Hey all, as usual all sources are in the description and on this pinned comment - as a bonus, there's also the uncut initial script of this video which has a bit more information if you'd like to take more of a dive into the topic. Sources: www.dropbox.com/s/mjt10oodeme31xs/Trans-Siberian%20Video%20Final.docx?dl=0
Hello! The video is awesome, however, I want to point, that overall tone, along with the ending has somewhat of an ideological subtext… Some of the key highlights, that I’ve seen: 1) Alexander the Third didn’t just enforce strict control because “tsar bad”. That’s because his father, Alexander the Liberator, was brutally assassinated, just several years after the reformations. Alexander the Third had plenty of reasons to be cautious about the government’s ability to control the state. 2) Witte wasn’t just the Machiavellian figure, who somehow manoeuvred himself into higher positions: the guy was the one of the most educated among the elites, his other policies were really successful, and he is remembered like the one of the most effective policy makers in Russian history. The crash of the royal train happened, because the train (26 wagons with 2 locomotives) did not suit the railways. Also it was going almost 45 mph, for royal family to be on time. Witte was really not in charge. 3) the state approach towards the construction of the line was selected not to show, that private projects are inferior: this was due to the absence of private railroad projects of this size. There was a task, totally impossible for all the Russian railroad investors, the cost was too high
@@IMPERIALYT Good video. But one thing struck me; Infrastructure typically needs maintenance which often comes at high cost in the long-run, often in multiples every 15 years. It would have been cool if you had some information about the cost of the TSR over the 100+ years it has existed...
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 and then kept going through SEA by bus\hitchhiking. Definitely 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 its something of an extraordinaire beauty. We also crossed a big desert, which 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 completely icy "Lake Baikal" chef kiss* Anyway, let me tell you something that 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 , until 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. Another memorable thing is crossing one different time zone every day, for a total of 7. When I got aboard the train was almost empty. That was surprising as I was expecting it to be full. The train was some 14-15 carriages long. It took a while going from top to bottom, and the opening and closing of many doors! There was the engine of course and then several cargo cars, plus the dinning car and then a number of cars with 1st, 2nd and 3rd class accommodations (they would change the configuration umber of cars along the route) I cant tell you the capacity of the train but probably could fit 150-200 pax I reckon. In any case there was only a few Russians there and a handful of backpackers, who of course bonded together since day one. It was me, 2 girls from Australia, 2 guys from the Netherlands and last but not least Yoji from Japan. There's not much to do and lots of time to spare so we did the best we could with our time. We played cards, learned Chinese, watched movies and drunk vodka together. All and all we had lots of fun and I was lucky to find them there. It would have been quite different only by myself. The staff members, mostly Chinese, were always worried about us! They thought we would cause some trouble or get lost in a station and never be seen again. My best picture of the trip is at night in Siberia, with the train dimly light and partly covered in steam while you can see the shadow of a guy with his Ushanka clearly silhouetted against a light and following my steps. In one of my many tours up and down the train once I found this door open that usually was closed, it was a cargo carriage and there were 2 Russian handlers inside. They were quite older than me and acted in a friendly manner. They were eating big chunks of brown bread and drinking straight vodka in metal cups, it was like a Monty Python sketch, one of them was even wearing the blue\white navy Russian shirt I kid you not. Of course I ended up drinking and eating bread with them. The arrival to Beijing Central station was quite the cultural shock ! First time in China for me and you are right in the middle of IT. The Station is massive and so crowded-busy-hectic that it leaves you speechless. Its like being on a spiritual trip for a week and then magically appearing on the busiest part of the busiest city on earth. Beijing is everything you can imagine and more and arriving by train just make it that much more mind blowing. We were in such disbelief, trying to make sense of the epic journey we just finished but at the same time being on a place where everything it so vastly different that you could as well have landed on Mars. Many emotions and feeling and sights on those first minutes for me to put in words. Feel freee to ask any question .. I like reminiscing about it! (I find it awesome the nº of likes on this comment. Thank you for showing interest. I will keep editing and adding some more info about it and answering your questions)
@@krollpeter yeah it is. You can either buy a ticket that will get you on board a direct train from Moscow to Beijing, or you can just take local train and hop from city to city and then adapt the route to your schedule, free time, hype to explore Siberia kinda thing. For me time was a important and I was more focused on arriving to Asia, the Transiberian was an exotic way to get there. but If I would do it again I would definetly stop a few nights in every stop and take a look at the surronding areas.
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.
I’m just a silly American that thought it was cool I recognized the name Novosibirsk from Metro Exodus hahaha. But it’s cool to learn it’s a real city and in fact a huge one. Definitely gonna have to visit the city when I make my trip to Russia one of these days.
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 UA-cam 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!
When you say that you are from Siberia, what does that mean? I mean, would you say that there is a Siberian Nationality mindset? If so, what territory would you say that encompasses? In Afghanistan for example, I found that most people referred to themselves as Pashtuns as opposed to calling themselves "Afghans" or "Pakistanis."
@@free_at_last8141 Well, due to some kind of political instability, when at first religion was the fundamental basis of your identity, then "Soviet people" came, and now - "multinational Russian people." I think people don't like all these changes in national identity and they just tend to choose geographic ones. Russians do not like to call themselves Russians, they prefer to assosiate themselves with the area or family heritage like "Siberian", "Northern", "Cossack", "Muscovite" and so on. I am Russian, but more often I call myself a Siberian. this is my mindset. There are many non-Russian nationalities in the country, they are prone to national identification such as "Tatar", "Yakut", "Dagestan" in other words based on language or their Republic.
@@free_at_last8141 this means that he is from Siberia, from a geographical region. There is no "Siberian mentality", in Russia people are almost all the same
@@free_at_last8141 people call themselves Siberian if they live in the Asian part of Russia, but mostly people still call themselves Russians or some other nationality
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.
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.
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
Nope, you just undecuated. I know Its hard for you low IQ people for whom noone provided proper education but, please, just try and imagine a situation, in which neutral Sweden nobel-prizes a rustard emigree which was not exactly liked by totalitarian rustard regime which was governing back then... Literally basic geopolitics. Plus history, of course. You literally just pointed out to how politicized those prizes were, without even knowing It... Hilarious :D
@@gelasson nah I'm just saying what it says near the pic. Apparently you're right, because I checked that person's bio and photos it is indeed him. Meaning that the author is mistaken.
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.
Dude, this video is so gorgeous. The visuals are so pleasing to look at and the colour choice ideal for a topic that often times is this grim. It's almost distracting for me. Fantastic job! Must have taken ages
How do trains travel on this track? Do they all have to go in the same direction during certain times or days? I'm wondering how a single track is utilized so they don't run into eachother.
@@hotbam37 trains have an interval of about 5 minutes. in my area, the track was modernized by building a third one In our federal district, there is also the Baikal-Amur Mainline parallel to the Trans-Siberian Railway (it is mostly single-track). this helps to unload the base
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.
Enabling ppl to live and goods to flow sounds quite productive to me. Especially since the railway in question runs through the south, which is not that bad climatewise
Actually it was build because Russia has one of the biggest wheat growing regions in the world and previously they couldn’t export that wheat bc transportation cost too high. Before they could only export wheat grow in the Baltic’s
Amazing video, one of the most beautiful produced on this platform! No only is it incredible artistically but also in quality of information provided. Honestly this video makes me mad due to how few views it has and your lack of subscribers as the quality of videos you put out deserve so much more and I’m so sorry it hasn’t :(
This completely misses the fact of the strategic location of Siberia, especially to Russia, as it provides access to the oceans and probably was the main reason for building the rail
With the T-S Railway finished a big number of troops could be moved to central and east Asian Russian territories and towards Iran, Afghanistan, China, Japan now within days, not within months as before. Since Russia and GB were imperialistic rivals in Asia this meant an enormous threat to GB. She therefore supported Japan against R. which led to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 and to the Revolution of 1905 in Russia.
The transport of people and cargo over land by rail is more economical than across oceans by ship, in cost and in time. This is a key strategic and economic issue, as well as access to the resources of the interior. Ocean access is surely a strategic consideration, as well, though Russia’s only reliably warm water port is in Crimea. They were inspired by the example of the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States, and the Hamiltonian methods of its financing and construction.
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.
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
It is important to understand that Novosibirsk and Kemerovo were established after the construction. And Kemerovo became a notable city also after. So the railway made those cities possible in the first place.
@@LoisoPondohva Same as American transcontinental railway, his claims how Western America was a populated and pleasant area are so IaughabIe. Equally biased and cIueIess propaganda video.
I really commend you for having done a great job citing your sources in the description. Im trying to only listen to youtubers that do this... and its difficult to find interesting content that does source. Thanks for being honest, credible, and for not cheating the system.
Genuinely impressive visuals - you put quite a few commercial motion graphics artists to shame, and all the more impressive given it's free content. Thanks for creating!
Yeah, it's way too much western tv for the creator of the vid, I guess. The material is pretty decent overall but anti russian sentiment shows. The railroad is literally the only reliable road connecting Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok with Moscow and with each other. It's sure not empty ambitions, it's vital for the region otherwise isolated in the middle of nowhere.
@@Levon_RnD especially during WWII. The Trans-Siberian Railway made it possible to literally move whole tank factories and other factories out the German's reach in Siberia and transport the finished tanks and equipment back west. It would have much more difficult for the Soviet Union to fight the war without it, especially once Russia declared war on Japan.
Hahaha, literally every word he said is total bs. Terrible bias, factual errors, IaughabIe claims and total cIuelessness in general. Made by cIueIess muppets for cIueIess muppets.
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)
One thing to mention, railroads were THE hot thing of the late 1800s-early 1900s. All of Europe and America were laying tracks like crazy. Had the Czars not been laying tracks, they'd definitely have looked backward and behind the times. Just to keep up their pride internationally they HAD to build this railroad or one like it.
Of course, and it's not about pride, it's about basic economical development and infrastructure. I laughed when this cIown said they built the railway for 'aUtOcRaCy'! Another bs UA-cam video made by clueIess muppets for clueIess muppets....
This is an amazing video with documentary levels of quality! I am so surprised you don't have at least 200k subscribers yet! Definetly earned one from me
I took this train in October 1970 from London to Yokohama on my first visit to Japan. Flew the middle section so it only took seven days rather than 14. Leaving Nakhodka (for some reason Vladivostok was not used) our vessel had a side-to-side collision with a large fishing boat, which the crew disguised with paint in Yokohama. This was shortly before the budget flights came on stream, in time for my next visit in December 2002. Went for six months, stayed for 20 years. Jack, the Japan Alps Brit
This was an amazing video, just a correction, Poland at this time was controlled by Russia, it wasn't an independent state, especially with the modern boarders as you show it
Sergie Witte reccomended that the young, inexperienced Nicholas ll, heir to the Russian throne, a heartbeat away from complete Autocrat of all of Russia should get some experience with managing the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Alexander III, Nicholas' father said "He is too immature. His mind is boyish and pleasure seeking." By this point Nicholas was well into his 20s and yet he was not being given any responsibilities for fear that he might mess something up.
Incredible video. These videos would be great for education settings also. Easy to follow and indepth for the time you spend on them. Quality production, wonderful visuals. Awesome as always
I swear if you upload this in russian you will get so much more views, because most russian people already know the historical background behind the railway construction and would be very interested. We don't get so much details in russian schools about these things. Thank you for this video!
I rode the trans-siberian in 2018 after the World Cup. It was a dream experience. I experienced Kazan, Boris Yeltzin home, Ikaterinbeg, Euro-Asian border, Ulaanbaatar. Fascinating. It took me 19 days including stop over. Should repeat it within 5yrs. Not sure if I share do Vladivostok or Beijing.
"Earthen huts" does not mean "wooden huts", it literally means "huts made of earth" or "zemlyanka" in Russian, a quite common mode of living if there is nothing better to turn to at the time
The Trans-Siberian Railway's primary purpose was rooted in strategic and logistical needs rather than the imposition of authority or fears of Siberian independence. While concerns about the region's integration were undoubtedly part of the broader discussion, the main driving factors were military logistics, economic development, and establishing a reliable connection to the Siberian frontier to counter external threats, particularly from Western powers and Japan. A narrative focusing solely on the fear of Siberian independence oversimplifies a complex historical project, reducing its broader geopolitical and economic significance to a single biased perspective. I'm open to a Data-driven debate here...
Absolutely brilliant quality, though I do think you went somewhat light on details of the construction itself. Still, much room to grow and I can't be the only one to see a glittering future for this channel
There is also an abandoned railway megaproject, called the transpolar railway, that was supposed to connect Norilsk with the main railroad system. It was finished at around 60% when the works on this project were stopped. The railway is just left to rot there.
The Canadian railway was funded by the govt giving 25 million acres to the company CPR. They would build a station just outside of town then sell the land around the station to make a profit. They also gave land away to anyone willing to farm it, which created more settlers and product to transport, ie more revenue once the line was built. Not sure if the taxpayers paid anything. The cash loans provided to the CPR were all paid back in full and ahead of time.
Solid visuals, scripts, topics and voice. This channel seems extremely underrated it’s only a matter of time before a couple hundred thousand subscribe.. peace from Canada keep up the good work y’all!
Its already been said but how the hell do you only jave 20k subs. Hopefully in a year when u have a million ill come back and say: " here from the 20k days. Those were the times". Keep making high quality content.
One critique: I know the term "Tsar" is common to use, but the title was only used during the Russian tsardom, 1547-1721. With the proclamation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great, the imperial title also changed to that of Emperor (Imperator).
It was still in use up to the end of the Russian Empire. The terms Tsar and Emperor were interchangeable, even though Tsar sounded a little old-fashioned it was still in use
The largest megaproject in history is the interstate highway system in the USA. Taking 62 years, costing $500-bil (2020 dollars) covering 78,000km of a minimum 4 lane divided roadway unobstructed 3 feet depth solid road surface
Beautifully made video. But as I understand, your idea is that Siberia and Far East should not be part of Russia, the railway is not needed since its just "gigantomania project of autocrat". This raleway was essential for connecting country together and for development of far territories. Witte and the Csars thought about economic development of Russia, about protection of it's borders, and not just maintaining their own power. You focusing too much about personal ambitions of people in power, misunderstanding their true motivation and intentions.
To be fair to the US transcontinental railroad, it was completed in 1869, before all the second industrial revolution technology which would help the TSR, and the western US and particularly the rocky mountains was not very populated by any reasonable definition at the time.
Hey all, as usual all sources are in the description and on this pinned comment - as a bonus, there's also the uncut initial script of this video which has a bit more information if you'd like to take more of a dive into the topic. Sources: www.dropbox.com/s/mjt10oodeme31xs/Trans-Siberian%20Video%20Final.docx?dl=0
iz itt lung?
Where did you get the map of Russia like that, where it shows mountains and topography at the start of the video ?😊
@@quentinblake485 It's a plane with a displacement map applied to it, I got the height data from tangrams.github.io/heightmapper/
Hello!
The video is awesome, however, I want to point, that overall tone, along with the ending has somewhat of an ideological subtext…
Some of the key highlights, that I’ve seen:
1) Alexander the Third didn’t just enforce strict control because “tsar bad”. That’s because his father, Alexander the Liberator, was brutally assassinated, just several years after the reformations. Alexander the Third had plenty of reasons to be cautious about the government’s ability to control the state.
2) Witte wasn’t just the Machiavellian figure, who somehow manoeuvred himself into higher positions: the guy was the one of the most educated among the elites, his other policies were really successful, and he is remembered like the one of the most effective policy makers in Russian history. The crash of the royal train happened, because the train (26 wagons with 2 locomotives) did not suit the railways. Also it was going almost 45 mph, for royal family to be on time. Witte was really not in charge.
3) the state approach towards the construction of the line was selected not to show, that private projects are inferior: this was due to the absence of private railroad projects of this size. There was a task, totally impossible for all the Russian railroad investors, the cost was too high
@@IMPERIALYT Good video. But one thing struck me; Infrastructure typically needs maintenance which often comes at high cost in the long-run, often in multiples every 15 years. It would have been cool if you had some information about the cost of the TSR over the 100+ years it has existed...
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 and then kept going through SEA by bus\hitchhiking. Definitely 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 its something of an extraordinaire beauty. We also crossed a big desert, which 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 completely icy "Lake Baikal" chef kiss*
Anyway, let me tell you something that 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 , until 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. Another memorable thing is crossing one different time zone every day, for a total of 7.
When I got aboard the train was almost empty. That was surprising as I was expecting it to be full. The train was some 14-15 carriages long. It took a while going from top to bottom, and the opening and closing of many doors! There was the engine of course and then several cargo cars, plus the dinning car and then a number of cars with 1st, 2nd and 3rd class accommodations (they would change the configuration
umber of cars along the route) I cant tell you the capacity of the train but probably could fit 150-200 pax I reckon. In any case there was only a few Russians there and a handful of backpackers, who of course bonded together since day one. It was me, 2 girls from Australia, 2 guys from the Netherlands and last but not least Yoji from Japan.
There's not much to do and lots of time to spare so we did the best we could with our time. We played cards, learned Chinese, watched movies and drunk vodka together. All and all we had lots of fun and I was lucky to find them there. It would have been quite different only by myself. The staff members, mostly Chinese, were always worried about us! They thought we would cause some trouble or get lost in a station and never be seen again. My best picture of the trip is at night in Siberia, with the train dimly light and partly covered in steam while you can see the shadow of a guy with his Ushanka clearly silhouetted against a light and following my steps.
In one of my many tours up and down the train once I found this door open that usually was closed, it was a cargo carriage and there were 2 Russian handlers inside. They were quite older than me and acted in a friendly manner. They were eating big chunks of brown bread and drinking straight vodka in metal cups, it was like a Monty Python sketch, one of them was even wearing the blue\white navy Russian shirt I kid you not. Of course I ended up drinking and eating bread with them.
The arrival to Beijing Central station was quite the cultural shock ! First time in China for me and you are right in the middle of IT. The Station is massive and so crowded-busy-hectic that it leaves you speechless. Its like being on a spiritual trip for a week and then magically appearing on the busiest part of the busiest city on earth.
Beijing is everything you can imagine and more and arriving by train just make it that much more mind blowing. We were in such disbelief, trying to make sense of the epic journey we just finished but at the same time being on a place where everything it so vastly different that you could as well have landed on Mars. Many emotions and feeling and sights on those first minutes for me to put in words.
Feel freee to ask any question .. I like reminiscing about it!
(I find it awesome the nº of likes on this comment. Thank you for showing interest. I will keep editing and adding some more info about it and answering your questions)
How long did it took for you to reach Beijing?
@@shianeruu4359 hey, it was 7 nights aboard but there are longer routes that could possibly take longer!
Is it possible to hop on off the train, if you want to stay somewhere for a few days?
@@krollpeter yeah it is. You can either buy a ticket that will get you on board a direct train from Moscow to Beijing, or you can just take local train and hop from city to city and then adapt the route to your schedule, free time, hype to explore Siberia kinda thing. For me time was a important and I was more focused on arriving to Asia, the Transiberian was an exotic way to get there. but If I would do it again I would definetly stop a few nights in every stop and take a look at the surronding areas.
@@fedecano7362 thx from Poland man I wish get visa and visit Rusia one day soon
I swear bro, it’s been like one second in and I’m already here wondering why you don’t have a million subscribers
People can't subscribe to a channel they don't know about
channel is too new
That’s because the difference is quality between these kind of creators are slim
Agreed
You’re a truzzo
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.
Funny that you mentioned that, I was born there!
And today it's the third biggest city
I’m just a silly American that thought it was cool I recognized the name Novosibirsk from Metro Exodus hahaha. But it’s cool to learn it’s a real city and in fact a huge one. Definitely gonna have to visit the city when I make my trip to Russia one of these days.
The city was not established for the construction of Trans-Siberian railway but the railway has led to the creation of Novosibirsk
if you have millions slaves nothing impossible
It's unreal how good your editing and presentation skills are, the animations feel practically artistic
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 UA-cam 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!
You would think Russia was big enough to the elites at some point.
When you say that you are from Siberia, what does that mean? I mean, would you say that there is a Siberian Nationality mindset? If so, what territory would you say that encompasses? In Afghanistan for example, I found that most people referred to themselves as Pashtuns as opposed to calling themselves "Afghans" or "Pakistanis."
@@free_at_last8141 Well, due to some kind of political instability, when at first religion was the fundamental basis of your identity, then "Soviet people" came, and now - "multinational Russian people." I think people don't like all these changes in national identity and they just tend to choose geographic ones. Russians do not like to call themselves Russians, they prefer to assosiate themselves with the area or family heritage like "Siberian", "Northern", "Cossack", "Muscovite" and so on. I am Russian, but more often I call myself a Siberian. this is my mindset. There are many non-Russian nationalities in the country, they are prone to national identification such as "Tatar", "Yakut", "Dagestan" in other words based on language or their Republic.
@@free_at_last8141 this means that he is from Siberia, from a geographical region. There is no "Siberian mentality", in Russia people are almost all the same
@@free_at_last8141 people call themselves Siberian if they live in the Asian part of Russia, but mostly people still call themselves Russians or some other nationality
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.
I love cp
yep, but half of that video just good NATO propaganda,
@@abitoftruth8670 How so?
What a cringe, cringe video. Terrible bias, factual errors, IaughabIe claims and total cIuelessness in general. Made by muppets for muppets.
How did I miss this coming out?? WOW! What an astonishing video, as usual. Witte is one fascinating figure indeed.
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.
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
Nope, you just undecuated. I know Its hard for you low IQ people for whom noone provided proper education but, please, just try and imagine a situation, in which neutral Sweden nobel-prizes a rustard emigree which was not exactly liked by totalitarian rustard regime which was governing back then... Literally basic geopolitics. Plus history, of course.
You literally just pointed out to how politicized those prizes were, without even knowing It... Hilarious :D
it says it's Sergei Belyaev.
@@kaslepnev1945 It does. Your point being?
@@gelasson nah I'm just saying what it says near the pic. Apparently you're right, because I checked that person's bio and photos it is indeed him. Meaning that the author is mistaken.
1q.
It still baffles me how you dont have more subs. Love what you do!
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.
This deserves much more. Especially the animations are excellently made, but everything is just so well done
Most underrated channel on UA-cam. Keep it up and I'm sure your well deserved recognition is coming soon!
Dude, this video is so gorgeous. The visuals are so pleasing to look at and the colour choice ideal for a topic that often times is this grim. It's almost distracting for me. Fantastic job! Must have taken ages
thank you very much for providing captions! they do not go unappreciated :)
I live a 10-minute walk from the Trans-Siberian Railway, trains just run every five minutes, I like to watch them
How do trains travel on this track? Do they all have to go in the same direction during certain times or days? I'm wondering how a single track is utilized so they don't run into eachother.
@@hotbam37 trains have an interval of about 5 minutes. in my area, the track was modernized by building a third one
In our federal district, there is also the Baikal-Amur Mainline parallel to the Trans-Siberian Railway (it is mostly single-track). this helps to unload the base
@@hotbam37do you have trains in your country?
@@hotbam37 my god you are stupid...
@@hotbam37 it is not single track. Most of the way was modernized and electrified during Soviet times.
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.
Enabling ppl to live and goods to flow sounds quite productive to me. Especially since the railway in question runs through the south, which is not that bad climatewise
@@benismannis still Siberia -40°c in train is normal😂
Except it didn't. Siberia is still an uninhabitable wasteland.
So...unproductive, then.
@@yusokrazee depends on what you consider as a wasteland. It has vastly more cities than it had before the rail was build.
Actually it was build because Russia has one of the biggest wheat growing regions in the world and previously they couldn’t export that wheat bc transportation cost too high. Before they could only export wheat grow in the Baltic’s
Amazing video, one of the most beautiful produced on this platform! No only is it incredible artistically but also in quality of information provided. Honestly this video makes me mad due to how few views it has and your lack of subscribers as the quality of videos you put out deserve so much more and I’m so sorry it hasn’t :(
Not only are your narratives well-scripted, your editing and visuals are some of the best I've seen - keep it up.
Офигеть. Я сначала думал, что это канал иметь более миллиона подписчиков. А оказывается меньше 30 тысяч. Желаю тебе удачи, с продвижением канала :)
Русофобский говноед будет иметь успех у американских свиней.
This completely misses the fact of the strategic location of Siberia, especially to Russia, as it provides access to the oceans and probably was the main reason for building the rail
With the T-S Railway finished a big number of troops could be moved to central and east Asian Russian territories and towards Iran, Afghanistan, China, Japan now within days, not within months as before.
Since Russia and GB were imperialistic rivals in Asia this meant an enormous threat to GB. She therefore supported Japan against R. which led to the Russo-Japanese war of 1904 and to the Revolution of 1905 in Russia.
The transport of people and cargo over land by rail is more economical than across oceans by ship, in cost and in time. This is a key strategic and economic issue, as well as access to the resources of the interior. Ocean access is surely a strategic consideration, as well, though Russia’s only reliably warm water port is in Crimea. They were inspired by the example of the Transcontinental Railroad in the United States, and the Hamiltonian methods of its financing and construction.
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.
Lol. No it's not. Terrible bias, factual errors, IaughabIe claims and total cIuelessness in general.
One of the best videos I have seen on YT. First rate graphics, narration, unfolding and story. thank you. Subscribed.
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
It is important to understand that Novosibirsk and Kemerovo were established after the construction. And Kemerovo became a notable city also after.
So the railway made those cities possible in the first place.
Russia's third largest city was founded just to build a railway
@@LoisoPondohva Same as American transcontinental railway, his claims how Western America was a populated and pleasant area are so IaughabIe. Equally biased and cIueIess propaganda video.
Came here from Battle Order's community post and damn I've never been happier to read a UA-cam community post, this is superb.
I really commend you for having done a great job citing your sources in the description. Im trying to only listen to youtubers that do this... and its difficult to find interesting content that does source. Thanks for being honest, credible, and for not cheating the system.
this is honestly better quality than a lot of professional studio videos, i'm amazed by the depths of your research
Genuinely impressive visuals - you put quite a few commercial motion graphics artists to shame, and all the more impressive given it's free content. Thanks for creating!
The production value is insane. This is the new history channel, thankyou for such fantastic content.
Fantastic video. Writing, editing, thumbnail, pacing, all amazing
Wow, love your vids, super glad you enjoyed it!
I really hope your next video is about what you spoke about in the ending, the railways place in history and today! Great vid!
I wouldn't say that the railway was mostly an ambitious autocratic megaproject. It actually had a great economical impact later.
Yeah, it's way too much western tv for the creator of the vid, I guess. The material is pretty decent overall but anti russian sentiment shows.
The railroad is literally the only reliable road connecting Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk and Vladivostok with Moscow and with each other. It's sure not empty ambitions, it's vital for the region otherwise isolated in the middle of nowhere.
@@Levon_RnD especially during WWII. The Trans-Siberian Railway made it possible to literally move whole tank factories and other factories out the German's reach in Siberia and transport the finished tanks and equipment back west. It would have much more difficult for the Soviet Union to fight the war without it, especially once Russia declared war on Japan.
On the subject Nordsteam and crimean bridge are great infrastructure projects regardless of the obvious.
@@survivingworldsteam Tsarist and soviet Siberian railroads was 2 different thing if you didnt know
@@IvanIvanov-px9vj The Trans-Siberian was the same railroad. It's still the same railroad.
This was really well made. I watch a lot of youtube videos and lose interest quickly, but this really kept me interested.
Once again, a very beautiful and well-researched video! Thanks!
Hahaha, literally every word he said is total bs. Terrible bias, factual errors, IaughabIe claims and total cIuelessness in general. Made by cIueIess muppets for cIueIess muppets.
You are such an amazing channel. You’ll hit 100k soon. Thanks for all the great work!
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)
Really love the presentation, the animation. Hoping to see more of your videos.
One thing to mention, railroads were THE hot thing of the late 1800s-early 1900s. All of Europe and America were laying tracks like crazy. Had the Czars not been laying tracks, they'd definitely have looked backward and behind the times. Just to keep up their pride internationally they HAD to build this railroad or one like it.
And today we have ATVs, cyclists, hikers and people on horseback following the right of way of the now abandoned and dismantled railways.
Of course, and it's not about pride, it's about basic economical development and infrastructure.
I laughed when this cIown said they built the railway for 'aUtOcRaCy'! Another bs UA-cam video made by clueIess muppets for clueIess muppets....
Because the need for those are gone but Trans Siberian railway is as important as ever for Russia.
Please make a second, longer video on this topic! The Trans-Siberian is so interesting.
Amazing work as always
This is an amazing video with documentary levels of quality! I am so surprised you don't have at least 200k subscribers yet! Definetly earned one from me
Wow it's 10pm iam in bed and I just found this UA-cam channel the fact that you only have 20k is insane because your production quality is insane.
Great video! Kept me hooked the whole time, and awesome visuals.
Man this video is great. I dont usualy comment, but this deserves it for the algorythm so that more people get to know you!!
I'm amazed by the level of production these videos have
Amazing work. You deserve way more views and subs. Keep up the good work. Cant wait what else you have in stock.
Found this Morning, Subscribed in
Your channel is going to blow up like a rocket - the quality is incredible!
great video as always, keep up the work!
Really enjoyed this video! Loved the animation and story telling.
Awesome video. Very interesting and beautiful animations. Keep it up!
I took this train in October 1970 from London to Yokohama on my first visit to Japan. Flew the middle section so it only took seven days rather than 14. Leaving Nakhodka (for some reason Vladivostok was not used) our vessel had a side-to-side collision with a large fishing boat, which the crew disguised with paint in Yokohama. This was shortly before the budget flights came on stream, in time for my next visit in December 2002. Went for six months, stayed for 20 years.
Jack, the Japan Alps Brit
Vladivostok was a closed city at that time.
God your animations are so interesting to watch just on their own. The narration is bonus at this point lol. Great video man
This was an amazing video, just a correction, Poland at this time was controlled by Russia, it wasn't an independent state, especially with the modern boarders as you show it
This was really refreshing, like seeing this kind of video for the first time
Sergie Witte reccomended that the young, inexperienced Nicholas ll, heir to the Russian throne, a heartbeat away from complete Autocrat of all of Russia should get some experience with managing the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Alexander III, Nicholas' father said "He is too immature. His mind is boyish and pleasure seeking."
By this point Nicholas was well into his 20s and yet he was not being given any responsibilities for fear that he might mess something up.
Turns out, he *did* mess something up. The entirety of Russia.
@@pelinalwhitestrake3367 i mean, you could say that it was because he was inexperienced and uneducated in Political matters
Whenever I start one of your videos I just know I'm going to finish it
Incredible video. These videos would be great for education settings also. Easy to follow and indepth for the time you spend on them. Quality production, wonderful visuals. Awesome as always
Another excellent video!! Commenting for the algorithm so you can get the views/subs you deserve 👏
I swear if you upload this in russian you will get so much more views, because most russian people already know the historical background behind the railway construction and would be very interested. We don't get so much details in russian schools about these things. Thank you for this video!
Another excellent video with top tier editing! Keep this up, I am blown away by your attention to detail and subject matter.
This is made extremely well, I have no doubt in my mind if you are consistent with this quality of videos your channel will continue growing.
Fantastic production quality. Hope this channel blows up. Great job.
One of your best videos yet!
I rode the trans-siberian in 2018 after the World Cup. It was a dream experience.
I experienced Kazan, Boris Yeltzin home, Ikaterinbeg, Euro-Asian border, Ulaanbaatar.
Fascinating. It took me 19 days including stop over.
Should repeat it within 5yrs. Not sure if I share do Vladivostok or Beijing.
Ekaterinburg you mean?
10:30 that's not the map of russian occupied Poland, but of modern 3rd Republic
thanks for pointing that out, will add to the corrections in the source document
@@IMPERIALYT thanks
Just a beautiful video my friend, from the narrative to the production. Another one to add to your collection of quality content.
"Earthen huts" does not mean "wooden huts", it literally means "huts made of earth" or "zemlyanka" in Russian, a quite common mode of living if there is nothing better to turn to at the time
This video is simply incredible. I love it🤩
absolutely incredible content man
I love the information and more importantly the presentation
It is unbelievable to me you don’t have more subscribers, this video was insanely well produced
Miss Wisconsin. Bless the Midwest. ⚪️🔴🦡🦡 cheers
I have such a passion for this style of video aesthetics, a real secret-agent vibe that I love
The Trans-Siberian Railway's primary purpose was rooted in strategic and logistical needs rather than the imposition of authority or fears of Siberian independence. While concerns about the region's integration were undoubtedly part of the broader discussion, the main driving factors were military logistics, economic development, and establishing a reliable connection to the Siberian frontier to counter external threats, particularly from Western powers and Japan. A narrative focusing solely on the fear of Siberian independence oversimplifies a complex historical project, reducing its broader geopolitical and economic significance to a single biased perspective.
I'm open to a Data-driven debate here...
Your channel is fucking incredible! Keep going. There’s a huge market for quality video essays and trust me you will blow up.
Great Video. I love your visuals and storytelling
just got into your channel tonight and dang these are well made videos. at first listen i thought you had a million+ sub base
Absolutely brilliant quality, though I do think you went somewhat light on details of the construction itself. Still, much room to grow and I can't be the only one to see a glittering future for this channel
Great story telling and visual composition skills👍
A video on the Czech Foreign Legion’s Control of the railway during the civil war would be interesting
Agree.
It was because of them coming back to west Russia from east that made the soviets panic and kill the tzar.
I think.
There is also an abandoned railway megaproject, called the transpolar railway, that was supposed to connect Norilsk with the main railroad system. It was finished at around 60% when the works on this project were stopped. The railway is just left to rot there.
The Canadian railway was funded by the govt giving 25 million acres to the company CPR. They would build a station just outside of town then sell the land around the station to make a profit. They also gave land away to anyone willing to farm it, which created more settlers and product to transport, ie more revenue once the line was built. Not sure if the taxpayers paid anything. The cash loans provided to the CPR were all paid back in full and ahead of time.
Hidden gem of a channel. Thoroughly enjoyed every minute! Bravo
Solid visuals, scripts, topics and voice. This channel seems extremely underrated it’s only a matter of time before a couple hundred thousand subscribe.. peace from Canada keep up the good work y’all!
Its already been said but how the hell do you only jave 20k subs. Hopefully in a year when u have a million ill come back and say: " here from the 20k days. Those were the times". Keep making high quality content.
Best video I have seen on UA-cam in a very long time. incredible production, I cant wait to see this channel grow.
One critique: I know the term "Tsar" is common to use, but the title was only used during the Russian tsardom, 1547-1721. With the proclamation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great, the imperial title also changed to that of Emperor (Imperator).
It was still in use up to the end of the Russian Empire. The terms Tsar and Emperor were interchangeable, even though Tsar sounded a little old-fashioned it was still in use
Great I love the animations, the including of sources etc., history channels should always present sources as they make as many claims as a book.
Great video but have you considered adding 20 billion vertices to your models?
Best well researched UA-cam historical channel
This is as high quality as a government sponsored documentary would be
😂
I can't belive how much effort you put into this video
The largest megaproject in history is the interstate highway system in the USA. Taking 62 years, costing $500-bil (2020 dollars) covering 78,000km of a minimum 4 lane divided roadway unobstructed 3 feet depth solid road surface
Great. How does it compare to the trans Siberian railway, or the Soviets building a billion m² of housing in a couple of years?
The 3d imagery is incredible for immersion. Production quality is off the charts.
Beautifully made video. But as I understand, your idea is that Siberia and Far East should not be part of Russia, the railway is not needed since its just "gigantomania project of autocrat". This raleway was essential for connecting country together and for development of far territories. Witte and the Csars thought about economic development of Russia, about protection of it's borders, and not just maintaining their own power. You focusing too much about personal ambitions of people in power, misunderstanding their true motivation and intentions.
Very good video. You have a bright future if you keep putting out content like this.
To be fair to the US transcontinental railroad, it was completed in 1869, before all the second industrial revolution technology which would help the TSR, and the western US and particularly the rocky mountains was not very populated by any reasonable definition at the time.
With every video you put out it astounds me that you don't have 10x as many views. Thank you for such quality content.
3:03 why did his voice change
Beacuase it's Iron and... STEEL
Except it's spelled S-T-E-A-L lol