Greetings, I'm David and I run a channel which is dedicated to the brave men and women who fought for their country and lost. I love how bizarre history sometimes gets and I want to share it while spreading the word of hopefully all failed attempts to start a country we know of.
History has always been something I was very passionate about, something I that would naturally soak into my brain as I, fascinated, read through historical atlases, old traveller accounts and chronicles. One day, I started toying with the concept of making videos about bizarre countries that almost nobody ever heard about, because they exited for only 6 months, or were so tiny governments literally forgot they even existed.
You would be surprised just how many of these "almost countries" were out there, overlooked by historians and sometimes forgotten even by the people living on what used to be their sovreign soil. I am trying to bring out to the light of day accounts of these "almost-countries".
It is necessary to inform the whole word about denocide that the soviet government commitet in Kazakhstan Thank you for highlighting this fact hiddenby Russia.
Great summary for such a simple format. The only thing I'd like to comment about is the ending: - Rusyn population in Slovakia does not identify as 'Lemko' and frankly never was. Ukrainian dialectology and ethnography are attempting to group them into 'speakers of Lemko dialects', but that has nothing to do with self-identification. Lemko, as an autonym, appeared only in Lemkovyna - modern-day Poland - as a way to distinguish these particular Rusyns from those Rusyns who were leaning towards Ukrainians. So the term Lemko appeared to mark Rusyns who don't identify with the Ukrainian nation. Ironically, most of them were then forcibly moved to Soviet Ukraine and assimilated into Ukrainians anyway. - The Lemko language and people are nowadays recognized by Poland as well, and I'm pretty sure Poland is not really proud of Operation Vistula and its results. The minorities-related policies are much better now in all the EU states including Poland;
In some versions of the legend also the neighbor village of Poggio Umbricchio was a republic in the same time, some say part of Senarica, some say another republic.
I did see something about the name of Poggio Umbricchio on one map I used that made me think whether I am researching the correct village. I think they also had the "R. di" before the name there. But I never found anything more to it. I'm so glad there is something after all!
Interwar period was generally pretty banger in terms of emergent country ideas. Poland specifically was in a strange place between wars, jumping into many territorial conflicts with a lot of its neighbours.
Thank you for covering this topic. Alash members were one of the brightest members of Kazakh society at the time. Notably, Alikhan Bukeikhanov has participated in the population census during the imperial time and talked to the tribal leaders. Already back then he noticed that forceful and sudden shift from nomadic herding to settled agriculture would be devastating for Kazakhs and urged people to slowly transition on their own. Regrettably, the advice did not get traction. Another major reason that led to asharshylyq was the appointment of Goloshekin as the head of the state who was known for his lack of sympathy for local people and ruthlessness in achieving soviet goals. He was convinced that kazakhs were hiding their herds during collectivization and was ordering to seize properties with increasing intensity. The killing of people who tried to flee the country was also very cruel. His irresponsible leadership left kazakhs without means for survival and caused the famine. The effects of the famine can be traced to this day, from the modern number of population to the loss of the link with traditions and language. Many surviving kids were placed in foster homes where they were separated from the culture and language. Many of them would then go through the WW2 in adulthood. Their biographies on Wikipedia all mention that they became orphans very early, however there is no mention about the cause - asharshylyq. Increasing number of historians call for reevaluation of colonial and soviet past, however it causes concerns in modern day Russia that it would “portray soviet time in a negative way” and affect the modern day relations. Once again, thank you for covering this topic!
It was my pleasure to cover it. Every layer of the story I uncovered came with more context I wasn't expecting. I would have delved deeper into asharshylyq, but I found too few resources on Golshekin and the KASSR leadership overall in languages I can read.
Actually, In 1924 the number Kazakhs decreased from 8-9 million to 2.1 million. Considering that the Kazakhs throughout their history of nomadic culture up to the first half of the twentieth century. had the highest rate of natural population growth in the world Thanks for the video
From an outsider's perspective, it's not easy to really track Kazakh population accurately before the 1900s. As you say, most of them led nomadic lives and the Russians didn't distinguish between Kazakhs and other local ethnic groups, grouping all of them under the label "Kirghizes". Some of this could also be the discrepancy from the time when they stopped using the Kirghiz label and started really differentiating the Central Asian peoples.
@@AlmostaCountry the reason why they called kazakhs “Kyrgyzes” because in russia there were other slavic groups that called “Cossacks”, so that the was no confuse. And in Kazakhstan population dominated group were only kazakhs.
@@AlmostaCountry The Kazakhs hid or reduced the number of their children of pre-conscription and conscription age due to suspicion and fear that “the census is being carried out with the aim of conscripting their children to serve in the Russian army.” Many Kazakh families simply migrated deep into the steppe to avoid the census.
ok hold up, can we talk about how Akcja Wisła was a communist government doing, not Polish state's doing, I mean, yeah, IInd Polish Republic wasn't the greatest entity, however they didn't ever want to get rid of Lemkos
There is a year mentioned on screen when I mention Operation Vistula, from which it should be obvious it wasn't 2nd Republic Poland. But even the Communist government of 1947 was a legitimate Polish government at the time and not everything it did can be justified with Russian influence. That being said, I found out that Jaroslaw Kaczmarczyk actually died as a direct result of a KGB operation. I will make a video on that.
This is incredibly interesting to me as a 3rd generation American who has 2 Lemko great grandparents. They were not from Florynka, rather near Cisna further east. Coincidentally, my 4 Polish great grandparents were from closer by in Słopnice to the west. It would seem that this village was also part of the short lived Lemko Republic, though they did not identify as Lemko. They were all Roman Catholic while my Lemko great grandparents were Greek Catholics. FWIW, my other 2 great grandparents were Croats, so all 8 were Slavic.
@@AlmostaCountry Welcome and Excellent choice! Alash Orda has almost no info on it on YT besides gaming vids. One of those countries I want to learn more about.
@@thomaswatson1739 One of the reasons why it's taking time is the scarcity of sources. It's actually the first viewer-requested topic, so I want it to have some quality to it.
I believe similar and much stranger things have been recorded happening in history for us to justify our consideration that the most "pro-Senarica" option did happen, even with the limited evidence. Feudal legal system excelled at birthing microstates. Todays Liechtenstein, as well as the Channel Islands such as the Seigneurie of Sark that exist to this day can attest to that. Besides, the most pro-Senarica option is the one that paints the world the most colourful and interesting in my eyes, so I will always prefer that. :)
I assume the YT robot doesn't like me because I make long videos and I take long periods of time between uploads. If you think the videos are worthy of more, feel free to spread the word! :)
I'm not a Cossack myself, so I'll probably never grasp it as well as an actual Cossack that's learned of their history, but I did read and study quite a lot on the Cossacks, both on my own and at a Uni. Among the factual sources for this video you can find Cossack-written archival pages and an interview I did with an actual Ataman. Would you care to elaborate which parts am I getting wrong?
Amazing video, you put a lot of effort into it! I have only a question, what is the name of the author of the book you showed? Is it Petro Trochanowski? And what is the title of the book? I would like to buy it online if I can find it.
Sorry for the late reply. The title of the book is "Knyha Bilcarevy" meaning the Book of Bilcareva. It seemed to me to be a limited print for a purpose of an anniversary of the village. At least some part of it is written by and edited by Petro Trochanowski, also known as Petro Muryanka, who lives in a nearby village on the border with Slovakia.
Vorrei sapere dove hai trovato notizie sui cognomi che hai citato.....noi tutti sappiamo che senarica era legata a Venezia.....ma di tutte le altre cose che hai detto mi farebbe molto piacere sapere dove le hai trovate
Grazie Fabri! Most of my sources can be found in the description section of the video. They're either archives like Bibliotheca Toscana or regional and investigative webs such as 6amico.com, sabinamagazine.it or serenissima.news, so you can read much of the source information in Italian for yourself. :)
Yes, that is true. This was my first video, so there are some errors and inconsistencies. In this case, I mixed up the WUPR and the Ukrainska Derzhava of Pavlo Skoropadsky. WUPR was declared independently from the Derzhava on what was at that time Austrian Galicia. The Derzhava was established further east by the Germans after defeating the revolutionary army there. I mixed them up at the time because they both shared quite conservative leadership in contrast to the later, more socialist Ukrainian People's Republic of Symon Petliura and other revolutionaries.
Italians are a fictional nation created in the 19th century. Italians invented history based on a false hybrid construct (false link Rome-Venice-Kingdom/Republic of Italy). The idea of Italy arose among British and French Freemasons who were midwives at the birth of that new state. Italia compiled different cultures (Greek, Arabic, Norman, Catalan, Spanish, French, German) and declared it as its own culture. Italy had no language; she destroyed all languages and declared them dialects, and she imposed the language of Tuscan Florence on all peoples WHO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THAT LANGUAGE! Italy's goal is to dominate the entire eastern coast of the Adriatic, from Istria to Albania. Italy is a politically frustrated nation maddened by its insignificance. Italy is geopolitically castrated because it cannot go from the Mediterranean through Gibraltar, and it cannot go through Suez either. Italy is an eternal hegemonist and expansionist with weak hands, so it cannot do what it dreams of. By its nature, Italy is greedy, but at the same time cowardly and timid. Italy is the bully, and now it is persistently portraying itself as the victim. Croats know Italy...
So, I'm partially Slovak and I travelled around Lemkivschina quite extensively (as per my other video). In Poland, Lemko villages are almost empty of Lemko families. But in Slovakia they have their own schools, government offices, they can use their language as an official way of communication. Latest census data tells us that: - 63 556 Lemkos in Slovakia - around 11 000 in Poland - only about 700 Lemkos in Ukraine So, why don't you tell us where we can find more Lemkos than in Slovakia? And don't forget to back it with sources!
@@AlmostaCountry Using the term "Lemko" to describe Rusyns in Slovakia is debatable. Rusyns generally reserve it for the Rusyn/Lemko population from Poland. Rusyns in Slovakia have never self-described as Lemkos and don't identify as such. There's more to say about it but in short, calling them Lemko requires a big caveat at the very least. This is not meant as criticism but it is an important point. Side note, up to 70% of Lemkos (sensu stricto!) were resettled to Soviet Ukraine, there are many more people with Lemko ancestry there. They are largely assimilated and see themselves as ethnic Ukrainians, which has always been the view of the Ukrainian state.
@@esetomash Well, sure. It is debatable, as we can mostly rely on census data. Census data generally won't tell us a person's ancestry, but rather whether they feel connected to their ancestry. Like you're saying, if they describe themselves as ethnic Ukrainians, then you cannot tell whether they have Lemko heritage from the census alone. One thing that I can definitely say outside from census data, having lived there and personally talked to Lemkos as well as Rusyns, is that there are Lemkos in Slovakia. I don't use this term interchangeably with Rusyns in general. Slovakia is a country with a huge number of minority ethnicities and many of them are of different German and Rusyn origins. You have the historically strong, protestant Mantak, Zipser and other Carpatho-German ethnicities located in the centre and centre-north of the country. Of the Rusyn origin, there are a couple of ethnicities such as the Huculs, Boykos and the Carpatho-Ruthenians from the area around Užhorod. Most of these families, if located in Slovakia, live very close to the direct east of the country, near cities such as Košice, Bardejov, Humenné, Trebišov and Michalovce. Lemkos from the area around Bilcareva and Florynka lived quite more west than these ethnicities and used to seamlessly migrate for various reasons to the Slovak centre-north to the vicinity of Stará Lubovňa, Levoča and Kežmarok. After all, that area south of Nowy Sacz used to belong to Hungary until the restoration of Poland, and then partly to Slovakia during WW2. In the Slovak Šariš region you have Lemkos mixing with the other Rusyns and the lines are being blurred there, so it's easy for some to not see the difference. But the culture made its mark on the Slovak north and you can see many Lemko family graves and their traditional orthodox churches there. I went to school with a Lemko girl from Levoča, that's in fact how I came up with the idea for the video, in fact.
@@AlmostaCountry Nevylučujem, že sa niektorí jednotlivci môžu identifikovať ako Lemkovia, ale lemkovská komunita ako taková na Slovensku nie je. Ide o historický kontext názvu Lemkovia: Rusíni Poľska ho prijali ako sebaoznačenie až začiatkom 20. storočia z politických dôvodov. Rusíni Slovenska ho neprijali, lebo sa nachádzali v inej politickej situácii. Keď sme u lemkovského štátu, tak to asi stojí za zdôraznenie. Samozrejme sú príbuzní, z etnografického hľadiska dokonca patria spolu (včetne Spiša a Zemplína, t.j. skoro všetci Rusíni Slovenska) - a súhlasím, že tie podobnosti je lepšie vidiet na hranici, čo je celkom prirodzené. Ale zopakujem, že v rusínskej komunite sa názov Lemkovia používa ako regionálny pro Rusínov Poľska, nie Slovenska.
@@esetomash V tom prípade samozrejme záleží, ako si definujeme Lemkov. Dá sa na to pozerať tak, ako vravíte, ako sa skupina ľudí sama označuje, od kedy a z akých dôvodov. Dá sa na to pozerať aj etnograficky, kde sa berie v potaz prirodzené šírenie kultúry v svojom ohraničenom území. Pre účely videa som postupoval s etnografickou úvahou, že Rusíni severného Spiša sú určite viac príbuzní s Rusínmi južného Malopolska z okolia Bilcarevy a Krynicze-Zdroju, než s Rusínmi ďalej na východ, sú viac menej členmi tej istej etnickej skupiny, ktorá si v Polsku hovorí Lemkovia. Možno si z rôzných dôvodov hovoria inak - ako napríklad kvôli skorej československej národnostnej politike, ale na hraniciach sa jednalo o tie isté rodiny na obidvoch stranách. Vetvu rodiny prezidenta Kaczmarczyka je možné nájsť na cintoríne v slovenskej Osturni, napríklad. Avšak samozrejme Rusín nie som, iba sa s niektorými Rusínmi znám. Ďakujem teda za poučný vnútorný náhľad. :)
I never said there was a Russian Empire in the early middle ages. I said that in the early middle ages, the Cossack substrate was created from Turkic peoples coming west from Central Asia and Russian refugees coming from, and I quote, "Several Russian principalities and duchies". I literally said that Russian Empire didn't exist around that time yet. The video only deals with the Russian Empire as we jump into the 20th Century.
I plan on covering Kuban Republic in its separate video later, but it will definitely come! If you would like to see it soon, let me know and I will move it up on the schedule. :)
Pytor Krasnov was against the idea of a seperate country from Russia. In one of his books he wrote that he also proved to Don Cossacks that it would be Impossible for such a country to exist.
Interesting! Could you please tell me what book that was? I'd hate to be wrong about something like this. My sources (2 books by Czech authors about the Don Army) state that he wanted to unite with the Cossacks in Kuban and Ukraine to form something resembling a Cossack nation-state. I read that he dropped the idea by the 1940s, when he worked for the Ministry for the East in Germany. I find it entirely possible that he simply changed his mind as the decades went, likely due to experiences he gained during the Civil War. But at any rate, if you could show me he had the same idea before or during the Civil War, I'd be happy to be proven wrong.
@@AlmostaCountry I dont remember exactly where but its in the beginning chapters. Right after the Revolution, Don Cossacks wanted a country of their own and he told the Cossack officers that it was not possible. I will link you the video but its in Russian.
We're taught at school that Lemkos exist in Poland, that they have their spaces, language. They aren't overlooked by our education system, at least it was the case 10 years ago when I was still at school, I think they can even take matura exams (Polish exams at the end of high school that determine your score while applying to universities) in their language. Maybe it changed with our growingly nationalistic government, I can't say. But we see you and I hope life treats you well these days.
Hello! Information in the video deals with events that took place in the first half of the 20th century. I don't doubt that contemporary Poland doesn't discriminate Lemkos in any way. The presence of various memorials dedicated to Operation Vistula victims is a proof of that. I simply want to inform about what happened back then, mostly under very different regimes. Operation Vistula came about under the Communists and the initial conquest of the Lemko villages was under Marshall Piludski who had a difficult task of consolidating the country after centuries of separation. None of that is happening today, of course! I'm very happy about the Lemko language being allowed in schools, I didn't know that! :)
@@AlmostaCountry oh it's very good that you're talking about it, I 100% support your educational efforts. Piłsudski has committed many terrible crimes, but he is a national hero nonetheless... That is a big problem in Poland - lack of perspective while revising our history. We worship war criminals and refuse to see them for what they really were - best case scenario: complicated people in tough situation, worst: monsters who simply seized an opportunity to unleash their destructive tendencies. Piłsudski is merely the tip of the iceberg. I acknowledge that Piłsudski has some great achievements, but I'd rather die than have someone like him in power today. I only left a comment for more depth and contemporary context, not to disprove your video and definitely not to spread positive propaganda on Polish history.
My understanding is that while the original Lemko homeland is in Poland today, most Lemko people are in Ukraine (among other countries) because they were moved by the USSR. But Ukraine doesn’t recognize the Lemko or Rusyns as an ethnic group (even though it recognizes many others). And so, most ethnic Lemko have lost their language and ties to their culture.
The local variety of Rusyn language was codified in Poland as 'Lemko language' in the early 2000s, since then the community had a moderate upheaval, but overall it is never as it was due to people misplaced and lost connection with the homeland and culture. The current population of people self-identifying as Lemko in Poland is around 13 000.
Thanks! It means the world to me. I started making these out of sheer passion for the subject and it's unbelievable to me just how many strangers appreciate something I've done! Just the fact that you decided to drop a supportive sentence is extremely encouraging. :)
This is great! I hope you might explore the US, with the Yazoo Republic, Texas, the California Bear Flag Republic and Deseret. I must be one of your first viewers, very exciting.
Wow, some of these I never heard of! I need to extend my knowledge in US history in this regard. Being from Europe, some of these sometimes slip my radar. :) Feel free to check my other videos out. This one is nice, but I've gotten better over time. There will be a new one dropping very soon about the Senarica Republic. Glad to have you around, Conrad!
Deseret is the republic which Mormons tried to establish in what is now Nevada and Utah -- for years Utah was not admitted as a US state sue to Mormon polygamy which exists to the present day. The Yazoo Republic was a scheme supported by Aaron Burr (who killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel. I was never able to study much about this. The last is California. Good hunting!
I am of the cossack origin on both my grandma's and grandad's sides. I believe that it has just become trendy to say how everyone was fighting "Russia" and wanted to be independent. I have never heard anything similar from my grandparents. Cossacks ' motherland was not an independent state, on the contrary, they were fiercely patriotic and loyal to Russia. They might have fought the reds during the Civil War as their faithfulness was to the tzar. I don't buy this tale of SS cossacks, it's ridiculous)))) You seem to completely misunderstand their culture, I'm sorry. Both my cossack great-great grandfather and great-grandfather fought in the WW2 all in their traditional clothes. They were great people - teachers and peasants in peaceful time and soldiers of course in times of war. They had a super strong moral code defending the country. Taras Bulba by Ukrainian writer Shevchenko might be a representation of it. Spoiler - Taras kills his own son for helping poles.
Hello Anna! Thank you for your comment. I know that you probably got this video recommended because of the war going on, but I made this video almost 2 years ago and only out of love for Cossack culture. I'm from Prague, where there is a great number of Cossack descendants led by Ataman Mikhail Dzyuba. I'm on friendly terms with him and he actually told me a lot of what I know about Cossack history. They hold beautiful Cossack celebrations each year, such as the Pokrova and I always love to attend. Please keep in mind that this video isn't talking about what all Cossack are like, or saying that all Cossacks were separatists. Nothing like that. I make videos about people who tried to create their own countries. That automatically means, that they needed to try to separate from another one. This is not a video series about Cossacks specifically, but about interesting separatist stories from history. I try to write my videos without any bias, political or otherwise, and to present both praises and flaws of opposing sides equally. There were certainly many Cossacks who were fiercely loyal to the idea of Russian unity, like your ancestors were. But this isn't a video about them, this is a video about those Cossacks (and only the Don Army Cossacks, mind you), who chose to declare their own country. It's not my place to praise or condemn them. I'm just reporting about history. SS Cossack Cavalry is well-documented. But its existence doesn't mean its members were Nazis. I believe they only saw Germans as a tool to help them liberate Russia from the Reds. So I hope you won't take offence by this video - it's not saying that all Cossacks wanted to declare independence, it's just saying that the Don Army did so and why. As for your cultural points, I don't believe I've said anything that would contradict what you write. I did say they had a rigorous structure and compared them famous honour-bound and protective organisations from the realms of fiction. I actually have a great deal of personal respect for the Cossacks.
Ana privet, I would like to have conctact with You. my grandfather was a Cossack, Danskoj Kazak, Timliansk village. After WW2 hes move to Lithuania and marrage polish women..
Kind of, yeah. The video isn't really about the overall history of the Cossacks, but about the Don Republic specifically. I try to pick information that is relevant to the country I'm covering, otherwise a video about it would be hours long. If we were to look at the two Cossack branches, the Russian one and the Commonwealth one, Don Army would definitely fall into the Russian branch. So, that's what I focused on. Things I found relevant to the Don Army and its history. Where they originally came from? How come they had such strong sense of autonomy and self-governance? How was their society organised? That's all very relevant to what the Don Republic was. If I were to cover, for instance, the Zaporozhian Sich, the Commonwealth would play a major role in its history and would feature prominently in a video about it. But the more I think about it now, it would have been really easy to just add a few words in the sentence about how Cossacks eventually became a part of national militaries. Well, next time. There will be more Cossack videos.
@@AlmostaCountry i accept your comments. My problem is with the timing during an active war between Russia and the Ukraine. But, considering your stated objectives informative.
@@arthurmosel808 Well, this video came out in May 2020. Who knew back then there was going to be a war? I'm trying to keep my videos informative, free of political opinions. And there could be many opinions made about the Don Republic, depending on what standpoint you look from. Krasnov is a hero for the Cossacks, one of the few modern-day figures that stand out. On the other hand, he also worked alongside literal Nazis towards the end of his life. Was he a hero? Or a traitor? Liberator? A Nazi? If you factor all the perspectives in, he was all those things. So I try to tell these stories from the perspective he or one of his Cossacks might have seen the world. Because this perspective gets often unrepresented - their countries and their national interests no longer exist. And the Don Cossacks have always been more defined by their difficult relationship with Russians, even though they had friendly relations with Ukraine and the Cossacks that lived there.
@@AlmostaCountry I didn't realize that this was from that far back, it only just showed up on my screen. Given that I find it a very interesting piece. As to Stalin's Soviet government and the NAZIs; if you get into ideologies, probably the most import difference between them was nationalism. Both ran command economies, both held the state Supreme, and both were led by a Supreme leader who didn't hesitate to imprison or kill their enemies. Stalin, however, believed in an internationalist vision with the Russian government its leader; while countries like Italy, Germany and even Nationalist China (allowing for its attitude) were socialist but unwilling to be led by Russia. In fact, it was Stalin who initially called the NAZIs the right wing (it was actually the right wing of the socialist movement). So, when the NAZIs arrived in the Ukraine it was hard for many to see themas liberators from Moscow. Remember for a short time after Impetial Russia's fall they tried for independence and were subdued by Moscow. Later, the Ukrainian peasants (who owned their own land even during Imperial times) were forceably collectivised, and subjected to the great famine, which was both policy and condition related. It was Hitler's racial ideology that destroyed hopes of true cooperation. Following the war, many of the same people fighting the NAZIs continued to fight to the Soviet government until 1955. So, I see troops working with the NAZIs as more like people showing resentment against a Soviet government responsible for deaths and starvation more than ideological supporters. By the way, many of the pro-Russian people in the Ukraine are descendants of Rusdians sent there following the internal deportation of zukrainians opposing the Soviets.
@@arthurmosel808 You're right about both ideologies coming from a similar place. In my Carnaro video, I describe how these ideologies managed to develop alongside each other in the early 1920s. They both tried to respond to a changing world and fix the same things. Original fascism surely cannot be classified as a right wing ideology and certainly not a conservative one - its core has always in opposition of something, radical and revolutionary. You are of course right about the latter part as well. I don't believe many Russians in the Wehrmacht were convinced Nazis. In fact, many of the German generals weren't. They were professional soldiers who saw the Nazis as a means through which Germany can get back on its feet (or in this case, a means to get a second shot at restoring White Russia). Many just went along with it because it seemed to work in the direction their own interests were going. General Vlasov, Ataman Krasnov, even Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus of Stalingrad fame - they were all in just because Nazis were successful in advancing their own ideals.
