 The political situation - the Constituent Assembly 124 -- 5.2 Land and economic problems 128 -- 5.3 Russia withdraws from the First World War 132 -- 5.4 The drift towards violence 136 -- 5.5 The Civil War 141 -- 5.6 The New Economic Policy (NEP) 154 -- 5.7 Foreign affairs and the Communist International 164 -- 5.8 Russia, government, nationalities and the 1922 constitution 166 -- 5.9 Education, culture, the arts and religion under the Bolsheviks 174 -- 5.10 Assessments of Lenin 180 -- Documents 186 -- Notes 191 -- 6 Stalin in control - Russia transformed 193 -- Summary of events 193 -- 6.1 Trotsky or Stalin? The struggle for power after Lenin's death 195 -- 6.2 The end of the New Economic Policy: why was it abandoned? 203 -- 6.3 The collectivization of agriculture 207 -- 6.4 Industry and the Five-Year Plans 218 -- 6.5 Politics and the Purges 230 -- 6.6 Everyday life and culture under Stalin 244 -- Documents 258 -- Notes 263 -- 7 The Great Patriotic War and Stalin's Last Years, 1941-53 267 -- Summary of events 267 -- 7.1 Foreign relations and the background to war 269 -- 7.2 The USSR at war, 1941-45 282 -- 7.3 The aftermath of the war and Stalin's final years, 1945-53 310 -- 7.4 The beginnings of the Cold War 316 -- 7.5 Assessments of Stalin 329 -- Documents 334 -- Notes 340 -- 8 The Khrushchev era and de-Stalinization, 1953-64 342 -- Summary of events 342 -- 8.1 The rise of Khrushchev and the attack on Stalin, 1953-57 343 -- 8.2 Problems and new policies 352 -- 8.3 Foreign affairs: co-existence and the Cold War 361 -- 8.4 Downfall and assessment of Khrushchev 369 -- Documents 373 -- Notes 375 -- 9 The Brezhnev years - the USSR stagnates, 1964-85 377 -- Summary of events 377 -- 9.1 Personnel and policies 378 -- 9.2 Everyday life, dissent and opposition 383 -- 9.3 Brezhnev and eastern Europe 387 -- 9.4 Foreign affairs and detente 389 -- 9.5 The end of an era 392 -- Documents 396 -- Notes 399 -- 10 Gorbachev and the end of the Soviet Union, 1985-91 401 -- Summary of events 401 -- 10.1 The struggle for reform 403 -- 10.2 Foreign affairs - the end of the Cold War 409 -- 10.3 The end of communism in eastern Europe 412 -- 10.4 Gorbachev runs into problems 417 -- 10.5 The USSR disintegrates 424 -- 10.6 Assessments of Gorbachev 438 -- Documents 446 -- Notes 451 -- 11 Russia underYeltsin, 1991-99 453 -- Summary of events 453 -- 11.1 Economic catastrophe and political crisis, 1992-93 454 -- 11.2 The end of 'market romanticism' 463 -- 11.3 Yeltsin's second term, 1996-99 468 -- Documents 474 -- Notes 477.