TOWARDS THE FLAME: Empire, War and the End of Tsarist Russia

Doors open 6:30pm

Talk 7pm

Drinks 8pm

Wolfson Prize-winning historian Dominic Lieven introduces us to his powerful new account of the destruction of Imperial Russia and its aftermath. 

Due to the foreseen popularity of this event, we strongly advise you purchase tickets in advance. We are unable to guarantee entry on the evening.

'As much as anything, World War I turned on the fate of Ukraine...'

The decision to go to war in 1914 had catastrophic consequences for Russia. The result was revolution, civil war and famine in 1917-20, followed by decades of Communist rule. Dominic Lieven's powerful and original new book, based on exhaustive and unprecedented study in Russian and many other foreign archives, explains why this suicidal decision was made and explores the world of the men who made it, thereby consigning their entire class to death or exile and making their country the victim of a uniquely terrible political experiment under Lenin and Stalin.

But Towards the Flame is about far more than Russia.  By looking at the origins and results of the First World War from a mostly Russian angle it offers a radically different view of why Europe descended into disaster. Dominic Lieven's interpretation of Europe's great war and Russia's revolution will overturn assumptions about events that still have major implications for world history down to the present day.

Dominic Lieven is a Senior Research Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge University, and a Fellow of the British Academy. His book Russia Against Napoleon (Penguin) won the Wolfson Prize for History and the Prize of the Fondation Napoleon for the best foreign work on the Napoleonic era.

Ticket price includes drinks reception following the talk and Q&A.