The vote, in the hands of an ignorant man, without either property or self-respect, will be used to the damage of the people at large; for the rich man, without honour or any kind of patriotism, will purchase it, and with it swamp the rights of a free people. Alexander II, emperor of Russia, interview Wharton Barker, Pavlovski Palace 17th August 1879, cited Barker’s ‘The Secret of Russia’s Friendship’
Napoleon now initiated the single largest military operation in history to date – the invasion of Russia. Andrew Roberts, Napoleon III, BBC 2015
The campaign had seen a catalogue of mistakes ... 95% had either died or been captured. ibid.
Russia has two generals in whom she can confide – Generals Janvier [January] and Fevrier [February]. Tsar Nicholas I
A few days ago I received a peasant from the Tobolsk province. He made a remarkably strong impression on Her Majesty and me. Tsar Nicholas II
If you’re fascinated by stories of royalty and royal power there’s nowhere better than this. Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley I: Reinventing Russia, BBC 2017
In Russia for more than 300 years … the Romanov dynasty … the most powerful monarchs in modern European history. ibid.
When their end came it was astonishingly brutal. ibid.
The age of the Romanovs began in a power vacuum … Back in 1613 Russia was leaderless … The coronation conferred absolutele power on the Tsar. ibid.
A vast sparsely populated backward country. ibid.
Peter the Great … he was six and a half feet all. ibid.
It needed to be powerful at sea. ibid.
The era was dominated by Catherine the Great possibly the most powerful woman in history. Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley II: Age of Extremes
Alexander would save the continent from the mightiest military leader of the age – Napoleon. And he’d even lead Russian forces on to the streets of Paris. ibid.
Catherine had sacrificed the rights of the serfs to keep the nobility on her side. ibid.
In the 1820s the Romanov dynasty appeared invincible. They’d ruled Russia for more than two centuries, they’d built an empire and beaten Napoleon. But now there was a new threat, more deadly than an invading army: the Russian people themselves. Empire of the Tsars: Romanov Russia with Lucy Worsley III: The Road to Revolution
Peter had wanted Russia to accelerate into the future; Nicholas would spend the next thirty years trying to put on the breaks. ibid.
In 1853 when Nicholas blundered into the Crimean war. ibid.
Alexander introduced a new ‘era of reaction’. He gave the authorities extensive powers to jail people and close down newspapers. ibid.
The Russian empire was still a medieval one. ibid.
In 1914 Nicholas led his people into the First World War. ibid.
In October came ‘the ten days that shook the world’ when Lenin’s Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government. ibid.
The Imperial family was suddenly slaughtered in this room. The new Soviet government had decided they were too dangerous to be left alive. Great Crimes & Trials s1e16: The Massacre of the Tsar and the Royal Family, BBC 1993
The autocracy of the Tsars was strongly upheld by the Russian Orthodox Church which was controlled by a government department. ibid.
The Tsar’s divorce from reality was made worse by the arrival at court of an illiterate holy man, Rasputin. He was a drunkard with a scandalous sex life. But the Tsarina became convinced that he could help control Alexander’s haemophilia. And he was soon her trusted adviser and closely involved with the family. ibid.
It’s a story rooted in the Imperial Russia of the Tsars ... an artist/jeweller – his company produces perhaps two hundred thousand unique objects. Fabergé: A Life of Its Own, Sky Arts 2016
The first Fabergé egg appears in 1885. ibid.
Shut down by the Bolsheviks. ibid.
This world conspiracy has been steadily growing. This conspiracy played a definite recognizable role in the tragedy of the French revolution. It has been the mainspring of every subversive movement during the 19th century. And now at last this band of extraordinary personalities from the underworld of the great cities of Europe and America have gripped the Russian people by the hair of their head and have become the undisputed masters of that enormous empire. Winston Churchill, to London press 1922
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. Winston Churchill
The illegitimate child of Karl Marx and Catherine the Great. Clement Attlee, re Russian communism
Citizen Romanov. Eighteen months of exile and house arrest. Days That Shook the World s1e5: Romanov Dynasty & Berlin Wall, BBC 2003
The Tsar had fallen. ibid.
His cousin George refuses to help. ibid.
The secret of politics? Make a good treaty with Russia. Otto von Bismark, 1863
The Russian Revolution was financed by Wall Street. Bill Kaysing
In spite of this grotesque misery, a prodigious impulse was given to public education. Such a thirst for knowledge sprang up all over the country that new schools, adult courses, universities and Workers’ Faculties were formed everywhere. Innumerable fresh initiatives laid open the teaching of unheard-of, totally unexplored domains of learning. Victor Serge
In the years of the greatest peril the soviets and the central executive committee of the soviets included left social revolutionaries (who were part of the government in the first nine months), Maximalists, anarchists, Menshevik social democrats, and even right social revolutionaries – the latter unalterable enemies of the new power. Far from fearing discussion, Lenin seeks after it, having Martov and Dan, who had been expelled from the All-Russian executive, invited to come to take the floor. He feels that he has something to learn from their merciless criticism. Victor Serge
The Men and the Maggots: Revolution is war. Battleship Potemkin 1925 starring Aleksandr Antonov & Vladimir Barsky & Grigori Aleksandrov & Ivan Bobrov & Mikhail Gomorov & Aleksandr Levshin & N Poltavseva & Konstantin Feldman & Beatrice Vitoldi et al, director Sergei Eisenstein
We the sailors of Potemkin must support our brothers the workers. We must stand in front of the ranks of the revolution. ibid. sailor to sailor
Comrades, the time has come for us to speak out! ibid. sailor
Russian POWs in Japan are fed better. ibid. sailor
Give us this day our daily bread. ibid. inscription on plate
Part Two: Drama in the Harbour. ibid. caption
Fire, you swine! ibid. captain
He who was the first to call for an uprising fell at the hands of a butcher. ibid.
Part Three: A Dead Man Calls for Justice. ibid.
There’s an uprising on the Potemkin. ibid. news
Death to the oppressors! We shall take revenge! ibid. on shore
Eternal glory to those who died for the revolution. ibid. caption
Down with Tsarism! ibid. crowd
The Potemkin prepared to meet the squadron. ibid. caption
Join us! ibid. Potemkin’s message
Brothers! Hurrah! ibid.
Complete equality of rights for all nations; the right of nations to self-determination; the unity of the workers of all nations – such is the national program that Marxism, the experience of the whole world, and the experience of Russia, teach the workers. Vladimir Lenin, The Right of Nations to Self-Determination
Vladimir’s childhood was comfortable in line with his father’s increasingly successful career. Lenin & The Russian Revolution, Youtube 2023