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Articles on Joseph Stalin

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The Washington, D.C., courthouse where Donald Trump’s Jan. 6-related trial will likely take place. Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images

Hitler, Burr and Trump: Show trials put the record straight for history but can also provide a powerful platform for the defendant

Donald Trump’s trial for his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election will promote accountability – but could this show trial have a dangerous outcome, too?
Russian rhetoric about Ukraine echoes language used in the second world war by the Soviets seeking to stem independence movements. Soviet leader Joseph Stalin insisted on Ukraine getting a separate vote to the USSR at the United Nations, even though it wasn’t an independent state. Pictorial Press Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Ukraine: reporter’s notes from WWII shows how Russia used claims of fascism to stem independence

Putin’s rhetoric over Ukraine has roots in the end of the second world war, attitudes explained by Paul Winterton, a British journalist at the time.
Russian traditional wooden matryoshka dolls showing Russian President Vladimir Putin and former Soviet dictator Josef Stalin on sale in a street souvenir shop in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Putin’s war on history is another form of domestic repression

History always served as a weapon in the former Soviet Union, a way to control the narrative and deny the truth of the past. Vladimir Putin is now attempting to control this narrative through war.
Donetsk residents celebrate recognition of independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics by Russia on Feb. 21, 2022. Alexander RyuAlexander Ryumin\TASS via Getty Images

A historian corrects misunderstandings about Ukrainian and Russian history

History has many uses, and not all of them are noble. That’s very much the case as the public gets a crash course from politicians about Ukrainian history.
A statue commemorating the Ukrainian famine, in which millions died. Ukrainian Presidency/Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Famine, subjugation and nuclear fallout: How Soviet experience helped sow resentment among Ukrainians toward Russia

Ukraine was once known as the breadbasket of Europe, yet it suffered a devastating famine as a result of collectivist plans. That and other Soviet-era grievances have bred resentment toward Russia.
Marx, Madison or God? Who said it first…or at all? Bettmann/Corbis/ Lucas Schifres via Getty Images

‘From each according to ability; to each according to need’ – tracing the biblical roots of socialism’s enduring slogan

At the height of Reaganism, close to half of Americans believed a phrase popularized by Karl Marx actually derived from the US Constitution. It doesn’t, but scholars have traced it to the Bible.
Winston Churchill giving his final address, during the 1945 election campaign, at Walthamstow Stadium, East London. Wikipedia, the collections of the Imperial War Museums

When a winner becomes a loser: Winston Churchill was kicked out of office in the British election of 1945

Even a highly popular and respected leader can lose an election, writes a historian – especially if they don’t have a plan for the future. Churchill was one of them.
A damaged Confederate statue lies on a pallet in a warehouse in Durham, N.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 15, 2017, after protesters yanked it off its pedestal in front of a government building. AP Photo/Allen Breed

A Confederate statue graveyard could help bury the Old South

Where do old Confederate statues go when they die? The former Soviet bloc countries could teach the US something about dealing with monuments from a painful past.

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