Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War, Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War by Hourly History.

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Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War, Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History

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Well written in that each part is concise, but not overall

- its compiled well enough, except for the various omissions of actions or responsibilities for disastrous events that lie at doors of, say, nazis, and others too;

and, also except for the repeated insistence that the Crimean war is forgotten, something far from correct or true.

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"At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Russian Empire appeared to be one of the most powerful nations in the world, yet this apparent power concealed serious internal weakness. The bulk of the Russian population were peasants who lived in conditions little better than slavery. There were large and growing movements for reform, but the tsar refused to countenance change. Then came two disastrous wars."

"After the Russian Revolution came two years of bloody civil war in which various factions fought for control. The Bolsheviks emerged from this war as the victors, and they established a confederation of republics that represented a bold new social and political experiment, which grew not from nationalism or religion but from a new political movement: communism. Communism, it was claimed, would lead to a utopian state run not for the benefit of a wealthy elite but for every person within that state. It would not be ruled by a hereditary leader such as a tsar or king but would instead be a federation ruled by the people themselves. It was this revolutionary idea that would lead to the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the birth of Soviet Russia."

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"The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (more commonly known as the Soviet Union or the USSR) was created in December 1922 with the signature of a treaty formally linking four socialist republics that had been created from territory previously controlled by the Russian Empire: the Soviet Federated Socialist Republics of Russia and Transcaucasia (present-day Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan), and the Soviet Socialist Republics of Ukraine and Belarus."

But wasn't Siberia, or all of North Asia - north of India, China and Mongolia, and too, Persia - too, always ruled by Russia - and therefore, subsequently, by USSR?

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" ... During the Russian Civil War from 1918 to 1920, the Bolsheviks became increasingly powerful until, by the time of the creation of the USSR, the Mensheviks had been completely crushed. As a result, the new union was to be entirely communist. ... "

"From its inception, the USSR claimed to represent a classless, egalitarian, and conflict-free society that was radically different from anything else existing in the world at that time. Of course, there were those both inside and out who didn’t agree and who sought to undermine the USSR. To fight against these “reactionary” forces, it was deemed necessary to have an army—a secret police—willing to suppress its own people. Most people believed that once opposition was crushed and the true benefits of communism became apparent, things would be very different. In The ABC of Communism, published in 1920 and soon to become widely published in the USSR, it was said that very soon, there would be no need for police, prisons, or even laws because, within the new society of the USSR, every citizen would work for the good of the nation. This belief accorded with Marxist teaching, which claimed that after revolution, the state would simply “wither away.”

"The reality was quite different. By 1921, the chaos of the civil war had brought Russia close to collapse. Up to six million peasants had died of starvation, riots broke out in cities controlled by the communists, and there was even a mutiny amongst naval units in the city of Kronstadt. Several hundred people were executed and many hundreds more arrested before the communists were able to regain control, but even Lenin recognized that fundamental changes were needed if the new state was to be able to survive. This led in 1921 to the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP), under which the state would control industry, but some level of private ownership of agriculture and trade would be permitted. In particular, rather than having their entire crop requisitioned, farmers would be required to give 10% of what they grew to the state but would be permitted to sell any surplus they produced."

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"“True courage consists in being strong enough to master and overcome oneself and subordinate one’s will to the will of the collective.”

"—Joseph Stalin"

No wonder Mother said they had nothing to teach India - that quote couldbe straight from a grandmother-in-law or a father-in-law to the young new bride, or even to her bridegroom!

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"In 1927, Stalin was forced to address another pressing problem: a grain shortage in the Soviet Union. Grain was a central part of the diet in the region, but the harvest in 1927 was less than 70% of the harvest the previous year. This decrease led to a very real threat of starvation within the Soviet Union but also to the prospect of a complete lack of grain exports, one of the very few sources of foreign currency. ... "

" ... Kulak became an extremely negative term, and Kulaks were increasingly (and unjustly) blamed for the grain shortage. It was said that wealthy Kulaks were hoarding grain and that this was the cause of the shortages."

" ... In 1928, Stalin traveled to Siberia and announced, without consulting the Politburo, that he had discovered Kulaks with hoards of grain, and because of this, the grain owned by Kulaks was to be seized. Grain Procurement Squads were mobilized across Siberia and the Urals and began to seize any stocks of grain they could find, leading to violent clashes in some places and to serious food shortages in others."

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"During the Great Terror, Stalin had become convinced that within the leadership of the Red Army, there were counter-revolutionary groups plotting to remove him from power. There is little evidence that this was true, but from 1937, the focus of the purge switched from politicians to soldiers. In all, 25,000 men were removed from the Red Army, with most being executed or sent to labor camps. These were invariably senior officers, the most experienced, veteran troops that the Soviet Union had (three of the five most senior commanders, marshals of the Soviet Union, were executed during the purge). As a result, army officers became very wary of displaying any independence of thought or action and instead took the safest route: slavish obedience to orders, no matter how absurd they might be."

Why the authors here refuse to acknowledge or mention the cause of this horror, namely, falsehoods planted by nazi regime against the best of Russia, is unclear.

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"In 1964, there were 24,000 US “military advisors” in Vietnam. By the following year, there were almost 200,000 US troops in South Vietnam supported by naval and air force units. The Vietnam War would prove costly to America in human terms—60,000 US soldiers would die in the conflict—and it would be ruinously expensive and deeply unpopular at home. Combined with the Space Race, a technological battle with the Soviet Union to gain supremacy in space exploration that was also extremely expensive, it was becoming clear that the cost of maintaining the Cold War was unsustainable."

" ... A series of subsequent meetings between Brezhnev and Nixon and later US Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter led to a new period of improved relations between the US and the Soviet Union that became known as détente."

"In 1978, a revolution saw a communist government installed in Afghanistan. Despite a brutal campaign of repression that involved thousands of people being executed without trial, large parts of the country erupted in a rebellion against the new Soviet-supported regime. In September 1979, Afghanistan’s leader, Nur Mohammad Taraki, was assassinated in a coup planned by his rival, Hafizullah Amin. Amin was much less sympathetic to the Soviet Union, and there were fears in Moscow that he might be about to switch allegiance to the US. Given that Afghanistan shared a border with the Soviet Union, this was seen as representing a major threat. Thus, on December 24, 1979, Soviet forces moved across the border and rapidly took the city of Kabul. Amin was executed and replaced by a Soviet supporter, Babrak Karmal, as the new leader of the country."

The authors omit the fact that it was a legitimate Afghanistan government that had requested help from USSR, to deal with the instability due to Islamic terrorism sponsored actively by the neighbour, pakis, encouraged by US as part of strategy to surround USSR with 'green crescent'.

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"The revolution that precipitated the end of the Russian Empire caused shockwaves that reverberated around the world for generations to come. Germany came close to revolution in the immediate aftermath of World War I, and communist and socialist movements grew in many other European countries. This growth led to a reaction in an equal growth of right-wing nationalist movements, which were appalled at what happened to the Russian Empire and determined to avoid the same situation in their own countries. In Italy and Germany, right-wing movements would take control and eventually lead to the fascist governments of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. As far away as China, the country was divided between the right-wing followers of General Chiang Kai-shek and the communist followers of Mao Zedong.

"The sudden disintegration of the Russian Empire was a stunning shock, but in retrospect, it is easy to discern its roots. For over one hundred years and particularly under the rule of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, Russia carved out a place for itself as one of the great powers. The final victory over Napoleon in 1812 was a critical milestone and one that assured the Russian Empire of its place in world affairs. From the outside, Russia looked massively powerful, and its army was one of the largest and most feared in the world. On the inside, things looked very different."

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

Fact is most peasants of European nations, even those of Germany and Britain, fared no better, except the latter had colonies to use for either migration or looting, which nevertheless kept say, East End, in abject poverty in any case. Similarly the peasants of Eastern parts of Germany who were Polish, who really were no better off than their neighbour's east.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

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"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorised the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

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"“Tsar of the land of Russia, if you hear the sound of the bell which will tell you that Grigori has been killed, you must know this: if it was your relations who have wrought my death then no one of your family. . . will remain alive for more than two years. They will be killed by the Russian people.”

"—Grigori Rasputin"

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"While the tsar might have been happy, for the vast majority of Russian people, the new legislative assembly was a huge disappointment. Stolypin was able to introduce land reforms that transformed Russian agricultural efficiency. Russian industry also began to improve, but for the vast majority of Russian people, the existence of the Duma made little practical difference. Nevertheless, Stolypin’s eventual fall from grace with the tsar came not through political differences but due to disagreements about an enigmatic and charismatic holy man: the illiterate Siberian Grigori Rasputin.

"Rasputin first met the tsar and his family in 1905, and some years later, he allegedly saved the life of the tsarevich using mystical powers. The empress, Alexandra, seemed totally convinced of Rasputin’s powers and insisted on keeping him in the royal court, despite the fact that he was disheveled, filthy (he refused to bathe or even wash), and attempted to seduce virtually every woman he encountered. By 1911, Rasputin’s influence on the tsar and his family was common knowledge, and this caused a scandal that further undermined confidence in the authority of the tsar."

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

But facts that can't be denied are that the Tsarevich Alexei was in not only great pain but risk of life, and that his parents had tried everything else, none of which had helped; and when Rasputin helped by not only removing pain but beginning healing, that was indubitably the only relief found until then by the royal family for their only son and heir.

Obviously under such circumstances they weren't finicky about his personal habits, especially in Europe where most Indians found their landladies being vigilant lest the Indian bathe daily as per his habits back home!

Or does the author imply that Russians, every one of them, bathed then - before central heating and hot water, in a climate more artic and colder than England and Germany - more regularly than Brits who did so at most once a week, and Germans who, reportedly in 1980s, did so no more than once a month? This incidentally was from their own respective bragging, not as per report by others.

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"On October 19, Napoleon ordered his forces to retreat from Moscow. When it invaded Russia, the French Army had numbered around 600,000. Constant attacks by the Russian Army, bitter winter weather, and a lack of food and supplies meant that only a little over 100,000 lived to leave Russia. Napoleon’s Grand Army was destroyed and with it, his reputation as an invincible military leader. Russian losses were also severe: more than 40,000 thousand troops were lost during the campaign, which also left the city of Moscow destroyed."

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

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"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander?

War And Peace is just that, however couched in indirect paens and however stuffed with multiple love stories, as Tolstoy in trying to make Napoleon look like a loser makes one wonder if Alexander was really a hero no one has ever heard about since for some reason.

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"As a direct result of this revolt, Nicholas introduced new controls over education and censorship of newspapers. The Third Section of the Imperial Chancellery became the controlling agency for a vast network of spies and informers organized by Alexander von Benckendorff. Any liberal movements were ruthlessly suppressed, and even independent writers and poets such as Alexander Pushkin were constantly watched."

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

Also, why isn't it widely allowed to be known that roots of repressive regime and lack of freedoms, spying on citizens and institutions such as KGB, all go so far back, whatever the official name? Why the pretense by West that it's all due to leftism?

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"This war was characterized by bungling and ineptitude on both sides. The Charge of the Light Brigade, a futile attempt to use cavalry to directly attack Russian artillery positions, was perhaps the best-known event, but it was only one of many. The war lasted less than three years but caused an estimated 250,000 casualties on both sides. In Britain, there were anti-war riots, and the prime minister, Lord Aberdeen, lost a confidence vote and was forced to resign."

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

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"Before the assassins could prepare a new plot, the tsar died in November 1894 at the age of just 49. His eldest son, Nicholas, found himself unexpectedly ruling the Russian Empire. Initially, Nicholas II was a reluctant tsar. On learning of the death of his father, he responded, “What is going to happen to me and all of Russia? I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”"

That was fact, not reluctance.

"Nevertheless, he soon showed that he had no intention of reducing the power of his position. Soon after his coronation, Nicholas was visited by a delegation from a group of local councils (zemstvos) who had come to ask the new tsar to consider adopting some form of constitutional monarchy. Nicholas replied angrily that he was not prepared to listen to “those who have indulged in a senseless dream that the zemstvos be called upon to participate in the government of the country.”"

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

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"Calling the desire for reforms a “senseless dream” set Nicholas II against a growing part of the population of the Russian Empire. There were protests, and the Okhrana warned that radicals and agitators were growing in influence. Nicholas became convinced that a war with a foreign power was the only way to unite Russia. Of course, this would have to be a successful war; a repeat of the catastrophic Crimean War would simply undermine the power of the tsar and of the Russian Empire even further. There was one place where Nicholas and members of his court believed that such a war could be fought: the Far East.

"Initially, Russian territorial expansion under the reign of Nicholas had been achieved peacefully and principally through the building of railways. The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway, completed in 1904, was particularly significant. Not only did this give access to Siberia but also to Manchuria, parts of which had been annexed from China during the Boxer Rebellion.

"However, Nicholas had a visceral loathing for Japanese people. This dated to an attempted assassination while he was on a visit to Japan as tsarevich in 1890. Nicholas derisively referred to Japanese people as “yellow monkeys” even in official correspondence. Russian expansion in the Far East, and in particular into territory seized from the Chinese, meant that a military clash with the growing Japanese Empire was virtually certain. Nicholas seemed to view this as an opportunity to build his own personal popularity and the authority of the tsar. In February 1904, when the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, Nicholas II had the war that he sought."

Clearly this book is written from a bias or a bunch of them bound together, whether that stemming from West warring against USSR or against Russia - or the leftists conveniently throwing muck at an assassinated monarch, or all of the above.

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Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

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"This system of dual power was beset with problems from its beginning. While the Russian people expected the provisional government to quickly end the war, the Allies exerted considerable pressure to keep the Russian Empire in the war. Meanwhile, Vladimir Lenin, now the leader of the Bolshevik Party, began to lead protests against the government with popular slogans such as “Peace, bread and land” and “End the war without annexations or indemnities.” These struck a chord with people disappointed and frustrated by the inability of the new government to bring the war to an end or to meaningfully improve the lot of ordinary Russian people.

"During July, up to half a million protestors, many of them armed, took to the streets of Petrograd. Chaos and anarchy threatened, and both the provisional government and the Petrograd soviet blamed Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Many leading Bolsheviks were arrested, and Lenin was forced to flee to Finland."

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

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"During the eighth and ninth centuries, Norse colonists, or Vikings, began to spread from Scandinavia across Europe. These were feared warriors, but they were also adept at trade and creating settlements. Many nations were forced to pay tribute to the Vikings in order to avoid raids or even invasion; England began paying the Danegeld, a tax that guaranteed freedom from Norse raids, in 865.

"Many Vikings also began to migrate to the south and east, using rivers to travel from the Baltic to the Caspian and Black Sea and creating outposts and settlements along the way. These groups, referred to as the Varangians, came mainly from present-day Sweden. Varangian runestones have been found in areas as widely separated as present-day Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Greece, and Italy."

Surely history of Russia goes further back?

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"In the late eighth century, a group of Norse settlers seem to have created a state (or a group of associated states) in western Russia. A lack of records makes it difficult to be certain, but it seems that these Norse incomers set up large settlements and established some form of control over the indigenous Slavic, Turkic, Baltic, and Finnic people.

"One Varangian leader, Rurik, conquered what is now the city of Novgorod in Russia in 862, and 20 years later, another Varangian ruler, Oleg, captured Kyiv in modern-day Ukraine. The descendants of these rulers would control these cities and adjoining territory from that time on. The local people called these new rulers the Rus (likely from the Finnic word Ruotsi, meaning Sweden). The territory controlled by the Varangians became known as Kievan Rus and the people who lived there as the Rus."

Who were the "local people"?

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"Under Vladimir the Great (who ruled from 980-1015), Kievan Rus converted from paganism to Christianity and became a major trading partner of the Byzantine Empire. The state achieved its greatest power and extent under Yaroslav the Wise (who ruled from 1019-1054) but thereafter began to decline as rival factions fought for succession. Kievan Rus was finally conquered by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, but Christian rulers claiming descent from the Varangian kings continued to rule city-states and small polities in the region.

"One of the most significant of these polities was the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which rose to prominence in the late fifteenth century. For the first time, documents from this area began to refer not just to the people in this region as the Rus but to call the lands they controlled “Russia.” In 1547, the ruler of the grand duchy, Ivan IV, was crowned with a new title: tsar of all Rus. From this time on, this territory was known as the Tsardom of Russia."

Was there no other name, before?

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"In 1598, Tsar Feodor I, the last living relative of the Varangian ruler Rurik, died without a successor, spurring Russia’s descent into a period of turmoil known as the “Time of Troubles.” During this time, there were internal conflicts over the succession as well as continuing wars with Poland and Sweden. It wasn’t until 1613 and the crowning of a new tsar, Mikhail Romanov (Michael I), that relative stability returned. The Romanov family would go on to rule Russia for the remainder of its imperial history.

"Over the next hundred years, Russia continued to expand, conquering territory in present-day Ukraine and Siberia. Still, it remained separate from Europe, and there was relatively little contact with the countries of western Europe. It would take a new tsar to change that and to build what would become the Russian Empire."

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"“Where the Russian flag was raised once, it should never be taken down.”

"—Tsar Nicholas I"

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"Pyotr Alekséyevich was born in 1672, the son of Tsar Alexis of Russia. Under Alexis, the area controlled by Russia grew to cover over three million square miles (eight million square kilometers).

"Alexis reformed the Russian Army, recruiting large numbers of military advisors from western Europe as the end of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 had left a great many experienced soldiers out of work. With his modernized army, Alexis fought successful wars against Sweden, Poland, and Safavid Iran, all of which brought new territory under Russian control. Alexis also used the army to crush more than one revolt during his reign, including an uprising in 1669 by Don Cossacks, which saw several towns on the Volga River lost and then re-captured.

"Alexis ruled for more than thirty years, and he proved an able military leader and politician. He was married twice: first to Maria Miloslavskaya, who bore him thirteen children, and then, after her death, to Natalya Naryshkina, a woman of Tatar descent, who bore three children. Pyotr (better known as Peter) was the first son born to Alexis’ second wife.

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"Alexis’ death in 1676 plunged Russia into a period of chaos. His successor was his eldest surviving son from his first marriage, Fyodor Alekséyevich, who was crowned Feodor III upon his father’s death. Although Feodor was just fifteen when he became tsar, he was known to be intelligent and learned. Sadly, he had suffered from a debilitating and disfiguring disease for most of his life (now thought perhaps to have been a form of scurvy) which meant that he was partially paralyzed. Feodor had been married in 1680, but his wife and child died in childbirth. He married again in February 1682, by which time he was unable even to stand. He died three months later.

"Feodor’s death sparked an uprising in Moscow by units of the Russian Army. The point of contention was competition for the succession between the surviving children of Alexis’ first wife and those of his second wife. In theory, the successor should have been Alexis’ next oldest surviving son by his first wife, Ivan.

"However, Ivan seems to have had serious mental and physical issues (foreign visitors to the Russian court described him as “senile, paralytic, and almost blind” by his mid-20s). A compromise was agreed: Ivan and Peter would be crowned as co-tsars. Because Peter was just ten years old, it was agreed that his half-sister, Sophia, would act as regent on his behalf until he was old enough to rule alone. As Ivan was unable to take any effective part in ruling Russia, the autocratic Sophia effectively became the ruler of the nation.

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"Sophia’s rule was undermined by a series of unsuccessful wars, especially against the Crimean Tartars, who undertook a number of destructive raids on Russian territory. By the summer of 1689, Peter, encouraged by his mother, was planning to take control from Sophia. When his half-sister learned of this, Peter was forced to flee from Moscow to take refuge in a remote monastery in Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. Even in exile, he was able to gather followers and eventually forced Sophia to leave Moscow and enter a convent.

"When Peter returned to the capital, he had to accept his mother, Natalya, acting as regent on his behalf since he was still just 17. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter ruled directly and on his own behalf, and even then, he was still officially co-tsar with his half-brother Ivan. When Ivan died two years later without leaving any children, Peter finally became the undisputed tsar of Russia.

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"Peter immediately began reforms that would transform the Russian Army and create for the first time a Russian Navy. He began by traveling to Europe as part of a Russian Grand Embassy. To escape spending all his time on diplomatic functions, Peter used a false name, but given that he was extraordinarily tall (some accounts claim that he was 6 foot 8 inches, or 203 centimeters!), it seems likely that many people were not fooled by this deception.

"At any rate, Peter spent his time collecting the latest ideas on military technology and tactics, and when he returned to Moscow in 1698, he began a series of reforms that would change Russia. Some were social and domestic; for example, he ordered that all his officials should start adopting European customs and clothing, and the nobles had to shave their long beards or pay a beard tax. He abolished arranged marriages because he felt that these led to dissatisfaction and domestic violence. He also responded brutally to a small-scale rebellion that had taken place during his absence: over 2,000 people were tortured and executed, their bodies publicly displayed in Moscow.

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"Peter also continued to expand the Russian Navy. Before his reign, Russia possessed no warships at all. In the Sea of Azov, the navy of the Ottoman Empire was in control; in the Baltic, Sweden was dominant. Peter was determined to change this. He began with a campaign in the Sea of Azov against the Ottoman Empire. This was temporarily successful, and Peter was able to create the first base for the Russian Navy at the port city of Taganrog in 1698."

Far too recent!

"Then, for the next two decades, Peter led Russian forces in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) against the Swedish Empire. During this war, the Russian fleet won its first major action in the Battle of Gangut in 1714, and in 1718, the Swedish king, Charles XII, was killed in battle. When the war finally ended in 1721, Russia had acquired new territory in Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and Karelia. Peter had also established a new capital, St. Petersburg, in Ingria, close to the border with Finland.

"In October 1721, soon after the conclusion of the Great Northern War, Peter officially took on a new title: Emperor of All Russia. He also became widely known as Peter the Great. Under Peter’s leadership, the Russian Empire had been created."

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"“I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.”

"—Peter the Great"

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"For the remainder of his life, Peter focused on internal reforms in Russia. Compulsory education was introduced for children from the age of 10 to 15, though this only applied to the children of nobles and officials in the Russian government. New taxes were also introduced to fund a program of construction in St. Petersburg. Previously, only those who owned land were liable for taxes, but under Peter’s reforms, everyone who lived within the empire was required to pay tax. He also reformed the way in which Russian nobles were given precedence within the imperial court. Previously, this had been based solely on hereditary precedence, but under Peter, this was revised to be based on ability and service to the crown.

"In early 1725, less than four years after assuming the role of emperor, Peter became gravely ill. Although he had fathered fourteen legitimate children with two wives (and a number of illegitimate children), only three had survived to adulthood, all female. Thus, Peter died on February 8, 1725, without naming a successor. His second wife, Marta Skavronskaya, became empress regent until her death in 1727. She named Peter’s grandson, also Peter, as her successor.

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"Peter II was just eleven when he became emperor, and he died three years later at the age of fourteen. With Peter II’s death, the male line of descent from the Romanov family ended. There were five possible successors, all female. After a great deal of debate, the rule of the new empire passed to Anna, regent of the duchy of Courland and the daughter of Peter the Great’s half-brother Ivan.

"For the ten years that she ruled as empress of Russia, Anna continued many of the policies started by Peter. In 1731, she ordered the formation of the Cadet Corps of the Russian Army. This was a program of education for boys as young as eight years old who intended to become officers. It covered not only military topics but also science and technology. The intention was to create a professional army led by officers with a broad understanding of all the subjects needed to become effective military leaders. At the time that it was created, this program was virtually unique; in most countries, armies were led by officers who received no formal training.

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"It wasn’t long before Anna needed the Russian Army. The War of the Polish Succession was initiated in 1733 by a civil war in Poland and saw Russia acquire more territory. At its conclusion in 1735, Russia immediately became involved in a major war with the Ottoman Empire. This war would last for four years and cost millions of rubles. It ended with Russians in control of the port of Azov for the first time but, critically, it was the first war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in which Russian forces were ultimately successful.

"Anna was given little time to appreciate this significant victory, as in 1739, her health began to fail. In October 1740, she died, leaving utter confusion about who should succeed her as the new ruler of Russia. In the event, the son of Anna’s only surviving relative, her niece, was crowned as Tsar Ivan VI. Ivan was just two months old when he became emperor, and his reign lasted just over a year before a coup saw Elizabeth Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great, installed as empress in November 1741.

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"Elizabeth would rule for more than 20 years and was a capable and popular monarch (while she ruled, not a single person was executed for opposition to the crown). She instituted a number of educational reforms, continued the work of her father on improving the Russian Army, and ordered construction projects that further enhanced St. Petersburg. However, the issue that dominated her reign was the growing power of Prussia under the rule of Frederick the Great.

"In 1756, Britain and Prussia formed an alliance that many other European nations saw as a threat. Elizabeth (who had an intense and personal dislike of Frederick) responded with an alliance with France and Austria against Britain and Prussia. The Seven Years’ War, which began in 1756, was primarily a conflict between Britain and France, but due to these alliances, it also involved Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Spain, amongst others."

WW000?

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"Elizabeth became a major factor in keeping the French side together, and by 1761, it seemed that Frederick and Prussia were on the brink of complete defeat. Then, on Christmas Day 1761, Elizabeth died. Strangely, she named as her successor Karl Peter Ulrich, a German-born grandson of Peter the Great who was strongly pro-Prussian and who barely spoke Russian.

"Peter III was crowned Russian emperor on January 5, 1762. Seldom can a new ruler have been more unpopular with his subjects. One description of him noted, “Nature had made him mean, the smallpox had made him hideous, and his degraded habits made him loathsome. And Peter had all the sentiments of the worst kind of a small German prince of the time.”

"Almost as soon as he became emperor, Peter began to reduce the scale of Russian attacks on Prussia. At the time of Elizabeth’s death, Prussia had seemed to be on the brink of collapse, but Peter’s intervention allowed it to survive, which only served to increase his unpopularity in Russia. Peter III’s reign would last just 186 days, at which point he was overthrown in a coup that saw his wife established as the new empress."

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"“I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.”

"—Catherine the Great"

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"Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst was the daughter of a Prussian prince. She had married Peter III in 1745, though rumors suggested that the marriage was never consummated. Sophie converted to Orthodox Christianity at the same time and took a new name: Ekaterina (Catherine). She was crowned Empress Catherine on September 22, 1762, in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow.

"Although she was not descended directly from the Romanov dynasty, Catherine could trace her ancestry back to the Rurik dynasty that had preceded it. She would become the longest-reigning empress of Russia as well as one of the most effective and best-remembered. Her husband Peter did not live to see her coronation. Following the coup, he was imprisoned at a fortress at Ropsha, near St. Petersburg. He died in mysterious circumstances on July 17, 1762, less than two weeks after the coup. Officially, he was said to have died of a stroke, but many suspected that Catherine had him killed. Nevertheless, few in Russia mourned his death.

"The most pressing issue for the new empress was a lack of funds. The war with Prussia had left the state treasury virtually empty. Catherine responded with a bold approach: all property owned by the Russian Orthodox Church would become the property of the empire. This was a significant move; previously, almost one-third of all land in Russia had been owned by the church. Church leaders, who had previously been wealthy landowners, were now transformed into functionaries paid by the state.

................................................................................................

"In terms of foreign policy, Catherine focused first on Poland. Before long, she was able to have Stanisław Poniatowski, one of her former lovers who was slavishly devoted to her, installed as the new king of Poland. However, a revolt by Polish nobles in 1768 saw the Russian Empire involved in a new war in the region. Even as the Russian Army was preparing to deal with this threat, the Ottoman Empire launched a surprise attack on Russian-controlled territory in the Caucasus and the Crimea. Russia found itself fighting a completely unexpected war on two fronts.

"Under Catherine’s determined leadership, the revolt in Poland was quickly crushed, and the Russians were able to turn their full might against the Ottoman Empire. The war would continue for six years until the signing of the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji in 1774. This treaty gave control of the Crimea back to Russia and, crucially, granted Russian control over the Kerch Strait, which would allow Russian ships to have access to the Black Sea.

................................................................................................

"The peace with the Ottoman Empire would not last long. In 1787, a new war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and this time, the situation was even more serious. Sweden took advantage of this new war to launch a naval assault on Russian territory in the Baltic. At the same time, the King of Prussia, Frederick William II, also began preparations for an attack on Russian territory. Now, Russia faced war on three fronts.

"Once again, Catherine’s determined leadership proved decisive. The Russian Navy was able to defeat Swedish forces and to establish Russian control over large areas of the Baltic. Prussia failed to gain any territory and sued for peace in 1791. The war with the Ottoman Empire continued until 1792, but it too ended with a decisive victory for Russia.

................................................................................................

"The latter part of Catherine’s reign was influenced by events in western Europe, and in particular by the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Like all the ruling monarchs in Europe, Catherine was worried by a movement that seemed to question the divine right of kings and emperors to rule. When Poland began to try to install some form of democratic government, Catherine ordered Russian troops to invade on the pretext of preventing revolution. After an uprising in 1795, Poland effectively ceased to exist, with its territory being taken by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

"The Russian Empire under Catherine expanded its borders to the west and south by over 200,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers), including the acquisition of the rich agricultural land of Ukraine. It is little wonder that this powerful and charismatic woman became known in Russia and elsewhere as Catherine the Great. Still, all things must come to an end, and on November 16, 1796, Catherine collapsed. The court physician diagnosed a stroke, and on the following day, she died. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Paul, who was crowned as Emperor Paul I on April 5, 1797.

................................................................................................

"Paul quickly proved to be eccentric and heartily disliked by many of his subjects for his positive attitude towards Prussia. His reforms of the Russian Army included the introduction of a much plainer (and cheaper) uniform as well as the creation of new parades and exercises; Paul seemed to love pomp and often attended these in person. He was also very unforgiving of errors; soldiers who made mistakes were regularly flogged on his orders, and on one occasion, a Guards Regiment which had become lost during maneuvers was ordered by the tsar to march to Siberia, though the order was rescinded before they had gone too far.

"In March 1801, Emperor Paul was assassinated by a group of officers in the royal court. His son and successor, Alexander, apparently approved of the coup but was not personally involved in the killing. The new emperor would reign over one of the most difficult periods for the Russian Empire, which almost saw it destroyed by a new leader who emerged from revolutionary France."

................................................................................................

"“My regiments were amazed that after so many hard and deadly marches, the results of their endeavors constantly were further away, and they started to worry about the distance separating them from France.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"

................................................................................................

"When the French Revolution began in 1789, Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte was a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment of the French Army. Six years later, he was the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army. By 1799, he was effectively the dictator of France, and in 1804, a new French Empire was declared with Napoleon as its emperor. He then embarked on a series of military campaigns that would see France become the most powerful nation in Europe.

"In 1805, the Russian Empire entered an alliance with Britain and Austria in an effort to limit the growth of French power. The first real test of the new alliance came soon after when the French and Austrian armies met at the Battle of Ulm. The Austrians suffered a devastating defeat and called on the Russian emperor to give them support. Then, in December 1805, the combined Russian and Austrian armies faced Napoleon in battle near the small Austrian town of Austerlitz. The French were outnumbered: Napoleon had an army of around 66,000 men to face a combined Allied army of over 85,000.

"The Battle of Austerlitz has been called Napoleon’s greatest victory. By the use of brilliant tactics, he was able to cause more than 36,000 casualties to his enemies while losing less than 9,000 of his own troops. The Russian and Austrian armies were shattered and forced to flee. On hearing of the outcome of the battle, Tsar Alexander noted, “We are babies in the hands of a giant.”

................................................................................................

"Victory gave France power over a great deal of continental Europe. Meanwhile, the remains of the Russian Army were allowed to return to their homeland, and an uneasy peace began with the signature of the Treaty of Pressburg.

"In 1807, Russia once again found itself at war with France, this time in Poland. Another catastrophic defeat, this time at the Battle of Friedland in which Russia suffered more than 20,000 casualties, led to the Treaty of Tilsit. Negotiated personally between Tsar Alexander and Napoleon, this brought another brief period of peace.

"One of the clauses of the treaty was an agreement that Russia would not trade with Britain as Napoleon was seeking to weaken the British Empire by excluding it from European trade. However, this led to scarcity of some items and price rises in Russia. Alexander was forced by internal pressure to resume trade with Britain in 1811, and on June 22, 1812, Napoleon responded by launching an invasion of Russia.

................................................................................................

"At first, the French Army made good progress; by September 14, they had occupied Moscow, though fires, deliberately started by the Russians, destroyed much of the city. The French Army, far from sources of supply, was running short of food and ammunition, and its numbers were weakened by disease and hunger. Napoleon offered to make peace, but Alexander refused.

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

................................................................................................

"Fortunately, Russia still had large reserves of manpower. France did not, and Napoleon found himself critically short of both men and horses. When Russian troops led an Allied army to Paris in 1814, Napoleon was deposed and exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. He did return again in 1815, only to meet final defeat in the Battle of Waterloo; he would never again threaten Russia.

"The remainder of Alexander’s reign was relatively quiet after the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars. The most significant event was a revolt against the Ottoman Empire by the Greeks. Alexander favored supporting the Greeks, but he was persuaded by his European allies to remain neutral. In his final years, Alexander seemed to suffer from mental health problems that left him confused, irritable, and suspicious. In the autumn of 1825, he undertook a voyage to the south of Russia, where he caught typhus and died on November 19.

"Alexander was succeeded by a man who would lead the Russian Empire for the next tumultuous 30 years, his younger brother Nicholas."

................................................................................................

"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander?

................................................................................................

"While Tsar Alexander had spent most of his reign dealing with external threats, Nicholas quickly found himself faced with revolt and insurrection from within the Russian Empire. The French and American Revolutions of the late eighteenth century had a profound effect on politics and society across Europe and Russia. By 1819, Tsar Alexander had abolished serfdom in the Baltic States, though it still remained across most of Russia. Internal unrest followed, and both Alexander and his successor became convinced that liberal policies simply encouraged more calls for change. Thus, after a brief flirtation with liberalism during the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian government reverted to being a repressive and conservative administration.

"Calls for reform came even from the Russian Army. A number of secret societies were formed by army officers in the early years of the nineteenth century. These ranged from the relatively moderate Northern Society, which looked for the abolition of serfdom and the introduction of some form of constitutional democracy, to the Union of Salvation (also known as the Faithful and True Sons of the Fatherland), which sought nothing less than revolution and the execution of the tsar. The first rebellion by officers of the Russian Army took place while Nicholas I was still waiting for his coronation.

................................................................................................

"Nicholas had an older brother named Constantine, and many people had assumed that he and not Nicholas would succeed Alexander as tsar. However, because Constantine had no children and Nicholas did, the brothers privately agreed that Nicholas would become emperor. When Alexander died suddenly, the Royal Guards immediately swore an oath to Constantine, assuming that he would be the next tsar. When Constantine made public his renunciation, many of these officers refused to swear a new oath to Nicholas.

"Encouraged by members of the Northern Society, around 3,000 soldiers assembled in Senate Square in St. Petersburg where they made public their refusal to swear allegiance to Nicholas. Nicholas sent Count Mikhail Miloradovich, a loyalist general, to reason with the rebel troops, but he was shot and killed while addressing the crowd. Nicholas then dispatched artillery, which opened fire on the crowd. Many rebels were killed and many more arrested. Five were executed, and others were sent to exile in Siberia or the Far East. This action, which became known as the Decembrist Revolt, was the first open rebellion against the rule of the tsar within the Russian Empire. It would not be the last.

................................................................................................

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

................................................................................................

"Despite the Decemberist Revolt, Nicholas was deeply committed to the Russian Army. Under his rule, it grew to include more than one million men (out of a total population of seventy million) and became the largest army in the world. Nicholas said of the Russian Army, “No one here commands without first learning to obey. No one rises above anyone else except through a clearly defined system. Everything is subordinated to a single, defined goal, and everything has its precise designations. That is why I shall always hold the title of soldier in the highest esteem.”

"Under Nicholas’ rule, the Russian Army conducted successful campaigns in the Russo-Persian War in 1826-1828 and yet another war against the Ottoman Empire in 1828-1829. Although these ceded new territory to the Russian Empire, both were extremely costly. The Russian economy was further impacted by a series of poor harvests that peaked in 1848 and which were accompanied by a number of major fires caused by unusually dry weather as well as a cholera epidemic that affected many Russian cities. In addition, Europe was once again rocked by revolutionary movements.

................................................................................................

"In France, King Louis Philippe was deposed, and a republic proclaimed. The Hapsburg monarchy in Austria also seemed to be in danger of collapse, mainly due to revolts in territories it controlled in Hungary. In June 1848, with the agreement of the Hapsburg emperor, Nicholas sent an army of almost 200,000 Russian troops into northern Hungary. The revolt was crushed, and the Hapsburg dynasty reinstated.

"Encouraged by this success, Nicholas began to look again toward the Ottoman Empire, which was at this point growing weaker (Nicholas famously described it as the “Sick Man of Europe”). The Ottoman capital of Constantinople controlled the Dardanelles Strait, the only access from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. If Nicholas could take control of Constantinople and the Dardanelles, Russia would for the first time have unrestricted access to the Mediterranean Sea.

"Nicholas sent Russian troops into Ottoman territory in the Danubian principalities (present-day Romania) in July 1853. The Ottoman Empire, having received assurances of support from both Britain and France, declared war on Russia on October 8, 1853. Less than two months later, the Ottoman fleet was utterly destroyed by Russian warships while in harbor at Sinope. It seemed that nothing could prevent the final Russian destruction of the Ottoman Empire."

................................................................................................

"Both Britain and France were extremely concerned at the prospect of Russian access to the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, in January 1854, British and French warships entered the Black Sea to protect Ottoman transport ships, and on March 28, Britain and France declared war on Russia. The conflict that would become known as the Crimean War had begun.

"On paper, the prospects of a British/French victory over the Russian Army looked poor. The Russian Army was vastly larger than the combined army that it faced, and Allied troops would have to be landed by sea in order to fight the Russians.

"In September, British and French troops reached the Crimean peninsula, which would become the main theater of this war. Here, the Allies besieged the city of Sevastopol. After almost one year, the city was finally taken, but at massive cost. Not just combat but bitter winter weather and disease took their toll on both sides. Secondary actions took place in the Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, but most fighting on land was confined to the Crimea."

Pacific Ocean?

................................................................................................

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

"Despite this, Russia was forced to accept harsh peace terms in February 1856. The Russian Army, which had looked so powerful, had proved to be ineffective when facing well-trained troops from other European nations. By the time that the war came to an end, Tsar Nicholas I was dead. He had caught a chill in early 1855 and refused all medical treatment as a way of expressing his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Russian Army in the Crimea. His illness became pneumonia, and he died on March 2. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander II.

"Unlike his father, Alexander had little interest in military affairs. He inherited control of a nation impoverished, exhausted, humiliated, and depleted by defeat in the Crimean War. Although he utterly rejected the adoption of any form of democracy that might undermine the power of the tsar, Alexander II did institute significant reforms. The most significant of these was the Emancipation Reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom throughout private estates within the Russian Empire. For the first time, those who had formerly been serfs would enjoy the same privileges as other free men, including the right to marry without permission from their employer and the right to own property.

"Alexander also instituted important reforms within the Russian Army, including the introduction of compulsory conscription for people of all social classes. Before this, only peasants and serfs had been subject to compulsory service in the Russian armed forces. However, Alexander’s inclination to liberalism was curtailed by the first of a number of attempts on his life in 1866. In April of that year, a political activist named Dmitry Karakozov attempted to shoot the tsar as he rode in a carriage through the gates of the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg. Karakozov missed his target and was quickly arrested, tried, and executed. Nevertheless, this was a significant precedent, as it was the first time that a politically motivated assassin had tried to kill a Russian emperor.

................................................................................................

"Alexander responded by becoming more reactionary, replacing liberal politicians with hard-line alternatives. Like many tsars before and after, Alexander now believed that granting reforms simply encouraged more activism. Radicals reacted by becoming even more vehement in their calls for change, and others decided to follow Karakozov’s example. In April 1879, Alexander was taking his usual walk on the grounds of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg when a man named Alexander Soloviev rushed up to him and fired five shots. All missed, and Soloviev was arrested, tried, and executed.

"In November 1879, the tsar and his family were traveling by rail, returning to St. Petersburg from a vacation in the Crimea. A bomb laid on the track exploded under a train as it approached Moscow. It was the wrong train; the royal train had already passed, and all that was damaged was a wagonload of fruit. In February 1880, a massive explosion ripped through the Winter Palace, killing 11 palace guards and injuring more than 50 people. The explosion was detonated under a dining room in which the tsar was expected to be, but he was late and thus uninjured.

"Before 1866, there had been no attempts by political radicals to assassinate a tsar. Between 1866 and 1880, there were four serious attempts to kill the tsar. The Russian Empire was changing, but its leadership seemed unwilling, or unable, to compromise. In March 1881, Alexander II was traveling in his carriage when assassins finally succeeded; a bomb hurled under the carriage fatally wounded the tsar, who died a few hours later. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III, who would react to his father’s death and growing calls for reform with more brutal repression.

................................................................................................

"“We will smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea and I do not care what the cost will be!”

"—Tsar Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

"On the morning that he was assassinated, Alexander II had signed an order agreeing to the establishment of some form of consultative body to assist in the governance of the Russian Empire. This was far from the dramatic constitutional reforms that many Russians were calling for, but it was a first step in that direction. Virtually the first thing that Alexander III did on assuming power was to cancel this order. During his reign, all the reforms that the new tsar introduced were intended to reverse the process of liberalization that his father had instituted.

"Soon, the Narodnaya Volya, a secret revolutionary group dedicated to establishing democracy in Russia, began planning the assassination of the new tsar. The secret police, the Okhrana, uncovered an assassination plot in 1887, and five conspirators were arrested, convicted, and executed. One of them was Aleksandr Ulyanov. His execution would spur his younger brother to even more radical political agitation. This man was Vladimir Lenin.

................................................................................................

That was fact, not reluctance.

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

................................................................................................

"But rather than reinforcing the authority of the tsar and the Russian Empire, this short war pushed it even closer to the brink of destruction. On land, the Russian Army was defeated in a number of significant battles. Meanwhile, Russian fleets were destroyed by superior Japanese technology and tactics. In May 1905, Nicholas was forced to accept a humiliating peace settlement that established Japan as a significant power in the Far East and formerly renounced Russian territorial claims in the region. Instead of strengthening his position, the Russo-Japanese War left Russia short of money and food and exposed the leaders of its armed forces as inept.

"In January 1905, a crowd estimated at over 100,000 people marched in St. Petersburg. The march was peaceful and was intended as a prelude to handing a workers’ petition to the tsar calling for constitutional reform. Troops and police opened fire on the marchers, killing almost one hundred and injuring many more.

"In October, a railway strike became a national strike affecting large areas of Russia. Workers’ councils (soviets) appeared in most major Russian cities and directed strikes and protests. Left with no alternative, Nicholas was forced to sign an order that agreed to the establishment of an Imperial Duma, a legislative assembly that would adopt part of the formerly unlimited authority of the tsar. For a time, it seemed that the radicals were satisfied and that the Russian Empire might be able to survive."

................................................................................................

"Almost as soon as the first Duma was convened, it became clear that Nicholas had no intention of allowing this curb on his imperial authority. The first Duma called for universal suffrage, land reforms, and the release of all prisoners held on political charges. In response, Nicholas dissolved the Duma.

"A second Duma was convened in February 1907. It, too, called for radical reform, but Nicholas again refused to accept its recommendations. The second Duma dissolved itself when it failed to make any progress. The third Duma lasted longer, mainly because it was led by Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, who changed electoral laws to ensure that votes of the nobility and the wealthy carried more weight than the votes of people of lower classes. In that way, the third Duma would be dominated by conservatives loyal to the tsar.

"Nicholas was happier with the new Duma, mainly because it did not seem to present any threat to his authority as tsar. He wrote to Stolypin, “This Duma cannot be reproached with an attempt to seize power and there is no need at all to quarrel with it.”

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

................................................................................................

"In early 1911, Prime Minster Pyotr Stolypin wrote to the tsar with a detailed account of Rasputin’s bizarre behavior. When Nicholas expelled Rasputin from the royal court, Alexandra intervened and brought him back. Unwilling to upset his wife, Nicholas simply ignored all subsequent reports of Rasputin’s behavior."

Obviously the distraught mother couldn't care more about court than about her son's health and life.

"Realizing that he no longer enjoyed the confidence of the tsar, Stolypin offered his resignation as prime minister in September 1911. The tsar refused to accept. A few days later, Stolypin was assassinated in Kyiv by a member of a secret revolutionary group. Stolypin had somehow managed to keep the Duma together, achieving limited reforms while appeasing the tsar. With his death, the Duma stumbled on, but it failed to deliver the reforms that the vast majority of Russians expected and were increasingly beginning to demand.

"By this time, the Russian Empire had achieved staggering size; it covered over 8.5 million square miles (22 million square kilometers), one-sixth of the entire landmass on planet Earth. To most observers, the Russian Empire was still one of the most powerful nations in the world. Yet even while the internal situation of the Russian Empire was being undermined by those who sought radical change, international events were moving toward a new external conflict that would indirectly lead to its final destruction."

................................................................................................

"“In a year of the war the regular army had vanished. It was replaced by an army of ignoramuses.”

"—General Aleksei Brusilov"

................................................................................................

"By the beginning of the twentieth century, the German Empire under the autocratic rule of Kaiser Wilhelm II was rapidly becoming one of the most powerful nations in Europe. German industrialization provided arms and technology to a rapidly growing German Army. The German Navy was expanding to compete with the British Royal Navy for domination of the seas. However, for Russia, it was one particular element of German foreign policy that caused extreme concern. Although Russia’s traditional enemy, the Ottoman Empire, was a shadow of its former power, Germany actively sought closer ties with this empire. For Russia, this was a direct threat and led to a gradual cooling of relations between Germany and the Russian Empire.

"European politics in this period was virtually defined by how states aligned themselves or stood in opposition to the German Empire. A series of alliances were formed that turned Europe into two armed camps. Germany allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Dual Alliance. Meanwhile, the Triple Entente was an informal understanding between Russia, Great Britain, and France intended to limit German expansion. Other nations in Europe either tried to remain neutral or to align themselves with one or the other of these two power blocs. This complex web of interconnected alliances was intended to preserve peace in Europe; instead, it would lead to the most destructive war the world had yet seen.

................................................................................................

"On June 28, 1914, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by a member of a Serbian nationalist group. One month later, Austria-Hungary, backed by its ally the German Empire, declared war on Serbia. Since Russia had an alliance with Serbia, they began mobilization for war three days later, on July 31. The following day, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire. By August 4, Russia’s allies Britain and France had also declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. World War I had begun.

"Germany’s initial strategy was to focus its efforts in the west against Britain and France. In the east, Germany initially deployed relatively few troops to oppose Russia. On August 18, two large Russian armies attacked East Prussia. Less than two weeks later, at the Battle of Tannenberg, one of those Russian armies was utterly destroyed, and its commander committed suicide. By the middle of 1915, Russian forces had been driven out of Russian Poland and were hundreds of miles from German territory.

"In 1916, Russian forces mounted a massive offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces in Galicia. This was successful at first, but it caused huge numbers of Russian casualties and exposed a lack of basic equipment, including rifles and ammunition. By the end of 1916, the Russian general staff admitted to having suffered over five million casualties and to more than half a million men missing.

................................................................................................

"In Russia, there had initially been enthusiasm for the war, and the tsar and his regime received a brief but welcome boost in popularity as people rallied to support the nation. Yet as the war dragged on and casualties mounted, that initial support began to drain away. When it became apparent that many Russian senior officers were inept and that large numbers of Russian conscripts were sent into battle without weapons or even boots, the war—and the tsar—became increasingly unpopular. Partly, this was because, as soon as the war had begun, the Duma had been suspended, and from the middle of 1915, the tsar took personal control over running both the country and the war.

"The situation was made even worse because the lack of men available to work in agriculture and industry caused rampant inflation at home and shortages of many essential foodstuffs, including bread. As head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the tsar was inevitably blamed for both Russia’s poor performance in the war and for the food crisis affecting much of the empire. In the Russian Army, mutiny and refusal to obey orders began to spread. In the early months of 1917, around 35,000 Russian soldiers were deserting their units each month."

................................................................................................

"By early 1917, the threat of famine in Russia was growing. Millions of refugees were streaming east from territories occupied by Germany. International trade was impossible due to the war that also occupied much of the rail network which might otherwise have been used to transport food and resources within Russia. Unchecked inflation meant that the poor could not afford to buy basic foods and fuel, though in many cases these were not available anyway.

"Liberal former members of the Duma advised Tsar Nicholas to urgently consider forming some type of constitutional government, but he refused to consider any change that might undermine his complete authority. The Duma was scheduled to reconvene on February 14. One week before that, the tsar issued an edict permanently dissolving the government and leaving all power and authority in his hands.

................................................................................................

"In Petrograd (as St. Petersburg had been re-named at the beginning of the war because its existing name was felt to be “too German”), strikes began on February 18. Due to heavy snowstorms, thousands of railcars bound for the city and carrying food and fuel were stranded. Shortages became critical. On February 23, International Women’s Day, over 50,000 women took to the streets to protest against the shortages. By the following day, an estimated 200,000 protestors were on the streets calling not just for the end of food shortages but for an end to the war and to the rule of the tsar.

"On February 25, Tsar Nicholas reacted with a characteristic lack of appreciation for how serious the situation had become and ordered the military commander of Petrograd to open fire on the protestors. On the 26th, many troops, instead of firing on the protestors, joined them. Witnessing this, Mikhail Rodzianko, chairman of the Duma, sent the tsar a message that was close to panic: “The situation is serious. The capital is in a state of anarchy. The government is paralyzed. Transport service and the supply of food and fuel have become completely disrupted. General discontent is growing.”

"The tsar noted in his diary his characteristically out-of-touch response to this and other messages from the capital: “This fat Rodzianko has written me lots of nonsense, to which I shall not even deign to reply.”

................................................................................................

"By February 27, most of the troops stationed in and around Petrograd had joined the protestors. Police units were overwhelmed as rioting spread across the city. Although they had no legal or constitutional right to do so, members of the Duma formed a Provisional Committee and declared themselves to be the new governing body of the Russian Empire. Their principal aims were to restore order in the capital and to bring the war to an end.

"The tsar returned to Petrograd on March 1 to discover that support from the army, the Duma, and the people of Russia had disappeared. On March 2, he abdicated, nominating his brother, Grand Duke Michael, to succeed him as tsar. The grand duke declined, saying that he would only accept the role of tsar if that was approved by a constituent assembly.

"The following day, the provisional government published a manifesto proposing a review of civic and political rights and the installation of a democratically elected Russian constituent assembly. However, this government was seen by many Russians as representing the views and needs of the middle and wealthy classes, the bourgeoisie. The vast mass of the Russian people still did not feel that they were adequately represented. The Petrograd soviet (workers’ council) was seen as the body representing the rights of the poorest people, and in an effort to stop further strikes and protests, the provisional government announced that henceforth, authority over Russia would be shared by the government and the soviet.

................................................................................................

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

................................................................................................

"Briefly, calm returned to the capital. A socialist revolutionary, Alexander Kerensky, was appointed head of the provisional government. Kerensky introduced a number of significant reforms, including the restitution of free speech and the abolition of the death penalty. He also ordered the release of thousands of political prisoners convicted under the rule of the tsar. Yet the one thing that Kerensky could not deliver was an end to the war. Losses of troops remained consistently high, and desertions reached epidemic levels. Other political groups began to attack Kerensky, demanding that he end the war immediately. Fearing a coup, Kerensky attempted to bring troops into the city, but these were met by members of the soviet, who persuaded them to stay outside.

"The formal end of the Russian Empire came about as Kerensky and the provisional government and the Petrograd soviet were still struggling to exert their authority. On September 1, 1917, Kerensky announced that the Russian Empire was no more. The monarchy was abolished, and from that moment, Russia would become the Russian Democratic Federal Republic, ruled not by a tsar but by an elected assembly. Up to that moment, it seemed possible that the empire might survive, perhaps with a new tsar serving as a constitutional monarch. Instead, the 200-year history of the Russian Empire was ended with a single stroke and seemingly as an afterthought.

"The new republic would last less than two months, replaced by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic after another revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917."

................................................................................................

"The Bolshevik Revolution brought fundamental change to Russia. First of all, the new communist regime was able to pull Russia out of World War I with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. This treaty gave up almost 20% of the territory formerly controlled by the Russian Empire.

"Although it was no longer fighting Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russia quickly found itself involved in a brutal and costly civil war as supporters of the Bolsheviks (the Reds) fought with those who sought the return of a constitutional government or perhaps even a tsar (the Whites). The Russian Civil War lasted for five years and took the lives of up to eight million people before the Reds were victorious and the former Russian Empire became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). By that time, Tsar Nicholas II, the last vestige of the old empire, had been executed with his family by the Reds.

................................................................................................

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

................................................................................................

"Czar Nicholas II ruled Russia much as his father Alexander II had. He strongly believed in the absolute autocracy of the crown. In hindsight, but also in reviewing governmental trends in Europe and the populist violence his own family had suffered, this adamant stance against popular representation in government seems hubris. This moment represents an opportunity when wiser leadership might have avoided much of the bloodshed soon to follow. Instead of considering the early proposal from a group of working-class representatives pushing for a constitutional monarchy—a concession he would be forced to make anyway—Nicholas’ firm rejection likely pushed the country one step further on the road to the revolution that would cost him everything."

................................................................................................

"The Russian Royal family in the early 1900s included Czar Nicholas II, his wife the Empress Alexandra, his four daughters Grand Duchess Olga, Grand Duchess Tatiana, Grand Duchess Maria, and Grand Duchess Anastasia, as well as his only son and heir, Alexei. The young prince inherited a genetic disorder, presumably from his English mother, which was then known as “the royal disease,” because of its prevalence in European royal families. Haemophilia B was untreatable at the time and usually lead to an early death for the afflicted."

Does show the authors are comparatively illiterate, since the tsarina Alexandra was technically, legally and otherwise German, of Battenberg family; it was her mother princess Alice whod been English, being a daughter of Queen Victoria.

The Battenberg descendents of the English queen were not entirely brought up in England, and while they were in touch with their grandmother and other royal cousins of course, this meant being in touch with people all over Europe, or with The Royal Mob, as their uncle - later called Uncle of Europe, as Queen Victoria was called grandmother of Europe - termed the royals related to them.

................................................................................................

"When the finest doctors in Russia and Europe proved to be unable to help the young boy, Empress Alexandra turned in desperation to interviewing a long line of faith healers. It was at this time that Siberian holy man Gregori Rasputin became intimately involved with the royal family and thus the politics of Russia.

"Gregori Yefimovich Rasputin is one of history’s most enigmatic figures. Part sorcerer, part faith healer, part conspirator, the effect he had on the royal family and thus all of Russia is arguable and controversial. His motivations are suspect, but the truth of them is unknown. He is described as having a mesmerizing personality, and an entrancing stare. Many of his contemporary rivals ascribed his healing skills to the use of hypnotism on his patients. Many others believed he practiced dark sorcery."

Bias on part of authors is quite obvious, since practices by church aren't questioned equally by them.

................................................................................................

"After young prince Alexei was badly injured during a trip to the royal hunting retreat, he seemed to miraculously recover after Rasputin was consulted. The empress was so convinced by this chain of events that Rasputin became a welcome guest at court and a personal friend of the family. This favorable admission to the ruling family’s inner circle was the beginning of Rasputin’s reputation for mystic powers.

"Modern doctors suspect that Rasputin’s directive to limit treatment from the doctors at the time may have been the actual cause of Alexei’s recovery. Aspirin had just come into wide use in medical treatment, and was seen as something of a miracle drug. Aspirin was likely a part of the prince’s regular treatment from the royal physicians, but as the anti-coagulant property of aspirin was not yet known, the doctors would not have realized they were worsening their young patient’s condition rather than easing it. Cessation of the administration of this drug may have been all that was needed for Alexei’s condition to improve. The fortuitous happenstance of Rasputin’s directives aligning with modern medical practice is a subject of debate among those who believe the legend of Rasputin’s strange powers."

Any similar arguments regarding Lourdes, and control of entrance to the place in hands of church?

................................................................................................

"The Russian aristocracy had been involved in a fascination with all things occult for several years. The common people of Russia viewed this as highly suspect behavior, verging on blasphemy. Rasputin’s close association with the Imperial family, along with his status as a holy man, brought public resentment against them."

And the authors are unable to see this resentment as being due to control of both, minds of people as well as anything holy or occult and powerful without necessarily being low, in hands of church, for centuries, enforced via inquisition and accompanied tortures, murders of people by church via burning them alive, et al. ................................................................................................

................................................................................................

"“While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State.”

"—Vladimir Lenin"

That's perhaps right there the root of decay of academic levels of general population of US, beginning in sixties with pressure on teachers to make it easy and popular, and same pressure on bureaucratic systems to lower standards, make grades easier to get, and more.

As a result, most students of college courses in mathematics find it difficult to do elementary mathematics, even middle school level, because they were allowed to drop the subject - just one example.

And it has little to do with actual capabilities or willingness to work, either.

................................................................................................

"When The Great War broke out in 1914, Lenin was traveling in Galicia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. As a Russian citizen he was briefly imprisoned under suspicion of working for the Russian government, but was released when his anti-regime history was established. He was vehemently against Russia’s involvement in the war. He viewed the situation as a petty and costly grasp for territory on the part of the nations involved; “a bourgeois lie.”

"After the people’s uprising in 1917 that resulted in the abdication of the throne by Czar Nicholas II, Lenin returned to Petrograd to take part in the revolt. He was travelling with several members of the Bolshevik, which simply means “the majority” Party. As a revolutionary who would hopefully cause problems for one of their enemies, he was given a special pass by the German government that allowed Lenin and his fellow Bolsheviks passage through war-torn Germany and into Russia."

Why authors chose to gloss over the manner of this journey is a mystery, since the facts of actual details are widely known. That he was transported in a locked diplomatic German train officially, across the border and deep into Russia, has been not only described by Winston Churchill comparing it to " ... like a plague bacillus ...", but the quote heads a chapter in a previous volume in this series!

................................................................................................

"“They transported Lenin in a sealed truck like a plague bacillus into Russia.”

"—Winston Churchill"

................................................................................................

"With the new government installed and the threat of World War I addressed if not resolved, the pains inherent to shaping a new society continued. Peasant revolts in opposition to the Russian Communist Party’s policies of war Communism were taking place all over Russia. At issue for the still-starving peasants was the forced requisition of their crops to feed the army and the people in the cities."

An example of a particularly badly edited, if not outright illiterate writing, of a sentence there in the middle:- "Peasant revolts in opposition to the Russian Communist Party’s policies of war Communism were taking place all over Russia."

................................................................................................

"A revolt by the “Red Sailors” at the Kronstadt naval base added still more grievances. The sailors wanted free elections, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom for peasants to manage their own lands, and the legalization of small businesses and industry. This naval uprising was put down with brutal efficiency by the Red Army under orders from Commissar Trotsky. The revolt was labelled a White Army plot by the Bolsheviks in power to avoid the compounding of outrage should the truth be made public. It was apparent that changes would need to be made."

They weren't slow to learn the ways of the church, at that, were they, with lies and falsehoods, fraudulous labeling and false propaganda always at hand, to cover up shortcomings?

................................................................................................

"“It is true that liberty is precious- so precious that it must be rationed.”

"—Vladimir Lenin"

Wasn't it Mark Twain who said exactly that, about Truth?

................................................................................................

"“I am especially distrustful of a Russian when he gets power into his hands. Not long ago a slave, he becomes the most unbridled despot as soon as he has the chance to become his neighbor’s master.”

"—Maxim Gorky"

................................................................................................

"When millions of farmers refused to turn over their farms and bow to government control, they were shot or exiled. The whole process of government takeover of the farms brought about a famine that spread throughout the Soviet Union. Millions of citizens died of starvation.

"These actions were followed with the commencement of what is known as the “Great Purge.” Between 1934 and 1939, members of the Communist Party, the military, and academic institutions who opposed or criticized Stalin and the Communist government were imprisoned, exiled or executed, often without a trial. Millions of people fell victim to this purge. Voices of dissent in Stalin’s Soviet Union were silenced."

The time frame is relevant in that this precisely was when, established firmly in power in Germany, Hitler sought to execute his further plans, which included taking over all of Eastern Europe for usage as bread basket for Germany and populations thereof as slaves to be starved to death while working for Germany; towards this end, he got rid of the best in USSR simply by sowing distrust in higher personnel, which in a fragile environment of USSR could not be given a fair treatment, if only due to concerns regarding security of USSR.

Hitler succeeded in this, just as anyone with animus against a woman succeeds simply by starting rumors and gossip against her 'character', with nothing but a question and an insinuation.

................................................................................................

"As a means of maintaining authority, Stalin increased the power of the state secret police and Soviet intelligence agencies in order to control the population. He also established a network of agents infiltrated in countries around the world, including Germany, Great Britain, Japan, France, and the United States."

Most do - and did, from nazis to church, from US to China!

"In WWII, Stalin’s government sided with the Allies against Nazi Germany and the Axis powers of Italy and Japan. The Soviet Union played a major role in the war with the Red Army defeating Nazi attempts at invasion and in the final capture of Berlin by Allied forces. With the loyalty established in the countries of the Eastern Bloc liberated by the Red army, the Soviet Union emerged from the war as a recognized world super power."

Again, very badly written paragraph consisting of only two sentences where the second sentence completely contradicts the previous, with no explanation as to why of either, or of the switch.

................................................................................................

Russian History: Crimean War.

Hm.

Well written except for the repeated insistence that this war is forgotten, something far from correct or true.

................................................................................................

"“‘Forward, the Light Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!’ he said.

"Into the valley of Death

"Rode the six hundred.”

"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson"

Wasn't the event spoofed and ridiculed by George Bernard Shaw, not an admirer of either British racism nor the foolhardy unthinking warrior, much less likely to glorify it as glamourous, in his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

"In 1860, Nightingale founded the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas’ Hospital in London. She also wrote an influential book, Notes on Nursing, which became a core part of the curriculum at the new training school and defined, virtually for the first time, the importance of hygiene and cleanliness in the treatment of the sick and injured."

For the first time?

What about the Austrian - Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, responsible for reducing death rate of new mothers in childbirth?

"The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis."

Surely that precedes Crimean War and report by Florence Nightingale in 1860?

................................................................................................

"The Baltic Sea is far distant from the Crimea, but this war also featured naval combat in this location. The Baltic was extremely important to Russia—the city of St. Petersburg lies at the far end of the Gulf of Finland which itself is part of the eastern Baltic. The main base for the Russian fleet in the Baltic was at Kronstadt, on an island in the Gulf of Finland around 15 kilometers west of St. Petersburg. In April 1854, soon after the declaration of war, a large Anglo-French fleet entered the Gulf of Finland and attacked the base at Kronstadt. The outcome was not decisive, and in August 1854, an even larger allied fleet (the biggest naval fleet assembled since the Napoleonic wars) returned to the Baltic. The Russian Baltic fleet, heavily outnumbered, stayed in its base, protected by powerful shore batteries while the allies attacked a number of smaller Russian ports and defenses in the Gulf of Finland.

"The naval action in the Baltic did not produce a decisive naval engagement, but it proved very damaging to the Russian war effort. The Russian balance of payments depended heavily on exports through the Gulf of Finland. The presence of an allied fleet there essentially stopped all sea-borne exports and imports to and from Russia. All exports and imports then had to be made via the overland route through Prussia—a much more expensive and time-consuming journey. The presence of allied naval units threatening St. Petersburg also forced the Russians to keep large armies in the area in case of an allied landing. This prevented the transfer of troops from this area to the Crimea. In these ways the allied naval action in the Baltic was very important—while it achieved little in the way of tactical success, strategically it helped to undermine the Russian economy and kept large numbers of troops pinned down who might otherwise have been sent to reinforce the Russian armies in the Crimea."

Do they realise the chain of events leading to Russian Revolution, and Thence to the treaty between Germany and Russia that eased the path of Hitler occupying Europe until he turned on Russia in 1941, began here, in Anglo-French coordinated attack against Russia damaging Russian economy?

................................................................................................

"There was also naval action in the White Sea (an inlet of the Barents Sea). In November 1854, a squadron of British warships shelled and virtually destroyed the town of Kola, though an attempt to storm the important port of Arkhangelsk failed. In the Far East, an Anglo-French naval force attacked the important city of Petropavlovsk on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The attempt to take the city in September 1854 was beaten back, one of the few successful actions undertaken by the Russians against the Anglo-French naval operations. In the same theater, allied landings at Sakhalin and on the Kuril Islands were successful but had little effect on the progress of the war."

Couldn't possibly have helped the trust between future allies of WWI and WWII, could it?

................................................................................................

"Although most of the fighting on land during this conflict took place on the Crimean Peninsula, there was also a protracted series of battles in the Caucasus Mountains. These mountains formed a natural barrier between the southern extent of the Russian Empire and the northern edge of the Ottoman Empire. In the early stages of the war in 1853, Russian naval victories in the Black Sea helped to assure Russian victories in the mountains including the defeat of the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Başgedikler.

"After the allied fleet arrived in the Black Sea, the Russian navy in the area was no longer able to support its troops on land and the fighting reduced in scale and intensity. Just as in other theaters, the bulk of casualties in this area were caused not by combat but by disease. In the period January to May 1855, the Ottoman army in the Caucasus was reduced from 120,000 to less than 75,000, mainly due to cholera and dysentery. It is believed that Russian casualties were on a similar level."

Was it this, that Turkey sought to revenge - by massacring a million Armenians around WWI era?

................................................................................................

"The bombardment of the city continued throughout the summer until, in early September, the British and French agreed to undertake a large-scale combined assault on Sevastopol. The French would attack the Malakhov and the British would focus on the Redan, another large defensive position. A massive bombardment began on September 5 and continued for three days. Then, at around mid-day on September 8, the combined assault began.

"The French were successful in their attempt to storm the Malakhov. The British assault on the Redan proved more difficult, in part due to rocky terrain, but the eventual outcome was the taking of both these important positions. Russian forces counter-attacked, and savage fighting continued until evening, but the Redan and the Malakhov remained in allied hands. In the evening, allied troops in these positions watched as Russian troops streamed out of the area, crossing bridges to the north side of the harbor and abandoning the ruined city. On September 11, Russian forces burned the last remaining Russian warships in Sevastopol harbor. After 11 months, the siege was finally over.

"The final French attack on the Malakhov cost the French more than 7,000 casualties, including five generals killed. The British lost over 2,000 and the Russian more than 12,000 including two generals. It has been estimated that the Russians lost in total more than 100,000 men during the siege of Sevastopol. Allied forces suffered over 70,000 casualties, but that does not include deaths due to disease.

"This siege was the central part of the Crimean War, and the loss of the city of Sevastopol was a major blow to Russian prestige and to confidence in the abilities of its military forces."

................................................................................................

"“Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it.”

"—Leo Tolstoy, who served as an artillery officer during the siege of Sevastopol"

Hence his War And Peace.

................................................................................................

"“O wasted bravery of our mighty dead!”

"—Gerald Massey"

................................................................................................

"Each of the four empires directly involved in the Crimean War was affected by it, and even the Austrian Empire, which was only peripherally involved, was also impacted.

"For the most part, Russia simply ignored those provisions of the Treaty of Paris which prevented it from creating naval bases in the Black Sea. Russia assumed, correctly, that neither Britain nor France was willing to risk another unpopular war over Russian power in the Black Sea. Russia continued to be regarded as one of the great powers, despite the military and organizational failings exposed by the Crimean War. These failings came to the surface again in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and the First World War. Revolts and insurrection which grew in strength during the Crimean War finally swept away Imperial Russia completely in the revolution of 1917.

"The Ottoman Empire, the so-called “sick man of Europe,” continued its slow and seemingly inexorable decline before its final collapse in 1923 which saw the establishment in its place of the modern, secular nation-state of Turkey with Kemal Atatürk as its president. The Crimean War had little effect on the Ottoman Empire beyond, perhaps, accelerating its final collapse."

Surely T.E. Lawrence helped, even if only a little, or at any rate possibly a tad less than proclaimed in the larger-than-life portrayal by David Lean in the epic Lawrence of Arabia?

................................................................................................

"The Crimean War can be seen as the first truly modern war. It introduced the horrors of trench warfare, and it showed for the first time how vulnerable cavalry was to modern breech-loading rifles. It saw combat involving steam-powered, ironclad warships, and it used railways for logistical support. This was also the first war to involve regular battlefield reporting by newspaper reporters and the use of photographs to convey images of conflict. All these things would become relatively commonplace later, first in the American Civil War and then in the First World War, but they were first seen together here.

"The Crimean War can also be seen as the last of the great imperial wars. This war directly involved four of the great empires of the world and a fifth (the Austrian Empire) was involved on the periphery. By the end of the First World War, only one of these empires, the British, would still exist.

................................................................................................

"Yet the enduring images of the Crimean War are of confusion and waste. Few people in Britain and France really understood why their troops were involved in fighting Russians in the distant Crimea, a place in which neither country had any interest. The blunders which characterized this war in events such as the Charge of the Light Brigade, the near-starvation of troops besieging Sevastopol, and the massive death toll on all sides due to disease and inadequate medical treatment combined with confusion about war aims led to widespread dissatisfaction at home in all the countries involved."

Which resulted in shaping future attitudes and consequences thereof.

................................................................................................

"Perhaps this dissent is why the Crimean War is one of the least remembered major wars of the nineteenth century. There were few glorious victories here, making the huge death toll difficult to understand or justify. The Crimean War remains a truly forgotten war.""

No, that's blindness of the author, perhaps due to a schooling in US.

Not only this war was key to the further developments in Europe including WWI and WWII, but far more; and even by itself, it's still remembered for Florence Nightingale as much as for the event that formed title of the poem by Tennyson, taught through most of Twentieth Century in British school curriculum.

As for lasting effects, look at the pointless unrelenting war waged by West that began with this, and constantly used Islamic jihadists to "contain" Soviet Union or Russia( - including now the Ukraine black comedy centred on the same neighbourhood - Crimea, Black Sea and Sea of Azov - ), even to inviting great danger, to not only West but to all human civilisation.

................................................................................................

"The Crimean War was the largest war between the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 and the outbreak of World War I in 1914. It accounted directly for the deaths of more than half a million combatants, far more than were killed in, for example, the American Civil War which took place in the same general period. Yet the Crimean War has been largely forgotten."

Except for such small bits as English poetry and professional nursing. Unforgettable, those.

"Partly that is because its causes were complex and difficult to understand, and partly it is because this war did not produce a great victory or a huge defeat for any of the countries involved. The Crimean War was fought to decide which of the five empires that dominated Europe in the nineteenth century would become the most powerful. Two of the empires involved, Britain and France, fought to maintain the status quo. They succeeded. The Russian Empire fought for the right to expand its territory in eastern Europe and elsewhere. It failed, and internal dissent and revolt were encouraged by this failure. The Austrian Empire remained neutral throughout this war while the Ottoman Empire, once the most powerful in the world, survived a Russian attack but was revealed to be weak and destined for eventual collapse. The Crimean War did not directly change the world, but it led indirectly to changes which were to completely re-shape Europe.

"Despite its lack of a clearly defined outcome, this is one of the most important wars of the nineteenth century and one whose legacy would help to shape the twentieth. ... "

................................................................................................

"“The sick man of Europe.”

"—Tsar Nicholas I, on the Ottoman Empire"

................................................................................................

"By the mid-nineteenth century, Europe was in a state of flux. Old alliances were being reconsidered as conflict, unrest, and the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars caused realignments and fundamental changes. Europe was controlled for the most part by five empires, all in very different stages of their development and all with their own ambitions and desires.

"France, for many years the most powerful nation in Europe, had been convulsed first by the French Revolution from 1789-1799 and then by a series of wars against other European nations from 1800-1815 under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte which led to the creation of the French Empire. By 1852, France had seen the restoration of the monarchy deposed by the revolution, then the creation of a short-lived republic before Napoleon Bonaparte’s nephew, Napoleon III, became the leader of the Second French Empire. France was keen to restore its place amongst the leading European nations, and in 1830, it had annexed the North African territory of Algeria and declared this to be part of the French Empire.

"In Great Britain, the Napoleonic Wars had led to the development of a competent professional army to supplement the British fleet, still the most powerful naval force in the world. The empire controlled by Victorian Britain was nearing its zenith, and the United Kingdom took relatively little interest in European affairs other than when they directly affected their interests. In the nineteenth century, Britain generally did not enter into alliances with other European states, a situation that later became known as “splendid isolation.” However, the need to protect the sea-routes that were essential to the British dominions and colonies meant that the British Empire could not afford to ignore developments in Europe completely.

................................................................................................

"In Russia, Britain’s former ally in the wars against Napoleon, Tsar Nicholas I came to the throne in 1825. Nicholas was a no-nonsense soldier who gave no consideration to the liberal reforms started by his predecessor, Tsar Alexander I. Nicholas centralized power in his own hands and for the most part was as concerned with suppressing potential revolts within his own country as with expanding the area controlled by Russia.

"Nicholas undertook reforms within the Russian army intended to make it a more effective fighting force and concluded an alliance with the Austrian Empire to form a barrier against the rising power of Prussia. On paper, the Russian Empire, stretching from Siberia to present-day Poland, was the largest and most powerful in Europe. Many Russians wanted to see the empire extended, but the Napoleonic Wars seemed to have shown that this was difficult. Expansion to the west would bring Russia into conflict with the Austrian Empire, the French Empire, and perhaps even the British Empire. If Russia were going to expand the territory it controlled, this would have to be in some other direction.

................................................................................................

"The Austrian Empire was ruled by the Hapsburgs and was the third most powerful in Europe (behind Russia and France). This empire stretched over almost a quarter of a million square miles and included present-day Austria and Hungary. The Austrian Empire had arisen out of the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in the early 1800s, but by the middle of the nineteenth century, the empire was beset by a number of internal separatist movements originating in the several different ethnic groups that made up the realm.

"In one empire on the periphery of Europe, the nineteenth century seemed to bring nothing but problems. The Ottoman Empire was at one time one of the most powerful in the world. The Muslim Ottoman people, who had originated as a semi-nomadic tribe from Anatolia, had conquered lands in present-day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia and even in the mid-1800s occupied territory stretching from the Danube River in the west to the city of Constantinople, formerly the capital of the Christian Byzantine Empire, in the east. For extended periods, the Ottoman navy had controlled most of the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf, and even parts of the Indian Ocean. For more than 400 years, the Ottoman Empire represented the most direct and immediate threat to European security, being the subject of several unsuccessful crusades and taking fighting as far west as the city of Venice.

"However, by the middle of the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire was in serious decline. Internal revolts and assassinations had weakened the control of the sultan, and a series of unsuccessful wars against Russia in the eighteenth century had seen the Ottoman Empire lose a great deal of land it had formerly occupied, including the Crimean Khanate which had been an Ottoman possession for over 250 years. Its control over remaining lands was also weakened by continuing pressure as the Russians sought to control the Slavic people of Eastern Europe by usurping Ottoman power east of the Danube.

................................................................................................

"Many of the ethnic minorities who comprised the people ruled by the Ottoman Empire needed little encouragement to revolt. The Serbian Revolution began in 1804. Greek people in the Peloponnese began a revolt against their Ottoman rulers in the 1820s and by 1829 had established independence from the empire. Continuing insurrections in Serbia, Wallachia, and Montenegro further weakened the Ottoman Empire. It was clear to most outsiders that this empire was nearing the point of total collapse from pressures from within and without.

"During the 1840s, the tottering Ottoman Empire was referred to by the tsar of Russia as “the sick man of Europe.” If the Ottoman Empire was to collapse, it was clear that Russia stood to gain the most. Although the Ottoman Empire had been the traditional enemy of many European countries for hundreds of years, the French, British, and Austrian Empires now regarded the continuance of the Ottoman Empire as an essential check to the growing power of Russia and in particular as a block to Russian naval ambitions in the Mediterranean."

................................................................................................

"“The Crimean war was fought for the sake of Europe rather than for the Eastern question; it was fought against Russia, not in favor of Turkey.”

"—A. J. P. Taylor"

And therein the foundations of encouragement of jihadists by West, letting loose the jinn that threatens West more than anything else now.

................................................................................................

"The Ottoman Empire was principally Muslim, but it also included a sizeable Orthodox Christian population. Russia had traditionally positioned itself as the sponsor and protector of Eastern Orthodoxy, and it claimed an interest in the welfare of the Christians within the Ottoman Empire. However, Napoleon III, leader of the French Empire, sought to increase the influence of France by declaring that France had sovereign authority over some Christian minorities. In particular, France claimed the right to protect the large Christian minority in Palestine, at that time a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire. This position had previously been occupied by Russia, and the tsar saw this as the beginning of a challenge which would eventually seek to undermine the position of Russia as protector of the Christian minority across the whole of the Ottoman Empire.

"This dispute over the right to be regarded as the protector of the Ottoman Empire Christians led to a direct confrontation between France and Russia. Being able to claim to be acting on behalf of Christians in a Muslim empire was a role which conferred a great deal of power and gave a valid excuse for interference in the internal affairs of the failing Ottoman Empire. Britain had no particular love for France but feared a situation where Russia controlled the Ottoman Empire which would give its powerful navy in the Black Sea access to the Mediterranean via the Strait of Bosphorus. This would potentially challenge British naval supremacy in the Mediterranean and even its vital sea routes to India.

"In the early 1850s, the Austrian Empire was still recovering from the effects of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. Hungary had attempted to break free from the Austrian Empire in a bloody and destructive series of conflicts. Austria had managed to suppress the revolution only with the help of large numbers of troops loaned by the Russians. The Austrian Empire had survived but was badly weakened and beholden to the Russians. Thus, Russia assumed that the Austrian Empire would not be drawn into any potential conflict over the Ottoman Empire.

................................................................................................

"The weakness and vacillation of the Ottoman Empire contributed to uncertainty and confusion. In 1851, the sultan agreed on a treaty with France which seemed to give the French increased responsibility for the Ottoman Christian minority. Immediate Russian pressure forced the sultan to reverse this decision. Later the same year, the treaty with France was renounced and Russia was confirmed as the protector of Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire. Emperor Napoleon III of France responded by sending a powerful French warship, the Charlemagne, through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea in 1852. This was a clear violation of the London Straits Convention of 1841, which banned all warships from using the Bosphorus. Sultan Abdülmecid I of the Ottoman Empire seemed to get the point; he quickly placated the French by signing a treaty which confirmed France as the formal protector of all Christian holy places in lands controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

"Outraged, Tsar Nicholas responded by moving large numbers of troops to the north side of the River Danube in Wallachia where they faced a small and less well-equipped Ottoman force on the south side of the river. The Russians claimed that French interference in the Ottoman Empire was endangering the Christian minority which Russia had a right and obligation to protect. In February of 1853, Tsar Nicholas sent a new ambassador to Constantinople—Prince Menshikov, an aggressive, abrasive, and no-nonsense soldier. Menshikov’s role was to persuade the sultan to accept yet another treaty with Russia even more sweeping than those that had gone before. This treaty would have given Russia rights as the protector of all 12 million Christians within the Ottoman Empire and even control of the Christian Orthodox Church itself.

"With Russian armies poised on the Danube and seemingly prepared to attack relatively weak Ottoman positions south of the river, the sultan was in a very difficult position. He sought advice from the British ambassador to Constantinople, George Hamilton Seymour, who suggested that the sultan attempt to appease the Russians by accepting parts of their proposal while rejecting others. The Russians were infuriated and sent even more Russian troops to the Danubian provinces. The British and French responded by sending warships to the Dardanelles. It was clear that Russia, France, and Britain were on the verge of war over the dismembering of the collapsing Ottoman Empire.

................................................................................................

"In June of 1853, Tsar Nicholas ordered his armies to attack the Ottoman Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia (in present-day Romania). The following month, another Russian army attacked over the River Danube and began to drive Ottoman forces back. Sultan Abdülmecid I responded by declaring war on Russia.

"Initially, Britain and France, supported by the Austrian Empire and Prussia, looked for a diplomatic solution to the conflict. A conference in Vienna produced proposed peace terms which were submitted to both the tsar and the sultan in December 1853. Tsar Nicholas seemed willing to accept but Sultan Abdülmecid, fearing that the proposed terms would weaken the Ottoman Empire even further, refused.

"Even while the proposed peace terms were being considered, the Russians had defeated a large part of the Ottoman navy at the Battle of Sinop in November 1853. It seemed that the Ottoman Empire was powerless to oppose Russian aggression. In early 1854, Britain and France delivered a joint ultimatum to Russia: withdraw from the Danubian provinces or face war. The Austrian Empire, although still grateful for Russian intervention in the revolution of 1848, was alarmed by the increasing numbers of Russian troops in the Balkans and supported Britain and France. Russia ignored the ultimatum, and in March 1854, Britain and France formally declared war on Russia while the Austrian Empire announced that it would remain neutral."

................................................................................................

"“[The Crimean War] was not the result of a calculated plan, nor even of hasty last-minute decisions made under stress. It was the consequence of more than two years of fatal blundering.”

"—Shepard Clough"

Well, WWII certainly was executed from September 1,1939 onwards upto June 22, 1941 as per plans already in place as early as winter of 1938-39, but that doesn't mean squat as far as it's merit in relation with the planned bit goes. The merit was entirely on the originally unplanned but eventually winning side.

................................................................................................

"Although this war has become known as the Crimean War, fighting took place in several different theaters of operation. There was long-term, bloody fighting in the Black Sea and on the Crimean Peninsula and especially around the vital port city of Sevastopol, but there was also conflict in the Danubian States, the Sea of Azov, the Baltic and the Pacific Seas, and in the Caucasus Mountains. The character and progress of the fighting in each theater was quite different.

"The war began with the advance of over 80,000 Russian troops into the Danubian principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia in July of 1853. After a period of negotiation which failed to resolve the situation, the Ottoman Empire formally declared war on Russia in October 1853 and launched a counteroffensive against the Russian forces in the Danubian principalities later the same month.

"This early fighting to the south of the River Danube highlighted something that was to characterize much of this war. On paper, the Russian army was one of the most powerful fighting forces in the world in the 1850s. In the period leading up to the outbreak of war, the Imperial Russian Army consisted of around one million regular soldiers and up to a quarter of a million irregulars, mainly Cossacks. In comparison, the army in Britain nominally comprised 70,000 men, but in actuality, the British Empire found it very difficult to scrape together a force of 25,000 troops to fight the Russians.

................................................................................................

"The sheer size of the Russian army blinded many people (including senior Russian soldiers) to its many problems. The bulk of the Russian Army comprised serfs who were involuntarily conscripted for military service. Many were understandably unhappy about being sent to serve in the army for 25 years. The supply of the massive Russian army was also a grave problem. While most other countries in Europe had well-developed rail systems by 1850, Russia had just 400 miles of track, all close to the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg. Transporting, feeding, and supplying large numbers of troops was a major problem for Russia. Most supplies were moved by horse or ox-carts, and in muddy conditions these could move at no more than one half mile per hour. The port city of Sevastopol in the Crimea was 1,300 miles from the military headquarters in St. Petersburg, so the logistics of supply meant that many Russian soldiers went hungry and were short of ammunition.

"The equipment used by Russian armies was also poor. The muskets used by Russian troops in the Crimean War had a range of around two hundred yards and could fire one or two rounds per minute. The Minié rifles used by British and French troops had a range of around eight hundred yards and could fire up to four rounds per minute. These problems were compounded by appalling sanitary conditions that affected Russian soldiers and non-existent medical treatment which meant that even relatively minor wounds were all too often fatal. As a direct consequence, Russian armies (and the armies of other combatant nations in this conflict) were often afflicted by outbreaks of disease. Of the 80,000 Russian troops who moved into the Danubian principalities in 1853, it is estimated that fewer than half survived to return to Russia. The main causes of death were not injury in combat but disease and starvation and exposure due to lack of supplies and equipment.

................................................................................................

"The first fighting of the Crimean War took place in the Danubian principalities following the declaration of war against Russia by the Ottoman sultan in October 1853. The first major engagement was the Battle of Oltenița on November 4, 1853, when an Ottoman army under Omar Pasha fought a large Russian army under General Peter Dannenberg. The outcome was indecisive though the fact that the Ottoman forces were not defeated was reported as a great victory in Britain and France. In late 1853 and early 1854, fighting continued, and the Russian army found it difficult to achieve any decisive victory against the Ottoman forces. In January 1854, Russian forces began a siege of a fortified Ottoman position on the north bank of the Danube near the village of Calafat in Wallachia. The siege continued for more than four months before the Russian forces were forced to withdraw in April 1854. By that time, Britain and France had also declared war on Russia, and Russian troops were urgently needed elsewhere.

"In June 1854, British and French fleets comprising warships and transports landed an Allied expeditionary force at the Ottoman port of Varna in present-day Bulgaria. British and French military camps were established at Alladyn, eight miles north of the port in preparation for action against Russian forces in the area. However, by mid-July, both camps were struck by epidemics of cholera. By the end of July, up to 100 men per day were dying of the disease. The Russians meanwhile had withdrawn all their forces from the Danubian principalities rather than face the Allied expeditionary force. As the Russian move into Moldavia and Wallachia had been the reason for the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France declaring war on Russia, this withdrawal could have meant the end of the war. Yet public opinion in Britain and France was by this time so overwhelmingly behind a war against Russia that this was no longer politically expedient.

"After the Russian withdrawal, there was no further fighting in the Danubian principalities. The Austrian Empire, which remained neutral throughout the Crimean War, sent troops into the area to act as a peacekeeping force. In early September, British and French troops finally embarked from their fever-ridden camps at Alladyn in a fleet of over 300 ships. On September 14, the naval force landed the troops on the beaches of Calamita Bay on the southwest coast of the Crimean Peninsula. The landing was unopposed, and within four days all troops, horses, stores, and artillery were in place. The main focus of the war immediately shifted to this new location."

................................................................................................

"“‘Forward, the Light Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!’ he said.

"Into the valley of Death

"Rode the six hundred.”

"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson"

................................................................................................

"The Allied expeditionary force which landed in the Crimea in September 1854 was not a particularly coherent force. The British and French had a long history of conflict, and this was virtually the first time that the two nations had fought on the same side. The British commander-in-chief, 64-year-old Lord Raglan, had lost an arm at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and frequently referred to his French allies as “the enemy.” The French, under the command of Jacques Leroy de Saint-Arnaud, also held their British allies in low esteem, distrusting the elderly and hesitant Raglan, and there were frequent clashes about strategy and tactics.

"The one thing that both the French and the British agreed upon was that their Ottoman allies were not reliable. Racial prejudice ensured that both European nations regarded Ottoman troops as inferior and not to be trusted in battle. In some cases, British and French troops used their Ottoman allies in the same way that they used colonial troops—they were principally used a source of manual labor rather than as combat troops, and there were instances where European troops forced Ottoman soldiers to carry them across streams or muddy areas. As far as the French and British were concerned, this was principally a war between France and Britain and their Russian adversaries.

................................................................................................

"One of the most important strategic locations on the Crimean Peninsula was the port city of Sevastopol. This was an important hub for Russian naval units in the Black Sea and a significant source of supplies for Russian troops on the peninsula. The capture of Sevastopol was the first and most important goal for the Anglo-French force. Almost as soon as the British and French troops had landed at Calamita Bay, they began to march east, towards Sevastopol, 30 miles away. The commander of Russian forces on the Crimean Peninsula, Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov, rushed his forces west towards the allies, and he occupied the only viable defensive position between the expeditionary force and the city—the Alma Heights, south of the Alma River.

"On September 20, the combined British-French force reached the Alma River and immediately attacked the Russian positions. As was to prove the case on many occasions during this war, the attacks by British and French were not well-coordinated. The French attacked first and turned the Russian left flank by climbing cliffs that the Russian commander had considered unscalable. Had the British been ready to attack at that point, the Russians might have been routed. Instead, Lord Raglan insisted that any British attack should wait until the French move was complete. When the British did attack, the Russian defenders had time to reorganize and prepare.

"In the event, the Russians were finally forced to retreat from the Alma Heights, back towards the city of Sevastopol. The lack of available cavalry meant that the allies were unable to pursue the retreating Russians; senior Russian commanders later noted that if the allies had been able to pursue the retreating Russian army, Sevastopol might have fallen that day. Total casualties on the allied side were around 3,500 compared to approximately 5,000 for the Russians. It took more than two days to recover all the British and French casualties from the battlefield and to evacuate them to the main military hospital at Scutari, across the Black Sea.

................................................................................................

"Over the next month, British and French troops took up positions completely surrounding Sevastopol with the intention of besieging the city. The British established a supply port at Balaclava and the French at Kamiesch. On October 25, a large Russian force attacked British positions outside the city in an attempt to cut troops off from supplies coming from Balaclava. This day of confused and scattered fighting would become immortalized in British military history.

"One of the notable features about the Crimean War was that it was the first major war during which newspaper correspondents and photographers were present on the battlefields. First-hand reports of battles were regularly printed in newspapers and often supported by photographs. This fascinated the general public, especially in France and Britain, but often infuriated military commanders who found their mistakes, real or perceived, being widely discussed in the press.

................................................................................................

"On the morning of October 25, an example of the power of press reporting occurred when a large detachment of Russian cavalry heading for the British supply base at Balaclava encountered the 93rd Highlanders commanded by Sir Colin Campbell. During the Napoleonic Wars, the usual response on the part of an infantry unit faced with a cavalry attack was to form a square—this formation limited the offensive firepower of a unit but prevented cavalry from flanking or getting behind. Campbell, an astute military leader, realized that the Minié rifles with which his men had been issued were much more powerful and more accurate than the muskets they had previously used. Campbell believed that this meant that his men, if assembled in line formation, would be able to bring sufficiently devastating fire on approaching cavalry that they would be able to stop them in their tracks.

"Accordingly, as the Russian cavalry approached, Campbell had his men assume a line formation only two men deep. Observers on the heights above were horrified and assumed that the British troops would be annihilated by the advancing cavalry. Instead, the new rifles cut the Russian cavalry to pieces. One observer was William Howard Russell, a correspondent for the London Times newspaper. In his report, he described the red-coated Highlanders as a “thin red streak topped with steel.” From this, the phrase “thin red line” became almost universally used to describe any British military unit facing a larger enemy. During this action, it also became clear that cavalry, the most powerful type of unit on the battlefield for hundreds of years, was now vulnerable to the new infantry weapons.

................................................................................................

"British cavalry at the Battle of Balaclava was divided into two separate brigades: the Heavy Brigade comprising around 800 mounted troopers and the Light Brigade comprising around 650. The Heavy Brigade consisted of heavily armed and armored troops on large horses and was designed to be used as a shock force or to counter enemy cavalry. The men of the Light Brigade were mounted on lighter, faster horses, more lightly armored, armed only with sabers and lances, and were intended for use in reconnaissance or pursuing a routing enemy.

"On the morning of October 25, the Heavy Brigade encountered a much larger force of around 3,000 Russian cavalry. Despite being at a disadvantage because they were downhill from the Russians, the Heavy Brigade attacked at once and routed the Russian cavalry. Later the same day, it was the turn of the Light Brigade.

................................................................................................

"During scattered fighting early that morning, several Russian gun positions on the heights above the main battlefield had been taken. Lord Raglan could see from his vantage point above the main valley that Russian troops were moving to retake the guns which had been captured that morning. The Heavy Brigade was still recovering from its encounter with the Russian cavalry, so Raglan sent a message to the Earl of Cardigan, the commander of the Light Brigade, saying, “Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy, and try to prevent the enemy carrying away the guns.” Cardigan in the valley below could not see the guns to which the order referred. The only artillery visible to him was at the far end of the valley. Assuming that this was their intended target, the Light Brigade charged.

"They were fired upon by more than 50 Russian artillery pieces and 20 battalions of infantry. Although the British cavalry reached the Russian guns at the end of the valley and destroyed many, less than 200 were still on their horses when the brief action was over. The French Marshal Pierre Bosquet, who was observing noted, “C’est magnifique, mais ce n’est pas la guerre” (“It is magnificent, but it is not war”). British newspaper reports extolled the courage of the men who rode towards the Russian guns but questioned the ability of commanders who sent them on this pointless and costly mission. Lord Raglan blamed the Earl of Lucan, overall commander of British cavalry. Lucan blamed his brother-in-law, the Earl of Cardigan (who survived the charge). Cardigan blamed both Lucan and Raglan. Eventually, everyone agreed that the real blame lay with Captain Nolan, the man who had carried the message from Raglan to Cardigan and who died in the charge.

................................................................................................

"Although in terms of casualties what became known as the Charge of the Light Brigade was a relatively minor action during this war, its reporting in the British press and the publication of the poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade” by Alfred, Lord Tennyson a few months later has turned this into one of the best-known actions by a British unit in any war. It became a symbol not just for the unquestioning courage of British troops but also for the muddled confusion of their commanders.

"The Battle of Balaclava ended much as it had begun, with the Russians confined to the besieged city of Sevastopol and British supply lines between their field positions and the supply port of Balaclava safe. Both sides began to reinforce—the British and French with the intention of ensuring the siege of Sevastopol was secure, and the Russian with the intention of mounting an even larger attack on the surrounding armies."

................................................................................................

"“When all the medical officers have retired for the night and silence and darkness have settled down upon those miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds.”

"—Extract from the Times newspaper"

That image hasn't been forgotten.

................................................................................................

"Disease was a constant factor during the Crimean War. Typhus, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery ravaged the armies of all combatant nations. The prevention of infection was not well understood, and field hospitals were often filthy; those who were wounded in battle often died later of infection. The loss of troops due to disease and infection became such a serious problem that, almost for the first time, the armies of all nations began to consider how to improve sanitary conditions for their soldiers and how to more effectively treat the wounded. This process gave rise to one of the people most associated with the Crimean War in the public imagination: Florence Nightingale.

"Nightingale was a social reformer and writer who, by 1850, had become interested in the prevention of disease and the treatment of the sick. In 1853, she was working as superintendent at the Institute for the Care of Sick Gentlewomen on Harley Street in London. When the first British troops were landed in the Danubian principalities in June 1854, it wasn’t long before newspapers were carrying lurid stories of the deaths there due to disease. There was a public outcry and demands that more must be done to look after British troops. One of the people given responsibility for carrying out these improvements was the British secretary for war, Sidney Herbert. Herbert was a life-long friend of Florence Nightingale, and he authorized the creation of a new medical unit under her supervision which was to be sent to treat the ill and wounded in the Crimea.

"In October 1854, Nightingale, 38 volunteer nurses, and 15 Catholic nuns set off from England. In early November, Nightingale and her small team established a field hospital at Selimiye Barracks in Scutari (present-day Üsküdar in Istanbul). This was located around 300 miles from the main British military headquarters at Balaclava in the Crimea.

................................................................................................

"Conditions at the improvised field hospital were grim during the first winter. The facility was overcrowded, ventilation was poor, and the sewage system was inefficient and blocked. More than 4,000 patients from the British, French, and Ottoman armies who were sent there died, the vast majority killed not by their wounds but by typhus and cholera. Nightingale wrote a scathing report which resulted in a sanitary commission being sent out from Britain. Ventilation at the hospital as Scutari was improved, the sanitation system was brought back to full operation, and Nightingale instituted handwashing procedures for all staff working on the wards. Before Nightingale and her team arrived, the average death rate amongst those arriving at the hospital was over 40%. With the improvements in place, it dropped to 2%.

"Using the information from Scutari, British engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed a pre-fabricated hospital which was built in Britain and shipped to the Dardanelles. The new facility was run by Dr. Edmund Parkes and proved to have an even lower death rate than Scutari. However, it was the facility at Scutari and in particular the character of Florence Nightingale which became a subject of fascination in Victorian Britain.

"The idea that a gentlewoman (Nightingale was born to a powerful and wealthy English family) might become a nurse was seen as faintly scandalous. Nursing was traditionally a poorly paid profession carried out by the lower classes. It was not something that a woman from a well-to-do family would usually consider—Nightingale’s father was horrified and disgusted when he first learned that his daughter planned to involve herself in nursing. Yet it soon became clear that Florence Nightingale was not content simply to nurse the sick and injured; she was determined to improve conditions in the hospitals in which she worked and she wrote prolifically about her work.

................................................................................................

"Some recent historians have suggested that the actual contribution made by Nightingale in the Crimean War were exaggerated by the British press. There may be some truth in that—stories about “the lady with the lamp,” the name by which Nightingale became known in the press, were sentimentalized and romanticized. This report from the Times newspaper is fairly typical of the tone of many: “She is a ‘ministering angel’ without any exaggeration in these hospitals, and as her slender form glides quietly along each corridor, every poor fellow’s face softens with gratitude at the sight of her.”"

Which may have been observed actually by the reporter who wrote that, and it'd be true of general situation involving a kind nurse and patients.

"Still, there is no doubt that Nightingale made a very real and important contribution to the improvement of medical care in field hospitals. The notion of nurses as a significant part of the medical care team originates with Nightingale as did many ideas about the importance of cleanliness and hygiene in hospitals. When she returned to Britain after her service in Scutari, Nightingale produced an 800-page report for the Royal Commission on the Health of the Army. This became the basis of reforms that transformed sanitation and the treatment of the sick and wounded in the British army.

................................................................................................

For the first time?

What about the Austrian - Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, responsible for reducing death rate of new mothers in childbirth?

From internet:-

"The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis."

Surely that precedes Crimean War and report by Florence Nightingale in 1860?

................................................................................................

"“Sevastopol is probably the worst battered town in Russia or anywhere else.”

"—Mark Twain"

................................................................................................

"After the failed Russian attempt to disrupt British supply lines during the Battle of Balaclava, the siege of Sevastopol settled down into a period of stalemate. The French and British forces had around 120 artillery pieces set up to fire on Sevastopol from a series of redoubts, lines of trenches, and fortified gun positions. Inside the city, the Russian defenders had more than 300 guns, many taken from naval vessels which had been deliberately scuttled in the harbor. Most of the defenders were Russian naval personnel and marines from these ships.

"An artillery duel between the French and British guns outside and the Russian weapons inside began. For the most part, this produced few decisive results though in early October a Russian shell fell on a French magazine, causing it to explode and destroying a number of guns and killing many of their operators. A short time later, a British shell hit the magazine in a Russian redoubt, killing an admiral and destroying several guns.

"The guns in the siege lines around the city were supplemented by Allied naval forces which also bombarded Sevastopol, though to little effect. The well-prepared Russian defensive positions proved to be extremely resilient—in early October, a flotilla of more than 25 allied warships bombarded Russian defenses and shore batteries. Little damage was caused and this was repaired during the night. The allied warships meanwhile lost more than 300 men to intense Russian return fire.

................................................................................................

"Both defenders and attackers dug trench systems and rifle pits from which they could snipe at enemy lines, an early foretaste of the trench warfare of World War I. For the allies, one of the main problems was that they simply did not have sufficient troops to man the long siege line which ran all the way around the city. Instead, allied troops were concentrated in small fortified positions, generally redoubts on top of low hills.

"Although the Battle of Balaclava had been a failure, it had made the Russians aware of how thinly stretched the allied forces were. Prince Menshikov, the Russian commander with overall responsibility for the defense of Sevastopol, had withdrawn the bulk of his field army from the city before the allied siege lines were complete, leaving the defense to a garrison of mainly naval troops. In early morning fog on November 5, Menshikov unleashed more than 40,000 Russian troops from outside the siege lines supported by more than 100 field guns to attack allied lines.

"The main thrust of the Russian attack was to fall on a British position, Home Hill, where the Second Division had prepared defensive positions for around 2,500 hundred men supported by just 12 field guns. On paper, the Russian attack looked unstoppable. However, the sheer number of attackers proved to be an issue, and only around 15,000 Russian troops were able to attack Home Hill. The acting commander of the Second Division, Major-General John Pennefather, was uncertain how many attacking Russians he faced due to lingering fog, and as soon as he became aware that an attack was in progress, he ordered the Second Division to advance.

"The two sides encountered one another as both advanced through the fog. As soon as they came within range, both opened fire, and it then became apparent just how much better the British rifles were compared to the smoothbore muskets used by most of the Russian troops. The British rifles were more accurate at much longer range and had a higher rate of fire than the Russian muskets. Despite their superiority in numbers, the Russian attackers were driven back with heavy casualties. Lieutenant General Soymonov, commander of the Russian 10th Division, was one of those killed by British rifle fire. In other areas, the situation was repeated. A column of 15,000 Russian troops attempted to take Sandbag Battery, occupied by just 300 British soldiers. Seeing the Russians approaching, the British attacked, driving back the Russian attack.

................................................................................................

"Throughout the day, the fog continued to hamper attempts by the Russians to coordinate their attacks, and they proved unable to take advantage of superior numbers. British reinforcements were moved up to support the defenders on Home Hill and Sandbag Battery and continued Russian assaults on both positions proved costly. By the evening of November 5, the Russian troops were forced to withdraw and the allies were able to resume their original siege positions.

"This series of small-scale actions, often undertaken by isolated battalion-sized groups or smaller due to the continuing fog, became known as the Battle of Inkerman. British casualties were around 2,500; Russian casualties were almost 12,000. Many British regiments added Inkerman to their battle honors, and to the Victorians, the name came to represent the ability of British troops to take on enemy units many times larger.

"After the disaster of Inkerman, the Russians would never again try to break the siege of Sevastopol by a direct attack on the besieging allied forces. Still, those forces were not strong enough to assault the city and the siege became one of the longest-lasting features of this war. Conditions on both sides became very difficult during the winter of 1854/55. Allied troops were simply not equipped for a winter war—they were forced to live in trenches in dreadful conditions, especially after a great storm on November 14 destroyed many allied supply ships and most of the army’s tents. By the end of the winter, many allied troops were on the brink of starvation, cholera and dysentery had taken their toll, and virtually all the army’s horses and mules were dead. In Britain, the public was outraged by newspaper reports of the appalling conditions being endured by troops in the siege lines.

................................................................................................

"Conditions for the Russian defenders were little better. Supplies were scarce, and sporadic fighting and continuing artillery bombardment achieved little but inflicted large numbers of casualties for whom there was little prospect of effective medical treatment. Then, in early 1855, came an even more bitter blow for the Russians. Disheartened by Russian military and naval failures and exhausted by the strain of directing the war, Tsar Nicholas I caught a chill and refused medical treatment. The chill turned into pneumonia. On March 2, 1855, the tsar died in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. He was succeeded by his 37-year-old eldest son, Alexander.

"Alexander II would prove to be a very different tsar, instigating many internal reforms and pursuing a largely peaceful foreign policy. However, before he could consider this new way forward, the new tsar first had to deal with the Crimean War."

................................................................................................

"“The moonlight was still floating on the waters, when men, looking from numberless decks towards the east, were able to hail the dawn.”

"—Orlando Figes"

................................................................................................

"Although the Crimean War is now chiefly remembered for the land conflict in the Crimean Peninsula, this war also involved naval conflicts in several other theaters.

"The Sea of Azov is to the north of the Black Sea and accessible only via a narrow strait at Kerch. This body of water was an important part of the supply route for the besieged garrison at Sevastopol—supplies came from Taganrog, the port for the city of Rostov-on-Don in the far north of the Sea of Azov. In order to interdict these supplies, an Anglo-French naval force of gunboats and armed steamers passed through the Kerch Strait in May 1855 and proceeded to attack all Russian installations in the Sea of Azov. Russian naval forces in the area were virtually wiped out and coastal batteries and defenses were bombarded. There was an attempt to besiege the city of Taganrog, though this was unsuccessful. There was also an attempt to reach the city of Rostov by sailing up the Don River, but this too failed.

"Just as in conflicts between forces on land it quickly became apparent that Russian naval units were inferior to their French and British counterparts; although the Russian navy was large, most Russian warships were wooden-hulled sailing ships while many French and British vessels were steam-powered and provided with the latest type of naval guns and steel armor. Russian sailors and gunners were also less well trained. The Anglo-French fleet remained in the Sea of Azov, virtually unchallenged, until late 1855. This severely restricted the flow of supplies to the garrison at Sevastopol.

................................................................................................

...............................................................................................

Couldn't possibly have helped the trust between future allies of WWI and WWII, could it?

................................................................................................

"Perhaps surprisingly, there was relatively little naval action in the Black Sea during this war. Before France and Britain joined the war, the Russian Black Sea fleet inflicted a number of defeats on the naval forces of the Ottoman Empire, but when the large Anglo-French fleet arrived in the area in September 1854, they were not challenged by Russian warships. Instead, the Russian Black Sea fleet remained in harbor in Sevastopol. During the siege of that city, these warships were sunk to block the harbor and their guns taken to be used in the defenses.

"Prior to the outbreak of the Crimean War, it was believed that the Russian navy might be capable of fighting on equal terms against the warships of Britain and France. This proved to be an illusion; the poorly trained Russian sailors and gunners proved to be no match for the most modern naval technology with well-trained crews. Although the naval campaign in the Baltic was an important strategic element of the war, it was clear that this conflict would be decided not at sea but on land."

................................................................................................

"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

................................................................................................

Was it this, that Turkey sought to revenge - by massacring a million Armenians around WWI era?

................................................................................................

"The fighting in the Caucasus continued throughout the rest of the war, but with few major gains for either side and no large-scale pitched battles to compare with those fought on the Crimean Peninsula. It was only late in the war that the Russians would mount one final major attack against the Ottoman stronghold of Kars, the most important fortress of Eastern Anatolia. The purpose of this attack was to relieve pressure on the siege of Sevastopol. The assault failed, though the city finally fell to Russian forces in November 1855.

"The siege of Sevastopol continued into the spring of 1855. Public disquiet at conditions endured by British troops during the siege of Sevastopol combined with horror at blunders such as the Charge of the Light Brigade led directly to the resignation of the British prime minister, Lord Aberdeen. In February 1855, a new government was formed under the control of Lord Palmerstone, who promised to take a much harder line on the war and ensure that it was prosecuted with professionalism and vigor.

................................................................................................

"By April 1855, a tramway was completed between the main British supply base at Balaclava and British positions around Sevastopol. Throughout the winter, the supply situation had improved for British troops. They were finally provided with adequate warm clothing and food as well as replacement horses. Additional guns and ammunition were also brought up until, by early April, there were more than 500 French and British artillery pieces in position around the city. On Easter Sunday, April 8, 1855, these guns began a fierce bombardment of the defensive position in Sevastopol. During the next couple of weeks, around 6,000 Russian defenders were killed by artillery fire alone.

"In May and early June, there were a number of relatively small-scale attacks by British and French troops who were joined in May by 15,000 troops from the Kingdom of Sardinia which had joined the war against Russia. Then, on June 7, the French launched a massive attack against the Mamelon and the Malakhov, two of the largest Russian defensive positions. The French took the Mamelon but were driven back from the Malakhov. They lost more than 5,000 men during this attack. In another attack on June 18, the French gained little ground but suffered another 3,500 casualties.

"Continuous bombardment by British and French artillery continued to take its toll on the defenders of Sevastopol; during June, Russian casualties averaged more than 1,000 men every day. In late June, the British commander-in-chief, Lord Raglan, suffered what seemed to be a bout of Cholera, leading to his death on June 28.

................................................................................................

"This siege was the central part of the Crimean War, and the loss of the city of Sevastopol was a major blow to Russian prestige and to confidence in the abilities of its military forces."

................................................................................................

"“Whatever our fate is or may be, we have made it and do not complain of it.”

"—Leo Tolstoy, who served as an artillery officer during the siege of Sevastopol"

Hence his War And Peace.

................................................................................................

"Dissatisfaction caused by the Crimean War affected many of the participants. The Ottoman Empire, already weakened by internal strife, was further undermined by the war. In Britain, dissatisfaction caused by high casualties and a perception of incompetent leadership led to a number of demonstrations against the war, something virtually unheard of in Britain. In Russia, failures during the war also led to dissent and dissatisfaction; in February 1855, a peasant revolt which began in Vasylkiv county spread across the whole of Kiev with peasants refusing to participate in government labor. They were supported by Cossacks who also attacked priests who were thought to be secretly supporting the government. In France, there was widespread dissatisfaction at the very high level of casualties in return for what was seen as vague objectives.

"With the fall of Sevastopol, there was little point in continuing the war. The Anglo-French forces were not strong enough to mount any large-scale invasion of Russia, and it was clear that there was no public support for such an action. The Ottoman Empire had been fought to a standstill in the Caucasus and the loss of the fortress of Kers was a major blow. The Russian economy was suffering due to the blockade in the Gulf of Finland and the very fabric of Russian society seemed to be threatened by internal revolt. By the end of 1855, all sides were very willing to consider how best to bring the Crimean War to an end. In February 1856, the Congress of Paris was held to end the war. This was achieved in March with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

................................................................................................

"This treaty caused almost as much dissatisfaction as the war. The British and French agreed to return Sevastopol and the whole of the Crimean Peninsula to Russia, making people in both countries question why so many soldiers had died there to protect it. Russia was forced to return Kers and the Danubian principalities to the Ottoman Empire. The Russians also agreed to demilitarize the Black Sea and not to build naval bases or defensive positions there. All the great powers agreed to respect the independence and territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire.

"The Treaty of Paris lasted for just 15 years. In 1871, France was defeated by Prussia in the Franco-Prussian War and as a direct result the French Empire was ended when Emperor Napoleon III was deposed and the Third French Republic was proclaimed."

................................................................................................

"“O wasted bravery of our mighty dead!”

"—Gerald Massey"

................................................................................................

"Each of the four empires directly involved in the Crimean War was affected by it, and even the Austrian Empire, which was only peripherally involved, was also impacted.

Surely T.E. Lawrence helped, even if only a little, or at any rate possibly a tad less than proclaimed in the larger-than-life portrayal by David Lean in the epic Lawrence of Arabia?

................................................................................................

"The Second French Empire lasted only another 15 years until defeat by Prussia in 1871 led to the creation of a new republic. France had no real interest in the Black Sea, and without Napoleon III, there was never any real danger that France would once again find itself fighting against Russia in the Crimea.

"The British Empire continued much as before, with the policy of splendid isolation becoming even more pronounced as the nineteenth century progressed. In part, this increasing isolation was due to the reaction to the Crimean War—this war was seen as pointless and wasteful, and most people did not understand why British troops should have died not to protect British interests but to prop up the tottering Ottoman Empire. For the next 50 years, Britain did all that it could to separate itself from European affairs.

................................................................................................

"The Austrian Empire, though not directly involved in the Crimean War, was nevertheless affected by it. The military failures of the Russian Empire, a former ally of the Austrian Empire, helped to convince the Austrians that they needed to look elsewhere in Europe for a strong ally. Instead of Russia, they moved closer to Prussia, growing stronger all the time and soon to challenge and defeat France. The Austrian Empire became Austria-Hungary in 1867 and remained in alliance with Prussia which evolved into a Germany with imperial ambitions. When the First World War began in 1914, Austria-Hungary found itself fighting alongside Germany and against its former ally, the Russian Empire. The end of that war brought defeat and dissolution for the once-mighty Austrian Empire.

"The Crimean War helped to change Europe, not directly by conquest or occupation but by influencing public opinion and politics in all the countries involved. It also represented a transition in warfare itself from the stately maneuvering of the Napoleonic era to the destructive power of rapid-fire weapons in World War I.

................................................................................................

Surely French Empire, too, existed - and well past WWII, too, at that? Even the Algiers separation took place under leadership of De Gaulle.

Also, France as well as Britain still own islands in oceans faraway - Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean - even now?

And didn't Vietnam War that US was involved in, well past sixties, was not begun either before the end of WWII or before France withdrew from Vietnam?

For that matter, Pondicherry was finally independent only after 1947, year of independence of India, was over.

................................................................................................

Which resulted in shaping future attitudes and consequences thereof.

................................................................................................

No, that's blindness of the author, perhaps due to a schooling in US.

................................................................................................

Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War,

Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................

July 27, 2024 - September 02, 2024.

................................................

Format 317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2024 by Hourly History

ASIN:- B0CRDM474L

Language English

................................................................................................

Table of Contents

................................................................................................

SOVIET UNION

Introduction

Birth of the Soviet Union

Stalin: A New Leader

Collectivization, Famine, and Purges

An Unlikely Alliance

The Great Patriotic War

The Cold War

Détente and a New War

Chernobyl

Glasnost and Perestroika

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Conclusion

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

Introduction

Revolution

Red, White, Black, and Green: The Colors of Civil War

Outbreak of Civil War

Foreign Intervention

The Great White Offensive

Ukraine and the Assault on Petrograd

Denikin and the Drive for Moscow

Last Stand in Crimea

The End in the East

The Communists in Control

Conclusion

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

Introduction

Peter the Great and the Beginning of the Russian Empire

A New Dynasty

Catherine the Great

War with Napoleon

The Decembrist Revolt

The Crimean War and Assassination Attempts

The Russo-Japanese War

Reform and Rasputin

World War One: The Beginning of the End

Revolution: Fall of the Russian Empire

Conclusion

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Czarist Rule

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Nicholas Romanov

Rasputin

World War I

1917

Lenin

Trotsky

October Revolution

Execution

Stalin Legacy

Conclusion

CRIMEAN WAR

Introduction

Five Empires

The March to War

Early Fighting

The Charge of the Light Brigade

Death, Disease, and the Lady with the Lamp

Inkerman and the Death of the Tsar

The Naval War

The Fall of Sevastopol

The End of the War

Aftermath

Conclusion

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

1. SOVIET UNION

A History from Beginning to End

................................................................................................

SOVIET UNION

A History from Beginning to End

Russian History: Soviet Union

by Hourly History.

Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War,

Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

But wasn't Siberia, or all of North Asia - north of India, China and Mongolia, and too, Persia - too, always ruled by Russia - and therefore, subsequently, by USSR?

................................................................................................

"“True courage consists in being strong enough to master and overcome oneself and subordinate one’s will to the will of the collective.”

"—Joseph Stalin"

No wonder Mother said they had nothing to teach India - that quote couldbe straight from a grandmother-in-law or a father-in-law to the young new bride, or even to her bridegroom!

................................................................................................

Why the authors here refuse to acknowledge or mention the cause of this horror, namely, falsehoods planted by nazi regime against the best of Russia, is unclear.

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

SOVIET UNION

A History from Beginning to End

Russian History: Soviet Union

by Hourly History.

Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War,

Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................

July 27, 2024 - July 31, 2024.

................................................

Format 317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2024 by Hourly History

ASIN:- B0CRDM474L

Language English

................................................................................................

Table of Contents

SOVIET UNION

................................................................................................

Introduction

Birth of the Soviet Union

Stalin: A New Leader

Collectivization, Famine, and Purges

An Unlikely Alliance

The Great Patriotic War

The Cold War

Détente and a New War

Chernobyl

Glasnost and Perestroika

The Collapse of the Soviet Union

Conclusion

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

Introduction

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 28, 2024 - July 28, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

1. Birth of the Soviet Union

................................................................................................

But wasn't Siberia, or all of North Asia - north of India, China and Mongolia, and too, Persia - too, always ruled by Russia - and therefore, subsequently, by USSR?

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 28, 2024 - July 28, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

2. Stalin: A New Leader

................................................................................................

"“True courage consists in being strong enough to master and overcome oneself and subordinate one’s will to the will of the collective.”

"—Joseph Stalin"

No wonder Mother said they had nothing to teach India - that quote couldbe straight from a grandmother-in-law or a father-in-law to the young new bride, or even to her bridegroom!

................................................................................................

" ... “Left Opposition,” was led by Leon Trotsky, also a member of the Politburo. By 1926, this had expanded to become the “United Opposition,” led by Trotsky but joined by other leading members of the party, including Lev Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev. Since Stalin and his supporters believed that abruptly abandoning the NEP would plunge the USSR back into chaos, the opposition accused Stalin of being a “rightist” who planned to bring back capitalism. The situation became so serious that the United Opposition was able to organize large-scale demonstrations against Stalin in Moscow and to produce documents that seemed to suggest that Lenin had favored Trotsky, not Stalin, as his successor."

" ... In October 1926, Stalin’s support had grown sufficiently strong that he was able to have Trotsky voted off the Politburo. Then, the following year, Stalin was able to have membership in the United Opposition declared to be incompatible with membership in the Communist Party. Trotsky and his supporters were thereby expelled from the party as well. From this point on, there was little organized or coherent opposition to Stalin within the Communist Party or the Soviet Union as a whole. However, the experience of dealing with this opposition would leave Stalin distrustful and suspicious. As his power grew, he would later take brutal revenge against those who had opposed him in 1926 and 1927, and for the rest of his time in power, he would continually look for and attempt to destroy real or imagined threats to his position."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 28, 2024 - July 28, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

3. Collectivization, Famine, and Purges

................................................................................................

"One of the most pressing concerns affecting the Soviet Union in its early years was the fact that industry and agriculture were relatively primitive compared to Western Europe. Stalin told a meeting of the leaders of Soviet industry that “we are 50–100 years behind the advanced countries. We must make good this distance in ten years. Either we do it, or they crush us.”"

"Improving industry meant that a proportion of the population had to be persuaded to move from rural to urban areas to provide the required industrial workforce. To achieve this, a new, more efficient means of agricultural production was needed that required fewer workers. This led to the policy of collectivization, which instead of improving agricultural efficiency, would lead to starvation and the death of millions of people."

"The policy of collectivization had some fundamental flaws. The kulaks, now identified as criminals, were often the most knowledgeable and efficient farmers. Taking them out of the system immediately affected production. Even worse, any surplus produced by any farm was simply seized by the state, providing no incentive for workers to do anything but produce the minimum required to fulfill their allotted quota. This situation quickly led to grain shortages. In 1928, there was a shortfall of around two million tons of grain, but much worse was to come."

................................................................................................

" ... Soviet Union relied on grain exports to provide the foreign currency required to buy the materials and equipment needed to support industrialization. Even as starvation spread across the Soviet Union due to grain shortages, these exports continued. No one is entirely certain how many people died as a direct result of famine and disease in the period from 1928 to 1932, but most estimates suggest at least four million. Most of these deaths occurred in rural areas, and these, in turn, caused a shortage of agricultural workers that led to more grain shortages."

" ... news of the famine leaked out and caused many people to begin to doubt Stalin’s leadership. Trotsky, though in exile, became the main spokesman for this group. Soon, Stalin began to feel under threat again and reacted with a wave of brutal repression that became known as the Great Terror.

"In 1936, the secret police of the Soviet Union, the NKVD, began a wave of arrests across the Soviet Union. These started with the people Stalin saw as political rivals, then moved on to the Red Army and to ethnic minorities within the Soviet Union. The NKVD used imprisonment without trial, torture, and arbitrary executions to crush the threat perceived by Stalin. During a period of two years, hundreds of thousands of people were arrested. Some were subject to show trials where confessions extracted under torture were used to secure conviction and execution."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 28, 2024 - July 29, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

4. An Unlikely Alliance

................................................................................................

Why the authors here refuse to acknowledge or mention the cause of this horror, namely, falsehoods planted by nazi regime against the best of Russia, is unclear.

................................................................................................

"Even before the Winter War provided a graphic illustration of just how much the Red Army had been weakened by the purges of 1936-1938, there were concerns within the Soviet Union about whether it was capable of fighting off an attack by another nation. These concerns were heightened by a threatening international situation. Britain, France, Japan, and America had all provided troops and materials to support the Whites (the anti-Bolshevik faction) in the Russian Civil War. This led to a lingering distrust within the Soviet Union of these nations and a general antipathy on their part toward the Soviet Union. Then, the rise of a new political movement in Europe in the 1930s destabilized the existing balance of power and raised a new threat to the Soviet Union."

"In the summer of 1939, Britain sent a delegation to the Soviet Union to discuss the possibility of a military alliance. This was led by a man with the unlikely name of Reginald Ranfurly Plunkett-Ernle-Erle-Drax, but his mission was hampered from the start by the fact that the British prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, detested communism and deeply distrusted Stalin. The Anglo-French talks dragged on for several weeks, and Stalin (rightly) suspected that the only reason these nations were talking to him was in the hope that the Soviet Union and Germany would go to war over Poland. While Stalin was well aware of Hitler’s antipathy to the Soviet Union, he also understood how weak the combat efficiency of the Red Army was following the purges."

"Just nine days after the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Germany invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany, though they did not declare war on the Soviet Union even after Soviet troops marched into eastern Poland three weeks later. World War II had begun, but for the moment, it did not involve the Soviet Union."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 29, 2024 - July 29, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

5. The Great Patriotic War

................................................................................................

"“This perfidious aggression against our country is a treachery without precedent in the history of civilized nations.”

"—Vyacheslav Molotov"

................................................................................................

"For more than 18 months at the beginning of World War II (known within the Soviet Union as the Great Patriotic War), Nazi Germany seemed unstoppable. First Poland, then Norway, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, Greece, parts of Yugoslavia, and France were all invaded and rapidly defeated and occupied by German forces. Only Britain remained to fight Germany, but the only land combat between these two nations took place in North Africa, where Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps pushed British forces back into Egypt.

"During this period of Nazi military domination, its ally the Soviet Union was also acquiring new territory. The eastern half of Poland was subject to brutal occupation by Soviet forces from October 1939. Soviet troops occupied the three Baltic states Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania soon after, and all three were forced to join the Soviet Union. In the summer of 1940, as Nazi panzers were rolling into Belgium and France, the Soviet Union annexed the Romanian territories of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. Only military defeat in the Winter War with Finland prevented the Soviet Union from also acquiring that territory in 1940.

"Up to June 1941, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union both independently and separately enlarged the territory under their control through conquest. Then, on June 22, everything changed. Hitler turned on his previous ally and launched Operation Barbarossa, in which millions of German troops supported by thousands of tanks, armored fighting vehicles, and combat aircraft began one of the largest military operations ever seen against the Soviet Union. Most people expected a rapid German victory; the US War Department warned President Roosevelt that the defeat of the Soviet Union might take as little as six weeks. After all, German military units had proved victorious in every military campaign they had undertaken, while the Soviet Union had been defeated in the only active war it attempted against Finland."

................................................................................................

"Russian losses during the early stages of Operation Barbarossa were vast. On the first day of the operation alone, more than 1,800 military aircraft were destroyed. By December 1941, German troops had reached the suburbs of Moscow. By that point, the Soviet Union had lost almost 2.5 million troops taken prisoner and hundreds of thousands more killed or seriously wounded. The Red Air Force had taken losses on a huge scale, and no one is certain how many tanks had been lost. The Germans occupied more than 200 million square miles (500 million square kilometers) of Soviet territory. To most outside observers, it seemed only a matter of time before Moscow fell and Russia surrendered. But that wasn’t how it worked out.

"The truth was that German supply lines were stretched over hundreds of miles of dirt roads made impassible first by rain that turned them into quagmires and then by brutal cold that left many German vehicles and aircraft inoperable. Thanks to this, in late December, the Red Army was able to mount a counter-offensive that drove the Germans back from Moscow. Meanwhile, events elsewhere in the world had changed the course of the war and had turned it into a truly global conflict."

................................................................................................

" ... For the next three years of bloody and brutal combat, it was the courage and tenacity of Soviet troops that first stopped and then began to drive back the Nazi invaders.

"The Battle of Stalingrad (from August 1942 to February 1943) marked a turning point on the Eastern Front. A German attempt to take the city was repulsed, and a Soviet counter-attack finally began to drive the Germans back to the west. There would only be one more large German offensive—at Kursk in the summer of 1943. This, too, was stopped, and another Soviet counter-offensive began to drive the Germans even further out of previously captured territory. In June 1944, the Soviet Union launched Operation Bagration, a vast attack on German forces in Belarus. By April 1945, Soviet forces had besieged the city of Berlin. Hitler committed suicide soon after, and Germany surrendered on May 8.

"The Soviet Union emerged victorious from a four-year war that many had expected to last only a few weeks. The human cost was simply staggering. Later estimates suggested that up to 9 million Soviet troops died during this conflict and up to 18 million civilians. This level of casualties was unprecedented in warfare, but somehow, the Soviet Union emerged from World War II not weakened but as an emerging superpower."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 29, 2024 - July 29, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

6. The Cold War

................................................................................................

" ... The western countries feared further Soviet expansion and the spread of communism, while the Soviet Union feared further aggression that might lead to another invasion. The two power blocs faced one another in a heavily-armed stand-off that became known as the Cold War.

"In 1948, this conflict escalated when the Soviet Union attempted to blockade West Berlin, the part of Berlin controlled by the US, France, and Britain. This blockade led to the Berlin Airlift, the successful re-supply of the city by air, but it increased tensions between east and west. Although Europe was the center of the Cold War, it also had an impact on other continents. For example, the Korean War (from 1950 to 1953) was fought between South Korea (supported by America) and North Korea (supported by the Soviet Union). Although the outcome was indecisive, the conflict led to the death of over two million people, mainly civilians."

................................................................................................

" ... Khrushchev’s leadership was different, seeming to herald a less repressive regime within the Soviet Union. In 1956, he gave a speech to the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, which was, at the time, shocking. He denounced the leadership of Stalin, criticized the purges, and even suggested that by becoming an autocratic dictator, Stalin had betrayed the ideals of communism. It appeared that the Soviet Union was entering a new phase, but nevertheless, while under the control of Khrushchev, the Soviet Union came to the very brink of war with the United States."

"In 1961, America secretly stationed ICBMs in Turkey, from which location they could reach many important Soviet cities. In the same year, America sponsored a failed invasion of the main Soviet ally in the Caribbean, Cuba. In a series of secret meetings, Cuba’s leader, Fidel Castro, met with Khrushchev and agreed that Soviet ICBMs could be stationed in Cuba, from where they would be within range of many American cities. For Castro, this seemed to provide a deterrent against any future American invasion. For Khrushchev, it provided a response to the American missiles in Turkey."

................................................................................................

"In the almost 20 years that Brezhnev would rule the Soviet Union, a new and more hopeful word entered the lexicon of international relations: détente."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 29, 2024 - July 30, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

7. Détente and a New War

................................................................................................

" ... What the Soviet Union had hoped would be a short military intervention would drag on for nine years and result in more than 15,000 deaths among troops of the Soviet Union. Although Soviet forces controlled most of the major Afghan cities, the mujahideen were never eliminated in rural and mountainous areas. These guerrilla fighters were supplied with arms and supplies by America via its ally Pakistan, which also shared a border with Afghanistan. In particular, the supply of anti-aircraft missiles by America helped the mujahideen to overcome the most potent weapon available to the Soviet Union: air power.

"Meanwhile, in 1982, Leonid Brezhnev died and was replaced by the former head of the KGB, Yuri Andropov. Just three months later, Andropov suffered total kidney failure and was admitted to hospital, where he eventually died in February 1984. He was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko, who lasted just 13 months as leader of the Soviet Union before his death in March 1985. This short-lived succession of leaders had ruled a Soviet Union that was suffering a series of economic crises caused by the war in Afghanistan and the economic sanctions that followed. Chernenko was finally replaced by another new leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, in 1985."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 30, 2024 - July 30, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

8. Chernobyl

................................................................................................

"On the night of April 25, 1986, there was an explosion at Reactor 4 in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant near the town of Pripyat in Ukraine, at that time one of the 16 republics that constituted the Soviet Union. The explosion killed many workers and exposed others to deadly levels of radiation. Soon, a cloud of radiation was released into the air and began to drift over the surrounding countryside. In Pripyat, people woke the next morning to find they were having difficulty breathing."

" ... secrecy proved impossible to maintain; within days of the explosion at Chernobyl, high radiation levels were being detected as far away as Sweden. By April 29, western newspapers were carrying reports of a “huge nuclear leak” in Ukraine, but within the Soviet Union, it was claimed that this was not a large-scale incident. May Day parades in the nearby city of Kiev, just 30 miles (50 kilometers) to the south, were permitted to go ahead even though radiation levels in the air were dangerously high."

" ... When the people of the Soviet Union later discovered that western reports had been accurate and it was the Soviet claims which minimized the dangers involved that were untrue, this further undermined trust in the rulers of the Soviet Union."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 30, 2024 - July 30, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

9. Glasnost and Perestroika

................................................................................................

" ... By 1986, more than 100,000 Soviet troops were permanently stationed in Afghanistan. In a planned economy such as the Soviet Union, it is very difficult to assess the direct costs of any military action in the same way as can be done for a capitalist nation. However, the cost to keep this large army fed and supplied with weapons and ammunition, as well as the need to replace tanks, vehicles, helicopters, and aircraft lost in combat, must have been substantial."

................................................................................................

"In the short term, perestroika had little impact. Businesses that had been state-controlled and subsidized for over 50 years could not simply transform themselves into profitability overnight, and a lack of investment over previous decades meant that many were using relatively antiquated techniques and machinery. For the five years that it was in place, perestroika led to little concrete improvement in the Soviet economy, added a measure of confusion in many sectors, and failed to attract foreign investment. However, perestroika was only one of two new approaches that Gorbachev introduced.

"In 1986, Gorbachev told his advisors to begin using a new slogan: glasnost (“openness”). The purpose of this new policy was to introduce a measure of transparency to major Soviet institutions and, critically, to allow Soviet citizens to publicly and openly discuss problems in the system and to suggest ways of improving it. This, in turn, led to less direct censorship of the press—previously, all newspapers in the Soviet Union were subject to official scrutiny and censorship before they were published.

"However, almost as soon as it was introduced, glasnost led to problems. The accident at Chernobyl led to open criticism of the leadership of the Soviet Union, including Gorbachev, both for failing to be honest about the scale of the disaster and the dangers it posed and for failing to ensure that those involved in rescue and remediation work were kept safe.

"Glasnost also allowed for the first time open discussion of past events. It was only after 1986 that most Soviet citizens learned, for example, of the true scale of the purges undertaken during Stalin’s period as leader. It seems that Gorbachev had hoped that glasnost would be linked with perestroika to promote a new, vibrant, and efficient socialist society. Instead, it increased dissatisfaction. Soviet citizens were now more widely permitted to travel outside the Soviet Union, and many returned with news of how the lives of those in capitalist countries were very different. The press was able to report for the first time on widespread corruption and inefficiency in all levels of business activity within the Soviet Union and to give candid reports on the actual progress (or lack of progress) in Afghanistan."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 30, 2024 - July 30, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

10. The Collapse of the Soviet Union

................................................................................................

"“People in Russia say that those who do not regret the collapse of the Soviet Union have no heart, and those that do regret it have no brain.”

"—Vladimir Putin"

................................................................................................

"Glasnost had inadvertently allowed independence movements in many of the republics and satellite states that formed the Soviet Union to grow and organize. These began as early as 1986 with large-scale student demonstrations in the Republic of Kazakhstan. However, it was a wave of mass strikes in Poland that led the movement which culminated in the fall of the Soviet Union."

" ... Virtually overnight, Poland was no longer a communist state. The Soviet Union made no attempt to intervene in Poland, and soon, a wave of anti-communist movements erupted across Eastern Europe.

"In January 1989, Hungary elected a new government which promptly enacted a “democracy package,” introducing a new constitution and freedom of the press. Crucially, Hungary also began to dismantle the barrier that had defined its border with Austria. Across Europe, borders between nations of the Warsaw Pact and NATO were generally guarded and marked by lines of barbed wire, mines, armed troops, and watchtowers. Officially, the Soviet Union claimed this was to stop westerners flooding into communist countries. In reality, this barrier was intended to stop an exodus of people from communist countries moving to the west. With the opening of the border between Hungary and Austria, people living within the Soviet Union were suddenly able to travel freely. Thousands did so, and other border barriers would soon also be torn down.

................................................................................................

"By September 1989, after more than 30,000 people had left East Germany by traveling into Hungary and then into the west, the East German authorities closed their border with Hungary. Demonstrations in East Germany in September and October grew in size until, on November 9, they culminated in the gathering of hundreds of thousands of people in East Berlin who believed that the Berlin Wall, the barrier between East and West, was about to be opened. Although this wasn’t true, the overwhelmed border guards opened the gates. Thousands of East Germans traveled to the west, many for the first time, and in a short space of time, the Berlin Wall itself was destroyed. Soviet troops stationed in East Germany made no move to intervene."

" ... On November 28, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced that it would give up power and abandon the policy of a one-party state. On December 11, the Communist Party of Bulgaria announced that it, too, would give up its rule and that democratic elections would be held as soon as possible. Just before Christmas, the leader of the Romanian Communist Party, Nicolae Ceausescu, was executed by firing squad after an uprising by armed citizens. An interim government announced that democratic elections would be held as soon as possible. In January 1990, the Communist Party of Yugoslavia effectively relinquished power, and the first multi-party elections were held in that country later the same year. Even in Soviet republics as far distant as Mongolia, there were large-scale protests and growing independence movements. In the space of less than one year, the Soviet Union had begun to, in the memorable words of Gorbachev, “crumble like a dry saltine cracker.”"

................................................................................................

" ... Boris Yeltsin, a former head of the Communist Party in Moscow, was elected head of the Russian parliament, and in 1990, that parliament voted through new legislation that made Russian (as opposed to Soviet) law effective across Russia, a direct contravention of the constitution of the Soviet Union. In January 1991, there was a bloody confrontation between Soviet troops and protestors in the Baltic city of Vilnius. Yeltsin responded by ordering that, in the future, Russian troops should not, under any circumstances, open fire on unarmed protestors. These moves effectively ended attempts by Gorbachev to create a new and more open replacement for the Soviet Union, the Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics.

"In August 1991, members of the KGB, hardline communists, and others attempted to stage a coup in Moscow. Gorbachev and his family were placed under house arrest, and for three days, there was a tense armed confrontation in Moscow between those who wished to see the restitution of the old Soviet Union and supporters of Boris Yeltsin. The plotters were defeated, and Yeltsin remained in power in Moscow. Gorbachev returned, but his authority was fatally undermined. Soon after, the Republics of Ukraine and Belarus announced that they, too, intended to leave the Soviet Union."

................................................................................................

" ... On December 25, Gorbachev announced his resignation as president of the Soviet Union. Later the same day, the Hammer and Sickle flag was lowered over the Kremlin for the last time. The following day, it was replaced by the Russian tricolor. The Soviet Union was no more."

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 30, 2024 - July 31, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

Conclusion

................................................................................................

"Although it lasted for less than 70 years, at its peak, the Soviet Union was one of the most powerful polities in the world. It covered over 8.5 million square miles (22 million square kilometers) and ruled a population of over 290 million people."

"During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, the Soviet Union remained one of the two superpowers that effectively controlled a large part of the globe. ... "

................................................................................................

......................................................

July 31, 2024 - July 31, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

SOVIET UNION

A History from Beginning to End

Russian History: Soviet Union

by Hourly History.

......................................................

July 27, 2024 - July 31, 2024.

......................................................

................................................................................................

2. Russian History: Russian Civil War

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

A History from Beginning to End

Russian History: Russian Civil War

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

" ... It is tempting to assign particular dates to events and to point in retrospect to certain moments as having particular significance. The reality for the people involved was often perceived very differently. The Russian Civil War, which followed the Russian Revolution of 1917, formed part of a particularly turbulent period. There is no agreement between participants even on when it began and ended or how many lives it cost. What we do know is that opposition by the so-called White faction to the Red Bolshevik assumption of power began immediately after the revolution in 1917, and the first White military units were created in November 1917. However, actual combat between White and Red forces did not take place until early January 1918, and that is now generally accepted as marking the true beginning of the civil war.

"It is more difficult to say precisely when this war ended. Many people take the evacuation of White forces from Crimea in late 1920 to mark the end of the war. Others look to 1922—the year in which the final large uprisings were crushed by the Bolsheviks and the last foreign troops finally left Russia—as the end. Yet there was still fighting between White and Red military forces in 1923, and sporadic resistance to Red rule in Ukraine, the Caucasus, and elsewhere continued virtually throughout the 1920s. Some might even argue that the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is a continuation of the same conflict.

"This is not a war with a clear-cut beginning and end, nor is it a war that followed conventional military doctrine or approach. The Bolshevik revolution was something entirely new, and its leaders were struggling to understand what a Communist state (and a revolutionary army) might look like. The civil war that ensued was also a war driven not by national interests but by ideology and using new and old weapons in very different ways. This is not a neat or simple story, but understanding the Russian Civil War is critical to any understanding of modern Europe and the world."

................................................................................................

"At the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914, Russia appeared to be one of the most powerful nations on Earth. The Russian army was huge, and the country could conscript vast numbers of additional troops from its population of over 150 million. The rule of the tsar seemed secure; the autocratic Romanovs had ruled the country for more than 300 years. ... "

" ... Russia entered World War I as an ally of Great Britain and France, fighting against Imperial Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Tsar Nicholas II and others believed that the surge of patriotism that would come from war might reduce the unrest. Initially, they were right."

" ... Fighting better-equipped German troops, the Russians suffered terrible casualties, and by the end of 1914, Russia had lost over one million men killed, wounded, or captured. The supply of ammunition was almost exhausted, and factories were unable to keep pace with demand. The lack of rifles became moot for units that had no bullets.

................................................................................................

"In 1915 and 1916, Russian troops continued to be pushed back by a combined German/Austro-Hungarian advance. Refugees streamed east to avoid the fighting and swamped Russian cities. Food and fuel shortages became endemic, made even worse by the severe winter of 1916/1917. Finally, in early March 1917, women began marching in the streets of Petrograd (present-day Saint Petersburg) to protest the lack of bread. The response in the Russian Duma (government) was typified by conservative politician Vasily Shulgin who announced that “Only hot lead could drive this terrible beast, that somehow had burst free, back into its den.”

"The Duma and the tsar agreed. Fortunately, there were more than 180,000 troops in barracks in and around the city, so there was a ready source of hot lead. The troops were sent out, but then something completely unexpected happened: the troops not only refused to fire on the protesting women (the first time in Russian history that this had happened), but large numbers of them actually joined in protests against the tsar. As the protests grew out of control, Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. A provisional government was hastily created to control Russia until elections could be held to determine what might come next. This caught almost everyone by surprise, including those opposed to the existing regime."

................................................................................................

"“We must put an end once and for all to the papist-Quaker babble about the sanctity of human life.”

"—Leon Trotsky"

So much for the whitewash and almost deification of Trotsky by West as a victim of Soviet persecution under Stalin.

Judging by that quote, one shudders in horror to imagine what atrocities would have been perpetrated by regime in USSR, had Trotsky emerged as winner against Stalin politically.

................................................................................................

"With the success of the Bolshevik revolution in many Russian cities, Russians found themselves facing a stark choice: they could support the Reds, or they could align themselves with the Whites who stood against them. However, while the Reds had a clear ideology and vision centered on Lenin and the ideas of Karl Marx, the Whites were a much more disparate group. Some were monarchists who wanted to see the return of the tsar. Some were from wealthy families and were instinctively opposed to Bolshevism. Others favored the creation of some form of democratic government. A few were simply adventurers who saw opportunity in the chaos that was engulfing Russia. Most Whites, though, coalesced into military units created by men who had served as senior officers in the armed forces of the tsar.

"Three men would become the main leaders of the anti-revolutionary movement. Generals Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel led large armies in southern Russia, while Admiral Alexander Kolchak led a sizeable force in Siberia. In addition, Generals Nikolai Yudenich and Yevgeny Miller led smaller armies in the north. All these White leaders were united by their opposition to Lenin and the Bolsheviks, but by little else."

................................................................................................

"One critical area in which the Whites failed to develop a coherent approach was that of land reform. This was one of the central issues that had led to the uprising against the tsar. The Church, nobility, and wealthy landlords had owned virtually all the agricultural land in Russia prior to the revolution. The people who worked the land were little more than indentured slaves with no hope of improvement or of ever owning their own land. Revolutionary leaders had seized land and property and promised to re-distribute these to the people, a promise which was overwhelmingly popular. White leaders lacked a single approach to this issue. In many instances, when territory was occupied by White forces, former owners reappeared to claim back their land.

"The vast majority of ordinary people in Russia had been worse off before the revolution, which seemed to promise real change for the better. Many saw White victory as inevitably leading to a return to pre-revolutionary suffering. White leaders never seemed to grasp this, but it was a major factor in ensuring that Whites consistently lacked the broad support of the people that the Reds received."

................................................................................................

" ... While factional differences between nominally Red groups did cause problems, on the key issue of land reform all were broadly aligned.

"To further complicated the situation, there were smaller groupings known as the Greens. These included members of nationalist groups seeking independence as well as simple bandits hoping to make a profit from the collapse of the tsarist regime. These Greens might choose to fight for either Reds or Whites (or against either or both) depending on their circumstances and aspirations. Finally, there were the anarchists, the Blacks. They too supported radical land reform, but they opposed the kind of central state control envisaged by the Bolsheviks. Blacks generally fought alongside the other Reds, but they often found themselves directly opposed by the Bolsheviks.

................................................................................................

"Geographically, the Reds, and particularly the Bolsheviks, had a distinct advantage. They controlled Petrograd, Moscow, and much of Central Russia. This included most of Russia’s industrial capacity and, critically, almost all its arms and ammunition manufacturing plants. Central Russia also had more railways than any other part of the country, allowing the Reds to move troops and supplies more quickly than the Whites who were generally reliant on men on foot or horseback and on horse-drawn transport.

"The slogan most often used by the Reds in these early days of revolution was “All power to the Soviets.” Outside Russia, the term “Soviet” became conflated with Bolshevik, Communist, and even Russian, but it had a very particular meaning that was intrinsic in the way in which the new revolutionary state would operate. Soviets were workers’ and soldiers’ councils, which had the power to make important decisions at local levels. They dictated industrial and agricultural output and the conditions in which workers spent their time.

"In the army, the effect of the soviets was disastrous. On coming to power, the Bolsheviks had created the Red Guards, a military unit formed of volunteers whose role was to protect the state. This was to be an army like no other: there would be no saluting, no trappings of rank, and no orders imposed by superior officers. Instead, elected soldiers’ soviets would make decisions dictated by the will of the majority, including the appointment of officers. These orders would then, so the theory went, be happily acted upon by the enthused troops. As the Red Guards expanded to become the Red Army in February 1918, the same ethos was used."

................................................................................................

"In early 1918, Russia was still at war with Germany and Austro-Hungary, and it was possible to test these new concepts in action. Lenin and others were so convinced that these ideas were workable that they expected large numbers of the enemy to defect and join Russian forces once they learned of this revolutionary army. That wasn’t how it worked out. Discipline in the Red Army was non-existent, drunkenness common, and allowing men to elect their officers meant that they generally elected those least likely to get them killed. Against the professional German Army, the nascent Red Army proved almost completely ineffective. One military catastrophe followed another, and Russia seemed powerless to halt the German advance.

"Finally, in March 1918, Lenin and the Bolsheviks signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in which they withdrew all support for Britain and France, ceded large parts of Ukraine and the Baltic States to Germany, agreed to recognize the independence of the remainder of Ukraine, and gave parts of the South Caucasus to Germany’s ally, the Ottoman Empire. In return, Germany and Austria-Hungary agreed to end their war against Russia."

................................................................................................

"Towards the end of 1917, parts of Russia had descended into anarchy and chaos. In southern Russia, bands of revolutionaries looted homes and businesses. Officers and members of the nobility were shot on sight. Prisons were opened, and political prisoners and criminals alike were allowed to escape. Tens of thousands of soldiers fleeing from the front joined the revolutionaries.

"In the city of Rostov, a professor of military science and the tsar’s former head of staff, General Mikhail Alekseev, began to create a volunteer army to oppose these roving revolutionary gangs. The new Volunteer Army quickly attracted eager recruits including former officers in the tsar’s army and officer cadets from military schools. By the end of December 1917, Alekseev’s army controlled the cities of Rostov, Taganrog, and Novocherkassk. Then, in early 1918, the first units of the Red Guards began to appear in the Don area, and for the first time, there would be combat between White and Red troops. Most historians accept this as the true beginning of the Russian Civil War.

................................................................................................

"The Volunteer Army was led by the bold, charismatic General Lavr Kornilov. Kornilov’s army probably numbered no more than 2,000 men (though like so many aspects of the civil war, there are no reliable records to provide precise numbers). Opposing him was a Red Army thought to number anywhere between 100,000 and 150,000 men. Kornilov quickly understood that remaining in Rostov to fight the Red Army would be suicide. Instead, he led his men out into the frigid winter landscape of the Kuban region. For several months, they trekked through snow and ice, subsisting on what food they could find and with only the weapons and ammunition they had or could take from the enemy.

"Incredibly, they survived and seemed to win almost every encounter with the Red Army, despite their lack of numbers. By April, they reached the city of Yekaterinodar only to discover that it was under Red control. Bolstered by the arrival of a contingent of Kuban Cossacks, they attacked more than 18,000 Red Army defenders supported by artillery and machine guns. General Kornilov was killed during the assault, however, and the attack was called off. As the White troops withdrew, Kornilov was replaced by General Anton Denikin."

................................................................................................

"This first phase of the civil war, which became known as the First Kuban Campaign, was followed by the Second Kuban Campaign, where Denikin led his growing numbers of troops across the region. This second campaign was much more successful. By July 15, the important rail junction city of Tikhoretskaya was in White hands. On August 15, the city of Yekaterinodar was taken and, two weeks later, the port city of Novorossiysk. By the end of November, the Whites—now totaling more than 60,000 men supported by artillery and armored cars—had also taken the cities of Armavir and Stavropol and were in control of a large part of the Kuban region. Fighting was also taking place in other parts of Russia.

"Troops of what had become known as the Czechoslovak Legion had been serving in the tsar’s army since the outbreak of World War I. Most were renegades who had fled Austria-Hungary. There was no Czechoslovakia at that time; what would become that country was simply a region of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarians regarded men serving in the Russian Army as traitors, and Czech prisoners were usually executed out of hand. Since the fall of the tsar, the 50,000 men of this legion had been attempting to leave Russia in order to travel to the western front to fight for the Allies.

"The Bolsheviks were keen to get rid of them, but the Germans insisted that these men be disarmed before they left Russia. The Czechs refused, and in May 1918, fighting broke out between members of the Czech Legion and the Red Army. The Legion then embarked on one of the most audacious and successful campaigns in military history, as they defeated one Bolshevik garrison after another. By the end of June, they occupied positions along the Volga River, but they were far from finished. Using the Trans-Siberian Railroad, they traveled to Russia’s far east and succeeded in taking the city of Vladivostok by the end of August. In just three months, the men of the Czech Legion had captured more territory than any other nation in World War I!"

................................................................................................

"The appearance of the men of the Czech Legion in the east of Russia also led directly to the emergence of a new center of White resistance there. In mid-November, officers in Omsk deposed the Bolshevik administration and appointed a new White leader, Admiral Alexander Kolchak, a well-known and respected former explorer and senior naval officer. Within a short time, Kolchak was announced as “Supreme Ruler of All Russian Land and Sea Forces” and began mobilizing support for the anti-Bolshevik cause."

"These developments represented a major threat to the Reds. From the Volga River, it would be possible to launch an attack on Moscow. If that city fell to the Whites, this would be a major and perhaps fatal setback for the Reds. And, there was yet another looming issue for the Reds by the end of 1918: World War I had finally ended with the armistice between the Allies and the Central Powers on November 11, 1918. Many amongst both Reds and Whites assumed that now that their war with Germany was over, the Allies would fight in Russia against the Reds."

................................................................................................

"“My chief aims are the organisation of a fighting force, the overthrow of Bolshevism, and the establishment of law and order, so that the Russian people may be able to choose a form of government in accordance with its desire and to realise the high ideas of liberty and freedom.”

"—Admiral Alexander Kolchak"

................................................................................................

"In March of 1919, Admiral Kolchak launched what would be the single largest offensive by White forces during the Russian Civil War. This was a bold plan, envisaging an advance to the west, through the Ural Mountains, and on towards Moscow. This route would give the Whites three options: to attack Moscow itself, to attempt to link with British and Allied troops holding territory in northern Russia, or to move south to connect with General Denikin’s White forces in southern Russia.

"On paper, Kolchak’s force looked formidable. More than 200,000 men had joined the White forces in the east and these were divided into three armies. The Siberian Army under the command of General Gajda (a former leader of the Czech Legion) had around 45,000 men, the Southern Army had about 30,000 men, and General Khanzhin’s Western Army commanded over 40,000 troops. In addition, two formidable Cossack armies provided an additional 30,000 mounted men. With rear areas protected and controlled by British troops, this combined force of almost 150,000 men would face the Red Armies with a total of around 110,000 troops. Still, the Red Army troops were provided with more artillery and machine guns and had large reserves available for transfer from the center of the country. The Red Army had also improved notably in terms of training and experience and was no longer the mass of enthusiastic but inexperienced men faced in earlier battles.

"The offensive began on March 4, 1919, with an advance by General Khanzhin’s Western Army. Initially, gains were spectacular: by the end of April, this army had advanced through deep snow for almost 300 miles (500 kilometers), taking the important cities of Bugulma and Buguruslan. For a short time, it seemed that nothing could stop the advance of the White Armies to the west. Progress slowed, however, when the spring thaw turned tracks into rivers of mud and, more significantly, a lack of coordination created dangerous gaps between the three main White Armies.

................................................................................................

"General Gajda’s Siberian Army had moved to the northwest while the Southern Army had advanced to the southwest. Although all three White Armies were making progress towards the west, they had become separated, leaving them operating virtually independently. When the roads and tracks finally dried out after the snow had melted, the Reds launched a major counteroffensive. Because of the separation between the White Armies, the Reds were able to concentrate on the most advanced, the Western Army of General Khanzhin.

"The Red Army advanced steadily and despite heavy losses. By June, the White Western Army had been forced to retreat more than 50 miles (80 kilometers). The Reds then began to apply pressure on the other two White Armies. The Siberian Army was driven back beyond the city of Yekaterinburg, and the Southern Army was also forced to retreat. The new effectiveness of the Red Army in combat was a stunning shock to the Whites and to their Allies supporters, but even more concerning was the unreliability of the White Armies themselves.

................................................................................................

"“An army cannot be built without repression. The commander will always find it necessary to place the soldier between the possibility that death lies ahead and the certainty that it lies behind.”

"—Leon Trotsky"

Better minds would take a wider perspective - and phrase that far better.

................................................................................................

"While Admiral Kolchak’s White Armies advanced and then retreated in the east, there were other significant military developments in the west. In January of 1919, the Ukrainian National Republic (UNR) united with the West Ukrainian National Republic (WUNR) to form the independent state of Ukraine, though both republics retained their own governments. However, Ukraine quickly found itself at war with the newly created state of Poland as both nations claimed the region of Galicia. It was also threatened by Romania which planned to extend its own borders at the expense of Ukraine. Then, the Red Army attacked Ukraine from the east and, by February, had occupied the key city of Kyiv.

"Elements of the White Southern Army under General Denikin entered Ukraine in June, but their purpose was unclear. Many Whites saw the Ukrainian states as socialist and therefore suspect (though they were generally liberal). Also, few of the White leaders supported Ukrainian nationalism; they were fighting for the restitution of Tsarist Russia, and they saw Ukraine as belonging to Russia. Although there was no combat between Ukrainian and White forces, nor did they co-operate to expel the Red Army."

Why authors omit mentioning of Nazi sympathisers so commonly prevalent in Ukraine - then and now - can only be due to political policies, then and now, to brand communists and socialists as dangerous, while pretending that nazism was an aberration originating by a handful of people and isn't instead racism, already a dangerous stupidity, exploding to dangerously mindless levels.

................................................................................................

"In northern Russia, Admiral Kolchak appointed a new military leader, General Nikolai Yudenich, to take command of all White forces in the Baltic region in June. Kolchak’s hope was that a simultaneous attack from the Baltic area would ease pressure on White forces fighting in the east. Yudenich agreed to mount an operation in the autumn to attack the city of Petrograd. However, organizing the forces to allow this took a great deal of political maneuvering.

"White forces needed the support of the British Army, which still had troops in the area, and the Royal Navy, which was the only force sufficiently powerful to challenge the Red fleet based in Kronstadt. White forces also needed the support of Estonia and Finland, both of which were seeking independence. As with Ukraine, Kolchak was unwilling to give up territory formerly controlled by Russia, but the need for a drive towards Petrograd was sufficiently pressing that an accommodation had to be made.

"In early August, under direct pressure from the British Military Mission, Yudenich agreed to form a liberal government with an agenda intended to provide popular appeal. This new government quickly recognized Estonian independence, and in exchange, Estonia agreed to support the White drive towards Petrograd. The British meanwhile agreed to supply the White army with arms, ammunition, tanks, and aircraft.

................................................................................................

"Around 20,000 men of the White Northwestern Army, supported by Estonian troops, began their advance towards Petrograd on September 28. Initially, the attack went well, with Red Army units falling back in disarray. The city of Yamburg was captured on October 12, and on the 14th, White forces took Gatchina, less than 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Petrograd. Estonian forces meanwhile captured the city of Pskov, and by October 20, forces of the Northwestern Army had taken the Pulkovo Heights, overlooking the city of Petrograd itself.

"Just when it seemed that the White Army would succeed, a massive Red counterattack began on October 21. Over 70,000 troops of the Red Guards and the Red Army smashed into White forces. By November 3, the Northwestern Army had been forced back to Gatchina. By November 14, the Whites had been driven all the way back to their starting point at Narva.

................................................................................................

"Despite the support of the Estonians and the arms and equipment provided by the British, the White forces proved unable to overcome the Reds in Northern Russia. Instead of taking Petrograd and easing the pressure on Kolchak in the east, the drive towards the revolutionary capital had been a costly failure. There were many reasons for this. The Finns had not only refused to support the Northwestern Army, but they had instead launched an attack on Latvia, and both the Royal Navy and the Estonians had to divert resources to deal with this new threat. The White 3rd Division had also failed to cut the strategically vital rail line from Tosno to Moscow. This line allowed the Reds to move reinforcements from Moscow to support the defense of Petrograd and the counterattack that followed.

"Bitterly cold autumn weather and a typhus epidemic ravaged the survivors of the Northwestern Army. Thousands died, and many more deserted. Then, in February of 1920, the Estonians signed a treaty with the Bolsheviks. The few remaining soldiers of the Northwestern Army were disarmed and interned. There would be no further White military activity in northern Russia. The Whites were left with only two armies in the field: Kolchak’s army in the east and the Southern Army under General Denikin."

................................................................................................

"“I can do nothing with my army. I am glad when it carries out my combat orders.”

"—General Anton Denikin"

................................................................................................

"The Southern Army of General Denikin had opened a new offensive on January 3, 1919. Denikin’s force numbered somewhere around 25,000 men, including three strong cavalry units. Against them stood around 150,000 members of the Red Army. As on other fronts, initially, the White forces performed well. Within six weeks, they had driven Red forces back, taken more than 50,000 prisoners and captured more than 150 pieces of artillery.

"The Whites survived several Red counterattacks in March and April and then resumed their advance in May. Despite being consistently outnumbered, the White armies fought skillfully and by May 27 had captured the city of Kharkov. Yekaterinoslav fell on the 29th, and the White armies then advanced on the city of Tsaritsyn (present-day Volgograd), a vital port on the Volga River. After a massive battle involving thousands of troops supported by aircraft, armored cars, and a few tanks commanded by British soldiers, the city fell to the Whites on June 30. This was a huge blow to the Reds who lost more than 40,000 men killed, wounded or captured.

................................................................................................

"Denikin was forced to detach parts of his armies, mainly cavalry units, to deal with these threats to his supply lines. This would prove critical in the weeks that followed as the Reds launched a major counterattack against the advancing Whites. For more than four weeks, White forces battled not to continue their advance but to desperately hold on to territory they had taken.

"By mid-November, following the first massed cavalry attacks carried out by the Reds, Denikin’s forces were forced to retreat. By November 25, Voronezh and Kastornoe were recaptured by the Reds. As the first snows of winter began to fall, the White retreat gathered pace. Reluctantly, Denikin accepted that his plan to take Moscow had to be abandoned. Instead, he was forced to consider how to keep his army together.

"Although the civil war was far from over, 1919 was a critical year. Three major White offensives—from the east towards the Ural Mountains, towards Petrograd in the north, and Moscow in the south—had all made good progress initially, but all had been effectively stopped by the Red Army. Allied support for the Whites also reached its peak in 1919: from the end of the year, the numbers of foreign troops on Russian soil and the level of material support provided to the Whites both declined rapidly. There was a great deal of bloodshed still to come but Leon Trotsky, one of Lenin’s most important lieutenants, was absolutely correct when on October 25, 1919, he wrote, “The enemy has been dealt a blow from which he will never recover.”"

................................................................................................

"“If we are not ready to shoot a saboteur and a White Guard, what sort of Revolution is that? Nothing but talk and a bowl of mush.”

"—Vladimir Lenin"

And his deification in USSR was only condoned in West because that seemed to give them free rein to hate most others, from Stalin to fellow travellers to anyone who could remotely be labelled 'left', as republican idiots and malignant ones do to FDR and JFK.

................................................................................................

"The retreat of Denikin’s southern armies that had begun in autumn continued without a pause during the remainder of 1919 and into the following year. First, these armies attempted to hold the city of Kursk but were quickly driven out by a determined Red assault. Next, the city of Kharkov fell to the Reds on December 11. White forces retreated once again to Rostov, but the defenders were weakened by an outbreak of typhus that killed or incapacitated more than 40,000 soldiers, and that city too fell in early January 1920.

"Next, Tsaritsyn was taken by the Reds on January 3. Denikin was forced to undertake a retreat to the west, relocating his headquarters first to Rostov, then to Tikhoretskaya, and finally to Novorossisk. From the latter city, the only hope of further retreat was a withdrawal to Crimea. By the middle of March, the continuing advance of Red units made that evacuation a necessity, and Denikin called for Allied help to relocate what remained of his armies.

"With the assistance of French and British ships, large numbers of White troops were evacuated from Novorossisk, though they were forced to abandon much of their heavy equipment and artillery. On March 27, the last White destroyer picked up the remaining White troops and General Denikin. The once-powerful Southern Army now controlled only Crimea.

................................................................................................

"Facing sharp criticism, Denikin resigned on April 4, and his place was taken by General Wrangel. In early May, Wrangel re-named his force the Russian Army, but it would take more than re-branding to turn this into an effective fighting force. The string of defeats suffered at the hands of the Reds in the winter of 1919/1920 combined with the effects of the typhus epidemic had seriously weakened the Whites. Morale was at a low point, and desertion became widespread.

"International support for the Whites was also sharply declining. Britain agreed to continue to provide material support for the Russian Army, but only if it remained in Crimea: if it attempted to advance to the north, that support would end. The string of White military defeats in late 1919 also meant the virtual end of support for the Whites from other nations. It now looked extremely unlikely that the Whites could militarily defeat the Reds, and most nations began tentatively attempting to establish diplomatic relations with the Red Bolsheviks.

................................................................................................

"From a military perspective, Wrangel’s situation in Crimea was at least easily defended. Crimea is a peninsula covering just over 10,000 square miles (25,000 square kilometers) with only two connections with the Russian mainland: the six-mile (eight-kilometer) wide Perekop Isthmus, protected by a rampart and deep ditch spanning its entire width, and the Taganach Bridge connecting Crimea with the Chongar peninsula on the mainland. Even with the depleted forces at his disposal, it seemed certain that Wrangel could protect these two potential routes against any Red assault. It soon became clear, however, that Wrangel was not prepared to remain on the defensive.

"In June, Wrangel’s army advanced north from Crimea into the North Tauride. This was a rich agricultural area, and it seems that Wrangel hoped to secure this area and to trade produce to the west in exchange for arms. It was a risky move: by advancing out of Crimea, Wrangel lost the support of the British, but he assessed that the potential gains made this gamble worthwhile.

"Wrangel was also aware that the Red Army was distracted by a Polish invasion of Ukraine. The former partisan leader Nestor Makhno had established his own anarchist republic within this area, and the Reds were already fighting that force. The invasion by Poland meant that more Red troops had to be moved to Ukraine, and Wrangel appears to have seen this as an opportunity to take advantage of a shortage of Red troops to protect the North Tauride.

................................................................................................

"As had happened so many times before, the White Army of 35,000 men initially made gains. The troops of the Red Army were driven back throughout the North Tauride, but the sheer weight of reinforcements available to the Reds soon began to tell. In a desperate attempt to persuade more volunteers to join the Russian Army, Wrangel sent a large expedition on a raid into the Kuban region. This expedition produced only a few new recruits for Wrangel’s army and was soon forced to retreat.

"By mid-October 2020, the Reds had signed an armistice with the Poles, and suddenly, the whole weight of the Red Army in the west was available to fight Wrangel. By November 2, the Russian Army was forced to retreat back into the more easily defended Crimean peninsula.

................................................................................................

"Luck was on the Bolsheviks’ side, though, and the Red troops were soon able to take advantage of a “miracle.” There was, in fact, one other potential route of access into Crimea: the Syvash salt marshes. These were almost always impassable and had been discounted by both sides. On the night of November 7/8 (the third anniversary of the revolution) unexpectedly strong winds blew across the marshes, temporarily drying them out, something that happened only once in several decades. Red troops were alerted and crossed the salt marshes to attack White defensive positions on the Perekop peninsula from the flank and rear. By November 9, White forces were retreating across Crimea.

"On the 11th, Wrangel recognized the inevitability of defeat and ordered his armies to disengage and begin a retreat towards ports in the south of Crimea. There, White ships supported by members of the French Navy were waiting. Between November 14 and 16, more than 140,000 White troops were evacuated from Crimea. Most were taken to Constantinople, where they became exiles. With this evacuation, the last White Army in western Russia had been defeated. Red forces controlled all of Russia other than the extreme east, where the last forces of Admiral Kolchak remained."

................................................................................................

"“We were always for revolutionary war. The bayonet is an essential necessity for introducing communism.”

"—Karl Radek"

As a matter of fact, no, that's merely a shortcut, for those far too bloodthirsty, and the impatient and lazy, as proved partially by electoral wins in at least two states in India, that too far from neighboring ones, Bengal and Kerala, with stable governments for several years maintained by communists in each.

................................................................................................

"With the string of Red victories in the east in the autumn of 1919, Admiral Kolchak was faced with a stark choice: he could attempt to defend his capital at Omsk, or he could retreat and abandon it. He chose the latter, deciding to establish a new White capital in the city of Irkutsk, the largest city in Siberia.

"Kolchak left Omsk on November 14 on a train bound for Irkutsk. He reached that city, but many of his troops and supporters were not so fortunate. More than 300 trains left Omsk headed east, but less than 70 arrived; breakdowns, congestion, and a lack of locomotives left many trains and their passengers stranded in the city of Krasnoyarsk. Those who were able to find places on trains were the fortunate ones: up to 150,000 soldiers and refugees were forced to make their way east on the Sibirsky Trakt, a series of ancient tracks that led through the barren Siberian taiga to the east of Omsk. Making their way on horse-drawn sleds, they were pursued by the advancing Red Army and constantly harried and attacked by an estimated 80,000 partisans operating in the forests of Siberia. Only a few would reach the safety of Irkutsk.

"As temperatures plunged in December, the situation became worse. People stranded on trains in Krasnoyarsk froze to death. A typhus epidemic swept through the city and decimated the survivors. Then, on January 8, 2020, the first units of the Red Army arrived in Krasnoyarsk. White units who resisted were annihilated. Many deserted. By that time, a revolt by Socialist Revolutionaries in Irkutsk had ended any hope Kolchak might have had of continuing the war. The rail line and much of the territory around the city was still controlled by the troops of the Czech Legion. Its commander, General Jan Syrovy, arranged a deal with the Reds. He would hand over Admiral Kolchak and the imperial gold he carried with him in exchange for free and safe passage for the Czechs out of Russia.

................................................................................................

"On January 7, Kolchak was handed over to revolutionaries in the city of Irkutsk. Lenin had planned a show-trial in Moscow where the leader of the Whites could be tried in front of the press. However, by early February, one of the few remaining White Armies under the command of General Voitsekhovsky arrived on the outskirts of Irkutsk. After a hasty trial in the city, Admiral Kolchak was executed on February 7.

"Voitsekhovsky meanwhile marched the only remaining White Army into Manchuria. Totaling only around 20,000 men, some of these troops would continue to fight the Reds on Russia’s eastern seaboard around the Japanese-controlled city of Vladivostok. Although they were never able to pose a serious threat to Red control, they were not finally defeated until the autumn of 1922. Some of these men went on to fight with Chinese warlords, and many subsequently settled in the cities of Harbin and Shanghai, forming large and active expatriate Russian communities.

................................................................................................

"By the end of 1920, the Red Army consisted of more than five million troops. In the years that followed, the Bolsheviks consolidated and extended the territory they controlled. Ukraine was brought fully under Red control in 1921. Red troops entered Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia and launched successful invasions of Manchuria and Mongolia. When the Japanese abandoned the city of Vladivostok in 1922, it was quickly brought within Bolshevik control.

"The Bolshevik state, now formally identified as the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, not only used the huge Red Army to extend its frontiers but also to crush any remaining internal opposition. Around 7,000 sailors were killed when a rebellion against the Bolsheviks erupted in the port city of Kronstadt in early 1921. Almost a quarter of a million people died when peasant revolts on the Volga and Siberia were crushed through the use of tanks and poison gas. Further peasant unrest caused by famines in Armenia, Crimea, and Ukraine was promptly and harshly quelled by the Red Army. Former Red Partisans who had turned to simple banditry following the end of the civil war were also attacked and largely disarmed by Bolshevik troops. Socialist Revolutionaries, Anarchists, and Mensheviks whose loyalty was suspect, as well as anyone seen as sympathetic to the White cause, were arrested and either executed or sent to brutal labor camps in remote areas.

................................................................................................

"In December of 1921, the Bolshevik state was given another new name, becoming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). This reflected the increasing central control exerted by the Bolsheviks and enforced by the Red Army. When its leader, Vladimir Lenin, died in January 1924, he was replaced by a new leader who would rule the USSR for the next 30 years: Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, whose name would become synonymous with brutally enforced state control of every aspect of life for most Russians. He would enforce the collectivization of agriculture, carry out political and military purges, and establish the Gulag, a system of punishment camps that housed anything up to five million people.

"In exile, many Whites continued to dream of overthrowing the Red regime. White paramilitary organizations continued to exist throughout the 1920s, though many exiled White leaders were assassinated on the orders of Stalin. A few Whites even supported Hitler and the Nazis when Germany invaded the USSR in 1941. Only two of the most notable White leaders survived to old age: General Yudenich died in France in 1933 and General Denikin in the United States in 1947."

................................................................................................

"A lack of reliable records on both sides makes trying to assess the human cost of the Russian Civil War almost impossible. Casualties in the Red Army directly attributable to combat have been estimated at anything from 400,000 to 1.3 million. White combat casualties lie somewhere between 300,000 and 1.2 million. As many as 400,000 people may have been executed by Red forces during the civil war and up to 50,000 by the Whites. Still, these figures do not come close to showing the total number of deaths directly caused by the war. Famine and disease attributable to the war are believed to have killed anything up to 14 million people in Russia. By any standards, this was the deadliest civil war the world has ever seen.

"When the war began, most observers assumed that the Reds would quickly be defeated. Their approach to military discipline alone was thought to mean that they would be completely ineffective in any confrontation with the more conventional White troops. In the earliest stages, the Red Guards and the Red Army did struggle when fighting the Germans and the Whites, but they soon learned to adapt.

"Another reason that outside observers assumed that the Whites would be victorious was the support provided by other countries. Great Britain, France, Japan, and the United States all provided troops, materials, and supplies for the Whites. For the most part, foreign troops were only deployed in rear areas, but in the west, aircraft of the Royal Air Force operated against the Red Army and British tanks (sometimes with British crews or commanders) supported the White armies.

................................................................................................

"Given these factors, why didn’t the Whites win the Russian Civil War? Part of the answer is geographic. The Reds controlled central Russia including a comprehensive rail network. Working within these shortened, interior lines of supply meant that it was much easier for them to move troops from one theatre to another and to keep the units of the Red Army provided with supplies and replacements. White armies were generally forced to operate with extended supply lines which were vulnerable to interdiction. The ease of supply for Red forces more than made up for the limited support the Whites received from other nations, and in addition, the Bolsheviks were able to use the presence of foreign troops supporting White forces as propaganda that Russia was being invaded.

"Perhaps the single largest issue was that in the period 1918-1920, the Reds do seem to have been able to call on far wider popular support than the Whites. Even though it wasn’t always true, the vast mass of people associated the Whites with a return to Tsarist Russia. The revolution had provided a break from the iniquities of that system, and few ordinary people were keen to return to the previous way of life. The Whites notably failed to develop a political and social agenda that had widespread popular appeal. This was closely tied in to the issue of land reform. The Bolsheviks had promised a complete redistribution of the ownership of land. In the end, they did not deliver on this promise, but the belief that this change was coming gave the Reds enormous support amongst the ordinary Russian people.

................................................................................................

"The other issue was one of centralized control. Lenin, through his leadership of the Bolshevik Party and especially working through his deputies Stalin and Trotsky, was able to exercise complete control over the actions of the Red Army. It was possible to take an overview of the wider situation and to rush troops and supplies to where they were most needed. The White Armies had no such ability.

"The three principal White forces, in the east under Admiral Kolchak, in the south under General Denikin, and in the north under General Yudenich, were each completely separate. It was not possible to transfer troops or equipment between these armies, and their actions were only loosely coordinated. Although Admiral Kolchak was nominally the leader of all White Russian forces, he was only able to exercise the broadest control over Denikin and even over his appointee Yudenich. Because White military actions were not closely coordinated, the Reds were able to move troops from theatre to theatre as required to deal with threats as they arose.

................................................................................................

"Red victory in the Russian Civil War led directly to the establishment of a centrally controlled Communist state and to the export of the ideals of Communism to many other countries around the world. This also led to the Cold War, the armed stand-off between east and west that blighted international relations for more than 40 years after World War II.

"The civil war left deep scars in Russia that only began to heal following the fall of the Communist regime in 1991. In 2002, a statue of Admiral Kolchak was erected in Saint Petersburg. In 2005, the remains of General Denikin were transferred from America and reburied in the Donskoi Monastery in Moscow. In 2006, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved the application of the general’s daughter, Marina Denikina, for citizenship in the new, nationalistic Russia. The old Russian national anthem has been resurrected, but with new words suggesting that finally, this country is ready to come to terms with and move on from the horrors of the Russian Civil War."

................................................................................................

Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War,

Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................

July 27, 2024 - July , 2024.

................................................

Format 317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2024 by Hourly History

ASIN:- B0CRDM474L

Language English

................................................................................................

Table of Contents

RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

................................................................................................

Introduction

Revolution

Red, White, Black, and Green: The Colors of Civil War

Outbreak of Civil War

Foreign Intervention

The Great White Offensive

Ukraine and the Assault on Petrograd

Denikin and the Drive for Moscow

Last Stand in Crimea

The End in the East

The Communists in Control

Conclusion

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

Introduction

................................................................................................

................................................

July 31, 2024 - July 31, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

1. Revolution

................................................................................................

"“They transported Lenin in a sealed truck like a plague bacillus into Russia.”

"—Winston Churchill"

................................................................................................

" ... Germany, sensing that Russia was tottering on the brink of collapse, connived with the Swiss authorities to allow Lenin to take a sealed train that crossed Germany and Finland before arriving in Petrograd on Easter Sunday, 1917. The Bolshevik leader immediately began speaking against the Provisional Government and in favor of revolution."

" ... by November 15, Moscow was also within control of the Red forces. Lenin triumphantly announced that a revolution had taken place and that Russia was now controlled by the Bolsheviks. The truth was less simple.

"Russia was still at war with Germany and Austria-Hungary, though Russian troops were increasingly unwilling to fight. Large numbers began to desert and stream to the east. Some wanted to join the revolution; others wanted to oppose it. Many simply wanted to go home. When they got home, they would discover that industrial and agricultural production had virtually ended. It was clear that food shortages would turn into famine when winter came. The situation became even more complicated when areas that had previously been controlled by Russia seized the opportunity presented by the revolution to declare independence. These included Ukraine, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia.

"Most threatening of all, groups were beginning to form in different areas to oppose the Red takeover of Russia. These so-called Whites had no single leader or ideology other than their opposition to the Bolsheviks. The revolution may have been over, but the civil war was about to begin."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 01, 2024 - August 01, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

2. Red, White, Black, and Green: The Colors of Civil War

................................................................................................

"“We must put an end once and for all to the papist-Quaker babble about the sanctity of human life.”

"—Leon Trotsky"

So much for the whitewash and almost deification of Trotsky by West as a victim of Soviet persecution under Stalin.

Judging by that quote, one shudders in horror to imagine what atrocities would have been perpetrated by regime in USSR, had Trotsky emerged as winner against Stalin politically.

................................................................................................

" ... While factional differences between nominally Red groups did cause problems, on the key issue of land reform all were broadly aligned.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 01, 2024 - August 02, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

3. Outbreak of Civil War

................................................................................................

................................................

August 02, 2024 - August 02, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

4. Foreign Intervention

................................................................................................

"Allied intervention in Russia began even while World War I was still in progress. The Allies were aware that large quantities of arms and ammunition intended for the tsar’s army were in Russian ports and were concerned that these might be seized by Germany following the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. These concerns increased when a division of German troops entered Finland in April 1918; from there, they were able to threaten the Murmansk-Petrograd railway, which, if captured, might allow German troops to take control of the strategically vital ports of Murmansk and possibly Arkhangelsk.

"Thus, the first appearance of Allied troops in Russia was a response not directly to the revolution but to fears that Germany might successfully exploit the chaos in Russia to make significant gains. British troops were sent to Murmansk to help the Bolsheviks defend that city against a potential German attack almost as soon as the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed. Meanwhile, British naval personnel were also sent to Estonia, which had declared independence, to help that new country defend against attacks by the Red Army.

................................................................................................

"While both Britain and France agreed that some form of military intervention was necessary in Russia to prevent German advances, both nations were critically short of troops after four years of horrendous losses on the western front. For that reason, most of the troops sent to Russia while World War I was still in progress came from other nations.

"The United States sent two expeditionary forces to Russia: 5,000 American troops of the American North Russia Expeditionary Force were sent to Arkhangelsk while another 8,000 of the American Expeditionary Force Siberia landed in Vladivostok. Canadian, Australian, and Indian troops formed two further forces, the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force and the North Russia Intervention. Around 2.500 Italian troops of the Corpo di Spedizione were also dispatched to Russia, but the single largest foreign army came from Imperial Japan which sent more than 70,000 men to Siberia with the intention of helping to create an independent buffer state.

"When the war against Germany and Austria-Hungary ended in November of 1918, the role of these foreign troops came into question. While the war had been raging, their presence was needed to ensure that Germany was not able to exploit the Russian Revolution for its own ends. Now, in several areas, these troops found themselves caught between White and Red factional fighting. To some Allied leaders, the threat of Bolshevism seemed just as serious as the war with Germany, and they suggested that the intervention should continue even after the war was over in an attempt to overthrow the Reds."

................................................................................................

"When Admiral Kolchak announced his new White regime in Omsk, he did so with the support and encouragement of British military forces in the area. When the armistice was announced, British, Commonwealth, and American troops in Russia eagerly looked forward to being allowed to return home. They would soon discover that this was not to be.

"When Admiral Kolchak launched an offensive against the Reds in early 1919, he did so with troops trained and partly equipped by the British and supported by aircraft of the Royal Air Force. In Murmansk, the raising of a White Army was progressing slowly due to a lack of volunteers. Thus, in early 1919, British troops were ordered south to occupy lands that would provide access to additional potential volunteers. In less than two months, and after several pitched battles, British forces had occupied more than 3,000 square miles (7,700 square kilometers) formerly held by the Red Army including the towns of Soroko and Olimpi.

................................................................................................

"In North Russia, British troops also attacked the city of Shenkursk while a combined British/American force took the towns of Bolshie Ozerki and Seltskoe, south of Arkhangelsk. Still, many of the foreign troops in Russia proved less than enthusiastic about fighting the Reds. There were mutinies in some British, Canadian, and American units, led by men who had seen more than enough of war and simply wanted to go home. The situation was made worse by the White forces who were supposed to be their allies. Many were badly led and included large numbers of men who had been conscripted against their will. Some White units defected en-masse to the Reds and turned on the foreign troops. It was evident that more troops would be needed to support the Whites.

" ... Large numbers of volunteers from countries including Germany, Austria, China, Romania, and Poland joined what were effectively international brigades in the Red Army. It has been estimated that, by mid-1918, as many as 50,000 members of this army originated from countries other than Russia. By that time, White forces had launched their greatest offensive, and it looked for a time as though the Bolshevik regime and the revolution were doomed."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 02, 2024 - August 03, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

5. The Great White Offensive

................................................................................................

"—Admiral Alexander Kolchak"

................................................................................................

"The vast majority of White troops were conscripts, forced to join the cause whatever their personal feelings about the revolution. Many thousands of these men either deserted to make their way back to their homes or even defected to join the Red Army. In February 1919, 2,000 men of the Muslim Bashkir Corps, part of the Southern Army, went over to the Red side. As the Whites were forced to retreat, they found their conscript army starting to evaporate. Kolchak’s position was weakened further when all British troops were withdrawn from Russian territory in Central Asia in April.

"Admiral Kolchak responded to these setbacks by dismissing his main military leaders. General Gajda was fired and replaced by General Anatoly Pepelyaev, after which the Siberian Army was renamed the 1st Army. General Khanzhin was dismissed, and the Western Army became two new armies: the 2nd under the command of General Nikolai Lokhvitsky and the 3rd under the command of General K. V. Sakharov. Despite these changes in command, the Red Armies continued to advance. White forces were forced to retreat across the Siberian plain before they reached the Ishim River, just over 125 miles (200 kilometers) from the city of Omsk. Here, they made a stand and here, finally, the Red advance briefly ran out of steam.

"On September 1, Admiral Kolchak ordered a large-scale counterattack, and at first, this was successful. White forces advanced towards the Ural Mountains once again, driving the Reds before them. By October 14, they had advanced more than 125 miles, but by that point, the Red Army had been bolstered by the arrival of more than 40,000 reserves. A Red counterattack drove the Whites back. By the end of October, White forces had retreated once again to the Ishim River. The issue for Admiral Kolchak became not how to win a victory but how to protect his capital, Omsk, from the advancing Reds."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 03, 2024 - August 10, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

6. Ukraine and the Assault on Petrograd

................................................................................................

"—Leon Trotsky"

Better minds would take a wider perspective - and phrase that far better.

................................................................................................

Why authors omit mentioning of Nazi sympathisers, so commonly prevalent in Ukraine - then and now - can only be due to political policies, then and now, to brand communists and socialists as dangerous, while pretending that nazism was an aberration originating by a handful of people and isn't instead racism, already a dangerous stupidity, exploding to dangerously mindless levels.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 10, 2024 - August 10, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

7. Denikin and the Drive for Moscow

................................................................................................

"“I can do nothing with my army. I am glad when it carries out my combat orders.”

"—General Anton Denikin"

................................................................................................

"General Denikin arrived in Tsaritsyn on July 2. Almost immediately, he announced a bold and audacious plan: the Southern Army would be divided into three groups that would drive independently but simultaneously towards Moscow itself. White posters and flags began to appear carrying the slogan “To Moscow!” Yet while the Moscow Directive was certainly audacious, some people felt it was also over-ambitious.

"Kolchak in the east wanted Denikin to force a way over the Ural Mountains to link up with White armies there, but Denikin rejected this plan. Other White leaders felt that Denikin should halt at Tsaritsyn to build up his forces for a new offensive in the spring of 1920. Denikin rejected this too as unnecessarily cautious. He also pointed out, rightly, that any delay would lead to a decline in morale amongst his troops and allow the Red Army to build up its forces in the area. Despite his enthusiasm for the operation, Denikin was forced to admit that his armies did need time to rest, re-equip and receive replacement troops. Thus, during July and August, the Southern Army prepared for the attack.

................................................................................................

"There were limited White operations during this period. Units of the Southern Army made contact with Cossack patrols from Kolchak’s army east of the Volga. The White fleet, supported by the Royal Navy, landed troops in the city of Odessa on August 23. White troops continued their advance into Ukraine and took the city of Kyiv that same month. However, on August 14, more than 180,000 troops of the Red Army attacked Denikin’s forces. The Whites were forced to defend Tsaritsyn. They held the city with the aid of Sopwith Camel aircraft of the Royal Air Force which repeatedly strafed Red Army troops. The Reds were forced to pull back after suffering more than 20,000 casualties.

"Having weathered the Red attack, in early September, Denikin’s armies began their drive towards Moscow. The city of Kursk was taken on September 20 and Orel on October 13. Then, when Mstensk was captured, Moscow was just 180 miles (300 kilometers) away. Denikin’s optimism seemed to be confirmed. Incredibly, a flood of new volunteers meant that the Southern Army was actually increasing in size during this period. As many as 100,000 new troops joined the victorious Whites. It seemed that nothing could save Moscow. However, the truth was that as the White Armies advanced rapidly, their supply lines had become dangerously stretched.

................................................................................................

"One feature of combat in Russia is the vast spaces involved. Somehow, any army must be kept supplied with arms, ammunition, food, and replacement troops. For the Reds, operating in central Russia which was provided with a comprehensive rail network, this was relatively simple. For the Whites, generally operating without the support of railroads, supply could only be moved by horse-drawn carts. This was not only slow, but it was also vulnerable to attack.

"As Denikin’s armies moved towards Moscow, a Red partisan leader, Nestor Makhno, led a highly mobile force of up to 25,000 men. These troops defeated several smaller White units and then moved over 370 miles (600 kilometers) through the White rear areas, disrupting supply lines and even reaching Ukraine. By mid-October, Makhno’s partisans were in control of the towns of Berdiansk and Mariupol and were close enough to be a potential threat to Denikin’s operational headquarters in Taganrog. These weren’t the only attacks on White supplies: members of an anarchist group allied to the Reds also destroyed an important munitions store at Berdiansk.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 10, 2024 - August 10, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

8. Last Stand in Crimea

................................................................................................

"“If we are not ready to shoot a saboteur and a White Guard, what sort of Revolution is that? Nothing but talk and a bowl of mush.”

"—Vladimir Lenin"

................................................................................................

................................................

August 10, 2024 - August 14, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

9. The End in the East

................................................................................................

"“We were always for revolutionary war. The bayonet is an essential necessity for introducing communism.”

"—Karl Radek"

................................................................................................

"Other former White military leaders continued their own quixotic resistance to Red rule even after it was apparent that the Reds were in control of Russia. A sadistic former White cavalry officer, Baron Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, formed a cavalry unit of several thousand former White soldiers. The “Mad Baron” led his cavalry across Manchuria in an attempt to purge it of Bolshevism. He was captured and executed by the Bolsheviks in September 1921.

"Another White general, Anatoly Pepelyaev, persuaded White emigres in Harbin and Whites living in and around Vladivostok to join the Siberian Volunteer Corps. This force of around 5,000 men made a landing in Yakutsk in January 1923. For six months, they battled the troops of the Red Army before finally being defeated in mid-June."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 14, 2024 - August 16, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

10. The Communists in Control

................................................................................................

................................................

August 16, 2024 - August 16, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Conclusion

................................................................................................

................................................

August 16, 2024 - August 17, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

SOVIET UNION

A History from Beginning to End

Russian History: Soviet Union

by Hourly History.

Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War,

Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................

July 31, 2024 - August 17, 2024.

................................................

Format 317 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 2, 2024 by Hourly History

ASIN:- B0CRDM474L

Language English

................................................................................................

3. Russian History

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

................................................................................................

Russian History: Russian Empire

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

A Life from Beginning to End

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

................................................................................................

"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorised the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

................................................................................................

"—Grigori Rasputin"

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

But facts thst can't be denied are that the Tsarevich Alexei was in not only great pain but risk of life, and that his parents had tried everything else, none of which had helped; and when Rasputin helped by not only removing pain but beginning healing, that was indubitably the only relief found until then by the royal family for their only son and heir.

................................................................................................

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

................................................................................................

"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander?

................................................................................................

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

................................................................................................

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

That was fact, not reluctance.

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

................................................................................................

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

................................................................................................

Surely history of Russia goes further back?

................................................................................................

Who were the "local people"?

................................................................................................

Was there no other name, before?

................................................................................................

"“Where the Russian flag was raised once, it should never be taken down.”

"—Tsar Nicholas I"

................................................................................................

"Pyotr Alekséyevich was born in 1672, the son of Tsar Alexis of Russia. Under Alexis, the area controlled by Russia grew to cover over three million square miles (eight million square kilometers).

................................................................................................

Far too recent!

................................................................................................

"“I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.”

"—Peter the Great"

................................................................................................

WW000?

................................................................................................

"“I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.”

"—Catherine the Great"

................................................................................................

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"

................................................................................................

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

................................................................................................

"Alexander was succeeded by a man who would lead the Russian Empire for the next tumultuous 30 years, his younger brother Nicholas."

................................................................................................

"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander?

................................................................................................

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

................................................................................................

Pacific Ocean?

................................................................................................

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

"“We will smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea and I do not care what the cost will be!”

"—Tsar Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

That was fact, not reluctance.

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

................................................................................................

Obviously the distraught mother couldn't care more about court than about her son's health and life.

................................................................................................

"“In a year of the war the regular army had vanished. It was replaced by an army of ignoramuses.”

"—General Aleksei Brusilov"

................................................................................................

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

................................................................................................

"The new republic would last less than two months, replaced by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic after another revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917."

................................................................................................

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

................................................................................................

Table of Contents

RUSSIAN EMPIRE

................................................................................................

Introduction

Peter the Great and the Beginning of the Russian Empire

A New Dynasty

Catherine the Great

War with Napoleon

The Decembrist Revolt

The Crimean War and Assassination Attempts

The Russo-Japanese War

Reform and Rasputin

World War One: The Beginning of the End

Revolution: Fall of the Russian Empire

Conclusion

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

Introduction

................................................................................................

Surely history of Russia goes further back?

................................................................................................

Who were the "local people"?

................................................................................................

Was there no other name, before?

................................................................................................

................................................

August 17, 2024 - August 18, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 1. Peter the Great and the Beginning of the Russian Empire

................................................................................................

"“Where the Russian flag was raised once, it should never be taken down.”

"—Tsar Nicholas I"

................................................................................................

"Pyotr Alekséyevich was born in 1672, the son of Tsar Alexis of Russia. Under Alexis, the area controlled by Russia grew to cover over three million square miles (eight million square kilometers).

................................................................................................

Far too recent!

................................................................................................

................................................

August 18, 2024 - August 18, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 2. A New Dynasty

................................................................................................

"“I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.”

"—Peter the Great"

................................................................................................

WW000?

................................................................................................

................................................

August 18, 2024 - August 18, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 3. Catherine the Great

................................................................................................

"“I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.”

"—Catherine the Great"

................................................................................................

................................................

August 18, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 4. War with Napoleon

................................................................................................

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"

................................................................................................

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

................................................................................................

"Alexander was succeeded by a man who would lead the Russian Empire for the next tumultuous 30 years, his younger brother Nicholas."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 5. The Decembrist Revolt

................................................................................................

"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander? War And Peace is just that, however couched in indirect paens and however stuffed with multiple love stories, as Tolstoy in trying to make Napoleon look like a loser makes one wonder if Alexander was really a hero no one has ever heard about since for some reason.

................................................................................................

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 6. The Crimean War and Assassination Attempts

................................................................................................

"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorized the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

................................................................................................

Pacific Ocean?

................................................................................................

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 7. The Russo-Japanese War

................................................................................................

"“We will smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea and I do not care what the cost will be!”

"—Tsar Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

That was fact, not reluctance.

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 8. Reform and Rasputin

................................................................................................

"—Grigori Rasputin"

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

................................................................................................

Obviously the distraught mother couldn't care more about court than about her son's health and life.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 9. World War One: The Beginning of the End

................................................................................................

"“In a year of the war the regular army had vanished. It was replaced by an army of ignoramuses.”

"—General Aleksei Brusilov"

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 10. Revolution: Fall of the Russian Empire

................................................................................................

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

................................................................................................

"The new republic would last less than two months, replaced by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic after another revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Conclusion

................................................................................................

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Bibliography

................................................................................................

"Burbank, J. (2007). Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930.

"Hopkirk, P. (1992). The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia.

"Lieven, D. (2002). Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals.

"Plokhy, S. (2017). Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation.

"Pritsak, O. (1977). The Origin of Rus’. The Russian Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/128848

"Seton-Watson, H. (1988). The Russian Empire, 1801-1917."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Russian Empire: A History

from Beginning to End

(History of Russia),

by Hourly History.

................................................

August 17, 2024 - August 19, 2024.

Purchased November 17, 2022.

ASIN:- B0BCHW84QQ

................................................

................................................................................................

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5110064849

................................................................................................

4. Russian History: Russian Revolution

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

Russian History: Soviet Union, Russian Civil War, Russian Empire, Russian Revolution, Crimean War

by Hourly History

................................................................................................

Authors omit significant details, which makes this a very very biased account, especially where nazis are involved.

................................................................................................

"By the turn of the 19th century, Russia had been ruled by powerful emperors for nearly four hundred years, with the Romanov family holding the throne with the ascension of Mikhail Feodorovich in 1613. The succession of Romanov family members to rule was convoluted and had often involved murder, conspiracy, and corruption, undermining the dynasty’s legitimacy as hereditary rulers. International wars and internal revolts had plagued the country during these years, draining the economy, but also allowing Russian expansion in territory and power. Russia was in a continual state of financial disaster, exacerbated because of the lavish expenses of the Romanov court, which rivalled the courts of even the most prosperous European nations, England and France.

"Russia had only recently emerged from four hundred years of feudalism, a system of government that required peasants, labelled as “serfs”, to spend their lives working the land where they were born with little to no chance of ever improving their lot. Serfs were completely in the control of the landlord under laws that governed even the most personal parts of their lives. They were forbidden to leave the property of their landlord except under approved circumstances, could be told when and whom to marry, and could even be sold to another landlord. Czar Alexander II was facing growing disapproval from other European nations who had long dispensed with this framework of social organization and saw Russia as a backward nation both politically and economically. In response to this and increasing internal pressure the czar freed all Russian serfs by decree in 1861. He justified his reform to his critics by stating, “It is better to liberate the peasants from above” than wait until they win their freedom by uprisings “from below.” Though the abolition of a system that had maintained a large percentage of the population as property was an improvement in the lives of the Russian peasants, the problem was more deeply rooted than a change from serf to peasant could rectify. The danger Czar Alexander II was attempting to prevent was more immediate than he realized.

"Even after the abolition of feudalism in Russia, former serfs were required to continue working for their landlords as they always had for two more years. Then, the price of land available for peasants to purchase was artificially raised to preclude most peasants from ever owning their own land. Thus, most peasants stayed where they always had, doing the same work they had done as serfs. In spite of this, an influx of young Russian men and women took advantage of the new freedom of mobility to find jobs in urban factories. This migration to the cities brought about a phase of increased industrialization in Russia, which brought improvement in the Russian economy in turn; unfortunately this also led to a new set of intolerable living conditions for mine and factory workers.

................................................................................................

"Czar Nicolas II, who was to become known as the last czar of Russia, ruled over a nation of growing discontent. In the twelfth year of the new 20th century, workers at a Russian mine in northeast Siberia took bold action that would initialize a wave of common feeling, changing their homeland forever.

"Workers at Lena Goldfields mine along the Lena River were living in terrible conditions. They were forced to work fifteen hours a day or more in an environment that would be hazardous to even the most alert. Injuries were common with an estimated seven hundred accidents per thousand workers. Wages were low, and consisted partly of coupons that could only be redeemed at the company store. This only added to the profitability of the gold mine to its owners and investors, which included foreign nobility and the Russian royal family.

................................................................................................

"When the situation worsened to the extent that the workers were forced to use their hard-earned coupons to purchase rotten meat from the store, they decided to go on strike. Beyond the availability of edible meat, they pushed for fewer hours and other improvements to the working conditions. When the mine administration refused to consider their demands and arrested strike leaders, the workers marched with their complaint to the prosecutor’s office.

"Worker’s Rights, human equality, world war, murder, mysticism, blood and tyranny were to collide in the following decades to alter, irrevocably, the culture of this great nation.

"They were met by the Russian army. Russian soldiers fired into the crowd of protestors, killing two hundred and seventy of the workers and injuring two hundred and fifty more. The divide between the common people and the Russian rulers was clear."

................................................................................................

"In post-war years, tension rose between the Soviet Union and Western nations, particularly the capitalist United States of America. This inflammatory relationship would be known as the Cold War, and worsened noticeably when the Soviet Union became the second nation in the world to develop nuclear weapons. Though the Cold War officially ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, relations between the nations of the former U.S.S.R. remain tenuous.

"Stalin, the loyal Bolshevik who came to power in the aftermath of revolution, would rule Russia through the Second World War and the Korean War. He established a reign of terror that included executions, purges, labor camps and suppression. It is estimated he was responsible for the deaths of as many of twenty million people during his reign."

................................................................................................

Table of Contents

................................................................................................

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

Czarist Rule

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Nicholas Romanov

Rasputin

World War I

1917

Lenin

Trotsky

October Revolution

Execution

Stalin Legacy

Conclusion

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

Chapter 1. Czarist Rule

................................................................................................

“Be Peter the Great, Ivan the Terrible, Emperor Paul. Crush them all under you. Be the Master and all will bow down to you.”

"—Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna"

................................................................................................

"Worker’s Rights, human equality, world war, murder, mysticism, blood and tyranny were to collide in the following decades to alter, irrevocably, the culture of this great nation.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 21, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 2. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

................................................................................................

"In 1848, German radical journalist Karl Marx had been expelled by the governments of Germany, France, and Belgium because of his radical writing. He collaborated with fellow German philosopher Friedrich Engels to publish a far-reaching political pamphlet, The Communist Manifesto.

"The manifesto presents the argument that throughout history societies have been formed with the majority of the population living under the oppression of a powerful minority. The theory goes further to predict that these types of capitalist societies must, of necessity, eventually fall into class warfare and the bourgeoisie, or the upper-class minority, will be overthrown by the proletariat, or working class minority.

................................................................................................

"The short-term demands expressed by the manifesto include first, abolition of private property, free education, a progressive income tax, centralization of credit with a national bank, and nationalization of transportation, communication, and state-owned production. The end result of these demands was envisioned as a classless society where citizens would contribute based on their ability and receive based on their needs, with no need for the device of reward to compel the labor. The final paragraphs of the Communist Manifesto call for a united global action from the proletariat class to overthrow current governments. The text ends with the line, “Working Men of All Countries Unite!”"

This utopia is merely extension of family to world, and thereby impossible - because, while women suffer it for sake of their children, males rarely would agree to do so.

One extreme example is the proportion of divorced males in US who seek to escape paying even child support for their own progeny.

At best is the example of what's termed joint family in India, where brothers live with parents under one roof and so do their wives and descendants, while daughters and sisters are visitors, suffered or tolerateed while they are not married yet, and sent off when they are successfully married off.

................................................................................................

"The Bolshevik leaders who rose to power during the Russian Revolution were all strongly influenced by Marx’s work, including the Communist Manifesto. Vladimir Lenin, who would become the first chairman of the post-revolution government, based his political ideology and his contributions to the shape of the new government on his interpretation of Marx’s writing. Lenin’s own writing would spread and promulgate this view of social organization even further throughout his life. Because of the vast influence Marx’s work has had on governments throughout the world, he is often referred to as “the father of Communism.” Nowhere would Communist theory be as clearly expressed as in Russia in 1917."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 21, 2024 - August 21, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 3. Nicholas Romanov

................................................................................................

"“I am not prepared to be the Czar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”

"—Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

"Born in early 1868, Nicholas Romanov was the eldest of six children born to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. The power of the Imperial government was already waning during his childhood, and the climate of revolution was heating up. When Nicholas was but thirteen years of age his grandfather, Czar Alexander II, was assassinated by an insurgent group intent on overthrowing the czarist rule of Russia.

"On March 1, 1881, Czar Alexander II travelled to military roll call, as he did, predictably, every Sunday. Members of the terrorist group known as Narodnaya Volya, meaning “People’s Freedom,” were waiting for the czar’s carriage at the point the route narrowed and crossed the Pevchesky Bridge. The first explosive that was thrown damaged the czar’s carriage, killed one of his guards, and injured bystanders. It also had the effect of inducing the czar to leave the smoke-filled protection of the bullet-proof carriage. In the confusion of noise, debris, and panic, a second assassin threw another bomb, which exploded in the group of guards and police surrounding the czar. When the smoke cleared, Czar Alexander II lay in the street, hideously mutilated, covered in blood, with both legs torn away in the explosion. In this horrific condition, he was taken speedily by sled to the Winter Palace, where Nicholas arrived with the rest of the family. The czar died from his injuries soon after, with his son Alexander III and grandson Nicholas II at his bedside. The two future czars vowed to avoid his terrible fate. Nicholas’s father Alexander III became czar after the assassination, and the young boy became Tsarevich, heir apparent to the Russian throne."

Very reminiscent of a comparatively recent similar assassination on another continent.

................................................................................................

"Ironically, the assassination of Czar Alexander II ended his plan to enact sweeping social reforms that might have satisfied the goals of groups agitating for the rights of the people. On the very day before he was killed, the czar had drafted a plan for creating an elected legislative body to represent the citizens of Russia. He had intended to release these plans the following day. His son, Alexander III, destroyed these plans when he became czar. The new ruler considered his father’s murder justification for more brutal suppression of civil liberties instead of increased liberty. He is recorded as having vowed, “I shall never, under any circumstances, agree to a representative form of government because I consider it harmful to the people whom God has entrusted to my care.”

"The new administration was particularly hostile towards the Russian Jewish population. Czar Alexander III enacted a series of regulations called the May Laws, or temporary regulations regarding the Jews. Restrictions were placed on Jewish citizens preventing them from settling in certain locations, obtaining loans or mortgages, and transacting business on Sundays or Christian holy days. These “temporary measures” were to remain law for over thirty years. Beyond the punishing laws, violent riots aimed at Jews known as “pogroms” took place with the tacit approval of the czar. This culture of anti-Semitism would continue as an undercurrent in Russia, and would have tragic echoes throughout Europe in the first half of the century."

Does remind one of Fiddler On The Roof.

................................................................................................

"Despite his high station and the growing upheaval in his homeland, the future ruler of Russia spent his teenage years traveling the world. He visited family members in Europe, attending the royal wedding of his cousin the Duke of York in London, as well as touring Egypt, India, Singapore and Bangkok. An attempt was made to assassinate Nicholas while the group was travelling in Japan, causing the trip to be cut short. Nicholas’s father, Czar Alexander III, refused to appoint Nicholas to a position in government, feeling his son was too young to take on the burden of such responsibility. Alexander being only in his forties, was a young ruler himself after the violent premature death of his father. Alexander assumed he would have years in which to prepare his son for the weight of the crown. Unfortunately, this assumption was proven false when Alexander’s health began to decline. In 1894, the czar was diagnosed with terminal kidney disease. Though he received the best treatments available and spent time recuperating in the warmer clime of the summer palace in Livadia, nothing seemed to ease his condition. The czar was forty-nine years old when he passed away from his illness. Nicholas was just twenty-six, and he was the first to admit he was not prepared to take over as ruler of Russia.

"Less than a week after the passing of Czar Alexander III and his ascension to the title of Czar Nicholas II, Nicholas was married. The bride was to his long-time love, Alexandra, a princess of Hesse and the Rhine, whom he had met at his cousin’s wedding in London. Czar Alexander II had opposed the match prior to his illness, but relented when it was clear his health was failing. Alexandra herself had also had reservations about the marriage. She was reluctant to give up her Protestant faith in order to convert to Russian Orthodoxy, as would be required. After the encouragement of her parents, the princess marriage went ahead; the couple appeared to be devoted to each other."

For what it's worth, various royal accounts contradict significant parts of that, especially regarding the love between the couple.

................................................................................................

"The formal coronation ceremony for the new czar and czarina was held in 1896. The public celebration after the ceremony was held in Khodynka field outside of Moscow. It was a festival that promised feasting for all the citizens of Moscow. Unfortunately, a rumor was put out among the citizenry that there was not enough food and drink available for all of the celebrants. The crowd of approximately a hundred thousand people made a rush to get to the promised feast and trampled one another in the process. The end result of the panic was two thousand dead and injured at the celebration marking the beginning of Czar Nicholas II’s rule. The czar’s public image was damaged further when he was obliged to attend a state dinner hosted by French allies. His appearance at a dinner party only hours after the deaths was seen as callous and unfeeling. The tragedy was immediately interpreted as an ill omen for the new czar’s reign, and only increased the distrust of the people.

"Tragic events continued to haunt Nicholas’s reign. In January of 1905, one hundred and twenty thousand workers went on strike in the capital city of Petrograd. The group hoped to present a list of their requests for reforms to Czar Nicholas II directly, so the workers marched toward the Winter Palace, singing the Russian Imperial anthem. The Winter Palace in Petrograd was a lavish Elizabethan-Baroque style building that had been the traditional home of Russian monarchs since 1732. Had Czar Nicholas II and the royal family not already moved to the Alexander palace at Tsarskoe Selo, or if he had given instruction to the minister in residence at the Winter Palace when he was notified of the planned march the night prior, it is possible the tragedy that followed might have been avoided. As it was, the peaceful demonstration was brought to an end on Sunday, January 22. The crowd of demonstrators in the square at the front of the Winter Palace was fired upon by the security police. It is estimated that a thousand men, women, and children were killed in the massacre. The disaster, which became known as Bloody Sunday, outraged the peasants and workers. In response, a wave of strikes and revolt swept the country. Worker’s strikes took place in major cities, and peasant uprisings took place in the country. Even units of the Russian Army rioted along the course of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, threatening to disrupt primary transportation. The crew of the battleship Potemkin also joined the side of the revolt and mutinied.

................................................................................................

"In order to resolve the uprising, which became known as the Revolution of 1905, Czar Nicholas II was forced to institute extensive governmental reforms. The October Manifesto issued on October 30th was meant to appease the peasants and forestall further rebellion. The manifesto promised the establishment of a constitution and representation for the people in government by the formation of an elected legislative body called the Duma, meaning “deliberation.” Many of the terms of the new legislation echoed the plan Czar Alexander II had been considering enacting twenty years earlier.

"Neither the October Manifesto nor Nicholas’ stated intentions met their promise. The first two sessions of the Duma were contentious and concentrated on gaining further governmental reform in favor of the workers. Instead of meeting this challenge diplomatically with the goal of coming to satisfactory settlement of grievances, Czar Nicholas II responded by dissolving the sessions without any agreements on reform being reached. The third session of the Duma, started in 1907, lasted the full five-year term prescribed in the October Manifesto by supporting government policy and only criticizing the worst cases of government abuses. Minimal progress in reform was made during this session. The fourth meeting of the Duma was also disbanded by Czar Nicholas in an act of desperation, but ended instead by accepting his resignation as ruler and establishing the first Provisional Government.

................................................................................................

................................................

August 21, 2024 - August 21, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 4. Rasputin

................................................................................................

"“Our Friend’s opinions of people are sometimes very strange, as you know yourself; therefore one must be careful.”

"—Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

Bias on part of authors is quite obvious, since practices by church aren't questioned equally by them.

................................................................................................

Any similar arguments regarding Lourdes, and control of entrance to the place in hands of church?

................................................................................................

"When the czar took personal control of the war effort in 1914, Rasputin became even more influential with the empress. People feared that Czar Nicholas II would be killed in the war and they would be left to be ruled by Empress Alexandra as a puppet to Rasputin. Similar arrangements had previously occurred during Romanov rule, reinforcing the fear of this possibility.

"Along with the undue influence he seemed to have with the empress and his reputed dark powers, Rasputin was also seen to behave outrageously when away from court. He was accused of drunken carousing, public indecency, visiting with women of ill repute, and even being a German spy. Rasputin soon became the most hated man in Russia, but Empress Alexandra remained his staunch supporter. Letters between Alexandra and Nicholas during this time refer to Rasputin as “our friend.”

"An assassination attempt was made against Rasputin in 1914. A woman wearing a black handkerchief to cover her face attacked him in the street and stabbed him in the stomach as he made his way home. He survived the attempt by running from her, covered in his own blood, with her chasing behind with her knife. He was eventually able to use a stick to beat the woman and defend himself. The woman, Khionia Guseva, was sentenced to a life of confinement in a madhouse, and Rasputin spent six weeks in the hospital in the care of the royal physicians. His recovery was seen as another example of his power.

................................................................................................

"In December of 1916, Rasputin sent a rather bizarre and ominous letter to Czar Nicholas II. In his letter he explained that he had a premonition of his own coming death. He declared that, if he was murdered by his brothers, the Russian peasants, that the czar and his children would reign in Russia for hundreds of years. However, if the czar’s family was responsible for his death, they would themselves die within two years.

"Fearing that Rasputin was exerting a demonic influence over the czar and his family and thus all of Russia, Nicholas’s cousin, Grand Duke Dimitry Pavlovich, along with two other prominent men, planned to assassinate Rasputin. They invited him to the Yusupov Palace on December 30, 1916 whereupon they served him his preferred sweet wine and cakes all laced liberally with cyanide. When the poison did not immediately have the desired effect, Prince Felix Yusupov drew his pistol and shot Rasputin. With their target poisoned and shot, the men left Rasputin for dead and continued their evening. Amazingly, the injured man regained consciousness then fled the palace with Yusupov chasing him through the streets in order to shoot him a second time. Rasputin was still alive after the second bullet lodged in his back and the men threw his body into the freezing Neva River.

"Several days after the assassination attempt, Rasputin’s frozen corpse was found in the river. Prince Yusupov and the czar’s own cousin, Grand Duke Pavlovich were exiled as punishment for the murder. Whatever the truth of Rasputin’s alleged dark powers, Romanov family members had taken part in his murder, and the first condition of his curse against the royal family was fulfilled."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 21, 2024 - August 22, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 5. World War I

................................................................................................

"In June of 1914, Austrian archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in the streets of Sarajevo, and the world went to war. Treaties and alliances between different nations meant that this act of terrorism from Serbia would by no means be an end to the violence. With seeming inevitability, nation after nation declared war. Austria-Hungary turned to its ally in Germany for support in punishing Serbia for the unforgivable crime. When Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum threatening military action, the Serbian government immediately requested assistance from its ally, Russia. Germany then declared war on Russia and started by attacking France, Russia’s ally. With the violation of Belgian neutrality by the German army as their route to attacking France, Great Britain was obliged to enter the fray as well. Russia was drawn into the global conflict along with its European allies. By August, the growing anti-German fervor and battle-induced public patriotism were enough to overshadow the people’s discontent with the ruling class and forestall worker strikes for a time.

"Although it may have been impossible for any nation to be truly prepared for World War I, Russia certainly was not. A lack of necessary equipment and supplies plagued the army from the start. Along with thousands of men sent to the front without boots, ammunition or bedding, it is estimated that a third of the soldiers sent into battle were not issued a rifle. These unarmed soldiers were expected to obtain weapons as the opportunity arose and their comrades were killed during battle.

"Foreseeably, the ill-prepared Russian army fared poorly in the Great War. Russia would lose more soldiers and civilians than any nation had in any previous war. Soldiers were conscripted to replace the thousands that had died or been taken prisoner, leading to labor shortages. The production and distribution of food and other necessities was negatively impacted across Russia. Worse yet, the war effort strained the nation’s finances beyond breaking; inflation climbed to near four hundred percent. The continuous stream of defeats disheartened the country, and Czar Nicholas II, who had taken personal responsibility for the war effort, was held to blame. The people were poor and hungry, the war was humiliating and tragic, and the growing anger focused on Russian leaders, the czar and his family."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 22, 2024 - August 22, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 6. 1917

................................................................................................

"“From being a patriotic myth, the Russian people have become an awful reality.”

"—Leon Trotsky"

And this was supposed to be someone leftist, one of the people, not a Romanov!

................................................................................................

"Against the backdrop of World War I and the terrible losses associated with it, the people of Russia were suffering. The food shortages brought on by so much of the nation’s assets being dedicated to support the losing war meant people had no food. On March 8, 1917 demonstrators, primarily peasant women, took to the streets of the Russian capital of Petrograd demanding bread. They were joined by huge numbers of industrial workers already on strike. On March 11th, troops of the Petrograd army garrison were ordered to put down the uprising. Some of the soldiers opened fire on the crowd, killing protestors, but the people still refused to leave the streets. By March 12th, the soldiers of the garrison had defected to support the cause of the demonstrators, refusing to fire on the crowd when ordered to do so.

"In the fallout that followed, the members of the Petrograd Soviet issued an order to take control of the Russian army. The Duma set up a provisional government led by Alexander Kerensky. On the day following the uprising, March 15th, Czar Nicholas II abdicated the throne for himself and Alexei in favor of his brother Michael. Michael in turn refused to take the crown. This led to the power in Russia being shared uneasily between the provisional government and the Bolshevik-controlled Petrograd Soviet.

"The provisional government under Kerensky attempted to form the new Russian government as a republic, in accordance with the goals of the Socialist Revolutionary Party, but this move angered many who believed that the goal should be the gathering of a Constituent Assembly to determine the new course of government. The provisional government also determined to continue Russian involvement in World War I in spite of popular sentiment against the war. It was feared that withdrawal would negate alliances with European nations who were providing Russia with needed supplies. This decision was particularly unpopular among the military, who had assumed the new government would end their involvement in the losing war. Kerensky added to the feeling of disconnect in the army when he chose this moment to restructure the military chain of command and yet failed to address the abysmal deficit of supplies and morale.

................................................................................................

"Meanwhile, Bolshevik activists continued to agitate among the peasants, workers, and military. Bolshevik political meetings were held at factories to revolutionize workers. This group in particular had continuously been acting out in protest of the oppressive labor conditions, and were more than ready to embrace Bolshevik ideas.

"In spite of the overthrow of the government and the abdication of the czar, the social and economic problems that led to the revolt in March did not improve. Soldiers left their posts and returned home in hoped of securing land for their families. Widespread raids on farms took place amid peasant food riots when the provisional government did not correct the food supply problems. The imperial government was replaced not by liberty, but by anarchy. This confusing and chaotic state of affairs would last for six months until an opportunistic new leader entered the picture in the form of Vladimir Lenin and the tempting Bolshevik party promise of “Peace, bread and land.”"

................................................................................................

................................................

August 22, 2024 - August 22, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 7. Lenin

................................................................................................

"“While the State exists there can be no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no State.”

"—Vladimir Lenin"

And it has little to do with actual capabilities or willingness to work, either.

................................................................................................

"Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov was a young man headed to study law when his older brother Alexander was arrested on accusations of plotting the assassination of the Czar Alexander III as part of a radical group. His role in the plot had been to make the bomb that was to be used in the attempt. Alexander was later convicted and executed by hanging along with his co-conspirators. Influenced by Alexander’s death, Vladimir began studying some of the radical ideas that had led his brother to make his disastrous assassination attempt. When he arrived at Kazan University, he joined an agrarian socialist revolutionary group and became the elected representative of the illegal and secretive Samara and Simbirsk zemlyachestvo, a social club for men hailing from the same part of the country.

"Because of his brother’s conviction as a traitor and assassin, Vladimir was closely watched by officials around Kazan University. When he participated in a strike over a minor university student policy, he was arrested under suspicion of having been the leader of the protestors. As punishment, he was expelled from the university and forced to continue his studies as an external student. He now used his study time to read widely. He was particularly inspired by Nikolay Chernyshevsky’s novel What is to be Done? and Karl Marx’s book Capital. He was able to take his exams as an external student with the University of St. Petersburg and achieved a first-class degree with honors.

................................................................................................

"After graduating, Vladimir continued to participate in the Russian Socialist movement. He travelled around Europe to meet with other socialist groups, specifically the Emancipation of Labor group in Finland. A prolific writer, he created and distributed revolutionary pamphlets to factory workers. He collected illegal revolutionary publications from the European nations he visited and smuggled them back into Russia for distribution. For his work, he earned a high-ranking position in the Social Democrats group.

"Vladimir was eventually arrested and charged with sedition for his involvement with a socialist propaganda piece, The Worker’s Cause. After waiting a year in prison for his sentencing and cursory trial, he was finally exiled to Siberia. In exile, he continued writing political pamphlets anonymously and under many pseudonyms. Most notably, this is when he began using the name Lenin, under which he would achieve his greatest success. This was also the time when Lenin’s beliefs on socialist philosophy diverted from the teachings of Karl Marx. While Marx had predicted a middle-class revolution as a necessary precursor to a socialist revolution of the working class proletariat, Lenin was convinced the workers of Russia could successfully throw off the Imperial regime without rebellion in the middle-class. He was also convinced he could speed the process.

................................................................................................

"“They transported Lenin in a sealed truck like a plague bacillus into Russia.”

"—Winston Churchill"

................................................................................................

"Immediately upon arriving in Petrograd, Lenin famously gave a speech at the Petrograd train station calling for a proletariat revolution to replace the provisional government. He became a well-known figure at radical meetings around Petrograd, belittling political rivals, the Mensheviks, as well as anyone who favored a more conciliatory solution, and calling for a push toward a socialist society. He also consistently urged an armed insurrection to overthrow the provisional government in the meetings of the Bolshevik Party.

"In August of 1917, General Lavr Kornilov, Commander of the Russian army, joined with the Petrograd Soviet to undertake a military coup of the provisional government. The coup failed, but it did give the Bolsheviks the opportunity to push their socialist agenda back to the forefront. Their success was marked by the election of the Marxist Leon Trotsky to lead the Petrograd Soviets.

................................................................................................

"The success of the Bolshevik movement soon led to an armed expression of their revolutionary ideas. Lenin was instrumental in bringing about this next step. In October of 1917, militia loyal to the Bolsheviks took control of Petrograd’s vital infrastructure, including transportation, communication, printing and utility assets in a bloodless coup. The Bolshevik party immediately declared the formation of a new government, with Lenin in the leading position of Chairman.

"With his revolutionary goal achieved, Lenin led the new government, beginning by renaming the Bolshevik Russian Social Democratic Labor Party to the Russian Communist Party, thus emphasizing the goal of establishing a Communist society. He kept his campaign promise of peace by signing a diplomatic treaty with the Central Powers under harsh terms, and cancelling all of the commitments the Imperial government had made to its allies. This treaty worsened an already desperate situation in Russia, as the land lost to Germany was some of the most productive farmland in the famine gripped nation. In Lenin’s mind, it was imperative that the new government move forward. With civil war between the Bolshevik-led Red Army and the anti-Communist White Army growing, avoiding the continuation of a costly external war was worth almost any price.

................................................................................................

They weren't slow to learn the ways of the church, at that, were they, with lies and falsehoods, fraudulous labeling and false propaganda always at hand, to cover up shortcomings?

................................................................................................

"Lenin implemented the New Economic Policy, or NEP, in March of 1921 in an effort to at once soothe the rebellious people and rebuild the Russian economy. The New Economic Policy was an interesting mix of socialism and capitalism. Many Bolshevik party members in government were against the policy and saw it as a betrayal of their communist goals. Lenin himself saw the policy as a temporary measure and called it the ante-chamber of socialism.

"Under the New Economic Policy, the government maintained control of transportation, industry, and banking, but allowed private enterprise. People were able to build private businesses with their own restaurants, shops and industry. Peasants were allowed to work their own family farms. These measures allowed for the economy to begin its recovery quickly.

"In other areas of society, measures were taken to improve life for all citizens in a controlled way. A literacy campaign was undertaken that provided instruction in traditional subjects as well as vocational training in an environment that promoted the government and communist ideas. Art and literature experienced a period of growth, even with the government censorship of all printed materials. Writers who strayed too far from approved Communist thought were at least rumored to disappear more often than reasonably expected."

Again an example of bad writing there, in the last sentence. Authors are talking of things going well, and then speak of writers vanishing "more often than reasonably expected", in the same stride - as if that isn't contradiction.

................................................................................................

"Religion came under attack as counter to Communist ideas. Karl Marx had condemned religion in his writings as “the opiate of the people.” On a more concrete level, the Russian Orthodox Church was closely associated with the czarist regime and had also been an ally of the anti-Communist White Army during the Russian Civil War. Nuns and priests were arrested and sent to labor camps while thousands of churches were destroyed. The Church that remained was under the control of the government, to the extent that some KGB officers even became priests as a means of infiltrating the religious culture.

"Throughout all of this, the state-controlled media and printers created a kindly caretaker perception of Lenin. He was often referred to by the people as “Papa Lenin.” Statues and busts of Lenin were erected in many Russian towns, and he would become a beloved leader in Russia to such an extent that, upon his death in January of 1924, his body was mummified to allow for public display in the Red Square mausoleum so that more mourners could view the body. The leader’s body remains on display today in Moscow, where a group of scientists are assigned to maintain it in good condition."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 22, 2024 - August 23, 2024.

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................................................................................................

Chapter 8. Trotsky

................................................................................................

"Leon Trotsky, who would become head of the Petrograd Soviet and a leader in the Communist Party, started his career as a union organizer in Nikolayev. He would be in and out of prison and exiled repeatedly for his pro-Marxist activities until he finally became involved with the Bolshevik Party during the revolution. He became Lenin’s second in command in the new government, one of seven men on the first Politburo. He was soon granted the title of Commissar for Foreign Affairs.

"Oblivious to the upheaval in the Russian government, World War I continued to rage, with Russian forces faring poorly against their German foes. Trotsky reacted to the poor performance of the Russian military by determining it was impossible for their small, poorly trained and outfitted force to succeed against the German war machine. He advocated the creation of the Supreme Military Council to serve as an advisory body consisting of experienced Russian generals. This, in turn, led to the reorganizing and redirection of the Red Army under Trotsky as the new People’s Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs. He instituted policies of conscription, forced labor, and strict discipline. When peasants rose in opposition to the forced conscription into the Red Army, the common response from the conscription units was to force compliance. This was often done by taking family or friends as hostages and threatening to shoot them unless obeyed.

................................................................................................

"Trotsky would continue these policies and build upon them when he was appointed the People’s Commissar of Army and Navy affairs. He spent the next several years transforming the disorganized and ineffective Red Army into a controlled and intimidating military force. One particular strategy had been particularly criticized: Trotsky utilized party-controlled blocking squads to manage inexperienced and conscripted troops in order to prevent them from fleeing battle or deserting.

"Trotsky’s leadership was essential to the revolutionary agenda. His tactics and organizational skills turned the Red Army into a fearsome military arm for the Communist Party. He believed in suppressing property owners and political opponents in order to promote socialistic government. Trotsky championed the use of concentration camps, labor camps, state control of trade unions, and summary executions. These practices would continue as state policy when Stalin took control of the government.

................................................................................................

"Trotsky’s time as a political leader in Russia ended when he was pushed out by groups within the Communist Party who were critical of his techniques. Opponents cited his overreach in taking credit and failing to acknowledge the contributions others had made in the 1917 revolution. Having gone against directives from Lenin and Stalin, he was expelled from the Communist Party and deported from the Soviet Union.

"Cut off from Russia, Trotsky endeavored to support socialist movements in Mexico and the United States. He wrote several books during this time, giving his account of the events of the 1917 revolution and the development of Soviet Russia. He also tirelessly criticized the new leader of the Communist Party, Josef Stalin, and the totalitarian nature of his administration. His books were forbidden in Russia under Soviet regulations until 1987 and finally began to be published in his home country in 1989. He spent the last years of his life in exile and was finally murdered at his villa in Mexico by an agent employed by Stalin."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 23, 2024 - August 23, 2024.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 9. October Revolution

................................................................................................

"“It is true that liberty is precious- so precious that it must be rationed.”

"—Vladimir Lenin"

Wasn't it Mark Twain who said exactly that, about Truth?

................................................................................................

"The proletariat, as a social class, were described in Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s Communist Manifesto as the industrial working class. The proletariat were seen as in direct opposition to the capitalist bourgeoisie, who were the traditional land and business owners. Marx believed that the overthrow of the bourgeoisie by the proletariat was fated; a natural evolution of society towards a classless society. With Bolshevik leaders who believed in the vision set forth in the Communist Manifesto, and the Russian working class growing more angry as their situation worsened, Marx’s philosophy would soon be tested.

"The Bolshevik party maneuvered and planned for the desired overthrow of first Imperial rule and then the provisional government at their headquarters in Petersburg and at the Smolny institute. They gained the support of the vast majority of the Russian army, and were making preparations in advance of the coming uprising, but the people were even more ready for revolution than anyone realized.

................................................................................................

"In March of 1917, the Russian workers of the proletariat took matters into their own hands. The scarcity of food had pushed them into desperate action. Demonstrators took to the streets in Petrograd. Ninety thousand men and women joined in a general worker’s strike, swelling the ranks of protestors to an overwhelming number. Police forces were unable to subdue the crowds, who took to rioting and destroying police stations throughout the city.

"On March 11th, the troops stationed in Petrograd were ordered to take control of the uprising. Even though regiments of soldiers fired on groups of protestors, the people would not submit. When Czar Nicholas II responded by once again dissolving the elected legislative body, the Duma, the troops of the Petrograd garrison turned their support to the people.

"With no support from the disbanded Duma, and no support from the Russian military, Czar Nicholas II found himself in an untenable situation. He officially abdicated the throne on behalf of himself and his young heir, Alexei. The people of Russia had forced an end to centuries of czarist rule without specific direction from the Bolshevik party and largely without bloodshed. The next target would be the provisional government."

................................................................................................

................................................

August 23, 2024 - August 27, 2024.

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................................................................................................

Chapter 10. Execution

................................................................................................

"After Czar Nicholas II abdicated the Russian throne in 1917, he and his family became little more than prisoners in the hands of first the Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky and then the Bolshevik party and the Red Army. They were placed under house arrest, allegedly for their own protection, and frequently moved from house to house as the creation of a new government and the turmoil of civil war tore at Russia from the inside."

Why authors fail to mention cowardly decision by his first cousin and almost identical lookalike George V, is unclear. Parliament did OK bringing out the Russian royals, but the king backed out.

................................................................................................

"The family was treated increasingly poorly as time went on, and the lustre of Nicholas’ previous position grew more tarnished in the eyes of revolutionary and war-weary men. The idea that he should be put on trial for crimes committed under his rule was a constant threat. The family was soon allowed fewer luxuries, servants and food, and were increasingly harassed by the soldiers assigned to guard their captivity. Bolshevik soldiers delighted in making lewd suggestions and drawing pictures on the fence to offend Nicholas’ daughters.

"The Bolsheviks had more to concern them than the imprisonment of one family. The White Army was opposed to the Red Army and the Bolshevik led Communist Party’s control of the Russian government. By July of 1918, White Army forces were getting uncomfortably close to Yekaterinburg, where the Romanov family was being held. The Bolsheviks knew they could not allow the family to fall into the hands of the White Army. Access to any one of the seven Romanov family members would legitimize the cause of the White Army in the eyes of many of the Russian people and, perhaps more importantly, other European governments, specifically the monarchies. The anti-Communist group would then be able to garner more powerful international support in their efforts to remove the Communist Party from power. This scenario had to be avoided at all costs.

................................................................................................

"Around midnight on July 17th, the Romanovs were informed by their guards that they were moving to a safer location. Relocation was a common occurrence throughout their captivity, so while the late night call to move was odd, it is likely the family was not unduly alarmed. They were told to wait in the small cellar of the house until their transport arrived.

"After only a short wait in the dark room, they were surrounded by officers of the Secret Police. Yakov Yurovsky, the commandant charged with the family’s care, read an official order aloud: “Nikolai Alexandrovich, in view of the fact that your relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you.” At this point, the small cellar became a chamber of death and terror as the execution squad opened fire. After the initial barrage, the doors were opened to allow the smoke to clear. Any of the Romanovs or their loyal staff members who were still alive were then bayoneted where they lay on the floor. It is believed this was the fate of the Romanov girls, Tatiana, Anastasia, and Maria. They appeared to have survived the shooting because the pounds of diamonds that had been secreted in their clothing gave them some protection from the bullets. The only Romanov son, fourteen-year-old Alexei, was shot twice in the back of his head.

"The executioners hid the bodies, but because news of the royal family’s deaths was advantageous to the Communist Party’s cause, the actual deaths were not covered up. Treasonous correspondence between the Romanovs and imagined French allies was fabricated in order to justify the assassination.

................................................................................................

"Perhaps because of the mystery surrounding the location of the bodies of the executed royal family, a powerful legend arose. It was rumored, and perhaps hoped for among the Russian people, that Nicholas’ daughter, Anastasia or his son Alexei had survived the massacre and gone into hiding. Several people stepped forward in the following years claiming to be one of those surviving children, some of them convincing enough to bolster the popular theory. This thin hope was renewed in 1991 when five bodies were exhumed from a pit covered with railroad ties along a lonely cart track north of Yekaterinburg. The bodies were identified using DNA comparisons as those of Czar Nicholas II, Czarina Alexandra, and three of the royal daughters. Two of the children were not found buried with the rest of the family, and it was eagerly viewed as evidence that both Alexei and Anastasia might have survived. Hope was shattered in 2007 when the bodies of Prince Alexei and his last sister were finally recovered and laid to rest with their family in the Saint Catherine Chapel in Saint Petersburg.

"New information was released in 1993 with the report by one of the men responsible for maintaining the Romanovs’ imprisonment, Commandant Yakov Yurovsky. The other men who took part in the execution were also identified as G.P. Nikulin, M.A. Medvedev, Peter Ermakov, S.P. Vaganov, A.G. Kabanov, P.S. Medvedev, V.N. Netrebin, and Y.M. Tselms. It is also noted that some of the guards refused to take part in the killing. Peter Voikov was the man charged with disposal of the bodies. He is recorded as having obtained one hundred and fifty gallons of gasoline and four hundred pounds of sulphuric acid from the Yekaterinburg pharmacy in the days surrounding the murders.

................................................................................................

"The date of the executions was documented as July 17th 1918. The curse Rasputin had placed on the family prior to his death in 1916 was finally chillingly proven to have been fulfilled. The family had indeed died just over the specified two years after Rasputin’s own murder at the hands of Nicholas’s relative. As to justice for the murdered family, the investigation into the deaths of Czar Nicholas II and his family was reopened in 2010 by a Moscow court as a case against the state, even though the men believed to be personally responsible had long since passed away."

Including Lenin.

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................................................

August 27, 2024 - August 27, 2024.

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................................................................................................

Chapter 10. Stalin

................................................................................................

"—Maxim Gorky"

................................................................................................

"Josef Vissarionovich Djugashvili was a poor young man from Georgia. He suffered much from smallpox as a child, which left him with scars that would last his entire life. He managed to obtain a scholarship that allowed him to attend a seminary with the goal of becoming a priest in the Georgian Orthodox Church. While at school he began studying the works of the German philosopher Karl Marx and secretly supported the revolutionary movement to overthrow the Russian monarchy. He was actually expelled from the seminary for missing exams due to his work on Marxist propaganda.

"With his education abruptly ended, Josef became a political agitator, and eventually joined the Bolshevik movement led by Vladimir Lenin. With his revolutionary activity including bank robberies, Josef was arrested and imprisoned multiple times between 1902 and 1913. When he was thirty years old, he changed his name to Joseph Stalin, from the Russian for “man of steel.”

................................................................................................

"Stalin was a loyal member of the Bolshevik party. When Lenin was in exile in Switzerland in 1912, he appointed Stalin as the representative to the first Central Committee of the Bolshevik Party. When the Bolsheviks seized power in Russia from the provisional government set up after Nicholas II’s abdication, Lenin was confirmed as the new leader. Stalin did well in the political environment thus created. He garnered more power in the party as the years went by, and in 1922 he became secretary-general of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. From this position, he maneuvered to raise his allies into positions of power as well. With this power base behind him, he was able to take control of the Communist Party after Lenin passed away in 1924. Within the decade, Josef Stalin would rule as dictator of the Soviet Union.

"As one of his first acts as ruler, Stalin initiated a set of five-year plans meant to reshape the nation into a more profitable and manageable form. The government controlled the economy. The government collectivized and controlled the farms. The government controlled the media. The government controlled the police, and the government controlled the gulags, the forced labor camps. These policies did raise the agrarian Union of Soviet Socialist Republics into an industrial power, but the replacement of agricultural resources caused reduction in food supplies that contributed to the Soviet famine of 1932 and 1933.

................................................................................................

Hitler succeeded in this, just as anyone with animus against a woman succeeds simply by starting rumors and gossip against her 'character', with nothing but a question and an insinuation.

................................................................................................

Most do - and did, from nazis to church, from US to China!

Again, very badly written paragraph consisting of only two sentences where the second sentence completely contradicts the previous, with no explanation as to why of either, or of the switch.

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................................................

August 27, 2024 - August 28, 2024.

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................................................................................................

Chapter 11. Legacy

................................................................................................

"The Russian Revolution of 1917 did not immediately lead to the global proletariat revolution that Bolshevik leaders expected and hoped for, but it did eventually change the world.

"In 1944 during World War II, the lyrics of the Russian national anthem were changed to include a tribute to socialist leaders Lenin and Stalin. The new second verse reads: “Through tempests the sun of freedom shone to us, and the great Lenin illuminated our path. We were raised by Stalin to be true to the people. To labor and heroic deeds he inspired us!” After Stalin’s death, these lyrics were no longer acceptable as a part of the national anthem. A new anthem was established in 2000, using the same music, but with no lyrics."

"The ideas expressed by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in their Communist Manifesto have continued to be a force in socio-political thought throughout the years since its publication with Russian government. The Russian Revolution has been used as an example by both proponents and critics."

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................................................

August 28, 2024 - August 28, 2024.

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................................................................................................

Conclusion

................................................................................................

"“If what you have done yesterday still looks big to you, you haven't done much today.”

"—Mikhail Gorbachev"

................................................................................................

"The Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, undone by a new popular revolution opposed to the government that had usurped the power of the Russian monarchy. The last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, resigned and declared his office and title dissolved. All power in the government was turned over to Boris Yeltsin, the new Russian President. The fifteen Soviet Republics all seceded from the Soviet Union and became their own nations, struggling with instituting governmental structures of their own.

"The statues of Lenin and Stalin that had stood for decades in town squares across the land were torn down one by one in a show of rebellion. The powerful cults of personality that had developed around these men in Soviet Russia lost some of their strength, but still maintain a hold on the hearts and minds of citizens of the dissolved nation. The heroes and sometimes villains of the revolution had themselves created a government as hated by the people as the monarchy had been in 1917, when Russia was remade by revolution."

................................................................................................

RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

A History from Beginning to End

................................................

August 19, 2024 - August 28, 2024.

................................................

Published May 15, 2019

by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

ISBN:- 9781530904105

(ISBN10: 1530904102)

ASIN:- 1530904102

................................................................................................

5. Russian History: Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

CRIMEAN WAR

A History from Beginning to End

Russian History: Crimean War

by Hourly History.

................................................................................................

Well written except for the repeated insistence that this war is forgotten, something far from correct or true.

................................................................................................

"“‘Forward, the Light Brigade!

"Charge for the guns!’ he said.

"Into the valley of Death

"Rode the six hundred.”

"—Alfred, Lord Tennyson"

................................................................................................

For the first time?

What about the Austrian - Hungarian doctor, Ignaz Semmelweis, responsible for reducing death rate of new mothers in childbirth?

"The year was 1846, and our would-be hero was a Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis."

Surely that precedes Crimean War and report by Florence Nightingale in 1860?

................................................................................................

Do they realise the chain of events leading to Russian Revolution, and thence to the treaty between Germany and Russia that eased the path of Hitler occupying Europe until he turned on Russia in 1941, began here, in Anglo-French coordinated attack against Russia damaging Russian economy?