Summary of Anne Applebaum's Red Famine

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.

Book Preview: #1 The march in Kyiv on the Sunday morning of 1 April 1917 was the first of its kind. It was the first time the Ukrainian national movement showed itself in such force on Russian soil.

#2 The intellectuals of the Central Rada, who began as self-appointed spokesmen for the national cause, did seek democratic legitimacy. They held an All-Ukrainian National Congress on 19 April 1917, which supported the new Ukrainian government.

#3 The Ukrainian government, led by the third and final Universal, declared independence on 26 January 1918. It was recognized by all of the main European powers, including France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, and even Soviet Russia.

#4 The first Soviet attempt to conquer Ukraine in January 1918 ended when the German and Austrian armies arrived and declared they intended to enforce the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Instead of saving the liberal legislators of the Central Rada, they threw their support behind Pavlo Skoropadsky, a Ukrainian general.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: Mar 9, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669357704

IRB Media

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Insights on Anne Applebaum's Red Famine

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 4

Insights from Chapter 5

Insights from Chapter 6

Insights from Chapter 7

Insights from Chapter 8

Insights from Chapter 9

Insights from Chapter 10

Insights from Chapter 11

Insights from Chapter 12

Insights from Chapter 13

Insights from Chapter 14

Insights from Chapter 15

Insights from Chapter 16

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

The march in Kyiv on the Sunday morning of 1 April 1917 was the first of its kind. It was the first time the Ukrainian national movement showed itself in such force on Russian soil.

#2

The intellectuals of the Central Rada, who began as self-appointed spokesmen for the national cause, did seek democratic legitimacy. They held an All-Ukrainian National Congress on 19 April 1917, which supported the new Ukrainian government.

#3

The Ukrainian government, led by the third and final Universal, declared independence on 26 January 1918. It was recognized by all of the main European powers, including France, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, and even Soviet Russia.

#4

The first Soviet attempt to conquer Ukraine in January 1918 ended when the German and Austrian armies arrived and declared they intended to enforce the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Instead of saving the liberal legislators of the Central Rada, they threw their support behind Pavlo Skoropadsky, a Ukrainian general.

#5

The national movement in Ukraine was led by Symon Petliura, a social democrat who had a talent for paramilitary organization. He seized Kyiv in December 1918, and power changed hands yet again. The Directory’s rule was short and violent, because Petliura never managed to obtain complete legitimacy.

#6

The Ukrainian national movement was launched with so much energy and hope in 1919, but by the end of the year, the country was in disarray. The Bolsheviks, a radical faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic and Labour Party, had taken over Russia in October 1917.

#7

Even before the revolution, the Bolsheviks had disdain for the idea of a Ukrainian state. They believed that peasants were not a class, and thus could not have class consciousness. They were thus incapable of enforcing their class interest in their own names through a parliament or convention.

#8

The Bolsheviks’ ambiguous stance on nationalism led them to be suspicious of Ukraine’s drive for independence. They believed that national feelings were a temporary phenomenon that would eventually disappear after the state faded away.

#9

The Russian Revolution put the Bolsheviks in charge of international events, and they used this to validate their ideology. The success of the revolution proved that Marx and Lenin were right. But the revolution also forced them to defend their power, and they had to create an army, a political police force, and a propaganda machine.

#10

The first Bolshevik occupation of Kyiv in February 1918 brought with it not only communist ideology but also a clearly Russian agenda. The Bolsheviks destroyed any evidence of Ukrainian rule, and ordered the execution of suspected nationalists.

#11

Lenin’s orders to the Ukrainian front were to send grain, grain, and more grain. Otherwise Petrograd might starve. The rapid loss of Ukraine to the German and Austrian armies in early March infuriated Moscow.

#12

The second Bolshevik occupation of Ukraine began in January 1919. While the Bolsheviks did not control the whole territory of what would become the Ukrainian Republic, they did exercise authority in many towns and cities.

#13

The link between food and power was something that the Bolsheviks understood very well. They used food shortages as a means of control, and they knew that whoever had bread had followers, soldiers, and loyal friends.

#14

During the Russian Revolution, the Bolsheviks took