NOT The Origins of Russian Authoritarianism (Response to Kraut)

FOOTNOTES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY:

In this video, I will be responding to Kraut's "Origins of Russian Authoritarianism", and expanding on the history of the "Tatar Yoke" in Russian history.

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Timestamps
- 0:00:00 - Introduction
- 0:00:46 - Kraut's Sources
- 0:04:21 - Terminology and Background
- 0:06:23 - Nomad Isolation Myth
- 0:09:12 - The Mongols
- 0:12:27 - Economic Effects
- 0:13:25 - Isolation
- 0:16:23 - Why Nations Fail
- 0:18:11 - Novgorod
- 0:24:05 - Assimilation
- 0:25:38 - Despotism
- 0:29:33 - Zemsky Sobor
- 0:32:30 - The Wood Section
- 0:34:32 - Castles? Regions?
- 0:36:31 - "Nine Families Survived"
- 0:37:54 - Feudalism/Black Death
- 0:40:29 - Serfdom
- 0:47:32 - Other Factors
- 0:47:57 - The Church
- 0:52:07 - The Army
- 0:54:21 - Feeding
- 0:54:59 - Mestnichestvo
- 0:55:44 - Russian Culture
- 0:57:44 - Myth of the Tatar Yoke

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Links:

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#history #russia

[nojrants]

Hey everyone, thank you for checking out the video and leaving so many great comments. For people who left questions below I am still going through them and answering as best I can. Be sure also to check out the source document linked in the description, which explains several of the commonly asked questions.

I'm pinning a comment here because I noticed an error in the video:

53:30 - In the chart it accidentally says that Soldaty were cavalry, but that was supposed to say infantry.

[kvltntr]

ok smart guy, where are the countryballs and funny memes? your video is not credible without these.

[gustav]

47:31 Kraut's point here is absolutely astounding when one considers that he has made a video on Denmark, and must therefore presumably be at least somewhat acquainted with Danish absolutism, which was in actuality the closest any European country came to 'a perfect absolutism'. Danish absolutism was the only formally codified form of absolutism in Europe, and has frequently been cited as the most absolute of the absolute monarchies. Danish absolutism was no fluke either, as it lasted almost two hundred years without any serious revolts or threats made against it, and the modern day Danish civil service is a direct inheritance of absolutism, as the introduction of a parliament in 1848 did not do away with the old absolutist institutions. Most were just given a name-change.

[swanstarr]

I hate how people act as if nations are inherently a certain way, I think it’s one of the worst ways to view politics, and kraut has that big time

[flagman]

Almost all of Kraut's videos are taken from Fukuyama or Why Nations Fail. Like if you skim through the chapters, you can see where each video came from.

[albertp]

Treating irl nations as if they have faction traits/specializations like in strategy games is entertaining but otherwise silly and narrow minded

[f-btomcat]

13:35 Kraut mistakes Rostov with Rostov-on-Don, which was founded centuries later. Oh, boi...

[thecandlemaker]

And yet, this insanely well-researched video has merely 200k views, while doom and gloom sensationalism as practised by Kraut gets millions. It's clear what the people prefer to see...

[Wishowni-zqsu]

The level of detail and research in this video is insane! All the customs maps, graphics, and music really go above and beyond. Awesome video

[CasaTelvanni]

What makes the errors about the mongols in this video far worse is that in Kraut's series about Turkey, which he made before the russia video, he explicitely argues in the opposite sense of many of his charachterizations of the mongols, such as that nomadic peoples where isolated, had no state, where "barbaric" or despotic, and yet when he talks about russia he forgets all of that and just regurgitates centuries old historiography
Really makes you think

[wildfire]

Can’t wait for Kraut to cover the “Norman yoke” next.

[redaerfb]

Remember kids, Fukuyama failed so badly that he is still alive but his opus magnum is already outdated.

[cadianst]

Russia didn't have castles, which is why **checks notes** we use the word for Russian castles as a metonym for the Russian government. I have never watched Kraut, mostly because it always seemed like neoliberal propaganda

[BirdEgg]

Kraut likes to set political theory and beliefs over history. It's convenient to explain a certain political theory using a very narrow slice of history.

[losdirectosdetroopa]

From my perspective, it seems like that Kraut's video had a predetermined conclusion and he just searched for "justifications" to support that thesis

[cdru]

Yeah, I've been always annoyed by how people can't say "The current russian government is bad" without resorting to pseudohistorical bullshit

[SK-ikmc]

Kraut be like:
“Let me try and fit history into my political axiom whilst sounding posh”

[lorefox]

Kraut rules over the concept itself of Midwittery with an iron fist, a Krautian Yoke.

[a_t__n]

Just a two notes from Russian who studies History in University: 1. I think that the whole legend of "Good Russia under Novgorod" could be debunked by citing the fact that Novgorod enjoyed it's posotion on the North-Western corner of the Rus and just had no intention to become the unifier of Russia giving it's strong regional identity (heck, Novgorod even had it's unique dialect). 2. I just want to warn against calling the XVII-uprisings "popular riots" because those were mostly cossack/nobility rebellions more akin to the Polish "rokosz" (although less institutionalized). The myth of "Peasant Struggle" during XVII century is a product of the Soviet historiography - more exactly of one of the most ideologically charged and strange Soviet historians, Boris Porshnev (the man later was obsessed with the search of Bigfoot...)

[larrythemagicdragon]

I just started watching. I'm only at 2:09 as of writing, but holy fucking shit does this go hard. Having the actual sources on screen, and showing where and how kraut's words came from visually is just amazing. Especially that is shows proof you read enough of the sources to make the video, that makes this guy top shelf. I'm subscribing