Giles Milton
speaker
1,435 appearances
4 recordings
1 series
first heard May 2026
last heard 4d ago
Giles Milton’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 4 in all, peaking in Sep 2026 with 3.
Appearances
I think that's a misreading of these people, actually.
I read a great deal of the letters and diaries of the Allied commanders sent to work alongside Stalin during the Second World War.
Right.
And they said the one difficulty they had with Stalin is that on the one hand, they knew he was a monstrous tyrant who'd liquidated millions of his own subjects.
And yet, when you sat down and had dinner with him, he was garrulous, he was gregarious, he was charming, he told you.
Really?
who's witty.
And they all said they they simply couldn't square the circle uh of this monstrous dictator they were sitting opposite, who they were nevertheless sharing jokes with and having toasts with glasses of wine and vodka.
Yeah.
Yeah, I don't think it's weakness.
None of these people have many weaknesses.
I think uh Lenin is doing this quite deliberately.
He's keeping them at each other's throats because it perfectly serves his purpose, I'm sure.
I think this is to keep uh for Lenin to keep himself in power, but also I think he genuinely mistrusts both Trotsky and Stalin.
And so, you know, to have them both at each other's throats is quite a useful way of of of keeping you know, l it's like keeping them in their place.
Um Lenin was extremely politically shrewd at doing this, uh and I'm sure that's what he's doing here.
Yeah, he he constantly has these sort of hissy fits, you know.
And um the Politburo sort of reads the letter wearily and says, No, Joseph, stay on.
We love you, we all love you.
Um but uh yeah, it's a it's a peculiar aspect to his personality.
Showing 821–840 of 1,435 · page 42 of 72
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