Through the centuries, Russia has swung between successful expansionism, catastrophic collapse and spectacular recovery. This illuminating and accessible history traces these cycles from the late Neolithic age to Ivan the Terrible, and from the height of Communism to the truncated Russian Federation of today.Philip Longworth explores the patterns of Russia's past, from the nameless adventurers who first penetrated it to dynamic characters including Ivan the Terrible, Catherine the Great and Stalin. His narrative takes in the magnificent cities of Kiev, Moscow and St Petersburg; it stretches to Alaska in the east, to the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire in the south, to the Baltic in the west and to the Arctic Ocean in the north.What is the source of Russia's imperialistic culture Why was Russia so driven to colonize and conquer From Kievan Rus' - the first Russian state - to ruthless Muscovy, the Russian Empire of the eighteenth century and finally the Soviet period, this groundbreaking study analyses the growth and dissolution of each empire, and asks what the future holds for Russia and her neighbours.