Second Russian Revolution, The (8 Parts)

Synopsis

Series examining the government of Mikhail Gorbachev.
1 (director David Ash): 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.
2: 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.
3 (producer Paul Mitchell): How Boris Yeltsin rose to the top as a Soviet Communist Party official and how he came to fall out with Mikhail Gorbachev.
4 (director, Mark Anderson): 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.
5 (director Oren Jacoby): At first nationalism in Lithuania, Armenia and elsewhere was encouraged, but the nationalists were soo demanding independence. Gorbachev’s aides reveal what he said to Ceausescu of Romania, Landsbergis of Lithuania and other leaders.
6 (director Angus Macqueen): 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.
7 (producer Paul Mitchell): Using interviews, traces the rising tensions, warning signs and machinations that preceded the attempted coup of August 1991.
8 (director Angus Macqueen): The inside story of the coup told through interviews with Gorbachev himself, his aides, his family, and with Boris Yeltsin. Also shows interrogations of the coup leaders, including the KGB chief and the Minister of Defence.

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 8 x 50 min.

Year of production

1991

Availability

Sale; 1996 sale: £99.00 (+VAT +p&p) each 1996 sale: £320.00 (+VAT +p&p) series

Notes

Broadcast on BBC2 from 31 May 1991.

Subjects

History

Keywords

Gorbachev, Mikhail; history of the 20th century; Russia; Soviet Union

Credits

Director

Angus Macqueen; David Ash; Mark Anderson; Oren Jacoby

Producer

Norma Percy

Sections

Title

Enter Gorbachev

Synopsis

1 (director David Ash): 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.

Title

Battle for glasnost, The

Synopsis

2: 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.

Title

Yeltsin file, The

Synopsis

3 (producer Paul Mitchell): How Boris Yeltsin rose to the top as a Soviet Communist Party official and how he came to fall out with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Title

Revolution from below

Synopsis

4 (director, Mark Anderson): 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.

Title

Breaking ranks

Synopsis

5 (director Oren Jacoby): At first nationalism in Lithuania, Armenia and elsewhere was encouraged, but the nationalists were soo demanding independence. Gorbachev's aides reveal what he said to Ceausescu of Romania, Landsbergis of Lithuania and other lead

Title

End of the beginning

Synopsis

6 (director Angus Macqueen): 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 intervie

Title

Countdown to a coup

Synopsis

7 (producer Paul Mitchell): Using interviews, traces the rising tensions, warning signs and machinations that preceded the attempted coup of August 1991.

Title

Coup

Synopsis

8 (director Angus Macqueen): The inside story of the coup told through interviews with Gorbachev himself, his aides, his family, and with Boris Yeltsin. Also shows interrogations of the coup leaders, including the KGB chief and the Minister of Defence.

Production Company

Name

Brian Lapping Associates

Sponsor

Name

BBC Television

Distributor

Name

BBC Active Video for Learning - now BBC Learning

Contact

Carolina Fernandez Jeremy Wilcox (CF - for educational enquiries JW - channel sales manager)

Email

BBCStudiosLearning@bbc.com

Web

https://www.bbcstudioslearning.com/ External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 20 8433 1009

Address

BBC Studios Limited
Television Centre
101 Wood Lane
London
W12 7FA
UK

Notes

The BBC Active company has now been absorbed within BBC Learning, a division of BBC Studios. It was originally a joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Pearson Education. Formerly known as ‘BBC Worldwide Learning Studies’ and before that as ‘Videos for Education & Training’