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In October 1917,
much of the world was stunned when Russia was taken over by communists who
were known as Bolsheviks. As World War One raged, an important ally had
decided to pull out of the fray. This was not all. There had already been
a revolution in the Russian Empire a few months earlier, in February, when
a provisional government had taken control and forced the Tsar to
abdicate. Why had this first revolution occurred? And why was it followed
so soon by another? The Tsar’s family had ruled for over 300 years. What
had gone wrong? Was it the fault of the Tsar’s autocracy or did the War
play the key role? Were times changing anyway, with autocrats, in the
West, being seen as unacceptable anachronisms?
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Come and find out how Lenin and his
Bolsheviks managed, against tremendous odds, to grab and keep power in one
of the biggest countries in the world. Come and see the places where he
worked and started the Revolution. Even with Russia denying their history
in some respects, with statues and memorials removed, there are still many
places and sites to visit. The mood of the past has gone but there are
many reminders in the attitude of the people today as many struggle to
manage.
Russia had lost up to 7 million men in World War One and this was followed
by a bloody Civil War which probably, along with the resulting famine,
killed another 7 million.
Once Lenin was dead, Russia soon found itself at the mercy of a ruthless
ruler, Stalin. He changed the official Russian ‘History’ to ‘prove’ he was
right to impose austere, dictatorial rule. Millions died in his enforced
changes to agriculture and as if that was not enough, millions more in the
‘Purges’ in the 1930s.
By the time World War Two was unleashed, the Red Army was short of
Generals and top military men as they had been condemned as enemies of the
state. The Germans thought it would be possible to destroy the Russian
forces, but their leaders had not perhaps reckoned on the determination or
ferocity of Stalin to force the Russians to fight to the last man.
Also find out how the people of Leningrad (now St Petersburg again)
suffered during World War Two, as the Germans laid siege to the city for
nearly three years, thereby causing the death of well over one million of
its population.
To look at Russian history, is to study a picture of incredible pain and
suffering, especially in the 20th Century, but by no means just then. The
numbers of people whose lives were cut short by political upheavals and
war is horrendous beyond imagination.
Moscow and St Petersburg are the two main cities in Russia, so
consequently, much of the history we study took place or was influenced
from these famous arenas. We are sure that when you visit them, you will
be moved and impressed by their scale and significance in an incredible
story. It is impossible not to be fascinated by a country with such an
dramatic history, whose destiny strongly influenced our own during the
Cold War.
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Sergeymila Fortress
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Come and find out how Lenin and his
Bolsheviks managed, against tremendous odds, to grab and keep power in one
of the biggest countries in the world. Come and see the places where he
worked and started the Revolution. Even with Russia denying their history
in some respects, with statues and memorials removed, there are still many
places and sites to visit. The mood of the past has gone but there are
many reminders in the attitude of the people today as many struggle to
manage.
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Russia had lost up to 7
million men in World War One and this was followed by a bloody Civil War
which probably, along with the resulting famine, killed another 7 million.
Once Lenin was dead, Russia soon found itself at the mercy of a ruthless
ruler, Stalin. He changed the official Russian ‘History’ to ‘prove’ he was
right to impose austere, dictatorial rule. Millions died in his enforced
changes to agriculture and as if that was not enough, millions more in the
‘Purges’ in the 1930s.
By the time World War Two was unleashed, the Red Army was short of
Generals and top military men as they had been condemned as enemies of the
state. The Germans thought it would be possible to destroy the Russian
forces, but their leaders had not perhaps reckoned on the determination or
ferocity of Stalin to force the Russians to fight to the last man.
Also find out how the people of Leningrad (now St Petersburg again)
suffered during World War Two, as the Germans laid siege to the city for
nearly three years, thereby causing the death of well over one million of
its population.
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Soviet Flag 1917 - 1937
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To look at Russian history, is to study a
picture of incredible pain and suffering, especially in the 20th Century,
but by no means just then. The numbers of people whose lives were cut
short by political upheavals and war is horrendous beyond imagination.
Moscow and St Petersburg are the two main cities in Russia, so
consequently, much of the history we study took place or was influenced
from these famous arenas. We are sure that when you visit them, you will
be moved and impressed by their scale and significance in an incredible
story. It is impossible not to be fascinated by a country with such an
dramatic history, whose destiny strongly influenced our own during the
Cold War.
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Tour Itinerary (example)
Full Breakfast, Evening Meals and all visits are included.
Day 1 –
Depart on a morning flight to Moscow, from a London airport. Coach to
our hotel in Moscow. City Tour, visiting Moscow’s highlights, including
Red Square, Lenin’s tomb and St Basils. Free time for wondering around
and visiting the GUM Store, a complex of ornate shops built in the
19th Century, opposite Red Square. Dinner. Evening visit to the
Moscow State Circus or the Bolshoi Ballet.
Day 2 –
Morning visit to the Kremlin, including the Armoury Museum. with
its impressive collection of royal artefacts, including Faberge Eggs,
given by the Tsar to his wife Alexandra as presents. Lunch Break. Visit to
the Museum of Contemporary Russian History. Late afternoon visit to
Arbat Street, a famous central tourist market with Russian
Souvenirs galore. Dinner. Evening tour of some of the incredible
Metro stations of Moscow.
 St Basil's
Cathedral
Day 3 –
Morning visit to the Church of St Saviour, which was destroyed by
Stalin and recently rebuilt. Visit the Moscow Hills and see some of the
Stalin’s Skyscrapers. Lunch Break. Afternoon visit to the Museum of
the Armed Forces. Return to the hotel for dinner. Transfer to the
railway station for the overnight sleeper to St Petersburg. Started
as his new capital in 1703, Peter the Great made all Russian aristocrats
build a palace here. St Petersburg, also known as the Venice of the North.
is one of the world’s most beautiful and sumptuous cities.
Day 4 –
 The Winter
Palace/Hermitage
On arrival in St Petersburg transfer to your hotel for breakfast. Morning
sightseeing tour of the city’s most famous sights, including a visit to
the Peter and Paul Fortress, where most of the Tsars are interred.
Afternoon visit to the Cruiser Aurora, whose canons sounded signal
for the start of the Russian Revolution of October 1917, the Museum of
Political History of Russia, where Lenin once had an office, and
Peter the Great’s Log Cabin, where Peter supposedly lived as his city
was being constructed. Dinner. Evening free to wonder about the Nevsky
Prospekt. This is the central street that runs through the city.
Day 5 –
Pisariovskoye Memorial Cemetery
Morning visit to the Hermitage Museum, formerly the Winter Palace,
which today is the site of one of the largest museums in the world. Lunch
in the city. Afternoon visit to the Siege of Leningrad Museum, followed
by a trip to the Piskariovkoye Memorial Cemetery, a poignant reminder
of the scale of the tragedy the city suffered and lived through during the
Second World War. About 600,000 citizens are buried in the cemetery’s 186
mass graves. The slightly raised mounds are marked by year and a central
path leads the visitor to the grieving statue of the motherland,
symbolically a female, mother figure. Evening at the Nikolaevsky Palace
for the folk evening followed by dinner.
Day 6-
 Catherine
Palace
Morning visit to Pushkin, just outside the city, where the Tsars
lived in the Summer, to visit the Catherine Palace and the Palace of
Pavlovsk. The style of these buidings rivals the beauty of those in St
Petersburg. Return flight to the UK.
Services of a local tour guide at each city as well as your history
teaching guide from England.
Date is in mid-October, exact day tba.
Cost is being finalized, approx £1190 for the 8 day programme, with the
teaching workshop.
Approx £950 for the 6 day Russia visit itself.
Our Company Insurance is included. However, you need your own holiday
insurance, as well as your European health insurance card (replaced E111)
in case of personal injury requiring hospital treatment (or adequate
insurance cover). See booking terms and conditions.
Book This Tour Here Now!
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