The Russian Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 1)
The Russian Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 1)
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-------------- ATTRIBUTIONS --------------
Music (licensed under a Creative Commons license).
Music by Kevin MacLeod:
Investigations
Pina Colada
Covert Affair
I Knew A Guy
Sneaky Snitch
Dances and Dames
Faceoff
Marty Gots A Plan
Fast Talkin
Infados
Bumbly March Music To Delight
Dark Mystery
From Artist:
LMOP - The Whisper Man
Ian Post - Eminence Landscapes
Stanley Gurvich - Puddles
Kevin Graham - Autumn
Stanley Gurvich - At First
Content
0.17 -> - [Deeply Voice] This video
was made possible by NordVPN.
2.57 -> Click on the link in the description below
4.02 -> to get an amazing 68% off a two year plan.
7.13 -> Also commemorating the
weirdest bromance in history.
10.14 -> Get your new character pins
11.32 -> and Russian revolution
merch, available now.
13.72 -> Link down below.
15.98 -> Hey Jimmy, it's the 1800s,
an exciting time to be alive.
20.1 -> Why don't you get out there
and explore the world?
22.52 -> Gee whiz mum, thanks.
24.78 -> This place is amazing.
26.36 -> Where am I?
27.193 -> Why you're in France, my boy.
28.88 -> Here we come up with wacky
new ways of running a country.
31.33 -> Liberty, egality, fraternity.
34.13 -> Whoa! Welcome to the United Kingdom.
36.41 -> Here, we invented the train.
37.99 -> Alllllll aboard.
40.49 -> Holy smokes.
41.63 -> You're in a German factory, my friend.
43.3 -> Here, we harness fire and coal
45.11 -> to create all these sexy lederhosen.
46.74 -> This is incredible.
48.03 -> I can't wait to see
where I'll end up next.
52.58 -> Where am I?
55.61 -> You're in Russia.
57.16 -> Have I gone back in time?
59.07 -> No, this is just how it is.
60.71 -> Are you a farmer?
62.24 -> Worse, technically, my landlord owns me
64.48 -> which makes me a serf.
67.3 -> I'm scared.
68.133 -> You should be because I
haven't eaten in four days
70.34 -> and you look pretty tasty.
72.22 -> Hey Jimmy, how were your travels?
74.865 -> I hate you.
76.168 -> (soft melodic music)
80.35 -> Russia, in the 19th century.
82.38 -> Feudal, underdeveloped
and stuck in the past.
85.2 -> While the rest of Europe
had been modernizing
86.72 -> and improving their citizen's lives.
88.63 -> Russia's rulers were taking
a different approach.
90.95 -> My Lord, we're falling
behind the rest of Europe.
93.41 -> It's time to industrialize.
94.73 -> Give the people rights
and share your power.
96.486 -> (loud bomb exploding)
97.56 -> Russian Tsars had no
time for pathetic ideas
100.09 -> like liberty and modernization
101.81 -> because they were too busy
103.08 -> having the time of their lives
105.03 -> while the serfs were breaking
their backs in the fields,
107.34 -> the Tsars held all the power
108.84 -> and they didn't have to listen to anyone.
111.21 -> Wanna run the country like
a backwards feudal kingdom
113.19 -> while the rest of your pack
114.023 -> paces humanitarian and
economically, go right ahead.
116.86 -> Wanna keep the people on educated
118.11 -> so they don't get any ideas?
119.68 -> There's no one to stop you.
120.91 -> Wanna keep exporting grain
122.04 -> even when there's a massive famine
123.21 -> causing hundreds of thousands to die?
125.47 -> That is your God given right.
128.01 -> While all of this was great for the Tsar.
129.81 -> If you were literally anybody
else, it probably sucked
132.85 -> because Russia was falling behind.
134.91 -> If they were to keep up with Europe
136.34 -> they'd need a strong
ruler with some big ideas.
139.06 -> Oh, look here comes one now.
140.97 -> Hey everyone, it's me
Tsar Alexander the second
143.83 -> and I've got some big news.
145.67 -> I'm releasing you all from your serfdom.
147.44 -> You're all free.
148.98 -> (crow cheering loudly)
151.03 -> Yep, I'm the best.
152.41 -> Oh, there is one thing though.
153.76 -> I spoke to your local lords
155 -> and they weren't happy about
losing all their free labor.
157.13 -> So as a compromise, you're all
gonna have to pay them back
159.51 -> in near impossible amount of
money for the next 49 years.
162.27 -> Expect your lives to barely change.
165.9 -> Okay, bye.
167.32 -> Now, I know what you're thinking.
168.49 -> This Tsar Alexander the second
seems like a pretty cool guy.
171.5 -> He's trying to reform the country
172.92 -> and get Russia on the right path.
174.54 -> Everyone must love this guy, right, wrong.
177.56 -> Why does one man
178.43 -> get to decide fate of
everyone in the country?
180.54 -> This whole system is dumped.
181.83 -> Somebody should do something.
183.46 -> Like what?
184.293 -> Like kill the Tsar.
185.3 -> You're gonna kill the Tsar?
186.53 -> Well me, no, I'm busy.
189.01 -> I was kind of hoping you'd do it, okay.
192.23 -> See the people love me.
194.04 -> They're throwing flowers,
195.13 -> confetti and high-grade explosives.
197.446 -> (bomb exploding loudly)
198.6 -> Okay Nicholas, your
grandfather has a mild case
200.69 -> of being blown up by a terrorist
202.21 -> and he's not looking too hot.
203.57 -> So we're gonna go say our goodbyes, okay?
205.54 -> No, it'll be too scary for him.
207.3 -> Nonsense, it won't be scary at all.
208.97 -> We're just gonna say a
quick goodbye, ready?
212.97 -> Boy, look at me.
215.71 -> The people did this to me and
one day, they'll do it to you!
221.48 -> See it wasn't scary at all.
223.11 -> So Alexander the second was dead,
224.64 -> but luckily they had another
Alexander lying around.
226.9 -> Alexander the third and
he felt his dad's reforms
229.65 -> had weakened the Tsar's authority.
231.45 -> Russia was massive.
232.74 -> And as a result had
many ethnic minorities.
235.24 -> Non Russians more interested
in their own cultural heritage
238.15 -> than in loving me, isn't it great?
240.04 -> So much beautiful culture and
diversity in our great nation.
242.541 -> (bomb exploding loudly)
243.66 -> Alexander thought all these minorities
245.15 -> should be a little more Russian
and thereby loyal to him.
248.06 -> So he repressed religious minorities.
250.12 -> He repressed non Russians.
251.57 -> He introduced the Okhrana.
252.77 -> A secret police force that repressed
254.21 -> anybody who thought
having a Tsar was dumb.
256.36 -> If Alexander the second
was the great reformer
258.6 -> Alexander the third was
the great repressor.
261.16 -> Now that's how you run a country.
262.8 -> Hey dad.
263.633 -> Oh great, it's my son Nicholas,
265.59 -> who I like to call a girly girl
266.87 -> because he's so weak and pathetic.
268.45 -> When are you gonna grow up?
272.23 -> You still look like a girly girl to me.
273.97 -> But dad, I grew a beard.
275.7 -> Yeah, an ugly girly girl beard.
278.287 -> (crying loudly)
280.01 -> If Nicholas was to one day be Tsar.
281.66 -> He needed his dad to teach
him how to run the country.
283.67 -> But his dad instead suggested
284.94 -> that Nicholas goes somewhere else.
286.43 -> So Nicholas went to Japan,
got an edgy dragon tattoo.
289.05 -> Had his head sliced off by a
policeman and then came home.
291.4 -> Now, will you teach me how to rule?
293.33 -> I suppose it's time.
294.47 -> Okay, there's a lot
you need to know before
296.38 -> becoming Tsar, uh oh, what?
299.61 -> I've got kidney inflammation.
304.052 -> Oh no.
305.13 -> Upon his father's death,
a totally unprepared
307.14 -> Nicholas the second ascended
to the Russian throne.
309.58 -> He wasn't a reformer like his grandfather
311.55 -> nor was he a repressor like his dad.
313.47 -> Nicholas was Nicholas.
315.19 -> Timid, easily swayed
316.74 -> and more interested in doing
whatever the hell this is
319.22 -> or this or this.
321.2 -> He wasn't ready to rule.
322.24 -> And he himself admitted it
323.47 -> saying I'm not yet ready to be Tsar.
325.63 -> I know nothing of the business of ruling.
329.32 -> Bit of an awkward time to bring it up.
330.73 -> However, Nicholas firmly believed
332.26 -> that he was chosen by God
to be Russia's big daddy.
334.8 -> And while he doubted his ability to rule,
336.57 -> he was gonna give it his best shot.
338.12 -> And hey, who knows?
339.09 -> Maybe he wouldn't be so bad after all.
341 -> To get things off to a good start.
342.38 -> Nicholas promised free pretzels and beer
344.06 -> to a huge crowd in Moscow
to celebrate his coronation.
346.85 -> So enticing a proposition
to starving peasants
349.15 -> that the ensuing stampede
left nearly 1500 people dead.
352.71 -> What the hell happened?
353.83 -> We're not sure, but you're scheduled
355.05 -> to go party with the
French at eight o'clock.
357.01 -> Shouldn't I stay here out
of respect for the people?
359.73 -> When have Russian Tsars
ever respected the people?
363.829 -> (upbeat music)
365.17 -> Nicholas's decision to
go party with the French
367.19 -> immediately tarnished his image.
368.71 -> Some were calling him Nicholas the bloody.
371.1 -> The Tsars had been partying hard
372.48 -> at the expense of the
people for long enough
374.63 -> that emancipated the serfs
376.08 -> but failed to lift them out of poverty.
377.82 -> They used their secret police
378.85 -> to crack down on anyone
who might criticize them
380.86 -> and they had failed to modernize
and give the people rights.
383.33 -> Something the rest of
Europe had begun doing
384.99 -> over a century ago.
386.25 -> The rule of the Tsars was
quickly becoming outdated
388.8 -> and more and more Russians began wondering
390.61 -> if there was a better way.
392.11 -> For many, the solution was simple.
394 -> Just look to the West,
republics, democracies
396.56 -> and constitutional monarchies galore.
398.68 -> But a small growing group rejected that
400.93 -> for an even better idea,
402.39 -> a little something they called communism.
404.65 -> Take Vladimir Lenin a intelligent member
406.56 -> of Russia's middle-class
407.85 -> and also a massive ill tempered jerk.
410.29 -> If you disagreed with him about anything
412.02 -> he wasn't afraid to call you out.
413.85 -> You fat headed simple-minded
vapid cockeyed imbecile
417.61 -> Tenderheart Bear is a far superior
419.56 -> care bear to Bedtime Bear.
421.065 -> (crying loudly)
422.83 -> And he was no stranger to
political unrest either.
425.04 -> His older brother was executed
426.33 -> for plotting to kill the Tsar
427.8 -> and Lenin himself was
expelled from university
429.75 -> for participating in a student protest.
431.81 -> But how did Lenin go
432.86 -> from being a middle-class nerd
434.33 -> to the arbiter of socialist divinity?
436.67 -> Well, to tell that story,
438.08 -> we first need to go back a few decades
439.55 -> to when a man named Karl Marx,
441.07 -> wrote a manifesto
explaining how capitalism
442.84 -> is a system where by the stinky British
444.59 -> oppressed and exploded the working masses
446.23 -> and that only through class warfare,
447.5 -> could the workers rise up and
enstate a communist utopia.
450.23 -> Now go back forward a few decades
451.64 -> to Lenin reading that
manifesto and loving it.
455.13 -> But publicly admitting you loved Marx
456.75 -> and not Russia's big daddy
457.88 -> would get you the cruelest
punishment imaginable,
460.23 -> exile to Siberia.
461.96 -> Enjoy exile where you'll
live with your wife
464.2 -> chill around town and secretly
write socialists newspapers.
467.21 -> Hey, that doesn't sound so bad.
469.04 -> And your mother-in-law's
going to live with you, no!
473.47 -> Once Lenin finished his stint in Siberia.
475.26 -> He left Russia for Europe
476.49 -> where he was free to hang out
with other Russian Marxists
478.61 -> and talk about how great communism was.
480.75 -> Now today, you might
hear the word communism
482.85 -> and think of this.
484.075 -> (dramatic orchestral music)
487.37 -> But that's not how intellectuals
488.55 -> living under a Tsarist regime saw it.
490.47 -> To them, communism promised the land
492.46 -> where all were equal, where
workers weren't exploited
495.36 -> and even people like you
could get a girlfriend.
497.9 -> So Lenin joined a party
of Russian communists
499.7 -> living in Europe
500.55 -> and he founded a communist newsletter
502.03 -> that was smuggled into Russia
503.29 -> to try to radicalize the people.
504.86 -> However, not everyone
in the socialist party
506.95 -> agreed with Lenin.
507.91 -> In fact, they disagreed
with him on a lot of issues
510.82 -> and Lenin was so uncompromising
512.49 -> that he caused a split in the party.
514.22 -> During one conference, a
heated debate broke out
516.54 -> and Lenin was unwilling to give an inch.
518.48 -> You pig ignorant, half
witted fatuous morons,
522.46 -> cereal is a soup.
524.27 -> Listen, Lenin, you're a smart guy,
525.8 -> but you have no idea what
you're talking about.
528.14 -> We're out of here.
530.14 -> All in favor of cereal being a soup.
533.01 -> Hey, would you look at
that, we're in the majority.
535.38 -> So Lenin set up his own
faction within the party.
537.46 -> He called the Majority
538.86 -> or Bolshevik if you're speaking Russian
540.55 -> and the other faction
541.383 -> became known as the Minority or Menshevik.
543.3 -> And oddly, the majority
were often in the Minority
545.7 -> and the minority in the Majority.
547.13 -> The Mensheviks were less radical.
548.88 -> Whereas Lenin wanted the
Bolsheviks to be loyal to him
551.06 -> and his uncompromising ideas.
552.71 -> And if you weren't loyal
553.69 -> well then you're gonna
get a big brain beat down.
555.493 -> Mensheviks worried that Lenin's attitude
557.16 -> could lead to a one-man dictatorship,
559.06 -> but come up, does this guy
look like a dictator to you?
563.07 -> For now Lenin remained in Europe,
564.53 -> writing his socialist newspaper
566.02 -> and impatiently awaiting an opportunity
567.61 -> to overthrow the Tsar and bring
communist utopia to Russia.
572.62 -> Cool, a free hat.
575.56 -> Who the heck are you?
577.09 -> I'm definitely not a Russian
secret police officers
579.33 -> spying on Marxists.
580.67 -> Oh crap, I don't want
secret police watching me.
582.79 -> Then you, my friend should use NordVPN.
586.09 -> Do you like having your identity stolen?
588.04 -> If yes, you need therapy.
589.81 -> If no, you need NordVPN.
592.15 -> NordVPN has thousands of super
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595.46 -> that you can connect to,
596.35 -> to keep you and your data
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598.95 -> It comes with a 30 day
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601.34 -> and is now faster and
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603.34 -> with its brand new NordLynx technology.
606.06 -> Have you quarantine binged
607.37 -> all of your favorite shows on Netflix?
608.98 -> Well, with NordVPN, you can
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612.16 -> Or is one of the greatest
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615.62 -> I think you get the point.
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619.99 -> for only 3.71 per month,
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626.33 -> in the description below
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628.6 -> That's nordvpn.com/oversimplified.
631.58 -> And as always, you'll be
supporting my channel so.
634.005 -> (speaking in foreign language)
636.48 -> Now, where was I?
638 -> Oh yeah, a timid easily swayed Tsar,
640.58 -> a massive ill tempered jerk
642.15 -> impatiently awaiting a
communist revolution.
644.95 -> And revolution was coming,
646.58 -> but not in the way Lenin thought.
648.63 -> Back in St. Petersburg.
649.7 -> One of the Tsar's most skilled
and influential advisors
652.03 -> knew the country finally
needed to catch up
653.88 -> with the rest of Europe.
654.82 -> Hey Nick, we really got to industrialize.
656.94 -> Get more factories
657.82 -> and make some I don't know,
textiles or something.
660.91 -> Won't that change the
social fabric of Russia?
662.78 -> Maybe, hey isn't it past your bedtime?
664.82 -> But I haven't had my
milk and snuggles yet.
667.42 -> Will you snuggle me?
670.63 -> Nicholas thought modernization was boring.
672.72 -> But he let Sergei do his thing
674.25 -> and do his thing he did.
675.86 -> He borrowed some money and got
Russia some sexy factories.
678.58 -> And you know what sexy
factories means, sexy workers,
681.84 -> dirt poor, sexy workers.
684.01 -> Long hours, low wages, filthy
disease-ridden factories,
687.43 -> sleep in over crowded dormitories
689 -> with all your stinky worker friends.
690.65 -> Get your arms ripped off in
a freak Russian dole accident
693.12 -> conditions were terrible.
694.91 -> But this growing working class
696.27 -> wasn't about to take it lying down.
697.89 -> They started to do what
workers do best, strike.
701.41 -> Despite Sergei's efforts,
702.7 -> people in Russia still weren't happy.
704.32 -> Peasants were still poor,
liberals still wanted reform.
707.03 -> And now the workers wanted
better working conditions.
709.79 -> And the problem with being an autocrat
711.12 -> is that when everyone's unhappy
712.71 -> there's only person to blame, you.
715.33 -> The people hate me, what do I do?
717.51 -> Ooh, I know, why don't we find a weak
719.12 -> and pathetic nation to go to war with.
720.55 -> We'll win easily and
everyone will love me again.
722.77 -> Why don't we just try
treating the people better?
727.16 -> As luck would have it.
728.17 -> An opportunity for war was
forming in the far East.
730.87 -> Russia wanted to expand
its sphere of influence
732.82 -> into Northern China and
coincidentally, so did Japan.
735.8 -> But Japan didn't really want war.
737.52 -> So they proposed an idea
to reduce the tension.
739.83 -> Hey man, we'll let you do
your thing in Manchuria.
741.75 -> If you let us do our thing in Korea.
743.93 -> I don't think so.
744.8 -> We've got the largest army in
the world, what do you have?
747.49 -> I'm the Emperor of Japan,
I have a giant Mecha suit.
751.01 -> Whoa, cool.
752.84 -> Nicholas and the boys didn't
see Japan as a threat.
755.09 -> So they felt they could push Japan around.
756.83 -> But little did they know
757.75 -> Japan had been rapidly militarizing.
759.6 -> And when they launched a surprise attack
761.01 -> on a Russian fleet at Port
Arthur, everyone was shocked.
763.96 -> Nicholas hoped it was an
opportunity to win a quick war
766.51 -> and regain the support of the people.
768.16 -> Nobody seriously thought
a puny Asian country
770.52 -> could defeat a European superpower.
772.13 -> And the Russian people were
filled with patriotic spunk.
775.09 -> Hey everyone, we're at war with Japan.
777.789 -> (crowd cheering loudly)
779.981 -> (whispering quietly)
781.32 -> Hey everyone, we're losing the war.
783.554 -> (crowd booing loudly)
785.05 -> The Japanese won,
786.24 -> an embarrassing defeat for Tsar Nicholas.
788.1 -> Russia had enough problems
789.66 -> but now it had been
internationally humiliated.
792.84 -> The public were outraged,
unrest increased.
795.63 -> Nicholas needed snuggles
now more than ever.
797.82 -> The tension was rising rapidly
799.58 -> and Russia was on the verge of revolution.
802.527 -> All it needed was one disaster
to push it over the edge.
805.47 -> And that disaster would
come in January, 1905
808.16 -> from an unlikely source
809.57 -> a handsome Orthodox
priest named Father Gapon,
812.54 -> Father Gapon was leading
workers and their families
814.65 -> to the winter palace.
815.72 -> But this wasn't some violent uprising,
817.54 -> it was a peaceful protest.
819.25 -> They wanted to deliver
a petition to Nicholas
821.19 -> which simply asked for more freedom
822.72 -> and better working conditions.
824.21 -> The protest was actually
so peaceful and respectful
826.67 -> that the Marxist thought
it was a big waste of time.
828.98 -> Hey Nicholas, some priest is
leading a peaceful protest.
831.48 -> It says here they wanna
give you a petition.
833.48 -> A peaceful petitioning priest,
I better get out of here.
836.8 -> Nicholas had actually left
the winter palace days earlier
839.21 -> and in his place they brought
in a truckload of troops
841.7 -> ordered to stop Father Gapon
from reaching the palace.
844.25 -> Hello good, sir and long lived the Tsar.
846.37 -> Please, allow me to pass
this simple petition
848.6 -> towards our dear father
Nicholas the second.
850.71 -> Good day to you to please,
852.32 -> allow us to respond by opening fire.
854.711 -> (gun fired loudly)
857.04 -> What began as a peaceful
protest ended in tragedy.
860.48 -> Imperial soldiers opened
fire on the crowd.
863.56 -> Around 200 civilians died
800 more were wounded.
867.09 -> All they wanted was the
opportunity to ask Nicholas
869.54 -> to improve their lives.
871.16 -> Instead they were met with bullets.
873.75 -> Nicholas didn't personally
order the troops to fire,
876.38 -> but as an autocrat, he got the blame.
878.77 -> The event became known as Bloody Sunday
880.77 -> and Nicholas's reputation plummeted.
882.84 -> Strikes erupted across the empire,
884.81 -> workers demands increased,
886.69 -> liberals demanded political power,
888.35 -> peasants demanded lamd.
889.94 -> The country was out of control
891.36 -> and the 1905 revolution had begun.
894.33 -> Listen Nicholas peasants seizing my land
896.25 -> and murdering my family, I can tolerate,
897.78 -> but illegally chopping
my wood, that's obscene
900.57 -> and the worse I treat my
workers, the more they strike,
903.21 -> I don't get it.
904.043 -> Everyone relax, as long as the
military is still on my side
906.73 -> there's nothing to worry about.
907.97 -> Sir, the sailors are starting to mutiny.
909.79 -> Well, my life just sucks.
911.51 -> With Russia still losing to the Japanese
913.44 -> unrest was growing in the military.
914.99 -> And some sailors had even
taken to killing officers.
917.66 -> Having the people against
you is bad enough,
919.63 -> but if the military joined
in, it would be game over.
922.09 -> To make matters worse,
923.13 -> in October workers in Marxists
including one Leon Trotsky
926 -> began setting up local elected
councils called Soviets
928.86 -> that coordinated strikes
and supplied the workers.
931.5 -> Sergei could see the writing on the wall.
933.37 -> Things were going south fast
934.93 -> and he needed a big idea to save the Tsar.
937.27 -> And luckily he had just that.
939.34 -> You see all these angry people
940.7 -> from different parts of society
942.1 -> weren't really working together.
943.52 -> Meaning there was a weakness to exploit.
945.71 -> Sergei wrote a manifesto
that would give the liberals
948.07 -> an elected assembly called the Duma.
949.97 -> It took some convincing
951.1 -> but eventually Nicholas
agreed to share power
953.17 -> and have his laws approved
by an elected assembly.
955.48 -> Hey liberals, here's your
stupid manifesto, happy now?
958.59 -> We certainly are.
959.63 -> But what about these guys?
960.87 -> Aren't you gonna give them what they want?
962.28 -> Oh goodness no.
964.26 -> I was just gonna kill them.
965.28 -> With the liberal satisfied
966.57 -> and after ending the war with Japan.
968.09 -> The Tsar thousands of troops home
969.55 -> who then dismantled the Soviets,
971.08 -> arrested their leaders
972.19 -> and crushed the peasant
uprisings in the countryside.
974.65 -> And how about that pesky parliament
976.01 -> Nicholas had agreed to share power with?
977.93 -> Well, he then wrote a bunch of new laws
979.63 -> which basically said, hey,
remember that manifesto I wrote
982.3 -> and how you guys were
going to approve my laws?
984.49 -> Slight change of plan.
985.85 -> Actually, I'm gonna do
whatever the hell I want.
988 -> And you guys are gonna shut up.
989.3 -> What, the people won't stand for this.
991.76 -> People, what people?
995.35 -> This is why people don't like you.
996.63 -> And just like that Nicholas had
survived the 1905 revolution
1000.31 -> but wait a revolution in
Russia, where was Lenin?
1004.44 -> Well Lenin and his communist
pals were still in exile.
1007.33 -> He tried desperately to
radicalize the uprising
1009.64 -> but all he could do was watch
1010.94 -> as the movements failed to organize
1012.57 -> the liberal sold out the poor
1014.13 -> and the Tsar played the people.
1015.86 -> Furious, he believed Russia
had missed a great chance
1018.57 -> for a real revolution.
1020.01 -> From now on, he felt the only way left
1022.08 -> was an armed revolution by the workers.
1024.64 -> Watching the events of 1905 unfold
1026.81 -> Lenin learnt a lot.
1027.97 -> The Tsar however, would prove
to have learned nothing.
1031.29 -> After the 1905 revolution had failed.
1033.32 -> The Tsars new top man was Pyotr Stolypin
1035.49 -> and he had big ideas to
prevent any more chaos.
1038.48 -> Step one, reform agriculture
1040.36 -> this'll make the peasants love you.
1042.16 -> And step two, we'll
kill anyone who doesn't.
1045.14 -> To discourage any more revolutionary ideas
1047.385 -> Stolypin began to crack down even harder
1049.67 -> on the Tsar's opponents
1050.83 -> and thousands were sentenced to death.
1052.76 -> The news even earned
itself a new nickname,
1054.614 -> Stolypin's Necktie, I don't get it.
1058.357 -> Oh, I see.
1059.69 -> 'Cause it goes around my
neck and that's so funny.
1063.16 -> But despite depression
many positive reforms
1065.47 -> were also being made
and the Russian economy
1067.37 -> even began to improve.
1068.71 -> This a problem for Lenin.
1070.58 -> If the people weren't suffering
1071.95 -> then they wouldn't support a revolution.
1073.73 -> Still in exile and lacking funds,
1075.88 -> the Bolsheviks simply weren't
in a position to do anything.
1078.87 -> Luckily it was around this time
1080.21 -> that Lenin met an
incredibly handsome Georgian
1082.32 -> with your second favorite
historical mustache,
1084.48 -> Joseph Stalin.
1085.93 -> Lenin and Stalin met at
a communist convention
1088.05 -> in Finland and Lenin liked Stalin
1089.79 -> because he was a real go getter
1091.13 -> and was great at fundraising
for the Bolsheviks
1093.14 -> and by fundraising I
mean kidnapping, robbing,
1095.36 -> extorting, bribing,
ransoming, assassinating,
1097.88 -> prison breaking, stealing, bank raiding,
1099.98 -> executioning and stealing again.
1101.85 -> He's Stalin the Mensheviks aren't so hot
1103.067 -> in all this stealing,
but we still need money.
1105.52 -> So the next time you do a big
heist, just do it quietly.
1108.34 -> Okay, quietly, got it.
1111.36 -> (guns firing loudly)
1112.44 -> If this isn't quiet, I
don't know what it is.
1114.75 -> Stalin's wacky antics eventually
got him exiled to Siberia
1117.81 -> but he had established himself
as a big balls Bolshevik.
1120.56 -> However, no amount of Bolshevik balls
1122.56 -> could stop what was happening.
1123.84 -> The Russian economy was making a recovery.
1126.26 -> For the Tsar, things were looking up.
1128.04 -> This is great.
1129.05 -> All Nicholas has to do is sit
back and not mess anything up.
1131.98 -> Hey everyone, big news.
1133.77 -> I'd like to introduce you
to my new best friend.
1136.07 -> He's a crazy, drunken, beardy, horny,
1138.12 -> scandal ridden magic wizard, man.
1139.73 -> And he smells like a goat.
1141.68 -> We're screwed.
1142.52 -> Rasputin, a dirt poor peasant
from dirt poor nowhere.
1145.83 -> But un-like all the
other dirt poor peasants,
1147.69 -> Rasputin had holy healing powers.
1149.92 -> And when this holy mystic
wandered into St. Petersburg,
1152.57 -> people began to notice.
1154.15 -> He quickly became famous
1155.49 -> and word this mystery
man and his healing hands
1157.61 -> made its way to the royal palace.
1159.47 -> The appearance of a holy homeless healer
1161.23 -> was of great interest to
the Tsar and his wife.
1163.74 -> As far as worlds go,
they weren't that in bred
1166.17 -> but they were just in bred enough
1167.26 -> for their son Alexe to get hemophilia
1169.45 -> or in layman's terms, mama
mia, that's a lot of blood.
1172.91 -> Know Rasputin could heal people,
1174.35 -> in 1906, Alexandra asked for Rasputin
1176.64 -> to come and see if he could cure their son
1178.48 -> and crazy as it sounds
Rasputin did heal Alexei,
1181.58 -> possibly by taking him off
his doctor prescribed aspirin.
1184.35 -> Having seemingly done the impossible
1186.09 -> Rasputin became very, very
close to the royal family
1189.08 -> but having a crazy homeless
wizard man hanging around
1191.56 -> wasn't a good look for the Tsar
because Rasputin was freaky.
1195.75 -> Not only was he a big fan of alcohol
1197.52 -> but he'd also throw these crazy parties
1199.21 -> with Russian nobility.
1200.327 -> (beeping loudly)
1207.733 -> And nobody knew how the
goat got on the roof.
1209.74 -> Initially the press were banned
1210.9 -> from talking about Rasputin
1212.28 -> but eventually the ban was lifted
1214.17 -> and the tabloids went to town.
1215.85 -> The whole thing was a huge scandal
1217.57 -> and everyone was freaked out that this guy
1219.78 -> was influencing the Tsar and his wife.
1221.93 -> Nicholas could have spent
this period of relative peace
1224.36 -> improving his image.
1225.37 -> Instead he spent it doing this,
1227.64 -> but as weird as the
whole Rasputin thing was
1229.8 -> so long as the economy
continued to improve
1231.9 -> and the people's lives
kept getting better,
1233.7 -> maybe Nick would be okay.
1235.26 -> Maybe there would be no more revolutions.
1237.39 -> Maybe this video could even end right here
1239.83 -> or maybe things were about
to get worse, a lot worse.
1243.96 -> You see the years 1914,
1246.05 -> and that means it's for World War One.
1250.015 -> (dramatic music)
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqbleas1mmo