While Nicholas had been busy playing with his new best friend, tensions in Europe had been rising. It just so happened that in 1914 one archduke France for a Nandovastria hungry went for a drive with the top down in Sarajevo. One thing leads to another, and suddenly Russia found itself at war with half of Europe. A wave of patriotism swept through Russia. The capital was renamed Petrograd because St. Petersburg sounded a bit too German. Even revolutionaries were getting on board. To them, World War I was a big stinky imperialist war, but they didn't want their big stinky imperialist replaced by a foreign one. So pretty much everyone wanted Russia to win.
I hope Russia loses. Geez, read the room, Lenin. Lenin hoped Russia would lose because that would help him overthrow the Tsar. As long as he did that, who cares if Germany blows up half the country? And blow up half the country? They did. An inefficient, tsarist government meant there were shortages of just about everything you need to fight a war. And if losing a T.C. Wingsy war which Japan upset the people, losing a giant white war like this was much worse. Soldiers were deserting. The economy was imploding, and in no time Russia was starving. The peasants were getting more peasanty. The workers were getting more workery. All the while Germany was getting more germinary.
Demetri, we need to win this war. I need someone with a great military mind to step in and take control. You're right. How about General Hickoluber? How about me? You can't run the war? Who will be in charge of the country while you're gone? Obviously, my German wife in a homeless wizard. Da! Nicholas declared himself commander in chief and went to the front lines, leaving his German wife in charge while they were fighting. The Germans. It wasn't a good look. And because Alexander was so close to Rasputin, people believed that he was actually calling the shots and secretly destroying Russia, and maybe even bonking her, and even worse her look.
At this point, a bunch of nobles just couldn't take it anymore. Rasputin is destroying the country. We have to break his magic spell over the Tsar. But how? He's magic. Hm, hm, hm, hm, hm. Dude. Very cool. Hey, it's Rasputin. The sexy party is running a little late, but in the meantime, why don't you try one of these totally not poisoned cakes? Dude! Why'd you say it like that? He's totally gonna know their poison now. Shut up! I said they're not poisoned. Dude, he just ate so much poison. How is he still alive? It must be the magic. Go with Plan B. Is he dead? C-Borse? I told you he was the anti-Christ, and you didn't believe me. Can you shut up for one minute and help me roll him up? Are you sure he's dead? I don't know, but I'm supposed to be hosting a charity auction right now. Can we get this over with? Okay, now he's dead.
The murder of Rasputin, just like his life, is shrouded in mystery and speculation. He probably didn't really die like that. But he also probably didn't really heal people. He probably didn't influence the Tsar as much as people thought. He probably wasn't secretly destroying the country. But what he definitely did do, even in his death, was ruin the Tsar's reputation. Russia's autocracy looked more outdated than ever, and the Russian people were taking notice.
Come on, men. Remember what we're fighting for? Yeah, no. We're out. World War I left Russia broke, hungry, and exhausted. And with Nicholas acting as Commander-in-Chief, he was getting even more blame. For the second time, Russia was on the brink of revolution. By 1917, Russia had been fighting a war it couldn't afford for three years. They were running out of many things, most worryingly, food. On International Women's Day, 1917, thousands of hungry women in Petrograd were so sick of being hungry that they took to the streets. And it turns out it's not just women who experienced hunger, but men too. So the next day they joined in as well. Gatherings on the streets were forbidden, but I'm not sure how you'd arrest 250,000 people.
They entered the war and into food rationing, and even an end to the Tsar's atocracy. Now normally the troops would deal with this kind of thing. But as it turns out, soldiers get hungry too, and they were also tired of having to kill their fellow Russians so much. So entire regiments mutinied in the capital, and they joined the crowd as well. Trashing symbols of the Tsar and his autocratic regime. Things were escalating very quickly. Liberal politicians watching the rights in the streets had long been dissatisfied with the Tsar. Since he would shut their parliament down, anytime they did something he didn't like, they believed the only way to bring stability back to the streets was for Nicholas II to abdicate.
The riots continued. The police fired on soldiers, soldiers fired on soldiers. The workers reestablished the Petrograd Soviet. Politicians began arresting the Tsar's ministers. He may have been an autocrat, but he just lost complete control of his capital city. Talk about embarrassing.
Nicholas, the troops have turned against us. The people have taken over the city. They've even cut my phone line. Hello? Hello? Hmm, the phones are down. Things must be bad. Not better go back there. Nicholas hopped on the next train back to Petrograd, but he never made it to the city. His train was met by military generals and other politicians.
What's going on? Nicholas? Look, man. We need to talk. It's not you. It's us. Ah, who am I, kid? No, it's definitely you. During the whole crisis in Petrograd, the Liberals convinced the generals that if Nicholas abdicated, the people would calm down and the generals were on board. They didn't have time to quell the chaos because don't forget, they were still losing a global, all-encompassing war against the Germans. And with the military no longer on his side, Nicholas had no choice but to step down. Throughout his entire reign, he had done everything he could to keep all the power for himself, and in the end, that's exactly what left him with none.
But then there was a big question. Who would replace Nicholas? Well, his son, Alexi, was next in line. Hey, buddy. Daddy couldn't handle the complex socioeconomic problems of a giant multinational multi-ethnic empire that's engaged in total war with all of Europe. You think you could give it a shot? Alexi just wasn't ready to be Zarr. Nicholas did have a brother, but given the state of the empire, he wasn't keen either. And so, 300 years of Romanov rule in Russia just kind of came to an end.
The earlier 1905 revolution hadn't changed much, but this new revolution had left Russia without a Zarr. And still, before the year was over, there would be one more revolution left to come. This is failure, as Commander of the Armed Forces was the final straw that broke the camel's back. Do you think maybe you could have done any better? Well, guess what? It's time to find out. In Rise of Kingdoms.
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Now where was I? Oh yeah. Hungry woman, absolute chaos, and the end of the Tsar. Oh, hey guys, says here there's been a revolution and the reign of the Tsars has ended. Oh come on, I missed another one. Why am I even in this video? Well, it's not like you could have done anything. As long as there's a World War, you can't get back to Russia. Who wants to start a Reba-Bab-Bloosh? I mean a Reba-Bloosh, dang it!
Despite getting rid of Nick, Russia was still at war with half of Europe. The Germans, however, had an idea. They thought that if they helped Lenin get back, he would cause trouble for the new Russian government. So they put him on a train, destination, Petrograd. It was a long journey, and while Lenin was cooped up in his train, things in Russia were changing.
Workers were taking control of their factories. Soldiers were soaking it to their menal officers. Without a czar, a big old power vacuum had opened up, and someone needed to fill it.
The Liberals proposed they be in charge, and they set up the provisional government. The workers, however, had already begun establishing local Soviets, largely controlled by the social revolutionaries and the Mensheviks. And since neither felt like they had the power to oust the other, Russia ended up in a classic, dual power conundrum. The two coexisted with the provisional government becoming the official government, and the elected Soviets issuing orders to the workers and soldiers.
This power balance was delicate, and all it would take is one bold revolutionary to come along and give everyone a big brain to beat down. Oh boy! Lenin's coming home. We can't wait for him to see all the great things we've accomplished, and I'm going to show him my fanart.
Oh look, here he comes now. Shut up, shut up! You all suck! The provisional government sucks? The Soviet sucks? Even your fanart sucks! What? What? Oh, it's the end of the piece so bad!
In case you couldn't tell, Lenin wasn't a fan of everything that had been happening. In his April thesis, he called the provisional government and the Soviets a bunch of big bourgeois bozos. He kinda had a point, there was still a lot for the Russian people to be mad about.
The provisional government hadn't got rush out of the war, the people were still hungry, and the peasants were still hoping to get more land. Meanwhile, the Soviets hadn't done much to change things either, but even though they weren't perfect, a lot of people did like what the new government had been doing. There was progress. The secret police were disbanded, the death penalty abolished. They even planned to hold elections, meaning for the first time ever, the Russian people could choose their own government.
To many, Lenin seemed like some out-of-touch weirdo. If Lenin wanted to go from whiny, relevant, zero to hunky, communist hero, he'd need to shake things up a bit. So he and the Bolsheviks came up with a hot new slogan that promised to give the people what the provisional government wouldn't. Peace!
Don't like war? We'll end it. Land. You want land? We'll give it to you. Bread. Hungry. Scooby-Doo-Bee-Doo. Lenin also called for all power to the Soviets, which meant getting rid of the provisional government and having the Soviets run the place. A communist dream.
The people liked these slogans, and bit by bit, the Bolsheviks became more popular. Some inchoviks even began switching sides, but even though the people thought Lenin slogans rocked, as long as the provisional government didn't mess up, that continued to support it. So let's check in on the provisional government.
Oh, provisional government, you've made a big mess. The provisional government lasted for just nine months, but those nine months were chaos. The people wanted Russia out of World War I, but Minister of War Alexander Khrinsky thought instead of doing that, why not do the exact opposite? If the people saw more Russian victories, they'd have to support the new government, and that went just about as well as you might expect.
These heavy defeats worsened the Russian economy and made the hungry people hungrier. And by now, I think you know what comes next. They trashed the place. More looting. More rioting. More violence. It was like this R had never abdicated. Tens of thousands of armed workers took to the streets during some of the worst violence Petrograd had seen yet.
And in response, Khrinsky called in the troops who opened fire on the demonstrators. For now, Lenin and other Bolshevik leaders wanted to distance themselves from the violence, but the crowds marched under Bolshevik slogans.
And as a result, Khrinsky, now the Prime Minister, took the opportunity to stamp down on the Bolsheviks. Their leaders were arrested. Lenin was accused of being a German agent and he was forced to flee to Finland in disguise. This sucks! Now I'll never get to have my revolution. Why are you wearing a dress? It's a disguise, idiot. And it makes me feel pretty.
Khrinsky had successfully dealt with the violence, but he just couldn't catch a break. This increasing support for more extreme forms of socialism, along with the poor handling of the war, alarmed traditional liberals and bougie business boys. To appease them, Khrinsky decided to promote a military legend to supreme commander of the armed forces. Someone who hated the revolution loved the death penalty and was devoutly anti-socialist. General Cornelov.
Hey man, thanks for the promotion. That was real swell of you. Of course, with you by my side, who would dare try to overthrow me? How about me? I did not see this coming. Unfortunately for Khrinsky, Cornelov hated the liberal and socialist reforms of the new government, particularly the dumb socialist soldier's committees. The army was no place for undisciplined left-wing snowflakes. Fearing a Bolshevik takeover was imminent, Cornelov ordered his men towards Petrograd to ask the Soviet and take over.
Khrinsky freaked out and he needed help. Since he knew Trotsky was finger-licking good at organizing, he and other Bolshevik leaders were released. And they, along with the Soviet, organized the defense of Petrograd. Cornelov had the power of soldiers, but the Soviet had the power of workers. And they did what workers do best. Railroad workers diverted Cornelov's men away. Telegraph workers messed with his communications. They even infiltrated his forces and encouraged the demoralized men to desert. They were also armed on mass. But in the end, no fighting was necessary because Cornelov's coup just fell apart. And Cornelov was sent straight to prison.
Everything was coming up Khrinsky. Hey, thanks for the help boys. Couldn't have done it without you. Now that there's no longer any threat, how about you, uh, return all those guns that gave you? Hmm. No. Oh no. In order to kill a rat, Khrinsky had just given a gun to a bear. A Bolshevik bear. The whole affair was a huge propaganda win for them. They had defended the revolution and their popularity skyrocketed. They found themselves elected to the Petrograd of Moscow's Soviets, with Trotsky even becoming chairman in Petrograd. They were now in a very powerful position. Most powerful enough for Lenin to return him from Finland. And finally, stages long awaited, communist, revolution.
The Bolsheviks began planning their takeover of the Russian government. Some got cold feet and began arguing against Lenin's armed revolution in favor of a more peaceful approach. And they even wrote newspaper articles about it, which kind of gave the whole scheme away. The Bolsheviks are planning an armed revolution? I did not see this coming. Khrinsky began arresting Bolsheviks. And as a result, Lenin and the boys felt they had no choice but to commence the revolution right now.
Lenin was back in Petrograd, but was still in hiding. Satrotsky got the ball rolling. Using his position as Soviet chairman to organize the Bolshevik militias. Now, if you were to ask Soviet artists, the revolution went something like this. As much as they would like you to think it was a glorious, violent, heroic takeover, the truth seems to be a little more underwhelming. The Bolsheviks just kind of walked into key buildings in the city and took control. Bolsheviks supporting sailors even brought in a huge battleship, but there wasn't really any fighting. Nobody really tried to stop them. In just one day, they took control of the city.
Next, Khrinsky just managed to escape before the Bolsheviks surrendered the Winter Palace, placing the provisional government under siege inside. Is it safe to come out yet? I think so. Fear my revolutionary might! Give me that. That night, Lenin came out of hiding to play a bigger role in the revolution. With him back at the helm, they had one more job to do. He stormed the Winter Palace and arrest the provisional government. And here comes the final showdown.
The palace was defended by a force known as the battalion of death, who immediately gave up. And just like that, Lenin had won. As far as violent, bloody revolutionary operasins go, this wasn't really one of them. But Lenin was finally in charge of Russia. He had spent his whole life dreaming of this moment. He set up the first council of people's commasars, his own cabinet, with him in charge. This was it. We can't just finally make his communist utopia with equality and freedoms beyond compare.
Hey Lenin, before we took power, they were planning on holding elections. Shall we go ahead with those? Of course. You can't have a communist utopia without high levels of political participation. The proletariat should be free to be lost. We lost. What? The social revolutionaries won. We lost. Those don't count.
Lenin claimed the elections were unfair, and the constituent assembly they created was counter-revolutionary. He presented the new assembly with a motion that basically said, sign here and give up your power. And when the assembly was like, no, Lenin said, see? They're disobeying me. Proof their counter-revolutionary. Shut it down, boys.
Moderate socialists and others weren't happy when Lenin had the assembly closed by force. And when campaigners began taking to the streets, they were fired upon. For Lenin, setting up a communist utopia was looking suspiciously like setting up a dictatorship. While he was implementing many of the communist policies you'd expect, he was also refusing to work with other political parties and cracking down an opposition. Hey Lenin, are you setting up a dictatorship? I'll shoot you if you are. Of course not. What a crazy theory. Anyway, I'm pleased to announce I'm setting up a secret police force to repress and kill traitors. And by traitors, I of course made anyone not loyal to me. The assassination attempt made on Lenin's life in August 1918 failed. But in response, the Bolsheviks ramped up their oppression.
But while all of this chaos was erupting back home, Lenin and the boys were also distracted by another problem. They were still at war with the Germans, and they had promised to give the people peace. Lenin made Trotsky Commasar for foreign affairs, and sent him off to negotiate a peace deal with the Germans. The Germans offered Trotsky really harsh terms, you know, because they were winning the war. They demanded Russia give up a but ton of land, something that would be devastating to the economy.
Look, I know it's not great, but I think we have to accept it. Are you insane? This will ruin us. Hey Trotsky, you got a big brain. What do you think? How about no war, no peace? What's that, Mr. Trotsky, sir? It's simple. No war means we'll stop fighting the Germans, but no peace means we won't sign the peace treaty either. Then, when the Germans say we've just stopped fighting, they'll have to leave us alone or something. Trotsky, that's genius. I could kiss you. Do you want me to kiss you?
Stop asking me that. Trotsky's no war, no peace plan was a huge success. Oh, wait, no, just kidding. It went exactly as you'd imagine. When the Germans saw the Russians had stopped fighting, they slammed 700,000 troops deep into Russian territory with no resistance. Now, the new peace treaty offered by the Germans was way worse, with Russia losing a huge amount of territory, population, and resources. The Bolsheviks had no choice but to accept, and Russia was humiliated. With Petrograd now in an exposed position, Lenin moved the capital to Moscow.
Just in case, things really weren't going well for Lenin, and many, many people were extremely unhappy with the Bolshevik government and its actions. Lenin, you've pissed off so many people that they've united against you. We're under attack. Relax! We always expected some counter-revolutionary pushback. I think we can handle a few angry monopoly men. But Lenin, it's not just the monopoly men. Okay, who are we up against? Well, the Liberals, the Social Revolutionaries, National Separate, Sampoulin, Finland, and the Ukraine Independent World War, setting up chief-tems, Antikas, Rebels, the Green Pesendarmies, the Kossaks, the Caucasian states, the Baltic states, the British, the French, the Americans, and the Japanese.
Oh, and Aleisterin of Czechoslovakian soldiers seemed to have taken over the Trans-Iberian railway and stolen all the imperial gold reserves. What? How could this get any worse? Oh, and it says here your mother-in-law is coming to stay. No! A variety of anti-Bolshevik forces had united together to topple Lenin's government and Russia descended into a full-blown civil war.
Now, the Russian Civil War was extremely intricate and would really need its own video. But essentially, the anti-Bolshevik white movement gained control of vast, underdeveloped areas while the Bolshevik Reds controlled the industrial heartland, using this to their advantage, along with the surprising military genius of Trotsky and the shocking disorganization of the White Army. The fortified Red Army gradually came out on top. It was an absolutely brutal conflict, with both sides committing horrendous atrocities.
To maintain order at home, the Bolsheviks began the Red Terror, and the secret police would execute tens of thousands of suspected traitors. No one was safe from the violence, not even Nicholas himself.
You've probably been wondering what Nicholas has been up to this whole time. Well, after his abdication, he and his family were placed under house arrest.
你可能一直在想尼古拉斯在这段时间里在干嘛。在他退位后,他和他的家人被软禁。
At first, they were allowed to live in their usual luxury, but after Lenin took over, their conditions worsened. The Bolsheviks were just holding on to Nick until they could work out what to do with him, but the Civil War complicated things.
The last thing they wanted was for Nick to be freed by the White Armies, and so, to stop this from happening, Nicholas' Bolshevik guards decided to act. It's not entirely certain whether Lenin ordered it, or if the guards were acting on their own volition. But on July 17th, 1918, with White Armies approaching, they woke Nicholas and his family in the middle of the night and brought them into the basement. There, a drunken squad of Bolsheviks murdered the entire family.
Nicholas, the last czar, once one of the most powerful men alive, had met a brutal end. But after years of fighting and millions of deaths, Trotsky and his Red Army came out victorious. Wow, that was a close one. Okay, back to creating a communist utopia.
How are we doing on that? Well, the Civil War helped create a massive famine, and about 5 million people starved to death. There's massive inflation in the rubles worthless, hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of railway track have been destroyed. The seasoned epidemics have killed 3 million. The population of Moscow and Petrograd has collapsed. Life expectancy is plummeted. Sailors in Kronschtäder are rebelling. People are freezing to death, and their own apartments and life has been reduced to a constant search for food and shelter. Whoa-ho.
Well, this just means I'll have to work twice as hard. Day and night to save the country. Nothing will stop me. Short of a couple of sudden strokes. Get the doctor.
这意味着我要加倍努力,日夜工作来拯救国家。除非突然中风,否则我不会停下。请叫医生。
One thing you have to keep in mind is that everything I've been talking about, the Civil War, the assassination attempt, and Lenin struggled to maintain controlled home. We're all happening around the same time, and it must have been extremely stressful.
Lenin began getting headaches, insomnia, and in 1922 he suffered two separate strokes. As the Soviet Union was officially declared under a strict one-party system, Lenin's health continued to decline, and his ability to lead the Communist Party went with it.
Everybody assumed Trotsky would succeed him. He was a great speaker, he'd won the Civil War, and he had a dope ass train. The last person anyone expected to take over was Stalin. Stalin wasn't a great intellectual like Lenin, or a charismatic war hero like Trotsky. He was, as one Munchevik described him, a great blur. Someone who operated in the background. Someone who you might not even notice, but it was in the background that Stalin would rise to power.
Here's how it happened. After the revolution, all the Bolsheviks hoped to get a cool job in the new government. What did you get? Commissar for war. Sweet! What'd you get? Secretary. Stalin was made general secretary for the Communist Party. It wasn't what he wanted, but Stalin quickly realized that even though it wasn't fancy, it was a powerful position.
As secretary, he had the power to give people jobs within the party, so he would give jobs to all of his pals who in turn would give them their support. The more pals he gave jobs, the more power he got. The more power he got, the more pals he got. Lenin may have been having wall-to-wall strokes, but he was still involved in the party, and he was taking notice.
He wasn't a fan of Stalin abusing his position, or insulting his wife to her face. Lenin knew he couldn't let Stalin take over, but by this stage, he was just too sick to fight it. Hey man, tell whoever is in charge of giving people jobs not to let that jerk Stalin become the next leader. By the way, who did I put in charge of giving people jobs? That would be Stalin, sir. Well, deja vu.
Lenin's last wish was to not let Stalin take over, but by the time he died, Stalin was too powerful to remove. He had his remaining opponents arrested or killed. Trotsky was banished and fled to Europe. Eventually, he would be assassinated by Soviet spies in 1940.
Our dear comrade Lenin has died. We should have a state funeral. No. Let's mummify him and put him on display so people can look at his dead body forever. That's gross! You're gross! Guards? Kill him.
Lenin had waited so long to take control in Russia, but he never got to see his communist utopia. His short time in charge was spent dealing with the destroyed Russian economy, World War 1, and the Civil War. He was cruel and merciless. But he really did seem to believe communism would make Russia a better place.
Stalin, on the other hand, would take this Soviet Union down a different path. If you thought Lenin was a tyrant, well, you ain't seen nothing yet, girl. A secret police state, a rapidly militarizing superpower, led by a paranoid man who deeply distressed at the west, would see the world come to the brink of nuclear annihilation.
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