#49 1914-1945 The Unforeseen Consequences: The Russian Revolution

How did the USSR manage to survive until 1989? In 1917, Russia was an ancient sprawling empire across thousands of miles of land. Despite a sophisticated and wealthy Court in Moscow, her peasantry was some of the poorest in all of Europe. There were a few isolated western factories, but the population was illiterate and there was no education except for an elite. Yet despite the invasions in 1918-1920 and the intense poverty of the people, Russian forces were able, just 25 years later, to repel the German invasion in 1942. Russia sacrificed 25 million people in the process.