THIS year marks the centenary of the most important event in 20 century global history: the Russian revolutions of 1917.

In this ‘Titanic enterprise’, Simon Sebag Montefiore is not afraid to suggest that something of what made the Romanovs powerful remains in the Russian psyche and Russian leadership today, writes Mary Leland.

The events sparked by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife outside a Sarajevo delicatessen 100 years ago this morning have had a greater impact on our lives than any other event in the last century — even the one we will mark in 2016.