Episode one traces the communist super-state built by Joseph Stalin which once covered one sixth of the planet and crossed eleven time zones. Irishwoman Mairead Breslin Kelly shares her personal story about her father, Padraic Breslin, who died in Stalin’s work camps in 1940. Seamus speaks with...

Episode two examines Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev’s age of reform in the 1980s and the first cracks in the Soviet State as the Baltic States bid for independence. Former professor at Trinity College, Ron Hill followed Gorbachev’s career and tells us why Gorbachev began his reforms of...

Episode three explores the August 1991 Coup attempt and the final months of the Soviet Union. Seamus Martin had just arrived as correspondent for the Irish Times six weeks earlier. We hear from well known economic and finance commentator in Ireland, Constantin Gurdgiev on his assessment of Boris...