Stalin remains one of the creators of our world – like Hitler, the personification of evil. Join award-winning historian Simon Sebag Montefiore to explore his triumphs, crimes, and legacy.

He was the cobbler’s son who became the Red Tsar; a merciless psychopath and consummate politician; a charismatic but dangerous boy who became a fanatical revolutionary, gangster and dictator.

But what lay beneath the many chilling personas of Joseph Stalin? How did he go from abject poverty to absolute power? Where does Stalin feature in the long line of authoritarian Russian rulers – from Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin? How does his legacy continue to influence Russia today? And in an age of strongman politicians, how can a deeper understanding of the past help us to forge a better future?

In this livestream, in conversation event, Matthew Stadlen asks the internationally bestselling author of Jerusalem and Written in History to tell the story of the Red Tzar – from his emergence into the murderous paranoid criminal underworld to his triumph in the Kremlin and beyond.

It’s an unmissable chance to hear one of the most extraordinary stories of all time from a singular and masterful storyteller.