The Russian Revolution of 1917 is one of the most controversial events of the 20th century. Three men - Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin - emerged from obscurity to forge an entirely new political system. In the space of six months they turned the largest country on earth into the first Communist state. Was this a triumph of peo…

Historian Orlando Figes presents the extraordinary story of the relationship between photographer Sergei Mikhailovich Produkin-Gorskii and the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. A pioneer in colour photography, Gorskii's pictures offer a unique record of a culture swept away by the Bolshevik revolution of 1917.