How Vodka Ruined Russia

Vodka is the Russian Army's #1 enemy. It's killed more Russians than every war, combined. And in recent days, it's crippled the Russian Army's performance in its fight against Ukraine.

In this Russian history documentary, we explore the devastating impact vodka has had on the Russian Army. From poisoning incidents, to causing strategic disasters, vodka has truly ruined the Russian military. Then, we follow the history of vodka in Russia, from the Russian Empire, to the Soviet Union, to the reign of Vladimir Putin.

*Selected Sources:*

Putin's shadow vodka empire:

Other sources:

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[DiskusGames]

Now, to give to Putin some credit. Within the last year, he successfully stopped alcoholism from being the No.1 cause of death among Russian men.

[chaiwallah]

Vladimir Harkonnen: He who controls the spice, controls the universe

Vladimir Putin: He who controls vodka, controls the Russian populace

[Itriedtakennames]

In another intercepted call from Russian troops, one guy told his mom that they didn’t have enough food, got their water from rain puddles and slept on the ground in small group of trees without so much as a tarp….but they managed to get vodka. Mom thought drinking on duty wasn’t a great idea, but got a “what else can I do?!” response from the conscript.

[robwalsh]

I remember watching a documentary on the First Chechen war where they interviewed a Spetznaz soldier who seemed to have even more contempt for drunken regular infantry than the Chechen guerillas he was fighting.

[erichhugo]

When I lived in Moscow in 97 it was a wolf winter with tempratures regularly falling below -30 degrees celsius, The then mayor Juri Lushkov decided to pretend to be humanitarian and gather all the homeless people with army trucks and deposit them at the local rubbish dumps where they burnt rubbish so that these less fortunates could get some heat. Problem is he forgot they were all serious alchohol fiends and they passed out at the rubbish dumps which meant over 70 were cooked to death

[nyekomimi]

As a Polish person, most of time I'm ashamed of my country's invention.

But I'm glad it helps Ukrainian folk in recent times.

[ad_astra]

Ukrainian partisans should leave Vodka crates for Russian soldiers to drink, not even poison them just help them be constantly drunk so they are battle ineffective.

[fratercontenduntocculta]

This war has really inspired me to dig deep into history to understand the hows and whys of Russian history, and It's unimaginably depressing stuff. I really do feel pity for the average Russian being so ruthlessly exploited by their rulers for so long. I truly think nationwide PTSD is actually a thing, and Russian alcoholism is a direct response to being so deeply repressed. Again, fantastic research and presentation!

For a beautiful country, people sure are miserable living in it. Imagine drinking a lot of vodka just to cope living in your surroundings.

[qbjzens]

My ex worked for a subcontractor in charge of retrieving boosters for NASA. They had an exchange program with employees from Russia. My ex was in charge of accompanying the 13 Russian employees. At 3:00 on the first day they all pulled out their Vodka. They found it amazing that in the US we don’t drink on the job.

[joeschmoe]

One of my favorite speculations in history is that the enlightenment took place partly because people started drinking coffee instead of alcohol

[balefulsolstice]

There was a family so desperate for alcohol they started drinking hand sanitizer which killed them all. So sad to see alcoholism and addiction make people do the craziest things. I’ve struggled with addiction and still do, it never fully goes away but the self control has to be strong.

[deebo]

As someone who used to drink A LOT, a problem I had was that my nose and cheeks turned red even when I wasn't drinking. You can see this in a lot of pictures of russian soldiers.

[brityi_sviter]

As a former heavy drinker from Russia, I can confidently say that the consumption of alcohol strongly depends on quality of your life, your level of happiness in general. An obvious fact. A lot of people in Russia aren't happy with their quality of life with small salaries and rising taxes and prices. Government wants us to think that they're fighting alcoholism with rising alcohol excire taxes every year. But the only consequence it has is that now poor people can't afford good quality vodka (even though not all of it is actually that good on a mass market) and they buy cheap replacements which often contain methyl alcohol, so, basically, even more people are dying.
Instead of making people's lifes better with effective social policies, the government is just contributing to this huge problem with ubiquitous alcohol abuse.

[argenthellion]

My late father's words regarding the Yugoslav War: "The only way to preserve our sanity during the war was to get drunk most of the time."

[zeusmultirotor]

The half of that Russian troop that survived the poisoned laced vodka wants to know where they can get more of it

[francomartini]

Putin is a firm believer in the old Italian phrase, "The mother of the stupid is always pregnant." Or its Russian equivalent.

[nationradical]

It is disturbing researching how widespread and brutal spousal/partner abuse is in Russia, fuelled by alcohol use

[benjauron]

Vodka? No, now we call it "Freedom Potato Juice."