Show cover for The Second Russian Revolution

All Episodes of The Second Russian Revolution

Browse all episodes of The Second Russian Revolution

The acclaimed documentary series from 1991 that examined political in-fighting in the Soviet Union and the battle for perestroika.
Genre:Documentary
Network:BBC Two
Select Season:

Season 1

  • Enter Gorbachev
    NaN/100 votes
    Loading...

    Enter Gorbachev

    Season 1 Episode 1 - Aired 5/31/1991

    How Mikhail Gorbachev became president of the Soviet Union. Yuri Andropov, the dying Secretary General, named Gorbachev as his successor, but the nomination was suppressed for two years by the conservatives.

    Director: David Ash

    Writer: N/A

  • The Battle for Glasnost
    NaN/100 votes
    Loading...

    The Battle for Glasnost

    Season 1 Episode 2 - Aired 6/7/1991

    Follows the attempted coup while Gorbachev was away in March 1988, at how the Kremlin tried to cover up the Chernobyl disaster. Afterwards, glasnost flourished and Soviet society opened up.

    Director: David Ash

    Writer: N/A

  • The Yeltsin File
    NaN/100 votes
    Loading...

    The Yeltsin File

    Season 1 Episode 3 - Aired 6/14/1991

    How Boris Yeltsin rose to the top as a Soviet Communist Party official and how he came to fall out with Mikhail Gorbachev.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Revolution from Below
    NaN/100 votes
    Loading...

    Revolution from Below

    Season 1 Episode 4 - Aired 6/21/1991

    The first Congress of People's Deputies was elected in 1989, but a new rebelliousness was soon unleashed. Soviet miners protested and, for the first time since Lenin, the State gave in.

    Director: N/A

    Writer: N/A

  • Breaking Ranks
    NaN/100 votes
    Loading...

    Breaking Ranks

    Season 1 Episode 5 - Aired 6/28/1991

    At first nationalism in Lithuania, Armenia and elsewhere was encouraged, but the nationalists were demanding independence. Gorbachev's aides reveal what he said to Ceausescu of Romania, Landsbergis of Lithuania and other leaders of communist-bloc countries of the time.

    Director: Oren Jacoby

    Writer: N/A

  • End of the Beginning
    NaN/100 votes
    Loading...

    End of the Beginning

    Season 1 Episode 6 - Aired 7/5/1991

    Gorbachev visited London in 1991 to ask world leaders for aid, and they demanded that he move to an open market economy. His plan to do so failed. The programme contains tapes of Gorbachev’s meetings with Deputies and interviews with Yeltsin and Shevardnadze.

    Director: Angus Macqueen

    Writer: N/A