"Red Napoleon" - The USSR's Military Genius (Mikhail Tukhachevsky) 

PLEASE READ!!! My channel just went from getting 24 to 10,000 views per day in the last week, (~12/16/21 for those of you in the future,) and with this new attention I have found that there is a lot that needs to be corrected in these videos. This video was poorly fact checked and I sincerely apologize for that. In the meantime, continue to correct me (but spare my feewings) and I will do my best to keep up! Thanks for your patience. If you liked this video you'll also enjoy my video on Konstantin Rokossovsky. My notes: 0:32 Yezhov was the man who prosecuted Tukhachevsky. 2:50 Donetsk??? 3:37 Remy Roure was a journalist and another prisoner held at Ingolstadt. Much of what we know of Tukhachevsky during that time comes from him. 5:22 Despite the Ukrainian flag here, the previously contested (between the Poles and Ukrainians) city was actually ceded to the Poles some months before Stalin besieged it in return for cooperation against the Soviets. The Poles weren't actually "occupying" the city. (Thanks _Kruczysław_ 501) 5:59 Kalinin, who briefly appears in this scene, was not a member of the Politburo at this time. 6:52 He said the funny word! 7:44 Pictured is the DP-27 machine gun. It is not actually known what specific weapon was actually used, so I just went with this one used in that era. 13:27 I have no morals.

It's a shame he died before Barbarossa, he would have been a good rival to Rommel

Tuchachevsky, Kamenev, Trotsky, Zinoyev and Lenin: Mocking Staling for his fuck-up Stalin 15 years later: I'm gonna do what is called a pro-gamer move

Mistake: the whites didn’t only fight to put the tsar back, they were a collection of different factions that were United against the reds but haven’t firmly decided on what the future of Russia should look like

Funfact: Tukhachevsky's grandfather Alexander was an Imperial Russian Army colonel who was killed in Warsaw fighting Polish rebels during the November Uprising (1830-31). 90 years later, he was defeated by the Poles outside the gates of Warsaw.

Fun fact: Tukhachevsky was of Pagan belief, remarking that Paganism would have been a better fit rather than atheism for the Soviet Union and destroying christianity, though that was mostly mocked by his comrades.

He could be a new Napoleon, in a bit time he did more than every general in ww2

Bet Stalin was missing him in June 1941

This video is now TNO Fanbase territory. Tukhachevsky Gang rise up!!!....

I was surprised to see only 135 subscribers, this production quality's already up around the 100k sub mark imo (bar the audio mixing issues you mentioned) Subbed and hoping to see more, keep it up!!

How can you question a man who is extremely brutal when it comes to revolt suppressing. Obviously Stalin's bitterness from 1920 came back and haunted Tukhachevsky to his death.

Great video, keep up the good work!

You forgot to say he is the grandfather of Soviet (Russian) paratroopers. He created them. Russia was the First Nation to test with paratroopers during the inter war period. But Germany was the First Nation to use them in combat.

Quick, simple, full of history, enjoyable and of course well made. Thank you for this video

I can’t believe you didn’t talk about his ideological differences, as he believed in a sort of pan-Slavic paganistic socialism, far different from Stalin’s communism and even going as far as suggesting a return of the tsar

We learned about this guy in history class, Soviet history is just really interesting

You definitely deserve more subscribers.

I like how tukhachevsky trolled de Gaulle and everyone at the prison

The civil war was not only the red and white army, there were the green and black armies

First of your videos that I've serendipitously found. Keep up the good work; just subscribed

Tukhachevskij was the highest commander in the sovjet/polish war, 27 years old. Already there the differences between him and Stalin can be seen. Attacking Warzaw and invade Poland could be a step to start an attack against Berlin, where german workers were supposed to support the Red Army. The idea of an European revolution was the base of Trotsky’s permanent revolution, which doubted that russian peasants should support the revolution. Instead support was necessary to get from more advanced countries and the developed working class there. Stalin instead put forward the idea of socialism in one country. Things didn’t go Tukachevsky’s way; polish workers didn’t support the red Army and they lost outside Warzaw. The trial in 1937 against Tukachevsky was probably (?) built on a false rumour planted by Gestapo (?) that he had tried to negotiate support for a coup d’etat that should take down Stalin. The murder of 600 000 citizens, almost all of them could mpletely innocent, after the killing of Tukachevskij is a national tragedy for Russia.

RIP Tukhachevsky

I do think Zhukov is the better general of the two, especially considering Zhukov never resorted to the brutal methods Tukhachevsky. However, it's undeniable that Tukhachevsky walked so Zhukov could run.

Good video, very interesting. Learned something Thanks!

Keep up to great work!

a very good channel, subscribed and wish you grow to the hundred thousand /million subscribers till the end of next year

Kudos for providing sources! There is unacceptable number of large historical channels in youtube that expect to be taken for granted.

Damn this is a good video. *subbed*

White army was quite heterogenous in terms of their beliefs, and often confronted each other due to that fact. Monarchist part of them was perhaps one of the least popular. So it would be more correct to say that white movement was for reinstating the parliament "Uchreditelnoye Sobranie" ,which was arrested by the revolutionary council during the winter palace assault. But even these "republican" forces of white army were different in their beliefs. According to emigre russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin, the leaders of these republican factions were supporting something more like proto-fascist state, rather than democratic institutions, and it would've been more likely for Russia to become one of the first fascist states, be it a military junta like Spain had, or a classic dictatorship.

this is amazing

Great content

Short and to the point . Well done . A barbaric system that ruined the lives of so many . Tuchachevsky was a product of this 'dog eats dog' system . His fatal mistake was to criticise Stalin for the Warsaw debacle ; Comrade Stalin was vengeful and even worse had a long memory .

This was a great video, congrats! I hope you keep making them, this channel could really blow up, well done!

Really nice video. I love your music taste. It also fits the theme

how he escaped in a german special prison for problematic prisoners make him an intelligent wizard...

What is the name of this classic song playing intermittently?

The end song is beautiful

A reminder that even if Mikhail had taken warsaw with aid from Stalin it likely would have fallen due to lack of defensive measures and manpower. Stalin made the correct choice to retrieve a smaller but more tactically valuable location while Tukachevsky wanted a crippling blow which was not fully possible due to the fact the Red Army was fighting with not its entire military capability. Arguably a slower more methodical approach would have likely secured the war in Soviet favor instead of expending unessicary casualties in a bid for a politically valuable target. Of course, with Trotsky being a military superior to Stalin we can begin to understand why Lenin despite having no military experience up to that point would side with Trotsky and his associate, despite Trotsky's proficiency at managing supplies and troop movements he like many early Russian military leaders were extremely wasteful with their resources and manpower, its the same reason struggles like the Kronstadt rebellion were such bloody battles, there was little care for how soldiers actually faired once they reached combat. Also minor nitpick but Stalin was not the dictator of the Soviet Union but more or less a figurehead outside of his role, there were far more powerful people in the Government such as Beria, the main reason we get the idea of dictatorship from Stalin is the fact that he was so popular with people during the war as well as having a strong historic connection to the countries creation, despite the fact he often attempted to resign from his position.

4:50 Polish Army simply cut off communication lines , and read all messages sent to Russian commanders. Pilsudski wrote about Tukhachevsky :due the war he sent orders like there is no reality.

The white army did not fight to restore the Czar. The white army de facto goal was to overthrow the bolchevikes, there wasant really anything else that united them besides that

the audio in the video is so obnoxious, keep it even, it get's too loud...

Can you please make the music sections louder and the speaking sections more quite - I like to have this commercial feel to videos!

Regarding the Invasion of Poland, it is crucial that this was a counteroffensive to the Polish attempt to invade the USSR, and not a unilateral attack on the part of the Soviets, something which the Soviet leadership of this time would never have considered given their extremely vulnerable strategic situation. Even so, the question of whether to follow up the successful defense with a counterinvasion was extremely controversial: Trotsky was against it, Lenin was in favor, mainly due to the strategic possibilities a victory would have opened up, especially the possibility of linking up with revolutionary forces in Germany.

I don’t know if voroshilov was the one advocating for cavalry, I think the one doing that was Budonny.

Thanks for making these videos, it’s a huge relief from all the typical “Churchill and FDR saved the world against evil” perspective that seems to permeate particularly the American historical narrative in my experience. Not to say that the Nazis weren’t evil, but that evil and good are more nuanced than people think and the world is a complicated place with many diverse cultures with vastly different views on everything from morality, legality, spirituality, and so on. While morality certainly plays a part in it all, I personally see figures such as Mikhail Tukhachevsky as essential pieces of the puzzle in the grand scheme of things. Stalin, Napoleon, Genghis Khan, they all seem larger than life, but the truth is that these men had their own thousands of administrators, generals. captains, merchants, engineers, and a host of so many other events behind them that led them and their empires/peoples to greatness. Life in general is so vast and powerful that to try to think of every single event, person, and deed that led to this one single piece of history is impossible for the human mind to even attempt to not only comprehend but visualize and understand.

Awesomw videos! Keep going you're doing it right🙏🙏

There's a few things I think need correcting in this video. 4:46 Tukhachevsky was fighting in the Caucuses, not Crimea at this time. 4:56 I don't really think going so fast you can't supply your army is really that "genius" of a move. Especially since he would get his ass handed to him at Warsaw, which also puts his genius into question. 8:14 The chemical weapon thing is a huge exaggeration. They were used a total of 3 times and never really had any big impact. 9:16 It is a myth that Tukhachevsky invented deep operation, it was actually Vladimir triandafillov who did l, Tukhachevsky just helped spread it.

It's not as easy as you may think. People fight a lot about religious politics. A LOT

Lwow was actually at the time a Polish city.

I’m pretty sure most people who know him come from hoi4

great video my friend ;)

Very cool

4:52 That is cursed beyond all limitations XD

I think Stalin styled himself Generalissimo.

Wait those guys in the politbiuro where tukachevsky, Trotsky, kamanev, zivanyonev(i can't pronounce his name) and lenin

This video is gold

nice fanfiction you present there

It's a common myth, Russian army (White) wasn't a monarchist force, in fact most of them were democrats and socialists aka SRs. They fought for uniting Russia and establishing an order of "All Russian Constituent Assembly" which will decide future state system and other things 4:18 please, check the banner you used, I'm sure sure you can understand what's wrong by your own 4:30 Denikin wasn't in charge in Crimea, he was demoted and untill the evacuation Russian army was commanded by Pyotr Wrangel 7:43 It's a DP-27, ww2 machine gun. t's completely irrelevant, don't want to look like a nerd, just mentioned in case you're unaware Still a great video, I wish you good luck!

Да я слышал про Тухачевского. Хороший генерал в Hearts of Iron IV

your channel is so underrated

i dont know much about what your plans are in this channel, but please take a look to Hipólito Bouchard and San Martín, maybe you wont make a video about these subjects, but might be interesting for you. nice video btw

How can you have such few subs ur good

The circumstances of Tukachevsky's death are deliciously ironic. If there is a Hell I'm sure he and Stalin have much to discuss down there.

English community: Red Napoleon, another man die under Stalin madness Chinese Community: A butcher and mustard gas lover. Great job Papa Stalin

interessante

Suvorov my dude

0:35 says Тукачевский however his last name is Тухачевский. Х instead of K.

Really good video, but its really quiet

Commissars purges were nothing that we do not see today, albeit a murder is replaced by sackings. You get the sack because your boss doesn’t like you, classic in genre

What? I study every option available.

Kind of looks like Napoleon too.

The man that created operational art. Just ask guderian…who happens to have done secret warfare inovation T khazan…secret Russian German war school.This is where your modern way of war was developed

Going down The Center in HOI4 like:

More like a Red Guderian

Russian civil war uniforms are real Drip

You did not show anything significant that would justify the title of the "Red Napoleon".

Wonder how his presence could have changed ww2 if he wasn't purged by Stalin.

I think genius would be a stretch. He didn't care about his men and had to many personality flaws. Im sure he was highly intelligent though. I'd say red Napolean is very fitting monicker.

Am I the only one that thinks he looks like Rodney Dangerfield ? He certainly didn’t get enough respect.

the red napoleon was nguyen vo giap

I liked this one the best of all your videos Tukhachevsky was based

Good vid on a fairly unknown figure

ахуительные истории как всегда.

Calling Lviv a Soviet City is a bit of a stretch.

RIP GOAT

"U were purged."

Maybe, he and stalin not have blaming each other after their defeat in battle of warsaw

He did get bodied by the polish tbf

Ol Bug Eyes Comrade Tovaritsch!

I dissagree that Thukachevsky was a good military commander. He was personalisation of what would become the Soviet Wave tactic. Altough a myth in ww2, durring the revolution Thukachevsky extendedly used such means. Two victories mentioned were result of several major defeats, preety much, Thukachevsky won it by sheer brute force amd funnily enough almost got several times encircled but saved by Frunze (who imo is the ACTUAL best Soviet military commander before ww2). I agree absolutely he was brutal af but he was also as such in his tactics. His advance in Poland as you said was so fast that logistics were made a problem. Imo both Stalin and his ruthless aproach to advance made him loose. Stalin left a unit to defend Thukachevsky's flank, a small unit. Any sensible commander would have fucking stopped the moment her realised his flank was shit. But in standard ram the enemy fashion he uses he continued on and got himself almost encircled for like 5th time now. His theoretical contribution is deffinetly great altough I dissagre Voroshilov was exclusively pro cavalry such as Budyony was seeing as Voroshilov oversaw and supported the motorisation of RA durring 30s. Thukachevsky didn't just propose combined warfare of tanks and planes he outright deemed them only things necesary. One of his famous ideas in 30s was that USSR should produce 100k tanks *YEARLY*. He wanted dissolution of cavalry (which funnily enough was actualy extremly good on the eastern front and Soviets actualy had a problem where they had to reintroduce cavalry divisions from 12 active to 20 I belive. He also supported idea of rocket proppeled artillery, and not in like Katyusha tipe in like way that an artillery shell is instead a rocket. He liked rockets. He also stopped the expansion of the mortar artillery industry which made Stalin fucking hate him lmao. In the end he died due to charges of helping German planned coup (thus why was his family jailed). It is very very likely Germany outright forged the evidence to make him look guilty altough there is no definitive answer. And his ideology deserves a fucking book how wild of a trip it is.

Lviv was soviet city in Polish Soviet war?

Wasn't Comrade Tukhachevsky also of Polish origin? (You're video was great by the way).

Napoleon? No less ,

Lwów was a Polish- Ukrainian city and had nothing to do with Russia nor the Soviets.

You play stupid games you get stupid prizes , if he couldnt see the evil of the Soviet communists that means he was just as evil and got his reward for it

Woods Map

You forgot to mention his "pagan" tendencies

Excellent historical overview, but please learn how to pronounce Russian names.

Lviv in 1920 was not a Soviet city. The Soviet Union captured this city for the first time in September 1939.

Very good educating and also fun material, what is important igriedient in such "heavy" subject as history. Only one blunder I've detected is that mention of Lwów/Lviv as a soviet city... We can argue if it was Ukrainian or Polish, but it definitely was a soviet city untill 1940. And before 1919 those city was except of partitions being an integral part of Polish kongdom since 1360's until the 1772 (Ist partition in wich it was taken by Austrians and holded by them with short pause [1809-1815] and 1914-1915 untill 1918). I watched also about Lermonrtov and Rokossowski materials, and there were no blunders, so grat content. Of course i am not any authority ;). Are You making only about soviets figures? Only about Russian figures? Or Notable figures in your opinion at all? Thanks for any kind of your attention on my comment. With regards Me. :D