The Russian Revolution - OverSimplified (Part 1)

this video was made possible by nordvpn click on the link in the description below to get an amazing 68 off a two-year plan also commemorating the weirdest bromance in history get your new character pins on russian revolution merch available now link down below hey jimmy it's the 1800s an exciting time to be alive why don't you get out there and explore the world gee whiz mom thanks this place is amazing where am i why you're in france my boy here we come up with wacky new ways of running a country liberty egality fraternity whoa welcome to the united kingdom here we invented the train whoa aboard holy smokes you're in a german factory my friend here we harness fire and cold create all these sexy lederhosen this is incredible i can't wait to see where i'll end up next where am i you're in russia have i gone back in time no this is just how it is are you a farmer worse technically my landlord owns me which makes me a serf i'm scared you should be because i haven't eaten in four days and you look pretty tasty hey jimmy how are your travels i hate you [Music] russia in the 19th century feudal underdeveloped and stuck in the past while the rest of europe had been modernizing and improving their citizens lives russia's rulers were taking a different approach my lord we're falling behind the rest of europe it's time to industrialize give the people rights and share your power russian tsars had no time for pathetic ideas like liberty and modernization because they were too busy having the time of their lives while the serfs were breaking their backs in the fields the czars held all the power and they didn't have to listen to anyone want to run the country like a backwards feudal kingdom while the rest of europe outpaces you militarily and economically go right ahead want to keep the people uneducated so they don't get any ideas there's no one to stop you want to keep exporting grain even when there's a massive famine causing hundreds of thousands to die that is your god-given right while all of this was great for the tsar if you were literally anybody else it probably sucked because russia was falling behind if they were to keep up with europe they'd need a strong ruler with some big ideas oh look here comes one now hey everyone it's me zara alexander ii and i've got some big news i'm releasing you all from your serfdom you're all free yep i'm the best oh there is one thing though i spoke to your local lords and they weren't happy about losing all their free labor so as a compromise you're all gonna have to pay them back a near impossible amount of money for the next 49 years expect your lives to barely change okay bye now i know what you're thinking this tsar alexander ii seems like a pretty cool guy he's trying to reform the country and get russia on the right path everyone must love this guy right wrong why does one man get to decide the fate of everyone in the country this whole system is dumb somebody should do something like what like kill the czar you're gonna kill the czar well me no i'm busy i was kind of hoping you'd do it okay see the people love me they're throwing flowers confetti and high-grade explosives okay nicholas your grandfather has a mild case of being blown up by a terrorist and he's not looking too hot so we're gonna go say our goodbyes okay no it'll be too scary for him nonsense it won't be scary at all we're just gonna say a quick goodbye ready boy look at me the people did this to me and one day they'll do it to you see wasn't scary at all so alexander ii was dead but luckily they had another alexander lying around alexander the third and he felt his dad's reforms had weakened the tsar's authority russia was massive and as a result had many ethnic minorities non-russians more interested in their own cultural heritage than in loving me isn't it great so much beautiful culture and diversity in our great nation alexander thought all these minorities should be a little more russian and thereby loyal to him so he repressed religious minorities he repressed non-russians he introduced the ocrana a secret police force that repressed anybody who thought having a czar was dumb if alexander ii was the great reformer alexander iii was the great repressor now that's how you run a country hey dad ugh great it's my son nicholas who i like to call a girly girl because he's so weak and pathetic when are you gonna grow up eh you still look like a girly girl to me but dad i grew a beard yeah an ugly girly girl beard if nicholas was to one day be czar he needed his dad to teach him how to run the country but his dad instead suggested that nicholas go somewhere else so nicholas went to japan got an edgy dragon tattoo had his head sliced off by a policeman and then came home now will you teach me how to rule i suppose it's time okay there's a lot you need to know before becoming uh oh what i've got kidney inflammation oh no upon his father's death a totally unprepared nicholas ii ascended to the russian throne he wasn't a reformer like his grandfather nor was he a repressor like his dad nicholas was nicholas timid easily swayed and more interested in doing whatever the hell this is or this or this he wasn't ready to rule and he himself admitted it saying i'm not yet ready to be czar i know nothing of the business of ruling bit of an awkward time to bring it up however nicholas firmly believed that he was chosen by god to be russia's big daddy and while he doubted his ability to rule he was going to give it his best shot and hey who knows maybe he wouldn't be so bad after all to get things off to a good start nicholas promised free pretzels and beer to a huge crowd in moscow to celebrate his coronation so enticing a proposition to starving peasants that the ensuing stampede left nearly 1500 people dead what the hell happened we're not sure but you're scheduled to go party with the french at eight o'clock shouldn't i stay here out of respect for the people whenever sars ever respected the people nicholas's decision to go party with the french immediately tarnished his image some were calling him nicholas the bloody bizarres had been partying hard at the expense of the people for long enough that emancipated the serfs but failed to lift them out of poverty they used their secret police to crack down on anyone who might criticize them and they'd failed to modernize and give the people rights something the rest of europe had begun doing over a century ago the rule of the tsars was quickly becoming outdated and more and more russians began wondering if there was a better way for many the solution was simple just look to the west republics democracies and constitutional monarchies galore but a small growing group rejected that for an even better idea a little something they called communism take vladimir lenin an intelligent member of russia's middle class and also a massive ill-tempered jerk if you disagreed with him about anything he wasn't afraid to call you out you fat-headed simple-minded vapid cockeyed imbecile tenderheart bear is a far superior care bear to bedtime bear and he was no stranger to political unrest either his older brother was executed for plotting to kill the czar and lenin himself was expelled from university for participating in a student protest but how did lenin go from being a middle class nerd to the arbiter of socialist divinity well to tell that story we first need to go back a few decades to when a man named karl marx wrote a manifesto explaining how capitalism is a system whereby the stinky bourgeoisie pressed and exploited the working masses and that only through class warfare could the workers rise up and in state of communist utopia now go back forward a few decades to lenin reading that manifesto and loving it but publicly admitting you loved marx and not russia's big daddy would get you the cruelest punishment imaginable exile to siberia enjoy exile where you'll live with your wife chill around town and secretly write socialist newspapers hey that doesn't sound so bad and your mother-in-law is going to live with you no once lennon finished his stint in siberia he left russia for europe where he was free to hang out with other russian marxists and talk about how great communism was now today you might hear the word communism and think of this [Music] but that's not how intellectuals living under a tough sourced regime saw it to them communism promised a land where all were equal where workers weren't exploited and even people like you could get a girlfriend so lennon joined a party of russian communists living in europe and he founded a communist newsletter that was smuggled into russia to try to radicalize the people however not everyone in the socialist party agreed with lenin in fact they disagreed with him on a lot of issues and lenin was so uncompromising that he caused a split in the party during one conference a heated debate broke out and lennon was unwilling to give an inch you pig ignorant half-witted fatuous morons cereal is a soup listen lennon you're a smart guy but you have no idea what you're talking about we're out of here all in favor of cereal being a soup hey would you look at that we're in the majority so lenin set up his own faction within the party he called the majority or bolshevik if you're speaking russian and the other faction became known as the minority or menshevik and oddly the majority were often in the minority and the minority in the majority the mensheviks were less radical whereas lennon wanted the bolsheviks to be loyal to him and his uncompromising ideas and if you weren't loyal well then you're going to get a big beat down menshevik's worried that lenin's attitude could lead to a one-man dictatorship but come on does this guy look like a dictator to you for now lenin remained in europe writing his socialist newspaper and impatiently awaiting an opportunity to overthrow the czar and bring communist utopia to russia cool a free hat who the heck are you i'm definitely not a russian secret police officer spying on marxists oh crap i don't want secret police watching me then you my friend should use nordvpn do you like having your identity stolen if yes you need therapy if no you need nordvpn nordvpn has thousands of superfast servers in 62 countries that you can connect to to keep you and your data secure when using the web it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee and is now faster and more secure than ever with its brand new nordlinks technology have you quarantined binged all of your favorite shows on netflix well with nordvpn you can watch the australian version or is one of the greatest videos on youtube still banned in your country i think you get the point you can now get nordvpn with 68 off a two-year plan for only 3.71 per month plus one month free so click on nordvpn.com oversimplified in the description below and get protected now that's nordvpn.com oversimplified and as always you'll be supporting my channel so muchos now where was i oh yeah a timid easily swayed czar a massive ill-tempered jerk impatiently awaiting a communist revolution and revolution was coming but not in the way lenin thought back in st petersburg one of the tsar's most skilled and influential advisors knew the country finally needed to catch up with the rest of europe hey nick we really got to industrialize get more factories and make some i don't know textiles or something hmm won't that change the social fabric of russia maybe hey isn't it past your bedtime but i haven't had my milk and snuggles yet will you snuggle me um nicholas thought modernization was boring but he let sergey do his thing and do his thing he did he borrowed some money and got rushed to some sexy factories and you know what sexy factories means sexy workers dirt poor sexy workers long hours low wages filthy disease-ridden factories sleep in overcrowded dormitories with all your stinky worker friends get your arms ripped off in a freak russian doll accident conditions were terrible but this growing working class wasn't about to take it lying down they started to do what workers do best strike despite sergey's efforts people in russia still weren't happy peasants were still poor liberals still wanted reform and now the workers wanted better working conditions and the problem with being an autocrat is that when everyone's unhappy there's only one person to blame you the people hate me what do i do oh i know why don't we find a weak and pathetic nation to go to war with we'll win easily and everyone will love me again why don't we just try treating the people better as luck would have it an opportunity for war was forming in the far east russia wanted to expand its sphere of influence into northern china and coincidentally so did japan but japan didn't really want war so they proposed an idea to reduce the tension hey man we'll let you do your thing in manchuria if you let us do our thing in korea i don't think so we've got the largest army in the world what do you have i'm the emperor of japan i have a giant mecca suit whoa cool nicholas and the boys didn't see japan as a threat so they felt they could push japan around but little did they know japan had been rapidly militarizing and when they launched a surprise attack on a russian fleet of port arthur everyone was shocked nicholas hoped it was an opportunity to win a quick war and regain the support of the people nobody seriously thought a puny asian country could defeat a european superpower and the russian people were filled with patriotic spunk hey everyone we're at war with japan hey everyone we're losing the war the japanese won an embarrassing defeat for tsar nicholas russia had enough problems but now it had been internationally humiliated the public were outraged unrest increased nicholas needed snuggles now more than ever the tension was rising rapidly and russia was on the verge of revolution all it needed was one disaster to push it over the edge and that disaster would come in january 1905 from an unlikely source a handsome orthodox priest named father gapon father gapon was leading workers and their families to the winter palace but this wasn't some violent uprising it was a peaceful protest they wanted to deliver a petition to nicholas which simply asked for more freedom and better working conditions the protest was actually so peaceful and respectful that the marxist thought it was a big waste of time hey nicholas some priest is leading a peaceful protest says here they want to give you a petition a peaceful petitioning priest i better get out of here nicholas had actually left the winter palace days earlier and in his place they brought in a truckload of troops ordered to stop father gapon from reaching the palace hello good sir and long live the tsar please allow me to pass this simple petition to our dear father nicholas ii good day to you too please allow us to respond by opening fire what began as a peaceful protest ended in tragedy imperial soldiers opened fire on the crowd around 200 civilians died 800 more were wounded all they wanted was the opportunity to ask nicholas to improve their lives instead they were met with bullets nicholas didn't personally order the troops to fire but as an autocrat he got the blame the event became known as bloody sunday and nicholas's reputation plummeted strikes erupted across the empire workers demands increased liberals demanded political power peasants demanded land the country was out of control and the 1905 revolution had begun listen nicholas peasants seizing my land and murdering my family i can tolerate but illegally chopping my wood that's obscene and the worse i treat my workers the more they strike i don't get it everyone relax as long as the military is still on my side there's nothing to worry about sir the sailors are starting to mutiny well my life just sucks with russia still losing to the japanese unrest was growing in the military and some sailors had even taken to killing officers having the people against you was bad enough but if the military joined in it would be game over to make matters worse in october workers and marxists including one leon trotsky began setting up local elected councils called soviets that coordinated strikes and supplied the workers sergey could see the writing on the wall things were going south fast and he needed a big idea to save the czar and luckily he had just that you see all these angry people from different parts of society weren't really working together meaning there was a weakness to exploit sergey wrote a manifesto that would give the liberals an elected assembly called the duma it took some convincing but eventually nicholas agreed to share power and have his laws approved by an elected assembly hey liberals here's your stupid manifesto happy now we certainly are but what about these guys aren't you gonna give them what they want oh goodness no i was just gonna kill them with the liberals satisfied and after ending the war with japan bizarre brought thousands of troops home who then dismantled the soviets arrested their leaders and crushed the peasant uprisings in the countryside and how about that pesky parliament nicholas had agreed to share power with well he then wrote a bunch of new laws which basically said hey remember that manifesto i wrote and how you guys were going to approve my laws slight change of plan actually i'm going to do whatever the hell i want and you guys are going to shut up what the people won't stand for this people what people you know this is why people don't like you and just like that nicholas had survived the 1905 revolution but wait a revolution in russia where was lenin well lenin and his communist pals were still in exile he tried desperately to radicalize the uprising but all he could do was watch as the movements failed to organize the liberals sold out the poor and the zarat played the people furious he believed russia had missed a great chance for a real revolution from now on he felt the only way left was an armed revolution by the workers watching the events of 1905 unfold lenin learnt a lot bizarre however would prove to have learnt nothing after the 1905 revolution had failed the tsar's new top man was peter stollepin and he had big ideas to prevent any more chaos step one reform agriculture this will make the peasants love you and step two will kill anyone who doesn't to discourage any more revolutionary ideas stolopin began to crack down even harder on the tsar's opponents and thousands were sentenced to death the noose even earned itself a new nickname stolopin's necktie i don't get it oh i see because it goes around my neck and that's so funny but despite the oppression many positive reforms were also being made and the russian economy even began to improve this was a problem for lenin if the people weren't suffering then they wouldn't support a revolution still in exile and lacking funds the bolsheviks simply weren't in a position to do anything luckily it was around this time that lenin met an incredibly handsome georgian with your second favorite historical mustache joseph stalin lennon and stalin met at a communist convention in finland and lennon liked stalin because he was a real go-getter and was great at fundraising for the bolsheviks and by fundraising i mean kidnapping robbing extorting bribing ransoming assassinating prison breaking stealing bank raiding executioning and stealing again he's stalin the mensheviks aren't so hot in all this stealing but we still need money so the next time you do a big heist just do it quietly okay quietly got it if this isn't quiet i don't know what is stalin's wacky antics eventually got him exiled to siberia but he had established himself as a big boss bolshevik however no amount of bolshevik bulls could stop what was happening the russian economy was making a recovery for the tsar things were looking up this is great all nicholas has to do is sit back and not mess anything up hey everyone big news i'd like to introduce you to my new best friend he's a crazy drunken beardy horny scandal-ridden magic wizard man and he smells like a goat we're screwed rasputin a dirt poor peasant from dirt poor nowhere but unlike all the other dirt poor peasants rasputin had holy healing powers and when this holy mystic wandered into st petersburg people began to notice he quickly became famous and worded this mystery man in his healing hands made its way to the royal palace the appearance of a holy homeless healer was of great interest to the tsar and his wife as far as royals go they weren't that inbred but they were just inbred enough for their son alexei to get hemophilia or in layman's terms mamma mia that's a lot of blood knowing rasputin could heal people in 1906 alexandra asked for rasputin to come and see if he could cure their son and crazy as it sounds rasputin did heal alexi possibly by taking him off his doctor prescribed aspirin having seemingly done the impossible rasputin became very very close to the royal family but having a crazy homeless wizard man hanging around wasn't a good look for the czar because rasputin was freaky not only was he a big fan of alcohol but he'd also throw these crazy parties with russian nobility where he and all night long and then his whole head hypnotized and nobody knew how the goat got on the roof initially the press were banned from talking about rasputin but eventually the ban was lifted and the tabloids went to town the whole thing was a huge scandal and everyone was freaked out that this guy was influencing the czar and his wife nicholas could have spent this period of relative peace improving his image instead he spent it doing this but as weird as the whole rasputin thing was so long as the economy continued to improve and the people's lives kept getting better maybe nick would be okay maybe there would be no more revolutions maybe this video could even end right here or maybe things were about to get worse a lot worse you see the year is 1914 and that means it's time for world war one you

Channel: OverSimplified

Views: 6,143,268

Rating: 4.9333735 out of 5

Keywords: russian revolution, tsar, russia, nicholas II, rasputin

Id: Cqbleas1mmo

Length: 21min 4sec (1264 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 17 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Retroity]

Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1reY72ktEc

This thread will serve as the megathread for both parts.

[u/Rogueone65]

THE KING HAS RETURNED

[u/jackpotson]

The high grade explosives joke and the communism intro was excellent.

[u/Mazier49]

OMG! IT'S HAPPENING!

[u/Ferrothorn88]

So now we have 1 wife killing king, 2 world wars, 3 revolutions, 4 miniwars, and at least 5 punished his father severely jokes. Wonder what'll be next.

[u/anoobypro]

HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY HEY

[u/Atom596]

Trotsky is finger licking good at attracting ice picks

[u/BraxJohnson]

“Flowers, Confetti, and HIGH GRADE EXPLOSIVES???” may be my new favorite OS line

[u/[deleted]]

REJOICE