The Dissolution of the USSR

[@megaprojects9649]

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[@pyeitme508]

Lol

[@jonathanperry8331]

Hey Simon you should have mentioned this critical part of the story. Vladimir Lenin had been exiled and was living in Switzerland. The Germans decided the only way to stop the war in the east was with a weapon of mass destruction. Vladimir Lenin himself. He was put on a train and secretly sent to the Eastern front and they made sure he got through the lines. They knew he would cause so much chaos that Russia would stop fighting. It's mind-blowingly ironic that the Germans are directly responsible for creating the Soviet Union. Maybe this story would be a good video in itself. Check it out

[@anarchyantz1564]

Ensure that Danny writes all the 5 year plans and other glorious stories of Communism and they will be eagerly lapped up like loyal comrades we are!

[@pakde8002]

Hi Simon. Could you please fix the volume? Several videos lately seem to have a very low sound recording setting. I watch your videos exclusively on my phone and I don't like to use headphones, especially at home (where for some strange reason I seem to be spending most of my time). Thanks in advance if you can get this worked out.

[@firefox5926]

also if you want a side story to this look into the en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Legion lol a story of woe and gold heists as they fought there way across Russia to get to Vladivostok so they could get home lol also also a side project would be the invasion of the ussr by the usa and others on the side of the white army in the 20s and how that let to the ussr's paranoia about the west and how that propagated down the decades and explains why they made a lot of the decision they made later on in how they interacted with the west

[@joesmith1810]

My mom told me that she was taking a course on the soviet union at university when the collapse happened. Apparently, when they came in the day after, the teacher told the class "so, I guess this is a history class now".

[@jaewok5G]

tough luck for "Soviet Studies" majors, but a boom for mapmakers!

[@studinthemaking]

Very cool.

[@LaneCorbett]

Go to school for a Soviet Studies degree just for the USSR to collapse

[@richardpowell1772]

Now the class would be titled: “Do you think WE could make this work?” Democrats respond: I don’t know, but we will give it the old college try.”

[@LaneCorbett]

"It hasn't worked yet so we try it again!"

[@Ericisnotachannel]

Fun fact about Gorbachev, he was the first (and only) leader of the USSR that was actually born in the USSR, the rest were born in the Russian Empire.

[@treeman12815]

what

[@kurzeful]

That's why i think under his watch, the Great USSR collapsed. He was more west watching abd tried his best to adopt western policies. Pity the previous 2 soviet leaders before him died before they coukd havd enacted changes.

[@giantmanice]

@@kurzeful found the commie shill

[@dkaloger5720]

and the Georgian mustache guy

[@Snp2024]

@@kurzeful dude he tried to save USSR but he was too late

[@chiroquacker2580]

For me personally, the cold war officially ended on January 1, 1998. That was the day the former leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, appeared in a pizza hut television commercial. IMO, that is a legitimate major event in world history.

[@ner__0365]

i think that is actually a really good indicator lol

[@cilliancallaghan9788]

I’ve always genuinely wondered, why on earth would he do this? Did he do it as a political statement, a friendly gesture, did he have a sense of humour? I’m genuinely curious lol

[@piuthemagicman]

@@cilliancallaghan9788 Gorbachev did have a good sense of humor, that is facts. Probably all of those :)

[@piuthemagicman]

@@cilliancallaghan9788 But biggest reason still being he was paid very well. Like all celebs in commercials...

[@ponderin]

Capitalism finally got to him lol

[@jerrysstories711]

Here's an fascinating perspective on this: As a teenage intern, I got to attend a talk in California by a retired KGB colonel. During the Q&A, I asked him why the USSR fell. I asked this question of many people with inside knowledge, fascinated by the diversity of conflicting answers I got. The KGB colonel's astonishing answer was: "Yuri Andropov's crackdowns on corruption." His reason was the Soviet system was horribly corrupt, but not the KGB because that was where the serious Soviet ideologs went. So when Andropov, head of the KGB, came to power, his priority was ending corruption, and he fearlessly arrested scores of corrupt officials. But what he didn't understand was the corruption was the only thing making the system function at all. Bribery helped people get around stupid, counter-productive, naive rules and regulations. Workers could buy high-quality boots, clothes, tools, etc that actually worked unlike the state's production quota garbage. Illegal businesses let people earn extra money and buy necessary goods/services. Even many state industries depended on black market supplies -- which were often produced in the state's own factories but off the books and using black market inputs. So the lesson is, when you create a completely irrational system of rules, you absolutely depend for survival on rule-breakers. Andropov killed the USSR by cutting off its illegal lifeblood.

[@johnwolf2829]

They choked to death on their own Red Tape, in other words. In the late 1970s the CIA knew that if the Reds didn't launch WW3 by 1985 their economy would collapse.... its just that hardly anyone thought they would go ahead and rick collapse!

[@jbtechcon7434]

@@johnwolf2829 Well, you have to be pretty naive about economics to be a communist in the first place, so they might not even have understood WHY things were collapsing and just thought it was Western sabotage. Look how many modern communists sincerely believe their plight is a product of white supremacist conspiracies and not by their own behavior.

[@kurzeful]

The Great USSR collapsed because of western leading puppets like Gorbachev. When he could have prevented the dissolution of the country, he did nothing. Smh. The USSR is has its purpose in this like any other nations, whether they be from North, south, East or West. I see no other country in this universe that is overly more righteous than the Soviets.

[@worldoftancraft]

It was killed since one mister Politician... Politikan did get the power. Somewhere in 1956.

[@thisisemchii]

@@kurzeful you're wrong. Gorbachev was the only leader to not be mentally sick enough to cause bloodshed because civil war was on the brink. what you're saying is, brutal crackdown on the will of people is justifyable because it serves the purpose of the soviet elite. because that's what Gorbachev didn't do, he didn't tell anyone to - yeah go ahead, break free, do what you want. he was human enough to see it was wrong, and it's almost insane to see something like that to happen, because mostly, somehow, insane people get to head of state, e.g. any modern dictator, like lukashenko, most recent troublemaker.

[@joncarter3761]

I was 5 when the USSR collapsed, still remember having to be told repeatedly in school that the maps were wrong and the USSR didn't exist anymore... we still had maps with the USSR on until senior school which was 1997!

[@ShubhamMishrabro]

😂🤣🤣

[@EvenWaysMusic]

Damn, that's kinda really cool!

[@fencepostjay2496]

I think was 2002-2003 maybe four, I was just a young lad in taking one of those identify countries around the world quizzes in school and the teacher let me slide because I didn't know how to spell Russia and let me mark it USSR

[@dmitriglover4309]

I left Russia in 1996 on a Soviet passport and my adopted brother left two years later on a Soviet passport in 1998. Wild that even 6-8 years after the collapse they were still using the Soviet passports.

[@MacKennaTheGoddessofRadiation]

one of the spanish classes still had a USSR globe in my highschool not too long ago

[@GhostDivision]

About the 5 year plans there was a nice joke going around those days that: the 5 year plan had to be completed in 4 years, three person job had to be done by two men for one man pay. :)

[@jordanturner97]

Chernobyl when you think about it is a success story. Reactor 4 fulfilled the Marshal's five year plan for energy production in 0.03 seconds

[@JaakAibast]

the 5 year plan: year 1 overall euphoria, year 2 looking for materials, year 3 looking for people, year 4 looking for the ones who screwed up, year 5 punishing the ones who were not involved.

[@Ericisnotachannel]

2+2=5

[@stephendoherty8291]

Another USSR joke was- guy rings electrician asking if he can come and do some work. Yes he says - it will be in 5 years. Customer - when in 5 years? Electrician - er a Wednesday in June Customer - morning or afternoon? Electrician : er afternoon, why do you care? Customer - well the plumber just told me he can only do it that morning......

[@YoutubeBorkedMyOldHandle_why]

Another odd behaviour, was that people began to pay very close attention to the 'date of manufacture' which was stamped on products. Products manufactured on a Friday, Monday, or close to big holidays, were avoided like the plague.

[@arturoarambula2814]

I was a sophomore in high school when the USSR dissolved. I remember thinking that we would never again live in fear of a major war again. It was my father, a Vietnam War veteran, who said "son there's always someone else to fight".

[@german_novotiable]

Well, your father invaded Vietnam as a russian who invaded Ukraine in 2022. Both were affected by propaganda of old ass politicians.

[@gyrfalcon7332]

I was a sophomore in high school when this happened (in the USA). For two days we watched the news in every class. Scenes of people standing on the wall in West and East Berlin, hugging each other and full of joy, made me well up with tears. It still does.

[@josephwait7384]

While a related event…. That wasn’t what this video was about and there was only 10 seconds of reference about the Berlin Wall… which happened over 2 years before the dissolution of the ussr.

[@baileyayyy5085]

@@josephwait7384American brains gonna America brain

[@RolandDenzel]

I got to see a piece of the Berlin Wall on my last visit to Bulgaria. I remember calling my dad (a German American) in 89 to tell him the wall was finally down. It's still emotional. This was really good, Simon. Thanks.

[@RolandDenzel]

That was the first time I remember my dad crying.

[@RolandDenzel]

@danielhalachev4714 My wife is Bulgarian. I've been there four times for about a month each time. I really love it there, and would like to visit more. I love the food, of course, but also the mix of ancient, new, and communist history is [unfortunately] fascinating. We've spent time in Sofia and Varna, plus a few villages and small towns and I enjoyed all of it.

[@Blanka1100]

The fall of Berlin wall took place in November 1989. People around the world keep forgetting Poland was the first one port communist country to have free election. It was in june 1989. The Bellin Wall took all the glory in people's memory but Poland was first.

[@YuriMuntari]

Something like 60% of East Germans still prefer communism to socialism.

[@deathsicon]

I'm pretty sure the real reason was that in the summer of 91 the metal band Pantera played a show in Moscow that was so heavy the Soviet Union collapsed under it's weight

[@dpelpal]

Metallica playing in Moscow was one of the wildest concerts I've ever seen (on video, I wasn't there). 1,000,000 people, Red Army flying helicopters over the crowd, it was just insane.

[@deathsicon]

@@dpelpal Pantera played that same show, I think it was at that one where the Pantera guys walked off at the end of their set, looked at Metallica and said "good luck following that", I know the story is true but I may have the wrong time they played together

[@Mr.Septon]

I am surprised that you have not created yet another channel - Soviet Projects - and I would watch the hell out of it

[@midnightrambler8866]

Don't give Simon any ideas. He's already has his hands full!

[@Thecoincollector.]

@@midnightrambler8866 I heard his wife has started putting up missing person posters of simon lol

[@salutic.7544]

Simon already has something like 50 channels idk how he manages it

[@omfgstrid]

This would be amazing.

[@worldoftancraft]

Russian accent, vechicles, machines, planes. You foreigners, i guess, have just none of yourself, if that's the only things that you can talk about: accents, nationalities, megalocal stuff.

[@Bubbaist]

I remember the day that the Soviet Union officially ended. What stood out to me was what an anti-climax it was. By that time it was over in all but name. There was a feeling of, “oh, it’s still around?”

[@Nochancet.v]

Anti climax of that comment

[@gerarduspoppel2831]

I live in the Netherlands. And I can still remember the night of the fall of the Berlin Wall. I understand you. Back then you didn't have internet or anything like that. It was astonishing that the fall came so quickly.

[@justalurkr]

I was, unfortunately, chopping a salad when I saw the evening news report. The scar from nearby chopping off a fingertip has nearly faded. I think it was one of Gorbachev's early remarks, so '89ish?

[@spddracer]

One of the few memories of my early childhood was watching the Berlin Wall fall. Took many years before why I understood my dad's excitement of it.

[@justalurkr]

@@spddracer authors of spy novels the world over were HORRIFIED. The rest of us loved it.

[@JCMills55]

I was one of the many guys that worked on the Minuteman nuclear missile underground sites. Nobody was happier than us to see the end of the cold war!

[@MrTexasDan]

Thanks to you guys for keeping us safe all those years.

[@Heyitsallgoodman]

Thank you for your service

[@ruturajshiralkar5566]

In 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Missile sites in North Dakota and Nebraska were activated.

[@PhilouSchu]

The Russian people were probably happier than you guys. Especially those still in gulags, I would say… ^^

[@realname2598]

As of 2021, my old elementary school still has the USSR on their map.

[@MaxwellAerialPhotography]

How long did the Soviet Union last? 69 years Nice

[@Biker_Gremling]

I honestly missed the Blaze moment right there

[@luissemedo3597]

I won, but at what cost?

[@howardbaxter2514]

Almost. It was 3 days short of achieving EXACTLY 69 years. (Dec 30, 1922 - Dec 26, 1991)

[@nwabuezeozuzu6370]

3 days short my friend. They were so close to achieving greatness

[@localenterprisebroadcastin5971]

“They pretend to pay us and we pretend to work”- Soviet worker

[@ismailnyeyusof3520]

Pretty much the USSR in a nutshell.

[@redElim]

No soviet worker ever

[@redElim]

@@localenterprisebroadcastin5971 My family is from the Kyrgyz SSR. The time they didn't get their wages paid was after the illegal dissolution

[@redElim]

@@localenterprisebroadcastin5971 Pretending to work I agree. But this is today just as much the case hahaha. You can also google why the dissolution was illegal! Because it was. While some republics chose indepence, other republics wanted to remain and in a referendum a majority decided for preserving the Union. Especially people from the central asian republics like my parents.

[@K25_the_first]

@@redElim 76% actually wanted to preserve the union

[@brennen.m.633]

I saw the thumbnail and literally said “Now this is a Megaproject”

[@jreg2007]

touché

[@ignitionfrn2223]

2:25 - Chapter 1 - Revolution 5:30 - Chapter 2 - The creation of the soviet union 6:40 - Mid roll ads 7:50 - Chapter 3 - The cold war 10:25 - Chapter 4 - The decline of the soviet union 14:30 - Chapter 5 - Mikhail Gorbachev 15:50 - Chapter 6 - The sinatra doctrine 16:30 - Chapter 7 - Revolutions of 1989 18:15 - Chapter 8 - The final collapse 21:20 - Chapter 9 - The end

[@Egilhelmson]

Calling it a “The end” implies that things changed to some known and stable state in days. Wrong-o. The USSR’s zombie agencies were still going strong, in bizarre fashion. If you were a KGB or GRU officer, when you sold your services to either the British or the CIA your price was dictated by your position at first, until there were so many trying to defect that the US/UK agencies began refusing them resettlement unless they could match others’ hauls, like the low-level code clerk that walked off records going back to before WWI, including that the Okrana, the Russian Secret Agency, paid for Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination and thus their own Czar’s death.

[@jeast417]

Definitely want the other 12 5 year plans, either here or side projects

[@jamo491]

The fact that the dissolution of the USSR did not lead to a full civil war like Yugoslavia is a massive diplomatic achievement

[@AviSchwartzman]

But it caused many wars around the world like the chechnya conflict, nagorno karabakh, ukraine, georgia...

[@frenchcat8764]

You need to search up black October it wasn’t exactly a civil war but there was a lot of chaos

[@frenchcat8764]

Boris yeltsin ruined Russia, it could’ve been democratic

[@Flight_of_Icarus]

I would argue that that civil war is happening now, actually, between Russia and Ukraine. There's been plenty of war over the collapse. Though maybe just delayed by a couple decades.

[@tinytownsoftware7989]

Story time. I have a number of friends who lived in Moldova when they were younger. During the collapse of the Soviet Union (which Moldova was a part of ), times were rough because all the infrastructure and currency basically collapsed overnight (central planning sucks). That means no food was coming into the cities. Those who lived there were barely scraping by. My one friend had a cat and they had to feed her beans for a few months until entrepreneurs realized that they could now own businesses and import food so that the people could eat. My other friend who lived in he village told me they did much better than the city folk, because they basically had everything: vegetables, dairy and meat (cow, chickens, sheep and goats are common there). Having a farm (which pretty much everyone in the village has) saved them from starving. Those in the cities who had village relatives also fared somewhat better, because the relatives could bring some food. Rough times.

[@solracer66]

My wife was just 11 when the Soviet Union fell and she too has stories about how difficult it was, not just immediately after the collapse but again in the late '90s when there was a huge collapse in the value of the ruble and shortages once again in the shops.

[@RobertasKlemanskis]

The same was in Lithuania. So much has changed in the years.

[@judgemcnugget7110]

Intransparent, bureaucratic central planning of everything without modern technology led to problems within the economy of the eastern bloc, but the rough times after its dissolution were the result of the privatization of everything together with the introduction of liberal parlamentary democracy. Compare social outcomes and real wages in Russia from 1991 on and those in China from 1978 on.

[@Battle_Beard]

“It’s Christmas Day…” tell us how you really feel about the fall of the Soviet Union, Simon. 😂

[@gsnedders_legacy]

Suggestion: Thrust SSC. Because who doesn’t like supersonic cars?

[@tehllama42]

Bonus follow-on: Bloodhound

[@americansmark]

Or Venom GT.

[@alpha3836]

YESSS!!

[@jedaaa]

Pretty sure they already did it years ago

[@x3wildcard]

Really good suggestion.

[@sneaky_ru]

I lived in Russia during the 80s and 90s. It was a crazy fucking time.

[@--enyo--]

Damn. You must have a lot of stories.

[@worldoftancraft]

@@--enyo-- «damn»

[@jedaaa]

I'd love to have experience that, and Berlin in the 80s

[@thisisemchii]

@@jedaaa if you want to experience DDR stasi, visit north korea, if you want to see russia during 80's or 90's go to russia and take any bus to anywhere 100-200km outside any major city like moscow or st petersburg, it's all mostly still the same

[@jedaaa]

@@thisisemchii and I want a Trabant 🤪

[@jordanlewis3790]

Simon you have so many channels putting out so much content. Sometimes its okay to put out videos that might not do so well but you still find interesting. You are allowed to do things because you want to not just for profit

[@masondavirro808]

He do got employees to pay tho unless he invests in slave labour 🤨🧐

[@markbrisec3972]

Boris Yeltsin made that iconic speech on top of the tank, and that was probably the last day he was sober in the next decade. His next most memorable public appearance was him conducting an orchestra, and let us not forget an iconic meeting with Bill Clinton who almost died from laughing at his shananigans.

[@jonathanperry8331]

Hey Simon you should have mentioned this critical part of the story. Vladimir Lenin had been exiled and was living in Switzerland. The Germans decided the only way to stop the war in the east was with a weapon of mass destruction. Vladimir Lenin himself. He was put on a train and secretly sent to the Eastern front and they made sure he got through the lines. They knew he would cause so much chaos that Russia would stop fighting. It's mind-blowingly ironic that the Germans are directly responsible for creating the Soviet Union. Maybe this story would be a good video in itself. Check it out

[@alcarbo8613]

I agree this is an under talked about fact, which would make a great video

[@rosekemp4671]

DO IT SIMON

[@Battle_Beard]

*strokes beard* Very interesting 🤔

[@livethefuture2492]

seems like the germans shot themselves in the foot...

[@merafirewing6591]

@@livethefuture2492 indeed.

[@evanmacdougall9715]

I remember in 1989 I had recently been getting interested in history and I checked out a book from the local library about the Berlin Wall. Before I was able to return the book the wall came down. It was a wild ride after that.

[@VladimirPutin-p3t]

When you returned the book, did the librarian say "well don't bother now..."

[@jXmikeX]

Megaprojects idea: mount rushmore or the unfinished crazy horse monument

[@jedaaa]

I hope somebody paints them all with blackface 🤣

[@Alcatraz7200]

Could we get a video about the East German Stasi? The stuff they got up to and the reach they had seems like it would fit as a megaproject.

[@gunsnrosesforever100]

I can't remember where I originally found Simon but it was probably 2 years ago and I genuinely enjoy the human side to his more recent videos, scripted content is good but showing a little personality is much more relatable.

[@eleanorkett1129]

The Soviets were worker assemblies and they were not comprised of Bolsheviks - at least not in the majority. Most of them were Social Revolutionaries or Menshaviks. The Bolsheviks took them over by force.

[@chudoyudorybakit]

Men'sheviks... (means minority; ironically, they were in majority, but bol'sheviks - meaning majority - although were in minority, declared themselves majority... Welcome to politics!

[@nmcgunagle]

Considering that Menshevik translates to minority party and Bolshevik refers to the majority, it was definitely the most likely outcome.

[@eleanorkett1129]

@@nmcgunagle The Bolsheviks called themselves thus; however the reality was different.

[@Lucifer_26]

@@eleanorkett1129 self-fulfilling prophecy at it's finest

[@marjae2767]

The Bolsheviks or Communist Party also weighted the system so that urban areas, where the Bolsheviks were more popular, had 5x the per capita representation of rural areas, where the Socialist Revolutionaries were more popular. And then they shut down local sovyets which didn't support them, accused them of anti-Soviet revolts, etc.

[@_KRose]

Now that you mention it, a Biographics on Gorbachev might be an interesting idea 🤔

[@IrishMike22]

Last week: "Why Magellan was an asshole." This week: "Sponsored by Magellan!"

[@nucleargandhi101]

What video was that?

[@IrishMike22]

@@nucleargandhi101 something about why Magellan gets too much credit for his circumnavigation....I'll find it..... kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZyvaGN8m7t-fKs

[@nucleargandhi101]

@@IrishMike22 thanks.

[@IrishMike22]

@@nucleargandhi101 you got it my friend 🤜

[@_Feyd-Rautha]

#capatalism

[@panderson9561]

I was about 25 when all this happened. I never thought I would ever live to see a day that there was no USSR, no Warsaw Pact, no Iron Curtain, no Cold War. I thought that it would always exist, that I would live out my life and the Cold War would still be going on. Still hard to believe.

[@sresnic]

I was part of a group that travelled to the USSR in mid December 1991. The first thing I did when I got to Moscow was to go to the airline office and change my return flight to early January. I was in Moscow when the change happened, although I didn’t hear about it until a radio report at breakfast time. The broadcasters were discussing Gorbachev’s resignation when they started playing music. I almost spit out my cereal. It was the Beatles singing “you say you want a revolution…”.

[@ericday3538]

I was 11 when the Berlin Wall fell. I still get a little choked up when I see images of it.

[@jeremys.950]

I remember my social studies teacher said "what was current geopolitics yesterday in now added to the pages of history, we now need new books"

[@billy4072]

Since then, best dash cam footage on the planet👍👌🥰✅

[@alejandrobailon1761]

I remember that as a child I had a board game called "Turista mundial", similar to monopoly but with countries instead of properties. And I could never finish the game as the board said USSR but the card in the stack said Russia, so that was always the one left to finish. My naive younger self didn't know they used to be basically the same thing

[@rogueviking9268]

Seeing this episode title my first thought was: "Danny, NO!"

[@vojticvojtic2631]

Very interesting video! Just one (and important) point - there was no uprising in Czechoslovakia in 1968. The thing was that the terror of late 40s and entire 50s was gone, the opression was starting to melt away. It wasnt about people swinging guns and protesting, it was a gradual change from top to bottom. The politicians decided to open borders, to abolish censorship, to release the political prisoners, but there were no plans of the country leaving the socialist ideology. It was supposed to be "socialism with human face", basically every modern western socialist wet dream. People actually supported it and stood behind their politicians for the first time since 1945. Of course, when soviets sent bunch of armies to destroy these plans and start so called normalisation, things went rapidly bad. The 1968 events were our chance to repair the country after devastating changes in industry and agriculture forced upon us by the soviets, we could have get back to where we used to be - a solid country easily comparable to Germany, Austria or Finland. The fact that the Prague spring was demolished sent us down the spiral of destruction and poverty. Luckily we were given another chance some 20 years later and things got SIGNIFICANTLY better, but still - where could have we been if it wasnt for the 1968 invasion..

[@craniusdominus8234]

Doing a Megaproject video on the dissolution of the USSR implies that it was actually planned,and this amuses me to no bounds. Anyone familiar with the practical consequences of the Soviet planned economy knows that, if the Soviets had planned for it to collapse, the USSR would still be around today.

[@mjfan653]

it was kind of planned - a lot of people in the baltics and armenia-georgia region wanted freedom, so they planned for it underground while gorbi was an useful idiot to them, he was planning for change, but no matter the plan, the result was the collapse and to ruin the joke completely - I think the kgb, and media actually had the tightest grip on the country around 1975-1985 otherwise they could not have had the crisis management of the chernobyl disaster, where in any other country, or even there during perestroika, people would have protested, asked for real facts and done all the western things people do. in a way, the people might have revolted stronger after this period in part due to this tightening grip during a stanation period

[@salutic.7544]

Yea it was planned, not by the soviets themselves tho 🇺🇸

[@oneMeVz]

I actually thought the video was going to be the logistical and administrative undertaking of transitioning into the modern Russia.

[@mutexin]

@@mjfan653you wrote nonsense because smaller republics could not make Soviet Union collapse. The whole collapse myth is western propaganda. It didn’t collapse, it was treacherously dissolved by the leaders of the founding republics: RSFSR, UkSSR and BSSR during the Belovezha agreements. Only they had the right to dissolve the union, small republics could only leave it, like the Baltic states did. The traitors dissolved the union and didn’t form any new one despite the results of the 1991 Soviet referendum where the absolute majority of people voted to preserve the union. This lead to the August Coup and later to Russian constitutional crisis. That said, the dissolution of the Soviet Union was not legitimate, and de juro the Soviet Union should still exist.

[@anumeon]

I love the fact that it got called the Iron curtain because of a speech made by Churchill to an american college (if memory serves) "From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has decended across the continent" Also ironic is the fact that the closest the world ever came to nuclear war was actually after the collapse of the Soviet Union, when a Norwegian weather satellite was sent up and someone in the russian military had forgotten to relay that information to the commanders. So Boris Jeltsin was actually sitting with his finger on the launch button as it were when they finally managed to stop it. (Again, my memory may be wrong about that. But i seem to remember reading about it)

[@owenshebbeare2999]

There were other near misses, including the heroic actions of Stanislav Petrov, who correctly and sensibly detected attack alarms as being false. Typically, he was likely made a scapegoat (he claimed this himself) for the faults in the Soviet missile detection system, and to save the policical reputations of various higher-ups, including that senile and paranoud git, Andropov. That said, US treatment of anyone who embarrassed, by way of their competence and common sense, the political and bureaucratic bosses has also been infamously poor. While not exactly comparable, the sheer vitriol directed at fellow Australian, Julian Assange, by the likes of Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden shows how the Americans will defend their reputations. To my mind Assange is total cock, but embarrassing the US, by way of truth about the government, was a good thing.

[@Egilhelmson]

Actually, there were several times when Soviet Missile forces decided to ignore Western attacks which were demonstrated to be bad readings by the Soviet’s detectors.

[@midnightrambler8866]

I remember those days. It was amazing. From the fall of the Berlin wall to the collapse of the Soviet empire. We all breathed a huge sigh of relief that the cold War was over. It was a hopeful time. We were watching history happen right before our eyes!

[@Gutnarm]

I was watching the fall of the Berlin wall live on TV as a kid, with a well-known reporter (Mrs. Coudenhove-Kalergi [sp?]) lost for words and crying. While I didn't really get what was going on, I still remember being deeply touched by that event - and am to this day, tbh, thinking back.

[@zakunknown9737]

Really liked the video it was great for the time frame. However i think this would be even better as a 4 part extended video. This is really cool

[@bobnesler4271]

Very good description of the history of the collapse of the USSR. As one of the founders of the American/Soviet Film Initiative I spent a lot of time between Los Angeles and Moscow working on joint productions between, respectively, the United States and the Soviet film industries from about 1983 to 1990 or so. The first major production resulting from the modernization of Mosfilm was, as I recall, "Russia House" starring Sean Connery. (I could be mistaken, as it was a long time ago) Anyhow, I was also in the Kremlin when Eduard Schevardnadze (Foreign Minister and head of our sister organization, ASK) publicly denounced the Communist Party - to huge applause!

[@harryparsons2750]

Yeah right I don’t believe that seeing how Hollywood loves communism

[@a_MhetOtw.4334]

21:18, I like how you used, "Säkkijärven Polkka," a Finnish folk song that was (no joke) used to jam Soviet radios, so a 3 harmonic cord wouldn't be able to activate mines in once was Finnish land ceded to the Soviet during the Winter War, but was reoccupied by Finnish forces during the continuation war, where the song was used to jam Soviet radios so that a 3 harmonic cord wouldn't be able to activate mines in the village.

[@andyv16012]

I was stationed in Berlin when the collapse occurred. I'd been in Country for 3 days when all of it first started my only thoughts were to a conversation I had with my Father the week before, he told me about the TET Offensive in Vietnam. As it happens he was on day 3 in Saigon when it broke out.

[@twistedyogert]

1991: *Finally, world peace at last. No more enemies to fight.* 2001: *Some jerk with a beard ruined everything with a few stolen aircraft.*

[@tigraniskandaryan8641]

don't remember George Bush having a beard tho

[@Cybernaut551]

2022: Finally, peace at last. 2030: Nope.

[@ostelaymetaule]

Yugoslavia be like: what?

[@bengu5871]

Who was cia agent in 1980s

[@kevindickson2178]

2021: millennials trying redo communism right.

[@con-ow5jh]

I feel like the withdraw from Afghanistan would go quite well with this, especially now its over

[@ididntalwaysworkinspace9558]

What if USSR survived 10 years and joined U.S. forces to destroy the Taliban in 2001...That's pretty deep historical fiction. But it would be so epic...

[@unclejoe7466]

@@ididntalwaysworkinspace9558 I wonder if the US could have destroyed the Taliban if its forces were not divided.

[@robertharper3754]

@@unclejoe7466, it was possible, but the political will wasn't there. After the Soviets pulled out we could have supported schools, infrastructure, and gotten rid of the extremists, but we didn't, because there was no political will to do so. Hell, that war funded many of the extremists that we faced over the last 30 years. The US failed the people of Afghanistan many times, and now we'll fail the people there who helped us when we were there, it's a shame that can't be washed away.

[@sonicgoo1121]

...Which one? ;)

[@viktorr7115]

@@robertharper3754 never would have worked; afghans almost hates the US and the west as much as they did the godless soviets. Acctually the country would have probally been better off under soviet guidance.

[@KalmLevi]

11:37 I'd also add here the Hungarian Revolution of '56 where people demanded the withdrawal of the Russian Armed Forces. Although in the end the revolution was crushed, many were executed and more had to flee the country, but it also led to a bit looser relation to the Kremlin than other countries in the Warsaw Pact. I'm not sure if it's mega enough, but maybe a side project...

[@jedaaa]

Yeah they stamped that shit out Brutally, unfortunately for the Hungarians they were told by the US they'd interviene if things got messy but when it did get messy the US was like 'oh you didn't actually think we meant that did you?'

[@jeromebarry1741]

I was impressed that my father lived from 1920 to 2005 and all the change he witnessed. He was impressed that his mother lived from 1882 to 1960 and all the change she saw. All the actual change I've seen is that we've managed to raise a generation that never learned anything about 1917-1991.

[@codyg7936]

My grandpa always said his mother had it made, she went from seeing horse and buggy on the streets of NY to seeing a man land on the moon and everything in between, she also never drove a car

[@TracyA123]

Subscribed! Kudos to Yeltsin for backing the right horse. Talk about right place right time

[@aemrt5745]

I was born in the East Bloc and came to America as a child. I was a college student in the late 80s. If you told me in 1988 that next year the Berlin Wall will be down and in 3 years the Soviet Union would end, I would not have believed you. This took everyone by surprise, even people who understood the system. When the wall came down, I was shocked. I never imagined I would live to see it. I am very happy it happened. I only wish the collapse were decades sooner.

[@Styxswimmer]

There was a guy named Doug Casey who, in 1980, said the soviet union wouldn't survive another decade. He was off by 1 year.

[@ZXaber78]

I know *I*’want to see the rest of the 5 year plans. Can’t wait!

[@jaewok5G]

it's an exercise in thesaurus hunting; ie reword everything from the previous 5yp because nothing got done, and add something big and new to distract from all the stuff that hasn't got done.

[@georgewilliams8448]

A very good short summary of a very huge change in history that the world is still trying to adapt to. If you need a permanent job sign a contract to do a detailed examination of the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. as I am sure that such a project could last forever as there were so many factors involved! Thank you again for a good video!

[@justalurkr]

I earned my Cold War Era bachelor's in International Relations in 1984. Lovely placemat.

[@gormanspacemarine]

lol ?

[@justalurkr]

@@gormanspacemarine fortunately, that was a a time when no one cared what your placemat said, just that you had one. I rode that bachelor's through two tech related careers until 2016, when someone actually read it, scratched their pointy little head, said "hey! This is a liberal arts degree!" and surplused my wily a$$.

[@gintasvilkelis2544]

Good overview. The one thing that was omitted that was worth mentioning: Lithuania declaring independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990 + the subsequent Soviet blockade and the campaign of intimidation that lasted for almost 1.5 years (until the USSR collapsed after the August 1991 coup).

[@bluesdoggg]

I’ve been watching for a while now and Simon’s beard is becoming a mega project 🤣

[@TheK01234]

This needs to be done again, but it needs to be BLAZED! Such potential.

[@--enyo--]

No. Go back to your Blazement for that shit. Leave us alone.

[@pandorasbox4238]

I remember the news showing the Berlin Wall coming down. It was HUGE. Not just in size, either.

[@kevinnovak6511]

SUGGESTION: Not so much for Megaprojects: In the ancient world, mercury was regarded as a precious metal (and is still relatively expensive, today), BUT: how did they handle it without dying left and right? Even moderate exposure to small amounts of raw mercury can be deadly, and it occasionally even kills people in modern times. How did the ancients use/trade/handle the stuff?

[@midnightrambler8866]

I saw a video about a woman that got one drop on her hand. She died a horrible death days later.

[@DakarBlues]

People used to drink it. It seems like the methylmercury form is the really toxic one. Anyway, stay clear of it.

[@freelookmode9837]

Really wish that all this channels content would be organized into some playlists. Is love to catch up especially on areas of interest but it's not that convenient to browse right now on mobile

[@LewisBeck]

Another magnificent tour-de-force, Mr. Whistler!--all compressed into 22 mon., 40 sec.; very well done indeed!

[@69waveydavey]

Check out "Bald and bankrupt" he travels all around ex soviet Europe. When he asks the last Soviet generation "What has democracy brought" they usually reply "Debt and unemployment"

[@Balthorium]

Bitter old communists.

[@Mutavr]

It is true. For those who lived their adult lives in communism, it was very hard to adjust.

[@shauncameron8390]

@@Balthorium Pretty much.

[@gsd009]

A minor correction; Stalin didn’t kill millions of people, he killed 10’s of millions of people.

[@LaneCorbett]

Nazis: Kill 6-10 Million. Comunism: Hold my potato!

[@DiscoStringHit]

[citation needed]

[@somethinglikethat2176]

I'm not defending Stalin but a lot of deaths commonly attributed to him in comment sections around the internet that were the direct result of Nazi aggression.

[@LaneCorbett]

@@somethinglikethat2176 millions of Dead Ukrainians, Poles, and Jews years after WWII have nothing to do with the Nazis

[@mariusvanc]

@@LaneCorbett I see the neo-communists are out in full force today to defend their idol. Must be feeling a bit defensive about Cuba.

[@msbae]

I remember watching Gorbachev lowering the Soviet flag and raising the Russian Tri-Color on live TV that magical evening of 25 Dec 1991. I was trying to put together a LEGO set that I got that morning and pestering my father for help. He kept shooing me away, absolutely riveted by what he saw on the TV. I decided to pay attention myself because normally the only thing that he paid that close attention to on TV was sports. That's when I saw Gorby changing the flag. I was just shy of my 10th birthday, so I didn't fully understand what was taking place. However, I did know that the world just changed and that the idea of nuclear war with Russia was now MUCH less likely to happen. *BEST. CHRISTMAS. GIFT. EVER.* #WorldHistory #USSR #DeathToCommunism

[@adamwhite3584]

I watched my parents watch TV on my 7th Birthday the night the Berlin Wall came down. I didn't understand but I knew my parents never watched TV together... I had my favorite dinner, the "Wheels" Mac n Cheese and we had my moms favorite cake. Carrot Cake. To this day I won't eat carrot cake out of principle. I was pissed.

[@corecto904]

СССР пожертвовал собой, ради вашего спокойного будущего, А вы говорите смерть коммунизму, видимо зря, нам надо было продолжать существовать.

[@philipthomey7884]

@@adamwhite3584 Why were you pissed? I don't follow

[@reddo84]

I'm glad you have found your place.... Excellent as always

[@thedutchwolf9747]

I'm at school listening to you videos in the background while working and that Russian ascent just made my day

[@musichigh7436]

"it rollercoasted wildly" is a great euphemism for "second biggest genocide in human history"..

[@gerarduspoppel2831]

For all the young people who see this. Compare this to what would happen if North and South Korea are reunited and they suddenly become good friends and the soldiers are celebrating together.

[@Biker_Gremling]

And multiply that by about 10 times

[@jamesengland7461]

I can't wait!

[@Gameplaym0ments]

Calling A1 skyraiders and P63 kingcobra's jets is fairly inaccurate :')

[@nerysghemor5781]

I remember watching the news and seeing the Soviet flag lowered, as well as before that, when the Berlin Wall fell, because my parents made sure, even though I was really little, that I saw those events and appreciated their significance.

[@ElenarMT]

I lived in South Africa, which at the time was still under severe international sanctions. It was a bit of a damp squib. For some time, there was some confusion as to the fall of the Soviet Union being real or not. We had our own fights against the USSR at the Namibian Northern Border. It was difficult and weird. Our conscription ended 4 months before I turned 18 and had to go to the army, What a strange time

[@itsvenditti7865]

to me, the beginning of the Fall of the USSR started on April 26 1986. Chernobyl. absolutely imo the beginning of the end. Thank you Valery Legasov, the true hero

[@1pcfred]

To me, the beginning of the Fall of the USSR started on July 20, 1969. When we landed on the Moon everyone knew the commies were total losers.

[@inkoalawetrust]

@@1pcfred Lol that's a really bad point for where the USSR begun to fell, considering that landing humans on the moon was about the only thing they actually didn't do in time.

[@1pcfred]

@@inkoalawetrust you have to consider why the Soviets focused on missiles in the first place. To understand that you need to know that the B-52 flew two years before Sputnik did. The Soviets knew from when they got their hands on their first B-29 that they'd never catch up to the west when it came to strategic bombers. A B-29 had over a half a million precision parts in it. There's no way the Soviets were going to build something that sophisticated. Least that's how they viewed it.

[@1pcfred]

@Ethaniel Lim they took a lot of L's and then they threw in the towel.

[@hovant6666]

Fun fact, even Canada was deployed as an ally of Britain to support the White Army during the civil war

[@Cybernaut551]

We need a Russian White Army documentery.

[@Duncan23]

It was still part of the British empire at that point so its reall not that strange.

[@hovant6666]

@@Duncan23 Where did I say that it was strange?

[@jasonmason6910]

Even Australians died in Russia supporting the white army

[@ElvinJones1981]

The Bolshevik Revolution was the single most important event in ushering in the end of WW1. It’s mutinies inspired mutinies of many military regiments across Europe. Approaching opponent ships would fly the red flag mutually to indicate that they would not fight. It was a plain threat to the financial interests of the war profiteers and capitalist nations that housed them. It should come as absolutely no surprise that, in response, there were 21 foreign armies that joined the white army during the Civil War to try and crush the USSR.

[@Tormidal]

Hi Simon! Is there any chance you'll cover forward swept wing aircraft like the SU-47 or the X-29?

[@jakobmller4957]

That'd be so cool

[@skillofjack8757]

The dark docs family of channels just aired a video on these and others like them. If you haven’t already I suggest you give them a gander. They sometimes lack extensive research on the subjects but nonetheless interesting.

[@TheTWRider]

Simon I would quite happily watch a 20 hour video on all the 5 year plans and soviet history... Get on that

[@unjotape]

You sir, produce some of the best shows in KZbin. Cheers to You and your great content

[@wanemergency3591]

I actually really liked the 1st 5 year plan video. Was wondering what happened to the other 12 videos I thought would follow 🤔

[@johnfisher3380]

It’s worth pointing out that “unbridled capitalism” and free markets have not been embraced by the world at large. Cronyism and all forms of government intervention have been common worldwide, still causing problems akin to those in the USSR, though on a milder scale.

[@efox2001]

Exactly! Capitalism has been tarnished by cronyism. By no means is capitalism perfect, but it is the most organic, self regulating, economic model. The large fluctuations and crashes are usually the result of social-political meddling and cronyism; rather than a failing of capitalism.

[@TomReisable]

"ThAtS nOt ReAl CaPiTaLiSm"

[@joyl7842]

Kind of insane how many people died for this, compared to the American Civil War. Over 1000 times more. What?!

[@nl3064]

Well obviously the populace of 1860's America doesn't compare to 1910's Russia. The global populace keeps going up, hence more people died because there was more people. Duh. Plus more advanced weapons also.

[@joyl7842]

@@nl3064 there wasn't 1000 times more people though.. It's still an insane amount of deaths.

[@MasterDecoy]

machine guns are really good at killing people

[@joyl7842]

@@MasterDecoy true

[@treeman12815]

cause russia was in anarchy in the 1910s

[@sorzin2289]

It was the Socialist Revolution party that recieved the most votes. Not the Cadet party(Constitutional Democratic Parry). They were the ones on charge from February 1917 to October 1917. Also the party itself was divided into a left and right faction. With the right faction continuing the war.

[@HatWearingDog]

The story of Russia’s past 120 years is truly heartbreaking. It’s unfortunate that their revolutions were overrun by greed.

[@markusParkus233]

that's a bad oversimplification

[@Meelis13]

yeah. come live next to them for 120 years. Tell me again how heartbreaking it is if you are invaded by them several times and they deport and murder your family several times.

[@vickersfield3847]

Yes. If only they'd done communism properly 😔.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Brezhnev described as "dour", so true, though better his relative dourness as opposed to Andropov's senile paranoia, or Chernenko's similarly decrepit and short tenure as that of Andropov. Gorbachev was something of a rdvalation, relatively at least, given he was younger, more communicative, and became something of a popular icon, despite his initially rather traditionalist leanings.

[@Yassified3425]

I think one of the key moments was the Baltic Way. Gorbachev himself said "We wont get them back after this". Actually would the Baltic Way make a great megaproject video?

[@mjfan653]

yep, the small, million-per-state, miniscule, baltic states were the first to grab onto the perestroika plans, and started to inch their way through the "polit-talk" to slowly advance their hidden agenda, to leave the ussr, through official channels. under the guise of renewing the system, they really made plans to enusre a secular government and an unstable centre in moscow, to kind of sneak away. and when they finally left, the ussr was so stirred up, partially by them, that them leaving was seen, at the moment, as nothing much, but really it started the "if they can be free from the ussr, why cant we" domino falling off of states, collapsing the ussr before a lot of people, even in the top of the ussr, understood what was going on a really really complex śtory, but super interesting

[@Yassified3425]

@@mjfan653 Yeah, this is what I expected from the video. But they talked more about how the Eastern block collapsed then the USSR.

[@tsartomato]

there was no key moment it started to fall apart the second it started 1st NEP 2nd red terror 3rd 20 meetup 4th brezhnev 5th coffin paradce 6th gkchp

[@studinthemaking]

Gorb was a TRUE believer in communist. Still is. He could not believe that no one didn’t like it.

[@Meelis13]

if it is as "well" done as this video, please no. we dont need to butcher that event.

[@dhdhhd9647]

This man owns every history channel istg

[@bobsyouruncle3075]

I remember Alvin and the Chipmunks befriend an East German Chipmunk. They were upset when she had to go back behind the wall. Alvin and Bros. wrote a song, "Let the walls come down....crumble to the ground...and let there be peace all around."

[@chrisyanover1777]

I can't believe the Soviet Union fell apart. It seemed like such a megapower and it's collapse seemed impossible! I remember when this happened and how anticlimactic it was. I don't think it was the top story that year.

[@tsartomato]

smoke and mirrors it was total non entity ruled by black markets and people drinking and not working at all because lazy people and good people get the same salary also zero food eat paper a lot of it

[@proximacentauri3627]

@@tsartomato Exactly. Yuri Bezmenov explained how deceptive they were. Only strictly vetted pro-communists were allowed in to report on the USSR to the West and they were kept drunk and fed lies.

[@treeman12815]

@@tsartomato what

[@tsartomato]

@@treeman12815 хуят

[@VasterLordUlquiorra]

Только снаружи. Все обещания о демократе, свободе, и что скоро станет лучше с годами сделали людей безразличными к судьбе страны. А Вся верхушка хотела жить как западные люди(они и зажили, кто все богатые из бывшего ссср? кто покупает у вас вилы и золотые яхты?) да да, те самые советские правители.

[@mrlarry271]

It had a horrifically high body count for a state that claimed to be working toward a classless and peaceful society. As Carlin once said fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Except that one can indeed fight for peace. Take WW2, the alternative for Britain would have been to peacefully allow Germany to invade. Or Stalin. Fighting is not always bad, and pacifism is, in its own way, violent, coercive and cowardly.

[@kurzeful]

No more than other superpower states. They were no angels, but certainly i have never seen a state that is Lilly white even to this year of 2021.

[@AntonioThunderbottom]

Boris Yeltsin goes to a grocery store in Texas and then decides to do this.

[@francoislancon798]

Good morning comrades ! You are a riot! Good video, short and to the point.

[@davidwebb4904]

17:30. Letna Square? The picture is Wenceslas. Letna is a park on the hill overlooking the city.

[@ronaldschoolcraft8654]

The impact of Desert Storm on the Soviet Psyche was also ignored.

[@merijnfluitman5761]

Hopefully, in a short while, you can do a video on the dissolution of Russia!

[@LaneCorbett]

Gorbachev King of Pizza Commercials and Ending Comunist Superpowers

[@kurzeful]

He is a damn idiot. Making the west turning him in a poppy show.

[@LaneCorbett]

@@kurzeful yeah but it's funny

[@Hello_there_obi]

What a joyous moment.

[@elperrodelautumo7511]

Finally Simon doing some USSR topic