Pershing Lecture Series: The Russian Revolution - Sean N. Kalic and Gates Brown

If you are ever feeling depressed, take a course in Russian history. I did many years ago and even though I was a military cold-warrior at the time I came away with respect for the hardiness of the Russian people. There are those who say the Chinese lost more people in the 20th Century but the Russian casualty figures from 1900 to 1945 are something that's hard to get your head around. I'm not sure there was any way to prevent the Bolsheviks from wreaking the havoc they did during their terrible reign but the provisional government may have had a chance if they had pulled out of the war instead of continuing to fight. Of course if that happens, the Germans are able to send their forces to the Western Front sooner, limiting the influence of the American Army whose numbers would have been significantly smaller. If Germany wins the war, all bets are off as far as where things go from there. Interesting lecture. Thanks for posting.

great lecture

A little less condescension on the conditions under Alex 3 would be appropriate - his changes represented better conditions than the USA at the same time

US Libertarians... Ron Paul, etc, would have been extremely irked by reformist Alexander III.

Happy Birthday for Julian Assange!

I didn't realize until recently that almost all of the Bolsheviks were Jews, with Stalin being a notable exception.

why were Lenins Bolsheviks part of the social democratic faction? It seems to me they fitted better with the SR's

Probably the best, most comprehensive and well articulated historical overview of the Russia revolution, which morphed into the first communist revolution I ever heard.

"the police are shooting at peaceful protesters in the streets because the radicals have started behaving provocatively and this is a Russian, Soviet thing" Funny, I always thought it was an American thing: May 4 1886 in Chicago, September 10 1897 in Ludlow, August 28-31 1921 at Mount Blair, March 7 1932 in Detroit, May 30 1937 in Chicago. BTW, It's not the police, it's actually the army shooting on January 22 1905. Does this guy really know the specifics of what he's talking about, or is he just nervous and confused? So, the US police like to shoot at their citizens, and the Russian army likes to shoot at their own.

Is this a presentation for high schoolers? I'm actually serious it sees rather dumbed down for adults.

All revolutions are "little r" unless accompanied by their defining terms

It's always refreshing to get a full spectrum view of such an historical and world changing event in Human Relations and Power ...

Interesting

Not going well was an understatement. The war for Russia was so bad they were would rather fight each other than the Germans.

I'm not sure about the point of speaking about 1st Amendment (to the US constitution) rights in relation to Tsarist Russia.

Disappointing that this professor does not know the Russian language. He refers to the zemstvos as "zemstovos" and does not correctly pronounce that consonant cluster, "mstv". Zem-stvo.

Nicholas didn’t ask the advice of his generals. They held him as a prisoner until he agreed to sign the abdication document.

This speaker is the only historian I have ever read or heard that describes Alexander III as a reformer. Mainstream historians have always described him as an extreme reactionary.

The speaker’s effort to represent Alexander III as a reforming tsar is ridiculous. He never even mentions the anti-Jewish pogroms of 1881, which were encouraged by the tsar and his ministers. This caused a well-educated middle class group to be attracted to the revolutionary movement. This provided the workers and peasants with a group of educated leaders, making a successful revolution possible

" Their kingdom and their tyranny is coming,"
"The unlimited despotism of their ideology is now only beginning. Under this tyranny human kindness and neighbourliness as well as the longing for justice will fade away; all Christian and patriotic ideals will perish for ever!"
- Fyodor Dostoevsky

Alexander Solzhenitsyn declared:
"The world has never before known a godlessness as organized, militarized and tenaciously malevolent as that preached by Marxism. Within the philosophical system of Marx and Lenin, and at the heart of their psychology, Hatred of God is the principle driving force, more fundamental than all their political and economic pretensions. Militant atheism is not merely incidental, or marginal, to Communist policy; it is not a side effect, but the central pivot. To achieve its diabolical ends, Communism needs to control a population devoid of religious and national feeling, and this entails a destruction of faith and nationhood. Communists proclaim both of these objectives openly, and just as openly put them into practice."

Too short. I could listen to a 10 hour lecture xD

many agents jesuit trained Lenin Marx Trotski etc

Kerensky. In the end, the Mexicans picked him out of a lineup.
I'll let myself out through Potemkin's poop deck.

''the world-famous bread shortages of petrograd in winter 1917 likewise turn out ,on closer inspection,to be mostly mythical''...Ref:Sean Mc Meekin "the russian revolution...A new history'',page xiv.

This guy is so subjective

That revolution was not Russian. Lenin, Trotsky, heads of NKVD, Gulags were not Russian, nor Orthodox.

Uploaded take this down and re edit the video. Terrible introduction timing going on

This guy got off to a bad start, pretending the Tzar was progressive. He wasn't, he was forced to give power to the Duma. He took over control of the army during the war, something he was not qualified to do. The peasants had very little control. It is as if he is trying to be funny. I cannot watch this much longer he keeps repeating the Claim he wants progress but slowly as if he is defending an appalling system.

A bit too simplistic superficial there are better terms than good guy etc,

odd audio

For a better presentation see "The February Revolution in Russia by Dominic Lieven who has some book on Russia including "Nicholas II" a fine bio of him
Alexander II The Last Great Tsar Eduard Radzinsky who also has a bio of Nicholas II called "The Last Tsar"
Alexander III His Life and Reign good bio of him by Margarita Nelpa who also has books Killing Rasputin on Rasputin and his murder and "The Last Imperial Heir" on Nicholas II son Alexei
The Russian Revolution by Richard Pipes is good but slightly dated account of this even