Western Civilization II / Unit 15 WC2 1411 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The USSR Founded; Poland, Finland, the Baltics Free
Captions available
The idea
By nineteen twenty-two the Bolsheviks held Russia, Ukraine and Central Asia and founded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Poland, Finland and the Baltic states kept the independence the collapse had given them. The Cheka, founded in December nineteen seventeen, policed dissent and ran the camps.
In practice
No precedent existed for a socialist society.
Where people slip
The Cheka is witness-named.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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