The Tsars: Expansion of the Russian Empire | Russia's Wars Ep.1 | Documentary

Documentary - Russia's Wars the endless expanse of Russia in the 16th century the  sar's Empire is still young after   defeating the Mongol Nomads it expands  further eastwards beyond the borders of Europe Russian cacs subdue the people of Siberia by the end of the 17th Century  Russia stretches all the way to the Pacific scene from Europe Russia is  a rather insignificant peripheral Empire inward looking with few  contacts with the rest of the continent this giant country  plays no significant role in   Europe but its rise to a great power is imminent if you're looking over Russian history of warfare  you're also looking over the history of warfare   history of European Warfare Global [Music]  Warfare the Kremlin Moscow the center of   Russian power in 1682 Peter romanof has himself  crowned SAR history will know him as Peter the Great pictures give him a certain  sort of solid grander while in fact   he had a twitch um he had fits he was  he was um extremely hyperactive kinetic almost at 2 m tall he tows over his contemporaries  and he rules his country with an iron fist he was probably the most talented man ever to  bizar or ruler of Russia um he had he had those   brilliant um qualities that every politician  needs he had a vision of what he wanted to   do he had the acum the ability to actually do  it and he had the resources to achieve what he   wanted to everything about him was [Music]  extraordinary well he's Peter the Great he   is the considered I mean he was not the first  Russian Emperor but he is considered the Russian   Emperor Putin himself recently not even so  recently compared himself to Peter the Great   so Peter wants to modernize his country he takes  an early interest in Military and Naval Affairs   his conflict with the Ottoman Empire culminates in  his first war his goal to take the Fortress of azo   east of Crimea still strategically  significant today the campaign to   take the Fortress of azof is a very important  trial run for Peter he's testing himself his   own strategic military capabilities and  the options that he has worked out for himself the first attempt to take the Fortress  from the landside fails so Peter builds a fleet   and blockades ass off from the sea it works in   1696 the ottoman Fortress Falls  it's Peter's first significant victory that was the really new  thing under Peter the first he   saw the Russian Empire as a maritime  power too the could and must defend   its interests and Frontiers at Sea  prior to that it hadn't had a fleet Peter is fascinated by the West its culture and  its modern technology he decides to travel to   Western Europe to seek noow that will benefit  his Empire as Peter mikyo he finds work in a   shipyard in Holland to learn all he can about  ship [Music] building he really is the first   to cultivate this Fascination for Western  Europe or Central Europe and for European values and he's starting a tradition that  extends through the tarist Empire and the   Soviet Union to contemporary Russia if  you follow Russian media today watch   Russian talk shows one of the most  frequently repeated lines is we are Europe that goes without saying and that  idea goes back to Peter and still holds today Peter wants to play in the concert  of European powers he also wants access to   the open sea in the year 1700 Peter declares  war on the great power of Sweden it controls   the land between Russia and the Baltic Sea  Peter wants to break that dominance in the   Autumn Russian troops march on Nava  it's the beginning of the Great Northern war but at the end of October  the ground is already Frozen   hard making it difficult to dig  trenches and Russian gunpowder is substandard after a heavy snowfall  the Swedish army breaks through the   Russian defense line it's a  painful defeat for the tar n   NAA at the beginning of the Northern  war is a disaster for Peter and Russia   but he reacts in the same way that he has  reacted to everything else in his life so far when something doesn't work he sits down  thinks it over and works out how the situation   can be bent to his will he reforms the Army  he reforms its command structure he begins to   understand that Superior it in numbers is becoming  less and less significant and that modern military   technology is more and more important he does  everything he can to modernize the Russian army and to make it bigger the SAR raises  more and more recruits bells are taken from   the churches and smelted into  Cannon an early form of total [Music] mobilization in in the summer of  1701 Peter launches another offensive he   conquers large parts of lonia and Estonia  loyal allies of Sweden this is a scorched   Earth campaign Russian troops burn towns  and Villages plunder storehouses ravage   the fields nothing must be left to the  [Music] enemy the scorched Earth policy   was a precisely planned strategy to make  it clear to the swedes and the population   of the Baltic the elites the Peter possessed the  military power he needed to take control of the Baltic it's a tactic that damages Russia's reputation it's always a strategy of  Russian Warfare It's not unique to Russia   and it's easy to paint the Russians as complete  Barbarians at this time but in fact all armies   were were you know were pretty chaotically  supplied but you know the Russians took it   to another degree I mean there was a civilized  code of warfare in the west um Peter the Great   never subscribed to that and repeatedly he  showed incredible ruthlessness it crushing um opposition to gain access to the Sea  Peter captures The Fortress of neon   chants near the mouth of the river Nava in  the Gulf of Finland he burns down the whole complex close by in the middle  of the Nava Delta he builds a new Fortress with a church named  for the apostles Peter and Paul   thear christens this place which he has  chosen for his new capital St Petersburg D so in the Northern war which will go on till  1721 Zar Peter won his first foothold on the   Baltic Sea and but the Swedish king is not ready  to give up he launches a counter offensive with   a well equipped Army 40,000 strong the  Russians make tactical withdrawals and   carry out Guerilla attacks on the enemy's  supply lines wherever the swedes advance   they find no food for the Army soon hunger  disease and cold are decimating the Swedish forces summer 1709 seized the  decisive battle over Ukraine's   pava Fortress the Swedish army now has  only 22,000 Soldiers the Russians 42,000 [Music]   Peter the greatest Victorious uh he's  absolutely thrilled this immediately   becomes part of the myth of Russia he does  that very much he sets up himself as a   symbol of as the great Victor so pava becomes  very very important in Russian historiography   and it really is a very important turning  point in the history of Europe after all   because this is the moment that Russia  really defeats the swedes in the Baltic   and this is actually the moment that Russia  becomes a great Empire from now on Russia is   a European great power St Petersburg is its new  capital in the west and by Conquering the Baltic   it has gained ice free access to the Sea the ideal  basis for the further expansion of the empire [Music] about 50 years later Russia's  position becomes even stronger   in 1744 a German Princess Sophia  Federica of anal travels to St Petersburg she's betrothed to Peter III  heir to the Russian Throne a grandson   of Peter the Great but first  Sophie makes a Russian name e Catarina the couple have little in  common the heir to the throne seems   infantile and has no interest in his  bride he would rather play with his Tin Soldiers their characters interests and  goals were completely incompatible part   of this was undoubted lead down to  the ability and ambition of the young princess from the very start  she was determined to be more   than just some married in princess stuck in a back room soon Katherine speaks fluent Russian  she absorbs Russia's traditions and ways of   doing things that makes her popular with the  people she's educated clever and emancipated   she's got this connection with the West with  Germany but with much of the of the history of   Western Europe Central Europe uh and she brings  some of those values and ideas to play in her   transformation of Russia she understands what  makes the Netherlands great what makes France   great what makes uh England Great what makes a  great Empire the Spanish she's learned all that   stuff and she says okay I'm going to translate  some of this knowledge into what I can do for   Russia Catherine isn't reluctant to get involved  in conspiracy and political murder when Peter   becomes tar in 1762 Katherine plots a risky plan  with her lover Gregory oloff she gets the Imperial   Guard on her side and deposes Peter who shortly  thereafter dies in mysterious circumstances Katherine is declared the new head  of state and crowns herself [Music] sirina the way is now clear to mold Russia after  her own ideas she wanted to complete the work of   Peter the Great and in fact every ruler since  Peter the Great wanted to emulate him every   are every General Secretary every president  of Independent Russia wanted to be Peter   the Great wants to command in Warfare  and few of them have the ability to do so in Katherine's time Russia is an  agrarian country around 90% of the   population are peasant Farmers surfs  on the Estates of aristocrats they   can be conscripted to fight for the tar the  rulers can raise an army whenever they want Catherine would like to abolish surom  but she can't get her way against the   Nobles and a large powerful Army will help her  achieve her aims she plans to expand the Empire   Southwoods she wants to build a fortress  on the Black Sea as a Bastion against the ottoman and of course Catherine's looking at  the South and saying hm Crimea looks really   quite interesting what can we do down there  the overall aim toward the Black Sea is is   is to get control over the Black Sea um  starting with azol but then of course the   CRI Crimea and then with luck to be able  to get control over Constantinople or at   least be able to control shipping  that goes in and out of the Black Sea this is all to do with power to do  with trade to do with economic success   as well and of course to do with getting  more and more territory which makes your   country your Empire even more [Music]  important in context of today of course   getting Crimea is very important Katherine's  forces move [Music] South the Russian Baltic   Fleet undertakes a long Voyage to the aian  Sea here in a battle in 1770 most of the   Ottoman Fleet is destroyed and finally in  1783 the Crimea the jewel in the crown is annexed both for its geostrategic  significance dominating the Black Sea   and in the mental map of the Russian  Elite the crime is the pearl of the Empire the elite and the Imperial family  too start building summer residences there new cities are founded like a Odessa  and Sylvester paol as ports for Russia's   Black Sea Fleet Catherine now holds the  gateway to the Black Sea and the north Caucasus her lover and companion  Marshall pumkin starts a major   project of colonization and russification  of today's Southern Ukraine he brings in   thousands of settlers and christens  the region Nova Russia new Russia   in a Prestige project they say he faked the  progress of development for the taren's visit   by constructing settlements that were no  more than painted facades so-called pumkin Villages the pin Villages existed they were there   to give an impression of the first fruits  of the long-term policy of colonization actually it's a really modern idea if you  look ahead to the 20th and 21st centuries   the idea of spreading fake news to  get people on your side to impress them Tarina Katherine died in 1796  without achieving her principal   goal the complete destruction of the  Ottoman Empire but her conquests great   expanded the Russian Empire and so in  her own lifetime she became known as   Catherine the [Music] Great the importance  of her as with Peter the Great uh Vladimir   Putin mention I think twice that Katherine the  Great is his favorite Monarch he actually takes   lessons from her I mean Peter the Great is a  great example but she is as he put it uh she   was probably a better Empress because as he said  she shed less blood but she took on more [Music] territories at the start of the 19th  century Napoleon bonapart has Europe in   his grip France controls great SES of the  continent it has an alliance with Russia   but there are tensions between  Napoleon and the Russian SAR Alexander I Napoleon gathers a huge Army  Austria and Prussia are forced to   provide troops the grand arm numbers half  a million men far larger than Russia's forces Napoleon's invasion of Russia was one of  those crazy maniacal and stupid moves in history I   mean you can you can chalk it up to really really  dumb so he's really got a treaty with Russia it   looks as if he can actually you know be be fine  but he gets it into his mind that the Russians   are going to come against France uh come against  him so let's launch a preemptive strike the plan   is to mount a high-speed campaign followed  by a single decisive battle to win the war war on June the 24th 1812 the grand arme  crosses Russia's border at the river M but   Russian forces withdraw into the  wide expanses once again leaving   behind scorched Earth without supplies  Napoleon's troops begin to starve Russian   tactics are successful more or less without  combat the grand arm is shrinking Napoleon   Napoleon's idea was to advance deep into the  Russian Empire all the way to its heart Moscow   to take Moscow and he expected that as in his  other European campaigns he would not only be   offered the keys to the city Russia's ancient  Capital but also that a peace offering would follow at borodino just 150 km from  Moscow the Russians confront the grand   arm Napoleon wins a victory but Russia  fights stubbornly with no concern for losses the grand arme suffers almost  30,000 dead or wounded the Russians   lose around 40,000 men in one  of the 19th Century's bloodiest battles borino was the most intense Butchery  the most intense Massacre um in a battle until   the first day of the battle of the s in 1916  it was absolutely a brutal stalemate in which   the Russian and French armies just blew each  other to smithin at very close quarters for a   whole day Napoleon's forces enter Moscow  with no further fighting but the evening   of their arrival the city is in Flames once  again it's the Russians scorched Earth policy   denying the Invaders any means of supplying  them themselves nap Napoleon could only look   on not only did the governor of Moscow Set Fire  to the city but no delegation came to meet him to negotiate Napoleon decides to withdraw but the   winter causes enormous losses in  his army through cold and hunger the battle for the river Barina  is the Fatal blow for the grand   arm by the end just 18,000 of  the original 450,000 are still alive in the annals of Russian imperial  history Napoleon's failed campaign was   become known as the Patriotic War it's over they've swept the interloper out of   the country hardly anything is left of  the French army survival has turned into Triumph and so this is something that  gives a sense of indomitability of the   Russians uh the fact that that no Army can  really defeat them um that that they are   secure and safe within their geographical  boundaries and uh and and look what we did   to Napoleon and later of course look what  we did to Hitler decades later Leo Tolstoy   publishes his world famous novel War and  Peace before the background of the War of   1812 he tells the story of Three Families  an epic that both defines and celebrates   the Russian Nation the novel became a  bestseller frequently adapted for the cinema tolto was fascinated by Russian  nationhood he was fascinated by the history   and the relationship in history between great  forces Nations Empires economies cultures and   also the effect that single men individuals had  on history and he's humanizing the Russian Nation   through his Heroes and he's looking back adding  in a way to the mythology of Russian resistance   the people's resistance but it's also deliberately  in a way canonizing the the creation of Russian nationhood after the Patriotic War Napoleon's  power is shaken throughout Europe in 1813   Russia with Prussia Austria and Sweden March  against Napoleon's newly constituted Army   the battle of the Nations at  lipik is one of the greatest   battles in world history it marks  the end of Napoleon's domination   of Europe along with Prussia and Austria  Russia is Now setting the tone in Europe since the time of Peter the Great Russian  SARS expanded their empire at Sea in the   first half of the 19th century sevastopol in the  Crimea becomes the most modern Naval Base of its time Sebastapol became one of the incredibly  proud heroic City for Russia and um that's partly   why Sebastapol and crime is so important today  to Putin but secondly it had hugely practical   importance and it still does today as well  because the the Crimea controls the entire   Black Sea and the and the and in effect the  approaches to Constantinople to Istanbul in   today's turkey as Russia um became the  Bread Basket of of the world of Europe   growing much of the grain that was exported in  the 19th century through Odessa um then um crime   and it and its Navy were the  guards the Sentinels of that trade there's one last obstacle  between the Russian Navy and the   world's oceans in 1850 the Ottomans  still control the bottleneck of the   Bosphorus and the dardanel Russia's SAR  sees the Bosphorus as the keys to his [Music] house Nicholas I has a list of Demands  he wants a treaty recognizing Russian   protection of the Orthodox Christians in  the Ottoman Empire about a third of the   population the sultan refuses the  tar now has an excuse for military escalation the Ottoman Empire  was becoming weaker and weaker and in the mid 19th Zar Nicholas  the first saw an opportunity he could   finally win control over the Black  Sea and the vital access to the Mediterranean in Autumn 1853 the Russian Black Sea  Fleet attacks the ottoman Port of copi setting all   the enemy ships on fire 3,000 ottoman Sailors  perish in a matter of hours just one enemy ship   can flee to Constantinople but the battle at  copi changes opinions in France and [Music] Britain for the Brit for the British it  was quite clear that Russia must not be   allowed to take control of the Bosphorus  the British and the British Fleet had a   huge interest in keeping the dardel open  both for Naval forces and also for British   Merchant ships which played a dominant role  in wheat exports for example out of adessa Odessa England and France support the Ottoman  Empire and declare war against Russia they seek   a long-term reduction of Russian power in the  Black Sea the plan is to take and destroy cester the world has never seen a war like this but what's happening is of course you're  going into the modern world you're going into   the world of the industrial re Revolution you're  going into the world of modern armaments of trains   of all these other new technological developments  of the Telegraph and so on which changed the   concept of and the makeup of of warfare  the Crimea becomes the first European media   War British reporters like William H Russell  send dispatches direct from the front lines   and for the first time there are photographs  of a campaign because of the long exposure   times military action can't be shown but the  photos still give a brand new insight into war the public in Britain and France  getting their information from war   reporting followed the war with great interest  and a good deal of patriotism for their own armies but they were also shown  the reality of trench and Siege Warfare the Russians build up Sylvester  into an apparently impregnable Fortress   an integrated defense system combining  artillery batteries and trench Networks industrialization makes the Crimean War  a conflict of Technology with new and   deadly weapons the British Lee Enfield  rifle for example has a range of 1,000   M this muzzle loader is far superior  to Russian muskets with their 200 M range but actually they now come  commanded um Mass armies huge armies   that were that were heavily armed with  new rifles and new artillery the siege   of Sebastapol is conducted under appalling  conditions Cera and dentry kill thousands   of soldiers including senior officers  but the battle for the port continues the young Leo tolto volunteers to defend the  city in his Sasol sketches he writes above   their heads was the lofty Starry Sky across  which flashed the fiery streaks of artillery shells tasto sketches gave Russian readers the  first realistic picture of what went on there it was no exaggeratedly patriotic  romanticizing portrait of Russian   heroism of soldiers happy to  throw themselves into battle   and sacrific themselves but rather it showed  the Suffering The groaning the screaming and dying the siege of Sebastapol lasts almost a year  finally after bitter fighting French forces breach   the defensive ring the defeated Russians blow up  their positions and leave the city sevastopol is   reduced to Rubble in Russia it becomes a symbol  of Russian resistance Leo tolto writes as they   left sevastopol almost every Soldier looked back  sighing inexpressible bitterness in his heart and   shaking his fist at the enemy Sebastapol was  so important it was Katherine and bemin City   it was the Naval Base um o of the Russian Empire  and it still has that Prestige today hence Putin   was so Keen to you know the Crimea for Putin is  sebast for the time being the end of the war halts   Russia's plans for expansion thear is forced to  recognize the independence of the Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of Paris at the end of  the Crimean War Russia has to accept   the demilitarization of the Black Sea  so it can no longer have a Black Sea Fleet but what was more devastating for  Russia's self-respect was the humiliation   of being defeated in the Crimea their own  territory by France and Britain and above   all by the Ottoman Empire that they  had considered arily and culturally infer the Crimean War may have marked  the birth of Modern Sanitation but by   the time it was over an estimated 70,000 Russian  soldiers and 990,000 British and French had lost   their lives because of the new technology and  high losses the Crimean War is considered the   first modern war but but in the coming decades  the toll of armed conflicts would dramatically increase at the end of the 19th  century SAR Nicholas II ascends   to the throne imperialism is reaching  its peak unlike other European great   Powers Russia has no overseas colonies but  it has Central Asia the SAR rules the largest   continuous landmass on Earth and he wants  to extend his Empire especially in the Far East and then they start building the  Trans Siberian Railway and see that   as the real Colonial Empire other states  the British the French the Germans start   taking over Africa the Russians so  to speak see their Africa in Asia the   occupies Manchuria and leases Port Arthur  from China it is to be the main base for   Russia's Pacific Fleet Korea too has opened its  borders to Russian troops and is trading with Russia Japan views Russian expansion as a threat what Nicholas II didn't understand was  that there was a a dynamic new power in the East   Japan that with British knowhow British Naval  knowhow and the latest weaponry and Technology   was more than a match for the Russians and  um that Clash was to be disastrous for the Russians in February 1904 the Japanese  Fleet attacks Russian ships at Port   Arthur with Torpedoes unleashing  the Russo Japanese war [Music] the Japanese attacked without declaring war   setting a precedent that would repeat  a Pearl Harbor in the second world war to that extent it was a surprise but it was  clear that war was coming Russia had embraced   the possibility of a Far Eastern war and was  prepared to risk [Music] it Japanese forces   approach port ARA over land for more than 150  days they besieged the city when the Russians   realize they have no chance of breaking out  the tar scuttles his Pacific Fleet in the harbor then the diverted Russian Baltic Fleet is   Tracked Down by the Japanese  and almost entirely destroyed this Prestige Fleet so miserably so hopelessly  destroyed sunk by the end all the vessels of two   great fleets lie at the bottom of the sea and to  add insult to injury the Japanese then raise the   ships and integrate them into their own Fleet  that is a humiliation on an most unimaginable scale the defeat has serious consequences  for Russia broad strata of the population   begin to question the autocratic authority  of the tar internal resistance is growing   with calls for political participation  civil rights and a better food supply   the tar responds with Defiance  his troops fire on demonstrators when he repressed the Revolutions in 1905 when  he retook Russia really from the rebels um he   did so with absolute brutality and that made  him extremely unpopular with many people he   already had a bad reputation for being a loser  but now he also added the reputation for being a butcher she was under the sar's basic failure to understand is  underlined by the fact that he showed not   the slightest regret or remorse instead  he didn't try to conceal his anger at the   insubordination of these impudent workers who had  the temerity to trouble him over something like this and it is at this point  at the latest that even his   closest advisers at court realize how  far their ruler has lost contact with reality resistance is growing even in military  circles in the summer of 1905 Sailors on the   cruiser pumkin Mutiny in the Black Sea events  recreated in the silent film Battleship pumkin   when the ship arrives in Odessa in the middle of   a general strike saris troops wkak a  bloodbath among the civilian [Music] population subsequently of course this  Mutiny won special prominence through   Sergey eisenstein's masterful film The Mutiny  the workers March in January The Peasants   uprisings all that together worked to create  the impression that things couldn't go on like this as the pressure on the streets  grows the SAR seems to give in in his   October Manifesto in 1905 thear promises civil  rights and an elected legislative assembly the Duma n we can see what Zar Nicholas thought of  the Duma by the fact that he never visited it but in April 1906 when it first met he  summoned the dumer to the throne room at   the Winter Palace and he addressed them from the  throne and told them what they could and couldn't do the 1905 Revolution fa Hills  conservative and nationalist circles   around the tar block real reform  Nicholas has formed an alliance   with France and also an agreement with  Britain an informal pact known as the   triple onon facing the Triple Alliance of  Germany Italy and Austria Hungary [Music] June the 28th 1914 a fateful day for  Europe the heir to the Austrian Throne   France Ferdinand and his wife are  on an official visit to the Bosnian   Capital Saro they are assassinated  in their open car by a young Bosnian Ser Austria Hungary plans its response  a lightning fast victory over Serbia   but Russia declares itself Serbia's  protector the tar orders a general [Music] mobilization we historians have argued for  a century how to explain the outbreak of the   first world war and we still haven't got an  explanation everyone can agree on so it seems   to be very complex my own conclusion is that all  of the great Powers there were five of them could   have prevented the war and to a different extent  all of them bear responsibility for the outbreak   of War including Russia after all the Russians  were prepared to risk a great War over Serbia and   the same was true of the austrians and the Germans  and finally also the French and British let's see Frain in the first World War Russia  fights alongside its allies France   and Britain against Germany and Austria  the sar's Army is the world's largest but   his troops are badly trained and poorly  equipped and the command structure is [Music] outdated nevertheless in 1914 the  Russians advance to tanenberg in East Prussia the Russians mobilize and they Advance  much faster than the Germans expected   and they March into East Prussia on two  fronts at first the Germans panic and   transfer troops from the Western Front but  then Superior German tactics in circle and   Destroy one of the two Russian armies  at tanenberg taking more than 990,000 prisoners on the Eastern Front the  Russian and German Empires reach a   stalemate in the first year  of war the Russians lose 1.4   Million Dead and wounded the Germans  take around 980,000 Russian soldiers prisoner in fact the sar's Army isn't  equipped for this Modern War for instance   they have no heavy artillery unlike the  Germans the Russians have some success   fighting the austrians but not against  the Germans in 1915 San Nicholas takes   over Supreme command of the Armed Forces  and takes himself to the front [Music] line that was certainly a bad idea his generals  advised against it because Nicholas had no   military experience some sovereigns have  been effective War leaders but he wasn't   one of them then he did let the generals  have their way but he had to take the blame   for Russian defeats by the beginning of 1917  with the morale of the troops at Rock Bottom   Russia is a Tinder Box the lack of Reform and  food shortages at home are stoking resentment   against the tar regime there are almost  daily mass protests hunger marches and Strikes when police and soldiers begin  to Mutiny and join the protesters San   Nicholas follows the advice of his generals and  abdicates 350 years of absolute rule have come   to an end a provisional government puts  the tar and his retinue under house [Music] arrest the crisis grows in April 1917 Vladimir  ilich Lenin returns to St Petersburg from Exile   in Switzerland the leader of the Bolsheviks  urges the Takeover of the country by workers   soldiers and peasants and he promised the three  things that the Russians Most Wanted bread land   and peace he positions himself openly against  the provisional [Music] government now we have   chaos crisis complete revolution thear has  been overthrown that was unimaginable Lenin   must privately have admitted that he could never  believe that possible and now he has the chance to act the real strategist of revolution is Leon  Trotsky in October 1917 he sets up a military   organization the military revolutionary committee  the MK right across the country bolik seiz power violently as this actually Leon trotsky's great  achievement was knowing which Bridges post offices   and train stations in St Petersburg had to be  occupied so that they could surround the remains   of the collapsing provisional government inside  the Winter Palace and take it quietly and without Bloodshed After the Revolution Lenin and trosky   must consolidate their power over  the whole country as quickly as possible and so they end the unpopular  War without consulting their allies at   breast lovk they sign a separate treaty with the Germans with this treaty Russia loses everything  it has gained since Peter the Great they   lose all the non-russian parts of the Empire  therefore back to the core of purely Russian territory and of course all this is  a terrible defeat for Russia losing   their European lands means losing a very  large amount of industry and a big part   of their population and the Bolsheviks are  clear that they're doing this because their   priority is to win the civil war but this  is a piece they won't accept in the long run in the coming years Russia's  new rulers will do all they can   to reverse these losses but first they  have to fight for power inside the country white forces loyal to the  tar rise up against the bulvik by   1918 Russia is in the grip of a terrible Civil War the Bolsheviks have imprisoned SAR  Nicholas and his family in Yekaterinburg   2,000 kilm from St Petersburg they spend their  days locked up in a modest Villa under Constant Guard Nicholas had already been  overthrown uh he lost power he   was discredited politically but in an  autocratic system um you know the Zar   the autocrat always had the potential  to to return um he was the sacred Monarch he was potentially more signif  ific than he was in actuality Lenin   understood that Nicholas II could be a  rallying Banner for the opposition the   Bolsheviks must at all costs prevent the  tar falling into the hands of the white   armies they're afraid that the whites  could use the tar as the figurehead of a counterrevolution Lenin and the Bolsheviks  decide to murder the tar and his entire   family he wasn't a great Zar but because he  was killed he became a marer I think it was   important for world history in a sense that it  showed not that we needed more evidence but he   it showed the brutality of the new incoming  uh Soviet state the state of dictatorship of proletariat more than 350 years of tarist  rule have have come to an end in the wake   of the Civil War a new Russian Empire  Rises that will become a global power

Channel: criminals and crime fighters

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Keywords: Russia, russia wars, empire, czars, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Napoleon, Poltava, Kremlin, Black Sea Fleet, Azov, Baltic, Narva, Northern War, Crimean War, Tolstoy, War and Peace, Potemkin villages, revolution, Lenin, Trotsky, World War I, royal family, tsars, russia documentary, documentary, history documentary, crime, criminals and crime fighters, russia's wars documentary, russia's wars tsarist russia

Id: VCUDn15OpeU

Length: 51min 21sec (3081 seconds)

Published: Fri May 31 2024