History Sphere Podcast

The war in Afghanistan was a bridge between the old Soviet Union and the new Russia. The soldiers of the Red Army who fought in it came from every republic and region of the USSR, and the war left an indelible mark on those who survived.

Between 1973 and 1979, there were three violent coups in Afghanistan, generating a crisis that culminated in the full-scale Soviet invasion of the country. It would be a war with few, if any, redeeming qualities. There were no good guys and everybody lost.

Afghanistan is a country at the crossroads of the world. Just about every major Eurasian Empire has been entangled in Afghan affairs at some point. The history of Afghanistan brings clarity not just to our understanding of the decline of the Soviet Union, but the entire modern world.

The Soviet Union was an officially and aggressively atheist state. However, religious traditions were strongly rooted among the peoples of the USSR. Even amidst an atmosphere of persecution, various Christian, Muslim, and Jewish communities persevered and even thrived.

As Brezhnev pushed back against the reforms of his predecessor, members of the Soviet intelligentsia who had been inspired by the Khrushchev thaw, refused to be silenced. By the 1970's, underground human rights organizations were springing up all over the USSR. While the KGB could destroy individual groups, they had greater difficulty containing the ideas that inspired them.

When the Soviet Union and several Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia in 1968, it put an end to the reforms of the Prague Spring. However, it also fractured the Communist World, leading Albania to defect from the Warsaw Pact and deepening the Soviet rift with China.

The Brezhnev era was, socially and politically, the most stable in the history of the USSR. However, it is also the period in which its economic decline accelerated. The complete collapse of the 80's and 90's had its roots in the mismanagement of the 60's and 70's.

In October 1964, a plot was executed to force Nikita Khrushchev from power. Khrushchev's fall, not so coincidentally, was concurrent with the rise of his protege - Leonid Brezhnev.

In October 1962, the presence of nuclear missiles on the island of Cuba brought the world to the brink of catastrophe. The ensuing Cuban Missile Crisis was also a pivotal moment in the decline of the USSR.

The islands of the Caribbean, which are today popular tourist destinations, were once home to some of the most concentrated suffering in human history. Above all, it was the Caribbean sugar industry that fueled the inhumanity of the Atlantic Slave Trade.

The unlikely success of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement in the late 1950's is one of the most fascinating underdog stories in world history, and it set the stage for the most dramatic moment of the Cold War.

For a relatively small island nation, Cuba has consistently had an outsized impact on world history, shaping the destinies of empires and superpowers. Cuba's destiny in the modern world was forged, above all, by one man - Fidel Castro.

The Space Race began as a mere extension of the Cold War arms race, but it soon took on a life of its own. The achievements of the Soviet space program early in the race set the standard for all future space exploration.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 was one of the most remarkable events of the 20th Century, and it led to a significant escalation of the Cold War.

Nikita Khrushchev was a deeply complicated figure. He was capable of terrible ruthlessness, but could, at times, come across as a very sympathetic and even admirable figure. Whatever our opinion of him, his impact on the history of the Soviet Union is undeniable.

On March 5, 1953, Joseph Stalin died from a cerebral hemorrhage, setting in motion a struggle for power between his subordinates.

Despite their emergence as a superpower, the postwar Soviet Union faced a series of challenges brought on by the destruction of the war and economic mismanagement by Stalin and the Communist Party.

In July 1945, the leaders of the Big Three came together to decide the fate of the world in Potsdam, Germany. As they prepared to meet, an explosion in the New Mexico desert would fundamentally change the world forever.

When Stalin, Roosevelt, and Churchill met in Tehran and Yalta, they sought to resolve their differences and lay the groundwork for the new postwar order.

As the Red Army advanced across Eastern Europe, they discovered horrifying evidence of Nazi atrocities. When they got to Germany, they committed a few of their own.

The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the most decisive moments in world history. At an appallingly high cost, the Red Army turned back the Nazi tide and began the long march toward victory.

On June 22, 1941, Nazi Germany launched a devastating surprise attack on the Soviet Union. The Soviet people faced the possibility of annihilation and overcame it.

By the late 1930's, the clouds of war were already approaching the Soviet Union. Stalin's foreign policy was dominated by the existential threat posed by the rise of Fascism in Europe.

After securing his position as the unquestioned leader of the Soviet Union, Stalin sought to will history forward and eliminate all threats to his regime with a series of brutal campaigns against alleged internal enemies.

No figure looms quite as large over the history of the USSR as Joseph Stalin. From humble origins on the periphery of the Russian Empire, he would rise to become one of the most influential world leaders of the 20th Century.