On the 14th of February, our school had the pleasure of receiving a thought-provoking, discussion-like lecture from Arkady Ostrovsky, the Russia and Eastern Europe editor for The Economist.

At Henrietta Barnett, there is a plethora of different societies to explore one’s interests, engage with their subjects further and relate course content to modern day examples. This therefore enables students to broaden their perspectives and learn beyond the curriculum. History society is a noteworthy example whereby students congregate on a weekly or fortnightly basis to hear exceptionally interesting talks from expert lecturers and historians. Thus, Thursday 14th of February was no exception as we had a lecture on Russia, the Cold War and its journey from Gorbachev to Putin.

Mr Ostrovsky began with a concise, detailed yet intriguing overview of the two different ideologies often associated with America and Russia: capitalism and communism. By evaluating the importance of landmark events such as the Prague Spring in 1968 and the Hungarian Uprising in 1956 to these ideologies, Mr Ostrovsky made it evident the primary reason for the end of the Cold War was a change in the international consensus regarding political beliefs. Although figureheads of both nations did play contributing roles, the general change in thought across countries was mainly responsible for the downfall of the USSR.

Another intriguing point Mr Ostrovsky raised was the importance and relevance of history. In a time where the representation of Russia through their actions and the media is controversial, he emphasised the importance of learning and reflecting from the past in order to improve our future. This emphasised how countries should be more cooperative by attending treaties as it would prevent them from making less rash decisions and assumptions, in turn preventing a second Cold War.

I asked one attendee, Adya, of her thoughts of the session: ‘It was a really interesting and interactive lecture, he gave a great overview of relations during the post-Cold War era and the parallels that can be drawn between our past and present’.

Overall, this experience was enormously beneficial for all students, whether prospective historians or not, as it enriched our knowledge and introduced many key debates of the past. Considering the Cold War is part of the school’s GCSE History content, the talk was specifically useful for the upper school as it allowed us to understand the full extent of certain actions or beliefs throughout the time period. Ultimately, the lecture was fascinating as we really enjoyed learning about the relevancy of the Cold War and its impacts today.