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The Civil War and Lenin´s government 1921-1924 - Contenido educativo
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Hello class, today we are going to explain the consequences of the revolution.
00:00:00
So today we will have a look at the civil war and the creation of the USSR under Lenin's government from 1921 to 1924.
00:00:07
In early 1918, after the First World War, those who supported the return of the tsars, such as landowners, army officers and privilege groups,
00:00:24
or the maintenance of a liberal political system like the bourgeoisie, both of them took arms against the Soviet government.
00:00:41
With the help of the French, British, Japanese and American troops, the White Army confronted and fought against the Red Army, which was led by Lenin and Trotsky, who were at that moment the main leaders of the Bolsheviks.
00:00:53
So we are going to explain right now the consequences of the Russian revolution, because Lenin's actions met the opposition of counter-revolutionary groups such as members of the Tsarism,
00:01:20
I mean people who were in favor of the Tsar, of the absolutist monarchy, and also at that moment among the Bolsheviks enemies were the liberals and socialists, I mean the Mensheviks.
00:01:38
All of them were part of the counter-revolutionary groups and they fought in the White Army with the support of the UK, France, the United States and Japan against the Bolsheviks.
00:02:02
So as a consequence of that, the civil war emerged, began, and it was a war in which basically, as you can see here on the map, the White Army had their chances.
00:02:21
Actually, the White troops under the rule of Admiral Kolchak and also General Denikin had their chances to win this war.
00:02:43
Actually, they managed to surround, they cut off the Red Army. Here we have the disposition of the troops in the Red Army and as you can see here, the White Army managed to surround them, they encircled them.
00:02:59
The Red Army was cut off from abroad, they were isolated because the White Armies took the most important ports in the north such as Murmansk and Archangel.
00:03:21
However, in the end, the Bolshevik Army managed to win this war and they won this war for two different reasons. First of all, for the ideology, because among the White Armies there was a variety of ideologies.
00:03:42
Remember that supporters of the Tsar and together with liberals and socialists were fighting together despite their differences in terms of the ideology against the Bolsheviks.
00:04:02
Also, the Bolsheviks won this war due to the war economy. Trotsky, the main leader of the Bolshevik Army, had this idea in mind. What does it mean the war economy?
00:04:23
The Bolsheviks, in order to win this war, they focus all resources on the economy to win this war. That's why they use, as I said before, all resources in the economy to spend all this money in winning this war.
00:04:46
However, we have to remember that the White Army had their chances. Actually, there was a moment when Admiral Kolchak was pretty close to Moscow. Here we can find the city of Yekaterinburg and in this city the Tsar Nicholas II was with his family.
00:05:11
He was in custody of the Bolsheviks. He was in Bolshevik custody in prison behind bars and for this reason, when the Bolsheviks knew that the White Army was pretty close,
00:05:39
they decided in the summer of 1918 that the Tsar and his family would necessarily be executed. So, the Tsar and his family were executed by the Bolsheviks and this situation led to a widespread reaction in Western Europe.
00:05:58
But, despite this reaction, as I said before, the Bolsheviks won this war.
00:06:27
So, the civil war ended in 1921 and, to be honest, it was a bloody massacre because, according to some historians, 4.7 million Russian people died in this war.
00:06:36
However, other historians pointed out that at least from 6 to 8 million Russian people died in the war due to the diseases and also due to the extreme hunger.
00:06:57
Why? Because the civil war lasted three years from 1918 to 1921 and brought great misery to the people who suffered four shortages, as I said before, and a high number of casualties.
00:07:17
But, in the end, the Bolsheviks were in power, they succeeded and it began the first government of Lenin. So, let's analyze now. Let's start by looking at Lenin's government from 1921 to 1924.
00:07:38
So, Lenin, at that moment, had the political power and he created a militarized political organization in the state. Actually, he created a system of one party state. Only one party, the Bolsheviks, the communists, had the power.
00:08:03
So, the USSR was created in 1922 when the Bolsheviks won the civil war and they created a political structure based on a federal state so as to remove the nationalism inside of Russia.
00:08:26
So, as they created a federal state, they recognized all nationalities in the countries, such as the Latvians, Poles, Ukrainians. So, for this reason, it was the idea to create the federal state to recognize all nationalities inside Russia.
00:08:56
But, let's explain now something about the economy. The economy at that moment was in complete ruin after the civil war and, for this reason, Lenin had the idea to implement the new economic policy, the NEP.
00:09:23
The new economic policy was an idea from Trotsky and Lenin to combine some communist policies with some capitalist policies. As a consequence, they created a mixed market economy and, for this reason, peasants were allowed to sell their products.
00:09:42
Some peasants sold their products and, for this reason, there was a recovery in the Soviet economy. The standard of living increased. Some peasants became wealthier than before because they were allowed, as I said before, to sell their products in the market.
00:10:10
And there was an increase of nationalism because, as the bourgeoisie recovered some part of their status in the country, there was an increase of nationalism.
00:10:34
Because remember also that the Bolsheviks, in the constitution of 1922, they created a federal state and they recognized all nationalities in the country. So, for this reason, nationalism emerged again in the country and also the Bolsheviks allowed again the religion to be implemented in the country.
00:10:53
They allowed the Orthodox religion. So, as a consequence of all of these measures and policies, to be honest, under Lenin's leadership, the Soviet GDP in the country increased.
00:11:22
The Soviets recovered the Soviet economy and the Bolsheviks saved their skin because, as we might see here, the Bolsheviks, with all of these policies, saved the country and there was an increase in the economy, in the GDP, in all of these years.
00:11:44
In all of these years in Lenin's government. So, the NEP, the new economic policy, saved the country. There was an increase in the standard of living, as we might see here in the chart.
00:12:11
But this policy, which combined capitalism together with communism, was not the main objective of Lenin and Stalin.
00:12:30
So, as we might see here in this dialogue, it was true that Lenin was glad for the situation, because there was a recovery in the economy, but Lenin didn't make the revolution to see this happening, to give more money or to increase the situation for the peasants, to allow again nationalism and religion.
00:12:44
And, for this reason, also Stalin agreed with this idea from Lenin. For Stalin, this situation was going backwards.
00:13:12
And, for this reason, when Stalin came into power, because he removed from power Trotsky, let me explain the situation, Lenin died in 1924 and when he died, because he became really, really ill in 1924,
00:13:28
at that moment, there was a fight for the power between Stalin against Trotsky. Finally, Stalin won this war, this political war against Trotsky, and when he came into power, he changed completely the policies in the USSR.
00:13:55
However, this is another story that I will explain on the following lessons. Thank you so much.
00:14:17
- Autor/es:
- Luis Horrillo Sánchez
- Subido por:
- Luis H.
- Licencia:
- Dominio público
- Visualizaciones:
- 163
- Fecha:
- 5 de enero de 2024 - 12:46
- Visibilidad:
- Público
- Centro:
- IES CERVANTES
- Duración:
- 14′ 28″
- Relación de aspecto:
- 1.83:1
- Resolución:
- 3840x2100 píxeles
- Tamaño:
- 44.82 MBytes
