..My grandfather was a Red Army officer. Regiment commander at the age of 30, lieutenant-colonel. Second Ukrainian Front. ..He had survived Battle of Moscow, Stalingrad and died with his regiment in 1944 storming the city of Sebastopol...
What I admire about Kotkin is his rigorously empirical approach to history. And his looking at evidence, and drawing conclusions, in a very logical fashion. At the end, he talks about not having sufficient evidence to draw conclusions on certain issues. But also having ample evidence on certain issues. This makes his lectures and writing so interesting.
@@1940limited Trump this Biden that. Take your nonsense somewhere else, this is not Fox News's comment section. The world is a more complicated place. If you read Stephen Kotkin's book about Stalin and if you weren't such an illiterate you wouldn't be making this type of low IQ trolling comments.
@@bayron45 Another hate-filled, ignorant comment from a Biden lover! You guys are all alike. If you weren't such an ignorant fool you'd keep your insults and stupid replies to yourself. BTW, I'm familiar with Kotkins, have read his works and seen some of his lectures. Nor do I watch Fox News! So go to hell. You're the ignorant one.
@@Sean-xy4hk you are a communist? If admitting to absolute foolishness and ignorance on a public forum is your thing, go ahead and spread the word, otherwise go take a few economic classes and books (preferably of the Austrian school). I bet that you have no idea what you are supporting (and what you are opposing too)!
I've done some study of tanks since tanks take territory. One of the stories about the T34 is that their crews, the driver, the commander had to look out of the tank with inferior optics. It is a big deal to not be able to sight your gun or drive with situational awareness when you can't see. The Germans had also put radios in their tanks whereas the Russians had few. So often Russian tanks were half blind and were not coordinated with their infantry or other tanks. Russians did have very good and numerous artillery pieces. Earlier today I watched the CATO lecture. It is more timely & useful far as balance of power questions & Russian Policy imperatives. I want to thank Stephen Kotkin for his work & those who work to present him in these youtube lectures.
the thing that the USSR had plenty of was man [& woman] power and it was their extravigant expenditure of this 'resource'which eventually helped them to their victories.
@@dickyt1318 This was good propaganda. As the war progressed the Soviets became much more conservative of their manpower. Note that their ground attack aircraft were very well armored. They did not take the same tact at all as the Japanese. The Caldron tactics of the Germans that worked so well for them, was imitated by the Soviets. Those tactics worked well for the Soviets.
What was not mentioned about the Soviet tanks is that the war planners studied the limited life expectancy of a Soviet tank and concluded that it would have been a waste of good materials to put quality parts made of quality materials into a tank that was going to have a severely limited life span so they used crappy parts made out of crappy materials on purpose. Not all T-34s were made alike.
Steven Kotkin's Stalin's trilogy Part I & II are on audiobook now and it's amazing how detailed the books are. He is a brilliant historian. Can't wait for the next book of the trilogy!
Fantastic lecture. Having read so many of the authors mentioned by Kotkin, I think I learned more in this 54 minute lecture than in years of reading the top works on the Great Patriotic War.
Read Viktor Suvorov, ex-GRU intelligence officer, for a true history of WW2. He has been sentenced to death in absentia. His most comprehensive work is " The Chief Culprit".
Magnetic Mountain is book authored by Stephen Kotkin. It's about everyday life of citizens living in Magnitogorsk Russia during the 1930s. It is the best book I have read about what life was like under stalinism before The Great Patriotic War.
@@Sputnikoff Well, I mean, how do all the writers who deal with Hitler and Stalin and what happens to everyone else when two disgusting people butt heads using human lives as their weapons. I can only take so much of this stuff before it starts screwing with my head so I don't know how they have the stomach to go back to the well repeatedly. E.g. Simon Sebag-Montefiore said that while he was writing 'The Court of the Red Tsar' he had horrible nightmares about people being tortured and beaten.
@@squamish4244 I suppose that it depends on the individual. Some people are capable of experiencing hell and returning to some semblance of normalcy. It’s definitely not the norm though.
The idea of Stalin having a nervous breakdown and blowing the joint for his cabin in the woods is just too amusing to me. If even he can snap, then maybe I'm okay.
@@gg2fan I don't think Stalin gave a shit about anybody unless it involved his own career and in the system he had created, his life as well. So by default he carried the fate of the Slavs on his shoulders because if too many of them died he would lose the war and probably end up murdered or executed.
Everyone faces challenges and everyone falters at least once in their life. So it's not a question of maybe, it's an assurance that you are human and most definitely okay even when you encounter setbacks. That being said, Stalin didn't breakdown upon Nazi invasion. Whatever your opinion of Stalin, and he was no Saint, to suggest that he wasn't a brilliant military leader is just false. Especially if you compare him to Churchill and Roosevelt. During the Civil War, when Russia was invaded by foreign advisories, Lenin always dispatched Stalin to take control of the battlefield when they faced impossible odds or when they were losing ground. It was Stalin's experience during the Civil War that made him the tactician he was during WW2. Russia and it's people, led by Stalin, were the reason the Nazis were defeated. All the Allies played a role in their defeat, but it was Russia that tipped the scales. The world owes Russia and it's people a great debt. Without their bravery and sacrifice, I don't even want to imagine the world we would be facing now.
I haven't ever heard this take on Stalin and the Soviet Union during war time before and I have to admit, this makes more sense than the conventional narrative I usually get from documentaries and lectures
Its because theres a heavy cold-war anti-soviet bias that has been heavily integrated into the study of the subject, oftentimes leaving out much of the nuance and objectivity because it doesn't serve to demonize the USSR.
@@fellowtraveler2251 Communist ideology, and USSR as an embodiment thereof, was widely regarded as an existential threat well before the cold war. Imagine how the only "great power" that didn't suffer at all from the Great Depression looked like to the powers that be (or the masses) in 1930s.
When referring to Stalin and WWII, Prof. Kotkin is truly one of a kind. Next to him is Prof. David Gantz. However, most will agree that Gantz is a terrible author. He just doesn't have it. If brief, DG's work is dry. Reading the labour of Kotkin is a pleasure and it's easy to ride to the end, with pure enjoyment. Kotkin is a skilled author, able to hold interests. I would suggest that most history buffs purchase all of his writings. His thick books on Stalin should have been broken up becuz of the difficulty in carrying and other reasons. Sto Lat do Kotkina (May Kotkin live a 100 yrs.).
Triumph of the Will... It was Stalin who held the USSR together, when the whole German plan depended on "the whole rotten edifice" crumbling down swiftly. Who could have replaced him? So imho Stalin was the central, indispensable figure in the Soviet victory. Churchill's personal refusal to negotiate with Natzis and his personal ability to draw the USA into the war made him perhaps similarly indispensible. The USSR did fall in the 90's... But that wasn't the threat that Russia faced in 1941. Stalin avoided annihilation and extermination. Russia and most of the other former republics are better off today than they were in 1941. They would have been lebensraum without old Joe.
Very well said. Stalin is the greatest leader in history. The odd thing is he was a hero and “Uncle Joe” for the US and two times man of the year in Times magazine before 1945 and then suddenly the US realized he was in fact a bloody dictator. Quite schizophrenic, don’t you agree?
@@bozo5632 Well, America’s beliefs/ concerns/ demands are less and less relevant. And the truth is out there for anyone with more than 2 brain cells to see.
@@borbo23 It depends how you define 'dictator,' but if Stalin wasn't a dictator then who was? Stalin aside, the USSR was dictatorial. It was also bloody, and not only during the revolution. I would describe the uncontested (and uncontestable) ruler of a bloody dictatorship as a bloody dictator. Hitler was also popular, and chosen through some process, and also a bloody dictator. If Stalin wasn't one, then neither was Hitler. If they don't count, then has there ever been a dictator? The czars and feudal barons before Stalin were bloody dictators too. So the revolution can be justified, and thus the (sometimes bloody) results of the revolution can perhaps be justified, or at least (perhaps) excused. And it's much better now as a result, so maybe you can justify all of it that way. So maybe you can justify Stalin's bloody dictation (joke), but it is what it is. You can argue that it's a damned good thing that Stalin was Stalin. The results of the revolution might have been worse without him. Certainly ww2 might have been worse without him, especially for the Soviets. (Not to mention millions of Soviet Jews.) How Stalin is remembered will be an accident of history, and forever in flux. It will not be an objective, impartial final judgment. Depends on who's writing the history and how they want it to look.
Thats an obvious bullshit. Crack for western hearer that anticipate something stuff to hear. I'm not a Stalin fan boy totally but I never heard about such stupid 'humor' from any real historians. It must be taken from some fictional novell
I love Joe Pessie....Didn't know he had a doctorate in history, best selling author.....It might be the Keystones Talk'n but I learned something today.
@@TheWersum idiot, yes, you!!!! Germans were winning at first. Then the idiots thought that they already won the war & started to enslave & kill civilians. So, the people got pissed & kicked zee German arse. First two years of the war, more than 50% of the local population was pro Hitler. Than everyone learned the truth about zee German superiority. . ......
@@TheWersum ????? Kotkin didn't mention Dunkirk, logical and smart or non of the crap you talked about. Nobody mentioned a piece of nazi propaganda here. What are you even talking about? How does that relate to anything in the comment? Fucking lunatic
3:04 As a cameraman, I felt that... "so folks are gonna stay in place?" "yeah, sit behind the cam and relax, just make sure the speaker is in focus and press record." "okiedokes..."
@@TheWersum I watched the entire video, but I didn't hear him say the French and Brits did everything right. In fact, he didn't even refer to Western strategy at all. I really don't get what you're trying to say. Is the question of whether the Soviets committed stupid blunders contingent on whether the Western Allies did likewise?
@Larson Oppenheimer 48:58 ruclips.net/video/dqiqUtdFi2I/видео.html Right here he makes that case. Even though it would literally instantly lead to a nuclear war - he doesn't care, 'cause he's insane. Study or observe McCarthyism and you will notice a particular brand of bloodlust that he is drawing inspiration from and practicing himself.
the problem of a super centralized war economy versus an improvisation on an epic scale is somewhat simple to solve the party boss were rigidly obeying the instructions handled down to them the local factories managers were practicing flying trapeze of improvisation the reconciliation of both systems was due to basic survival instinct and true dedication
I gotta say this is one of the most objective and well balanced reports I've ever heard on ww2 eastern front and coming from former Soviet Union country I've heard so many of them starting from my school years.
Nikola Avramov literally? I’m genuinely curious, do you have the source to back up this claim? I’d like to hear his arguments for advocating nuclear war.
@@newmillennial4248 50:00 ruclips.net/video/dqiqUtdFi2I/видео.html He's literally advocating for starting of World War 3 'cause "that'll show 'em". The man's insane and should be banned from public platforms because he's literally lobbying for the planet's surface to be scorched in a nuclear exchange. 'cause that would happen if his wish would come true.
McCarthyite lunatic, for one talking about the Soviets the way he is I do not think I would be referring to him that way. McCarthyite would be doing the opposite, and would not be speaking highly of the Soviets.
What a teacher! Near the end of his talk, after enumerating numerous facts about Stalin and his massive roles, Professor Kotkin cups his hand over his mouth and tells us: “He was Stalin!”
Stephen is a brilliant historian. His two volumes (so far) on Stalin are immense. They reward close reading. So much writing on the Soviet Union is infected with propaganda and bias, but you truly feel Stephen's implacable search for the truth.
Yeah. It's too bad that when you check his sources, the entire second book seems to be dishonest. Which is a bummer, because the first one was pretty good.
I really loved how he pointed out the skewed misconceptions of the war in favour of *both* Nazi Germany and the Soviets. So often you here either the one narrative or the other. Truly a breeze of fresh air.
@The RightStuff sorry! You're absolutely right. what I mean is that kotkin, even as ideologically motivated as he is, and even as much misleading language as he uses, was over all correct on facts throughout the first book, and if you check his sources against what he says, they generally check out (going back to primary sources). The second book, forever, feels like he lets his research assistants run wild or something. I personally checked 8 claims and by the secondary source, all 8 did not match up to what kotkin claims they do in the book. 3 of those led directly to hearsay that was debunked (one iif which was debunked over a decade before he wrote it), impossible to verify stories that are written as if they are facts. For all of the historical integrity of the first book, it seems to be missing completely in the second. Another historian in this field wrote an entire book debunking kotkin here. Grover furr. The book is called "blood lies"
@The RightStuff No problem! It's just really a shame that this stuff doesn't get more widely circulated. Kotkin's popular, but the debunking of the second book? It's been pushed down and down and down. As for bias... Kotkin? He's a conservative. Ideological bias isn't really a deal-breaker, though. As we saw with his first book. It dispelled many misconceptions and myths about the Soviet Union and Stalin and focused on history for the most part. Knowing a bias is a good thing for understanding language use, but we should never use it the way people in media teach us to use it, to dismiss something that might challenge our preconceptions. We have an entire field (historiography) that wouldn't exist if we did that, you know?
@Kit yeah. So... for source discrepancies, it's a far far far more labor intensive way of getting at the deception. If you check any random grouping of, let's say a dozen of three footnotes against the sources they cite, then check that source against what it cites, etc, down to the "primary source" (and this is something even first year college students are taught to use, primary sources), you will find at least 10, if not 11 or 12 of them have misrepresented something somewhere, sometimes going so far as to outright make things up (the story about the ukrainian/ grave, for example - made up). The misleading language example: use of the word "dictator" to describe Stalin. Just one off the top of my head. It's been a while since I watched this. If you'd like, I'll give it another watch and give a bigger list, but I hope this is good to get you started. There is a good book called "stalin: waiting for the truth" that exposes a LOT LOT LOT more. (There are free pdf versions online and the author has put most primary source evidence on his website for people to verify)
"You are not going to hear about".... then continues to tell you about what you are not going to hear; over and over and over. With only the things you are not going to hear (but end up hearing about anyways) made for a good mini-lecture anyways. ;) Good lecture... information that more need to know and understand. On another note.... I always wait for him to work in something about "the two youts". ;)
So, what you're telling me is that the eastern front is the greatest HBO series never made and that we only have the Soviet film 'Come and See' to view that gives us a glimpse of the madness of that period?
I'm half-way through his second brick of a book;) on this most appalling dictator. But I must confess that I'm eagerly awaiting the third and final masterpiece!
So if you appreciate him, why be a pop culture dope and reference that? Because you must, because you are a completely propagandized TV addicted American who sings ad jingles and buys brand names and only knows how to refer to pop culture?
This book looks really interesting to understand Stalin's Purge In Stalin's Shadow: Career of Sergo Ordzhonikidze (New Russian History) (The New Russian History)
Sergo would meddle in everything in every policy. Sergo was elevated to the position of People Commissar for Industry. But he did not left his pre revolutionary nature. He meddled in everything and lacks discipline things were changed the friendships did not mattered rapid industrialization was needed He would save his corrupt proteges and acted like youthful revolutionary. Finally he supported Bukharin. He committed suicide when NKVD search his home. In short Stalin wanted skilled people bcoz he was paranoid about western superiority. And he was right Germany invaded and Red Army collapsed. He dissappeared from mental pressure and would murmour that i lost what Lenin provided, Lenin provided us huge country i lost it.
The Whaley book about the intelligience before barbarossa Stephen Kotkin is referring to at 10:51 of the lecture is "Codeword Barbarossa" by Barton Whaley.
This seemingly unlikely historian is absolutely mesmerising! He INHABITS his subject totally, and delivers both the tiniest details and the widest possible overview, without even a moment’s confusion or loss of focus. What is more, he brings his subject completely to life; we are all there with him in the thick of some of the most significant - but often misunderstood - events of a monumentally complicated century. I admire hugely such historians as Niall Ferguson and Victor Davis Hanson, but on C20 Russia and Stalin, this man with a Russian name and a New York accent is peerless - and his powers of narrative are totally unmatched. Thank you Stephen Kotkin, for many, many hours of enlightenment and entertainment.
Glantz fully acknowledges Stalin's personal nerve, power, brutality, ruthlessness was a major reason for Soviet victory.....why he thinks he's negating Glantz points I dont know. He realizes Stalin's decision prior to Moscow and the stopping of the Germans there was one of the main turning points. It was basically Stalins ability not to give a shit about human life that allowed them to win.
What historians fail to see - it was not just Stalin. Stalin just took the attitude of Russian people of those times. Emperors of Russia failed to see it cause they lived in their aristocratic bubbles. Open a video called "The Romanovs. The History of the Russian Dynasty - Episode 6" and just listen from 35:00 to 35:20. Modern Russian and world mindset is different. Thats why researchers point at Stalin as an explanation.
Did the founding fathers give a shit about the Indians. Did the plantation owners give a shit about the slaves that made them profit. Did the French give a shit about their colonies in Africa and Indochina. Did Churchill give a shit about Chinese, Arab and Indian life.
Can't get enough of Joe Pesci's smart twin.
Hahaha I knew this guy looked like someone!
@@arturogal4505 Sounds like him most of all.
This is the best RUclips comment ever. And neither can I.
THAT'S who he looks like - thank you!
Who the fuck is Joe Pesci
Steven "We will not be talking about" Kotkin
Spends half the lecture, "We will not be talking about x,y,z." XD
Kotkin explains history in interesting and relevant ways. Easily digestible. He’s a gift to learning.
One of the most interesting teachers I have followed via RUclips…..Many thanks Professor Kotkin.
..My grandfather was a Red Army officer. Regiment commander at the age of 30, lieutenant-colonel. Second Ukrainian Front. ..He had survived Battle of Moscow, Stalingrad and died with his regiment in 1944 storming the city of Sebastopol...
My Grandfather also fought at Stalingrad, Hungarian second army, was lucky to survive.
My grand-uncle was at Stalingrad, too. Spanish Divisíon Azúl, came home with an Iron Cross ;-)
ქართველი ხარ? ბაბუაჩემიც იბრძოდა ლენინგრადის ბლოკადაში იყო, მერე ბერლინამდე ჩავიდა
Thanks to your grandfather for his service. Lest we Forger
@Joseph Stalin gulag him hard mr stalin!
What I admire about Kotkin is his rigorously empirical approach to history. And his looking at evidence, and drawing conclusions, in a very logical fashion. At the end, he talks about not having sufficient evidence to draw conclusions on certain issues. But also having ample evidence on certain issues. This makes his lectures and writing so interesting.
Watching Stephen Kotkin talk about Stalin was a day of lockdown well spent
Yes, and now you can experience right here at home in DC with Beijing Biden!
@@1940limited Trump this Biden that. Take your nonsense somewhere else, this is not Fox News's comment section. The world is a more complicated place. If you read Stephen Kotkin's book about Stalin and if you weren't such an illiterate you wouldn't be making this type of low IQ trolling comments.
@@bayron45 Another hate-filled, ignorant comment from a Biden lover! You guys are all alike. If you weren't such an ignorant fool you'd keep your insults and stupid replies to yourself. BTW, I'm familiar with Kotkins, have read his works and seen some of his lectures. Nor do I watch Fox News! So go to hell. You're the ignorant one.
@@1940limited Wait, are you saying Biden is a communist? Lmao I wish he was, but as a communist myself, I can assure you he's not 😂
@@Sean-xy4hk you are a communist? If admitting to absolute foolishness and ignorance on a public forum is your thing, go ahead and spread the word, otherwise go take a few economic classes and books (preferably of the Austrian school). I bet that you have no idea what you are supporting (and what you are opposing too)!
This guy's dry wit is amazing!
stephen kotkin is a fine man and a fine scholar. We need more like him.
I like how we heard about everything we were "not going to hear about"
He has to sell his book
He always does this .
I like Stephen Kotkin's style of lecture.
purely Socratic. he is making you see the light, instead of just giving you the stuff
but he knows where the light is.
I've done some study of tanks since tanks take territory. One of the stories about the T34 is that their crews, the driver, the commander had to look out of the tank with inferior optics. It is a big deal to not be able to sight your gun or drive with situational awareness when you can't see. The Germans had also put radios in their tanks whereas the Russians had few. So often Russian tanks were half blind and were not coordinated with their infantry or other tanks. Russians did have very good and numerous artillery pieces. Earlier today I watched the CATO lecture. It is more timely & useful far as balance of power questions & Russian Policy imperatives. I want to thank Stephen Kotkin for his work & those who work to present him in these youtube lectures.
the thing that the USSR had plenty of was man [& woman] power and it was their extravigant expenditure of this 'resource'which eventually helped them to their victories.
@@dickyt1318 This was good propaganda. As the war progressed the Soviets became much more conservative of their manpower. Note that their ground attack aircraft were very well armored. They did not take the same tact at all as the Japanese. The Caldron tactics of the Germans that worked so well for them, was imitated by the Soviets. Those tactics worked well for the Soviets.
But those tanks were made for Russian's tough climate, terrain, not the Germans and that became and issue.
What was not mentioned about the Soviet tanks is that the war planners studied the limited life expectancy of a Soviet tank and concluded that it would have been a waste of good materials to put quality parts made of quality materials into a tank that was going to have a severely limited life span so they used crappy parts made out of crappy materials on purpose. Not all T-34s were made alike.
Hell yeah Mr. Kotkin! Thanks for publishing this lecture.
Stephen Kotkin is absolutely brilliant author!
@Sam Rocks true
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Brilliant and utterly fascinating exposition. Thank you, Professor Kotkin!
Steven Kotkin's Stalin's trilogy Part I & II are on audiobook now and it's amazing how detailed the books are. He is a brilliant historian. Can't wait for the next book of the trilogy!
Do you know when the release date of Stalin At War???
Vlad Tokarev kotkins tells what we know. “Mostly. But he talks mostly bollox
@@gaygambler for example?
@@thecrow4840 Grover Furr tears Kotkin apart my man.
@@samueldyer4100 in what sense? Elaborate?
Fantastic lecture. Having read so many of the authors mentioned by Kotkin, I think I learned more in this 54 minute lecture than in years of reading the top works on the Great Patriotic War.
Read Viktor Suvorov, ex-GRU intelligence officer, for a true history of WW2. He has been sentenced to death in absentia. His most comprehensive work is " The Chief Culprit".
@@leomarkaable1 Суворов иуда
Потрясающе поучительная лекция блестящего историка профессора Коткина.Огромное спасибо!
Marvelous lecture! thank you, Professor Kotkin!
This guys kills it everytime. Amazing speaker
Magnetic Mountain is book authored by Stephen Kotkin. It's about everyday life of citizens living in Magnitogorsk Russia during the 1930s.
It is the best book I have read about what life was like under stalinism before The Great Patriotic War.
Behind The Urals by John Scott is a great book by an American who worked there
I don't know how these authors stay sane writing about all this hideous stuff. Probably know when to take a break and have a beer.
@@squamish4244 John Scott was a socialism fanboy, aka "tankie" by modern lingo. A couple of years in the USSR healed that problem
@@Sputnikoff Well, I mean, how do all the writers who deal with Hitler and Stalin and what happens to everyone else when two disgusting people butt heads using human lives as their weapons. I can only take so much of this stuff before it starts screwing with my head so I don't know how they have the stomach to go back to the well repeatedly. E.g. Simon Sebag-Montefiore said that while he was writing 'The Court of the Red Tsar' he had horrible nightmares about people being tortured and beaten.
@@squamish4244 I suppose that it depends on the individual. Some people are capable of experiencing hell and returning to some semblance of normalcy. It’s definitely not the norm though.
Excellent and informative lecture. Thanks for posting it. Kotkin knows his stuff.
Thanks! Much very worthwhile once he gets going!
The idea of Stalin having a nervous breakdown and blowing the joint for his cabin in the woods is just too amusing to me. If even he can snap, then maybe I'm okay.
I imagine having the fate of the entire slavic race and Eastern Europe on your shoulders if a pretty understandable reason to snap
@@gg2fan I don't think Stalin gave a shit about anybody unless it involved his own career and in the system he had created, his life as well. So by default he carried the fate of the Slavs on his shoulders because if too many of them died he would lose the war and probably end up murdered or executed.
Nervous breakdown? The Man Of Steel, the revolutionary who was preparing the USSR for the war for 10 years? Don’t let morons brainwash you.
Everyone faces challenges and everyone falters at least once in their life. So it's not a question of maybe, it's an assurance that you are human and most definitely okay even when you encounter setbacks.
That being said, Stalin didn't breakdown upon Nazi invasion. Whatever your opinion of Stalin, and he was no Saint, to suggest that he wasn't a brilliant military leader is just false. Especially if you compare him to Churchill and Roosevelt. During the Civil War, when Russia was invaded by foreign advisories, Lenin always dispatched Stalin to take control of the battlefield when they faced impossible odds or when they were losing ground. It was Stalin's experience during the Civil War that made him the tactician he was during WW2. Russia and it's people, led by Stalin, were the reason the Nazis were defeated. All the Allies played a role in their defeat, but it was Russia that tipped the scales. The world owes Russia and it's people a great debt. Without their bravery and sacrifice, I don't even want to imagine the world we would be facing now.
This is a preview of Volume 3. As always, great lecture!
This is absolute gold and should be shown everywhere.
Remarkable job! Definitely transformed my understanding of Stalinist rule and the events leading up to the war.
This lecture was brilliant
Always, always eager to listen to Dr. Kotkin.
Could listen to this man all day. Could us some question and answer too
I haven't ever heard this take on Stalin and the Soviet Union during war time before and I have to admit, this makes more sense than the conventional narrative I usually get from documentaries and lectures
Its because theres a heavy cold-war anti-soviet bias that has been heavily integrated into the study of the subject, oftentimes leaving out much of the nuance and objectivity because it doesn't serve to demonize the USSR.
@@fellowtraveler2251 Communist ideology, and USSR as an embodiment thereof, was widely regarded as an existential threat well before the cold war. Imagine how the only "great power" that didn't suffer at all from the Great Depression looked like to the powers that be (or the masses) in 1930s.
An excellent lecture that acknowledged how complicated and contradictory history can be.
this is very interesting! loved the lecture
I agree; Kotchin makes the subject something worth listening to! Most lectures are boring, but not S.Kotchin's!
Love his lectures
Stalin destroyed himself in winning the war.
I've often thought that and it's good to see a scholar confirm it.
When referring to Stalin and WWII, Prof. Kotkin is truly one of a kind. Next to him is Prof. David Gantz. However, most will agree that Gantz is a terrible author. He just doesn't have it. If brief, DG's work is dry. Reading the labour of Kotkin is a pleasure and it's easy to ride to the end, with pure enjoyment. Kotkin is a skilled author, able to hold interests. I would suggest that most history buffs purchase all of his writings. His thick books on Stalin should have been broken up becuz of the difficulty in carrying and other reasons. Sto Lat do Kotkina (May Kotkin live a 100 yrs.).
Infatuated with WW2 my Grandfather was in the Battle of the Bulge. Love this. Ty
Stephen Kotkin “You’re not gonna hear about this, but I’ll talk about it anyway.” 😂
It's called "apophasis".
shut up
@UN KNOWN Is that a good thing or a bad thing?
Triumph of the Will... It was Stalin who held the USSR together, when the whole German plan depended on "the whole rotten edifice" crumbling down swiftly. Who could have replaced him? So imho Stalin was the central, indispensable figure in the Soviet victory.
Churchill's personal refusal to negotiate with Natzis and his personal ability to draw the USA into the war made him perhaps similarly indispensible.
The USSR did fall in the 90's... But that wasn't the threat that Russia faced in 1941. Stalin avoided annihilation and extermination. Russia and most of the other former republics are better off today than they were in 1941. They would have been lebensraum without old Joe.
You got to give him that.
He was a vicious bastard, but he did organise the defeat of Hitler.
Very well said. Stalin is the greatest leader in history. The odd thing is he was a hero and “Uncle Joe” for the US and two times man of the year in Times magazine before 1945 and then suddenly the US realized he was in fact a bloody dictator. Quite schizophrenic, don’t you agree?
@@user-hz5wy5vx1k He was a bloody dictator. That only bothers America when it's not convenient.
@@bozo5632 Well, America’s beliefs/ concerns/ demands are less and less relevant. And the truth is out there for anyone with more than 2 brain cells to see.
@@borbo23 It depends how you define 'dictator,' but if Stalin wasn't a dictator then who was?
Stalin aside, the USSR was dictatorial. It was also bloody, and not only during the revolution. I would describe the uncontested (and uncontestable) ruler of a bloody dictatorship as a bloody dictator.
Hitler was also popular, and chosen through some process, and also a bloody dictator. If Stalin wasn't one, then neither was Hitler. If they don't count, then has there ever been a dictator?
The czars and feudal barons before Stalin were bloody dictators too. So the revolution can be justified, and thus the (sometimes bloody) results of the revolution can perhaps be justified, or at least (perhaps) excused. And it's much better now as a result, so maybe you can justify all of it that way. So maybe you can justify Stalin's bloody dictation (joke), but it is what it is.
You can argue that it's a damned good thing that Stalin was Stalin. The results of the revolution might have been worse without him. Certainly ww2 might have been worse without him, especially for the Soviets. (Not to mention millions of Soviet Jews.)
How Stalin is remembered will be an accident of history, and forever in flux. It will not be an objective, impartial final judgment. Depends on who's writing the history and how they want it to look.
His opening crack on Stalin's sense of humor actually had me LOL.
Thats an obvious bullshit. Crack for western hearer that anticipate something stuff to hear. I'm not a Stalin fan boy totally but I never heard about such stupid 'humor' from any real historians. It must be taken from some fictional novell
@@JoeDraiser Yes. But it's funny.
Having read the excellent first two volumes, I am anxiously awaiting the publication of the final volume.
It was great! Thank you.
I love this man. Pity the Q&A section is not here, but nevertheless, to the uploader, thank you.
Great lecture. Ty
Absolutely loved this
Brilliant. Thank you.
This guy is awesome, and he knows his stuff too
OMG, I just so happen to have the time to kill & THIS pops up! Yes! An unexpectedly good day! I love this guy's lectures.
I love Joe Pessie....Didn't know he had a doctorate in history, best selling author.....It might be the Keystones Talk'n but I learned something today.
@@TheWersum idiot, yes, you!!!! Germans were winning at first. Then the idiots thought that they already won the war & started to enslave & kill civilians. So, the people got pissed & kicked zee German arse. First two years of the war, more than 50% of the local population was pro Hitler. Than everyone learned the truth about zee German superiority. . ......
@@TheWersum Soviets were outnumbered? Check your data
@@TheWersum ????? Kotkin didn't mention Dunkirk, logical and smart or non of the crap you talked about. Nobody mentioned a piece of nazi propaganda here. What are you even talking about? How does that relate to anything in the comment? Fucking lunatic
@@TheWersum Dude i think you need to account for soviet reserve divisions which overall would still give USSR the numerical advantage in WWII.
A brilliant lecture. Greetings from Thuringia/Germany.
Brillliant and masterful!
BRAVO ❤ LOVE FROM SWEDEN 😍
Great content. Too bad NO one LISTENED to it before they posted it TURN UP THE VOLUME!
You needn't be subject to the volume offered to you, just run the signal to a stereo and you can have it knock you off your chair if you like.
Download it in RealPlayer, then play it back on VLC Player, turn it up as loud as you like on your PC or smartphone or whatever.
@@eamonngaines9887 this is not my problem.
Your computer has a volume control, you stupid bastard. Use it!
Nothing wrong with my volume here. Maybe your hearing aid batteries need replacing?
3:04 As a cameraman, I felt that... "so folks are gonna stay in place?" "yeah, sit behind the cam and relax, just make sure the speaker is in focus and press record." "okiedokes..."
"should we do a 2 camera setup just in case we need to edit or wanna make the talk a bit more dynamic?" "nah, client said 1 is fine."
Love to listen S. Kotkin!
@@TheWersum I watched the entire video, but I didn't hear him say the French and Brits did everything right. In fact, he didn't even refer to Western strategy at all. I really don't get what you're trying to say. Is the question of whether the Soviets committed stupid blunders contingent on whether the Western Allies did likewise?
He's a McCarthyite warmongering lunatic, but ok.
You like liars?
Listen to Grover Furr
@Larson Oppenheimer
In his speeches he is openly agitating for an escalation of war between two nuclear superpowers.
That's insane in itself.
@Larson Oppenheimer
48:58
ruclips.net/video/dqiqUtdFi2I/видео.html
Right here he makes that case.
Even though it would literally instantly lead to a nuclear war - he doesn't care, 'cause he's insane.
Study or observe McCarthyism and you will notice a particular brand of bloodlust that he is drawing inspiration from and practicing himself.
MISSED THE Q&A SECTION!!!!
Please post it. Thank you.
and then Stalin stopped and said to Voroshilov: "funny? funny how? what the fuck do you mean I am funny?"
LOL, very good. He's just trying to amuse us... like a clown.
Excellent lecture and great demonstration of oratory
Obviously a man of great depth of knowledge and able to talk on his feet
I hope prof Kotkin will finish third volume in near future! First two volumes are already great achievments
the problem of a super centralized war economy versus an improvisation on an epic scale is somewhat simple to solve
the party boss were rigidly obeying the instructions handled down to them
the local factories managers were practicing flying trapeze of improvisation
the reconciliation of both systems was due to basic survival instinct and true dedication
Excellent lecture.
What a masterpiece!
I gotta say this is one of the most objective and well balanced reports I've ever heard on ww2 eastern front and coming from former Soviet Union country I've heard so many of them starting from my school years.
The man is a McCarthyite lunatic that literally advocates nuclear war.
Nikola Avramov literally? I’m genuinely curious, do you have the source to back up this claim? I’d like to hear his arguments for advocating nuclear war.
@@newmillennial4248
50:00
ruclips.net/video/dqiqUtdFi2I/видео.html
He's literally advocating for starting of World War 3 'cause "that'll show 'em".
The man's insane and should be banned from public platforms because he's literally lobbying for the planet's surface to be scorched in a nuclear exchange. 'cause that would happen if his wish would come true.
McCarthyite lunatic, for one talking about the Soviets the way he is I do not think I would be referring to him that way. McCarthyite would be doing the opposite, and would not be speaking highly of the Soviets.
His knowledge is amazing
Very insightful ✊🏾
Thank you.
What a teacher! Near the end of his talk, after enumerating numerous facts about Stalin and his massive roles, Professor Kotkin cups his hand over his mouth and tells us: “He was Stalin!”
I discovered professor kotkin recently I'm hooked he is a very brilliant historian
Professor Pesci is back!
Barabim-baraboom!
Indeed, a good fella!
Haha, so true.
Stephen is a brilliant historian. His two volumes (so far) on Stalin are immense. They reward close reading. So much writing on the Soviet Union is infected with propaganda and bias, but you truly feel Stephen's implacable search for the truth.
Yeah. It's too bad that when you check his sources, the entire second book seems to be dishonest. Which is a bummer, because the first one was pretty good.
I really loved how he pointed out the skewed misconceptions of the war in favour of *both* Nazi Germany and the Soviets. So often you here either the one narrative or the other. Truly a breeze of fresh air.
@The RightStuff sorry! You're absolutely right. what I mean is that kotkin, even as ideologically motivated as he is, and even as much misleading language as he uses, was over all correct on facts throughout the first book, and if you check his sources against what he says, they generally check out (going back to primary sources).
The second book, forever, feels like he lets his research assistants run wild or something. I personally checked 8 claims and by the secondary source, all 8 did not match up to what kotkin claims they do in the book. 3 of those led directly to hearsay that was debunked (one iif which was debunked over a decade before he wrote it), impossible to verify stories that are written as if they are facts.
For all of the historical integrity of the first book, it seems to be missing completely in the second.
Another historian in this field wrote an entire book debunking kotkin here. Grover furr. The book is called "blood lies"
@The RightStuff No problem! It's just really a shame that this stuff doesn't get more widely circulated. Kotkin's popular, but the debunking of the second book? It's been pushed down and down and down.
As for bias... Kotkin? He's a conservative. Ideological bias isn't really a deal-breaker, though. As we saw with his first book. It dispelled many misconceptions and myths about the Soviet Union and Stalin and focused on history for the most part. Knowing a bias is a good thing for understanding language use, but we should never use it the way people in media teach us to use it, to dismiss something that might challenge our preconceptions.
We have an entire field (historiography) that wouldn't exist if we did that, you know?
@Kit yeah. So... for source discrepancies, it's a far far far more labor intensive way of getting at the deception. If you check any random grouping of, let's say a dozen of three footnotes against the sources they cite, then check that source against what it cites, etc, down to the "primary source" (and this is something even first year college students are taught to use, primary sources), you will find at least 10, if not 11 or 12 of them have misrepresented something somewhere, sometimes going so far as to outright make things up (the story about the ukrainian/ grave, for example - made up).
The misleading language example: use of the word "dictator" to describe Stalin. Just one off the top of my head. It's been a while since I watched this. If you'd like, I'll give it another watch and give a bigger list, but I hope this is good to get you started.
There is a good book called "stalin: waiting for the truth" that exposes a LOT LOT LOT more. (There are free pdf versions online and the author has put most primary source evidence on his website for people to verify)
Kotkin spittin facts.
Great lecture.
A great Kotkin performance
Yes yes Love from SWEDEN ❤
This gentleman is a rockstar! ⭐️
"You are not going to hear about".... then continues to tell you about what you are not going to hear; over and over and over. With only the things you are not going to hear (but end up hearing about anyways) made for a good mini-lecture anyways. ;) Good lecture... information that more need to know and understand.
On another note.... I always wait for him to work in something about "the two youts". ;)
Thank you very much
Love this man and his knowledge. Can't help but think that his voice reminds me of a Bronx mob boss.
He reminds me of a certain actor but I can't put my finger on it
Vinny / Pesci
Hyman Roth from The Godfather! 😂
This guy delivers good informative lectures 👏
But he still uses old fake stories in these lectures.
LOVE YOU ❤❤❤❤😍😍😍😍
fantastic talk
What a wonderful introduction.
So, what you're telling me is that the eastern front is the greatest HBO series never made and that we only have the Soviet film 'Come and See' to view that gives us a glimpse of the madness of that period?
nope, we have starmedia brilliant documentaries
@Alexis Z. ??? Did you saw the movie?
@Alexis Z. what propaganda are you talking about?
Nice lecture
I'm half-way through his second brick of a book;) on this most appalling dictator. But I must confess that I'm eagerly awaiting the third and final masterpiece!
Stalin: What! You haven't been arrested yet?
Kotkin:
yes. he lost the weight and hair got white. ww3. no chance
Joe Pesci's speech was amazing.
So if you appreciate him, why be a pop culture dope and reference that? Because you must, because you are a completely propagandized TV addicted American who sings ad jingles and buys brand names and only knows how to refer to pop culture?
Kotkin was amazing in the Irishman
John Smith yeah, i also loved him in goodfellas
This man along with David Glance are my favorite authorities on this topic.
That was awesome.
Great lecturer as always! But when is the final book coming out?
This book looks really interesting to understand Stalin's Purge
In Stalin's Shadow: Career of Sergo Ordzhonikidze (New Russian History) (The New Russian History)
Sergo would meddle in everything in every policy. Sergo was elevated to the position of People Commissar for Industry. But he did not left his pre revolutionary nature. He meddled in everything and lacks discipline things were changed the friendships did not mattered rapid industrialization was needed He would save his corrupt proteges and acted like youthful revolutionary. Finally he supported Bukharin. He committed suicide when NKVD search his home. In short Stalin wanted skilled people bcoz he was paranoid about western superiority. And he was right Germany invaded and Red Army collapsed. He dissappeared from mental pressure and would murmour that i lost what Lenin provided, Lenin provided us huge country i lost it.
BRAVO LOVE YOU ❤😍❤😍
“You been gone awhile, I don’t shine shoes no more, nah I talk at podiums now” Pesci if he hit the books some more
He spends 20 minutes talking about what he wasn’t going to talk about in this lecture.
Welcome aboard.
It's a rhetorical device.
He does it all the time.
the worlds premier Soviet scholar carries around a sackfull of caveats
read the books....3 of then ...big
I hope this means Volume 3 is coming soon since he's giving speeches about WWII
I understand it's expected in October.
and he mentioned it’s taking longer than expected during a recent CATO lecture...
I think during autumn this year
@@ffleischer Indeed, I believe his wording was "years away."
Scott Hanlon thank you, how do you know? They are extraordinary.
The Whaley book about the intelligience before barbarossa Stephen Kotkin is referring to at 10:51 of the lecture is "Codeword Barbarossa" by Barton Whaley.
This seemingly unlikely historian is absolutely mesmerising! He INHABITS his subject totally, and delivers both the tiniest details and the widest possible overview, without even a moment’s confusion or loss of focus.
What is more, he brings his subject completely to life; we are all there with him in the thick of some of the most significant - but often misunderstood - events of a monumentally complicated century.
I admire hugely such historians as Niall Ferguson and Victor Davis Hanson, but on C20 Russia and Stalin, this man with a Russian name and a New York accent is peerless - and his powers of narrative are totally unmatched.
Thank you Stephen Kotkin, for many, many hours of enlightenment and entertainment.
Glantz fully acknowledges Stalin's personal nerve, power, brutality, ruthlessness was a major reason for Soviet victory.....why he thinks he's negating Glantz points I dont know. He realizes Stalin's decision prior to Moscow and the stopping of the Germans there was one of the main turning points.
It was basically Stalins ability not to give a shit about human life that allowed them to win.
What historians fail to see - it was not just Stalin. Stalin just took the attitude of Russian people of those times. Emperors of Russia failed to see it cause they lived in their aristocratic bubbles.
Open a video called "The Romanovs. The History of the Russian Dynasty - Episode 6" and just listen from 35:00 to 35:20. Modern Russian and world mindset is different. Thats why researchers point at Stalin as an explanation.
Did the founding fathers give a shit about the Indians.
Did the plantation owners give a shit about the slaves that made them profit.
Did the French give a shit about their colonies in Africa and Indochina.
Did Churchill give a shit about Chinese, Arab and Indian life.
The O’hare joke made me give this a like
loved it
GREAT THINKING