I was asked to give a series of lectures on Russian history, which I did, uniting them under the general title of the “Reasons for the Russian Catastrophe of the 20th Century and Possibilities to overcome it”. I believed then, as I do now, that it is an essential topic to study in order to try to answer two closely related questions:
Why in the twentieth century, after the Bolshevik coup, has Russia been a constant source of aggression? and Is there any hope that Russia can change radically, stop being an aggressor and become a peace-loving democratic nation like the EU and NATO countries? I tried to suggest my answers in the six lectures I gave in Brno between October and November 2022 in English. The university later proposed to publish them as a short book. I enthusiastically agreed, hoping that my texts would contribute to a better understanding of the tragic fate of my people in past and present centuries, the processes that led to the war, and thus to the building of a more lasting peace once it is over.
