Russian Civil War

[Steve J]

Some very inspiring stuff there . Shame it's not subtitled though .

[Leman]

Not subtitled? Oh Nizhny Novgorod!!!

[OldenBUA]

Right then, more stuff. This is the film/series that was mentioned before about Admiral Kolchak. The second clip has subtitles, but you probably have to go to youtube to watch it. Anyway, this one you can buy on DVD with subtitles.

[freddy326]

Pah! try a bit of old school soviet cinema!! CHAPAEV!!!!!

[Alan]

haha! My favourite joke of the soviet times. A Pioneer trip visits the red army museum in moscow and one Pioneer spots a skeleton in a case and asks the curator who it is and the curator says "its great hero of soviet union, marshal chapaev". In the next case along there is a smaller skeleton. Another Pioneer asks who that one is and the curator says...

"its marshal chapaev as a child". Ha! You see, its 2 skeletons of the same person.

Anyway, I have not forgotten to take the pictures of the old part of the town. The outskirts were destroyed long ago, but I have got the 3 main trade buildings, the college, kolchaks headquarters and the theatre. This was the russian capital under Kolchak for a while and when the city was liberated from the white czarist forces there was quite a bit of fighting here around the buildings I took pictures of. As soon as I get home I will get them loaded up.

[cameronian]

'when the city was liberated from the white czarist forces '

Ah, those nice Chekists 'liberated' the city, how the inhabitants must have rejoiced.

[cameronian]

Pah! try a bit of old school soviet cinema!! CHAPAEV!!!!!

Stalinist sh*t from beginning to end.

[HPFlashman]

What would be a good read for general knowlegde on the RCW ? 

[Alan]

'when the city was liberated from the white czarist forces '

Ah, those nice Chekists 'liberated' the city, how the inhabitants must have rejoiced.

funnily enough, here they were quite happy about the whites being shoved out of town. When you look at the main street you can see the wealth this city had. Well, the rich merchants anyway. This was the location of the state fair of 1911 or 1910 I think, when companies from Britain took part. But a vast majority of the people here, still lived in wooden shacks, had no water and many had been "invited" to Omsk by the Czarist security services. This is the location of one of the logest parts of czarist death march that can still be seen. Imperial enemies were sent here long before the communists took over.

Also, during Kolchaks time, the city witnessed an extremely tight security situation, where mass hangings of the population took place. Its very interesting to see even now comments from Cameronian above and how Kolchak still divides this nation here.  Many Russians a very clear on life under communism. They lived it. I had some time living in a communist country too. Not Brilliant. But they don't look at the time of Kolchak with any great fondness either. The film created a lot of political and social difficulties when it was released.

But anyway, I will put the pictures up as discussed and you can get the modelling knives out... or not.

[OldenBUA]

What would be a good read for general knowlegde on the RCW ? 

I'm currently reading the Osprey 'Essential Histories' on the RCW. It gives you the who, where and when, and if nothing else, a select bibliography of further reading.

[freddy326]

Stalinist sh*t from beginning to end.

not really Stalinist, but it does tow the Bolshevik line. The film was based on a novel written by a commissar who fought with Chapaev and I was comparing it to 'The Admiral',
but I do enjoy reading thoughtful and well reasoned comments such as yours!

The Chapaev film also spawned a whole load of jokes, such as this

'On the occasion of an anniversary of the October Revolution, Furmanov gives a political lecture to the rank and file: "...And now we are on our glorious way to the shining horizons of Communism!"
"How did it go?", Chapaev asks Petka afterwards. "Exciting!... But unclear. What the hell is a horizon?"
"See Petka, it is a line you may see far away in the steppe when the weather is good. And it's a tricky one -- no matter how long you ride towards it, you'll never reach it. You'll only wear down your horse."'

but I think you need to be Russian to really appreciate them! By the way Furmanov was the commissar mentioned earlier who wrote the novel and Petka is Chapaev's aide-de-camp

[freddy326]

What would be a good read for general knowlegde on the RCW ? 

The Osprey gives a good basic overview. both of the following will give a much more in depth view

Orlando Figes, A People's Tragedy
Evan Mawdsley, The Russian Civil War