Mark Edele is Hansen Professor in History at the University of Melbourne, where he teaches Soviet history, the historiography of Stalinism, and the history of the second world war. His latest book, Russia’s War Against Ukraine, was published this month by Melbourne University Press.
Books & arts
Moscow’s rights-defenders
Mark Edele
22 October 2025
A prize-winning account of Soviet-era human rights activists throws light on Putin’s Russia
Books & arts
A dose of reality for the “realists”
Mark Edele
12 August 2025
Zbigniew Brzezinski came to resist the great-power thinking that would later play out so tragically in Ukraine
International
Welcome to the age of strategic chaos
Mark Edele
25 February 2025
All bets are off as Europe comes to terms with the second Trump administration
International
Russia’s failed Syrian bluff
Mark Edele
11 December 2024
Is Vladimir Putin’s global strategy about to collapse under its own weight?
Books & arts
Unhealthy ambitions
Mark Edele
12 September 2024
A fine-grained and often funny new history of the Soviet cold war reveals an imperial power promoting itself as a friend of the global liberation struggle
International
Russia’s war against Ukraine: a longer view
Mark Edele
22 February 2024
With the full-scale invasion entering its third year, the stakes remain high
Books & arts
Writing the history of the present
Mark Edele
21 November 2023
Russia’s war against Ukraine is generating a rich historiography
Essays & reportage
Ukraine’s struggle for democracy
Mark Edele
28 August 2023
Despite a series of obstacles, post-Soviet Ukraine has been moving in the right direction
International
Russia’s war against Ukraine: an eighteen-month stocktake
Mark Edele
22 August 2023
Many predictions have proved wrong since Vladimir Putin sent in his troops in February last year
Books & arts
Eastern Europe’s faultline
Mark Edele
21 March 2023
A distinguished historian uses one family’s story to illuminate the borderland between Europe and Russia
Books & arts
“It’s NATO, stupid!”
Mark Edele
22 November 2022
Two new books disagree about the origins of Russia’s war against Ukraine
Books & arts
Do leaders matter?
Mark Edele
15 November 2022
It depends, says historian Ian Kershaw
International
The long war of Soviet succession
Mark Edele
19 September 2022
The war in Ukraine is part of a long-simmering conflict across post-Soviet Europe and Asia
Books & arts
“Better to lose Australia”
Mark Edele
25 May 2021
Sean McMeekin’s new account of Stalin’s war will suit Vladimir Putin very well
© 2025 Inside Story and contributors | ISSN 1837-0497