Writer and historian
MEDIA
Collapse: The Fall of the Soviet Union by Vladislav Zubok
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
Was it inevitable? If Gorbachev and Yeltsin hadn’t hated each other, the Soviet Union might not have imploded.
Soviet Union, Book Reviews
The Lenin Plot by Barnes Carr
Victor Sebestyen in
The New York Times
Did the U.S. try to assassinate Lenin in 1918?
Lenin, Book Reviews
Berlin Wall: What went right? Let’s not forget the great gains of 1989
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
George Orwell’s observation that “all revolutions are failures” has often been borrowed by commentators and historians during this 30th anniversary year of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the revolutions in central Europe that marked the collapse of the Soviet empire.
Berlin, Communism
The Light That Failed by Ivan Krastev and Stephen Holmes
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
Why Eastern Europe went bad. The rise of toxic populism in the old Soviet bloc is explained in this convincing analysis.
Eastern Europe, Book Reviews
Hungary: A Short History by Norman Stone
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
The dark heart of Europe. A country of extremes, Hungary has had a significant influence on world history.
Hungary, Book Reviews
Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy by Serhii Plokhy — a nuclear nightmare told minute by minute
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
Told for the first time, the extraordinary story of the Chernobyl disaster — an explosion 10 times more radioactive than the Hiroshima bomb.
Book Reviews
The Book Review Podcast with Marc Maron
Victor Sebestyen in
The New York Times
On this week’s podcast, Sebestyen talks about “Lenin”.
Lenin, Book Reviews
Orban: Europe’s New Strongman by Paul Lendvai
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
The rise of Hungary’s nationalist leader is a sign of what’s to come in eastern Europe.
Eastern Europe, Book Reviews
St Petersburg: three centuries of murderous desire
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
Chaos and cruelty have dogged St Petersburg ever since its creation.
Lenin, Book Reviews
China Mieville's take on the Russian Revolution is wonderfully dated
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
October reminds me of the Marxist histories of my youth - except it’s rather better written...
Lenin, Book Reviews
Revolutionary art at the RA
Victor Sebestyen in
The Evening Standard
How the Bolshevik leaders betrayed the Revolution.
Lenin
Russian art and revolution
Victor Sebestyen in
BBC Radio
As the Royal Academy unveils its huge new show of work produced in Russia between 1917 and 1932, Anne McElvoy and her guests - the film maker and actor, Dolya Gavanski, novelist Charlotte Hobson and thehistorians Stephen Smith and Victor Sebestyen - assess the role played by artists in the revolution and the relevance of their paintings, sculptures, films, books and music today.
Lenin, Radio
Steve Bannon the Leninist
Victor Sebestyen in
The Guardian
President Trump's chief strategist proudly admits "I am a Leninist". So we should worry...
Lenin
Public joy and private panic
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
A review of The Last Empire: The final days of the Soviet Union, by Serhii Plokhy. Newly unearthed material sheds fresh light on the dying days of the 'Evil Empire'.
Book Reviews, Soviet Union
A Pole's view of the Czechs. Who cares? You will
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
A review of Gottland, by Mariusz Szczygiel, a profoundly funny book about how one copes with tyranny.
Book Reviews
Gavrilo Princip - The Trigger by Tim Butcher
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
Gavrilo Princip – history's ultimate teenage tearaway. A review of The Trigger, by Tim Butcher. A triumphant and original account of the man who shot the Archduke.
Book Reviews
The New Cold War That Isn't
Victor Sebestyen in
The New York Times
If one is to believe the newspaper headlines and TV talking heads, we are in the midst of “a new Cold War” as a result of Russia’s decision to seize Crimea. Perhaps for many people on both sides of the Atlantic the comparison is comforting: After all, the real Cold War was the last war that America and the West “won,” or seemed to have won. But it is seriously misleading.
Vladimir Putin
Revolutionary Russia 1891-1991 by Orlando Figes
Victor Sebestyen in
The Sunday Times
Orlando Figes’ bestselling A People’s Tragedy, first published nearly 20 years ago, is one of the most compelling of all accounts of the Russian Revolution. Figes ended his story in 1924 with the death of Lenin, which, he reckoned, seemed like a good idea at the time, as did many other historians of the subject.
Book Reviews
What price freedom?
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
One of the best-known contacts for many Western reporters covering Poland and the Solidarity protests of the 1980s was Konstanty ‘Kostek’ Gebert. A fine journalist who usually wrote under the name Dawid Warszawski, he seemed to know everyone in Warsaw, liked to talk late into the night about ideas and gossip, wore his vast learning lightly and had an invaluable gift for putting complex issues into broad perspective.
Communism
On Eastern Europe
Victor Sebestyen in
BBC Radio
Andrew Marr discusses Central Europe from the Soviet occupation to membership of the EU. Anne Applebaum looks back at what happened when the Iron Curtain came down after WWII. Victor Sebestyen and Helen Szamuely disagree over the benefits of European integration after 1989. And Mark Mazower explores the chequered history of international government, and the vision of harmony at the heart of the European project.
Eastern Europe, Radio
A message to Putin: remember the Plastics
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
A band of long-haired psychedelic rockers locked up in the 1970s proved a catalyst in the fall of Soviet communism. “The band’s lyrics have nothing to do with music or art and seriously threaten the moral values of society,” the chief prosecutor declared portentously in a crowded court room. “They display extreme vulgarity and their words expose anarchy, decadence ... and cause a negative influence on the lifestyle of our young generation.”
Vladimir Putin
Russia's strongman suddenly starts to look weak
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
In Russia one of the biggest hits on YouTube is the dramatic scene in November when Vladimir Putin was booed at a martial arts contest. As he entered the ring at the Olympic Stadium in Moscow to congratulate the Russian winner of a bout against an American, cheers turned to catcalls.
Vladimir Putin
Threat to Hungary
Victor Sebestyen in
Prospect Magazine
In the last 18 months, nine European governments have lost power: Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Greece, and Romania.
Hungary
He wanted 'dull', but Orbán is becoming a dictator
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
The Hungarian Prime Minister I knew was a fun-loving firebrand. Now his democratic deficit is a threat to the EU.
Hungary
Leave it to the Russians to bring down Putin
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
Moscow’s leader is a corrupt bully. But it’s not worth starting a second Cold War over him.
Vladimir Putin
City of the dead
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
Russian officials today, much like the Soviet authorities of a past generation, encourage a cult of the Great Patriotic War. In the national narrative, this was their Finest Hour, still invoked on significant anniversary days as an example of heroism and sacrifice by politicians such as Vladimir Putin.
Communism
The K.G.B.'s Bathhouse Plot
Victor Sebestyen in
The New York Times
The plot was hatched at a bathhouse in downtown Moscow. At midmorning on Saturday, Aug. 17, 1991, the head of the K.G.B., Vladimir A. Kryuchkov, summoned five senior Soviet officials for a highly secretive meeting that he told them would be vital for the future of the U.S.S.R.
Mikhail Gorbachev
Moscow, December 25 1991 by Conor O'Clery
Victor Sebestyen in
The Sunday Times
Nobody saw it coming — this superb account re-creates in vivid detail the passing of the Soviet Union 20 years ago. So many moments are instantly identified as “the day the world changed” that it is easy to forget the relevant date — or indeed the event the label is supposed to describe. But it is no hyperbole to tag Christmas Day 1991, when Mikhail Gorbachev resigned as the last leader of the Soviet Union and the Red Flag was lowered from the Kremlin, as one of those dates. Very likely, future historians will judge it to be far more significant than 9/11.
Communism, Book Reviews
Afghanistan : How to end a war
Victor Sebestyen in
Prospect Magazine
President Medvedev has offered to help the west’s faltering Afghan campaign - but both parties must heed the lessons from the Soviet army’s disastrous withdrawal in the 1980s.
Afghanistan
It's not easy to get troops out. Ask Gorbachev
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
In his Cabinet room, the leader was exasperated by the latest reports of casualties in Afghanistan. “We’re in ... but how to get out racks one’s brains,” he told his generals and political colleagues. “We’ve been fighting in Afghanistan for years now and if we don’t change our approach we’ll be there another 20 or 30 years. We have not learnt how to wage war there. We had a clearly defined goal: to get a friendly regime in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan, Mikhail Gorbachev
Before and after the Fall
Victor Sebestyen in
The Spectator
No one here (I mean in Britain, not perhaps in the columns of The Spectator) likes to read anything nice about the Germans. So I shall warn you that there will be some praise for Germany in this review, mixed with the usual level of bashing. If the very thought of this shocks or appals you, I’ll do that rare thing for any journalist and suggest you turn the page and move on to something more comforting.
Berlin
Vaclav Havel: the unlikely leader
Victor Sebestyen in
The Times
There’s one sound I shall never forget about the revolution that bustled the Communists out of power in Czechoslovakia 20 years ago: the jangling of door keys. Every night for a week, crowds gathered in Prague’s Wenceslas Square. At regular intervals, thousands of people in unison waved their keyrings above their heads. The noise echoed throughout the city, signifying to their hated communist masters: “Go home, here’s your key. It’s time to leave.”
Vaclav Havel
The Berlin wall was the real 9/11
Victor Sebestyen in
The Guardian
The heady events in Berlin in 1989 had far more impact than the rise of Islamism. Today is the real 9/11. This is not meant as a quibble about dates. Future historians will remember 9 November 1989 as far more significant than that terrifying day in September eight years ago. Countless long-forgotten events have been marked in headlines as the day we shall all remember. But nobody can doubt that the world changed on that wonderful night in Berlin.
Berlin
Transcripts of Defeat
Victor Sebestyen in
The New York Times
The highly decorated general sat opposite his commander in chief and explained the problems his army faced fighting in the hills around Kabul: “There is no piece of land in Afghanistan that has not been occupied by one of our soldiers at some time or another,” he said. “Nevertheless much of the territory stays in the hands of the terrorists. We control the provincial centers, but we cannot maintain political control over the territory we seize.
Afghanistan
How not to end a war
Victor Sebestyen in
The New Statesman
Mikhail Gorbachev called Afghanistan “our bleeding wound”. Why hasn’t Nato learned from the Soviet Union. In May 1985, two months after Mikhail Gorbachev became general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he sent one of his cleverest generals to Kabul on an urgent, secret mission. The name of General Zaitsev is unlikely to be well known to today's Nato commanders, but perhaps it should be. Back then he was the Red Army's most senior military planner and logistics expert, and Gorbachev ordered him to provide an honest answer to the question: can the USSR win the war in Afghanistan? He returned to Moscow swiftly with a simple answer: no.
Afghanistan, Mikhail Gorbachev
The accidental hero of 1989
Victor Sebestyen in
Prospect Magazine
Twenty years after the wall fell, Mikhail Gorbachev is quietly celebrated in the west, but shunned in Moscow. Yet in both places his reputation rests on his failure to reform the dying system in which he truly believed.
Mikhail Gorbachev
The Red Flag by David Priestland
Victor Sebestyen in
The Sunday Times
In the 1980s, the Polish economist Bronislaw Kaminski used to make an observation that confused liberal, leftist and even some conservative intellectuals in the West. Communism, he argued, was not a good idea implemented badly, but a terrible idea implemented surprisingly well.
Communism, Book Reviews
Laying claim to Hungary's 1956 revolution
Victor Sebestyen in
BBC
Hungary is commemorating the 50th anniversary of the uprising against the Russians. Victor Sebestyen, whose family left Hungary when he was a young child, has written a book about the 1956 uprising. He says that despite the passing years, there is still an uneasy relationship with Russia.