The Largest Megaproject in History

The Trans-Siberian railway, at least to me, has always been an enigmatic topic in the sphere of Russian history. It's very famous today, but I have seen virtually no coverage of its origins and history outside of a Wikipedia article or two. Needless to say, Wikipedia isn't exactly a very thorough or extensive source.

Considering its cultural clout and fame, I thought that this was a particularly sorry state of affairs and that it deserved a bit more of the limelight. Well, here's that limelight. This video covers the political origins of the Trans-Siberian railway, the rise of the man most commonly associated with it (Sergei Witte), and the construction process. It is nowhere near exhaustive, I basically had to cut 800 words from the final script because it was getting too unwieldy - but nonetheless, I hope you enjoy.

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Chapters:
0:00 The Iron Road
1:17 Origins of the Railway
5:41 Sergei Witte Takes the Reins
9:23 The Construction & Logistics
12:21 The Working Conditions
15:01 Completing the Railway
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*The visuals or audio herein may not be utilised to train a machine learning algorithm of any kind without express permission of the Copyright holder (IMPERIAL)*

[Семкай]

And don't forget that the railway isn't the only thing that were built as a part of this project. Entire city of Novonikolaevsk (now it's called Novosibirsk) was built just to provide railway bridge with necessary supplies and workers.

[fedecano]

I was aboard the Trans-Siberian, Moscow to Beijing, during the winter of 2011. This was part of a bigger trip that I did that year where I went from Poland to Vietnam by train. Definetly cruising through Siberia was the highlight of trip. Watching the snow blanketed dachas fuming through their lil chimneys and then the frozen and limitless expanse of Russia itself. We also crossed a big desert, wich I think it was the western tip of the Gobi desert, and it was a pretty cool contrast after days of only white. The best view though was watching the sun rise over a complety icy "Lake Baikal" chef kiss

Anyway, let me tell you was felt pretty special to me; the most fascinating part about riding aboard the Trans-Siberian is watching the people, day by day, while you go to the east, as their facial factions turn progressively more Asian. It's subtle, but totally noticeable. Every day (remember it's a 7 day trip) you get to see the changes, untill you reach China of course. That's something you would never experience, or even think about it, on a 10 hour flight from Moscow to Beijing.

The train was almost empty and I made some good friends aboard, , ohh men good times!
The arrival to Beijing Central station was quite the schock ! First time in China for me and you are right in the middle of the city.

Feel freee to ask any question .. I like reminiscing about it!

[ult_vain]

I swear bro, it’s been like one second in and I’m already here wondering why you don’t have a million subscribers

[josezuniga]

It's unreal how good your editing and presentation skills are, the animations feel practically artistic

[Berjozka]

Hello from Siberia! I am very glad that someone made a video about my Motherland. I didn't expect the English video to be the first on Youtube covering this topic though there is no Russian video covering the Trans-Siberian Railway theme as good as this one! Thanks for your job! As a student who studies History I should say that the video is very accurate and intersting even for me. I want add that during soviet period there was BAM built in the area. It goes across China's border. USSR needed to build it due to the high-risk escalation with CPR that would lead to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk cut off from mainland. Also, one of the key reasons for the start of the Russo-Japanese War was that the Russian Empire wanted to control Manchuria with its railway, but Japan was to conquer it first. Russo-Japanese war led to First Russian revolution and the strengthening of communist and socialst movements in Russia. Paradoxically - the project, which was designed to unite the country, led to a revolution and further dissociation!

[iamneophyte]

What a beautiful, beautiful video. The script, pacing, narration, visual style, and artful craft are all superb, and worth of a content creator magnitudes larger in channel size. you are, in my mind, one of the most underrated creators on the platform. thank you for your videos.

[grantmccoy]

It seems pretty reasonable to me to build a railway connecting the east and west. It's good for travel, but also, logistics. Whenever people go into the frontier without any established support, it's difficult. I think it's easy to say it was about control or whatever, but it's really just about utilizing technology for all of the practical applications. I bet it's a really interesting route. It's very iconic and famous.

I'm glad you made comparisons to the Panama canal, and showed the pictures of it's construction. It's a really fascinating project as well. Possibly more ambitious too honestly. But the railway is still really cool.

[gelasson]

I don't know if it was meant as an easter egg, but the "accountant" guy we see at 04:06 is one of the lesser known but one of the greatest russian writers of all times - Dmitry Merezhkovsky. A truly deep thinker who deserved to take the Nobel Prize in literarature all ten times he'd been nominated... But that once again proves the Nobel committee missed more talents than it aknowledged

[yyqcyom]

This railway connecting economic center of Siberia - cities Novosibisrk, Kemerovo, Krasnoyrsk with western part of Russia. This railway very important in terms of economic. Novosibirsk is even third lagest city in Russia

[spectacles-dm]

How did I miss this coming out?? WOW! What an astonishing video, as usual. Witte is one fascinating figure indeed.

[MrVlad]

Its was not "unproductive", after all production is not measured merely by resources, connecting Far East with the Western Russia allowed for people to freely move through the whole country, which in itself increased productivity and mobility of the nation.

[SVDP]

Офигеть. Я сначала думал, что это канал иметь более миллиона подписчиков. А оказывается меньше 30 тысяч. Желаю тебе удачи, с продвижением канала :)

[mayakstudios]

I live a 10-minute walk from the Trans-Siberian Railway, trains just run every five minutes, I like to watch them

[waffle_bars]

I've just discovered this channel, and have been delighted by every video I've seen so far. The captivating visuals and easy-to-follow, yet incredibly interesting writing and narration are surely a winning combination. Thank you for the effort you put in, and I hope to see more good stuff soon.

[Ozzy]

It still baffles me how you dont have more subs. Love what you do!

[MatveyTsivinyuk]

I wouldn't say that the railway was mostly an ambitious autocratic megaproject. It actually had a great economical impact later.

[mayakstudios]

the construction was difficult, but not in vain, sailing by ship from Odessa to Vladivostok also ended with many victims. And the railway saved Russia during the war with the Germans. And I can get to Europe by train)

[saltyleaf]

Most underrated channel on YouTube. Keep it up and I'm sure your well deserved recognition is coming soon!

[dolphin]

This is a really well done video as always. I enjoy how you explained the history of this railroad in depth. Some textbooks, or at least mine, do not really have much information about this railroad rather than just a mention. So, I was really intrigued to hear about this railroad project.

Thank you for sharing this information and I am looking forward to your next video.

[baulus]

This deserves much more. Especially the animations are excellently made, but everything is just so well done