Messy History

Peace, Land, and Bread!

Today we continue our conversation on life during the Russian Revolution and the Bolsheviks' ambitions for the country. Our primary account comes from Elfriede, a young woman living in Odessa, Ukraine when the revolution came. She describes the conflicts between the Reds and Whites, her stint as a typist for the infamous Cheka (secret police), and her eventual escape through Bulgaria. Bibliography Elfriede Becker memoirs, Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, DTA 4710-1, translation By Robyn Thompson Image Earliest flag of the Soviet Union, 1922-1923 Gütersloh 1975, ISBN 978-3-570-01591-9, Public Domain

An Escape From Russia

What would you do if you woke up one day and suddenly found yourself an "enemy" of the people with whom you had grown up? In this episode, we follow the story of Anna's family - bourgeois Germans caught in Russia during World War I and the Russian Revolution. Bibliography "Anna's Memoirs", Deutsches Tagebucharchiv, DTA-368-1-2, Reg NR 418,1-2, Translation By Robyn Thompson "Who Needs the War? Alexandra Kollantai: Selected Articles and Speeches"  Progress publishers, 1984.  First printing 1915. "Apostles into Terrorists: Women and the Revolutionary Movement in the Russia of Alexander II." Vera Briodo, Maurice Temple Smith, 1977. "A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924", Orlando Figes, Penguin Books, 1988. "The Communist Manifesto", Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, 1848 Image Imperial Russian Railways series Б (B) Public Domain

Preserving the Past

What's the difference between a diary and a memoir? In this episode, we take advantage of an opportunity to interview Christiane Weinzierl from the German Diary Archive in Emmendingen, Germany about diaries, memoirs, and the art and task of preserving the past. You can find out more about the archive at their website: https://tagebucharchiv.de [https://tagebucharchiv.de/]

The Last First Family of Russia

The story of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his family. We discuss their early lives, marriage, and the challenges they faced, such as their son Alexei's hemophilia and the introduction of Rasputin into their lives. Following this, we cover the political turmoil and the unrest leading up to World War I, Nicholas's role in the war, and his eventual abdication. Both primary sources, Sophie and Pierre, provide firsthand accounts of the family's final days. Image Nicholas II of Russia with the family (left to right): Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra Fyodorovna, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Livadiya, Crimea, 1913.  Portrait by the Levitsky Studio, Livadiya. Today the original photograph is held at the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Sources Buxhoeveden, Sophie.  The Life and Tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of Russia.  Original, 1928.  Denikin, Anton.  The Russian Turmoil; Memoirs: Military, Social, and Political.  The Field Press Ltd.  Windsor, London, 1922.  Figes, Orlando.  A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924.  Penguin Books, 1998. Gatrell, Peter.  A Whole Empire Walking:  Refugees in Russia During World War I.  Indiana University Press, 1999. Gillard, Peter.  Thirteen Years in a Russian Court. 1920, Wentworth Press.   Hasegawa, Tsuyoshi.  The Last Tsar: The Abdication of Nicholas II and the Fall of the Romanovs.  Basic Books, 2024. Lenin, Essential Works of Lenin: ‘What is to be Done?’ and Other Writings.  Ed. By  Henry M. Christman. Dover, 1929. Massie, Robert K.  Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty. Random House Trade, 2000. “Nicolas’s Diaries” https://www.alexanderpalace.org [https://www.alexanderpalace.org/] Pipes, Richard.  Three ‘whys’ of the Russian Revolution. A Vintage Original, 1995. Radzinsky, Edward.  The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II.  Anchor, 1973. “Russian Revolution,”  https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/russian-revolution-quotations-rasputin [https://alphahistory.com/russianrevolution/russian-revolution-quotations-rasputin/] Semertzides, Meletios.  The Twilight of the Tsars: Russia’s Fall and the Birth of Revolution.  Volume 3. Trade Paperback, 2025. Smith, Douglas.  Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs.  Picador Farrar, Straus and Giroux New York, 2016. “The Nicky and Willy Telegrams (1914).” https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nicky-and-willy-telegrams-1914 [https://alphahistory.com/worldwar1/nicky-and-willy-telegrams-1914] Wilhelm II. The Willy-Nicky Correspondence: Being the Secret and Intimate Telegrams Exchanged between the Kaiser and the Tsar. Forward by Theodore Roosevelt.  Toronto, 1918.

Her Majesty's Drug Cartel

That time China declared a war on drugs, and found themselves pitted against the narco traffickers of the 19th century - the British Empire. Welcome to the first Opium War. Image  Commissioner Lin and the Destruction of the Opium in 1839. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Destruction_of_opium_in_1839.jpg Sources Chang, Hsin Pao.  Commissioner Lin and the Opium War.  The Norton Library.  W.W. Norton and Company, inc.  New York, 1970. Cree, Dr. Edward H.  Naval Surgeon: The Voyages of Dr. Edward H. Cree, Royal Navy, as Related in his Private Journals, 1837-1856.  Dutton Adult, 1982. Fu, Lo-shu (1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1. p. 380 Fairbank, John King. Trade and Diplomacy on the Chinese Coast, Vol. 1. The Opening of the Treaty Ports, 1842-1854.  Harvard University Press, 1953. Farooqui, Amar.  Smuggling as Subversion: Colonialism, Indian Merchants, and the Politics of Opium, Lexington, 2005. Fu, Lo-shu (1966). A Documentary Chronicle of Sino-Western relations, Volume 1. p. 380 Haijian, Mao.  The Qing Empire and the Opium War: The Collapse of the Heavenly Dynasty.  English text edited by Joseph Lawson.  Cambridge Univeristy Press, 2016. Letter to Queen Victoria. Chinese Repository, vol. VIII, no 10 (February 1940): 497-503.  Internet Archive Levanthes, Louise.  When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405-1433.  Oxford University Press, 1994. Lovell, Julia.  The Opium War: Drugs, Dreams, and the Making of Modern China. Picador, 2011. Morse, Hosea Ballou.  The Trade and Administration of the Chinese Empire.  London and New York, 1908.  Morse. International Relations of the Chinese Empire, Vol. 1, Appendix A https://web.archive.org/web/20160502205830/http://chinaforeignrelations.net/node/247 [https://web.archive.org/web/20160502205830/http:/chinaforeignrelations.net/node/247] The Times (London).  August 19, 1840, p. 3. [An account of the 1839 confinement of the foreign shipping at Whampoa by the surgeon of a detained ship, taken from The Times (London), August 19, 1840, pg. 3] in Hsin-pao Chang.  Commissioner Lin and the Opium War.  The Norton Library.  W.W. Norton and Company, inc.  New York, 1964. “Treaty of Nanking” https://worldjpn.net/documents/texts/pw/18420829.T1E.html Waley, Arthyr.  The Opium War Through Chinese Eyes. Stanford University Press, 1958. Lin Zezu, Letter to Queen Victoria (1839) https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/files/Primary%20Source%2013.0%20-%20Lin.pdf [https://media.bloomsbury.com/rep/files/Primary%20Source%2013.0%20-%20Lin.pdf]