Introduction

Apocalypse, Stalin is a television series in three parts retracing the meteoric rise of Joseph Stalin and the birth of the Stalinist ideology, broadcast on France 2 on 03 November 2015.

It was made after Apocalypse, the First World War, and before Apocalypse: Verdun.

It brings together known and previously unpublished period documents of the great events that led to his becoming General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party and leading the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

The archive images have been restored and colourised. The series is directed by Isabelle Clarke and Daniel Costelle and narrated by Mathieu Kassovitz.

Outline of Part 02

On the death of Lenin, Stalin took power and managed to replace Lenin at the head of the Soviet Union by using cold manoeuvres punctuated by violence and intimidation.

He eliminates all his opponents, starting with Trotsky who will be ousted from the government in 1924, the Communist Party in 1927 and finally exiled. The latter was opposed to the increasing bureaucratisation of the regime embodied by Stalin.

For a decade at the top of a totalitarian regime based on lies, Stalin first sent to the Gulag without any qualms all those he suspects of constituting a danger and sentenced. His total lack of pity even caused the death of his eldest son, a prisoner of the Germans.

During the winter of 1941, the Soviets fought alone with the assault of Hitler’s troops, who already occupied half of Russia and were attempting a breakthrough south of Russia towards Stalingrad.

On 14 December 1941, the United States declared war on Hitler’s Germany. Stalin, preoccupied by a forbidden love of his daughter, made war as in 14-18 sacrificing the Soviet people and sending to death millions of soldiers in the interminable siege of Leningrad in 1942, the dark year of Russia.

The German offensive looted Soviet troops during the winter of 1942. The Red Army managed to stop the Reich Army in the east, backed by US helpers to win a stellar victory at Stalingrad in 1943. Stalin is already treated as an equal by his British and American allies at the Tehran conference in 1943.

He becomes one of the most powerful men on the planet.

Apocalypse: Stalin Series

• Part 01: The Possessed.
• Part 02: The Red Man.
• Part 03: The Master of the World.

Production & Filming Details

• Directors: Isabelle Clarke and Daniel Costelle.
• Narrator: Mathieu Kassovitz.
• Production: Une coproduction officielle France – Canada.
• Released Date: 25 October 2015 (France).
• Running time: 157 minutes (total running time).
• Country: France and Canada.
• Language: English.

YouTube Link