Russian Empire is chad

The reason the Russian Empire BECAME the USSR - was that the people were unhappy, under a system of fairly brutal exploitation, by the nobles and the Tsar's court. Look up "Potemkin Village".

What you're not mentioning in the meme, here, is that Russia went from being a major regional power, and a minor world power, as the Tsar's empire - to defeating the Nazis, and becoming a Super power rivaling the entire west in just 30 years. They also dramatically improved the living standards of all the people in the USSR (not just Russia), over the same time, with huge improvements in literacy and education, housing, medical care, infant mortality, life expectancy, etc..

Now, for sure, there were downsides to living under the Soviet system. But that needs to be understood within the context of a world system united against them, and committed to their destruction. I don't think you'd have had the enormous internal security apparatus, as it developed, without the west attacking them immediately from multiple directions, and setting loose people like "Reilly Ace of Spies" in their interior - stirring up resentments, and organizing resistance and intelligence networks.

https://archive.org/details/HIST3750GreatConspiracyAgainstRussia

This is a perspective that few have heard in the collective west, since the end of WWII, the McCarthy Era and "the blacklists", despite our claims about "Freedom" and a "Free Press".

It's true that there were very many things that were not good with the Russian Empire, but if you ask me, the USSR was much worse. You could make the slightest mention of disliking communism, and the KGB would break down your door and drag you off to some Siberian gulag. My grandparents and great-grandparents lived there, and several of them were sent to prison for being Christian. When the Russian Revolution took place, people thought that it was going to make Russia a better place. But when the communists came, they made Russia worse than it has ever been in its history. Also, Tsar Alexander II actually tried to make Russia a better place for its citizens, but he was assassinated by a terrorist group and all attempts to improve Russia were forsaken. If he was never assassinated, I believe that Russia's citizens would have been much happier and would have actually started to support the monarchy more and the revolution would have either happened at a much later time or never at all. This is just my opinion about the topic, and I can understand if you have different views.

Well we can agree to disagree, certainly. I would recommend you spend a few days reading that relatively small book that I linked to you, however. I don't want to discount the experience of your family, but the need for intensive internal suppression of dissent, was essentially a rational reaction, to the reality of foreign intervention against the survival of the USSR, which were fomented immediately from the time of the October Revolution.

People tend to remember the most recent oppression, and ignore or mythologize the times prior. In terms of objective population metrics, I think the Soviets did far better than the Tsars, and their fairly corrupt and plundering system, from which only the few really benefited.

Ok, I'll take a look at the book

Both were bad. Argument over

That's as simplistic an argument, as it is unconvincing. Are there no gradations between 'good' and "bad". Are they both EQUALLY BAD? Which they are we talking about.

Dude, I'm gonna be real, i don't know much about the Russian empire, but I do know about the soviet union. I wasn't alive in either, though, and I'm guessing neither were you. I understand you bringing attention to the conditions during the Russian empire, but you can't take away from the horror of the ussr while doing that

I was alive and paying attention, before the fall of the USSR. I don't concern myself as much with the Czarist Empire... But I am a journalist and a historian. The "horror of the USSR", is greatly exaggerated, highly decontextualized and never compared to the actual levels of horror in 'the west'. There's no money in telling the story fairly and accurately. If you tell it dishonestly - there's good to great career opportunities.

Neither of us are getting anywhere and I don't think this really matters so let's just call truce

https://archive.org/details/HIST3750GreatConspiracyAgainstRussia

What you want to believe is up to you. But what you're going to believe, is limited by the amount and kinds of information that you're allowed to have, and then your analysis capacity.

History matters to me. Facts matter. I'd recommend you try and read that small book I linked for you above.

I'd also recommend the work of Michael Parenti... He has tonnes of videos, of his talks, available on YT. All I can do is lead you to water. What you do with it, is up to you.

I might check out that book, looks interesting

I was told by someone that the Bolsheviks implemented a system called cohorts. It simply meant: you work on this land, you maintain it, but you do not own it. Your community does.

This seems fine, except when it came farming, where there was a minimum amount. People realised this in countries like Poland, which were in the Warsaw Bloc. This resulted in people being lazy as heck, not to mention drunk because they barely had to lift a finger. Others in their community did that work.

I've also noticed that this system was really similar to feudalism. So you could say the old ways were bringed back.

how many times did the Russian Empire lose to Japan. and the USSR lost to Poland, The USA, Afghanistan, Finland, they surrendered to the Germans in World War I.

The USSR actually won the Winter War, it's a common misconception that the Finns won.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Peace_Treaty

While it's true that Russia has suffered several defeats in its history, so has the USA. Vietnam was a particularly big loss to the Americans.

And during WW1, the Russian Empire was going to keep fighting the German Empire, but then the revolution happened, and the Tsar was forced to abdicate. Then the Russian Civil War happened, which was one of the deadliest conflicts in Russia's history other than WW2. As a result, Russia was considerably weaker for a couple years but recovered surprisingly fast.

And the Russian Empire only lost to Japan once, during the Russo-Japanese War. During the Russian Civil War, Japan actually supported the side of the White Army other than the communists.

The USSR never lost to the USA, they simply dissolved in 1991. And as for the proxy wars during the Cold War, the USSR either tied or won most of them.

how bout the Crimean war, the Ukraine war, how about the battle of Conoco fields which was technically Wagner but it is funded by the Kremlin. and if you want to get technical, the Russians burned down Moscow to beat the French and in 1610 the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth took Moscow. in the 13th century the Mongols conquered Keivan rus which is now Russia.

Poland-Lithuania captured Moscow during a time called Smuta (Time of Troubles), when Russia had a succession crisis and several internal troubles.

In the Crimean War, the Ottomans allied with the French and the British (Which was the world's most powerful country at the time). Russia lost Crimea, but took it back very soon after.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Moscow wasn't even the capital of Russia. In fact, when the Russian Empire came into existence in 1721, Peter the Great built the city of St Petersburg and moved his capital there soon after. When Napoleon found himself stranded in the burned remains of Moscow, he started to retreat. Russia was the biggest reason for Napoleon's defeat.

Kievan Rus (which was called Rus' Land during that time) was already fracturing and falling apart right before the Mongols invaded everything. Rus' was only in Europe at the time, consisting of Ukraine, Belarus, and the extreme western portion of modern-day Russia. Rus' was basically not a thing anymore when they were conquered due to them falling apart.

And as for the Russo-Ukrainian War, Russia is winning. Ukraine is only still around because of NATO. And even though NATO, which is probably one of the most powerful military alliances, is helping Ukraine at ton, Russia still manages to single-handedly capture new land. Remember, to Russia this isn't a war but a special military operation, so they are using very limited resources.

This meme is just about how I prefer the Russian Empire over the USSR, and this has nothing to do with military losses, the Tsardom of Russia, or Kievan Rus'.

Man went through the entire Russia lore for this