Peace In Their Time

Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the Soviet Union. But the pressures of war convinced the Bolsheviks to step up their centralizing efforts, laying the groundwork for the Communist state that everyone would come to know and love.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A Pe...

This week we turn away from the battlefield and more towards what life was like on the ground in Bolshevik Russia. Long story short, the war wasn't an easy one on the civilian side either. This week in particular I touch on the precariousness of the food supply, and the collapse of urban life.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Pre...

The final White offensives kicked off as Denikin made his play on Moscow in summer 1919. While we all know the attacks wouldn't succeed, they came close enough to panic the Bolshevik leadership and stretch the Red Army to its limit.     Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A People’s...

The first attempt to bring the Bolsheviks down once and for all didn't go very well. Striking beyond its capabilities, Admiral Kolchak's White armies stalled out on the Volga. One determined Red Army counteroffensive later, and they were in a full retreat. The Siberian Whites, the biggest group of that faction and the one most supported by the Entente, fell apart like a... well, a house of cards. ...

The opening moves of the 1919 campaigns saw action all across Russia once again, but this year opened with the White faction in a far stronger position. With bases all around Russia secured, they began positioning for attacks to bring down the Bolsheviks once and for all.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard Universi...

Today I wrap up coverage of the Russian Civil War in 1918. Mostly I'll be talking about the total mess that was Siberia, but the mess that was Central Asia gets some attention too.    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1917 Penguin Books 1998 Smith, SA Russia in Revol...

This is kind of a grab-bag episode, as I cover the Red counter-offensive against the Komuch government, the Entente landings in northern Russia, and all sorts of events in the south.    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1917 Penguin Books 1998 Smith, SA Russia in Rev...

Still mostly making things up as they went along, the Bolsheviks worked to sort themselves out in order to confront the rising military threats against them. For most of the first half of 1918 it was slow going, but under Trotsky's leadership the Red Army started to take shape.    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando...

The Russian Civil War kicked off with a freezing micro-army trudging through southern Russia, but in only half a year growing dissatisfaction with the Bolsheviks would cause it to spread across the country.    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1917 Penguin Books 1998...

The last major political obstacle to the Bolsheviks was the Constituent Assembly, which as it turned out was more of a minor bump. A much bigger obstacle was the German army, and how to satisfactorily end a fight that had long since been lost.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando ...

Today we take a break from the center and look at what was going on in the borderlands of Russia in 1917. The chaos of that empire's fall created new opportunities for autonomy for the peoples living away from the heartlands. Plus, the displaced officers of the army began to link up in Russia's south with the intent of challenging the Bolsheviks.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoff...

Do I even need to introduce this one? The Bolsheviks overcame all the odds against them, and did the dang the thing.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press 2001 Figes, Orlando A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1917 Penguin Books 1998 Smith, SA Russia in Revolution: An Empire in Crisis 189...

The last days of the Provisional Government ticked by amidst plotting and feuding that would do its memory no favors. It also didn't do it any favors in the moment either, as the chaos swung vital public support towards the Bolsheviks. As October dawned, everything started coming together for the big revolution they had been dreaming of.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russi...

Losing one major war was survivable for Imperial Russia, but damage done by WWI both militarily and socially proved too much. The Tsar would fall in 1917, but he clung to power long enough that the damage he had caused Russia would be too great for its succeeding government to deal with.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of...

The dam starts to break for Imperial Russia as it embarked on a terribly ill-advised war on the extreme edge of its empire. Long story short, it didn't go well and all the pressures that had been building for decades broke out in a frenzy of protest and violence.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press...

Last week I covered some of the major fixtures of the old Russia, and this week I go over their counterparts in the Russia to come. Many were not destined to last much longer than the autocracy itself, but all would have some influence on the revolutions that would lead to the USSR's formation.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A History The Belknap Pr...

A memorable revolution needs a cartoonishly unsympathetic adversary, and the Communists had that in the autocracy that ruled Russia up to 1917. Today I cover some of the big institutions and figures whose mismanagement made Russia such fertile ground for revolution and the establishment of a new kind of state.    Bibliography for this episode:    Hosking, Geoffrey Russia and the Russians: A Histor...

Fresh new miniseries this week as I get started on unpacking the Soviet Union's early years. But as you're probably familiar with by now, a topic that big deserves some setup, and today I begin a way-too-fast overview of the conditions in the Russian Empire leading up to the early 1900s. In short, the place was a mess and it turns out that an out-of-touch autocracy wasn't the best institution to f...

Today we wrap up this season's coverage on China with the early life of its eventual leader, Mao Zedong. His early years were dominated by intellectualism, but for the longest time he cast about for the proper cause to believe in. It was only after witnessing the escalating disasters that befell the nation that he came to accept Marxism, but once done he became its committed champion.    Bibliogra...

It's the return of biography episodes today and first on deck is Sun Yat-sen's unlikely successor, Chiang Kai-shek. I say unlikely because for most of his early life Chiang was a fairly anonymous foot-soldier for a failing political movement. It was only after Sun enjoyed some lucky breaks that Chiang was eventually handed the responsibility of shaping what would become the most powerful army in C...

Going back to the KMT this week, the party and NRA found themselves somewhat at a loss on how to move forward without Chiang Kai-shek. Militarily they were holding it together, but politically were splintering again. With Wang Jingwei not providing the leadership needed, it was eventually decided for Chiang to return to command. More powerful than ever, Chiang took charge of the Nationalists to co...

The CPC found itself hunted and on the run after the whole "getting purged" thing went down with the KMT. Survival was the order of the day, and only in limited instances were the Communists able to even make their presence felt. And even in their reduced state there were still inter-party squabbles. But the trials they endured would eventually pay off as the KMT's nemesis refused to give up their...

The war for China took a turn when Chiang Kai-shek and the Right KMT executed a massive backstab on the Communists and their Left KMT allies. In doing so, Chiang unknowingly established an intractable rivalry that would haunt him for the rest of his life.    Bibliography for this episode:    Fairbank, John K & Denis Twitchett The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China 1912-1949, P...

The decisive campaign of China's warlord era begins as Chiang Kai-shek tightens his grip on the Kuomintang and finally kicks off the Northern Expedition. Despite KMT power and influence in the south having been growing for over two years previously, the feuding warlords didn't have an answer and got routed in the first phase. The only thing that slowed the advance of the KMT was its internal divis...

The Kuomintang was going from strength to strength by the mid-20s, but in early 1925 faced a test of an unfamiliar sort when its founder, Sun Yat-sen, passed away. It would be up to his lieutenants to carry on the Nationalist cause without him. Alongside their Communist allies, the next generation of KMT leaders made their final preparations for the great Northern Expedition.    Bibliography for t...