WATCH NEXT: THIS explains why Russia starts insane wars ruclips.net/video/V6UiEXrVrvg/видео.html The REAL Reason Russian People Deny Reality ruclips.net/video/EU2r5HsdPLo/видео.html Putin's Fascist Revolution From Above ruclips.net/video/UGcTgnM8Fas/видео.html THIS explains why Russia starts insane wars ruclips.net/video/V6UiEXrVrvg/видео.html The REAL reason Putin might start a nuclear war ruclips.net/video/Jyni1VYT_hI/видео.html How to STOP a nuclear war with Putin ruclips.net/video/lT7W4ER7KFo/видео.html Powerful Tactics Putin's Propaganda Uses To Hook You ruclips.net/video/_j6Vg7yLx54/видео.html How a Kremlin coup could topple Putin ruclips.net/video/sDX5mu81hJ0/видео.html The TERRIFYING TRUTH behind Putin's Ukraine invasion ruclips.net/video/rzja-LOqUd8/видео.html I will be discussing and unpacking this brief video on the second channel, Vlad Vexler Clips shortly. There is so much implied or even left off the table in this video - about Russian history, history generally and our current circumstances.
Hi Vlad, it’s always a blessing to watch your educational videos. I’ve Adhd and I write this because you’re so good at keeping a *straight narrative path* - My aims are to one day be able to keep a conversation going without “stepping” out on different side paths (= I‘m amazing at keeping at least four different dialogues going (or maybe I should write monologues) I just wanted to let you know, I hope you’re health are going the right way 🙏 Take care of yourself and your loved ones and I wish you a happy week filled with happiness, kindness and love 🦋🙏😊
Yes I truly believe that concept, I was in Russia on business in 1991-1993 and the people were awesome it’s not the Russian people it’s the corrupt government that’s freaking crazy! Everyone I met there was respectful warm and family oriented!
@@Grace.allovertheplace thank you so much - I have been learning about ADHD recently. I don’t have it myself, but people I love do. What an extraordinary and challenging thing ADHD is. I’m sorry society still understands it so poorly.
Yes the ban on Russian is practiced in Ukraine so it is the Ukrainians that are making the mistake a ban on Russian in school a ban on Russian in government a ban on Russian news papers a ban on Russian culture! Malaka where do you come from skata ukrania nazi bot
I was a Russian Civilization major in college as the Cold War came to an end. We all felt like Russia was finally going to see democratic times. And while I don’t remember much of my degree today, I will always remember my professor’s words: Russia has been repeating its totalitarian history for 500 years and it’s only a matter of time before that returns again. Seems like that was sage wisdom.
It's the last empire on Earth. Historians understand that you simply can't hold such a great amount of territories, nationalities and religions together, using only democratical instruments. Doesn't matter how much russian propaganda sings about unity, it's apparent to anyone who traveled russia that inner xenophobic and separatist tendencies are strong between federations. It's not called 'Jail of nations' for nothing. Hence totalitarianism is their usual answer after any shakeup or revolution.
@@wrpg9955 you're ill informed then. Did you know that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were parts of Russia that at some points in history separated from it? Also countless diversionary wars and 'common enemy' manipulations were used throughout the history of russia to artificially unite the nation and suppress separatist tendencies. Which already is pretty showing. When it comes to modern Russian Federation, from 1991 they had Ural republic, Syberian republic, Far-eastern republic and Ichkeria. All suppressed. Two regions of Buryatia considered separating from Russia to join Mongolia. Karelia is strongly for their reunification with Finland. Kazakhstan and Orenburg. Etc, etc. Ofc if your main source or information is russian propaganda then you won't know all of this.🤷🏻
@@brandulak russian propaganda nah I don't even know a name of a single Russian News agency just logic what you are describing is physically impossible to accomplish for Russia to do this they would need to have a military who's members have completely abandoned any connection they had to does lands and their people because today Slavs are becoming a minority in Russia and soon Russia will be populated by central Asians from does lands but the military already is like that majority of Russian recruits are from does area's and not to mention Russia can't successfully invade Ukraine but can control half of Asia and what 50 million non slavic Russians who happen to be extremely religious Muslims or Buddists who are probably in their 20s to 30s duo to their culture of high birth rates bitch pls to put it simply
@@brandulak and does regions which you mentioned were either never part of Russia or just strongly influenced by Russia Poland for an example was never truly part of Russia other than does few decades during the Russian Empire where it was given independence by the Central Powers a foreign alliance and the USSR I will completely remove out of the picture the Soviet Union was that the Soviet Union not Russia a completely different country/culture
"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it" (Santayana) But those who do learn from history, are condemned to watch helplessly while those who did not learn from history are repeating it.
Kind of like when I got married and than my brother got married. Than he had kids and than I had kids 😂🤪😂 Boarders change all the time my man. All the time. Who’s to say they should stay like that forever. It’s not history. It’s human nature. I think we get it from the animals cause they’re no better, they actually eat each other 😂
I think in that historical period it was possible to be privately a good person and have these terrible policies. What happened is that Alex III's brother died suddenly, very young, and that made Alex inherit the throne. In a way his ideal would have been a senior army position.
@@VladVexler If you are horrible in your policies towards people that don't really deserve it , you're simply not a good person. Lots of dictators are good to their offspring but indifferent to what happens to others. Sometimes even cruel. Knowing the history of Alexander III , i understand , up to a point , his decisions and actions. A ' good person ' : that goes too far for me.
As a Finn I know this man fairly well, he was the one who followed Alexander II, the Tsar we know as the ''Good Tsar'' for his encouragement of Finnish nationalism and autonomy. Compared to his predecessor there's little love for him over here, even less for his successor Nicholas II, and his man in Finland, Nikolai Bobrikov. For us, whether it's Peter II burning swathes of our land and his troops pillaging our countryside, or Alexander III or Nicholas II trying to Russify us, it seems that ''Russian Greatness'' always comes at the expense of someone else. Whether it's the Ukrainians, The Poles, or us Finns. Looking at it from this side of the border, Putin's glorification of these leaders is not much better than glorifying a certain art school reject. Ironically all those attempts at Russification resulted in nothing but people here wanting less and less to be a part of the Russian Empire, ideas of Finnish independence were in part born out of frustration towards monarch that was viewed as incompetent, after Gustaf III some Finns were more than willing to become a part of the Russian Empire, Alexander I and his successor Alexander II did everything in their power to NOT alienate the Finnish population, but their successors threw all of that out of the window. So in a way, we have Alexander III to thank, at least partially for our independence. In the same way Alexander III alienated his own subjects, Putin alienates everyone around Russia. Some people say that Empires are built on blood and bones, but the Romans knew how to use the carrot as well as the stick, and that was their secret to success in many ways. Rome took, but what Rome brought was worth far more than what it took, and they knew how to appease a conquered people, well at least the important ones. The Romans were incredibly tolerant towards many religions and cultures going so far as to integrate them to their own, though of course, just like Russia, Rome too had it's share of bad Emperors who at times seemed to forget all about this, and just like today, the results were just what you'd expect, people revolted, wars were fought, the usual stuff. Sometimes it amazes me that history has so much to teach to us, but we seem to learn very little, every other new Emperor seems to take the worst lessons from the past. It's not just that the history of Russia repeats itself, it's more like the history of Empires repeats itself.
@@Sewblon The Ottomans invaded Constantinople, the eastern flank. At that time, the Roman empire had long vanished as a result of invasions from barbarians (the Vandals, germanic tribes).
@@davidgutierrez3312 By the time that Rome fell, Constantinople had become the real seat of the empire politically. The Empire did not fall until Constantinople fell.
As a German I was taught that we can never again allow territorial claims to be made in Europe. Because if you do, history repeats itself and all hell breaks loose. In 2014 I realized that there were still some that had not learned that lesson. So glad my country has learned and is not claiming Kaliningrad again. ♥️🇪🇺
@@milanotovic8223 I am sorry, but I don't find your comparison funny. Our neighboors no longer fear us, so I don't think they are any kind of empire. They take through EU ( mostly business opportunity, new markets) but they also give. I have been an immigrant in Spain for 35 years. Trust me, I remember the roads in 1987 before the FEDER money arrived and after. So Germany has done quite a bit to lift Europe up. What I critizise is precisely the opposite, that Germany, under the weight of the guilt and the shame and also due to capitalist selfishness, has been naive and blind. And is now in shackles because of the gas. I also blame Brussels, because the privatisation of the energy market was a huge mistake. Things that are essential in a society need public control. Even Germany' s storing facilities were sold to Gazprom. We are now paying the price, all of Europe.
@@kathrinscharrer3923 I am french. After the war french people hate the Germans. There was three wars ,1870, the Reich of Bismarck won and took Alsace and Lothringen, The WW1 a terrible wars in trenches, the allied won the war with millions death. Alsace and Lothringen go back to the Germans. A complet unfair traity of Versailles destroyed all the Germans economy and was the origin of the NAZI. WW2, it was the hunt of Jews, milliers of them desapear in Auschwitz, ans many resistants were tortured and hit. After the war gal declare: Stop the war with Germany. My wife and my three children are Germans. I meet my wife in the Erasmus program in Bordeaux. I visited Dachau with her parents without any feelings of hate. I really a lover of Europe and I hope that one day it will birth The FEDERATION OF Europe as Victor Hugo has dreamed.In this dream there is no more war even Russia which at a part of Europe, a part of Asia.... Danke Schöne.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the reason Germany allowed itself to depend so much on Russian gas is that generations of Germans have been living under great conditions and this creates a more emphatic culture, but it also means you see others as being equally emphatic therefore naively trusting Russia.
Your material is essential viewing for all of us who have struggled to understand contemporary events i.r.o. Russia and Ukraine. These "bite-size" documentaries are utterly compelling... Thank you for presenting this complex and detailed subject in ways that humble and ignorant observers like me can appreciate - and most importantly - learn from.
As I understand, Alexander II was a reformer who wanted to grant the serfs a degree of freedom or liberate them altogether. He was murdered anyway. This is what hardened the attitude of his son, Alexander III.
Exactly, Tsar Alexander II was also one of the few who supported Lincoln, the two respected each other. They both freed slaves and serfs and were both murdered.
Yeah, the Romanovs possibly had some generational trauma after that. Nicholas always wanted to prove that he was a good Tsar to Alexander III, which for him meant ruling the people with an iron fist so what happened with Alexander II wouldn't happen again. Kinda tragic if you think about it.
@@andrei666 Because even though it started with an idea that meant a great promise to mankind, it inmediately fucked it up by creating paranoid dictatorship, starving their own people, kidnapping their own people and sending them to camps, humiliating those that supported it outside of Russia invading Hungary in 1956 ( you can look up how many people left communist party membership in Europe in 1956) and Checoslovakia in 1968, and so on. It disrespected its neighbors and allies. It did not care that working class people had a better life under european social democracy than in the USSR, which is beyond shameful for a communist country. It solved everything with hardpower and forgot about reality matching the narrative. And then I have to hear the " west" humiliated the USSR. No, it didn't, the USSR did that on its own. And european leftists sure as hell did not humiliate USSR. It humiliated us.
@@kathrinscharrer3923 You've mixed together leftist cries, tears of the rich and so on. You are all looking cool and clever now, trying to find flaws in USSR from 2022, acting like any rightist would do: depicting ussr as an act of a devil, an inhuman idea, led by maniacs, correct? Making comparisons with European social democracy. Well ussr had it flaws and surely not a few of them. But don't forget ussr was under constant threat from capitalist world since 1918s. Do you think collectivisation was implemented the way it was only because of evil politburo or blood thirsty Stalin? For almost a decade it was a public debate within the party, how should it be done. And of course it would be much easier to make it like Den way, slowly and steady for 40 years. USSR didn't have 40 years, nor did it have any kind of base to lay the basement to begin with. By 20s country was thrown back 30-50 years by allied intervention and civil war. You got a lesson of slaughtered revolutions in Germany, Hungary, Finland. Then comes Spain and New fascist regimes in Europe. By 1947 in 30 years since 1917 country had to fight for its survival 2 big wars, had to rebuild twice. What happened next? Did allied forces after ww2 were going to be friends with ussr? Churchill was so eager to continue the war to finish off ussr and to start a cold war. What with social democracies? How are they doing now without ussr in place? All good or they lost all their social meaning and became another populist party? 1956 was not the best move, but did they really had a choice? Do you remember the mass killings of communists in Indonesia maybe? Had ussr acted like that how would you react to that today? First 30-40 years of ussr was Neverending battle for survival and answering threats through out its borders. When 5-6mill communists were killed in gpw, how would it act later? After party burocracy helped with Stalins early death it was a policy of opportunism with party bozo as a new wealthy class, new constitution without working class etc etc. So you are pointing out feasible points, but your summary is wrong.
Just reread "Fathers and Sons" and it's chilling how contemporary it feels. Russian history seems to repeat itself even more than history in general. I think perhaps Russian leaders seem to be more conscious of Russian history and the desire restore Russia to greatness guides these leaders to repeat the strategies used by former leaders. Some have succeeded, some have failed... All have brought about tremendous suffering. I still have hope that, if we survive, eventually we may actually be able to develop strategies that don't involve raiding our neighbors. It won't happen for a very, very long time but perhaps one day. "History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake."
@@VladVexler I remember reading it when I was 15 or so and thought of it as a book about "The generation gap!". My mother was a full on Russophile (she even lived and studied in Russia when I was tiny) and had an immense collection of Russian literature (in English and Russian). Because of that I had read most of the great Russian novelists before I left my teens. I laugh (with a bit of sadness) when I remember my father claiming that the Irish were the real Greats of literature and the Russians just wished they were Irish (you guessed it, he was Irish).
@@christophercousins184 Hehe. I like them both :) I'm watching Vlad's vids and trying to figure out why Russian leaders go completely batshit when they're on their deathbeds and they know there's a regime change coming. It seems Pooptin is not immune to this Russian Regime Change Mania. To me, a girl who grew up in a cozy western democracy that split from England with a few signatures on a piece of paper (rather than the usual social upheaval and/or war) the Russian way of dying looks so strange to me. Ruzzia can't possibly keep all that land they're stealing. The same poison that's corroding the Ruzzian military machine is destroying their very bodies. Between the alcoholism, the fatty diets, the nonexistent environmental and health and safety standards, and the stress of being brutal narcissistic kleptocrats (or being ruled by them) the population of Ruzzia is shrinking by nearly a million people every year. This is going to make it extremely difficult to invade and colonize all of these former Soviet countries that Pooptin inssists on blowing up. It's not the 19thc anymore. He's just making enemies.
I was born in Saskatchewan which has a very large Ukrainian diaspora and am living in an Eastern Ontario township that has place names like Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, Raglan etc. The historical consequences of empires expanding and warring and the run on effects of immigration and settlement aren't so far removed. Very interesting presentation Vlad and so much more to read up on. Thank you.
Those names are to do with the Crimean war though:not necessarily to do with Ukraine as such.Raglan was the British General in the Crimean war.Balaclava,Inkerman etc were specific battles.We have a Raglan here in New Zealand.
We have streets with those names from the Crimean War, and later ones with names from the Boer War, in towns all over Great Britain (and maybe Ireland - I don't know). They tended to be packed with terraced houses which have mostly been demolished as not meeting current standards.
I wonder if Putin is jealous of Tsar Alexander 3, because Putin is a physically small man, and Alexander was a huge person. Putin is very insecure about his physical size.
@@VladVexler Thanks a lot for your great videos. Can you do a report on Ivan the Terrible, and Putin's "thoughts" about him? I'm hoping that in the future, Vlad will be called "Putin the Really Terrible". Or maybe "Vladimir the Psychotic Mass Murdering Tyrant".
Thank you, Vlad. Wishing you all the very best with your fantastic RUclips endeavours and with your health also. We need you fit and strong to continue with the content!
Languages were banned all across the Russian empire. not just Ukrainian but Lithuanian, Latvian and many more. It was very hard times and the ban was lifted by Nicholas II but not out of kindness of eart but because Russo-Japanese war. Nicholas hoped this way get into the good graces with minoritys across the Russia and lower the civil unrest which was pretty high to begin with thanks to poverty.
Emperor Nicholas II was a good emperor, he wanted all the people to have proper conditions. The Russian Empire was in great progress, on all fronts up until WWI. The cursed coup d'état of 1917 destroyed everything, not only Russia, but all of Europe. The Bolshevik propaganda about Emperor Nicholas II was full of lies, unfortunately many Western historians supported this lie. Today, the image of Emperor Nicholas II is far more nuanced.
Ukraine is a life or death issue for Putin's conception of Russian nationalism. It's not like the Americans in Vietnam or the Soviets in Afghanistan. That's why I don't think he will back down. Also, countries like Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Spain have exactly zero interest in defending Ukraine and there are already voices calling for the Ukrainians to start negotiating. In Italy where I live Putin is very popular, mainly among right-wingers but also among some "anti-imperialist" leftists.
Alexander III's reign was a disaster in many ways. The russification policy was a survival strategy for the oppressive tsarist regime through which they sought to both unify and distract the Russian public and shield the government from the growing discontent. They did achieve a measure of success, superficially, particularly around the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov in 1913. Still... if they had actually done what both Alexander I and Alexander II had failed to do; introduction of wide ranging liberal reforms including a framework for a constitutional monarchy, the world as we know it would not be as we now know it. This, too, is down to Alexander III because he is the one who 'binned' the constitution his father had already approved in 1881.
So many if and unlike Putin, Alexander III would actually be ready to hear them if we brought him back. For him there was nothing inevitable or necessary about him being Tsar.
Yes, there are many moments in history where Russia could have taken a different path. But the autocracy and brutal authoritarianism that has been part of it since the Mongols, keeps dragging it back to a dark place. It came close during parts of the Soviet period, but it fell back into old patterns time and time again.
I don't think Alexander the 3rd or Nicholas the 2nd really wanted to do liberal reforms after what people did to Alexander the 2nd. A3 thought that people needed a firm absolute monarchs hand, and made sure that N2 would follow his example
@@ycfeed9245 This is pretty much the mainstream interpretation of it. Both Alexander III and Nicholas II literally witnessed the reality of revolutionary terror when they saw Alexander II on his death bed.
Once, an older lady i worked with (we both are russian immigrants) told me i reminded her of Nikolai the 2nd. I knew how he looked, but i didn't know anything else about him at the time. It was almost a decade ago... Later in life, when i got more interested in russian history, i learned about the different Tsars, and now i think that if i had to choose, i would probably go with Alexander the 2nd. He didn't do enough, but at least he allowed SOME things to be done in his name to alleviate some of the suffering of the russian people. Critical steps towards progress. On that imaginary list, Alexander the 3rd is most definitely, one of the last ones. Terrible ruler. Did so much to cut back all the progress that his father has done. So much suffering... This one? Really? It tells so much about this m f's character. You don't really need, nor want, to know anything else about this creature that sits in the kremlin after you hear his example of a good monarch. Disgusting and tragic.
Thank you so much for sharing. I am drawn to Alex III personally. But his politics were repellent. He would have been an excellent senior figure in the military.
If she compared you to Nikolai II, I don't really know what to think. If this is a Russian, I'd imagine it's an insult given the events he presided over and the way he's thought about. He was known to be an incompetent ruler. If she's more educated and learned though, it might be a complement, given that he was also known to be a caring family man who loved his family, his wife and his children more than anything else.
@@moritamikamikara3879 She meant it as a compliment to my looks haha She just said he's handsome and such. If i were to judge on the basis of that conversation, she didn't really know anything about his politics, but who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Alexandre II was behind the genocide of Adhyghean peoples, whole villages were slaughtered, thousands died, millions fled to Turkey and Iran. This is too often forgotten in the west but it contributed to longstanding animosity in the Middle East towards Russia and christians. Alexander II was also a monster, he was kind only to people he thought of as civilized, with the advantages of his western sympathies came also the inconvenients.
You offer very interesting historical commentary and connections to the present situation. All history seems to repeat itself and humans still never learn from it.
Thanks Vlad have just subscribed .Like most concerned world citizens, trying to make sense of what is happening in Ukraine, your posts are helping in that endeavour.
There are few youtube channels that make me hunger for knowledge, and make me feel just a touch more informed after having watched them. I believe this, for me, is the preeminent one. Well done!
5:00 yeah, you focused on the russification of Ukrainians but it's worth to mention that the same policy was applied to the Fins (Finland was a content part of the Empire then, autonomous but with the Russian czar as the head of state) with the result that they wanted out and they did so at the fist opportunity (the Russian civil war).
Yes Finland was in the video, and there was a section on the pogroms too. But I cut both out just before uploading. Felt this needed to be a very short or a very long video.
The russification process was instigated also in the grand duchy, So much so that a young man felt compelled to assassinate the Governor general Nikolai Bobrikov. As a twist of history, Bobrikov´s assasin, Eugen Schauman was born in Kharkiv.
I am always happy to see a new video from you Vlad. It means I will learn something, and it usually sends me to do some research. You’ve created a good community here and the comments section is usually excellent!
The comment section, you're damn right about it! It seems here are more intellectual people which are discussing. Only few snappy, silly, stupid and hateful comments to read. Its actually fun to go through it.
Great video Vlad! It's hard to understand how Alexander III could develop such a disdain towards anything Ukrainian. It reminds me so much of the hatred shown towards the Jewish people by Germany after World War I. As a weird aside my great grandfather emigrated from Germany to the United States during the 1920's. My Grandfather told me how his father told him Germany had blamed the Jewish people for the economic issues in Germany. During this time Germany was going through hyperinflation which made the currency almost worthless. It's sad how hatred can blind a country and a people and how destructive it can become. Funny enough but my Grandfather is the one who sparked my interest in learning about Russian history! He always enjoyed talking to me about it and that combined with my interest in the Cold War sparked my interest!
I studied Russian for 3 years in university (1992-1995) thinking I would go there and be a part of the opening up. When the chaos at the Russian white house erupted on TV my Russian professor refused to place me on an exchange program to there. God bless her.
Thanks for sheding light on historical precedense that serve as "inspiration" for present, alas, more brutal, reincarnation of russificiation by sword/neocolonialism/fasciscm.
I disagree, history does not repeat itself, but Russia has shown a strong theme of not learning from its own history or changing from it in any strong practical way. Especially in its relationship with other countries and how interacts and undermines them. The Russian state has stayed consistently authoritarian, corrupt, and militant, with a lack of care for the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. This archetype has stayed the same right through the tsarist, communist, and modern eras.
Francis Fukuyama, who penned The End of History, is a great example of a brilliant man, perhaps even a genius, can be very very wrong and blind. (And fwiw, he’s had the humility to eventually admit he got it very wrong.)
Francis has been slowly back peddling over the last 30 years. But his book concentrated an illusion, and for that it will remain historically important.
@@zahzuhzay6533 Yes, but also of western prejudice, the idea that there is only one way forward, that of the west. It really is a bad idea if you contemplate it from humanity's perspective. You could say that its an issue with the Myth of Progress and positivism as a whole but it is especially glaring in Fukuyama's work.
Yes, in our country in old dialect ”musikka” was ”not a good man” and kamu (gaspadin) meant normal citizen, mister. No way to call Tsaari Aleksanteri with those names.
Fascinating. I heard Putin likes to pretend he is an educated historian, but this is really embarrassing to have such poor understanding of the history around the person he admires most. The more I learn about Putin, the more I understand why Trump loves him so much. Though I get the feeling that no matter how uneducated and ignorant Putin is, he can’t contend with the stupidity and ignorance of Trump (though that might be an illusion because I can speak English and can’t speak Russian).
You are right Putin is very gifted. Trump is very gifted as a communicator, but he is useless behind closed doors. Which is why Putin disrespects him. For Putin Trump is like a moronic version of Orban, who Putin respects.
@@macki-1 Not really, not in the sense that you mean. Trump is purely for Trump, and the word MUST revolve around him. He’s not above returning favors, or doing favors if he thinks he will get something in return. Remember that to Trump, EVERYTHING is transactional.
The dude never started a war, raised his children with Spartan discipline and lessons of humility, and was always faithful to his wife despite all the opportunities that his power and wealth surely gave him. Just like his son Nicholas II. I admire both of them, based on what I've read - although I don't agree with the authoritarianism of Alexander III.
Plenty of ' good men ' who never cheated etc. that were very destructive in their politics , or started wars ( W Bush ) Plenty of philanderers ( M L King , Clinton etc. ) that were great for humanity or at least not that harmful. (Clinton ) Good personal lives don't necessarily make for good rulers.
Thank you for the great presentation! You have very deep insight into the meaning of historical events and psychology of the world leaders. Putin’s personality is the exact opposite of the wholesome integrity and serenity of Alexander III and he knows that. Perhaps that makes him feel inadequate and inferior and he is trying to overcome that inferiority by replicating Alexander’s oppressive nationalistic policies? Very interesting indeed.
@@VladVexler I dunno. I confess that I find George W. Bush charming, I find the love and respect that he gives to Laura to be admirable, and his friendship with former First Lady Michele Obama to be heartwarming. But is kindness to the people we like and love really morally admirable? Is it enough to say, “but I deplore Bush’s politics”? Are we really talking about politics, or are we talking about the brutal exercise of power against those whom we consider “not-friends”?
Very compelling and informative video. In the age of computers and internet, isn’t it time we stopped fearing and trying to control or eliminate the cultures and speakers of languages other than our first mother tongues? We need multilingual parenting & learning for all, and cultural exchange. 🤞🏼
Alexander III ordered the construction of a Russian Orthodox cathedral in occupied Warsaw. It was paid for in large part by taxing Polish municipalities and by a land rent on Polish Catholic churches. Among the first acts of independent Poland was the dismantling of that edifice brick-by-brick.
I like history. And I'm glad I'm learning about Russian History as well as Ukrainian History. And also Alexander's family history and political history. And the events that happen today. Will be tomorrow's history. We all make history. Every single one of us.
Working in the garden all day and now nicely tired I am rewarded by Vlad’s new great video. Thank you for educating us. Best wishes for your health, Vlad. Lots of love.
Wonderful you worked in the garden all day dear Ivi. Sending love from my rooftop, which is under construction so not much is growing at the moment, except sunflowers!
Pretty legitimate frame to see it through. Here in New Zealand I've always enjoyed news about all the micro island states in the South Pacific. Imagine city councils making national and international decisions, and the sort of average at best folk who get elected councillors. It's a comedy rather than soap opera.
The main problem is, what we all more or less know, is that Russia has missed, of some reasons, all the possibilities to develope itself, to a modern state, white all the modern technologies and most of all, social developments for the whole country.
As usual, VV, you've exactly summarized what makes Putin (and Russia) tick. The clock metaphor is apt, as Russia seems to be winding down, intellectually and morally. The current Russian people aren't the same high-minded, principled people who appear in classic Russian literature.
Sadly, the same might be said of the American people as well. Jonathan Edwards wrote an essay on the ballooning behavior of some spiders at the age of 11, and had enrolled at Yale College before he turned 13. Today's graduates of American colleges at 22 can barely compose a complete sentence in English and don't know enough to recognize the pernicious lies that are taking hold in Western society. Just compare the eloquent prose of America's founding documents to the ignorant rants of today's social media. My hope is in the resurrection and return of the Lord Jesus Christ. By many indications that time is drawing very near.
Hmm, this tsar, Alexander III implemented forced russification in my country, Poland, which had than a status similar to current status of for example Tatarstan in the RF. His policy fortunately failed in my country as every Russian brutal policy towards my nation. Whats more, he established so-called "Okhrana" - a secret police, which is an ancestor of Che-Ka ->NKVD->KGB->FSB. It isn't a surprise that such a creature as Putin admires tsar Alexander III. The police state, freedomphobia, Russian chauvinism and imperialism, an attempt to create artificial Russians by forcing other nations to be Moscovians/Russians - these are feautures of them both.
Ну Польша сама виновата в этом, сначала 500 лет воевала с Рюриковичами и Романовыми за земли западной руси. которые Польша и Литва захватили во время татарского наследия. убили князей, отобрали земли, гнобили православных христьян, давали разорять их татарам , а потом вы удивляетесь почему Российская империя поставила вопрос ребром и уничтожила Польшу , и сейчас вы строите из себя бедных овечек , с вами делали ровно то, что вы делали с Россией-Русью , Московским княжеством, называйте как хотите.
The very worst 2:59 part of the assassination of Alexander II is that in his pocket that day, he had documents that would create a true Parliament-what the assassins wanted. Alex III found it and tore it up so traumatized by what he’d seen, he thought Russians didn’t need more freedom but less and vowed to rule with an Ir😢hand.
Brezhnev’s USSR attempted to Russify Georgia in the 1970s. They attempted to make Russian the official language though Georgian has been spoken since prehistory there and its alphabets have been in use since the early Christian Era, when Russia was a howling uninhabited wilderness. Previously, perhaps during Tsar Aleksandr III’s reign, the Russian Orthodox Church had abolished the Autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, whose autocephaly was older than Kievan Rus’, even predating the establishment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Russian synod (it had no Primate, only a lay ‘oberprokurator’ since Peter the Gt. abolished the Moscow Patriarchate) inducted the Katholikos-Patriarch into the ranks of Metropolitans and assigned him Abp. of the Diocese of Tiflis (Russians can’t pronounce Georgian names). After the October Revolution the Moscow Patriarchate was allowed to regain its traditional form electing in the Sobor of 1917-18 Abp. Tikhon (Bellavin) formerly Metr. of New York, and releasing the Georgian Church from its captivity to Moscow. The Georgian synod elected Kyrion II as its Katholicos-Patriarch but the Bolsheviks from Russia assassinated him and called it suicide, when the USSR annexed Georgia in 1921. So everything Russian always ends in bloodshed and collapse. Great Fukhing job, rozziya.
I’m here because of Anna From Ukraine. I want your side of the story also. People like you who understand Russia in depth are very important right now. Especially those who tell the truth instead of altering it. Thank you for your integrity.
....that's three in a row, and you are pointing to a fourth video (also worth watching) -- you've got marketing and suspense spun as fine silk. Btw, listening to you at 1.75x works best for me...though must stop and rewind for splendid lines. Glad you're feeling better:)
Vlad i want to give you a very much thanks for this episode as i am personally very interested in this part of Romanov history. You have a new subscriber! 👍 Ps.Nice rolling Rs by the way, its good 👍
Thanks for touching upon this. I never knew of Putin's admiration for Alexander III, but it comes as little surprise seeing as I recall Putin also liking Pyotr Stolypin. The parallels you are drawing are compelling, thank you.
Putin's admiration for the Emperors Peter the Great - Catherine the Great - Alexander III, but also several of the other Emperors throughout history. Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin, two of Europe's most talented politicians.
I don't know what's the point of this video. Are you claiming that Putin is being inspired by Alexander III in his anti-Ukrainian policies or just merely stating that his policies are somewhat similar to Alexander III? I don't see the evidence for the first claim and for the second claim I can say: "Yeah, I guess they both engage in anti-ukrainian policies, same as most of russian rulers dating back to 1600s, congratulations." What I don't really understand is the lack of historical context to the russification. Yeah it's bad to impose culture but do you know that a strong state imposing culture and language was a common trend in the west as well? Have you ever heard about British Empire, French Empire or the United States? Most Ukrainians speak ukrainian language today while most people in Mauritius, Gabon, Congo, Seychelles and Tunisia speak french. And The United States engaged in genocide of the indigenous people, now consisting of only 2% of the total population of The United States. Those are facts and you decide to moralize about russification while the USA was engaging in genocide of indigenous population at the same time, congratulations. The lact of intellect I already pointed out in the previous two paragraphs, but I want to put a cherry on the top with your quote: "...And when Putin's unweiling statues to Alex III., he is visualizing what Alex saw happen to his father..." (3:00). Do you enjoy making claims without any evidence? Yeah, sure, I will believe you. When Putin is unweiling statues to Alexander III, right at this moment, it is his state of mind, that he is visualising what happened to the father of Alexander III. What's the evidence for that claim you ask? Well I don't know, oh wait, look! He said this thing about Hussein: "Saddam Hussein thought so too" (2:58). That proves that he is "visualizing what Alex saw happened to his father". It is clear as day!
Why are you mentioning bad deeds of the west if this video is about Russia and Ukraine? "The lact of intellect I already pointed out in the previous two paragraphs" well if you are deviating away from the topic and looking at other people/nation/etc bad deeds, you ain't that smart yourself. Yeah, west did and still does bad stuff, but that gives no excuse for Russia to do bad stuff. "What I don't really understand is the lack of historical context to the russification." then learn it, google it and stuff. Russians were in controll, they wanted to oppress and controll other people groups so they tried to russify them and other stuff. Same what west did in the past. p.s. i can agree with you about "visualizing" tho.
@@enemy1191 "Why are you mentioning bad deeds of the west if this video is about Russia and Ukraine?" The problem is that if you don't provide historical context, then you are responsible for manupulating your viewer's perception about history of countries, which is what he did. The way it is presented, we don't know what was happening in The West and with the lack of information we are biased against russian history without good reason. The United States was genociding the indigenous population at the same time as Russia was russifying Ukrainians. Why should we be biased against russian history when The West was engaging in far more appalling atrocities? It doesn't make any sense.
@@tryndamereflux7823 nice whataboutism, but no mate. It's not "The United States WAS genociding the indigenous population at the same time as Russia WAS russifying Ukrainians." It's that Russia is trying to succeed in that activity IN THIS EXACT SECOND mainly bombing mostly civilian objects.
@@tryndamereflux7823 it is whataboutism at it's finest. name one country the US/UK has genocided in 21st century. Because genocide is something that's happening right now, not a century/ies ago.
I was in the military during the height of the cold war and never hated the Soviets, but now 30+ years later I now despise what Putin has made Russia into.....
Still enjoying your historical explanations about Russia/Ukraine early conflicts. Very helpful to try to understand the present war situation in the region ...
I am a new subscriber after watching you on Jake Broe's podcast. You are a brilliant philosopher who keeps our attention even about things I didn't think I wanted to know more about. Thank you.
Mittens thank you - and welcome!! If you have any questions, I answer them on the second Chat channel. Where I also do more frequent uploads and casual chats.
If Russia needs to look back into it's history for models, then choosing Julius Martov might be a good choice. He and others wanted a system of mass membership like other western European nations but were overtaken by Lenin's followers, even though the mensheviks had more supporters. Moderate in policy, modern, and in step with the rest of Europe. Kerensky was too hard line, and the Bolsheviks were too extreme and cold, so perhaps the Mensheviks provide a model. If Peter the Great modernized Russia, why not go one step further?
History never plays exactly the same kind of music. It's more like an old schoolmaster beating his student's ears with the exercises book saying "everything again from the beginning." - Sebastian Hafner
Great and insightful episode Vlad! Thank you so much As a British cab driver once told me: you don’t know where you go if you don’t know where you come from…
Another amazing video. Of how a kindly mujik can enact tyrannical measures. Often as we see it, it never gets old.. Your work continuously challenges any yearnings for the comfort of the notion “moral arch of history” one might have. I thought I had outgrown that yearning long ago, and settled for a more uncertain, contingent view of reality, but find it arising unconsciously every time I see “setbacks” from what I see as a more desirable state. Wishing you health and strength.
From what I read of Alexander III he was a cruel man. The kicker is that he didn’t prepare his son Nicholas for the throne which created even more problems.
Thanks for the historical review of Alexander III. and the reference to Putin's adoration. Both actually seem to show similar patterns of thought and action.
Just to add a name to your list, Vlad, it seems Putin was extremely affected by Gaddafi's death as well. It is rumored that he spent many days repeatedly watching the video of his death and it was all he could talk about.
And Saddam was imprinted with the abrupt death of Ceaucescu. Dictators' only real community is other dictators it seems. Sic semper tyrannis (yes I admit I was reminded of the phrase by the Heard/Depp defamation trial --- it's the motto of Virginia on the court wall. I hope Americans remember the sentiment for the next Trump).
Dragged out from a drain under a road by his own citizens, I bet it worried him. One of my childhood friends stepdad was an RAF Policeman and he’d worked with Gaddafi in Libya when he was Captain of a police station. He said he had a sharp mind and was obviously under employed as a copper but he watched and learnt which officials were cheating on wives, which liked little boys, took bribes and he built his power base off of the secrets he’d learned just watching and learning. Before Libya knew it he was in charge.
We’re all left to our own devices to come up with an explanation for events, given that ideological wars continue in the internet age. I’m reminded of the film “Mephisto” where the Shakespearean actor questions the sanity of the Nazi regime. “What the hell do they want?”
This Tsar is the reason we have such a large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada. My antecedents were among those refugees and later on among those escaping the failed war of Ukrainian independence in the early 20th century. I wonder why Russia has such a complicated hate-love towards us. It's manifested many times over, under many different conditions and rulers, and it's been going on cyclically for more than half a millenium. It might be western naivete for me to wonder this, but I still wonder if the values of (proto) democracy, individual freedoms, rights and independence, not to mention militarism, as expressed through the Ukrainian Cossack culture and ideals had/have anything to do with it. Do Russian political leaders somehow inherit and inhabit a worldview in which the Slavic spirit cannot be allowed to express itself in such a comparatively wild way as Ukrainians are prone to? Their favourite racial pet-name/epithet for us does mean something like "redneck", after all. I don't really know, but I wish I understood it better. Edit: To be clear, I am a Canadian citizen by birth, and so are my (both Ukrainian) parents. Nonetheless, I grew up with some consciousness of being Ukrainian as well as Canadian since we ate typical Ukrainian cuisine and had a different lifestyle than most of the people I went to school with. As many Canadians are, I am therefore informed by more than one cultural tradition. Ergo the apparently confused national identity in the preceding paragraphs. It's not confused, really. The Ukrainian community was the inspiration and reason for Trudeau Sr. coining the term "cultural mosaic" to describe Canada.
The fixation on Ukraine is mostly territorial. Maybe you heard the expression "Kiev is mother of all Russian towns"? It means that Russia began in Kiev. For Putin Kiev is Russian town. Putin doesn't see or care about people, only about territories that he considers Russian.
@@zombeaver4853 Not Russian towns, but towns of Rus'. Modern Russia ≠ Rus'. Sure, putin believes it is. Modern Russian begun as Moscovy Tsardom and started to use a name Russia, after they took Ukrainian lands with Kyiv in 17th century.
This feels like a one-man-show production that rivals any great documentary series done on The BBC or PBS. It's a very important contribution to the understanding of what, and why Russian is brutalizing Ukraine right now....
The "railway incident" has been well disproven countless times - the whole family were in a separate car. Surely Russia's last true Tsar ( "a Russian should never be too civilised !") But what of Nicholai? Alexander frequently publicly and in private cruelly criticised Nicholai, whist allowing the family favourite, Misha, to do what he wanted. Thus, throughout his life as Tsar, Nicholai quietly boiled resentment toward those males around him. From the shouted baying of the "Dred Uncles" to Army & Government - all big men who loomed over Nicky, and bellowed and cajoled. It all begins in childhood. And so it all ended in disaster.
I blame Alexander III for the tragic end of the Romanov dynasty. If he had just considered training Nicholas right from his youngest age things would have turned out a lot different. Nicholas knew nothing of leadership and rulership when he inherited the throne
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I will be discussing and unpacking this brief video on the second channel, Vlad Vexler Clips shortly. There is so much implied or even left off the table in this video - about Russian history, history generally and our current circumstances.
It’s because Russia Carries the legacy of the Mongol horde
Hi Vlad, it’s always a blessing to watch your educational videos.
I’ve Adhd and I write this because you’re so good at keeping a *straight narrative path* - My aims are to one day be able to keep a conversation going without “stepping” out on different side paths (= I‘m amazing at keeping at least four different dialogues going (or maybe I should write monologues) I just wanted to let you know, I hope you’re health are going the right way 🙏 Take care of yourself and your loved ones and I wish you a happy week filled with happiness, kindness and love 🦋🙏😊
Yes I truly believe that concept, I was in Russia on business in 1991-1993 and the people were awesome it’s not the Russian people it’s the corrupt government that’s freaking crazy! Everyone I met there was respectful warm and family oriented!
@@Grace.allovertheplace thank you so much - I have been learning about ADHD recently. I don’t have it myself, but people I love do. What an extraordinary and challenging thing ADHD is. I’m sorry society still understands it so poorly.
Yes the ban on Russian is practiced in Ukraine so it is the Ukrainians that are making the mistake a ban on Russian in school a ban on Russian in government a ban on Russian news papers a ban on Russian culture! Malaka where do you come from skata ukrania nazi bot
I was a Russian Civilization major in college as the Cold War came to an end. We all felt like Russia was finally going to see democratic times. And while I don’t remember much of my degree today, I will always remember my professor’s words: Russia has been repeating its totalitarian history for 500 years and it’s only a matter of time before that returns again. Seems like that was sage wisdom.
It's the last empire on Earth. Historians understand that you simply can't hold such a great amount of territories, nationalities and religions together, using only democratical instruments.
Doesn't matter how much russian propaganda sings about unity, it's apparent to anyone who traveled russia that inner xenophobic and separatist tendencies are strong between federations. It's not called 'Jail of nations' for nothing. Hence totalitarianism is their usual answer after any shakeup or revolution.
@@brandulak seemed pretty man united through out history and it's people were willing to fight for the country through out it's life
@@wrpg9955 you're ill informed then. Did you know that Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Ukraine, Moldavia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were parts of Russia that at some points in history separated from it?
Also countless diversionary wars and 'common enemy' manipulations were used throughout the history of russia to artificially unite the nation and suppress separatist tendencies. Which already is pretty showing.
When it comes to modern Russian Federation, from 1991 they had Ural republic, Syberian republic, Far-eastern republic and Ichkeria. All suppressed. Two regions of Buryatia considered separating from Russia to join Mongolia. Karelia is strongly for their reunification with Finland. Kazakhstan and Orenburg. Etc, etc.
Ofc if your main source or information is russian propaganda then you won't know all of this.🤷🏻
@@brandulak russian propaganda nah I don't even know a name of a single Russian News agency just logic what you are describing is physically impossible to accomplish for Russia to do this they would need to have a military who's members have completely abandoned any connection they had to does lands and their people because today Slavs are becoming a minority in Russia and soon Russia will be populated by central Asians from does lands but the military already is like that majority of Russian recruits are from does area's and not to mention Russia can't successfully invade Ukraine but can control half of Asia and what 50 million non slavic Russians who happen to be extremely religious Muslims or Buddists who are probably in their 20s to 30s duo to their culture of high birth rates bitch pls to put it simply
@@brandulak and does regions which you mentioned were either never part of Russia or just strongly influenced by Russia Poland for an example was never truly part of Russia other than does few decades during the Russian Empire where it was given independence by the Central Powers a foreign alliance and the USSR I will completely remove out of the picture the Soviet Union was that the Soviet Union not Russia a completely different country/culture
"Those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it" (Santayana)
But those who do learn from history, are condemned to watch helplessly while those who did not learn from history are repeating it.
Kind of like when I got married and than my brother got married. Than he had kids and than I had kids
😂🤪😂
Boarders change all the time my man. All the time. Who’s to say they should stay like that forever.
It’s not history. It’s human nature. I think we get it from the animals cause they’re no better, they actually eat each other 😂
The Kieser said it best. Please look him up.
Yes, that is how I feel. It is unbelievable. It has only been 90 years!
like usa and its allies
@@VERITETETUEVISION yes just like Russia
I think it is beautifull how you describe Alexander III in such a loving way and at the same time criticize his political decisions.
I think in that historical period it was possible to be privately a good person and have these terrible policies. What happened is that Alex III's brother died suddenly, very young, and that made Alex inherit the throne. In a way his ideal would have been a senior army position.
@@VladVexler If you are horrible in your policies towards people that don't really deserve it , you're simply not a good person. Lots of dictators are good to their offspring but indifferent to what happens to others. Sometimes even cruel. Knowing the history of Alexander III , i understand , up to a point , his decisions and actions. A ' good person ' : that goes too far for me.
Alex the III embodied a Russian soul and its dichotomy. Russia is Brutality & Kindness, its two faces.
@@danielz2131 Nothing more ominous than this combination.
@@guntertorfs6486 Even BTK was a good father
As a Finn I know this man fairly well, he was the one who followed Alexander II, the Tsar we know as the ''Good Tsar'' for his encouragement of Finnish nationalism and autonomy. Compared to his predecessor there's little love for him over here, even less for his successor Nicholas II, and his man in Finland, Nikolai Bobrikov.
For us, whether it's Peter II burning swathes of our land and his troops pillaging our countryside, or Alexander III or Nicholas II trying to Russify us, it seems that ''Russian Greatness'' always comes at the expense of someone else. Whether it's the Ukrainians, The Poles, or us Finns. Looking at it from this side of the border, Putin's glorification of these leaders is not much better than glorifying a certain art school reject.
Ironically all those attempts at Russification resulted in nothing but people here wanting less and less to be a part of the Russian Empire, ideas of Finnish independence were in part born out of frustration towards monarch that was viewed as incompetent, after Gustaf III some Finns were more than willing to become a part of the Russian Empire, Alexander I and his successor Alexander II did everything in their power to NOT alienate the Finnish population, but their successors threw all of that out of the window. So in a way, we have Alexander III to thank, at least partially for our independence. In the same way Alexander III alienated his own subjects, Putin alienates everyone around Russia.
Some people say that Empires are built on blood and bones, but the Romans knew how to use the carrot as well as the stick, and that was their secret to success in many ways. Rome took, but what Rome brought was worth far more than what it took, and they knew how to appease a conquered people, well at least the important ones. The Romans were incredibly tolerant towards many religions and cultures going so far as to integrate them to their own, though of course, just like Russia, Rome too had it's share of bad Emperors who at times seemed to forget all about this, and just like today, the results were just what you'd expect, people revolted, wars were fought, the usual stuff.
Sometimes it amazes me that history has so much to teach to us, but we seem to learn very little, every other new Emperor seems to take the worst lessons from the past. It's not just that the history of Russia repeats itself, it's more like the history of Empires repeats itself.
Just one thing..Roma didn't fall because people revolted. Barbarians invaded it.
Я как украинец хочу вас поправит мы с русским один народ мы братья по крови не смотря на все
@@davidgutierrez3312 It was Specifically the Ottomans who invaded it. The Ottoman Cannons were what destroyed the Roman empire, not intolerance.
@@Sewblon The Ottomans invaded Constantinople, the eastern flank. At that time, the Roman empire had long vanished as a result of invasions from barbarians (the Vandals, germanic tribes).
@@davidgutierrez3312 By the time that Rome fell, Constantinople had become the real seat of the empire politically. The Empire did not fall until Constantinople fell.
As a German I was taught that we can never again allow territorial claims to be made in Europe. Because if you do, history repeats itself and all hell breaks loose.
In 2014 I realized that there were still some that had not learned that lesson.
So glad my country has learned and is not claiming Kaliningrad again. ♥️🇪🇺
@@milanotovic8223 I am sorry, but I don't find your comparison funny.
Our neighboors no longer fear us, so I don't think they are any kind of empire.
They take through EU ( mostly business opportunity, new markets) but they also give.
I have been an immigrant in Spain for 35 years. Trust me, I remember the roads in 1987 before the FEDER money arrived and after. So Germany has done quite a bit to lift Europe up.
What I critizise is precisely the opposite, that Germany, under the weight of the guilt and the shame and also due to capitalist selfishness, has been naive and blind. And is now in shackles because of the gas. I also blame Brussels, because the privatisation of the energy market was a huge mistake. Things that are essential in a society need public control.
Even Germany' s storing facilities were sold to Gazprom. We are now paying the price, all of Europe.
@@milanotovic8223 EU is the best we have ever done. Countries can join or they can leave. We won't attack them for leaving (unlike Russia).
@@kathrinscharrer3923
I am french. After the war french people hate the Germans. There was three wars ,1870, the Reich of Bismarck won and took Alsace and Lothringen, The WW1 a terrible wars in trenches, the allied won the war with millions death. Alsace and Lothringen go back to the Germans. A complet unfair traity of Versailles destroyed all the Germans economy and was the origin of the NAZI.
WW2, it was the hunt of Jews, milliers of them desapear in Auschwitz, ans many resistants were tortured and hit.
After the war gal declare: Stop the war with Germany.
My wife and my three children are Germans. I meet my wife in the Erasmus program in Bordeaux.
I visited Dachau with her parents without any feelings of hate.
I really a lover of Europe and I hope that one day it will birth The FEDERATION OF Europe as Victor Hugo has dreamed.In this dream there is no more war even Russia which at a part of Europe, a part of Asia....
Danke Schöne.
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the reason Germany allowed itself to depend so much on Russian gas is that generations of Germans have been living under great conditions and this creates a more emphatic culture, but it also means you see others as being equally emphatic therefore naively trusting Russia.
I hope the US SS wont arrest you for this.
Your material is essential viewing for all of us who have struggled to understand contemporary events i.r.o. Russia and Ukraine. These "bite-size" documentaries are utterly compelling... Thank you for presenting this complex and detailed subject in ways that humble and ignorant observers like me can appreciate - and most importantly - learn from.
As I understand, Alexander II was a reformer who wanted to grant the serfs a degree of freedom or liberate them altogether. He was murdered anyway. This is what hardened the attitude of his son, Alexander III.
Exactly, Tsar Alexander II was also one of the few who supported Lincoln, the two respected each other. They both freed slaves and serfs and were both murdered.
Yeah, the Romanovs possibly had some generational trauma after that. Nicholas always wanted to prove that he was a good Tsar to Alexander III, which for him meant ruling the people with an iron fist so what happened with Alexander II wouldn't happen again. Kinda tragic if you think about it.
as a Georgian, fact that Russia is proud of its USSR past is the reason why Russia is the way it is.
Why should it not be proud of ussr past?
as a Ukrainian, completely agree.
@@andrei666 Because even though it started with an idea that meant a great promise to mankind, it inmediately fucked it up by creating paranoid dictatorship, starving their own people, kidnapping their own people and sending them to camps, humiliating those that supported it outside of Russia invading Hungary in 1956 ( you can look up how many people left communist party membership in Europe in 1956) and Checoslovakia in 1968, and so on.
It disrespected its neighbors and allies. It did not care that working class people had a better life under european social democracy than in the USSR, which is beyond shameful for a communist country. It solved everything with hardpower and forgot about reality matching the narrative.
And then I have to hear the " west" humiliated the USSR. No, it didn't, the USSR did that on its own. And european leftists sure as hell did not humiliate USSR. It humiliated us.
All empires have residual pride and longing to return to it.
@@kathrinscharrer3923 You've mixed together leftist cries, tears of the rich and so on. You are all looking cool and clever now, trying to find flaws in USSR from 2022, acting like any rightist would do: depicting ussr as an act of a devil, an inhuman idea, led by maniacs, correct? Making comparisons with European social democracy. Well ussr had it flaws and surely not a few of them. But don't forget ussr was under constant threat from capitalist world since 1918s. Do you think collectivisation was implemented the way it was only because of evil politburo or blood thirsty Stalin? For almost a decade it was a public debate within the party, how should it be done. And of course it would be much easier to make it like Den way, slowly and steady for 40 years. USSR didn't have 40 years, nor did it have any kind of base to lay the basement to begin with. By 20s country was thrown back 30-50 years by allied intervention and civil war. You got a lesson of slaughtered revolutions in Germany, Hungary, Finland. Then comes Spain and New fascist regimes in Europe. By 1947 in 30 years since 1917 country had to fight for its survival 2 big wars, had to rebuild twice. What happened next? Did allied forces after ww2 were going to be friends with ussr? Churchill was so eager to continue the war to finish off ussr and to start a cold war. What with social democracies? How are they doing now without ussr in place? All good or they lost all their social meaning and became another populist party? 1956 was not the best move, but did they really had a choice? Do you remember the mass killings of communists in Indonesia maybe? Had ussr acted like that how would you react to that today? First 30-40 years of ussr was Neverending battle for survival and answering threats through out its borders. When 5-6mill communists were killed in gpw, how would it act later? After party burocracy helped with Stalins early death it was a policy of opportunism with party bozo as a new wealthy class, new constitution without working class etc etc. So you are pointing out feasible points, but your summary is wrong.
Just reread "Fathers and Sons" and it's chilling how contemporary it feels. Russian history seems to repeat itself even more than history in general. I think perhaps Russian leaders seem to be more conscious of Russian history and the desire restore Russia to greatness guides these leaders to repeat the strategies used by former leaders. Some have succeeded, some have failed... All have brought about tremendous suffering.
I still have hope that, if we survive, eventually we may actually be able to develop strategies that don't involve raiding our neighbors. It won't happen for a very, very long time but perhaps one day.
"History is a nightmare from which I'm trying to awake."
So wonderful you re read Father and Sons!
@@VladVexler I remember reading it when I was 15 or so and thought of it as a book about "The generation gap!".
My mother was a full on Russophile (she even lived and studied in Russia when I was tiny) and had an immense collection of Russian literature (in English and Russian). Because of that I had read most of the great Russian novelists before I left my teens.
I laugh (with a bit of sadness) when I remember my father claiming that the Irish were the real Greats of literature and the Russians just wished they were Irish (you guessed it, he was Irish).
@@christophercousins184 remarkable history - thank you for sharing a little of it
@@christophercousins184 Hehe. I like them both :) I'm watching Vlad's vids and trying to figure out why Russian leaders go completely batshit when they're on their deathbeds and they know there's a regime change coming. It seems Pooptin is not immune to this Russian Regime Change Mania. To me, a girl who grew up in a cozy western democracy that split from England with a few signatures on a piece of paper (rather than the usual social upheaval and/or war) the Russian way of dying looks so strange to me. Ruzzia can't possibly keep all that land they're stealing. The same poison that's corroding the Ruzzian military machine is destroying their very bodies. Between the alcoholism, the fatty diets, the nonexistent environmental and health and safety standards, and the stress of being brutal narcissistic kleptocrats (or being ruled by them) the population of Ruzzia is shrinking by nearly a million people every year. This is going to make it extremely difficult to invade and colonize all of these former Soviet countries that Pooptin inssists on blowing up. It's not the 19thc anymore. He's just making enemies.
The historical pendulum is in effect everywhere, only in Russia it goes on a triple tempo.
I read that Alexander III used to bend silver coins to show off his strength and entertain guests. It's a nice trick afterall.
I was born in Saskatchewan which has a very large Ukrainian diaspora and am living in an Eastern Ontario township that has place names like Balaclava, Inkerman, Sebastopol, Raglan etc. The historical consequences of empires expanding and warring and the run on effects of immigration and settlement aren't so far removed. Very interesting presentation Vlad and so much more to read up on. Thank you.
Those names are to do with the Crimean war though:not necessarily to do with Ukraine as such.Raglan was the British General in the Crimean war.Balaclava,Inkerman etc were specific battles.We have a Raglan here in New Zealand.
@@tolrem yes I know that- but the march of history and the effects of wars, empires and colonisation are all around us.
We have streets with those names from the Crimean War, and later ones with names from the Boer War, in towns all over Great Britain (and maybe Ireland - I don't know). They tended to be packed with terraced houses which have mostly been demolished as not meeting current standards.
@@faithlesshound5621 not in Éire. No.
Canada was also invaded by the British, why are you crying abt Russia taking back the Ukraine huh?
I have really jumped down the rabbit hole here , I can't stop watching ! Slava Ukraine Glory to the hero's!
These videos are super interesting to listen to, whether they are 7 minutes or 70 minutes.
Have a good evening.
Thank you so much! This length is a slight experiment - I will be raving on on the second channel shortly about what I left off the page here!
I wonder if Putin is jealous of Tsar Alexander 3, because Putin is a physically small man, and Alexander was a huge person. Putin is very insecure about his physical size.
Well he has been talking about Peter the Great over the last week - and Peter was even bigger.
@@VladVexler Thanks a lot for your great videos. Can you do a report on Ivan the Terrible, and Putin's "thoughts" about him? I'm hoping that in the future, Vlad will be called "Putin the Really Terrible". Or maybe "Vladimir the Psychotic Mass Murdering Tyrant".
@@paulh2468 Vlad the Embezzler is the nickname I've heard for Putin.
Thank you, Vlad. Wishing you all the very best with your fantastic RUclips endeavours and with your health also. We need you fit and strong to continue with the content!
That is such a lovely thing to say thank you so so much!
Languages were banned all across the Russian empire. not just Ukrainian but Lithuanian, Latvian and many more. It was very hard times and the ban was lifted by Nicholas II but not out of kindness of eart but because Russo-Japanese war. Nicholas hoped this way get into the good graces with minoritys across the Russia and lower the civil unrest which was pretty high to begin with thanks to poverty.
Laba diena brāl!
Emperor Nicholas II was a good emperor, he wanted all the people to have proper conditions. The Russian Empire was in great progress, on all fronts up until WWI. The cursed coup d'état of 1917 destroyed everything, not only Russia, but all of Europe. The Bolshevik propaganda about Emperor Nicholas II was full of lies, unfortunately many Western historians supported this lie. Today, the image of Emperor Nicholas II is far more nuanced.
Someone said: History does not repeat itself, but, it does rhyme.
Hegel said we learn from history that we don't learn from history.
So it can go either way. (My addition.)
Ukraine is a life or death issue for Putin's conception of Russian nationalism. It's not like the Americans in Vietnam or the Soviets in Afghanistan. That's why I don't think he will back down. Also, countries like Germany, France, Italy, Greece and Spain have exactly zero interest in defending Ukraine and there are already voices calling for the Ukrainians to start negotiating. In Italy where I live Putin is very popular, mainly among right-wingers but also among some "anti-imperialist" leftists.
Alexander III's reign was a disaster in many ways. The russification policy was a survival strategy for the oppressive tsarist regime through which they sought to both unify and distract the Russian public and shield the government from the growing discontent. They did achieve a measure of success, superficially, particularly around the 300th anniversary of the House of Romanov in 1913. Still... if they had actually done what both Alexander I and Alexander II had failed to do; introduction of wide ranging liberal reforms including a framework for a constitutional monarchy, the world as we know it would not be as we now know it. This, too, is down to Alexander III because he is the one who 'binned' the constitution his father had already approved in 1881.
So many if and unlike Putin, Alexander III would actually be ready to hear them if we brought him back. For him there was nothing inevitable or necessary about him being Tsar.
Yes, there are many moments in history where Russia could have taken a different path.
But the autocracy and brutal authoritarianism that has been part of it since the Mongols, keeps dragging it back to a dark place.
It came close during parts of the Soviet period, but it fell back into old patterns time and time again.
I don't think Alexander the 3rd or Nicholas the 2nd really wanted to do liberal reforms after what people did to Alexander the 2nd. A3 thought that people needed a firm absolute monarchs hand, and made sure that N2 would follow his example
Not saying that you're wrong, just saying that you're judging using the benefit of highsigh
@@ycfeed9245 This is pretty much the mainstream interpretation of it. Both Alexander III and Nicholas II literally witnessed the reality of revolutionary terror when they saw Alexander II on his death bed.
Superb the way you contrasted Alexander's way of ruling with Putin: A matter of bans vs cruel wars. Thanks for the video.
Once, an older lady i worked with (we both are russian immigrants) told me i reminded her of Nikolai the 2nd. I knew how he looked, but i didn't know anything else about him at the time. It was almost a decade ago...
Later in life, when i got more interested in russian history, i learned about the different Tsars, and now i think that if i had to choose, i would probably go with Alexander the 2nd. He didn't do enough, but at least he allowed SOME things to be done in his name to alleviate some of the suffering of the russian people. Critical steps towards progress.
On that imaginary list, Alexander the 3rd is most definitely, one of the last ones. Terrible ruler. Did so much to cut back all the progress that his father has done. So much suffering...
This one? Really? It tells so much about this m f's character. You don't really need, nor want, to know anything else about this creature that sits in the kremlin after you hear his example of a good monarch.
Disgusting and tragic.
Thank you so much for sharing. I am drawn to Alex III personally. But his politics were repellent. He would have been an excellent senior figure in the military.
If she compared you to Nikolai II, I don't really know what to think.
If this is a Russian, I'd imagine it's an insult given the events he presided over and the way he's thought about. He was known to be an incompetent ruler.
If she's more educated and learned though, it might be a complement, given that he was also known to be a caring family man who loved his family, his wife and his children more than anything else.
@@moritamikamikara3879 She meant it as a compliment to my looks haha
She just said he's handsome and such.
If i were to judge on the basis of that conversation, she didn't really know anything about his politics, but who knows ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Alexandre II was behind the genocide of Adhyghean peoples, whole villages were slaughtered, thousands died, millions fled to Turkey and Iran. This is too often forgotten in the west but it contributed to longstanding animosity in the Middle East towards Russia and christians. Alexander II was also a monster, he was kind only to people he thought of as civilized, with the advantages of his western sympathies came also the inconvenients.
So much of Stalin’s blood to make it work!
Fortunately for all of us, history never repeats itself - certain patterns of it do.
You offer very interesting historical commentary and connections to the present situation. All history seems to repeat itself and humans still never learn from it.
Thanks so much for watching
Lmao.
This is officially the best channel on youtube!
Ha ha ha thank you!
0:20 Vladimir Putin (1999 - the sooner the better)
Couldn't have said it more briefly and better myself.
Yes!
@@VladVexler 👏 👏 👏
Thanks Vlad have just subscribed .Like most concerned world citizens, trying to make sense of what is happening in Ukraine, your posts are helping in that endeavour.
I am so glad. If you ever have a question just drop it in a new comment and I will answer directly or on the second channel Clips. Welcome!
Thanks for the history lesson, Vlad!
Utter pleasure, I look forward to expanding on all these points on the second channel.
There are few youtube channels that make me hunger for knowledge, and make me feel just a touch more informed after having watched them. I believe this, for me, is the preeminent one. Well done!
5:00 yeah, you focused on the russification of Ukrainians but it's worth to mention that the same policy was applied to the Fins (Finland was a content part of the Empire then, autonomous but with the Russian czar as the head of state) with the result that they wanted out and they did so at the fist opportunity (the Russian civil war).
Yes Finland was in the video, and there was a section on the pogroms too. But I cut both out just before uploading. Felt this needed to be a very short or a very long video.
Oh yes, and the Finns had their memory of this history refreshed by the recent war in Ukraine.
The russification process was instigated also in the grand duchy, So much so that a young man felt compelled to assassinate the Governor general Nikolai Bobrikov. As a twist of history, Bobrikov´s assasin, Eugen Schauman was born in Kharkiv.
and now? Finland is a EU and Nato slave, whats the difference? I think the nordic tribes brains have been frozen for too long,
tell me, who cares abt the vikings, the nordic states? No one does ok.
This should be compulsory viewing for all. Such an insightful series.
Exactly !
I am always happy to see a new video from you Vlad. It means I will learn something, and it usually sends me to do some research. You’ve created a good community here and the comments section is usually excellent!
Thank you thank you thank you!
The comment section, you're damn right about it! It seems here are more intellectual people which are discussing. Only few snappy, silly, stupid and hateful comments to read. Its actually fun to go through it.
Great video Vlad! It's hard to understand how Alexander III could develop such a disdain towards anything Ukrainian. It reminds me so much of the hatred shown towards the Jewish people by Germany after World War I. As a weird aside my great grandfather emigrated from Germany to the United States during the 1920's. My Grandfather told me how his father told him Germany had blamed the Jewish people for the economic issues in Germany. During this time Germany was going through hyperinflation which made the currency almost worthless. It's sad how hatred can blind a country and a people and how destructive it can become. Funny enough but my Grandfather is the one who sparked my interest in learning about Russian history! He always enjoyed talking to me about it and that combined with my interest in the Cold War sparked my interest!
Powerful ending. We (as a society and/or individuals) tend to dismiss irrational actors and motives.
Yes!!
I studied Russian for 3 years in university (1992-1995) thinking I would go there and be a part of the opening up. When the chaos at the Russian white house erupted on TV my Russian professor refused to place me on an exchange program to there. God bless her.
A wise decision.
Thanks for sheding light on historical precedense that serve as "inspiration" for present, alas, more brutal, reincarnation of russificiation by sword/neocolonialism/fasciscm.
I think it's a story of history repeating itself. That's so obvious, but we still are inclined not to recognise this.
I disagree, history does not repeat itself, but Russia has shown a strong theme of not learning from its own history or changing from it in any strong practical way. Especially in its relationship with other countries and how interacts and undermines them. The Russian state has stayed consistently authoritarian, corrupt, and militant, with a lack of care for the lives and livelihoods of its citizens. This archetype has stayed the same right through the tsarist, communist, and modern eras.
Francis Fukuyama, who penned The End of History, is a great example of a brilliant man, perhaps even a genius, can be very very wrong and blind. (And fwiw, he’s had the humility to eventually admit he got it very wrong.)
Francis has been slowly back peddling over the last 30 years. But his book concentrated an illusion, and for that it will remain historically important.
@@VladVexler Remains important artifact of the post-Cold War optismism and an interesting example of the Myth of Progress.
@@zahzuhzay6533 Yes, but also of western prejudice, the idea that there is only one way forward, that of the west. It really is a bad idea if you contemplate it from humanity's perspective. You could say that its an issue with the Myth of Progress and positivism as a whole but it is especially glaring in Fukuyama's work.
“Muzhik” is a term that was used only for male serfs.
Calling Czar “a muzhik” is... inappropriate to say the least.
Yes, in our country in old dialect ”musikka” was ”not a good man” and kamu (gaspadin) meant normal citizen, mister. No way to call Tsaari Aleksanteri with those names.
Fascinating. I heard Putin likes to pretend he is an educated historian, but this is really embarrassing to have such poor understanding of the history around the person he admires most. The more I learn about Putin, the more I understand why Trump loves him so much. Though I get the feeling that no matter how uneducated and ignorant Putin is, he can’t contend with the stupidity and ignorance of Trump (though that might be an illusion because I can speak English and can’t speak Russian).
You are right Putin is very gifted. Trump is very gifted as a communicator, but he is useless behind closed doors. Which is why Putin disrespects him. For Putin Trump is like a moronic version of Orban, who Putin respects.
Same here.
Guys, do you think DT is a Russian "asset"?
@@macki-1 Not really, not in the sense that you mean. Trump is purely for Trump, and the word MUST revolve around him. He’s not above returning favors, or doing favors if he thinks he will get something in return. Remember that to Trump, EVERYTHING is transactional.
@@VladVexler what makes you think Putin respects Orban?
"Nations have always good reasons for being what they are, and the best of all is that they cannot be otherwise."
The dude never started a war, raised his children with Spartan discipline and lessons of humility, and was always faithful to his wife despite all the opportunities that his power and wealth surely gave him. Just like his son Nicholas II. I admire both of them, based on what I've read - although I don't agree with the authoritarianism of Alexander III.
I am very personally drawn to Alex III, as you could hear. But I am repelled by his politics. Unlike Putin, he was honest and sincere to the core.
Plenty of ' good men ' who never cheated etc. that were very destructive in their politics , or started wars ( W Bush ) Plenty of philanderers ( M L King , Clinton etc. ) that were great for humanity or at least not that harmful. (Clinton ) Good personal lives don't necessarily make for good rulers.
Thank you for the great presentation! You have very deep insight into the meaning of historical events and psychology of the world leaders. Putin’s personality is the exact opposite of the wholesome integrity and serenity of Alexander III and he knows that. Perhaps that makes him feel inadequate and inferior and he is trying to overcome that inferiority by replicating Alexander’s oppressive nationalistic policies? Very interesting indeed.
@@romanvonungern-sternberg813 Nothing wholesome about Alexander III 's policies' effect on regular Russian people.
@@VladVexler I dunno. I confess that I find George W. Bush charming, I find the love and respect that he gives to Laura to be admirable, and his friendship with former First Lady Michele Obama to be heartwarming. But is kindness to the people we like and love really morally admirable? Is it enough to say, “but I deplore Bush’s politics”? Are we really talking about politics, or are we talking about the brutal exercise of power against those whom we consider “not-friends”?
Linking continued supernatural beliefs with continual war is brave and accurate.
Very compelling and informative video. In the age of computers and internet, isn’t it time we stopped fearing and trying to control or eliminate the cultures and speakers of languages other than our first mother tongues? We need multilingual parenting & learning for all, and cultural exchange. 🤞🏼
Alexander III ordered the construction of a Russian Orthodox cathedral in occupied Warsaw. It was paid for in large part by taxing Polish municipalities and by a land rent on Polish Catholic churches.
Among the first acts of independent Poland was the dismantling of that edifice brick-by-brick.
Fascinating and insightful, as always. Every video you upload is a treat!
I'm so grateful you watch!
🙏🕊🌻🔱 Excellent Episode! Ukraine is Strong! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to the Heroes! The World Stands Committed with Ukraine! 🔱🌻🕊🙏
I like history. And I'm glad I'm learning about Russian History as well as Ukrainian History. And also Alexander's family history and political history. And the events that happen today. Will be tomorrow's history. We all make history. Every single one of us.
Thank you for explaining Alexander III's political views - just love history. Please tell us more about his son, the tragic tsar Nicholas.
One day!
@@VladVexler has that one day come about already and I missed it? Or is it still in the hopefully near future?
Working in the garden all day and now nicely tired I am rewarded by Vlad’s new great video. Thank you for educating us. Best wishes for your health, Vlad. Lots of love.
Wonderful you worked in the garden all day dear Ivi. Sending love from my rooftop, which is under construction so not much is growing at the moment, except sunflowers!
@@VladVexler 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
In Russia we pray for the well beings of the Tsars
Something Putin won’t see in a thousand years.
Although I find this very intersting, I can't help having this feeling that worldwide politics has always been some kind of soap opera
Pretty legitimate frame to see it through. Here in New Zealand I've always enjoyed news about all the micro island states in the South Pacific. Imagine city councils making national and international decisions, and the sort of average at best folk who get elected councillors. It's a comedy rather than soap opera.
The main problem is, what we all more or less know, is that Russia has missed, of some reasons, all the possibilities to develope itself, to a modern state, white all the modern technologies and most of all, social developments for the whole country.
I am greedy for more of your analysis! Excellent job.
Will be adding a bonus casual chat on this topic on the second channel - tomorrow I think!
As usual, VV, you've exactly summarized what makes Putin (and Russia) tick. The clock metaphor is apt, as Russia seems to be winding down, intellectually and morally. The current Russian people aren't the same high-minded, principled people who appear in classic Russian literature.
My visceral response too.
like you would know, probably have never been to Russia, stop reading US and Brit trash "news".
Sadly, the same might be said of the American people as well. Jonathan Edwards wrote an essay on the ballooning behavior of some spiders at the age of 11, and had enrolled at Yale College before he turned 13. Today's graduates of American colleges at 22 can barely compose a complete sentence in English and don't know enough to recognize the pernicious lies that are taking hold in Western society. Just compare the eloquent prose of America's founding documents to the ignorant rants of today's social media. My hope is in the resurrection and return of the Lord Jesus Christ. By many indications that time is drawing very near.
Hmm, this tsar, Alexander III implemented forced russification in my country, Poland, which had than a status similar to current status of for example Tatarstan in the RF. His policy fortunately failed in my country as every Russian brutal policy towards my nation. Whats more, he established so-called "Okhrana" - a secret police, which is an ancestor of Che-Ka ->NKVD->KGB->FSB. It isn't a surprise that such a creature as Putin admires tsar Alexander III. The police state, freedomphobia, Russian chauvinism and imperialism, an attempt to create artificial Russians by forcing other nations to be Moscovians/Russians - these are feautures of them both.
Ну Польша сама виновата в этом, сначала 500 лет воевала с Рюриковичами и Романовыми за земли западной руси. которые Польша и Литва захватили во время татарского наследия. убили князей, отобрали земли, гнобили православных христьян, давали разорять их татарам , а потом вы удивляетесь почему Российская империя поставила вопрос ребром и уничтожила Польшу , и сейчас вы строите из себя бедных овечек , с вами делали ровно то, что вы делали с Россией-Русью , Московским княжеством, называйте как хотите.
The very worst 2:59 part of the assassination of Alexander II is that in his pocket that day, he had documents that would create a true Parliament-what the assassins wanted. Alex III found it and tore it up so traumatized by what he’d seen, he thought Russians didn’t need more freedom but less and vowed to rule with an Ir😢hand.
Brezhnev’s USSR attempted to Russify Georgia in the 1970s. They attempted to make Russian the official language though Georgian has been spoken since prehistory there and its alphabets have been in use since the early Christian Era, when Russia was a howling uninhabited wilderness.
Previously, perhaps during Tsar Aleksandr III’s reign, the Russian Orthodox Church had abolished the Autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, whose autocephaly was older than Kievan Rus’, even predating the establishment of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The Russian synod (it had no Primate, only a lay ‘oberprokurator’ since Peter the Gt. abolished the Moscow Patriarchate) inducted the Katholikos-Patriarch into the ranks of Metropolitans and assigned him Abp. of the Diocese of Tiflis (Russians can’t pronounce Georgian names). After the October Revolution the Moscow Patriarchate was allowed to regain its traditional form electing in the Sobor of 1917-18 Abp. Tikhon (Bellavin) formerly Metr. of New York, and releasing the Georgian Church from its captivity to Moscow. The Georgian synod elected Kyrion II as its Katholicos-Patriarch but the Bolsheviks from Russia assassinated him and called it suicide, when the USSR annexed Georgia in 1921.
So everything Russian always ends in bloodshed and collapse. Great Fukhing job, rozziya.
Thank you very much! Are you Georgian?
@@giorgimerabishvili8194 20 yrs married to a Georgian. It’s not easy...
@@claesvanoldenphatt9972 Glad and thank you for your exceptional knowledge of Georgian history. Appreciate that!
@@giorgimerabishvili8194 please save Georgia! Overthrow Dreemurz and take back territories held by roZZiya! Democracy, not autocracy?
🇵🇱 ❤️ 🇬🇪
I’m here because of Anna From Ukraine. I want your side of the story also. People like you who understand Russia in depth are very important right now. Especially those who tell the truth instead of altering it. Thank you for your integrity.
So glad I found this gem of a channel. All the very best.
Dominik so glad to have you! I will be sharing a casual chat on the same topic shortly on the Clips second channel.
....that's three in a row, and you are pointing to a fourth video (also worth watching) -- you've got marketing and suspense spun as fine silk. Btw, listening to you at 1.75x works best for me...though must stop and rewind for splendid lines. Glad you're feeling better:)
Vlad i want to give you a very much thanks for this episode as i am personally very interested in this part of Romanov history. You have a new subscriber! 👍
Ps.Nice rolling Rs by the way, its good 👍
Thank you and welcome!
History only repeats itself for those who don't learn its lessons. That's the same for everybody.
Thanks for touching upon this. I never knew of Putin's admiration for Alexander III, but it comes as little surprise seeing as I recall Putin also liking Pyotr Stolypin. The parallels you are drawing are compelling, thank you.
Putin's admiration for the Emperors Peter the Great - Catherine the Great - Alexander III, but also several of the other Emperors throughout history. Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin, two of Europe's most talented politicians.
I don't know what's the point of this video. Are you claiming that Putin is being inspired by Alexander III in his anti-Ukrainian policies or just merely stating that his policies are somewhat similar to Alexander III? I don't see the evidence for the first claim and for the second claim I can say: "Yeah, I guess they both engage in anti-ukrainian policies, same as most of russian rulers dating back to 1600s, congratulations."
What I don't really understand is the lack of historical context to the russification. Yeah it's bad to impose culture but do you know that a strong state imposing culture and language was a common trend in the west as well? Have you ever heard about British Empire, French Empire or the United States? Most Ukrainians speak ukrainian language today while most people in Mauritius, Gabon, Congo, Seychelles and Tunisia speak french. And The United States engaged in genocide of the indigenous people, now consisting of only 2% of the total population of The United States. Those are facts and you decide to moralize about russification while the USA was engaging in genocide of indigenous population at the same time, congratulations.
The lact of intellect I already pointed out in the previous two paragraphs, but I want to put a cherry on the top with your quote: "...And when Putin's unweiling statues to Alex III., he is visualizing what Alex saw happen to his father..." (3:00). Do you enjoy making claims without any evidence? Yeah, sure, I will believe you. When Putin is unweiling statues to Alexander III, right at this moment, it is his state of mind, that he is visualising what happened to the father of Alexander III. What's the evidence for that claim you ask? Well I don't know, oh wait, look! He said this thing about Hussein: "Saddam Hussein thought so too" (2:58). That proves that he is "visualizing what Alex saw happened to his father". It is clear as day!
Why are you mentioning bad deeds of the west if this video is about Russia and Ukraine?
"The lact of intellect I already pointed out in the previous two paragraphs" well if you are deviating away from the topic and looking at other people/nation/etc bad deeds, you ain't that smart yourself.
Yeah, west did and still does bad stuff, but that gives no excuse for Russia to do bad stuff.
"What I don't really understand is the lack of historical context to the russification." then learn it, google it and stuff. Russians were in controll, they wanted to oppress and controll other people groups so they tried to russify them and other stuff. Same what west did in the past.
p.s. i can agree with you about "visualizing" tho.
@@enemy1191 "Why are you mentioning bad deeds of the west if this video is about Russia and Ukraine?" The problem is that if you don't provide historical context, then you are responsible for manupulating your viewer's perception about history of countries, which is what he did. The way it is presented, we don't know what was happening in The West and with the lack of information we are biased against russian history without good reason. The United States was genociding the indigenous population at the same time as Russia was russifying Ukrainians. Why should we be biased against russian history when The West was engaging in far more appalling atrocities? It doesn't make any sense.
@@tryndamereflux7823 nice whataboutism, but no mate. It's not "The United States WAS genociding the indigenous population at the same time as Russia WAS russifying Ukrainians." It's that Russia is trying to succeed in that activity IN THIS EXACT SECOND mainly bombing mostly civilian objects.
@@tarask8611 It's not whataboutism, you can watch my other replies for clarification.
@@tryndamereflux7823 it is whataboutism at it's finest. name one country the US/UK has genocided in 21st century. Because genocide is something that's happening right now, not a century/ies ago.
I feel like this channel is my secret window into Russian thinking.
Thank you.
I was in the military during the height of the cold war and never hated the Soviets, but now 30+ years later I now despise what Putin has made Russia into.....
Still enjoying your historical explanations about Russia/Ukraine early conflicts. Very helpful to try to understand the present war situation in the region ...
Glad it’s of value.
Mark Twain said " history doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes "
History and analysis I've not heard from anyone else . Something to think 🤔 about. Thanks.
I am a new subscriber after watching you on Jake Broe's podcast. You are a brilliant philosopher who keeps our attention even about things I didn't think I wanted to know more about. Thank you.
Mittens thank you - and welcome!! If you have any questions, I answer them on the second Chat channel. Where I also do more frequent uploads and casual chats.
Been waiting on this one for a few months after you teased it. Good work as always, Vlad.
Oh yes! I still kinda feel I haven't delivered. There is a 45 minute video in here, which I hope to do someday!
Alexander III was arguably one of the best Tsars, I don't see why he wouldn't be one of Putin's "heroes".
Putin is the most ahistorical historian of our times.
He could improve his skills! He basically takes quotes and little ideas out of books. He doesn't take things in systematically.
Putin is a giant, the first leader in postwar Europe and Asia who stands up to US and British enslavement,
@@VladVexler how do you know this? Did u sneak into his bedroom or something?
@@benismann yeah it's like people think they can get into his head
Glad to see the piano is open again. Do you play any Ukrainian tunes? Always learn something valuable from your podcasts Vlad…..well done.
If Russia needs to look back into it's history for models, then choosing Julius Martov might be a good choice. He and others wanted a system of mass membership like other western European nations but were overtaken by Lenin's followers, even though the mensheviks had more supporters. Moderate in policy, modern, and in step with the rest of Europe. Kerensky was too hard line, and the Bolsheviks were too extreme and cold, so perhaps the Mensheviks provide a model. If Peter the Great modernized Russia, why not go one step further?
The Novgorod republic is another example.
History never plays exactly the same kind of music. It's more like an old schoolmaster beating his student's ears with the exercises book saying "everything again from the beginning." - Sebastian Hafner
Great and insightful episode Vlad!
Thank you so much
As a British cab driver once told me: you don’t know where you go if you don’t know where you come from…
very good video !
Thank you for the video. This lesson is scary.
Stay safe 💛
Safe wishes back!
Thank you for sharing this key and crucial piece of understanding the etiology of Putin’s evil.
Another amazing video.
Of how a kindly mujik can enact tyrannical measures. Often as we see it, it never gets old..
Your work continuously challenges any yearnings for the comfort of the notion “moral arch of history” one might have. I thought I had outgrown that yearning long ago, and settled for a more uncertain, contingent view of reality, but find it arising unconsciously every time I see “setbacks” from what I see as a more desirable state.
Wishing you health and strength.
That yearning so hard for us collectively to outgrow!
From what I read of Alexander III he was a cruel man. The kicker is that he didn’t prepare his son Nicholas for the throne which created even more problems.
Thanks for the historical review of Alexander III. and the reference to Putin's adoration. Both actually seem to show similar patterns of thought and action.
My pleasure !
I would point out that Finland was exempted from Alexander III's Russification policy, but not Nicholas II's.
Just to add a name to your list, Vlad, it seems Putin was extremely affected by Gaddafi's death as well. It is rumored that he spent many days repeatedly watching the video of his death and it was all he could talk about.
Thank you, I mentioned Gaddafi in the video!
And Saddam was imprinted with the abrupt death of Ceaucescu. Dictators' only real community is other dictators it seems. Sic semper tyrannis (yes I admit I was reminded of the phrase by the Heard/Depp defamation trial --- it's the motto of Virginia on the court wall. I hope Americans remember the sentiment for the next Trump).
Dragged out from a drain under a road by his own citizens, I bet it worried him.
One of my childhood friends stepdad was an RAF Policeman and he’d worked with Gaddafi in Libya when he was Captain of a police station. He said he had a sharp mind and was obviously under employed as a copper but he watched and learnt which officials were cheating on wives, which liked little boys, took bribes and he built his power base off of the secrets he’d learned just watching and learning. Before Libya knew it he was in charge.
Thank you for all these great videos that helps understant contemporary political situation.
We’re all left to our own devices to come up with an explanation for events, given that ideological wars continue in the internet age. I’m reminded of the film “Mephisto” where the Shakespearean actor questions the sanity of the Nazi regime. “What the hell do they want?”
After few minutes of this video, I couldn't even continue to watch because it's absurd
This Tsar is the reason we have such a large Ukrainian diaspora in Canada. My antecedents were among those refugees and later on among those escaping the failed war of Ukrainian independence in the early 20th century. I wonder why Russia has such a complicated hate-love towards us. It's manifested many times over, under many different conditions and rulers, and it's been going on cyclically for more than half a millenium.
It might be western naivete for me to wonder this, but I still wonder if the values of (proto) democracy, individual freedoms, rights and independence, not to mention militarism, as expressed through the Ukrainian Cossack culture and ideals had/have anything to do with it. Do Russian political leaders somehow inherit and inhabit a worldview in which the Slavic spirit cannot be allowed to express itself in such a comparatively wild way as Ukrainians are prone to? Their favourite racial pet-name/epithet for us does mean something like "redneck", after all.
I don't really know, but I wish I understood it better.
Edit: To be clear, I am a Canadian citizen by birth, and so are my (both Ukrainian) parents. Nonetheless, I grew up with some consciousness of being Ukrainian as well as Canadian since we ate typical Ukrainian cuisine and had a different lifestyle than most of the people I went to school with. As many Canadians are, I am therefore informed by more than one cultural tradition. Ergo the apparently confused national identity in the preceding paragraphs. It's not confused, really. The Ukrainian community was the inspiration and reason for Trudeau Sr. coining the term "cultural mosaic" to describe Canada.
The fixation on Ukraine is mostly territorial. Maybe you heard the expression "Kiev is mother of all Russian towns"? It means that Russia began in Kiev. For Putin Kiev is Russian town. Putin doesn't see or care about people, only about territories that he considers Russian.
@@zombeaver4853 Not Russian towns, but towns of Rus'. Modern Russia ≠ Rus'. Sure, putin believes it is.
Modern Russian begun as Moscovy Tsardom and started to use a name Russia, after they took Ukrainian lands with Kyiv in 17th century.
Russia stem from golden horde (mongols)
Fascinating history...
Vlad, you are good - very good. All thumbs up
Thanks!
One man sees it happen, and says "We must never let this happen again!" and his grandsons grow up to let it happen it again.
This is excellent. Very well done and to the point.
Thank you!
This feels like a one-man-show production that rivals any great documentary series done on The BBC or PBS. It's a very important contribution to the understanding of what, and why Russian is brutalizing Ukraine right now....
The "railway incident" has been well disproven countless times - the whole family were in a separate car.
Surely Russia's last true Tsar ( "a Russian should never be too civilised !")
But what of Nicholai? Alexander frequently publicly and in private cruelly criticised Nicholai, whist allowing the family favourite, Misha, to do what he wanted.
Thus, throughout his life as Tsar, Nicholai quietly boiled resentment toward those males around him.
From the shouted baying of the "Dred Uncles" to Army & Government - all big men who loomed over Nicky, and bellowed and cajoled.
It all begins in childhood.
And so it all ended in disaster.
I blame Alexander III for the tragic end of the Romanov dynasty. If he had just considered training Nicholas right from his youngest age things would have turned out a lot different. Nicholas knew nothing of leadership and rulership when he inherited the throne
instructive, fascinating and scary at the same time...
Thank you!
History does not repeat itself.
I don't remember deep, historical analysis like this of Russia and Putin during Chechnya or Georgia. Why is that?
Was the ban of the Russian language in Ukraine after 2014. also, inspired by Alexander the III?
What ban, idiot?
Our president is a Russian jew. He spoke russian few times even after the invasion.