Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapters Circa 74
This video traverses Solzhenitsyn’s evaluation of Tsar Nicholas II, the tsar at the onset of WWI and the tsar who acquiesced in the cover up of Stolypin’s assassination. The tsar, while a good man, was not really fit to rule. This section could be seen as a treatment of Russia under Nicholas as well.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapter 65 (Stolypin)
This is a treatment–a cursory treatment necessarily–of the statesmanship of Pyotr Stolypin, whom Solzhenitsyn seems to consider Russia’s last great hope. Stolypin was ultimately killed, it seems, by reactionary forces in Russia.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapters 58-64
This video not only discusses the additions Solzhenitsyn made to the second edition, but it also sets the stage for a discussion of Solzhenitsyn’s important discussions of Stolypin and Tsar Nikolai. The section begins with a flash to Sasha Lenartovich’s relatives back in Russia and the lukewarm politics of his sister, Veronika. It leads to […]
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914, Chapters 43-57
This video focuses more on the attempts of various Russians to deal with encirclement–General Samsonov kills himself, while Vorotynstev, the fictional hero, seeks a way out of himself and for his country.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914, Chapters 33-41
This video discusses the closing of the circle, as the Germans come to surround the Russians at the battle and what that closing means for Solzhenitsyn.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapters 23-28
This video covers the battle in a micro-level, with the hopes of showing that the narrative thread of the battle illuminates Solz’s larger theme about the collapse of the Russian feudal regime. It is rich with maps to show that Solz is a genuine artist in how he depicts the collapse of the Russian military […]
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapter 22
Analysis of Lenin as a politician and theorist
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914, Chapters 12-21
This video continues a series on Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914, with an emphasis on the decadent feudal regime in Russia and how it hampered the capacities of its armies
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapters 10-12
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, August 1914, Chapters 1-9
This video provides an account of the first part of Solzhenitsyn’s August 1914, where he discusses the problems with Russian education caused by Tolstoy’s philosophy and Western-style progressivism.