Ones. Starting november ninth on g. W. Once upon a time there was a country the largest in the world. In fact it was an empire it was called the soviet union shortly before its seventieth birthday get back from the map. It was a good. Idea to be a ship if you shave with a group if you believe if you take the stool for you. With. The union of the soviet socialist republics as the state was officially called was one of the global powers of the Twentieth Century two hundred ninety Million People lived in it locked up behind the socalled iron curtain. The soviet union was founded in one nine hundred twenty two and broke up in one thousand nine hundred ninety one. But the average Life Expectancy of a soviet man at the time was sixty three years so sixty nine and trolling wasnt a bad age to reach. Your the machine a former submarine commander has been running a museum devoted to the soviet union since his retirement. In fact many still Wax Nostalgic about the soviet union looking back at chief lee and its power and internal cohesion and the victories that it won one hundred fifty peoples in fifteen autonomous republics that was the soviet union. Bigger than yours its course it was would throw everyone backs latvians russians or ukrainians said i am a citizen of the soviet union somewhere that was the most important thing it wasnt propaganda your propaganda. But propaganda is a key word when it comes to the soviet union the red star and then in the victorious monuments of the great patriotic war all over russia they still celebrate the power and strength of the soviet empire. The home of communism it was both a vision and in one manner. After the soviet unions collapse some of its former republics became more open to western influences every summer a hundred thousand young people used to flock to the Worlds Largest techno festival and goes on to fan crimea and dance to the backdrop of the black sea. The Russian Occupation of crimea in two thousand and fourteen put an end to that the festival moved to georgia where the Orthodox Church promptly tried to have it banned. The Orthodox Church as one hundred fifty million members and it wields power across the former republic. Yes. The condemned by the churches have been open again for the last twenty five years and theyre always full in spite of almost one hundred years of godlessness and the soviet governments attempts to destroy religion it said. But the search for meaning and values hasnt led only to a resurgence of religion fame and a radical feminist activist group founded in ukraine is anything but pious topless for freedom and they call themselves extremists and of pledge to fight patriarchy in the Sexual Exploitation of women in all its forms. Die is considered yes there is conservatism and there is patriarchy but at the same time our society is ready to accept and create something new something new Something Different from western european values. But not all the former soviet republics wanted to be different from the west some like the Baltic States wanted to become part of it. As tony of latvia and lithuania made the greatest efforts to draw away from russia to eventually join the e. U. And nato and became part of the new europe. We are in central europe. We were illegally occupied and we are now striving for democracy and european citizenship. But large parts of the Old Soviet Union went in another direction in some regions it even seems as if time is too and still many people have left their villages in search of a better life for the day there was a house here and one there and over there where the trees. Or was a house to arouse us everywhere. Many now look back in anger at the end of the soviet union. New borders sprang up countries and peoples were divided by heated debates about whether they were russian ukrainian mold of an or chechen. One example it was trans newest rehab a small breakaway region that grew up in response to disputes about the new old fishel language in the republic of moldova. Just. Like guys theres an old proverb where you start to divide the land where you start to divide language blood will flow from a visit from your circle. A lot of blood has flowed in the years since the soviet empire the center breaded. In twenty fourteen war broke out in ukraine former brothers in arms founding members of the soviet union are now bitterly fighting each other. Its as if the decades they shared had never existed. For savers everything. Is in the other if youd asked me two years ago whether russia would attack ukraine id have said no ilya. The kremlin in moscow was the soviet unions nerve center since the very beginning the lights are still on in the kremlin people used to say with a mixture of calm and worry. The strongman in the kremlin has always been the countrys sole ruler at the moment its blood in the pudding a man who knows how to wield his power and is both loved and hated for. Some former soviet republics and many people feel threatened by moscow and russia. They feel they no longer speak the same language. And its a record to prison now someone just recently warned me there are people here who are prepared to kill you just like that i said she said why the hunting season is just starting to come visit us well go hunting and fishing drink vodka have fun bathe in the sea why. Why. Why has all that held the soviet union together been so quickly lost the masterminds behind the socialist multinational state wanted to relegate capitalism to the rubbish heap of history. Now theyve ended up on it themselves. The soviet union was founded on an ideology that was supposed to improve the world and eradicate the poverty and hunger that had decimated the peoples of the czars empire. In one nine hundred seventeen lenin and the bolsheviks seized power in russia their great socialist october revolution was supposed to be a call to World Revolution and an end to capitalism which in russia was still in its infancy. For four years the reds lenins bolsheviks fought a bloody civil war against the counterrevolutionary whites millions died in the conflict. The victorious red guard turned into the red army and the red army in turn became a pillar of the newly founded state. The red star above the kremlin became a symbol of the empire the epitome of the other world they called itself the dictatorship of workers and peasants. That name aptly summed up how democratic it would really be the newly founded communist party of the soviet union the c. P. S. U. Became the ruling party indeed the only party. Yet the russian word soviet means council and the soviet union literally the union of councils had its roots in the democratically organized councils of the revolutions of one thousand nine hundred five and one thousand and seventeen. Communism is soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country lenin said but what it really meant was expropriation and collectivization. There was to be only one form of ownership under communism the ownership of the people. Once i was gone so i decided. The soviet union had a decisive advantage over capitalism with property of all resources all Productive Forces were owned by the peoples the simple and by society live inside it or just the world. It was a utopian vision of a new world with a new sort of citizen free of the weight of Class Division and nationality whose backs georgians russians and ukrainians were all to become brothers in the new union of soviet socialist republics. Where many people saying that the idea of commerce a socialist was good about danis was the start that i think is a great follow the idea ever was a very bad from the baby being invented it. Thank you no our freedoms. And the implementation was as bettison one year. In one thousand nine hundred four in the children in the soviet unions founding father died he was succeeded by a Georgian Joseph Stalin literally man of steel. Style and capitalized on the russian longing for a strong man azhar a leader and used brute force to impose communist ideology. Style and purges represented another pillar of the system fear and arbitrariness. Seven hundred thousand people died during the great terror of one nine hundred thirty six to thirty eight either executed out of hand or perishing in the concentration camps of the infamous good luck. Today stalins bust once again stands by the kremlin wall. They started this that it never ends yet when stalin took over power after lennons death. He swore a solemn oath on lenins tomb. If theyre to expand the soviet union. Thats the territory of the soviet union. Listed that its already as the site. In one nine hundred forty you nonaggression pact signed with nazi germany the year before gave stallin a green light to annex the Baltic States. Having expunged the last nine soviet stain in the north style and now controlled the baltic coast with the annexation of estonia and latvia and lithuania the soviet union was now the largest it would ever be. Fifteen soviet republics united by a core culture laid down by moscow the official language was russian from moscow to minsk from vilnius to kiev. Slowly the crimean language disappeared for many people found out very painful would everything was done to make us feel like a single perfect torrijos entity. With the conviction that we worst soviet man. From the stitches in the we were proud to belong to the greatest surely the strongest of people to this undefeated country. Anybody gimli history in the end. The german attack on the soviet union led to a victory for the empire that gave it a whole new sense of identity the great painter aeonic more forge the new nation together. The nine million soldiers and thirty seven million civilians who died during the war werent merely victims they were soviet picked us none of the other warring states lost as many people as the soviet union. Tajiks and belorussians because x. And turkmen russians and ukrainians own joined together to celebrate the great victory thanks. The peoples of the soviet union now had a new common denominator War Memorials from volatile ground to minsk still bear witness to the pride of the victors. Millions of russian soldiers died to free europe from hitlers fascism. We freed europe the world and germany from fascism. Got a minute whats the. One nine hundred forty five victorious soviet union sees this is dorothy chance to increase its influence in europe with the potsdam agreement. It explored. They did system westwards to berlin and in the same time laid down a security cordon. In one thousand giddy five the warsaw pact through the countries of the eastern bloc into a military alliance now two blocks squared off against each other the warsaw pact against nato. The armies of the eastern bloc became brothers in arms the hot war became a cold one and the red army the biggest in the world maintained its vigilance with five hundred thousand soldiers and east germany and tens of thousands in czechoslovakia hungary and poland. The council for mutual economic assistance comiccon linked to the economies of the socialist countries each country had its own specialisation. Socialist planning in the comic con network meant one country build engines the next cars another tractors and so on. But the big brother reserved the right to build aircraft for itself. The soviet union had most of the Raw Materials especially oil a hard currency on the global market. The socialist system managed to establish itself across continents from the arctic to the steps of central asia. In space the soviet union even stole a march on its socalled class enemy the first unmanned side. The light sputnik. The first living creature. The first man National Hero yuri gagarin. And the first woman but on tina turner. Were sent into orbit around the earth from the cosmos drum in Baikonur Kazakstan socialism was conquering the universe lenin would have been pleased. Back on earth soviet culture was exported to warsaw to prague berlin and budapest russian was a compulsory language in schools and increasingly supplanted the National Languages in the soviet republics. Yes. But for many this was all propaganda the system never truly won their support. This is the most repressive system. It was founded its on the suppression of private on the ship and markets in place by the monopoly of state on a suit and command economy. And once you introduce these measures well have to abolish civil rights democracy is impossible to have and democratic so that more of the. Popular revolts against the soviet model were put down with brute force. The warsaw pact tanks rolled through berlin in one nine hundred fifty three. Through budapest in one thousand fifty six. And prague in one nine hundred sixty eight. Everywhere it flickered up the growing longing for a free your socialist system was violently crushed. The kremlin was determined to maintain its hold on the entire eastern bloc. The rulers in the kremlin loved to flaunt the power of socialism in martial rituals with massive parades on red square in moscow as well as in berlin prague and budapest. The soviet army was the Worlds Largest army with over five million soldiers nobody asked what this cost ultimately it became clear that it cost too much the soviet empire was living beyond its means. In one thousand nine hundred seventy nine the soviet army marched into afghanistan. This marked the beginning of a proxy war for control of the hindu called. The kremlins plan was to help afghanistan on the path to socialism and expand its empire at the same time. But the mujahideen werent moscows be. And i mean the americans were supporting the afghan rebels with money and arms. Well not good sign your blood. The war on afghanistan was a strategic mistake by brezhnev and the soviet communist party as a whole. The army couldnt win. By the most. To be victorious it would have needed a clear task in other words it should have knowing what it was fighting for. And that is. Economically the soviet union and thus the entire eastern bloc did well as long as the price of oil remained tied but when the oil price fell on the world market the bill became do nothing had been invested in the countrys factories for decades many were still stuck back in the one nine hundred fifty s. In one nine hundred eighty awarning of mounting trouble for the eastern bloc came from poland from the Lenin Shipyard of all places. Solidarity with the first Free Trade Union in the whole eastern bloc called a general strike after an increase in meat prices. Almost the whole country was behind it another soviet invasion seemed imminent the polish government prevented it by proclaiming martial law and smashing the strike but many saw this sign of resistance as a signal of hope. Poland was seen as the most colorful hut in the camp the least soviet and very catholic. On his first visit to warsaw in one nine hundred seventy nine the polish Pope John Paul the second called for sweeping changes i who am a son of the land of poland to cry renew the face of the earth. His will was soon to be done. When a comparatively young man took power in the kremlin in one thousand nine hundred five a wind of change blew through the eastern bloc the list as it is Mikhail Gorbachev was a source of hope for many in the soviet union as well as in the west. Well in new york in one thousand nine hundred eighty eight americans cheered him more than they did their own president. But i was thrilled by called. But i saw a politician who could answer questions from western journalists without a piece of paper. Which i liked it so much that i even hung a picture of him on the wall in my office i was head of the Nuclear Physics department so the picture hung there two years when youre still five you still part of your government show. In one thousand nine hundred six the meltdown of a Nuclear Reactor a char noble sound of the Early Warning for garbage off and the whole system and although it was actually a technical failure it showed up the real state of the soviet economy. And get kicked gorbachev in a later tried to react but was hamstrung by the systems propaganda mechanisms. But propaganda was no match for radiation damage. The work of those are. After the reactor failure in chernobyl a lot became clear to me with the bill cook first as a communist and only then as a manager. And so many people had to suffer because nothing was done to stop the spread of radioactivity and i joke he was gone much off was absolutely unethical or i took his picture down and tore it up in front of the assembled team and threw it into the waste paper basket it was a list of the u. S. Nuclear physicist stanislaw gave it she was among those who recognized moscows responses as lies he decided to go into politics to try and change things. Is really a good joke that was like we lived on the soviet paternalism we were told that we lived better than everyone else when i was abroad i saw that we were much worse off as it was you know. Most people suspected that even if they never had been abroad but not even gorbachev could manage to save the economically battered empire with party speeches alone. The general secretary of the c. P. S. U. Son to strengthen the soviet union by implementing reforms but that turned out to be what diminished his prestige at home. The economic crisis reached a dramatic proportions even Food Supplies temporarily dried up. Shelves were empty sometimes there wasnt even any bread. Gorbachev blamed alcohol is one cause of the misery and the main enemy of his reform plans. But for Many Russians it was a way of coping with life. At the beginning of the one nine hundred eighty s. There were an estimated twenty million alcoholics in the soviet union which had disastrous consequences for productivity and around. When the newspapers announced that the government was intending to cut alcohol supplies widespread panic broke out. Now instead of not working because they were drunk many werent working because they were queuing for alcohol. The state was losing around ten billion rubles a year in tax revenues because of the alcohol ban. Garbage also authority waddled as people mocked him as the mineral water secretary hardly a compliment in the soviet union. The war in afghanistan the gorbachev had inherited it was now in its tenth year. It was very costly and weighed heavily on the soviet economy. Above all it ate away at more out. Of the soviet army had one hundred fifteen thousand soldiers in afghanistan. More than fifteen thousand officers and soldiers from all the republics of the soviet union lost their lives there and over fifty thousand were wounded. Countless others were left traumatized by the fighting. In one nine hundred eighty nine govern. Ended the war when the troops returned to their homeland they were cheered out of relief not because they were victors. Moscows empire now had its own vietnam. A stalemate the high price in soldiers money and prestige help to play a role in the soviet unions collapse. Glasnost the second pillar of gorbachevs reforms means transparency now people could talk about the open wounds of soviet history the victims of stalinism the low morale in the army the soviet system of values was faltering. Valentino melnyk over and the mothers of soldiers from all over the country began to organize themselves in ways it was said at the beginning we were dealing with general questions what does conscription mean what rights do you have nobody knew anything and everything was secret so the army units remain silent and the Prosecutors Office didnt intervene when there were beatings bullying or suicides. Fresh recruits were systematically harassed and abused by the older soldiers. Terrible grievances came to light and became Common Knowledge throughout the republic and the entire eastern bloc. And. The image of the glorious soviet army was more than a little tarnished. A wave of public protests led to investigations yet another pillar of the system began to wobble the ideology of the new better man under communism. If it was like that at the time glasnost was a time of euphoria. But euphoria doesnt think people you know much of struggle to shore up their foundering pillars of the soviet system to somehow weld together the unwieldy behemoths that was coming apart at the seams when for glasnost the new comer freedom and he even legalized bribery bonuses. We try to correct most but it was the beginning of the end of the so that you know because remember something was based on the repression and on shia problem of. The problem is that any system especially a totalitarian one can only exist as a whole because the attempt to introduce new elements leads to its destruction purification. This destruction began in the Baltic States in the three republics which had been the last to join the soviet union. Billet the way in ians hadnt forgotten how brutally stalin had crushed resistance to the soviet an accession in the one nine hundred forty s. Journalist new york about jeter was one of those who were soviet on the surface while harboring a strong hidden desire to be Something Else entirely. Perhaps youve heard this word before and saw you this is a movement so we called ourselves the Reform Movement of lithuania a movement to liberate lithuania from up attracted occupation. It was called the singing revelation because everything began with songs and rallies. The. Bed to measure the key in this we hoped that we would not be punished if we emerged from the soviet union. That was a precedent. Was up to two hundred fifty thousand people gathered for mass independence rallies and billions in one nine hundred eighty nine. She told us nuns bagus was the leader of situs. Nast. It is our right to look after our own affairs. And we will do better. Yeah we do not need moscow to tell us what to produce and what price we should sell it at. Someone who fixes the prices and leaves us only charity with. Soviet helicopters circled above the masses dropping leaflets. But the propaganda no longer work it merely united the people and fuel their. On august twenty third one thousand nine hundred nine exactly fifty years after the Hitler Stalin pact and robbed them of their independence around two Million People formed a six hundred kilometer human chain from tallinn to riga to vilnius. Members of the c. P. S. You are resigning from the party. Finally because gorbachev went to lithuania himself but it was too late even his charm didnt work. The baltic countries were heading for the door. It was the first time a soviet leader had ever visited lithuania and the last. Time. On march eleventh one thousand nine hundred lithuania supreme soviet declared independence the first of the three Baltic States to do so. Estonia followed on march the thirtieth of latvia five weeks later they didnt ask whether they could leave the kremlins empire they just did it. But moscow wasnt prepared to relinquish its hold over the three Baltic States without a fight. On january thirteenth one thousand nine hundred one pro kremlin forces backed by the soviet military marched into vilnius occupying strategically important locations including a radio and television center. Locals trying to stop them and shooting broke out. The owner was working for lithuanian radio and experienced the coup attempt at first hand in the broadcasting center. The journalists decided to keep on spreading the message and documenting this attack on freedom. Because it was there was a tank next to this old building because. Yeah i was on the eighth floor and we counted how many military vehicles went by. There were eighty two. Not just tanks but other military vehicles to hear them just as machine. Lithuanian radio and Television Programs continued to broadcast. This is where the crowd that protected us stood the whole place was full of people when you. Like so many in the city. B. G. And i was worried about her family. Thats all my son wasnt intimidated he didnt run away he stood still. People tried to stop the tanks with their bare hands. Past the bed you know when the ambulances went out and there was shooting it was terrible the streets were like an anthill full of people and i had a funny feeling i said to my husband. Please go and look for him. It is a computer it to a cache what. The soldiers used brute force to gain access to the building. Anyone who stood their ground was run over by the tanks. The presenter didnt know she was off the air. But i b m i am. Now. I really wanted to reach landsberg and tell him what was going on here. I called and he came to the phone he said. Repeat that please and held the phone to the microphone and those who were there that night heard what was happening to us. And then i told him how many injuries there had been and so on. Bagus acting as head of state tried to reach moscow went up the bloodshed. You know that i know that. They were you know. Your right as the book i was at home and pacing the room to call myself. I said to myself. There are thousands of people out there why him im. Going to say. But how he is then i went with my relatives to look for him but i already knew they wanted to go to the hospital but i just said lets go to the morgue if he was still alive even if he was in a bad way he would certainly have called us he was conscientious we found him in the morgue as good. Morning. Dario scabbard top e. G. O. s was just seventeen years old. Fourteen people were killed on that bloody sunday in videos and more than a thousand injured. But they managed to end the coup. Belittle any instead paid a high price for their freedom. And the soviet union would no longer recover from its defeat. Euro max highlights. From very mediterranean. To exceedingly nordic. Minimalistic and whimsical. Steeped in tradition yet still modern the best of life and culture in europe the highlights. Its all about the moments that lie before. Its all about the stories inside. Its all about your chance to discover the world from different perspectives. Join us and inspired by distinctive instagram or years at g. W. Stories a new topic each week on instagram. They make a commitment. They find solutions. They inspire. Africa on the minds of stories about people making a difference shaping their nation. And their continent w. s new multimedia series for africa. The dot com africa on the move. A student news coming to live from berlin we begin with some breaking news a Texas Church Shooting reportedly leaves several data a gunman opened fire on sunday services at a real church in texas witness