Home  >  The History Hour  >  The Killing of the Russian Tsar
The History Hour
The Killing of the Russian Tsar
The History Hour
Jul 21, 2018

The murder of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, four daughters and young son in 1918, plus how the Soviet Union struggled to feed its people in the 1950s; also the IRA attacks on mounted troops in London's Hyde Park in 1982, the Zionist bombing of the British headquarters in Jerusalem in 1946 and the first steps towards a nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

(Photo: Nicholas II, Tsar and his family. From left to right - Olga, Maria,Tsar Nicholas II,Tsarina Alexandra, Anastasia, Tsarevitch Alexei and Tatiana. Credit: Press Association

More Episodes



Mar 14, 2026
Movie history: Seven Samurai and Casablanca

Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is media, culture and creative industries lecturer Sarah Jilani. We start in 1954 with the Japanese film Seven Samurai which is widely considered to be one of world cinema's most influential films. Then, we hear about the 2006 Hindi film Rang de Basanti which broke box-office records and inspired thousands of young Indians to march for justice. We delve into the BBC Archives to hear from director Leni Riefenstahl about one of the most controversial propaganda movies ever made, Triumph of the Will, which was filmed at the Nazis’ Nuremberg rally in 1934. Next, we hear about the challenges of making the Hollywood 1942 classic, Casablanca, from the late son and nephew of the screenwriters. Finally, the story of the Spanish language fantasy, Pan's Labyrinth, which took the world by storm in 2006. Contributors: Hisao Kurosawa - movie producer, head of the Kurosawa Production Company and son of Seven Samurai director Akira Kurosawa. Sarah Jilani - a Lecturer in the Department of Media, Culture and Creative Industries, City St George's, University of London. Kamlesh Pandey - screenwriter. Leni Riefenstahl - film maker (from BBC Archive). Leslie Epstein - the late son and nephew of screenwriters Julius and Philip Epstein respectively. Ivana Baquero - actress. (Photo: Ingrid Bergman with Humphrey Bogart in a still from Casablanca. Credit: Universal History Archive/Getty Images)


01hr 00min

The Killing of the Russian Tsar

--:--
--:--