World War I and Communism

Discover the seismic events that reshaped our modern world as we explore the grim realities of World War I and the revolutionary ideology of communism that followed. This episode peels back the layers of history to reveal the intricate web of alliances and the spark of an assassin's bullet that set the stage for a global conflict of unprecedented scale. Join us as we navigate through the harrowing experiences of soldiers in the trenches, the emergence of devastating new technologies on the battlefield, and the staggering human costs that would forever mark the pages of history.

Then, brace yourself for an intellectual odyssey into the heart of communism, an ideology born from the ashes of industrial exploitation and societal upheaval. We dissect the aspirations for a classless society, the struggle between capitalism and communism, and the transitional role of socialism. As we examine how these concepts ignited revolutionary fervor and influenced leaders like Lenin, you'll gain fresh insights into the enduring debates and global movements shaped by this powerful ideology. Listen as we connect the dots across history, painting a vivid picture of the world transformed by these twin titans of the 20th century.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Double Helix.
Blueprint of Nations, companion8.1, world War I and Communism.
Welcome to another companionepisode of Double Helix.
This time we'll talk about apivotal event in the history of

(00:27):
the world.
It is, of course, world War I,or the Great War as it was often
called.
It seems almost unfair to do acompanion a short episode on
World War I, such a massive,wide-ranging conflict that
changed the face of the worldforever.
However, we were talking aboutit during our episode on Lenin.
It lurked in the background, itwasn't something that we went

(00:50):
into a lot of detail, but it wasa pivotal event in determining
the fate of Russia and the fateof Lenin himself.
World War I, which lasted from1914 to 1918, began in a Europe
that was in a tinderbox ofnationalism, imperial ambitions
and entangled alliances.
The assassination of ArchdukeFranz Ferdinand of Austria by a

(01:14):
Serbian nationalist in June 1914set off the chain reaction.
Austria-hungary's harshresponse to Serbia activated a
series of mutual defensealliances, pulling in the major
European powers and theircolonies into a global conflict.
This was not just triggered bythe assassination itself, but

(01:35):
was the result of complexinterlocking treaties and
decades of diplomatic tension.
The conflict split the worldinto two main factions the
Allies, including France,britain, russia, japan and later
the United States, and theCentral Powers, mainly Germany,
austria-hungary, the OttomanEmpire and Bulgaria.

(01:58):
The Western Front, which sawtrench warfare that epitomized
the brutal stalemate of the war.
The Eastern Front, which wasmarked by more fluid but equally
devastating engagements, andother fronts included battles in
the Middle East, africa andAsia.
Life in the trenches of theWestern Front, where soldiers

(02:20):
lived among the mud rats andincessant shelling, paints a
stark picture of the war's greenreality.
These conditions, combined withthe use of new devastating
technologies like chemicalwarfare, tanks and machine guns,
resulted in catastrophic humanloss and suffering.
The introduction of chemicalweapons like mustard gas marked

(02:41):
a horrifying escalation inwarfare, leading to long-term
health effects and immediatefatalities on the battlefield.
The toll was staggering Anestimated 17 million people died
and 20 million were wounded.
Civilian populations also facedunprecedented hardships due to
economic strain, food shortagesand the psychological impacts of

(03:04):
war.
The war concluded with thesigning of several treaties, but
most notably the Treaty ofVersailles in 1919, which
imposed heavy reparations andterritorial losses on Germany.
This treaty, controversial inits severity, set the stage for
future conflicts, specificallyWorld War II.

(03:25):
The legacy of World War I isprofound reshaping national
borders, ending empires andprompting shifts in social
attitudes and art.
It also marked the beginning ofthe United States as a major
world power and led to majorpolitical changes in many of the
involved countries.

(03:51):
For the second part of thiscompanion episode, we're going
to talk about a topic that hasshaped nations, fueled
revolutions and sparked intensedebate throughout modern history
communism.
The idea here is to help buildyour knowledge around the
broader themes our podcastexplored, as we talk about, the
various leaders who are shapingour first season, and, in

(04:12):
particular, lenin.
So what is communism?
How did it come about and whatimpact has it had on the global
stage?
Communism, at its core is asocio-political and economic
ideology that advocates for aclassless society in which the
means of production, such asfactories, land and resources,

(04:34):
are owned and controlled by thepublic.
The ultimate goal is toestablish a society where wealth
and power are distributedequally, eliminating the class
distinctions that capitalismcreates.
This ideology is rooted in thebelief that the working class or
the proletariat should rise upagainst the capitalist class or

(04:55):
the bourgeoisie to dismantlecapitalist systems and establish
a communist society.
Unlike capitalism, whereprivate ownership and free
market competition are central,communism emphasizes collective
ownership and central planning.
Socialism, often seen as astepping stone to communism,

(05:16):
shares similarities inadvocating for public ownership,
but it differs in its approachto state involvement in the
transition process.
The seeds of communism were sownlong before the term itself was
coined, with communal livingand shared resources being part
of human society for millennia.
However, the ideology as weknow it today began to take

(05:38):
shape during the IndustrialRevolution, a period that
drastically transformedsocieties.
The rapid industrialization andurbanization led to stark class
divisions and widespreadexploitation of the working
class.
It was against this backdropthat Karl Marx and Friedrich
Engels published the CommunistManifesto in 1848, a pamphlet

(06:01):
that would become one of themost influential political
documents in all of history.
Marx and Engels criticized thecapitalist system for its
inherent exploitation andpredicted that the working
class's growing dissatisfactionwould inevitably lead to a
proletarian revolution.
The manifesto outlined a visionfor a classless society, free

(06:23):
from oppression and inequality,achieved through the collective
ownership of the means ofproduction.
Achieved through the collectiveownership of the means of
production.
This vision was not just adream of economic reform, but a
call to action, urging theworking class to unite and
overthrow the capitalist systemthat bound them.
The spread of communismthroughout the 20th century was
marked not just by the pursuitsof authoritarian ideals, but

(06:46):
also by significant humansuffering and oppression.
The Russian Revolution of 1917set the stage for the emergence
of the Soviet Union, a statethat promised to abolish the
exploitation of man by man, butwhich instead introduced a new
era of repression and terror ontheir leaders like Joseph Stalin

(07:06):
.
The Great Purge of the 1930s,for instance, saw the execution
and the imprisonment of millionsof people deemed
counter-revolutionary or simplyinconvenient to the regime's
consolidation of power.
Similarly, mao Zedong visionsfor a communist China led to
some of the most devastatingpolicies in human history.

(07:27):
The great leap forward intendedto rapidly transform China into
a socialist society resulted inone of the deadliest famines,
with estimates of the death tollranging from 15 to 45 million
people 45 million people.
Mao's cultural revolutionfurther plunged the country into
chaos, leading to widespreadpersecution, the destruction of

(07:49):
cultural heritage and countlessdeaths and suffering among the
intellectual and ruralpopulations.
But the darkest manifestation ofcommunist ideology was under
the Khmer Rouge regime inCambodia, led by Pol Pot.
The attempt to create anagrarian communist society
resulted in the genocide of anestimated 1.7 to 2 million

(08:11):
Cambodians, nearly a quarter ofthe country's population at the
time, the regime's extremepolicies included mass
executions, forced labor andstarvation.
These examples reflect a grimreality where the ideological
pursuit of a classless societyoften resulted in authoritarian
rule, widespread human rightabuses and severe economic

(08:34):
mismanagement.
The disconnect between theutopian ideals of communism and
the totalitarian practices inits name raise profound
questions about the cost of suchexperiments in social
engineering.
The impact of this regimeextends beyond the immense loss
of life and hardship.
It has left deep scars on thenational psyche of the affected

(08:55):
countries and continues toinfluence global politics and
perceptions of communism.
In the countries where it wasadopted, communism had a
profound impact on variousaspects of communism.
In the countries where it wasadopted, communism had a
profound impact on variousaspects of society.
One of the most notableachievements was the improvement
of social welfare.
Communist governments oftenprioritized universal education,
healthcare and the women'srights, leading to significant

(09:18):
advancements in literacy rate,life expectancy and gender
equality.
These were great gains,especially in regions where such
basic services were previouslyinaccessible to the majority of
the population.
However, the implementation ofcommunism also forced
significant challenges.
One of the most contentiousissues was the lack of political
freedoms.

(09:38):
A single-party rule became acommon feature of communist
states, suppressing dissent andlimiting democratic
participation, not to mentionthe murder of millions of
citizens in the pursuit ofideological perfection.
Economic inefficiencies andshortages were also prevalent as
central planning struggles tomeet the needs and the desires

(09:58):
of the population.
Moreover, the pursuit of aclassless society sometimes
leads to severe human rightviolations, which include forced
labor camps, purges, faminesand all the things which mar the
legacy of communism as apractice.
The fall of the Soviet Union in1991 marked a significant
turning point, leading to thecollapse or transformation of

(10:21):
communist regimes around theworld.
In countries like China andVietnam, communist parties
remain in power, but theyshifted towards incorporating
elements of market economics,resulting in significant
economic growth and development.
Despite all of these challenges, the ideology of communism
continues to influence politicalthought and movements around

(10:42):
the globe.
Thank you for joining us onanother quick exploration of a
companion episode of DoubleHelix.
We will probably come back toboth of these topics in a lot
more detail in future seasons,but for now at least, you've
been primed with enoughknowledge to be dangerous.

(11:03):
Keep exploring with us and comeback and see us later.
See you soon.