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The Second Rise of the Nazis

The Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD), who had been in opposition since 1923, won a nearly 30% majority in the 1928 Federal Elections. Despite having over 150 seats in the Reichstag, nearly 100 seats more than their main opposition, the right wing German National People’s Party (DNVP), the SPD, under chancellor Herman Müller formed a centre left to conservative liberal grand coalition, in order to gain a larger majority and form a stronger left.

As a part of the coalition, head of the German People’s Party (DVP) and former Chancellor, Gustav Stresemann, continued his position as Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Stresemann attempted to enact the Young Plan, which would help decrease war reparations needing to be paid to the Allies and ultimately fell through. In addition, the new Hoover Administration in the United States implemented vast trade tariffs, lessening US credit to Germany.

With a plan with the US growing discontent with the liberal democratic process, allowing the slow but steady rise of the Nazi and the Communist Parties, Streseman pursued closer ties with Britain and France, managing to get French troops to withdraw from the Rhineland. He was perhaps even in the process of forming an economic and political Union in Europe, in order to counterweight the fast growing economy of the United States. Just after he managed to convince the Reichstag to go through with the Young Plan, Stresemann had a series of strokes and died on October 3rd, 1929. He was only 51. And this was when things went down the drain.

A graph of Dow Jones Industrial Average’s value

The Wall Street Crash hit not just the US Economy but the economy overseas too. Germany was hit especially hard. Still somewhat reeling from the hyperinflation crisis and needing to pay of Treaty of Versailles war debts, the economy was hit bad. By 1932, 6 million Germans were unemployed due to the hit on large industrial corporations. Small and medium businesses were hit even harder, leading to bankruptcy and eventually closure.

German banks faced massive collapse as loans were not being repaid, and credit froze. This caused a panic in the banking sector, further deepening the crisis. The German mark lost much of its value, and the financial system became unstable, leading to more business closures and layoffs. Due to a heavy reliance on an economy based on exports, a global trade halt further crippled the German economy. Not only that but American tariffs made the situation even worse, making it harder for Germany to trade.

A protest by unemployed people in Berlin, 1930

The SDP Coalition collapsed in March 1930, due to the government increasing employees’ national insurance contributions, meaning they’d have to pay their worker’s less, at a time when wages were falling, due to the Depression. This meant that the SDP was no longer in control of the government, so President Paul von Hindenburg, a right leaning former World War 1 General, appointed Heinrich Brüning, leader of the Centre Party, as his new Chancellor.

Now governing in a minority, with only 61 seats in the Reichstag (around 12%), Brüning intended to liberate Germany from it’s debts, war and otherwise, by increasing wages and tightening the credit, a widely unpopular policy within the Reichstag. They voted down the policies, before Brüning passed them by himself anyway. The Reichstag, once again rejected the decree, with nearly all parties voting against it, including the SPD, Nazis and Communists. Brüning called for a dissolution of the current government from Hindenburg, who gladly obliged. Another election was to be held on September 14th, 1930. This is when Hitler saw an opportunity to strike.

He appointed Joseph Goebbels as head of the party’s propaganda division. Goebbels ended up overseeing much of the Reichstag campaign. Between 1928 and the election, the Nazi Party’s membership had more than doubled, to nearly 300,000. The party had 49 newspapers, 6 of which were published daily. The campaign was a massive success for the Nazis, who ended up gaining a large proportion of the vote, becoming the second largest party in the Reichstag. They gained 95 seats and had 18.3% of the vote in an election turnout of 82%, the highest since the Weimar Republic was established.

With nearly 40% of the vote between them, the SPD attempted to form a coalition with the Communists, who outright refused. Ernst Thälmann, leader of the Communist Party said that:

Hitler must come to power first, then the requirements for a revolutionary crisis [will] arrive more quickly
Thälmann speaking in February 1932

Bürning lost his majority and began to rule by decree, implementing harsh austerity measures that were vastly unpopular, but paved the way for the authoritarian way of government that the Nazis would come to thrive upon.

During this time, Hitler’s half-niece, Geli, was living in his flat in Munich, who many believe he had a sexual relationship with. In 1931, she killed herself with Hitler’s gun. She was only 13.

Because of his new large majority, Hitler believed that now was the time to seize power. He decided to do it by running for President in 1932. Many on the right, who had supported Hindenburg in the 1925 Presidential Election, were disappointed that Hindenburg had not dissolved the Weimar Republic so began to back Hitler, whilst people on the left and in the centre feared what Hitler might do, so began to back Hindenburg. With supporters switched, Hitler came second, but managed to gain 36% of the vote, miles ahead of Thälmann’s 10% but still behind Hindenburg’s 53%. However, this was still a testament to Hitler’s popularity and the popularity of the Nazis.

After an attempt at land redistribution by Bürning, Hindenburg, a landowner himself, vocally opposed this, forcing Bürning to resign, who was replaced by Franz von Papen, another Centre Politician. Papen was a recommendation to Hindenburg by Kurt von Schleicher, a right wing aristocratic former WW1 General who successfully halted the Kerensky Offensive on the Eastern Front. In order to curb the left’s threat to the aristocratic elite, Schleicher believed that he could use and weaponise the Nazis whilst keeping them under his control. Schleicher slowly wore Hindenburg down, convincing him to work with the Nazis and hiring Papen, a chancellor who he could easily manipulate. Whilst Schleicher believed he had everything in place, Hitler had other plans. For him it was the Nazis first.

Another federal election took place in July of 1932. The results were astounding.

The Nazis, now the largest political party in the Reichstag at 230 seats, they were getting too big for Schleicher to control. Hitler demands to be Chancellor, a move that, to Schleicher, came way out of left field. Realising that they are no longer talking to a servant but now a mad man, Schleicher and Papen both manage to convince Hindenburg to dissolve the Reichstag and rule by Presidential decree.

Papen, by order of Hindenburg, travelled to the Reichstag on September 12th with the intent of grabbing the speaker’s attention to dissolve parliament. However, the Communists quickly requested a vote of no confidence in Papen’s government. Papen was highly unpopular in the Reichstag, something which he was very aware of but expected an immediate objection that never came. He stood up and attempted to show the Presidential decree calling for the Reichstag’s dissolution to the Reichstag Speaker. There was one small problem. The Speaker was Hermann Göring, a very high ranking member of the Nazi Party known to be Hitler’s fixer, who simply ignored him and called a vote of no confidence. The motion carried by 512 to 42. Papen was out.

Papen (standing up, left) looking towards Göring (right), who is simply turning his head away from Papen

Frustrated at this, Papen quickly calls another snap election for that November. However, Hindenburg, displeased with his unpopularity in the Reichstag, dismisses him regardless. He replaced him with Schleicher, whose primary objective now is to stop Hitler and the Nazis, in whatever way he can.

The next federal election comes around and the economy is looking on the up. Becuase of this, the Nazis lose 34 seats in the Reichstag. Not only that but power hungry Nazis are beginning to defect, only to be picked up by Schleicher. In addition, years of campaigning have left the Nazis on the verge of bankruptcy. Hitler may end up losing all his power. This is what should’ve been the beginning of the end.

In one last attempt to clasp onto whatever power he may still have a chance of getting, Hitler meets with Papen in January of 1933. Whilst Papen does not agree with Hitler on many issues, he still sees him as a way back into power and get back at Schleicher, so the two begin to collaborate and the two vow to form a coalition at the next election. Papen then speaks to Hindenburg, requesting that he, Papen, become Vice Chancellor and Hitler becomes Chancellor. Hindenburg accepts the plan.

On the 30th of January 1933, appointed Hitler as his next Chancellor. Hitler requested the dissolving of the Reichstag from Hindenburg and to schedule the elections for early March. Hitler now has power. Little does Hindenburg know that this the beginning of the end for democracy in Germany.

Hitler (left) being appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg (right) in January 1933

May all others understand our position and so help to ensure that this sincere desire for the welfare of Europe and of the whole world shall find fulfilment. Despite our love for our Army as the bearer of our arms and the symbol of our great past, we should be happy if the world, by restricting its armaments, made unnecessary any increase in our own weapons. But if Germany is to experience this political and economic revival and conscientiously to fulfill its duties towards other nations, a decisive act is required: We must overcome the demoralization of Germany by the Communists.
An excerpt from Hitler’s first radio address after becoming Chancellor

The Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression

Throughout the 1920s, stock prices in the United States were rising rapidly, driven largely by speculative investments. People were borrowing money in order to buy shares and stock in companies, and many believed the market would keep rising forever. The problem was that stock prices became vastly overinflated and disconnected from the actual value of the companies. In addition, unequal wealth distribution between the rich and poor was rife. While some were getting richer, the majority of workers weren’t seeing wages grow at the same pace. Additionally, industries like farming were struggling with overproduction and falling prices. The agricultural industry was hit especially hard by a series of droughts, further damaging the economy. With no regulations, banks were poorly managed and the system was vulnerable to mass withdrawals, which would become a problem when confidence in the market collapsed.

On October 22nd, 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, investors started to realise the market was overvalued. Stock prices began to fall rapidly. A panic began to set in, and many tried to sell their stocks all at once. This led to a market panic, and the New York Stock Exchange had to call in bankers to try to stabilise the situation. Despite their efforts, the market continued to tumble. On October 29th, now known as the infamous Black Tuesday, the stock market completely collapsed. There was an overwhelming wave of selling, with nearly 16 million shares traded. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, a stock market index of prominent companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States, lost 12% of its value on that single day.

This began the Great Depression, a severe and prolonged economic downturn that began in 1929 and lasted through most of the 1930s, becoming the longest and deepest economic depression of the 20th century. It affected not just the United States but many countries around the world, with devastating social, political, and economic consequences. Unemployment reached unforeseen highs, many families lost their homes and political instability was rife.

In the United States, Democrat Candidate Franklin D. Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, a series of programs aimed at providing relief, recovery, and reform. These included public works projects, banking reforms, Social Security, and labour protections. While the New Deal did not end the Great Depression, it helped alleviate some of its worst effects and reshaped the role of government in the economy. Roosevelt is largely considered to be one of the greatest Presidents in US History and fundamentally remodelled the Democratic Party into what it is today.

In the United Kingdom, the Great Depression lead to the rise of Keynesianism, a belief that during times of economic downturn, governments should step in and increase public spending to stimulate demand. This idea became a cornerstone of post-depression economic policy. This was a system that ran strong in the United Kingdom up until 1979 and the radical neoliberalism of Margaret Thatcher.

Clement Attlee, Labour Prime Minister (1945-1951)

In Germany, the Depression led to the rise of the Nazi Party, an extremist far right faction that believed that the previous democratic Weimar Government had led Germany to failure, led by Adolf Hitler. He capitalised on the widespread discontent and promised to restore Germany’s economy. He then used state-led economic programmes to reduce unemployment and revive the economy, whilst also putting much of the blame for the crash on the Jews as a scapegoat. As a result, anti-semitism was widespread in Germany, leading to the ultimate acceptance of state sponsored anti-semitism, such as Kristallnacht and eventually the Holocaust. Hitler later went on to start World War 2, which lead to over 70 million people dying.

Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer of Germany (1934-1945)

The Death of Vladimir Lenin

The early establishment of the Soviet Union was a very stressful time for Vladimir Lenin, a stressful time that all occurred within the span of 3 months. In those three months he had overthrown the Provisional government, had to give a lot of land to Germany which crippled the economy and had started a civil war with the White Army. Ultimately, his stress lead to his health declining. Most notably, he had a series of strokes, starting on May 26th, 1922 and ending on January 21st, 1924.

Due to that final stroke, Lenin died, opening up a power vacuum. However there were two main options when it came to replacing Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.

Leon Trotsky

Trotsky seemed to be a relatively obvious choice. He was the Commissar for War and had lead the Red Army to victory during the Civil War. He was also a powerful speaker and a charming man. He believed that in order to maintain Communism in the USSR, it needed to spread to other countries. Many thought that Trotsky was the natural replacement, that is until we meet…

Joseph Stalin

Stalin was the exact opposite of Trotsky in every way. He was not particularly charming, he wasn’t a great public speaker and his job was, to put it bluntly, lame. He was given the job of General Secretary of the Bolshevik Party. While on the surface being a secretary doesn’t seem like the world’s greatest job, once analysed, it was the most powerful job in the country. Stalin would give jobs to people who were loyal to him, giving him more power, so he could hire more people loyal to him, ending up in a cycle wherein he had ultimate power.

However, Lenin did not trust Stalin and requested that he never become leader of the Soviet Union. However, the person who had the final say on who got the jobs was Stalin, who hid any evidence of Lenin saying this. Stalin was too powerful to be stopped, and had all his enemies arrested, exiled or killed. He even exiled Trotsky to Mexico, who was then assassinated in 1940. He had Lenin mummified and embalmed to put on display in Red Square in Moscow, in a building called Lenin’s Mausoleum, where it still is to this day.

While Lenin was cutthroat and ruthless, he did truly believe that Communism was the way forward. Stalin however took the USSR down a different path, of a tyrannical rule, more akin to Fascism than Communism, setting up a secret police called the NKVD and setting up prison camps called Gulags, where many suffered, starved and, eventually, died. Due to Stalin’s actions, Lenin’s “Communist Utopia” never saw the light of day.

The Munich Putsch and the Aftermath

In 1923, Hitler attempted to overthrow the Government, believing that they were handling the financial crisis caused by hyperinflation terribly.

In layman’s terms, hyperinflation was caused when the German Weimar Government was trying to pay off their war debts so printed more money to pay them. A lot of shop and factory owners noticed that the people had more money to spare so increased their prices. Seeing this, the Weimar Government printed even more money, so the shopkeepers raised their prices even more. It carried on in a circle like this until a wheelbarrow full of money couldn’t buy you a loaf of bread and 1 US dollar was worth 4.21 trillion marks by 1923.

This Coup was colloquially known as the Munich Putsch or Beer Hall Putsch. On the evening of November the 8th, 1923, Hitler, assisted by Eric Ludendorff, former German war hero, and some Stormtroopers stormed Bürgerbräukeller, a popular beer hall in Munich, firing a shot into the air and yelled “The national revolution has broken out! The hall is surrounded by six hundred men. Nobody is allowed to leave.”

He retreated to a back room with Gustav Ritter von Kahr, Hans Ritter von Seisser, Otto von Lossow and a handgun. Hitler had to deal with a crisis elsewhere and during this time, Ludendorff let Kahr, Seisser and Lossow go. The hall was held hostage for many hours and by the morning, Hitler had become impatient.

Ludendorff called for them to march and so they did. 2000 of Hitler’s supporters including Ludendorff, Hitler, Goering and Rohm marched down the street towards the ministry of defence. 130 soldiers greeted them. They stood still at the end of the street for a moment and then began marching again. The soldiers raised their rifles, took aim and fired. Almost 2 dozen men were killed, 4 of which were soldiers. The man to Hitler’s left was taken out. Since they were linking arms, the force of him falling popped Hitler’s arm out of its socket. He staggered away, assisted by other people. Ludendorff continued to march and was arrested. Hitler later made up the story that he saved a child from the crossfires.

Hitler was eventually tracked down to the house of Ernst Hanfstaengl, a close friend of his and future employee of Former US President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, on the 11th of November for high treason. He was brought before a tribunal in February and the trial turned into a speech for Hitler, where he essentially said why the Nazi party was so great and why others should vote for them in the next election.

For a crime of high treason, you can be sentenced to life in prison. Hitler was only sentenced to 5 years of which he only served nine months in Landsburg Prison, in a cell that was more of a small flat with jail bars on the windows.

He had friendly treatment from guards, received fan mail and had frequent visits from party members. During this time, he wrote his book, Mein Kampf, which in English translates to My Struggle, in which he talks about his life, ideologies, political views and much more mentioning how he thought Jews were “germs” and society’s “international poisoners” and the only solution was extermination. 228,000 copies were sold from 1925 to 1932 and over a million during the year he came to power, 1933.

He was released from prison and established the SS headed by Heinrich Himmler in 1925. Heinrich was the least physically intimidating Nazi, but he had a way with words, which coerced the opposition into doing Hitler’s bidding. He learnt that the economy had improved, the main source of the Nazi’s rise being the failing economy. However, another financial crisis 4 years later would change everything.

Hitler Joins the German Worker’s Party

Since the war was over, there was nothing for Hitler to fight against or fight for, since France, Britain and the USA had all burdened Germany with the terms of the Treaty, and he believed his country was betrayed from the home front. He was hired as an intelligence officer to infiltrate the German Workers Party.

At one of the party meetings, the Party Chairman, Anton Drexler, noticed Hitler’s charisma when speaking so gave him a pamphlet named “My Political Awakening”. This pamphlet contained much antisemitic, nationalist, anti-communist and anti-capitalist material, which could’ve possibly embedded themselves in Hitler’s brain.

After fully joining the party in 1920, he renamed it to the National Socialist German Worker’s Party, or Nazi for short, and redesigned the logo to be a black swastika, a symbol commonly found in Hinduism meaning spirituality and divinity and a pattern which you can find around the world including buildings in London, with a white circle and red background.

The new party logo which Hitler designed

In June 1921, there was a mutiny in the party, which kicked out Drexler and Hitler became the party chairman, where he spoke at beer halls, a type of large German pub. Early followers included Hermann Goering, a former flying ace, Ernst Rohm, a WW1 veteran and was later found out to be homosexual, and Rudolf Hess, another WW1 veteran and met Hitler at one of his speeches in 1920. Rohm later became the head of the Nazi’s Paramilitary force, the Stormtroopers or SA.

The German Armistice

By November 1918, German morale was at an all time low. Despite Russia backing out of the war, they were now losing on the Western Front. The Kaiser had abdicated and had moved to the Netherlands, with a new democratic German government taking his place. Erich Ludendorff had resigned and was replaced by Wilhelm Groener. All of Germany’s allies had all either suffered defeat or surrendered. Everyone wanted the war to end but Germany wanted it more than anyone else.

The German government eventually requested that the allies meet to discuss the armistice. They met in Ferdinand Foch’s train carriage, located in the forest of Compiègne. Foch was French General and would be one of the main representatives of the allies.

A carriage of the same design on display in a museum. The original carriage was destroyed by the SS in 1940

They handed the Germans the terms of unconditional surrender without negotiation. They commanded that the German army leave the territories that they had occupied, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorraine. They also requested a demilitarisation of the Rhineland, an area of Germany that bordered France. They also had to surrender much of their munitions and other army supplies. The Germans had no choice to agree to these harsh terms and the Armistice was signed at around 5am local time on November 11th, 1918, with the Armistice not taking effect until 11am.

During those 6 hours, another 3,000 men died for nothing. The last soldier of the war to die was German, who died not long after the Armistice took affect.

The Russian Civil War

Lenin had set up a dictatorship, but was still enacting many of his socialist policies, like giving the poor land and food. However, he had still not gotten them out of the war so began to negotiate with the Germans, with Trotsky as the middle man. Germany demanded a large chunk of territory that, if lost, would cripple the Russian Economy. Lenin called this an insult to Russia, so Trotsky thought of a new idea. If they simply stopped fighting then the Germans would see that they wanted to just stop and not fight anymore. Obviously, this plan failed and Germany advanced thousands of more troops into their territory. When peace was offered again, they demanded even more land. The Soviets had to accept.

Being in a more exposed position, the capital was moved from Petrograd to Moscow. Lenin then established the Communist International or Comintern, an effort to expand communism in other countries. However, many non-Bolshevik groups were not a fan of the Bolshevik Policies, and formed the White Army, thrusting Russia into a civil war. The two main factions were the Red Army, made up of the Bolsheviks and their militias, and the White Army who was made up of basically everyone else, mainly the regions controlled by the Russian Empire, like Poland, Ukraine, Finland and Belarus, or the anti-Bolsheviks, like the more moderate Socialists, the Monarchists and the Republicans.

Due to a lack of coordination inside the White Army and the Red Army controlling the industrial heartland, the Red Army made quick progress. However, the Tsar, who was being kept in Ipatiev House this entire time, was a concern of the Bolsheviks. They believed that if the White Army captured the Tsar, they could reestablish the monarchy they fought so hard to abolish.

At around midnight on July 17th, 1918, the Romanovs were woken up and got told they were moving to a safe location due to the war. Believing Nicholas’ cousin, King George V of Britain, had come to rescue them, they excitedly got dressed. The Romanovs were told to go into the basement and stand against the wall, under the pretext of a photograph being taken to assure that they were safe and well. The group was as follows.

Nicholas II, former Tsar of Russia
Alexandra Feodorovna, the former Princess of the Rhine and Tsarina of Russia
Their 5 children, Olga, Anastasia, Alexsei, Maria and Tatiana
Court Physician Eugene Botkin
Lady-in-waiting Anna Demidova
Footman Alexei Trupp
Head Cook Ivan Kharitonov

Then, a group of slightly drunk executioners entered the room. The leader pulled out a Colt M1911, and fired three shots at Nicholas, who fell to the floor dead. The rest of the Royal Family and the entourage were shot dead against the wall. The loud gunfire alerted others around the large house. Due to the smoke, the firing was ceased, only to find that the children were still alive, with Tatiana only being injured. They were then ordered to bayonet the children. This proved to be highly ineffective.

Alexsei, who was still in shock in his seat was shot point blank in the head. Tatiana and Olga were both shot in the head too. Maria, cowering in the corner was also killed. Anna, who survived the initial attack, was stabbed to death against the wall. The last to die was Anastasia, who cried out as the bodies were being taken away. She was hit with the butt of a rifle in her chest before being shot in the head with a revolver. The bodies were then carried out to the woods where there were put in a mass grave, covered in acid and buried. The bodies were not discovered until the 1970s and only identified in the 1990s. Boris Yeltsin, future President of Russia ordered the demolition of the house. It is unknown if they were acting on Lenin’s orders or their own.

The allied powers, wanting to not spread the ideas of Communism, sent their own troops to assist the White Army. However, with the end of WW1, the map of Europe was redrawn, and many states that the Russian Empire used to own became their own countries. Russia recognised the independence of the Baltics but the southern state of Georgia, a key point of the White Army due to its oil fields was attacking the Red Army. Lenin made a deal with one of the minor factions in the war, the Black Army and an alliance was formed. Eventually, they crushed the Southern and Western front, bringing more nations into the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or, as it’s more commonly known, the Soviet Union by 1922.

The October Revolution

Despite the Tsar being deposed, one of the main issues that the Russian People still had wasn’t resolved, they were still in the war. In order to concentrate the war onto one front, the Germans actively sent Lenin back on a train to Petrograd from Switzerland in order to start a revolution and get Russia out of the war.

With the Tsar gone, the Duma believed they should be in power, setting up a provisional government. However, the Soviets claimed that they were the government, setting up local establishments run by Mensheviks and the Social Revolutionaries, who would command the workers and soldiers. It was a delicate but fragile power balance. And Lenin was not a fan.

[There should be no] support for the Provisional Government; the utter falsity of all its promises should be made clear. [This government is] a government of capitalists, [and] should cease to be an imperialist government.
Lenin’s writings about the Government in his April Theses

Whilst many of their policies still left people starving and soldiers still fighting in the war, progress was slow and steady. The secret police was disbanded, a democracy was being established and the death penalty was abolished. However, Lenin thought this needed to change, promising the people everything that the Provisional Government wasn’t giving them, that being Peace, Land and Bread, and declared all power should be given to the Soviets. People began supporting his radical ideals and the Provisional Government began to panic. Instead of backing out of the war, they decided to launch the Kerensky Offensive, named after minister of war, Alexander Kerensky, believing that a victory would help support for the Provisional Government. This offensive was a massive failure and crashed the economy. The people, still starving with their husbands, sons and brothers dying out on the front, began to riot riots once more.

A group of armed protestors went out onto the streets and were subsequently shot by the Government soldiers. Lenin and the Soviets wanted to distance themselves from the violence. However, they marched under Soviet slogans and Kerensky, now the Prime Minister decided to use this to lock up the Soviets and accuse Lenin of being a German Agent, whereupon he fled to Finland in disguise.

The violence was eventually repressed by Kerensky but the workers were still supporting Communist ideals, which worried the liberals and factory owners. In order to help ease the tension, Kerensky appointed anti-Socialist General Kornilov to Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces. However, Kornilov hated the even slightly socialist policies of the Government so much that he grabbed his army and began to march on Petrograd. Panicking, Kerensky pulled Trotsky, who had defected to the Bolshevik cause, out of prison, armed them and told them to deal with Kornilov. It was a swift victory for Trotsky, by sabotaging railway and communications lines and convincing Kornilov’s men to desert. But when Kerensky asked for the guns back, Trotsky refused and Kerensky had now accidentally just armed the party that the working class were looking for. And due to the victory against Kornilov, party popularity sky rocketed.

They were eventually elected to the leader of the Soviets, allowing Lenin to return from Finland to enact his Communist Revolution. They were very loud about their uprising, alerting Kerensky who had Bolsheviks arrested. With their numbers rapidly dwindling due to being sent to prison, Lenin decided it was now or never. Trotsky got to work arming the Bolshevik Militias, who would storm government buildings, easily seizing control. They eventually seized control of most buildings in Petrograd and, as Kerensky ran out of the city, the Bolsheviks surrounded the Winter Palace.

Having finally come out of hiding, Lenin decided it was time to storm the palace. The guards gave up, and practically allowed Lenin and the Bolshevik Militia through, arresting the politicians inside. Lenin was now the leader of Russia, now called the Soviet Union. He decided to hold an election, the first of which he lost, called the other parties anti-Revolutionary, arrested their leaders and had no more elections after that. The Russian people began to suspect that Lenin was setting up a dictatorship.

On August 30, 1918, Lenin was speaking at a plant in Moscow. As he finished, he left the plant, when Fanny Kaplan fired 3 shots at him. Lenin survived and Kaplan was arrested and executed. This was not the first attempt on Lenin’s life, nor would it be the last. The newly established Bolshevik secret police ramped up their repression because of this. But, in the end, that was the Russian Revolution. It was not a great act of patriotism and bravery like in the United States. Nor was it a brutal, violent uprising like in France. Communist art may make you think that but ultimately, the Russian Revolution was one man with an idea, who wanted to depose a totalitarian rule and replace it with his own one, who simply did it by walking into buildings and asking what he wanted.

The February Revolution

By 1917, soldiers began deserting, the economy was through the floor and people were starving due to the war. As Commander in Chief, Nicholas was getting even more blame than he usually did. On March 8th, or February 23rd on the Julian Calendar that Russia used at the time, a large group of women took to the streets, protesting the starvation they were going through. The next day, many of the men joined in too. They demanded to stop the food rationing and the war, whilst also deposing the Tsar.

In situations such as these, soldiers would usually take care of them, but tired of the war themselves and firing on their own people they’re meant to protect, they turned on their own generals. Members of the Duma also joined in, tired of the Tsar dissolving them whenever he wanted. All of these groups had one thing in common. They wanted the Tsar to abdicate.

As the violence escalated the Soviets were reestablished to manage riots. Nicholas decided to return to Petrograd, but was stopped on the way there, by a group of politicians and generals, who all said he needed to abdicate right now, in order to quell the violence. Eventually he agreed and three centuries of Romanov rule in Russia fizzled out like that.

The Killing of Rasputin

Even though many people were not a big fan of the Imperialist government run by the Tsar, a Russian loss in WW1 would almost certainly mean the Tsar being replaced by the Imperialist government of Germany, lead by the Kaiser. Due to the war being against Germany, the capital of St Petersburg was renamed to Petrograd to sound less German. However, one person who did not support Russia’s success in the war was Vladimir Lenin, who despised the Tsar so much even if it meant the country was reduced to ash and ruin getting him deposed.

However, unlike the Western front, the Central powers had made a decent advance into Russian Territory, due to poor leadership and logistical problems. The Tsar declared himself Commander in Chief of the Army, leaving Petrograd to go to the front lines, leaving his wife, a German, and Rasputin, a crazy, homeless “wizard”, in charge of the country, which isn’t something you really want to do ever, especially when you’re at war and even more so a war with Germany.

Tsar Nicholas observing his troops on the Front Line

A group of nobles, tired of Rasputin’s antics, believing he was secretly destroying Russia and having sex with the Tsarina, decided to act. Some of the conspirators included Felix Yusopov, a Russian Prince and Count, and Dmitry Pavlovich, a Grand Duke and the grandson of Tsar Alexander II.

On December 29th, 1916, the pair invited Rasputin to a small party in a palace. From this moment on, the story becomes hearsay and rumours. Some believe that because of the events that unfolded, that Rasputin actually was a wizard. Once Rasputin arrived, they offered him tea and cakes, all laced with enough cyanide to kill 3-4 men. However, Rasputin ate it all and seemed fine. The Prince then gave him some wine, also laced with cyanide. Rasputin drank 3 glasses and was still perfectly fine. Tired of this, Yusopov went a bit less subtle, grabbing a revolver and shooting Rasputin in the chest.

The two then left the palace, with another conspirator wearing Rasputin’s clothes and hat, to make it seem as though Rasputin had left the palace alive. Upon returning to the palace, they were shocked to find that Rasputin was still alive, who lept up from the floor and attacked them, before running out into the snowy courtyard. He was shot twice more, whereupon he fell on the ground. Yusopov then allegedly began beating Rasputin of the head with a dumbell. Eventually, they carried him to a nearby bridge, throwing him into the icy water. It is not known if he was still alive by the time he was thrown in the water, despite rumours claiming he was thrashing around in the freezing cold water, but his body was found on January 1st underneath the ice.

Once it was found that Yusopov and Pavlovich were part of the conspiracy, Yusopov was exiled to his country estate and Pavlovich was sent to a garrison in Persia, modern day Iran. Rasputin was buried on January 2nd.