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Stalin & Mind Control

Stalin's skillful use of media, arts and terror to maintain his hold on power in the Soviet Union.

Stalin's Secret Police

A brief history of the NKVD, OGPU, MGB, & KGB--and their victims, through eyewitness accounts.

Stalin & The War

Stalin's role in WWII, revealed through previously unpublicized documents.

Private Life of Stalin

The early life, rise to power and death of Stalin.

2RR:1 Enter Gorbachev

This begins with the last years of Brezhnev's administration, and follows the rise of Gorbachev.

2RR:2 Battle for Glasnost

Chernobyl, the worst nuclear accident in world history. The atomic power plant explosion would test the Soviet propaganda machine.

2RR:3 Yeltsin File

Gorbachev takes cautious steps to dismantle the roadblocks to reform, while Boris Yeltsin, Moscow's party leader, grows impatient and breaks ranks. Once friend to the Communist party, Yeltsin will soon tear apart the official line of perastroika. His actions were not without their consequences during the Second Russian Revolution.

2RR:4 Revolution From Below

President Gorbachev announces free democratic elections for the Soviet parliament. The people seize their new weapon--the ballot box. The people stage a comeback for the radical Moscow candidate Boris Yeltsin, and push Soviet dissadent Andrei Sakharov into the heated political arena of Red Square.

2RR:5 Breaking Ranks

The fall of the Berlin Wall provides a springboard for national movements throughout the republics. 'Sovereignty' becomes the buzzword for the fractured republics. Gorbachev walks a political tightrope, strengthening his grip on the rebellious republics, struggling to fulfill his promise of perastroika.

2RR:6 End of the Beginning

In January 1991, cries for independence are stifled when Soviet paratroopers enter the breakaway republic of Lithuania. Eight months later, party and government officials stage a coup attempt in Moscow. 72 hours later, the coup fails, and Yeltsin's path to the top is clear. For a vulnerable Gorbachev, this became the End of the Beginning.

2RR:7 Coup

In a drastic move, Gorbachev's betrayers held him prisoner, an attempted coup that shocked the world and rocked the foundation of Soviet government. But with Boris Yeltsin and the Soviet people united in opposition to the coup, Communism goes up in flames, counting down the final hours of the Second Russian Revolution.

Anatomy of a Coup

This followup to "The Second Russian Revolution" looks at the aftermath of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and some of the difficulties people & leaders were experiencing in instituting democratic reforms, while at the same time trying to avert economic chaos.

Benedict Arnold (1995)

This A&E Biography recounts the life of American revolutionary war hero/traitor Benedict Arnold. One of the most ardent and courageous of the field commanders of the war, he gradually became disillusioned with the cause, and plotted to surrender West Point to the British in 1779.

Vlasov & the Russian Liberation Army