The Russian Revolution: From Tsarism to Bolshevism

by Jonathan D. Smele

The Russian Revolution of 1917 was a key turning point in the history of modern Europe and the world. For much of the twentieth century, politics were defined by attitudes to what had taken place in Russia in 1917. To understand the Russian Revolution, then, is to understand a key building block of modern history and the contemporary world. Senior lecturer and renowned Russian researcher Dr. Jonathan Smele sheds new light on the many forces that came to bear in tsarist Russia, from the emancipation of the serfs in the midnineteenth century to the climactic revolutions of the early twentieth century that brought the small Bolshevik party to power.

Genres: History, Audiobook, Nonfiction, Russia, Politics

7 pages, MP3 Book

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jonathan Smele teaches Russian and European history at Queen Mary, University of London and has published extensively on the Russian revolutions and civil wars.

Reviews

[- Jared - ₪ Book Nerd ₪]

I found this lecture to be rather difficult to follow as the lecturer speech varies in speed and he didn't relate the history in a way I found intriguing and easy to follow. History is a story and it should be told as such and not read like a bland textbook. On a technical and informative level, I cannot find any fault with it. However from an engaging level I found it entirely lacking. Perhaps I'll give it another try as maybe it was just my mood interfering with lecture and the subject matter really interests me as I am studying Russian Literature as well this year. I'll try some other materials and circle back to this one again if I have time. I'll update my review then...

[Honza Prchal]

Rereading this with the short story and the the second story under my belt helped me orient a bit better as to what is most important, namely cats and their interactions with other sentients, and the oddities of etherealists and the aether's effects of living things (has the earth lost much of its magnetic shield?)
Butcher's humour comes through concurrent with his (at the time he wrote this) separation from his wife and long-time writing collaborator that clearly inspired much of the Mist Shark storyline.

[Emily]

The big idea that I got from listening to this book is that Russia is entirely unique in the world. Her history and development is unlike most western civilizations and even Asian civilizations. It was also good for me to hear a few Russian vocabulary words like, "duma." I was astonished to learn that there were agrarian peasants working farms for their landlords even until the 1800s. An interesting "read" for sure, although I definitely spaced out at times.

[anja]

good introduction to the russian revolution, not very in depth. if you want more details i would recommend the revolutions podcast

[Derek]

Unmemorable.

[Tim]

I’ve been a fan of all things Russian since I read Leo Tolstoy. The Russian Revolution is instructive for us, as the whole Western world seems to be moving (slower or faster) toward some form of socialism or communism. Thus, knowledge of the history of the fall of the great Tsarist regime into Communism is important.

These lectures offer a helpful, modern assessment of Russia's transition from the Tsarist regime to the loathsome regime of the Bolsheviks. These lectures were well worth the time spent.

[Kevin]

This is a series of lectures given by Jonathan D. Smele. Very well done, informative and lays the ground work for how Communism took root and the Soviet Union came to be.

[Lori]

Wish it was more in depth but only 7 cds with 14 lectures covering centuries of Russian history condensing had to take place. Seemed like it was kind of cut-off to fit the disc at end.

[Tadas Talaikis]

Wanted a lot more details, but probably it's difficult as documentation in this side of the world is completely f**d up.