The Red Empire

The story of an empire: From its founding in 1922 to its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union was shaped by revolutionary idealism, but also by oppression and decay. The USSR evolved from Stalinist terror through the Thaw under Khrushchev to political processes such as glasnost and perestroika under Gorbachev. Finally, in 1991, it collapsed.

DocumentaryWar & Politics

Seasons

1. New Man and Great Terror

Air Date: 2022-10-25

1922 was the birth year of the Soviet Union. Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and Transcaucasia united to form the USSR. A completely new state entity emerged. Initially, the backward agrarian country needed electricity and industry. Stalin pushed for the forced collectivization of the peasants and rigorous industrialization. The price was high...

2. Great War and New Dreams

Air Date: 2022-10-25

The history of the Soviet Union from its entry into the war in 1941 to the end of the 1960s: It tells the story of the so-called Great Patriotic War, Stalin and the rise to superpower status, but also how Stalin's successor Khrushchev attempted to give the country new impetus.

3. Superpower and Catastrophe

Air Date: 2022-10-25

The third part of the documentary series reconstructs the last two decades of the USSR. The revolutionary energy with which the country was founded still seemed not to have completely dissipated. Idealism and the fervor of the patriots were still present. Gorbachev brought new directions. With glasnost and perestroika, the empire was to be reformed...

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