The 1905 Russian Revolution was, though no one knew it at the time, the rehearsal for the 1917 Russian Revolution. Dave takes us from Bloody Sunday to the calculations and miscalculations of the Tsar; Justin uses everyone from Lars Lih to Isaac Deutscher to Simon Sebag Montefiore to draw some pictures of what Lenin, Trotsky, and Stalin — you’ll be hearing more about these three — were up to in 1905…
Month: December 2022
World War Civ 7: The Russo-Japanese War 1905
The earth-shaking event where an Asian power defeated a European power in a war, leading to a revolution in Russia and a major shakeup in world affairs. We talk about the role education played in Japan’s victory; the Russian fleet that had to sail around the world; and the qualities of Tsar Nicholas that made him the perfect Tsar for a revolution…
AER 117: Peru’s President Pedro Castillo overthrown in a coup
Peru’s president Pedro Castillo has been overthrown in a coup and is in Peruvian jail while the former Vice President Dina Boluarte has taken over, vowing NOT to hold an election any time soon. People have taken to the streets in Lima to protest and demand new elections and a constitutional referendum. Meanwhile in Argentina, the former president Cristina Fernandez Kirchner has been sentenced to six years in prison, supposedly for corruption. Former Bolivian President Evo Morales (himself overthrown in a coup) has said these are two coups in South America in a week. It’s just me for this short emergency podcast, where I tell you what I’m reading and how I’m trying to make sense of these events.
World War Civ 6: Russia in 1900
First one of a mini-series about the 1905 Russian Revolution, we talk about the economic, political, and social conditions of Russia on the eve of the Russo-Japanese War. Foreign investment, infrastructural deficits, the question of nationalities. We also talk about the disastrous summer of 1874 when the revolutionaries went down to the countryside, debates about terrorism versus propaganda, peasants and industrial workers, and other revolutionary dilemmas.