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It's been a century since
the Russian Revolution
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and the formation of the
world's first communist state.
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But how did it happen?
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How could the mighty Romanov
dynasty, that lasted for 300 years,
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fall to a ragtag group
of revolutionaries,
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who brought with them Joseph Stalin
and a brutal reign of terror?
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Lenin understood it wasn't
your numbers that mattered,
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it wasn't your popular
support that mattered,
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you just paralyzed the country
by occupying the key points,
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and then you take over.
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Revolutions don't happen from the
dispossessed and the starving,
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00:00:42,333 --> 00:00:44,733
they happen from the middle
class, and it's always been true.
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But at the heart of the
Russian Revolution
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lay a very personal battle
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between Lenin's Ulyanov
family and the royal family,
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who were determined to
retain autocratic rule.
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The tsarina used to say that
Russia likes to feel the whip.
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There was always the
feeling that the tsars
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had the divine right of kings,
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they had a sort of God-given obligation
to rule themselves and the autocrats.
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So, there wasn't really
space for democracy.
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The disaster that's
happened to Russia since
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is substantially down to
mistakes made by Nicholas II.
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He is utterly, utterly useless.
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He was a man who shouldn't
have been tsar.
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He wasn't suited to the
onerous task of monarch.
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The errors made by the tsar would
bring an empire to its knees.
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But no one could have
predicted that Vladimir Lenin
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would be the man to seize
control in the chaos.
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Lenin understood that power is
constrict in certain knots,
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that you take over a
railway junction,
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you take over a telephone exchange,
and you've already got a city.
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Lenin was in a tradition
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of Russian leadership, and was
a very strong part of it.
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He had a profound effect on Russia
that we are really still feeling now.
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1917 in a sense recasts the
ideological map of Europe.
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As the century progresses, the
ideological map of the world.
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March the 13th, 1881,
Saint Petersburg.
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The tsar, Alexander II, is on his way
to his army's military roll call.
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He's traveling in a bulletproof carriage,
gifted to him by Napoleon III.
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It had proved necessary as the tsar had
faced numerous assassination attempts
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during his reign.
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Many people wanted
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to get rid of the tsar
and his government.
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But the fact that in middle of the
19th century you had two inventions...
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the revolver and
high-explosive dynamite,
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both of which were
widespread in Russia,
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which enabled quite amateurish
people to get together
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and organize an assassination.
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This is really a kind of
sustained terrorist campaign.
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There are multiple attempts
on the life of the tsar,
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attempts to blow
up his carriage.
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One terrorist, over a period of
months, working as a carpenter
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in the Winter Palace, manages
to plant a body of explosives,
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which very, very nearly
kill Alexander II.
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I mean, 11 people are killed,
about 56 are injured.
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It's sort of those moments where he was
in the wrong room at the right moment,
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as it were, and the
explosion just missed him.
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But this time, the tsar
would not be so fortunate.
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Alexander's legs are shredded, his
stomach cut open by shrapnel.
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His dying body is carried
to the Winter Palace,
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where his family, the Romanovs,
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who have ruled Russia for
nearly three centuries,
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are horrified to lay
their eyes upon him.
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He only lasted 90 minutes,
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and the bomber himself,
also, lasted 90 minutes.
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His legs were blown off, too.
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The assassination of Alexander
II, it's kind of Russia's 9/11.
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I've read newspaper reports that come out
in the days after the assassination,
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and they are astonishingly graphic
about the physical damage
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inflicted on Alexander's body.
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They sort of start talking
about the shattered legs
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and the tendons hanging
out and stuff.
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What they're describing
is this wound
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that has been inflicted
on the body of the state,
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you know, so, the king's
two bodies clearly there.
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The group responsible
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for this attack is Narodnaya
Volya, the People's Will.
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The conspirators would be
hanged for their crimes,
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but the movement would continue,
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and it would soon attract the
attentions of one Aleksandr Ulyanov,
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eldest son of the Ulyanov family
and elder brother to Lenin,
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the man who would eventually
eliminate the Romanovs completely.
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But in 1881, the People's
Will's predictions
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do not come to pass.
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There is no great revolution following
the death of Tsar Alexander II.
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He's succeeded by his
son, Alexander III,
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who, upon viewing
his dying father,
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vows to never let the
same fate befall him.
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Despite the enormous unrest, Russian
autocratic rule would continue.
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Alexander III considered
Alexander II way too lenient.
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I mean, he'd
liberated the serfs.
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So, Alexander III decided to
come down hard on Russia,
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and he was anyway a very
sort of forceful character
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who used to bend forks
in knots at the table.
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And he apparently was able to walk
through doors without opening them.
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He was a huge man.
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And undermined his son,
unfortunately, by calling him girly
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when the tsar was a child,
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and I don't know that
the tsar, Nicholas,
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ever emerged from that
repression from his father
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and that sort of undermining.
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Alexander III has
a very bad press.
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People say stagnation, reaction,
and all that is true.
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On the other hand, there were some
good things about Alexander III.
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He never declared war on
anybody, unlike Alexander II,
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who's extremely aggressive,
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made war on the Turkish
Empire, on the Chinese.
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He also listened to his ministers.
He may have been a reactionary,
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but he appointed some
very competent ministers,
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and, in his reign, Russia railways became
one of the best service in Europe,
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Russian post office, too.
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He was a boring man and
he liked the bottle,
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but there were things
to be said for him.
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It seems sort of
counterintuitive,
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but Russia was actually a
fantastically dynamic society
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in lots of ways in this period. Really
from its defeat in the Crimean War
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in the 1850s, it understands
that it has to industrialize
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if it is to remain competitive
on the international stage.
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So, the defeat in the Crimea at the
hands of the French and the British
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laid bare the fact that Russia
was an undeveloped state.
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Its peasant armies were no
match for the Western powers,
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and so, if Russia wants to remain in
the game, it needs to industrialize.
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Russia was modernizing at
an extraordinary rate,
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but its political system
remained deeply autocratic,
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unlike almost all other
European nations of the era.
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Because of the conditions
of Russia at the time,
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normal, middle-class families
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weren't allowed any form of
political expression at all.
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That was the main problem.
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So, any normal,
middle-class family,
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the son would have entered
the revolutionary,
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the radical political sect.
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There was a wave of repression
against Russian radicals,
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oppositionists, and so on.
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Some of these people
are clearly dangerous.
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Some of these people have
plotted to kill the tsar,
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members of the Imperial Family, or, you
know, regional governors and so on.
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There's a general paradox
that a dictatorship,
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as long as it's strict
and severe, is safe.
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The moment it starts
to liberalize,
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it gives an inch and the
people take a yard.
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Once the people
detect a weakness,
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or a division, then the whole
thing starts to fall apart.
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One such person who got caught
up in this radical world
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was Aleksandr Ulyanov, known
to his family as Sasha.
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He was the eldest Ulyanov son, and
elder brother to Vladimir Lenin.
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The Ulyanov family was
not a typical family.
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There was a very small caste
of civil servants in Russia,
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and the father was a
schools inspector.
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And he'd reached a position
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in the civil service that
gave him the rank of a noble.
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That was a very, very small
percentage of people in Russia.
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But they weren't that rich.
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Lenin's elder brother,
like Lenin himself,
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brilliant intellectually, covered in
gold medals from school and university,
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and he joined a student group,
and they decided to make a bomb,
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and attempted to
kill Alexander III.
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The plan is to assassinate Alexander
II's heir, Alexander III,
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when Alexander III is going
to be attending a ceremony
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to commemorate the
assassination of his father.
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And Aleksandr Ulyanov, he's the kind
of, you know, master bomb maker.
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The People's Will
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was more of a mystic than
an ideological association.
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The idea if we bring
down the very top,
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they'll all be so terrified that
the system will disintegrate
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and they'll be a sort of peasant uprising
out of which a new order will arise,
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but they had begun to read Marx. The
trouble with reading Marx, of course,
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is Marx predicted the last place there'd
be a revolution would be Russia.
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So, it was still that romantic
idea of kill the tsar
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and everything will
naturally reform.
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A bomb that's packed
with pieces of metal
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that have been dipped in strychnine to
inflict maximum number of fatalities.
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I mean, that's worth remembering. But
the plan is undone by the Okhrana,
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and they have wind of the
attempt on the tsar's life,
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and the terrorists are arrested and
rounded up within a matter of days.
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Of course they were
sentenced to death.
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Alexander III very
generously said,
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"Those that repent, I will reprieve.
Those that don't repent, I will hang."
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Sasha said, "That would be going against
my principles to ask for a reprieve."
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His mother begged him to.
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The hanging of Sasha, that is often
seen as what motivated Lenin.
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Often these things are
personal, not political.
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When his brother was arrested,
his mother rushed to the city.
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Vladimir, the future Lenin,
tried to organize transport
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to get her to the nearest train station,
and he traced around bourgeois Simbirsk
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to try and get someone who
would go with his mother.
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Absolutely all of them refused,
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and that changed his entire
perspective about bourgeois liberals
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and the other middle class, and it was...
That was overnight.
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And from then on, he just
abused the liberals,
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and the way the family were
snubbed because of this
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changed him as much as
any other politics.
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Sasha Ulyanov was hanged
on the 20th of May, 1887.
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Lenin entered the underground
revolutionary movements
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following the path laid
out by his brother,
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00:11:52,566 --> 00:11:55,176
and just like Sasha,
Lenin would be tracked
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by the secret police of the
Russian Empire, the Okhrana.
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00:12:00,566 --> 00:12:03,209
Every country had a spy
organization, of course,
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but Russia was the first one that
had an entire massive organization
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to suppress dissent wherever
they seemed to find it.
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They had a vast operation
to open people's mail.
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The Russian secret police
had agents everywhere.
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It not only had departments in
Saint Petersburg and Moscow
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and most of the main cities, it
had a French department, as well,
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keeping an eye on the exiles.
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The Okhrana always kept an eye on
them, tailing them round Europe.
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You had to stay one move ahead.
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So, you spent 16 years effectively
going from one bolt-hole to another,
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always one step ahead
of the secret police.
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On the biggest influences on
Lenin, before he read Marx,
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was a novel by a guy called
Nikolay Chernyshevsky
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called What Is to be Done?
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It's a pretty lousy novel,
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but the hero is a selfless,
devoted revolutionary
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who gives himself up to the
cause and walks 20 miles a day,
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does 150 press-ups,
abstains from alcohol.
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00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:09,442
And he modeled himself on this
character quite deliberately.
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00:13:09,466 --> 00:13:12,766
Lenin always said this book, which
he'd read one summer five times,
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00:13:13,000 --> 00:13:15,066
influenced him more
than anything by Marx.
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00:13:15,800 --> 00:13:17,766
Lenin was forced to
cover his tracks
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00:13:18,000 --> 00:13:19,409
as he traveled
around the country,
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trying his best avoid the
attention of the authorities.
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At the same time, Nicholas,
the heir to the throne,
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was also on his travels around
the Russian Empire and beyond.
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It was a voyage of great fanfare, but
it came to a shocking end in Japan.
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His father tried to give
him some responsibility,
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00:13:45,700 --> 00:13:49,333
decided it wouldn't do any harm to put him
in charge of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
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00:13:49,633 --> 00:13:52,409
So, he'd crossed Siberia, went
all the way to Vladivostok,
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00:13:52,433 --> 00:13:54,600
and then he was sent
on a mission to Japan,
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00:13:55,333 --> 00:13:59,542
which ended disastrously, because
Nicholas was suddenly attacked
232
00:13:59,566 --> 00:14:01,200
by a Japanese policeman...
233
00:14:02,366 --> 00:14:06,676
Tsuda Sanzō, who took out his saber
and slashed him on the head,
234
00:14:06,700 --> 00:14:08,766
and did quite a considerable
amount of damage.
235
00:14:09,000 --> 00:14:11,476
Otsu, as far as I could see,
was a bit of a one-off.
236
00:14:11,500 --> 00:14:15,633
I didn't feel that it was a movement
amongst the Japanese against the tsar,
237
00:14:16,266 --> 00:14:18,409
who the Japanese themselves
were horrified by.
238
00:14:18,433 --> 00:14:21,542
Japan had only been open to
Europeans for about 35 years
239
00:14:21,566 --> 00:14:24,276
and there was a general
xenophobic suspicion.
240
00:14:24,300 --> 00:14:28,409
This Japanese policeman thought himself
as a samurai defending Japanese honor.
241
00:14:28,433 --> 00:14:31,109
Nicholas took it very well,
he just stood there smoking,
242
00:14:31,133 --> 00:14:33,076
refused even to sit
down to be bandaged,
243
00:14:33,100 --> 00:14:36,076
but, in fact, a large part of
his skull had been cut out
244
00:14:36,100 --> 00:14:38,233
and he suffered from
headaches ever afterwards.
245
00:14:38,800 --> 00:14:41,776
And it may well have prejudiced
him against the Japanese
246
00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:44,676
because after that, in
his correspondence,
247
00:14:44,700 --> 00:14:47,176
he refers to the Japanese
as macaques, as monkeys,
248
00:14:47,200 --> 00:14:50,542
and he became convinced that they
were utterly inferior to the Russians
249
00:14:50,566 --> 00:14:53,300
and therefore could easily be
conquered in any future war.
250
00:14:56,633 --> 00:15:00,333
The Otsu incident may have been a
near miss for the Romanov family,
251
00:15:00,666 --> 00:15:03,200
but it was a foreboding
of things to come.
252
00:15:06,766 --> 00:15:08,476
Just a couple of years later,
253
00:15:08,500 --> 00:15:11,733
Tsar Alexander III would
suddenly fall ill.
254
00:15:12,133 --> 00:15:15,309
He passed away at
the age of just 49,
255
00:15:15,333 --> 00:15:18,666
leaving behind his thoroughly
unprepared son Nicholas
256
00:15:19,233 --> 00:15:20,566
to inherit the throne.
257
00:15:23,400 --> 00:15:27,800
Alexander died fairly
unexpectedly of kidney disease
258
00:15:28,033 --> 00:15:29,542
when he was still in his 40s.
259
00:15:29,566 --> 00:15:33,266
I mean, Nicholas had expected
to have another 20 years
260
00:15:33,633 --> 00:15:39,276
to prepare for this onerous responsibility
of ruling this enormous empire.
261
00:15:39,300 --> 00:15:40,742
The problem was the successions.
262
00:15:40,766 --> 00:15:43,042
That's the problem with
a hereditary monarchy,
263
00:15:43,066 --> 00:15:45,000
the monarch has to die
at the right time.
264
00:15:45,500 --> 00:15:48,500
When Alexander III died...
And he was only 49.
265
00:15:49,133 --> 00:15:52,076
His minister said, "It was a pity
he didn't die much earlier,"
266
00:15:52,100 --> 00:15:53,342
so, we had a boy tsar,
267
00:15:53,366 --> 00:15:56,076
who couldn't make any decisions
for at least ten years,
268
00:15:56,100 --> 00:15:59,400
"or much later, so that Nicholas
could've grown up a bit."
269
00:15:59,766 --> 00:16:02,366
But Nicholas was always
somewhat infantile.
270
00:16:03,066 --> 00:16:06,042
He was terrified
when his father died
271
00:16:06,066 --> 00:16:10,709
at the prospect of having to
take on so much responsibility,
272
00:16:10,733 --> 00:16:14,266
for which he had really
received very little training.
273
00:16:16,400 --> 00:16:19,142
Just a week after his
father's burial,
274
00:16:19,166 --> 00:16:20,766
Nicholas married Alix of Hesse,
275
00:16:21,000 --> 00:16:24,700
a German princess, who would
became Tsarina Alexandra.
276
00:16:25,233 --> 00:16:29,600
Her background would prove challenging for
the Romanov family during World War I.
277
00:16:30,133 --> 00:16:34,800
But Nicholas's enormous problems as
monarch started far sooner than that.
278
00:16:35,033 --> 00:16:39,466
In fact, from the day of his coronation,
he was off to a dreadful start.
279
00:16:48,500 --> 00:16:51,642
At his coronation
in Moscow in 1896,
280
00:16:51,666 --> 00:16:55,142
there was a big park called
Khodynka in western Moscow,
281
00:16:55,166 --> 00:16:58,309
and the government had
arranged for coronation mugs
282
00:16:58,333 --> 00:17:00,600
and little bags of
goodies to be given out.
283
00:17:03,700 --> 00:17:05,676
The fencing and the
gates were all wrong,
284
00:17:05,700 --> 00:17:08,342
and so, when the crowds pressed
to receive their goods,
285
00:17:08,366 --> 00:17:09,533
there's a terrible crush.
286
00:17:12,366 --> 00:17:16,099
Some 1500 people died, and
that was a terrible tragedy.
287
00:17:17,099 --> 00:17:20,542
That night there was a party
at the French Embassy,
288
00:17:20,566 --> 00:17:25,176
and he didn't want to go to it, but
he was persuaded to go to the event,
289
00:17:25,200 --> 00:17:28,566
and it was forever held against
him as deeply insensitive.
290
00:17:30,500 --> 00:17:33,742
He had to rely on his
ministers to advise him.
291
00:17:33,766 --> 00:17:37,642
But fundamentally from day
one, the job of being tsar
292
00:17:37,666 --> 00:17:41,776
was pretty much agreed and
dictated by his wife.
293
00:17:41,800 --> 00:17:47,300
She was very entrenched in the concept
of autocracy and their divine right.
294
00:17:49,566 --> 00:17:52,476
Nicholas was struggling
in his new role as tsar,
295
00:17:52,500 --> 00:17:55,642
but the man who would eventually
replace him as ruler of Russia
296
00:17:55,666 --> 00:17:57,666
was in a far worse predicament.
297
00:17:58,166 --> 00:18:02,066
Lenin had been captured by the authorities
and was charged with sedition.
298
00:18:02,500 --> 00:18:06,709
In 1897, he was sent to exile
in Siberia for three years,
299
00:18:06,733 --> 00:18:10,376
which could often be a far
less challenging experience
300
00:18:10,400 --> 00:18:12,233
than might at first appear.
301
00:18:14,033 --> 00:18:16,476
He was sent to the quite
pleasant town of Minusinsk.
302
00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:19,109
He had his wife with him,
he had his mother-in-law,
303
00:18:19,133 --> 00:18:22,266
he had a monthly allowance,
on which he could keep a cow,
304
00:18:22,700 --> 00:18:24,209
and a serving maid.
305
00:18:24,233 --> 00:18:27,509
He had a maid of 12, whom
he paid one ruble a month,
306
00:18:27,533 --> 00:18:30,342
and kept her in a sort of
cage under the stairs.
307
00:18:30,366 --> 00:18:33,076
So much for Bolshevik
egalitarianism.
308
00:18:33,100 --> 00:18:37,042
He writes home, saying that
he's ice skating and shooting,
309
00:18:37,066 --> 00:18:42,142
and maintains this phenomenal
level of correspondence
310
00:18:42,166 --> 00:18:45,109
with a kind of conspiratorial
network now that really stretches
311
00:18:45,133 --> 00:18:48,800
across the Russian Empire
and beyond to Europe.
312
00:18:50,800 --> 00:18:53,342
Once you were there, you
were housed quite nicely.
313
00:18:53,366 --> 00:18:56,309
In Russia people never felt that
prisoners were to be avoided,
314
00:18:56,333 --> 00:18:58,142
have a friendly chat
with a murderer.
315
00:18:58,166 --> 00:19:00,576
People used to go to
the prisons at Easter,
316
00:19:00,600 --> 00:19:02,642
as people go to the zoo
to feed the animals.
317
00:19:02,666 --> 00:19:03,800
It was not a bad life.
318
00:19:06,633 --> 00:19:09,300
Lenin's exile ended in 1900.
319
00:19:09,666 --> 00:19:12,509
He would soon begin his travels
across Western Europe,
320
00:19:12,533 --> 00:19:15,442
where he would meet other
Marxists and dissidents
321
00:19:15,466 --> 00:19:18,033
who were playing the downfall
of the Russian monarchy.
322
00:19:18,366 --> 00:19:22,533
But for now, Lenin and these
agitators seemed insignificant.
323
00:19:22,800 --> 00:19:25,300
There were far more
pressing concerns.
324
00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:30,309
The Russian Empire was surrounded on
two sides by rising military powers.
325
00:19:30,333 --> 00:19:32,409
To the west, Kaiser Wilhelm,
326
00:19:32,433 --> 00:19:36,042
under whose rule Germany
had been unified in 1871.
327
00:19:36,066 --> 00:19:41,176
To the east, Emperor Meiji, whose
restoration of Japan in 1868
328
00:19:41,200 --> 00:19:44,433
had forged another rapidly
industrializing state.
329
00:19:44,666 --> 00:19:48,400
The first battle would
be with Japan in 1904.
330
00:19:57,600 --> 00:20:00,309
Few world observers
expected an Asian military
331
00:20:00,333 --> 00:20:03,200
to challenge a European
power at this time.
332
00:20:03,633 --> 00:20:08,576
Japan's surprising success in the conflict
fueled social unrest throughout Russia,
333
00:20:08,600 --> 00:20:12,300
which came to be known
as the 1905 Revolution.
334
00:20:15,266 --> 00:20:19,109
The Russo-Japanese War
was very bad for morale,
335
00:20:19,133 --> 00:20:22,242
because the Russians were trounced,
and their fleet was destroyed.
336
00:20:22,266 --> 00:20:25,700
And that didn't help the tsar
in his bid to be popular.
337
00:20:26,766 --> 00:20:31,642
A war being lost was a mixture of
embittered soldiers and sailors,
338
00:20:31,666 --> 00:20:35,742
whose lives had been just thrown away
in a hopeless war against the Japanese,
339
00:20:35,766 --> 00:20:38,533
an appalling disgraceful defeat.
340
00:20:39,266 --> 00:20:42,576
Coming home finding that factories
weren't paying properly and so on,
341
00:20:42,600 --> 00:20:45,276
there were shortages and
there was general disarray.
342
00:20:45,300 --> 00:20:48,176
And it was an opportunity
for disaffected soldiers
343
00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:49,300
to organize themselves.
344
00:20:52,533 --> 00:20:55,276
The response to the
civilian unrest
345
00:20:55,300 --> 00:20:57,500
and demands for reform
would be brutal.
346
00:20:57,766 --> 00:21:01,076
Imperial troops opened
fire on the protestors.
347
00:21:01,100 --> 00:21:03,766
The events of Bloody Sunday,
as it came to be known,
348
00:21:04,000 --> 00:21:07,600
would damage Tsar Nicholas's
reputation forever.
349
00:21:11,333 --> 00:21:14,309
Well, the Bloody Sunday
Massacre was, in some ways,
350
00:21:14,333 --> 00:21:17,042
typical of Nicholas II's reign,
351
00:21:17,066 --> 00:21:21,776
that either he had to have much more
sense or he needed a good spin doctor,
352
00:21:21,800 --> 00:21:23,042
and he had neither.
353
00:21:23,066 --> 00:21:27,042
The revolutionary parties are
all caught off guard by 1905.
354
00:21:27,066 --> 00:21:28,800
Nobody predicted Bloody Sunday.
355
00:21:29,066 --> 00:21:34,109
Uh, it's clear that the war, you know,
is going disastrously with Japan.
356
00:21:34,133 --> 00:21:38,166
There was no real sense that Russia
had reached a kind of turning point.
357
00:21:38,600 --> 00:21:43,442
This was a spontaneous protest
that then ended in a bloodbath,
358
00:21:43,466 --> 00:21:47,500
because the tsarist authorities
attacked the protestors.
359
00:21:48,300 --> 00:21:52,476
He wasn't there when the
troops opened fire.
360
00:21:52,500 --> 00:21:55,476
He just responded very badly.
361
00:21:55,500 --> 00:21:57,709
He sensed that he was
getting less popular
362
00:21:57,733 --> 00:22:01,576
and when he became known
as Nicholas the Bloody,
363
00:22:01,600 --> 00:22:06,676
he started to spend most of his time at
the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo,
364
00:22:06,700 --> 00:22:10,509
which was about 15 miles
away from Saint Petersburg.
365
00:22:10,533 --> 00:22:13,766
He realized there might be
a threat of assassination.
366
00:22:14,533 --> 00:22:17,800
1905 had been a dreadful
year for the Romanovs,
367
00:22:18,033 --> 00:22:20,509
but the protest did
eventually die down,
368
00:22:20,533 --> 00:22:24,800
and, crucially, the Russian armed
forces remained loyal to the throne.
369
00:22:25,466 --> 00:22:27,642
A peace treaty was
declared with Japan,
370
00:22:27,666 --> 00:22:31,533
with a deal brokered by U.S.
President Teddy Roosevelt.
371
00:22:32,166 --> 00:22:35,642
Lenin and his accomplices across
Europe, just like everyone else,
372
00:22:35,666 --> 00:22:40,033
had been caught completely off
guard by the events of 1905.
373
00:22:40,266 --> 00:22:41,542
Out of nowhere,
374
00:22:41,566 --> 00:22:46,100
it seemed that the revolution they were
searching for was occurring spontaneously.
375
00:22:46,566 --> 00:22:49,242
But in the end, the
tsar remained in power,
376
00:22:49,266 --> 00:22:52,609
and although a parliament called the
Duma had been set up in response,
377
00:22:52,633 --> 00:22:54,676
it was flawed from
the beginning,
378
00:22:54,700 --> 00:22:59,066
and Nicholas had the ability to
veto any and all legislation.
379
00:23:00,133 --> 00:23:02,442
There had been anger
and resentment,
380
00:23:02,466 --> 00:23:05,766
and, also, they were losing
a war against Japan.
381
00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:08,142
That was big profound
shock to the system,
382
00:23:08,166 --> 00:23:10,709
and that changed the
middle class's view
383
00:23:10,733 --> 00:23:12,776
about the kind of political
system they had,
384
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,342
and the autocracy substantially.
385
00:23:15,366 --> 00:23:18,676
That, "We're so useless, we can
even lose a war against Japan,"
386
00:23:18,700 --> 00:23:20,366
that had a really
profound impact.
387
00:23:21,166 --> 00:23:22,576
Lenin says that, you know,
388
00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,076
"My generation won't live
to see the revolution."
389
00:23:25,100 --> 00:23:29,109
You know, there is this sense that
this was like a one-shot deal,
390
00:23:29,133 --> 00:23:30,109
and we blew it.
391
00:23:30,133 --> 00:23:31,609
We weren't organized enough,
392
00:23:31,633 --> 00:23:34,576
we weren't able to give
direction and purpose
393
00:23:34,600 --> 00:23:38,076
to what was a sort of
spontaneous popular uprising.
394
00:23:38,100 --> 00:23:40,609
Lenin, even right up to 1917,
395
00:23:40,633 --> 00:23:45,676
was quite despairing that revolution,
as his vision of revolution,
396
00:23:45,700 --> 00:23:48,666
was ever gonna actually
happen in his lifetime.
397
00:23:49,400 --> 00:23:54,209
So, 1905 was kind of a dry run
for what might come later,
398
00:23:54,233 --> 00:23:57,033
but it wasn't planned
as a revolution.
399
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,109
For now, the tsar seemed safe.
400
00:24:02,133 --> 00:24:03,776
The war had come to an end,
401
00:24:03,800 --> 00:24:06,700
and the revolutionary
fervor had died down.
402
00:24:07,333 --> 00:24:08,800
But it was not to last.
403
00:24:09,033 --> 00:24:13,476
In the next few years, both the
Romanov family and Ulyanov family
404
00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:15,042
would be introduced to figures
405
00:24:15,066 --> 00:24:17,666
that would prove critical
in Russia's future.
406
00:24:18,633 --> 00:24:22,166
For Lenin, it was a Georgian
named loseb Dzhugashvili,
407
00:24:22,600 --> 00:24:24,709
later to be known as Stalin,
408
00:24:24,733 --> 00:24:28,766
although upon first appearance
Lenin was unimpressed.
409
00:24:31,466 --> 00:24:34,076
Lenin was the leader of
that Bolshevik section,
410
00:24:34,100 --> 00:24:38,200
and was already, you know, the top
man, and Stalin was a nobody, really.
411
00:24:38,666 --> 00:24:41,276
At first Lenin hardly
noticed Stalin,
412
00:24:41,300 --> 00:24:45,333
but later on in Vienna he noticed Stalin
was a very, very useful handyman.
413
00:24:45,800 --> 00:24:49,700
Lenin had a sort of rather
patronizing view of non-Russians,
414
00:24:50,233 --> 00:24:52,309
so, he called him "this
wondrous Georgian."
415
00:24:52,333 --> 00:24:54,542
Stalin was regarded
as extremely useful.
416
00:24:54,566 --> 00:24:58,409
He was some sort of gofer, you know,
he never refused to do anything.
417
00:24:58,433 --> 00:25:03,609
He was always happy to kill, to
rob, he never balked at anything.
418
00:25:03,633 --> 00:25:05,800
He could do things physically,
get into a fight.
419
00:25:06,033 --> 00:25:09,176
Lenin quite admired that about
Stalin, he was as tough as anything.
420
00:25:09,200 --> 00:25:11,376
He had a quality of
intimidating people
421
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:14,133
and above all, he hardly
ever talked, unlike Trotsky.
422
00:25:14,533 --> 00:25:16,633
That's why Stalin and
Trotsky never got on.
423
00:25:17,400 --> 00:25:20,509
Stalin's secret was to appear
far less knowledgeable,
424
00:25:20,533 --> 00:25:22,766
far less intelligent,
than he really was.
425
00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:24,776
He understood a
lot of languages.
426
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,042
He was an extraordinary
judge of character.
427
00:25:27,066 --> 00:25:29,800
Stalin's secret was not to
find the strongest people
428
00:25:30,033 --> 00:25:31,042
to work with him.
429
00:25:31,066 --> 00:25:33,242
The strongest people might
want to succeed you.
430
00:25:33,266 --> 00:25:35,342
He always chose the omega male.
431
00:25:35,366 --> 00:25:37,342
He had his sort of
allies with him
432
00:25:37,366 --> 00:25:40,500
and he knew how to make
people feel they needed him.
433
00:25:40,800 --> 00:25:44,642
A year later when they met again, Lenin
couldn't remember any of his other names.
434
00:25:44,666 --> 00:25:48,376
He literally didn't remember meeting him.
But he made himself very useful,
435
00:25:48,400 --> 00:25:50,466
particularly when they
needed to raise money.
436
00:25:57,533 --> 00:26:00,766
The Romanovs were also
about to come into contact
437
00:26:01,000 --> 00:26:02,342
with a mysterious figure
438
00:26:02,366 --> 00:26:06,142
from the fringes of the
Russian Empire, Rasputin.
439
00:26:06,166 --> 00:26:09,776
Tsar Nicholas's only son Alexei,
the heir to the throne,
440
00:26:09,800 --> 00:26:12,376
had been diagnosed
with hemophilia.
441
00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:17,042
The tsar and tsarina were searching for
anyone who could help their ailing son
442
00:26:17,066 --> 00:26:21,433
and Rasputin seemed to be the only
figure who was capable of doing so.
443
00:26:25,166 --> 00:26:29,742
He met them initially at a tea
with the so-called Black Sisters,
444
00:26:29,766 --> 00:26:34,476
who were the Montenegrin
princesses, Milica and Anastasia,
445
00:26:34,500 --> 00:26:39,200
who had invited him to
Milica's palace for tea.
446
00:26:40,333 --> 00:26:44,166
Then it was several months
afterwards that Alexei fell
447
00:26:44,466 --> 00:26:46,476
and was bleeding badly,
448
00:26:46,500 --> 00:26:51,509
and they thought of asking
Rasputin to try and heal him,
449
00:26:51,533 --> 00:26:52,476
and he did.
450
00:26:52,500 --> 00:26:58,376
But the questions always remain as to
how he cured him or even if he did,
451
00:26:58,400 --> 00:27:01,176
or whether he just
calmed the Tsarina down,
452
00:27:01,200 --> 00:27:03,542
because she believe
he was a man of God.
453
00:27:03,566 --> 00:27:05,242
There's also an
interesting thing
454
00:27:05,266 --> 00:27:08,442
that aspirin was beginning
to be used as a painkiller,
455
00:27:08,466 --> 00:27:11,276
and Rasputin was always
very against medication
456
00:27:11,300 --> 00:27:15,200
and he recommended they not use
aspirin, and that might have helped.
457
00:27:18,033 --> 00:27:20,442
If Alexei had not
been a hemophiliac,
458
00:27:20,466 --> 00:27:22,509
history could have
been quite different,
459
00:27:22,533 --> 00:27:25,766
because it created
such resentment,
460
00:27:26,333 --> 00:27:29,676
the invitation of Rasputin
into the Imperial Family,
461
00:27:29,700 --> 00:27:34,733
that that in itself helped bring
about the downfall of the dynasty.
462
00:27:38,700 --> 00:27:42,276
Rasputin's presence would
cause scandal in Russia.
463
00:27:42,300 --> 00:27:44,576
Endless rumors began to spread
464
00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:48,166
about the exact nature of his
involvement with the Romanovs.
465
00:27:50,366 --> 00:27:52,209
First of all he was
kept a secret.
466
00:27:52,233 --> 00:27:53,793
The press was forbidden
to mention him,
467
00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,276
which immediately made people think
there was something terrible going on.
468
00:27:57,300 --> 00:28:01,000
Until about 1912 when press
restrictions were abolished in Russia
469
00:28:01,100 --> 00:28:03,766
and it was impossible to stop
the papers printing everything,
470
00:28:04,000 --> 00:28:06,142
and then Rasputin sold papers.
471
00:28:06,166 --> 00:28:08,076
The journalists
absolutely loved him.
472
00:28:08,100 --> 00:28:10,633
You could follow him, you could
get all sorts of stories
473
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,142
from restaurant owners, from
prostitutes about his behavior.
474
00:28:14,166 --> 00:28:16,042
Police would sell
their stories to him.
475
00:28:16,066 --> 00:28:18,733
He became the sort of
news-making phenomenon.
476
00:28:20,166 --> 00:28:26,209
In 1911, there were letters
disseminated around by an old friend,
477
00:28:26,233 --> 00:28:31,776
which had very passionate notes
to Rasputin from the tsarina.
478
00:28:31,800 --> 00:28:35,266
You know, "I kiss you
warmly," things like that.
479
00:28:37,800 --> 00:28:40,376
Rasputin's presence was bringing
480
00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,709
the Romanov family
reputation into ruins.
481
00:28:42,733 --> 00:28:47,533
But in 1913, a chance to repair
some of the damage seemed possible.
482
00:28:48,033 --> 00:28:51,209
That year marked 300
years of Romanov rule
483
00:28:51,233 --> 00:28:54,309
and huge tercentenary
celebrations were planned
484
00:28:54,333 --> 00:28:57,142
that would hopefully
boost public morale.
485
00:28:57,166 --> 00:29:02,300
However, yet another assassination
attempt would soon undo everything.
486
00:29:13,133 --> 00:29:16,666
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was
gunned down in Sarajevo.
487
00:29:17,666 --> 00:29:20,133
World War I was about to begin.
488
00:29:20,566 --> 00:29:25,042
Russia's failure against the Japanese
nearly brought an end to Nicholas's rule.
489
00:29:25,066 --> 00:29:28,433
He would not survive a
defeat against the Germans.
490
00:29:31,800 --> 00:29:34,209
Considering the Germans
already had the British
491
00:29:34,233 --> 00:29:35,600
and the French to cope with...
492
00:29:36,166 --> 00:29:40,209
with their enormous empires of
Indians and Algerians and so on,
493
00:29:40,233 --> 00:29:42,800
and that very soon the Americans
would come into the war,
494
00:29:43,033 --> 00:29:45,142
you would've thought
Russia would've had hope.
495
00:29:45,166 --> 00:29:47,276
But the Russian Army
was a peculiar army
496
00:29:47,300 --> 00:29:51,209
in that the officers were enthusiastic,
but the soldiers were not.
497
00:29:51,233 --> 00:29:54,709
The soldiers had been, many of
them, part of a defeated army,
498
00:29:54,733 --> 00:29:57,542
most of them had nothing against
the Germans whatsoever,
499
00:29:57,566 --> 00:29:59,533
and they didn't see
them as an enemy.
500
00:30:01,033 --> 00:30:03,742
The corruption in
the civilian area,
501
00:30:03,766 --> 00:30:07,376
where no boots were produced,
no rifles produced,
502
00:30:07,400 --> 00:30:09,142
and so, soldiers
were told to go in
503
00:30:09,166 --> 00:30:12,500
and pick the first rifle and pair of
boots off the corpse in front of you.
504
00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:16,033
There were desertions, and
murder of officers, and so on.
505
00:30:20,100 --> 00:30:23,209
I think that it was generally
considered a disaster
506
00:30:23,233 --> 00:30:27,709
when he decided to take over the troops
and get rid of Grand Duke Nicholas,
507
00:30:27,733 --> 00:30:29,709
who was probably a
very good general.
508
00:30:29,733 --> 00:30:33,566
He was certainly a more
imposing figure than the tsar.
509
00:30:34,066 --> 00:30:40,209
And that did apparently leave the
tsarina and Rasputin in charge.
510
00:30:40,233 --> 00:30:43,176
The war was an absolute
disaster for Russia.
511
00:30:43,200 --> 00:30:47,109
An autocrat has gotta be judged
on the autocrat's decision,
512
00:30:47,133 --> 00:30:48,766
and it was a
disastrous decision.
513
00:30:49,000 --> 00:30:50,676
And an even bigger decision was
514
00:30:50,700 --> 00:30:54,642
he put himself in charge
of the military strategy,
515
00:30:54,666 --> 00:30:56,633
which was a terrible mistake,
516
00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:59,800
because once it goes wrong, he's
the only one you can blame.
517
00:31:00,033 --> 00:31:02,709
And there was a stalemate
on the Eastern Front.
518
00:31:02,733 --> 00:31:06,409
The Germans had already occupied
large tracts of Russia.
519
00:31:06,433 --> 00:31:10,376
There was absolutely no will
amongst the army to carry it on,
520
00:31:10,400 --> 00:31:12,476
desertions were on
a massive scale,
521
00:31:12,500 --> 00:31:15,033
there was almost no way
for a Russian victory.
522
00:31:18,233 --> 00:31:20,776
The winter of 1916 not
only saw the chill
523
00:31:20,800 --> 00:31:23,542
of inevitable defeat
for the Russian Army,
524
00:31:23,566 --> 00:31:27,433
it also saw a shocking and
painful loss for the Romanovs.
525
00:31:31,600 --> 00:31:33,766
Certain members of
their extended family
526
00:31:34,000 --> 00:31:39,166
would not tolerate Rasputin's influence
over the tsar and tsarina any longer.
527
00:31:41,366 --> 00:31:45,142
There was growing resentment
within the Romanov family
528
00:31:45,166 --> 00:31:48,509
among the relatives, who
were absolutely appalled
529
00:31:48,533 --> 00:31:51,676
at Alexandra's close
relationship with Rasputin.
530
00:31:51,700 --> 00:31:54,176
Because they believed all
the gossip, as well.
531
00:31:54,200 --> 00:31:56,266
And it reached a point
where they were saying,
532
00:31:56,366 --> 00:31:58,766
"Well, not only have we got
to get rid of Rasputin,"
533
00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:01,709
this evil Machiavellian
influence,
534
00:32:01,733 --> 00:32:05,042
"we've actually got to get rid of
her and lock her up in a nunnery."
535
00:32:05,066 --> 00:32:07,676
She was causing a
lot of trouble.
536
00:32:07,700 --> 00:32:10,509
It was the aristocrats
537
00:32:10,533 --> 00:32:15,433
who felt that Rasputin was bringing
the whole Romanov name down.
538
00:32:15,600 --> 00:32:19,542
One of the problems here
was that nobody knew why
539
00:32:19,566 --> 00:32:21,342
Rasputin was always
going to court,
540
00:32:21,366 --> 00:32:25,076
and it was to cure
the boy, Alexei.
541
00:32:25,100 --> 00:32:28,176
But because nobody knew
that Alexei was ill,
542
00:32:28,200 --> 00:32:32,242
nobody could tell the aristocrats why
he was still being welcomed at court.
543
00:32:32,266 --> 00:32:35,476
Rasputin was blamed as
being a German agent.
544
00:32:35,500 --> 00:32:38,800
They were convinced he was giving
advice to the Tsar to make peace,
545
00:32:39,033 --> 00:32:40,576
at least with the Germans.
546
00:32:40,600 --> 00:32:42,576
So, a conspiracy was formed
547
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,666
with the connivance of many
people in the government.
548
00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:50,109
Two of the assassins both
left quite detailed memoirs
549
00:32:50,133 --> 00:32:51,709
and descriptions of the killing.
550
00:32:51,733 --> 00:32:54,476
There are quite a few discrepancies
in both the memoirs.
551
00:32:54,500 --> 00:32:58,409
He ended up in the river, but
he was tipped over a railing,
552
00:32:58,433 --> 00:33:02,276
and he ended up with a lot of
wounds on his face and head.
553
00:33:02,300 --> 00:33:05,576
And nobody's sure whether it was
because he was beaten up or whether...
554
00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:08,376
Whether it was trying
to transfer the body.
555
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,476
The plotters were incompetent, they
didn't know how to handle guns,
556
00:33:12,500 --> 00:33:14,333
they couldn't even
kill him efficiently.
557
00:33:15,066 --> 00:33:19,576
And, eventually, it took three bullets
before they finally killed the poor man.
558
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:24,342
It was an ignominious way
to get rid of Rasputin.
559
00:33:24,366 --> 00:33:27,476
At the time, they were
greeted as national heroes.
560
00:33:27,500 --> 00:33:31,666
Everyone thought they'd saved
Russia by killing Rasputin.
561
00:33:40,133 --> 00:33:44,333
Rasputin's time at court had come
to an end in brutal fashion,
562
00:33:44,700 --> 00:33:47,342
and it would not be long
before the Romanovs themselves
563
00:33:47,366 --> 00:33:51,066
would also be seen off in
equally bloody circumstances.
564
00:33:51,466 --> 00:33:55,642
Just as in 1905, during the disasters
of the Russo-Japanese War,
565
00:33:55,666 --> 00:33:58,666
civil unrest was about
to break out in Russia.
566
00:33:59,133 --> 00:34:01,242
The historic city
of Saint Petersburg
567
00:34:01,266 --> 00:34:04,242
would see the beginnings of
the February Revolution.
568
00:34:04,266 --> 00:34:09,042
It had been renamed Petrograd,
literally "Peter's city," in 1914,
569
00:34:09,066 --> 00:34:11,342
as Saint Petersburg
had been thought
570
00:34:11,366 --> 00:34:13,500
too Germanic a name
at a time of war.
571
00:34:14,133 --> 00:34:17,642
But the new designation did nothing
to contain the revolutionary fervor
572
00:34:17,666 --> 00:34:19,466
that was unleashed in the city.
573
00:34:20,166 --> 00:34:22,242
It soon became so overwhelming
574
00:34:22,266 --> 00:34:26,133
that Tsar Nicholas II was
forced to step down.
575
00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,542
He couldn't quite accept
how bad the crisis was.
576
00:34:36,566 --> 00:34:41,409
He had this passivity and
resistance to crisis.
577
00:34:41,433 --> 00:34:44,800
He had to be driven to
abdicate, and he finally did.
578
00:34:45,033 --> 00:34:48,542
But the tsarina always believed
that had she been with him
579
00:34:48,566 --> 00:34:52,509
she would have been able to
dissuade him from abdicating.
580
00:34:52,533 --> 00:34:57,742
He really hoped he was doing a kind
of grand gesture to save Russia,
581
00:34:57,766 --> 00:35:01,666
and so, it was done out of
a genuine love of country.
582
00:35:05,566 --> 00:35:07,609
With Nicholas having
vacated the throne,
583
00:35:07,633 --> 00:35:10,309
a power vacuum was
created in Russia
584
00:35:10,333 --> 00:35:14,576
with two major factions in
Petrograd fighting for control.
585
00:35:14,600 --> 00:35:17,509
On one side was a council
of workers and soldiers
586
00:35:17,533 --> 00:35:20,042
known as the Petrograd Soviet,
587
00:35:20,066 --> 00:35:22,676
which soon counted Leon
Trotsky as a member.
588
00:35:22,700 --> 00:35:25,542
On the other side was the
Russian Provisional Government,
589
00:35:25,566 --> 00:35:29,300
which had been quickly established by
ministers who'd served under the Tsar.
590
00:35:30,033 --> 00:35:33,642
They would move the Romanov family
to Siberia for safekeeping,
591
00:35:33,666 --> 00:35:37,300
but soon nowhere in
Russia would be safe.
592
00:35:40,333 --> 00:35:45,176
The Provisional Government represents
a vision of a liberal Russia
593
00:35:45,200 --> 00:35:50,409
where you'd have a community of
citizens who are given equal rights,
594
00:35:50,433 --> 00:35:54,676
but you probably enshrine a liberal order
based around representative government.
595
00:35:54,700 --> 00:35:57,666
The Soviet represents a very
different kind of Russia.
596
00:36:00,100 --> 00:36:02,609
The Provisional Government
made a halfhearted attempt
597
00:36:02,633 --> 00:36:04,342
to continue with the war.
598
00:36:04,366 --> 00:36:06,709
But because it couldn't
come to a decision,
599
00:36:06,733 --> 00:36:08,442
it couldn't get the
economy going,
600
00:36:08,466 --> 00:36:11,542
it couldn't satisfy even the
housewives for bread and so on.
601
00:36:11,566 --> 00:36:13,376
So, more and more
dissatisfaction.
602
00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:15,442
Lenin was in Zurich at the time.
603
00:36:15,466 --> 00:36:18,309
Someone entered his rooms in
his lodging house and said,
604
00:36:18,333 --> 00:36:20,176
"Have you heard there's
a revolution?"
605
00:36:20,200 --> 00:36:22,276
At first he didn't
believe it, then he did.
606
00:36:22,300 --> 00:36:24,766
And he wanted to get back to
Russia as soon as possible.
607
00:36:25,000 --> 00:36:26,576
From the moment the war started,
608
00:36:26,600 --> 00:36:29,800
Lenin was totally
against the war.
609
00:36:30,033 --> 00:36:33,609
His line was, "Better that
this country should lose...
610
00:36:33,633 --> 00:36:37,800
The better that kaiserism
wins than tsarism continues."
611
00:36:38,033 --> 00:36:41,600
So, he was basically saying his
own country should lose the war.
612
00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:48,666
Lenin was in a
difficult situation.
613
00:36:49,066 --> 00:36:51,076
In order to get from
Switzerland to Russia
614
00:36:51,100 --> 00:36:53,342
to take advantage of the
February Revolution,
615
00:36:53,366 --> 00:36:55,376
he would have to travel
through Germany,
616
00:36:55,400 --> 00:36:57,266
with whom his
country was at war.
617
00:36:57,666 --> 00:37:00,500
A complicated deal would
have to be brokered.
618
00:37:04,133 --> 00:37:06,409
I would say it wasn't
Lenin who made his move,
619
00:37:06,433 --> 00:37:08,542
it was the German High
Command that made the move.
620
00:37:08,566 --> 00:37:12,109
He had been offered kind of
inducements from the Germans.
621
00:37:12,133 --> 00:37:15,166
They'd offered him money,
and he'd always refused it.
622
00:37:15,666 --> 00:37:18,300
But now he was less scrupulous.
623
00:37:19,500 --> 00:37:22,676
He agreed to the famous
sealed train through Germany.
624
00:37:22,700 --> 00:37:24,476
In the German point of view,
625
00:37:24,500 --> 00:37:27,500
it seemed like a perfectly
reasonable tactic.
626
00:37:28,100 --> 00:37:29,709
Lenin didn't make the deal.
627
00:37:29,733 --> 00:37:32,276
Lenin never got his hands dirty.
628
00:37:32,300 --> 00:37:35,609
Lenin never directly
did something
629
00:37:35,633 --> 00:37:37,666
that might be
politically damaging.
630
00:37:38,233 --> 00:37:41,766
The deal to get him and
his cohort of followers
631
00:37:42,000 --> 00:37:44,676
back to Russia when
revolution broke
632
00:37:44,700 --> 00:37:48,042
was negotiated by
intermediaries.
633
00:37:48,066 --> 00:37:51,409
So, he had to go on this torturous
journey up through Germany,
634
00:37:51,433 --> 00:37:53,676
across to Sweden, all the
way up through Sweden,
635
00:37:53,700 --> 00:37:55,266
to Finland and down.
636
00:37:55,700 --> 00:37:57,742
That train deposited Lenin
637
00:37:57,766 --> 00:38:00,433
at the Finland Station
in Saint Petersburg.
638
00:38:01,466 --> 00:38:04,076
Now, if the Provisional
Government had had the sense
639
00:38:04,100 --> 00:38:06,476
to turn up with a small
group of people to meet him
640
00:38:06,500 --> 00:38:09,800
and arrest him on the spot... But
they couldn't get around to it.
641
00:38:10,033 --> 00:38:11,500
They were incredibly
inefficient.
642
00:38:12,166 --> 00:38:14,609
Lenin's genius, when he arrives
at the Finland Station
643
00:38:14,633 --> 00:38:17,166
and he gives a speech
from the armored car,
644
00:38:17,333 --> 00:38:20,400
he calls for all power
to the Soviets.
645
00:38:20,566 --> 00:38:24,442
And that's not a call
for direct democracy
646
00:38:24,466 --> 00:38:26,409
rather than
representative democracy.
647
00:38:26,433 --> 00:38:31,676
That's a call for this much
more brutal exclusive vision
648
00:38:31,700 --> 00:38:36,509
of a revolutionary future, in which
everyone who was on top before
649
00:38:36,533 --> 00:38:38,309
will now be at the bottom.
650
00:38:38,333 --> 00:38:41,309
The dual power system meant that
everything had to be agreed
651
00:38:41,333 --> 00:38:44,109
by the Soviet and the
Provisional Government,
652
00:38:44,133 --> 00:38:46,533
which led to paralysis.
653
00:38:46,666 --> 00:38:49,276
Lenin was very, very
good at using this.
654
00:38:49,300 --> 00:38:53,242
He was incredibly skillful at
the black arts and propaganda,
655
00:38:53,266 --> 00:38:54,776
and used it rather brilliantly.
656
00:38:54,800 --> 00:38:58,276
And he loved the revolution,
this part of the revolution.
657
00:38:58,300 --> 00:39:00,776
The Bolsheviks do nearly
overplay their hand, you know.
658
00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:06,209
In the July Days, they do try to
stage an uprising in Petrograd,
659
00:39:06,233 --> 00:39:07,466
and it is crushed.
660
00:39:08,066 --> 00:39:12,233
In the middle of July, Lenin
is charged with treason.
661
00:39:12,400 --> 00:39:15,409
There is information
coming out about money
662
00:39:15,433 --> 00:39:18,209
that the Bolsheviks
accepted from the Germans.
663
00:39:18,233 --> 00:39:22,209
So, he's under arrest, and
he escapes to Finland,
664
00:39:22,233 --> 00:39:25,509
and is out of the country for
quite a lot of the while,
665
00:39:25,533 --> 00:39:28,109
then comes back and insists,
666
00:39:28,133 --> 00:39:29,776
"There is no power
in this country."
667
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:34,276
Let's take over the railway station, and
the post offices, and power is ours.
668
00:39:34,300 --> 00:39:37,142
It's there for the taking.
Take it from the street.
669
00:39:37,166 --> 00:39:38,533
"We can do it."
670
00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,476
Lenin's belief in the
profound weakness
671
00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:55,676
of the Provisional Government
672
00:39:55,700 --> 00:39:57,609
would prove justified.
673
00:39:57,633 --> 00:40:00,376
Russia's October
Revolution had begun,
674
00:40:00,400 --> 00:40:04,342
and the Bolsheviks's attempt at a
coup d'état would spark a civil war
675
00:40:04,366 --> 00:40:07,066
that would last until 1922.
676
00:40:09,133 --> 00:40:12,076
Without Lenin, there wouldn't
have been a Bolshevik Revolution
677
00:40:12,100 --> 00:40:14,609
and there wouldn't have
been any second revolution.
678
00:40:14,633 --> 00:40:18,676
And he pushed and pushed and
pushed his party members with him.
679
00:40:18,700 --> 00:40:20,442
They were very, very reluctant,
680
00:40:20,466 --> 00:40:22,642
because they were
scared of being shot
681
00:40:22,666 --> 00:40:24,442
or they're scared
it wouldn't work.
682
00:40:24,466 --> 00:40:29,476
There wasn't one particular spark
that week or that month that led it,
683
00:40:29,500 --> 00:40:31,709
it was Lenin saying,
"This is our chance."
684
00:40:31,733 --> 00:40:34,466
Lenin's regime is a government
that's born in war.
685
00:40:34,766 --> 00:40:37,442
So, really, it's helpful
to think about the period,
686
00:40:37,466 --> 00:40:39,676
I think, from 1914 to 1921,
687
00:40:39,700 --> 00:40:42,042
as one of continuous warfare.
688
00:40:42,066 --> 00:40:44,209
The Bolshevik party at
the beginning of 1917
689
00:40:44,233 --> 00:40:46,242
is about 20,000 people.
690
00:40:46,266 --> 00:40:48,766
By the end of the civil war,
it's about 1.3 million.
691
00:40:49,000 --> 00:40:52,442
And most of the new
recruits are men
692
00:40:52,466 --> 00:40:56,342
whose formative administrative
experience has been in the army.
693
00:40:56,366 --> 00:40:58,766
They are militarized
in their psychology.
694
00:41:02,233 --> 00:41:04,176
The actual revolution in Russia,
695
00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:06,042
initially, was very
much in Petrograd
696
00:41:06,066 --> 00:41:08,242
and of course Moscow.
697
00:41:08,266 --> 00:41:11,142
The way in which it took
hold across rural Russia
698
00:41:11,166 --> 00:41:15,176
was really very
anarchic and violent.
699
00:41:15,200 --> 00:41:20,576
And there were horrific scenes of
peasants rampaging across estates,
700
00:41:20,600 --> 00:41:22,800
burning the manor houses down,
701
00:41:23,033 --> 00:41:25,409
slaughtering the occupants,
702
00:41:25,433 --> 00:41:28,642
killing all the cattle
owned by the landowners.
703
00:41:28,666 --> 00:41:30,476
It was very savage.
704
00:41:30,500 --> 00:41:33,800
The resistance took too long
because most the army and the navy
705
00:41:34,033 --> 00:41:37,742
were so demoralized that they
came over to the Bolshevik side.
706
00:41:37,766 --> 00:41:39,376
They were very, very happy
707
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:41,576
to go around the hospitals,
shooting ministers.
708
00:41:41,600 --> 00:41:44,509
There was a general murderous
feeling about the government
709
00:41:44,533 --> 00:41:46,300
which Lenin just released.
710
00:41:52,033 --> 00:41:55,733
Lenin was quickly becoming the
most powerful man in Russia.
711
00:41:56,300 --> 00:41:58,476
He'd agreed to an end
to the war with Germany
712
00:41:58,500 --> 00:42:00,542
with the Treaty
of Brest-Litovsk.
713
00:42:00,566 --> 00:42:05,109
And his new secret police were commencing
a strategy of violent repression
714
00:42:05,133 --> 00:42:07,800
that would become known
as the Red Terror.
715
00:42:10,666 --> 00:42:14,376
The now-deposed Romanov family
were being held in safekeeping
716
00:42:14,400 --> 00:42:16,109
by the Provisional Government.
717
00:42:16,133 --> 00:42:18,576
Attempts had been made
to send them into exile,
718
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:21,100
but the efforts
were to no avail.
719
00:42:21,266 --> 00:42:25,409
Soon, the tsar, his wife and children,
and his last remaining staff
720
00:42:25,433 --> 00:42:29,766
were captured by the Bolshevik
forces and sent to Yekaterinburg
721
00:42:30,100 --> 00:42:33,200
where they were kept
in strict isolation.
722
00:42:37,666 --> 00:42:41,476
At around midnight on
July the 17th, 1918,
723
00:42:41,500 --> 00:42:45,800
the family were awoken and escorted
into the basement of the house.
724
00:42:54,266 --> 00:42:56,576
This once all-powerful dynasty
725
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,800
had authorized the execution
of Sasha Ulyanov,
726
00:43:00,033 --> 00:43:01,466
Lenin's elder brother.
727
00:43:02,033 --> 00:43:04,176
But now the tables
had been turned,
728
00:43:04,200 --> 00:43:06,800
and the Romanovs were no more.
729
00:43:10,033 --> 00:43:13,142
The tragedy is that
they had 11 assassins
730
00:43:13,166 --> 00:43:16,042
for 11 people to be shot.
731
00:43:16,066 --> 00:43:19,800
And when it came to it, I think
the assassins were quite drunk,
732
00:43:20,233 --> 00:43:22,209
and nobody wanted to
shoot the children,
733
00:43:22,233 --> 00:43:26,066
so, they shot the tsar
and tsarina first.
734
00:43:26,733 --> 00:43:30,342
And the children had a
most horrifying death
735
00:43:30,366 --> 00:43:32,342
you could ever
imagine or inflict.
736
00:43:32,366 --> 00:43:35,609
And that was brought about
by their loving parents,
737
00:43:35,633 --> 00:43:37,400
just indirectly over the years.
738
00:43:38,666 --> 00:43:43,309
Who could have imagined that those
innocent children would be murdered?
739
00:43:43,333 --> 00:43:47,742
This was why it was so
horrifying when it happened.
740
00:43:47,766 --> 00:43:52,800
No one ever imagined those children
would be so cruelly murdered.
741
00:43:53,033 --> 00:43:55,476
There's no paper trail,
but we pretty much know
742
00:43:55,500 --> 00:43:58,276
it would never have happened
without Lenin agreeing to it.
743
00:43:58,300 --> 00:44:02,433
No one was gonna kill the
Romanovs without Lenin's say-so.
744
00:44:07,600 --> 00:44:10,709
Nicholas II's mother,
the Dowager Empress,
745
00:44:10,733 --> 00:44:14,609
was able to escape the carnage on
a ship leaving from the Crimea
746
00:44:14,633 --> 00:44:17,700
along with other members of
the extended Romanov family.
747
00:44:18,333 --> 00:44:21,676
But the dynasty that ruled
Russia for over three centuries
748
00:44:21,700 --> 00:44:24,000
had come to a vicious end.
749
00:44:24,166 --> 00:44:29,242
By 1922, the civil war in the country
had also reached its conclusion,
750
00:44:29,266 --> 00:44:34,433
with the Bolsheviks victorious and
a new Soviet Union established.
751
00:44:35,233 --> 00:44:38,142
Lenin began cementing power
as soon as he started.
752
00:44:38,166 --> 00:44:39,766
His organization was so good
753
00:44:40,000 --> 00:44:42,042
that he had the common
soldiers and sailors,
754
00:44:42,066 --> 00:44:43,776
and above all he had
the secret police.
755
00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,533
He had Trotsky, who I
think the real genius,
756
00:44:46,700 --> 00:44:49,309
to take a whole lot of
disillusioned deserters,
757
00:44:49,333 --> 00:44:50,776
you then create a Red Army,
758
00:44:50,800 --> 00:44:53,076
one of the most brilliant
armies in the world.
759
00:44:53,100 --> 00:44:57,766
With Trotsky's military genius and
Lenin's organization and subversion,
760
00:44:58,000 --> 00:45:00,000
I think he consolidated
all the time.
761
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:04,333
He absolutely used terror.
762
00:45:05,033 --> 00:45:07,709
Not only that, he was
very, very good at lying.
763
00:45:07,733 --> 00:45:10,376
He was very skillful about
building majorities,
764
00:45:10,400 --> 00:45:12,333
building groups loyal to him.
765
00:45:13,266 --> 00:45:15,509
After the revolution,
people were saying,
766
00:45:15,533 --> 00:45:19,176
"Yes, we need a republic and we need,
you know, a constitution and all that,
767
00:45:19,200 --> 00:45:21,209
but we still need a
firm tsar, as well."
768
00:45:21,233 --> 00:45:23,042
They kind of wanted the two.
769
00:45:23,066 --> 00:45:26,233
They couldn't quite
disassociate themselves.
770
00:45:26,666 --> 00:45:30,242
It's this idea of the
protective all-embracing tsar
771
00:45:30,266 --> 00:45:32,266
who looked after the nation.
772
00:45:32,666 --> 00:45:36,709
There is always gonna be this
tendency towards the abuse of power,
773
00:45:36,733 --> 00:45:40,509
because the party acknowledges no
checks at all on its own behavior.
774
00:45:40,533 --> 00:45:43,209
There's no independent
judiciary, no independent press,
775
00:45:43,233 --> 00:45:45,276
there's certainly no
political opposition.
776
00:45:45,300 --> 00:45:48,342
So, there is always going
to be this kind of tendency
777
00:45:48,366 --> 00:45:52,533
towards a sort of degeneration
into ever more absolute power.
778
00:45:55,366 --> 00:45:59,200
But Lenin would not hold onto
this new position for long.
779
00:45:59,500 --> 00:46:02,509
He suffered a debilitating
series of strokes,
780
00:46:02,533 --> 00:46:06,100
and died on the 21st
of January, 1924.
781
00:46:07,200 --> 00:46:10,242
Ioseb Dzhugashvili, now
known as Joseph Stalin,
782
00:46:10,266 --> 00:46:13,466
saw an opportunity
laid out before him.
783
00:46:14,400 --> 00:46:19,066
The Russian Revolution of 1917
changed the world forever.
784
00:46:19,233 --> 00:46:20,800
The Romanovs had been usurped,
785
00:46:21,033 --> 00:46:24,476
and the largest country on
earth was a communist state.
786
00:46:24,500 --> 00:46:28,142
The man who would become the most
powerful dictator in history
787
00:46:28,166 --> 00:46:30,600
was now cementing his position.
70203
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