v. 1. 1917-1940. pt. 1: Revolution and civil war (1917-1921). The February revolution and the provisional government -- The Bolshevik seizure of Soviet power -- Bolshevik State, Orthodox Church -- Soviet power and the peasantry -- The other Russia: a 'third way' or dictatorship? -- Terror -- The crisis of 'war communism' -- pt. 2: The period of the 'new economic policy' (NEP) (1921-1928). The economy, the market and planning -- The state, the party, and the leadership struggle -- Soviet power and the intelligentsia -- Church and state -- pt. 3: Soviet society under Stalin (1928-1940). collectivization and the peasantry -- Industrialization and the working class -- 'Cultural revolution' and the intelligentsia -- The great terror -- Church and state.

v. 2. 1939-1991. pt. 1: Dealing with Hitler (1939-1941). The Nazi-Soviet Pact -- The winter war -- Military reform and Buffer-building against Germany -- Stalin's disastrous miscalculation -- pt. 2: Invasion and the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945). Barbarossa -- Allies -- Stiffening Soviet resistance -- German onslaught -- The home front, legitimacy and the economic war effort -- The turning of the tide: Stalingrad and Kursk -- Postwar expectations -- Repression -- pt. 3: Stabilization and stagnation (1945-1985). The Cold War -- The command economy -- The one-party state -- Marxism-Leninism and dissent -- pt. 4: Crisis and collapse (1985-1991). The end of the Cold War and of the 'socialist commonwealth' -- The end of the command economy -- Glasnost -- Democratization -- Nationalism -- The break-up of the USSR.