One of the main motivations for Polyakov was the death of his infant son. Soviet leadership denied Polyakov permission to take his seriously ill son to a hospital in New York where he could get adequate medical attention. His son died as a result of the illness and soon after, Polyakov began his informant activities.
@@virtual07 I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove? Like, the USSR was not a third world country it's not unreasonable to think Polyakov's son would have received world class health care.
@@denisdiderot6779 Polyakov's toddler son was in New York when he needed urgent medical help. Shipping him to the USSR was not an option. The only option was taking him to NY hospital. But Polyakov's superiors in Moscow did not allow it. As simple as that.
The other motivation was Holodomor. I grew up in a Ukrainian and Russian family, and was born in Eastern Ukraine, not far from the place where Polyakov was born. My grandfather was a Ukrainian and a Holodomor survival. If you can imagine how the Soviets denied a medical aid to a three month old boy, they also had taken away all the food from the people living in that area including small children, and let them die of starvation in a cold winter, they also searched the houses of people, they searched the house of my great grandmother to find any food there with the severity like they were searching a house of suspected murderers. After that my grandfather never enrolled the Communist Party, and as he was an engineer, and had many inventions, they multiple times offered him to do so to get a promotion, he refused, the same way as many people of that area. Many people did the same in Ukraine. Even now a communist party is not popular in Ukraine, and there is no a Ukrainian Communist Party, people banned it for a reason they know why.
The main reason why polyakov decide to betray was because he ww2 veteran frontline officeer which worshipped Stalin went into battle for him was against khruschevs antistalinist, destructive reckless policies, amateurish approach on building armed forced and the last straw for polyakov was hruschev ordering to secretly remove Stalin from mausoleum
That is probably less of a plot twist and more of a realisation. There was probably a spy out there who may have once stopped a war and his identity was never revealed because he/she was never caught
i think he sort of glosses over many of the nuances of the 1950s Cold War. He pretends that the USSR is an incredibly evil force and neglects the often equally evil actions of the US. i hate the ussr & russia as much as the next guy (im ukrainian) but this derivative & overly simplistic narrative terribly frames the rest of the video. the USSR wasn't aggressively pushing socialism/communism at that time, stalin was incredibly isolationist and wanted eastern europe bc germany had invaded them twice in 30 years & churchill was planning to invade too. much of this 'totalitarian communism', neglects the equally totalitarian governments of chang kai-shek & SK that were capitalist and supported by the west. Both sides wanted totalitarain regimes b/c they are easier to control than democracy. i dont think the US supported ANY democratic regime changes in the Cold War! The Cold War was morally gray, for both sides, and yeah, in the US you won't have to steal light bulbs from your place of work or be arrested for visiting a park (both real things in the SU) the US government is essentially equally evil. This is a cool story but I think you should've refrained from this moralistic lens that feeds into Cold War hysterionics.
He betrayed his own country and colleagues some of whom were killed or committed suicide due to exposure like in case of Maria Dobrova. Polyakov was no better than any other Cold War era spy with idealistic believes of "preventing nuclear Armageddon" that somehow must justify all their actions.
Awesome work. Especially the Motion Graphics and Sound Design, really nailing down the scale and drama of the story with what must be limited assets - well done!
@@HistoryDose Great channel. I would say the background music was too loud. I firmly believe background music is not necessary especially past the intro segment, I personally find it annoying and distracting. I also firmly believe people want to hear you speak/get information/learn and not hear generic background music that they have to mentally filter out and that doesn't really add anything.
Found your channel because of your video on fallen dew and have been a big fan of every video. Hope you do another something Irish at some point if you've the time. Your format is amazing.
What an incredible life this man lived. I feel that a great television series should be made about his story. It’s the only way his full story can be told.
one of my favorite wikipedia deep dives is following all the links on cold war espionage. so fascinating to read about spies, their tools and methodology, cyphers, breaking codes, secret projects, the venona decrypts, you may not come up for air for a week!
Really well done. Impossible to stop watching. I wanted it not to end. A story of great courage. A shame that he was betrayed by Ames, who was just motivated by money.
The world of spies really is ruthless. You are always relying on the notion that someone else in your network won't sell you out. And all you can do is take precautions in case they do.
So i have watched a number of these videos as well as countless other historical videos and have found that actual history is often more interesting, exciting and inspiring then most Hollywood movies. If only more historically accurate films were made
Incredible video. Probably one of the best videos on youtube about spies. People talk about the Russian commander who called off a nuclear strike against the USA at the last moment, but not many talk about Polyakov. Polyakov might have been one of the top 10 most important figures in the world at preventing nuclear war. Imagine the Cold War era without risky intel on Russia...
How about a documentary on the Venona Project? I was told that is was stopped because the list of names revealed was going to the top of the US Government and Military. And then there was Colonel Edward Mandell House. Worked by the side of Woodrow Wilson but answered to Moscow.
General Polyakov was the best spy we ever had. His family all deserve citizenship if they want ot and he should be made a citizen posthumously. His importance in the behind the scenes struggles of the cold War cannot be underestimated. He deserves a statue in the rotunda. Ames and Hanson killed him. They killed nearly all our assets and we didn't have many. Those two almost lost us the cold war.
The man deserves a movie. Everything I saw was that of a good good man. Betrayed by a greedy piece of crap. I was so angry when I saw the mole I legit got mad and sad.
@@happydays5218 the nazi state? Yes he did thank god he did! The mole of Eua only care about money, the Devil. AND THE OTHER MAN WAS A ANGEL IT PRINCIPLES AND MORALS! THATS THE BIG DIFERENTE ( AND YOU A RUSKI BOT?)
@@happydays5218 They betrayed him first tbh by what they did in the Holodomor. Then they didn't allow his son to get medical treatment when he was in NYC.
Thanks for the reality. So many young people have a skewed apprehension of the Soviet experiment. This needs to be exposed to truth and what anti-human truth it was ...
An elegant presentation that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thankyou from Denmark. I find it very interesting that he should willingly give himself up. It seems the KGB loyalty ran very deep in ways that were not so obvious. He clearly decided to share highly classified KGB documents with the west, being, what seemed to be, morally driven to do so. Yet, when he could've fled with his family long before it was too late, he chose to face the music, honoring those deeply rooted ideals of the KGB. Perhaps he felt he needed to be punished for his betrayal.
Please TopHat. He was something else. All the spies of the 1900s were interesting individuals , up to Ames and Hannsen. The techniques rarely changed, But the motivations cast a wide net.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
One of the main motivations for Polyakov was the death of his infant son. Soviet leadership denied Polyakov permission to take his seriously ill son to a hospital in New York where he could get adequate medical attention. His son died as a result of the illness and soon after, Polyakov began his informant activities.
@Moortis Oh, yeah? Which Soviet hospitals did you attend? I can give my list. I lived in the Soviet Union. Did you?
@@virtual07 I'm not sure what that's supposed to prove? Like, the USSR was not a third world country it's not unreasonable to think Polyakov's son would have received world class health care.
@@denisdiderot6779 Polyakov's toddler son was in New York when he needed urgent medical help. Shipping him to the USSR was not an option. The only option was taking him to NY hospital. But Polyakov's superiors in Moscow did not allow it. As simple as that.
The other motivation was Holodomor. I grew up in a Ukrainian and Russian family, and was born in Eastern Ukraine, not far from the place where Polyakov was born. My grandfather was a Ukrainian and a Holodomor survival. If you can imagine how the Soviets denied a medical aid to a three month old boy, they also had taken away all the food from the people living in that area including small children, and let them die of starvation in a cold winter, they also searched the houses of people, they searched the house of my great grandmother to find any food there with the severity like they were searching a house of suspected murderers. After that my grandfather never enrolled the Communist Party, and as he was an engineer, and had many inventions, they multiple times offered him to do so to get a promotion, he refused, the same way as many people of that area. Many people did the same in Ukraine. Even now a communist party is not popular in Ukraine, and there is no a Ukrainian Communist Party, people banned it for a reason they know why.
The main reason why polyakov decide to betray was because he ww2 veteran frontline officeer which worshipped Stalin went into battle for him was against khruschevs antistalinist, destructive reckless policies, amateurish approach on building armed forced and the last straw for polyakov was hruschev ordering to secretly remove Stalin from mausoleum
Plot twist: What if the best spy is one that we will never know?
by definition it is
Mark Zuckerberg
Plot twist : Fuck Off , None cares
polyakov were literaly compromised by his companions not his fault
That is probably less of a plot twist and more of a realisation. There was probably a spy out there who may have once stopped a war and his identity was never revealed because he/she was never caught
This felt like watching a movie. Great vid history dose
This should be adapted into a movie.
i think he sort of glosses over many of the nuances of the 1950s Cold War. He pretends that the USSR is an incredibly evil force and neglects the often equally evil actions of the US. i hate the ussr & russia as much as the next guy (im ukrainian) but this derivative & overly simplistic narrative terribly frames the rest of the video. the USSR wasn't aggressively pushing socialism/communism at that time, stalin was incredibly isolationist and wanted eastern europe bc germany had invaded them twice in 30 years & churchill was planning to invade too. much of this 'totalitarian communism', neglects the equally totalitarian governments of chang kai-shek & SK that were capitalist and supported by the west. Both sides wanted totalitarain regimes b/c they are easier to control than democracy. i dont think the US supported ANY democratic regime changes in the Cold War! The Cold War was morally gray, for both sides, and yeah, in the US you won't have to steal light bulbs from your place of work or be arrested for visiting a park (both real things in the SU) the US government is essentially equally evil. This is a cool story but I think you should've refrained from this moralistic lens that feeds into Cold War hysterionics.
This man remains a heroe
This man prevented the Cold War from becoming full scale nuclear war because he knew how dangerous it was...
He deserved the highest respect....
Man got ratted out for a bitch and money smh and all he did was try to prevent a bigger war lame ass dude
Amen
Ames was a rat and many people were killed because of him.
He betrayed his own country and colleagues some of whom were killed or committed suicide due to exposure like in case of Maria Dobrova. Polyakov was no better than any other Cold War era spy with idealistic believes of "preventing nuclear Armageddon" that somehow must justify all their actions.
No Person doing espionage deserve respect.
The voice and the editing with all the pictures and animating just makes these videos so interesting
Well thank you!
The narrator's voice is perfection for this, as well as the word choice
This channel should have way more subscribers.
No shit
Eventually it will, if HD keeps up the good work.
Very informative. Thank you
Awesome work. Especially the Motion Graphics and Sound Design, really nailing down the scale and drama of the story with what must be limited assets - well done!
Yes, just a two-man team over here! Thanks for the feedback, Aaron!
@@HistoryDose Great channel. I would say the background music was too loud. I firmly believe background music is not necessary especially past the intro segment, I personally find it annoying and distracting. I also firmly believe people want to hear you speak/get information/learn and not hear generic background music that they have to mentally filter out and that doesn't really add anything.
He's more of an American hero than either of the two guys that ratted him out that's for sure
Those two should've received the death penalty.
@@joeblow9657 Death would only allow them a quick ticket to the jaws of satan
@@joeblow9657 don't underestimate the cruel fate of being locked up in the US. I'd rather die.
@@ThatPianoNoob
WHAT?
@@benmmbk765 I'd rather die than be locked up for 10+ years in an American prison.
Your channel deserves a far higher sub count. This is insanely high quality information delivered perfectly with great video to accompany it.
Thanks!!
Found your channel because of your video on fallen dew and have been a big fan of every video. Hope you do another something Irish at some point if you've the time. Your format is amazing.
Love this channel. Great work.
Can’t wait for the next one.
What an incredible life this man lived. I feel that a great television series should be made about his story. It’s the only way his full story can be told.
Or maybe, you know, the book that this video failed to source, could be a way to tell the story!
this is so sick, love this channel
I never knew the Cold War was this crazy
Yeah, I had no idea the KGB were still executing people into the 80's.
You must be Young!
one of my favorite wikipedia deep dives is following all the links on cold war espionage. so fascinating to read about spies, their tools and methodology, cyphers, breaking codes, secret projects, the venona decrypts, you may not come up for air for a week!
Aye, lass, the espionage game takes many twists and turns.
Reminds me of GTA V. Politics and espionage is really really interesting.
This is so well produced love your guys content
Thanks Mr. Boi9000!
Holy Hamburg, I knew how he was gonna die yet hearing how it happened was so shivering.
look up how penkovsky died. never confirmed, but allegedly the soviets cremated him in an oven. alive.
@@oldfrend yeah also supposedly they put a video of him being cremated alive in circulation to instill fear to other agents.
The fact he put on his dress uniform before knowing he'd be arrested should tell you all you need to know about this man.
Really well done. Impossible to stop watching. I wanted it not to end. A story of great courage. A shame that he was betrayed by Ames, who was just motivated by money.
This is some of the best editing and storytelling I’ve seen. Bravo
Very good episode; felt emotional invested in Polyakov.
Thanks!
Much appreciated!!
~Chris
This is 1000 times better than the history Channel keep up the fantastic work
This channel is extremely underrated.
the effort you put into these is crazy just subbed and liked
The world of spies really is ruthless. You are always relying on the notion that someone else in your network won't sell you out. And all you can do is take precautions in case they do.
Great work as always
One of the best channels on UA-cam/streaming hands down. 10/10 my friend. Poetic, accurate, and enthralling.
Love the storytelling with your videos
I really enjoy your videos and always look forward for the next. Keep up the great work! :)
Much appreciated, Nathan!
Insanely underrated vid, even if you don’t get a million views you certainly produce high quality content that deserves it.
Thanks!
Wow this is One of the best documentaries I have ever watched on UA-cam.. great work
Fascinating! Great content, as usual.
Thanks!!
So i have watched a number of these videos as well as countless other historical videos and have found that actual history is often more interesting, exciting and inspiring then most Hollywood movies. If only more historically accurate films were made
Incredible video. Probably one of the best videos on youtube about spies. People talk about the Russian commander who called off a nuclear strike against the USA at the last moment, but not many talk about Polyakov. Polyakov might have been one of the top 10 most important figures in the world at preventing nuclear war. Imagine the Cold War era without risky intel on Russia...
Love and support from Sweden 🇸🇪
Visited Sweden almost two years ago; a wonderful country steeped in fascinating history!
Rip Polyakov. The man who stopped the cold war from becoming hot
He didn't deserve that end
That opening was just too smooth
Just found your channel and I love it!!!
Great editing great graphics!!! Thank you for your amazing efforts!!
In the film/movie "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy" the main Russian character was called Poliakov...
This video is so underrated
Great content wow I've seen this story but u filled in it all salute to u keep them coming.
This has way way too little views considering the production value. Great work!
Thanks, Eli!!
What a man, what a story. Thank you guys for sharing it.
Amazing animations! Keep it going guys!
Oh boy it’s about to start.
Am I the only one who almost cried when Polyakov was excecuted? This almost feels like something out of a movie
Spoiler
@@alanrxs7069 oh...whoops
Honestly just don't look at the comments before finishing the video if you don't want spoilers lmao
@@bananawitchcraft ya I always make that mistake, just like I did now
Yes
Mannn your channel never fails to produce quality and INTERESTING content
Thank you!!
Pure legend this man, what happened to his people in the Ukraine had this affect.
Amazing video as always!
Thanks Seamus!!
Amazing work, as always, keep up the good work.
Love this narration to an awesome story. 👌
Thanks, David!
How about a documentary on the Venona Project? I was told that is was stopped because the list of names revealed was going to the top of the US Government and Military. And then there was Colonel Edward Mandell House. Worked by the side of Woodrow Wilson but answered to Moscow.
The channel is so good that I had to google the spelling of Delhi thinking I was wrong. Amazing content brother.
Ha, yep got that wrong! Thanks!
Love all the work you do it more like art then a history lesson
Love the Cold War era stuff
I always love watching your guy’s videos
Excellent work! Subed. Time to binge on your content
Your channel is so good and interesting, that I can't stop watching it
Your a great storyteller!
this is actually the best channel
Highlight Of My Day!
I love your content. thank you
Thanks, Dave! Feel free to share it around!
@@HistoryDose I always do, you are the best
Thats quality content!
Absolutely incredible work and presentation! Very underrated Cold War story, thank you for sharing it so well!
fitting visuals with the narrative. , enjoy watching history vids like these in bed at night
You make the best history content dude
Thanks!!
Rip, Dmitri.
Holy informative stuff
General Polyakov was the best spy we ever had. His family all deserve citizenship if they want ot and he should be made a citizen posthumously.
His importance in the behind the scenes struggles of the cold War cannot be underestimated. He deserves a statue in the rotunda.
Ames and Hanson killed him. They killed nearly all our assets and we didn't have many.
Those two almost lost us the cold war.
Nicely done man.
Keep up the good work mate
I rly hope u keep making vids they r so well done
New video in the next few days!
Love your channel!
Great work! I wonder how the scores in these videos are done?
This was so well done! Great video! Just subscribed :)
The man deserves a movie. Everything I saw was that of a good good man. Betrayed by a greedy piece of crap. I was so angry when I saw the mole I legit got mad and sad.
Did he not betray the Soviet Union?
@@happydays5218 the nazi state? Yes he did thank god he did! The mole of Eua only care about money, the Devil. AND THE OTHER MAN WAS A ANGEL IT PRINCIPLES AND MORALS! THATS THE BIG DIFERENTE ( AND YOU A RUSKI BOT?)
@@happydays5218 They betrayed him first tbh by what they did in the Holodomor. Then they didn't allow his son to get medical treatment when he was in NYC.
Dude your stuff is A1. One day till you get a million subs
This. Is. Awesome!
this is well made nice job!
Thanks for the reality. So many young people have a skewed apprehension of the Soviet experiment. This needs to be exposed to truth and what anti-human truth it was ...
An American hero, being a Soviet. It's nice.
Thanks
Very detail
Nice video. Well done.
An almost forgotten hero, but a hero nonetheless.
This is a hero right here!
Yo man. Here's waiting for your new artwork. Keep it up man!
Thanks so much!!
There is no better narration on UA-cam. None!
what a perfect video and narration.
Great video!
I thought this was a professional video with 500k views. Awesome video!
I wish! Thanks! :)
The way you made the video makes it feels and sound magical, it is as if this story is a fiction lmao
Tragic that Ames wasn’t also dumped in an unmarked grave
Great video 👍
An elegant presentation that I thoroughly enjoyed. Thankyou from Denmark. I find it very interesting that he should willingly give himself up. It seems the KGB loyalty ran very deep in ways that were not so obvious. He clearly decided to share highly classified KGB documents with the west, being, what seemed to be, morally driven to do so. Yet, when he could've fled with his family long before it was too late, he chose to face the music, honoring those deeply rooted ideals of the KGB. Perhaps he felt he needed to be punished for his betrayal.
Good watch
Please TopHat. He was something else. All the spies of the 1900s were interesting individuals , up to Ames and Hannsen. The techniques rarely changed, But the motivations cast a wide net.
9:24 Polyakov says, *He was born a Russian and will die a Russian*
This is what a real man is. Never give up your passport. That’s identity.
Can you do more about the Mongols, the first one was 🔥.
This is so tragic
They should make a movie about this.
Even after creating such a great documentary still people don't know about this.