This is a penetrating and up-to-date account of one of the dramatic aspects of 20th-century history. Published fifty years after Stalin's death, and fully revised and expanded, this second edition looks at the entire period of his rule and includes chapters on ideology, politics, economic development, social change, the nationalities, culture and external relations (including the Second World War) and the Great Terror. The interpretation stresses the connection between internal and external policy and the influence of ideology on both. Mawdsley includes many primary sources, some republished here together for the first time in many years. Others are secret items from the Russian archives that have only become available in the last decade.