The USSR - Summary on a map
The USSR - Summary on a map
The history of the USSR on maps, from the eve of the First World War, until the fall of the USSR in 1991.
This video is the third and last part on the history of Russia:
The Origins of Russia: • The origins of Russia - Summary on a Map
The Russian Empire: • The Russian Empire - Summary on a map
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Support the channel on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/geohistory
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English translation \u0026 voiceover: Matthew Bates https://www.epicvoiceover.com/
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Original French version: • L’URSS - résumé sur cartes
Russian version: • Советский союз - история на карте
Arabic version: Coming soon
Spanish version: • La URSS - Historia y resumen con mapa
Portuguese version (Brazil): • URSS - UNIÃO SOVIÉTICA: Ascensão e queda
Japanese version: • ソビエト連邦の歴史
German version: • Die UdSSR - Zusammenfassung der Sowje…
Corean version: • 소련 (소비에트 사회주의 공화국 연방) - 지도로 보는 소련의 역사
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Music: Made for Geo History by Ledge End: https://www.beatstars.com/ledgeend
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Software: Adobe After Effects
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Chapters
00:00 Situation before WWI
01:17 World War I
02:12 The end of the Romanov dynasty
03:18 The October Revolution
04:56 The Russian Civil War
07:38 Stalin
08:57 International Destabilization
11:00 World War II
12:40 The Great Patriotic War
14:20 Turning Point
15:55 The Cold War
17:35 Khrushchev
19:26 The United States
21:09 The dissolution of the Soviet Union
#geohistory #ussr #coldwar #russia #history
Content
0.41 -> We begin on the eve of World War I.
2.946 -> The Russian Empire, which has been ruled for three centuries by the Romanov dynasty,
7.437 -> now covers about 1/6th of the world's land area.
11.163 -> The country's industry is doing well, mainly due to the large production of steel, coal, and oil,
17.24 -> but working conditions are very difficult.
19.894 -> The country is populated by just over 170 million people,
24.652 -> the vast majority of whom are poor, ill-equipped peasants linked to communities called Obshchinas.
31.055 -> From a military point of view, the country has the largest army in the world, with about 6 million soldiers,
37.559 -> but they are less equipped and trained than in other countries,
41.407 -> notably Germany, which has the strongest army in the
world.
45.034 -> From a diplomatic point of view, Russia, France, and the United Kingdom form the Triple Entente,
50.819 -> which opposes the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy.
56.144 -> Finally, in the Balkans, tension rises between Austria-Hungary, which wants to extend its empire,
62.713 -> and Russia, which wants to protect the Slavic and Orthodox peoples.
70.976 -> On June 28, 1914, in Sarajevo, the heir to the Austrian throne and his wife are assassinated by a Bosnian Serb nationalist.
80.28 -> In retaliation, Austria-Hungary, supported by Germany, declares war on Serbia.
85.981 -> Russia, allied with Serbia, decrees a general mobilization, and within days the First World War breaks out.
93.602 -> St. Petersburg, the Russian capital, is renamed Petrograd in order not to have a German sounding name.
100.148 -> The members of the Triple Entente agree not to sign a separate peace treaty with the Central Powers.
105.856 -> Russia launches two offensives, one in East Prussia, which is repulsed, and another in Galicia, which is successful.
113.617 -> In the south, the Ottoman Empire joins the Central Powers
117.057 -> and closes the straits that link the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, isolating Russia.
122.741 -> In 1915, while the western front is frozen in the trenches,
127.152 -> Germany launches a major offensive against Russia, seizing many territories.
135.968 -> Millions of refugees wander all over the country,
139.498 -> while industry is running at full speed for the war, to the detriment of civilian needs.
145.123 -> Inflation and rationing make the people angry, while the war drags on and the morale of the troops is at its lowest.
152.171 -> Strikes are organized everywhere.
154.68 -> In Petrograd, they turned into an uncontrollable armed revolution,
159.07 -> which forces Emperor Nicholas II to abdicate, marking the end of the Romanov dynasty.
165.276 -> A provisional government is set up and tries to calm the situation,
169.308 -> but it chooses to continue the war, in accordance with the commitment made to its allies.
174.886 -> On the fronts, more and more exhausted and discontented soldiers desert.
179.965 -> In the countryside, the peasants attack the
rich properties and take over the cultivable land.
185.731 -> In the factories, supply shortages put more and more workers out of work, which provokes new strikes.
192.693 -> Powerless, the provisional government is unable to control the country.
201.892 -> In Petrograd, the Bolshevik party, with Vladimir Lenin at its head,
206.552 -> takes advantage of the chaos to start a new revolution and to seize power.
211.501 -> The party wants immediate peace, redistribution of land to the peasants, workers' control in the factories,
218.067 -> and equality and emancipation of minorities, easily gaining the support of a large part of the population.
225.038 -> A call for peace, without annexation or compensation, is launched in Europe, and a cease-fire is signed with the Central Powers.
233.132 -> In addition, the Bolsheviks cancel the country's debts, provoking the anger of former allies.
239.029 -> In the country, many minorities take advantage of the situation to proclaim their independence,
245.303 -> forcing the Bolsheviks to react to avoid losing access to certain vital resources,
250.64 -> such as Azeri oil, Caucasian metals, or Ukrainian wheat.
255.412 -> But on February 9, 1918, Germany and its allies officially recognize Ukraine.
261.522 -> In reaction, the Bolsheviks interrupt the peace negotiations.
265.693 -> Germany resumes the offensive and quickly seizes large territories,
270.042 -> forcing the Bolsheviks to sign an unfavorable peace treaty.
274.033 -> The Bolsheviks therefore must recognize many independences, and cede territories to the Ottoman Empire,
280.739 -> losing ⅓ of the population, and access to many resources.
285.309 -> This is the end of World War I for Russia,
288.415 -> but its former allies do not recognize the treaty, and prepare forces to support the anti-Bolshevik militias.
300 -> Fearing that Petrograd will be invaded, Lenin moves the capital to Moscow, in the heart of the area he controls.
306.964 -> All around, rebel armies and governments are organizing.
310.71 -> In the East, the Czechoslovak Legion rebels and takes control of the Trans-Siberian Railway,
317.068 -> threatening, among others, Yekaterinburg, where the Romanov family is detained.
322.136 -> They are then executed to prevent them from returning to the throne.
326.644 -> In the South, the Volunteer Army, reinforced by Cossacks, control the North Caucasus region.
332.64 -> In Europe, World War I ends with the defeat of the Central Powers.
336.675 -> The Bolsheviks immediately annul the treaty signed with the Central Powers, and their armies enter the lost territories.
344.095 -> On the other side, France, the United Kingdom, the United States,and Japan, among others,
349.365 -> strengthen their support for the rebel armies, called the White Armies,
353.331 -> while the Bolshevik Red Army is reorganized and strengthened by the Commissar of Military and Naval Affairs, Leon Trotsky.
361.826 -> Lenin now dreams of exporting the Bolshevik revolution to the whole of Europe,
366.41 -> passing through Poland, provoking a war.
369.212 -> Further north, a third White Army is threatening Petrograd.
373.144 -> In the countryside, peasants are forming green armies that fight on the one hand against the Bolsheviks,
378.99 -> who requisition crops by force, and on the other hand against the white armies,
383.696 -> whose leaders want to restore the old system and give back the cultivable lands to the rich owners.
389.708 -> Finally, independence militias are organized throughout the country, which is completely fractured.
396 -> The Red Army gradually gains the upper hand, but is in trouble with the Poles, who seized Kiev.
402.139 -> A counter-attack pushes them back to the gates of Warsaw,
405.65 -> where the Red Army is defeated and pushed back in turn.
409.23 -> After negotiations, peace is signed and a new border is fixed between the two powers,
415.069 -> with Poland obtaining the recognition of a large territory.
419.207 -> After defeating the last rebel pockets, on December 30, 1922,
424.4 -> the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR, is proclaimed, bringing together 4 republics.
432.19 -> After 8 years of war, the country is devastated.
435.995 -> 8% of the pre-war population has died, while 7 million orphans roam the streets.
442.516 -> Internationally, the Soviet Union finds itself isolated.
446.609 -> Only Germany, also isolated, makes a rapprochement.
450.617 -> The USSR secretly offers Germany to rearm on its territory, which goes against the Treaty of Versailles.
462 -> In January 1924, Lenin dies.
465.472 -> In a few years, Joseph Stalin dismisses his main competitor, Trotsky, and puts in place his policies.
472.764 -> To revive the country's economy, he plans to massively develop industry.
477.833 -> To finance this project, Stalin relies on increasing agricultural production by collectivizing agriculture.
484.846 -> The Kulaks, i.e., the peasant owners, are expropriated and sent to work camps,
490.461 -> or are forced to join communities called Kolkhozes
and Sovkhozes.
494.968 -> Resistance is organized and repression intensified.
498.726 -> Many families flee the countryside and move to the cities.
502.356 -> The forced labor camps fill up quickly, and an administration called Gulag is set up to manage them.
508.762 -> Prisoners have to build railroads, canals, or cities in remote and hostile areas in order to exploit resources such as coal or metals.
518.609 -> In the countryside, after a bad harvest in 1931,
522.789 -> Stalin accuses the peasants of deliberately sabotaging his objectives.
527.809 -> He then confiscates all the crops, condemning millions of peasants to starvation in Ukraine, the North Caucasus, and Kazakhstan.
540.39 -> On the Western side, the Wall Street crash of 1929 provoked a severe world economic crisis.
547.366 -> Germany is hit hard, which favors Parties of the extreme.
551.781 -> Hitler comes to power and quickly attacks the country's communists, which leads to tensions with the USSR.
559.069 -> Completely isolated, the Soviet Union tries a moderate rapprochement with the Western powers.
565.056 -> In 1934, it’s admitted to the League of Nations.
568.951 -> The same year, in Leningrad, Sergei Kirov, an important member of the Party, is assassinated.
575.563 -> In retaliation, Stalin organizes a violent repression against all those suspected of being political opponents.
583.263 -> Over 2 years, around 700,000 people, mostly from minority groups, are sentenced to death.
590.352 -> Internationally, Germany and Japan form an anti-communist alliance.
594.752 -> The Soviet Union feels more and more in danger, fearing to be caught between two fronts,
600.791 -> especially since the League of Nations seems to be useless when managing a conflict.
605.708 -> The USSR has to choose its side between Germany and its allies,
610.815 -> and the Western powers, which seem powerless to counter the rise of Germany.
615.412 -> In May 1939, a border conflict between Japanese Manchukuo and Mongolia,
621.956 -> allied with the USSR, provokes a war between the two powers.
626.32 -> The Soviet Union fears a German intervention in the West,
629.724 -> but the latter is preparing its invasion of Poland, and is even showing interest for a diplomatic rapprochement.
636.929 -> The USSR chooses its side, and signs a nonaggression pact with Germany.
642.175 -> A secret protocol defines the spheres of influence in Eastern Europe.
647.013 -> Poland will be divided, and the Baltic States, Finland, and Bessarabia will come under Soviet influence.
654.207 -> Germany then begins the invasion of Poland, which triggers the Second World War.
663.609 -> After its victory against Japan, the USSR joins the German offensive and takes over Eastern Poland.
670.908 -> The Soviet Union then wants to negotiate a change of borders with Finland in order to repel any threat to Leningrad.
678.055 -> But Finland refuses and the war begins.
681.308 -> Despite their clear numerical superiority, the Red Army, badly prepared and less well-equipped against the cold,
689.2 -> struggles to impose itself.
691.086 -> Finally, the USSR wins, and the border is pushed back
695.314 -> But the war was a fiasco for the Red Army, which did not go unnoticed by Hitler.
700.839 -> The USSR then seizes the Baltic States and Bessarabia, after political and diplomatic pressure.
707.563 -> For its part, Germany subjugated almost all of Europe, with only the United Kingdom still resisting.
714.088 -> Spies warn Stalin of an imminent German attack, but he underestimates the threat.
719.987 -> On June 22, 1941, Germany and its allies launch the largest military offensive in history against the USSR,
729.56 -> with three main objectives, Leningrad in the north, Moscow in the center, and the resources of Ukraine and the Caucasus in the south.
738.242 -> Finland takes the opportunity to join the offensive in order to recover its lost territories.
744.016 -> Taken by surprise, the Red Army is totally overwhelmed.
748.379 -> Hundreds of thousands of soldiers are taken
prisoner, condemned to starve to death in camps.
754.372 -> Behind the front line, German mobile militias massacre Jews and Bolsheviks.
764.024 -> Step by step, the Soviet Union organizes itself
767.652 -> and moves its factories in pieces and a large part of its population to the East,
772.097 -> applying a scorched earth policy to leave no resources to the Germans.
777.023 -> The armies are reorganized, and deserters and defeatists are executed.
782.24 -> Stalin organizes the country's resistance in the name of Patriotism.
786.95 -> The entire population is involved in the war effort, and has to work day and night to speed up military production.
794.754 -> Internationally, the Soviet Union becomes a de facto ally and receives support from the United Kingdom and the United States.
802.747 -> The German armies reach and besiege Leningrad, and come dangerously close to Moscow.
808.878 -> But the Soviet armies, reinforced by troops coming from the East, where a non-aggression pact had been signed with Japan,
816.127 -> counter-attack, while a harsh winter is falling which puts the Germans, who are less well-equipped, at risk.
823.034 -> The front line is pushed back and then stabilized.
826.74 -> A few months later, Hitler launches a new offensive, this time only concentrated towards the South
832.78 -> with the objective of the Caucasus’ Petroleum.
835.475 -> In Stalingrad, the Germans face fierce resistance.
839.192 -> For 5 months, an average of 6,000 Soviets die every day to defend the city at all costs.
846.428 -> On November 19, 1942, the Soviets counter-attack outside the city and surround the 300,000 German soldiers present in Stalingrad,
857.294 -> who surrender 3 months later.
863.286 -> As Soviet military industry now outstrips German production,
867.87 -> the situation becomes critical for Hitler, who attempts a new offensive at Kursk.
873.056 -> The biggest tank battle in history takes place there.
876.869 -> The Soviets win and take the initiative.
879.563 -> This time, nothing seems to be able to stop them.
882.816 -> Stalin then meets for the first time his allies, Churchill, for the United Kingdom, and Roosevelt, for the United States.
889.675 -> He obtains the opening of a second front in the West, with a military landing in France.
895.014 -> He also obtains, and plans to keep, the Polish territories he conquered,
899.565 -> moving the country more towards the West to the detriment of Germany, which would be divided and shared.
906.055 -> In exchange, Stalin commits to attacking Japan after the German defeat.
911.29 -> The following year, Leningrad is liberated after a siege of 872 days that was fatal for more than a million civilians.
920.534 -> In the West, the Allies land in Normandy.
923.695 -> At the same time, the Soviets launch a huge offensive that allows them to conquer Eastern Europe, and reach Berlin.
930.873 -> A month later, Germany surrenders.
933.2 -> The victors meet in Potsdam to implement the
agreements made earlier.
937.656 -> The USSR then turns to Japan.
940.534 -> After the two atomic bombs dropped by the United States on Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
945.919 -> the Soviet armies quickly seize Manchuria, South Sakhalin, and the Kuril Islands, accelerating Japan’s capitulation.
957.838 -> The Soviet Union paid a high price for the war, with more than 26 million dead, including 10 million soldiers.
965.894 -> Tens of millions of civilians are now displaced or homeless, while a new famine hit the population.
972.624 -> In return, the USSR seized many territories in Asia and Europe and occupies eastern Germany and part of Austria.
981.157 -> Within the country, repression resumes, and
targets deserters and those accused of treason.
987.106 -> Most are sent to Gulag camps.
989.18 -> Internationally, the Soviet Union strengthened its influence all around its borders,
994.553 -> which causes tensions with the United States, while no agreement is reached on the status of Korea.
1000.809 -> In Eastern Europe, Stalin obtains the establishment of governments that are favorable to him.
1006.319 -> The United States, for its part, wants to prevent the spread of communism,
1011.013 -> in particular by offering credits in Western Europe to speed up reconstruction.
1016.057 -> The old continent finds itself divided, marking the beginning of the Cold War.
1021.159 -> In Germany, the United States, the United Kingdom, and France agree to unite their occupation zones in order to recreate a German state.
1030.016 -> In response, Stalin imposes a blockade on West Berlin, which is under Western control.
1036.386 -> An airlift is set up to supply the area.
1038.985 -> On August 28, 1949, the USSR tests its first atomic bomb.
1045.069 -> The following year, Stalin obtains an alliance with Mao Zedong's China, gaining a major ally in Asia, while the Korean War begins.
1057.911 -> In 1953, Stalin dies without having prepared a successor.
1063.11 -> Nikita Khrushchev gradually imposes
himself, and implements a policy of appeasement.
1069.007 -> More than one million prisoners are released.
1071.564 -> To reduce the pressure on peasants while increasing production,
1075.466 -> Khrushchev organizes the development of agriculture on the steppes of Kazakhstan, in the Urals, and in Siberia.
1082.99 -> Finally, he accelerates the construction of apartment buildings throughout the country to facilitate access to property.
1090.445 -> In Europe, while West Germany joins NATO, the Soviet Union responds by creating the Warsaw Pact,
1097.183 -> a military alliance between the countries of Eastern Europe.
1100.853 -> Internationally, as more and more European colonies gain their independence,
1105.406 -> Khrushchev takes advantage of the situation to get diplomatically closer to new states,
1110.745 -> notably Egypt and Syria, to whom he supplies arms.
1114.819 -> Finally, Khrushchev tries to ease tensions with Tito's Yugoslavia, which had broken off diplomatic relations with Stalin.
1122.98 -> In 1956, Khrushchev unveils a secret report denouncing Stalin's excesses,
1129.302 -> these excesses being one of the reasons behind
an anti-communist revolt in Poland.
1134.671 -> The Polish army puts down the revolt, and a moderate government is installed.
1139.632 -> In Hungary, too, an anti-communist revolts breaks out.
1143.353 -> This time, Khrushchev decides to intervene, and sends his tanks to crush the revolt.
1148.967 -> At the same time, Egypt is attacked by Israel, France, and the United Kingdom for control of the Suez Canal.
1156.665 -> The USSR threatens to retaliate with nuclear weapons.
1160.501 -> The United States then intervenes and obtains an end to the offensive.
1169.064 -> In October 1957, the Soviet Union surprises and worries the United States by sending the first satellite into space.
1176.958 -> The two powers then accelerate their race to space, while a diplomatic rapprochement takes place.
1183.228 -> In 1959, Khrushchev is the first Soviet head of state to visit the United States.
1189.132 -> He takes advantage of the occasion to obtain a future summit in Paris, with France and the United Kingdom, to settle the West Berlin problem.
1197.856 -> But a few days before the summit, a U.S. spy plane is spotted in the Soviet sky and is shot down, which rekindles tensions.
1206.05 -> In Paris, no agreement is reached, and in 1961, the Berlin Wall is built to stop migration from East to West in the city.
1215.3 -> The United States now installs nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey, threatening the USSR.
1221.71 -> Khrushchev answers by making a rapprochement with Cuba, where he installs Soviet missiles in the direction of the United States.
1229.656 -> Tension reaches its peak, and the world is preparing for a new world war.
1234.631 -> But neither the USSR nor the United
States want a nuclear war.
1239.322 -> An agreement is finally reached and the Soviet Union withdraws in exchange for the United States promising not to invade Cuba,
1247.075 -> and to remove their missiles in Turkey and Italy.
1250.417 -> The two powers then begin a policy of détente,
1253.36 -> which does not go down well with the Soviet’s Chinese ally, which distances itself from the USSR.
1260.557 -> On October 14, 1964, Khrushchev is removed from office, officially for his advanced age.
1272.247 -> Leonid Brezhnev takes over and tries to re-establish the alliance with China, but fails.
1278.435 -> In 1968, in Czechoslovakia, the new government starts liberalization reforms, which is perceived as a threat by the Soviets.
1287.604 -> Brezhnev then decides to invade the country, together with three other members of the Warsaw Pact.
1294.012 -> He then puts in place a more favorable government
to him.
1297.541 -> In the following years, Brezhnev continues to invest heavily in armaments, to the detriment of the country's economy,
1304.582 -> while agricultural and industrial production stagnate.
1308.422 -> The Soviet Union develops new and more powerful nuclear missiles that threaten Western Europe.
1314.225 -> NATO reacts by deploying new missiles in five European countries.
1318.82 -> In 1979, in Afghanistan, the pro-Soviet government is taken down by revolts.
1325.309 -> The Soviet Union intervenes militarily, but its armies
are quickly stuck in an expensive and unpopular war.
1333.053 -> Tensions rise internationally, and in 1980, many countries boycott the Olympic Games held in Moscow.
1340.435 -> Two years later, Brezhnev dies, leaving behind a country in bad shape.
1346.054 -> In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power.
1349.397 -> He begins economic and social reforms to modernize the country and establish a policy of openness and transparency.
1357.463 -> But the following year, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster put him in even more difficulty, financially and diplomatically.
1365.643 -> Internationally, he reopens contact with the United States,
1369.669 -> and obtains an agreement to considerably reduce the nuclear arsenals of both powers.
1375.647 -> In 1988, Gorbachev decides to withdraw his troops from Afghanistan.
1381.149 -> While his policy of appeasement succeeds internationally,
1384.75 -> within the country, despite the reforms, the economic situation remains catastrophic,
1390.559 -> and the new policies facilitate demonstrations and strikes throughout the country.
1395.653 -> Revolts also occur in Eastern Europe, where communist regimes fall one by one.
1401.881 -> Within the USSR, Lithuania proclaims its independence, and is quickly followed by the other republics.
1408.991 -> On July 1, 1991, the Warsaw Pact is dissolved.
1414.104 -> Gorbachev, who no longer has any control, narrowly escapes a coup d'état.
1419.253 -> On December 25, 1991, he resigns, which marks the end of the USSR.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUvpE_8A9kU