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History of Russia - Rurik to Revolution — Transcript

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0:12For thousands of years, the lands known today as Russia and Ukraine were inhabited by nomadic
0:18tribes and mysterious Bronze Age cultures.
0:23The only record they left were their graves.
0:27In the great open grasslands of the south, the steppe, they buried their chieftains beneath
0:33huge mounds called kurgans.
0:37The Ancient Greek historian Herodotus called these people 'Scythians'.
0:42Their lands were overrun by the same nomadic warriors who brought down the Roman Empire.
0:51The land was then settled by Slavs.
0:54They shared some language and culture, but were divided into many different tribes.
1:02Vikings from Scandinavia, known in the east as Varangians, rowed up Russia's long rivers
1:08on daring raids and trading expeditions.
1:13According to legend, the East Slavs asked a Varangian chief named Rurik to be their
1:18prince and unite the tribes.
1:20He accepted and made his capital at Novgorod.
1:25His dynasty, the Rurikids, would rule Russia for 700 years.
1:30His people called themselves the Rus, and gave their name to the land.
1:37Rurik's successor, Oleg, captured Kiev, making it the capital of a new state, Kievan Rus.
1:45A century later, seeking closer ties with the Byzantine Empire to the south, Vladimir
1:52the Great adopted their religion, and converted to Orthodox Christianity.
1:57He is still venerated today as the man who brought Christianity to Ukraine and Russia.
2:06Yaroslav the Wise codified laws and conquered new lands.
2:10His reign marked the golden age of Kievan Rus.
2:14It was amongst the most sophisticated and powerful states in Europe.
2:19But after Yaroslav's death his sons fought amongst themselves.
2:24Kievan Rus disintegrated into a patchwork of feuding princedoms...
2:29just as a deadly new threat emerged from the east.
2:35The Mongols under Genghis Khan had overrun much of Asia.
2:38Now they launched a great raid across the Caucasus Mountains, and defeated the Kievan
2:43princes at the Battle of the Kalka River, but then withdrew.
2:5014 years later, the Mongols returned.
2:54A gigantic army led by Batu Khan overran the land.
2:59Cities that resisted were burnt, their people slaughtered.
3:04The city of Novgorod was spared because it submitted to the Mongols.
3:11Its prince, Alexander Nevsky, then saved the city again, defeating the Teutonic Knights
3:17at the Battle of the Ice, fought above a frozen lake.
3:22He remains one of Russia's most revered heroes.
3:27The Mongols ruled the land as conquerors.
3:31Their new empire was called the Golden Horde, ruled by a Khan from his new capital at Sarai.
3:37The Rus princes were his vassals.
3:42They were forced to pay tribute or suffer devastating reprisal raids.
3:47They called their oppressors 'Tatars' - they lived under 'the Tatar yoke'.
3:55Alexander Nevsky's son, Daniel, founded the Grand Principality of Moscow, which quickly
4:00grew in power.
4:1018 years later, Dmitri Donskoi, Grand Prince of Moscow, also defeated the Tartars... at
4:26the great Battle of Kulikovo Field.
4:35After years of infighting, the Golden Horde now began to disintegrate into rival khanates.
4:43Constantinople, capital and last outpost of the once-great Byzantine Empire, fell to the
4:49Turkish Ottoman Empire.
4:52Some hailed Moscow as the 'Third Rome', the seat of Orthodox Christian faith, now Rome
4:58and Constantinople had fallen.
5:02Meanwhile, the Grand Princes of Moscow continued to expand their power, annexing Novgorod,
5:10and forging the first Russian state.
5:13At the Ugra River, Ivan III of Moscow faced down the Tatar army and forced it to retreat.
5:22Russia had finally cast off the 'Tatar yoke'.
5:27Under Grand Prince Vasili III, Moscow continued to grow in size and power.
5:36His son, Ivan IV, was crowned the first Tsar of Russia.
5:41He would be remembered as Ivan the Terrible.
5:46Ivan conquered Tatar lands in Kazan and Astrakahan, but was defeated in the Livonian War by Sweden
5:53and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
5:57Ivan's modernising reforms gave way to a reign of terror and mass executions, fuelled by
6:04his violent paranoia.
6:07Russia was still vulnerable.
6:10Raiders from the Crimean Khanate were able to burn Moscow itself.
6:13But the next year Russian forces routed the Tatars at Molodi, just south of the city.
6:22Cossacks now lived on the open steppe, a lawless region between three warring states.
6:29They were skilled horsemen who lived freely, and were often recruited by Russia and Poland
6:34to fight as mercenaries.
6:38Ivan the Terrible's own son, the Tsarevich, fell victim to one of his father's violent
6:43rages - bludgeoned to death with the royal sceptre.
6:51The Cossack adventurer Yermak Timofeyevich led the Russian conquest of Siberia, defeating
6:58Tatars and subjugating indigenous tribes.
7:03In the north, Archangelsk was founded, for the time being Russia's only sea-port linking
7:09it to western Europe, though it was icebound in winter.
7:15Ivan the Terrible was succeeded by his son Feodor I, who died childless.
7:21It was the end of the Rurikid dynasty.
7:25Ivan's advisor Boris Godunov became Tsar.
7:30But after his sudden death, his widow and teenage son were brutally murdered, and the
7:35throne seized by an impostor claiming to be Ivan the Terrible's son.
7:41He too was soon murdered.
7:44Russia slid into anarchy, the so-called 'Time of Troubles'.
7:49Rebels and foreign armies laid waste to the land, and the population was decimated by
7:54famine and plague.
7:56Polish troops occupied Moscow; Swedish troops seized Novgorod.
8:03The Russian state seemed on the verge of extinction.
8:11In 1612, Russia was in a state of anarchy.
8:17They called it 'The Time of Troubles'.
8:20The people were terrorised by war, famine and plague – up to a third of them perished.
8:29Foreign troops occupied Moscow, Smolensk and Novgorod.
8:34But then, Russia fought back.
8:40Prince Pozharsky and a merchant, Kuzma Minin, led the Russian militia to Moscow, and threw
8:47out the Polish garrison.
8:51Since 2005, this event has been commemorated every 4th November, as Russian National Unity
8:58Day.
9:12The Russian assembly, the Zemsky Sobor, realised the country had to unite behind a new ruler,
9:19and elected a 16 year old noble, Mikhail Romanov, as the next Tsar.
9:27His dynasty would rule Russia for the next 300 years.
9:32Tsar Mikhail exchanged territory for peace, winning Russia much-needed breathing-space.
9:42His son, Tsar Alexei, implemented a new legal code, the Sobornoye Ulozheniye.
9:49It turned all Russian peasants, 80% of the population, into serfs – effectively slaves
9:56- their status inherited by their children, and with no freedom to travel or choose their
10:01master.
10:03It was a system that dominated Russian rural life for the next 200 years.
10:11The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Nikon, imposed religious reforms that split
10:17the church between Reformers and 'Old Believers'.
10:22It's a schism that continues to this day.
10:30Ukrainian Cossacks, rebelling against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, recognised
10:36Tsar Alexei as overlord in exchange for his military support.
10:42It led to the Thirteen Years War between Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
10:48Russia emerged victorious, reclaiming Smolensk and taking control of eastern Ukraine.
10:57A revolt against Tsarist government, led by a renegade Cossack, Stenka Razin, brought
11:03anarchy to southern Russia.
11:06It was finally suppressed: Razin was brought to Moscow and executed by quartering.
11:15The sickly but highly-educated Feodor III passed many reforms.
11:21He abolished mestnichestvo, the system that had awarded government posts according to
11:26nobility rather than merit, and symbolically burned the ancient books of rank.
11:34But Feodor died aged just 19.
11:38His sister Sofia became Princess Regent, ruling on behalf of her younger brothers, the joint
11:44Tsars Ivan V and Peter I.
11:50After centuries of conflict, Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth signed a Treaty
11:56of Eternal Peace.
11:59Russia then joined 'the Holy League' in its war against the Ottoman Empire.
12:06Sofia's reign also saw the first treaty between Russia and China, establishing the frontier
12:13between the two states.
12:24At age 17, Peter I seized power from his half-sister, Sofia.
12:32Peter became the first Russian ruler to travel abroad.
12:35He toured Europe with his 'Grand Embassy', seeking allies for Russia's war against Turkey,
12:42and learning the latest developments in science and shipbuilding.
12:48The war against Turkey was successfully concluded by the Treaty of Constantinople: Russia gained
12:55Azov from Turkey's ally, the Crimean Khanate, and with it, a foothold on the Black Sea.
13:04Peter made many reforms, seeking to turn Russia into a modern, European state.
13:11He demanded Russian nobles dress and behave like Europeans.
13:16He made those who refused to shave pay a beard tax.
13:23Peter built the first Russian navy; reformed the army and government; and promoted industry,
13:30trade and education.
13:34In the Great Northern War, Russia, Poland-Lithuania and Denmark took on the dominant power in
13:42the Baltic, Sweden.
13:45The war began badly for Russia, with a disastrous defeat to Charles XII of Sweden at Narva.
13:53But Russia won a second battle of Narva...
13:57Before crushing Charles XII's army at the Battle of Poltava.
14:03On the Baltic coast, Peter completed construction of a new capital, St.Petersburg.
14:09The building of what would become Russia's second largest city among coastal marshes
14:15was a remarkable achievement, though it cost the lives of many thousands of serfs.
14:23The Great Northern War ended with the Treaty of Nystad: Russia's gains at Sweden's expense
14:30made it the new, dominant Baltic power.
14:34Four years before his death, Peter was declared 'Peter the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor
14:43of All the Russias'.
14:55Peter was succeeded by his wife Catherine; then his grandson Peter II, who died of smallpox
15:04aged just 14.
15:07Empress Anna Ioannovna, daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother Ivan V, was famed
15:13for her decadence and the influence of her German lover, Ernst Biron.
15:23During Anna's reign, Vitus Bering, a Danish explorer in Russian service, led the first
15:29expedition to chart the coast of Alaska.
15:32He also discovered the Aleutian Islands, and later gave his name to the sea that separates
15:39Russia and America.
15:44After Anna's death, her infant grand-nephew, Ivan VI, was deposed by Peter the Great's
15:50daughter, Elizabeth.
15:52Ivan VI spent his entire life in captivity, until aged 23, he was murdered by his guards
16:02during a failed rescue attempt.
16:04Elizabeth, meanwhile, was famed for her vanity, extravagance, and many young lovers.
16:14But she was also capable of decisive leadership: in alliance with France and Austria, Elizabeth
16:21led Russia into the Seven Years War against Frederick the Great of Prussia.
16:26The Russian army inflicted a crushing defeat on Frederick at the Battle of Kunersdorf,
16:31but failed to exploit its victory.
16:34Meanwhile in St.Petersburg, the Winter Palace was completed at vast expense.
16:42It would remain the monarch's official residence, right up until the Russian Revolution of 1917.
16:51Peter III was Peter the Great's grandson by his elder daughter Anna Petrovna, who'd died
16:57as a consequence of childbirth.
17:00Raised in Denmark, Peter spoke hardly any Russian, and greatly admired Russia's enemy,
17:07Frederick the Great - so he had Russia swap sides in the Seven Years War, saving Frederick
17:14from almost certain defeat.
17:18Peter's actions angered many army officers.
17:21And he'd always been despised by his German wife, Catherine.
17:27Together they deposed Peter III, who died a week later in suspicious circumstances.
17:36His wife Catherine became Empress of Russia.
17:40Her reign would be remembered as one of Russia's most glorious...
17:50In the early 1700s, Peter the Great's reforms put Russia on the path to becoming a great
17:57European power.
17:59But it was his grandson's German wife, Catherine, who deposed her husband to become Empress
18:06of Russia, who oversaw the completion of that transformation.
18:12Like Peter, she too would be remembered as 'the Great'.
18:24Catherine was a student and admirer of the French Enlightenment, and even corresponded
18:29with the French philosopher Voltaire.
18:33She reigned as an 'enlightened autocrat' – her power was unchecked, but she pursued ideals
18:40of reason, tolerance and progress:
18:44Catherine became a great patron of the arts, and learning.
18:48Schools and colleges were built, the Bolshoi theatre was founded, as well as the Imperial
18:54Academy of Fine Arts, while her own magnificent collection of artwork now forms the basis
19:01of the world-famous Hermitage museum.
19:06Catherine encouraged Europeans to move to Russia to share their expertise, and helped
19:11German migrants to settle in the Volga region, where they became known as 'Volga Germans'.
19:18Their communities survived nearly 200 years, until on Stalin's orders, they were deported
19:24east at the start of World War 2.
19:29Catherine's reign also saw enormous territorial expansion.
19:33In the south, Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire, winning new lands, and the fortresses
19:40of Azov and Kerch.
19:43But then Catherine faced a major peasant revolt led by the renegade cossack Yemelyan Pugachev.
19:51The rebels took many fortresses and towns, and stormed the city of Kazan, before they
19:57were finally defeated by the Russian army.
20:02Catherine then forcibly incorporated the Zaporozhian Cossacks into the Russian Empire, and annexed
20:09the Crimean Khanate – a thorn in Russia's side for 300 years.
20:16Russia's new lands in the south were named Novorossiya - 'New Russia'.
20:23Sparsely populated, they were settled by Russian colonists under the supervision of Prince
20:28Potemkin, Catherine's advisor and lover.
20:33The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, exhausted by war and at the mercy of its neighbours,
20:41was carved up in a series of partitions, with Russia taking the lion's share.
20:48Poland did not re-emerge as an independent nation until 1918.
20:55Russia inherited a large Jewish population from Poland, who, Catherine decreed, could
21:01live only in the so-called 'Pale of Settlement', and were excluded from most cities.
21:08In France, the French Revolution led to the execution of King Louis XVI.
21:15Catherine was horrified, and in the last years of her reign, completely turned her back on
21:22the liberal idealism of her youth.
21:26Three years later, Catherine died, ending one of the most glorious reigns in Russian
21:32history.
21:33She was succeeded by her son, Paul, a man obsessed by military discipline and detail,
21:40and opposed to all his mother's works.
21:45Russia joined the coalition of European powers fighting Revolutionary France.
21:52Marshal Suvorov, one of Russia's greatest military commanders, won a series of victories
21:57against the French in Northern Italy, but the wider war was a failure.
22:06Meanwhile, Paul's reforms had alienated Russia's army and nobility, and he was murdered in
22:14a palace coup.
22:16He was succeeded by his 23 year old son Alexander, who shared his grandmother Catherine's vision
22:23for a more modern Russian state.
22:27His advisor, the brilliant Count Mikhail Speranksy, reformed administration and finance, yet the
22:35Emperor refused to back his plans for a liberal constitution.
22:41Ultimately, it was war with France that would dominate Alexander's reign...
22:54France had a new emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, who inflicted a series of defeats on Russia
23:01and her allies at Austerlitz, Eylau and Friedland.
23:09But at Tilsit in 1807, the two young emperors met, and made an alliance.
23:17Russia attacked Sweden, annexing Finland, which became an autonomous Grand Duchy within
23:24the Russian Empire.
23:26But then, in 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia.
23:32At Borodino, French and Russian armies clashed in a gigantic battle, one of the bloodiest
23:40of the age.
23:42Napoleon emerged victorious, but the Russian army escaped intact.
23:48Napoleon occupied Moscow, which was destroyed by fire.
23:53And when Alexander refused to negotiate, the French army was forced to make a long retreat
23:58through the Russian winter, and was annihilated.
24:06Napoleon had been dealt a mortal blow.
24:09And Russia, alongside Prussia, Austria and Britain, then led the fight back, which ended
24:16in the capture of Paris and Napoleon's abdication.
24:20At the Congress of Vienna, as part of the spoils of war, Alexander became 'King of Poland'.
24:31Then, with Austria, and Prussia, he formed 'The Holy Alliance', with the aim of preventing
24:38further revolutions in Europe.
24:41Meanwhile, in the Balkans and Caucasus, Russia had been waging intermittent wars against
24:48the Ottoman Empire, Persia and local tribes.
24:54The frontier had been pushed south to incorporate Bessarabia, Circassia, Chechnya, and much
25:01of modern Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan, and Armenia.
25:08But the peoples of the Caucasus bitterly resisted Russian rule.
25:14Russia's attempt to impose its authority on the region led to the Caucasian War, a brutal
25:20conflict, fought amongst the mountains and forests, that would drag on for nearly 50
25:27years.
25:29Alexander was succeeded by his brother Nicholas, a conservative and reactionary.
25:34But parts of Russian society had now developed an appetite for European-style liberalism
25:40– including certain army officers, who'd seen other ways of doing things during the
25:46Napoleonic Wars.
25:48They saw Nicholas as an obstacle, and the new Emperor's first challenge... would be
25:54military revolt.
25:591825.
26:04Victory over Napoleon had confirmed Russia's status as a world power.
26:10But there was discontent within Russia amongst intellectuals and army officers, some of whom
26:15had formed secret societies, to plot the overthrow of Russia's autocratic system.
26:23When Emperor Alexander was succeeded not, as expected, by his brother Constantine, but
26:29by a younger brother, Nicholas, one of these secret societies used the confusion to launch
26:36a military coup.
26:37But the Decembrist Revolt, as it became known, was defeated by loyalist troops, and the ringleaders
26:45were hanged.
26:47Others were sent into 'internal exile' in Siberia.
26:51This was to become a common sentence for criminals and political prisoners in Tsarist Russia.
27:00Nicholas went on to adopt an official doctrine of 'Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality'
27:06– the state was to rest on the pillars of church, Tsar, and the Russian national spirit
27:14- a clear rejection of the values of European liberalism.
27:21In the Caucasus, border clashes with Persia led to a war which ended in complete Russian
27:27victory.
27:28The Treaty of Turkmenchay forced Persia to cede all its territories in the region to
27:34Russia, and pay a large indemnity.
27:40Russian support for Greece in its War of Independence against the Ottomans, led to war between Russia
27:47and the Ottoman Empire.
27:49Russian victory brought further gains in the Black Sea region.
27:54A Polish revolt, led by young army officers, was crushed by Russian troops.
28:03Alexander Pushkin, Russia's greatest poet, was shot in a duel, and two days later died
28:10from his wounds.
28:12Nicholas sent troops to help put down a Hungarian revolt against Austrian rule.
28:18The Emperor's willingness to help suppress liberal revolts won him the nickname, 'the
28:24Gendarme', or policeman, of Europe.
28:28Russia's first major railway was opened, connecting St.Petersburg and Moscow.
28:37Alexander Herzen, a leading intellectual critic of Russia's autocracy, emigrated to London,
28:43where he continued to call for reform in his homeland.
28:47He'd later be described as 'the father of Russian socialism'.
28:52The Ottoman Empire, now known as 'the sick man of Europe', reacted to further Russian
28:58provocations by declaring war.
29:01The Russian Black Sea Fleet inflicted a crushing defeat on the Turks at the Battle of Sinope.
29:08But Britain and France - alarmed at Russia's southern expansion, and potential control
29:15of Constantinople – declared war on Russia.
29:20The Allies landed troops in Crimea and besieged the naval base of Sevastopol, which fell after
29:29a gruelling, year-long siege.
29:32In the Baltic, British and French warships blockaded the Russian capital, St.Petersburg.
29:41Russia was forced to sign a humiliating peace, withdraw its forces from the Black Sea, and
29:47put on hold plans for further southern expansion.
29:59Nicholas I was succeeded by his son, Alexander II.
30:05The Crimean War had exposed Russia's weakness – the country lagged far behind its European
30:12rivals in industry, infrastructure and military power.
30:18So Alexander, unlike his father, decided to embrace reform.
30:24The most obvious sign of Russia's backwardness was serfdom.
30:30According to the 1857 census, more than a third of Russians were serfs, forced to work
30:37their masters' land, with few rights, restrictions on movement, and their status passed down
30:43to their children.
30:45They were slaves in all but name.
30:48In 1861, Alexander II abolished serfdom in Russia.
30:55He was hailed as 'The Liberator'.
30:58But in reality, most former-serfs remained trapped in servitude and poverty.
31:06Alexander's reforms would continue, with the creation of the zemstva - provincial assemblies
31:11with authority over local affairs, including education and social welfare.
31:18In the Far East, Russia forced territorial concessions from a weakened China, leading
31:23to the founding of Vladivostok, Russia's major Pacific port.
31:31Another uprising by Poles and Lithuanians against Russian rule was once more crushed
31:37by the Russian army.
31:39In the Caucasus, Russia's long and brutal war against local tribes came to an end, with
31:46their leaders swearing oaths of loyalty to the Tsar.
31:52In Central Asia, the Russian Empire was gradually expanding southwards.
31:58Russian armies defeated the Emirate of Bukhara, and the Khanate of Khiva, and by the 1880s,
32:05Russia had conquered most of what was then called Turkestan – today, the countries
32:10of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
32:19Imperial rivalry in Central Asia between Russia and Britain led to 'the Great Game' – a
32:2519th century version of the Cold War.
32:29Centred on Afghanistan, diplomats and spies on both sides tried to win local support,
32:35extend their own influence, and limit the expansion of their rival - while avoiding
32:40direct military confrontation.
32:45Russia decided to sell Alaska to America for 7.2 million dollars.
32:51Many Americans thought it was a waste of money – gold and oil were only discovered there
32:57much later.
32:59Leo Tolstoy's 'War & Peace' was published, still regarded as one of the world's greatest
33:05works of literature.
33:07The late 19th century was a cultural golden age for Russia: a period of literary greats,
33:14and outstanding composers.
33:17Russia, in support of nationalist revolts in the Balkans against Ottoman rule, went
33:23to war with the Ottoman Empire once more.
33:28Russian troops crossed the Danube... then, with Bulgarian help, fought to secure the
33:34vital Shipka Pass.
33:36Then they launched a bloody, five-month siege of Plevna, in Bulgaria.
33:44Russia and her allies finally won victory, with their troops threatening Constantinople
33:49itself.
33:50But at the Congress of Berlin, Russia bowed to international pressure, and accepted limited
33:58gains, in a settlement that also led to independence for Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and later,
34:05Bulgaria.
34:07Meanwhile, within Russia, radical political groups were increasingly frustrated by Alexander
34:15II's limited reforms.
34:17There were several failed attempts to assassinate the Emperor.
34:21But as he prepared to approve new constitutional reforms, he was killed in St.Petersburg by
34:28a bomb thrown by members of the People's Will – one of the world's first modern terrorist
34:34groups.
34:37This act of violence would lead only to a new era of repression.
34:44In 1881, Russian Emperor Alexander II was assassinated by left-wing terrorists in St.Petersburg.
34:57Today, the place where he was fatally wounded is marked by the magnificent Church of the
35:05Saviour on Spilled Blood.
35:10Alexander II had been a reformer, hailed as 'the Liberator' for freeing Russia's serfs.
35:18But his son and successor, Alexander III, believed his father's reforms had unleashed
35:24dangerous forces within Russia, that ultimately led to his death.
35:34As Emperor, he publicly vowed to reassert autocratic rule, declaring that, 'in the midst
35:41of our great grief, the voice of God orders us to undertake courageously the task of ruling,
35:48with faith in the strength and rightness of autocratic power.'
35:52The Tsar's secret police, the so-called 'Okhranka', was ordered to infiltrate Russia's many revolutionary
36:03groups.
36:05Those found guilty of plotting against the government were hanged or sent into 'internal
36:10exile' in Siberia.
36:18Alexander III was a pious man, who supported the Orthodox church, and the assertion of
36:24a strong Russian national identity.
36:30Russia's Jews became victims of this policy.
36:33They'd already been targeted in murderous race riots known as 'pogroms', after false
36:39rumours were spread that they were responsible for the assassination of the emperor.
36:44Now the government expelled 20,000 Jews from Moscow, and many who could began to leave
36:51the country.
36:53Over the next 40 years, around two million Jews would leave Russia, most bound for the
36:59USA.
37:02Concerned by the growing power of Germany, Russia signed an alliance with France, both
37:08sides promising military aid if the other was attacked.
37:13Sergei Witte was appointed Russia's new Minister of Finance.
37:19His reforms helped to modernise the Russian economy, and encourage foreign investment
37:24– particularly from its new ally, France.
37:28French loans helped Russia to develop its industry and infrastructure:
37:34Work began on the Trans-Siberian railway.
37:37Completed in 1916, it remains the world's longest railway line, running 5,772 miles
37:46from Moscow to Vladivostok.
37:53Alexander III was succeeded by his son Nicholas II.
37:58His coronation was marred by tragedy, when 1,400 people were crushed to death at an open-air
38:05celebration in Moscow.
38:09China granted Russia the right to build a naval base at Port Arthur.
38:16When China faced a major revolt known as the Boxer Rebellion, Russia moved troops into
38:23Manchuria, under the pretext of defending Port Arthur from the rebels.
38:29This brought Russia into conflict with Japan, who also had designs over Manchuria, and Korea.
38:37The Japanese made a surprise attack on Port Arthur, then defeated the Russian army at
38:42the giant Battle of Mukden.
38:47Russia's Baltic Fleet, meanwhile, had sailed half way around the world to reach the Pacific...
38:53where it was immediately annihilated at the Battle of Tsushima.
39:06Russia was left with no option but to sign a humiliating peace, brokered by US President
39:12Theodore Roosevelt.
39:14Meanwhile the Tsar faced another crisis much closer to home.
39:22In St.Petersburg, a strike by steel-workers had escalated, and plans were made for a mass
39:28demonstration.
39:30Tens of thousands of protesters marched to the Winter Palace to present a petition to
39:35the Tsar, asking for better workers' rights and more political freedom.
39:40But instead, troops opened fire on the crowds, killing more than 100.
39:47'Bloody Sunday', as it became known, led to more strikes and unrest across the country.
39:56The crew of the battleship Potemkin mutinied, killing their officers and taking control
40:02of the ship.
40:04To defuse the crisis, Nicholas II reluctantly issued the October Manifesto, drafted under
40:12the supervision of Sergei Witte.
40:16It promised an elected assembly and new political rights, including freedom of speech, and was
40:21welcomed by most moderates.
40:25Russia's first constitution was drafted the next year.
40:30For the first time, the Tsar would share power with an elected assembly, the state duma – though
40:36the Tsar had the right to veto its legislation, and dissolve it at any time.
40:43Sergei Witte finally lost the Tsar's confidence, and was dismissed.
40:46The Tsar's new Prime Minister, Stolypin, introduced land reforms to help the peasants, while dealing
40:56severely with Russia's would-be revolutionaries.
40:59So much so, that the hangman's noose got a new nickname - 'Stolypin's necktie'.
41:08But having survived several attempts on his life, Stolypin was shot and killed by an assassin
41:14at the Kiev Opera House.
41:17Meanwhile, Grigori Rasputin, a Siberian faith healer, had joined the Imperial family's inner
41:25circle, thanks to his unique ability to ease the suffering of the Tsar's haemophiliac son,
41:33Alexei.
41:34Despite sporadic acts of terrorism, Russia now had the fastest growing economy in Europe.
41:41Agricultural and industrial output were on the rise.
41:45Most ordinary Russians remained loyal to the Tsar and his family.
41:50Russia's future seemed bright.
41:59In 1914, in Sarajevo, a Slav nationalist assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian
42:08throne, sparking a European crisis.
42:12When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Emperor Nicholas ordered the Russian army
42:20to mobilise, to show his support for a fellow Slav nation.
42:26Austria-Hungary's ally, Germany, saw Russian mobilisation as a threat, and declared war.
42:34Europe's network of alliances came into effect, and soon all the major powers were marching
42:40to war.
42:43World War One had begun.
42:47Russia experienced a wave of patriotic fervour.
42:53The capital, St.Petersburg, was even renamed Petrograd, to sound less German.
42:57An early Russian advance into East Prussia ended with heavy defeats at Tannenberg and
43:08the Masurian Lakes.
43:09There was greater success against Austria-Hungary, but that too came at a high price.
43:15Russian losses forced the army to make a general retreat in 1915.
43:20In 1916, Russia's Brusilov Offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces was one of the most
43:28successful Allied attacks of the war.
43:31But losses were so heavy, that the Russian army was unable to launch any more major operations.
43:37In Petrograd, Rasputin, whose alleged influence over the Tsar's family was despised by certain
43:46Russian aristocrats, was murdered, possibly with the help of British agents.
43:58The war put intolerable strains on Russia.
44:02At the front, losses were enormous.
44:04While in the cities, economic mismanagement led to rising prices and food shortages.
44:13In Petrograd, the workers' frustration led to strikes and demonstrations.
44:21Troops ordered to disperse the crowds refused, and joined the protesters instead.
44:26The government had lost control of the capital.
44:35On board the imperial train at Pskov, senior politicians and generals told the Emperor
44:41he must abdicate, or Russia would descend into anarchy, and lose the war.
44:48Nicholas accepted their advice, and renounced the throne in favour of his brother, Grand
44:54Duke Michael, who, effectively, declined the offer.
44:59300 years of Romanov rule were at an end.
45:04Russia was now a republic.
45:08A Provisional Government took power, but could not halt Russia's slide into economic and
45:14military chaos.
45:16Meanwhile, workers, soldiers and peasants elected their own councils, known as 'soviets'.
45:24The Petrograd Soviet was so powerful, it was effectively a rival government, especially
45:31as discontent with the Provisional Government continued to grow.
45:34The Bolsheviks, under Vladimir Lenin, attracted growing support, with their radical proposals
45:43for an immediate end to the war, the redistribution of land, and transfer of power to the soviets.
45:54In October, they launched a coup, masterminded by Leon Trotsky.
46:00Bolshevik Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace, where the Provisional Government met, and
46:05arrested its members.
46:08Lenin and the Bolsheviks were now in charge.
46:14Russia had been thrown upon a bold and dangerous course - under a Marxist-inspired revolutionary
46:21party, it would now seek to create the world's first communist state.
46:26But first, it would have to survive the chaos and slaughter of one of history's bloodiest
46:34civil wars.
46:35Thank you to all our Patreon supporters who made this video possible.
46:36Please click the link to find out how you can support the channel, and help us choose
46:51future topics.

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