No one knows, probably not even the Russian government, exactly how many people perished as a result of the many purges, labor camps, and other punishments that occurred during the life of the Soviet Union, which existed from 19171991. Reliable estimates have put the number over ten million, and perhaps as high as twenty million or more. Most, but certainly not all of those deaths occurred during the reign of Josef Stalin, a genius in the exercise of raw power, but otherwise, a paranoid megalomaniac with few equals in history. In today's video, we are going to tell you about some of the other terrible events that occurred during the life of the Soviet Union, or USSR.In the mid1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev, a communist reformer, became Premier of the Soviet Union. When he came to power, he understood two things almost immediately: that the Soviet economy needed to be restructured and people allowed more economic freedom, and that many people were dissatisfied with life in the USSR, but did not dare speak of it for fear of government repression. Knowing that this fear and dissatisfaction was liable, sooner rather than later, to spill over into public discontent, protest, and perhaps more, Gorbachev instituted the policy of “glasnost”, or “openness”, which allowed people more freedom to speak their minds.This also held true, to a certain extent, for members of the government and its many organs. The immediate spur to “glasnost” was the awful events that took place at the Chernobyl nuclear plant in Ukraine – then a part of the USSR. Attempting to keep the radiation leak secret from their own people and the world, the Soviets finally had to admit they had a very large problem at Chernobyl, and this was partly caused by people's fear to speak up about problems there and in the aftermath of the nuclear disaster.From Soviet diplomats being kept hostage to Stalin's psychiatric hospitals, to the Chernobyl mess up! We've it all covered in our video!The Best Books On The Gulags And The Soviet Regime:*The House of the Dead: https://amzn.to/3Q7d1W1Between Shades Of Grey: https://amzn.to/3zmdhJPKolyma Tales: https://amzn.to/3OLW7eoThe Gulag Archipelago Volume 1: An Experiment in Literary Investigation: https://amzn.to/3biOGOdSakhalin Island: https://amzn.to/3Q3sUNa*#sovietunion #history #gulags #sovietgulags #sovietsecrets #classifieddocumentsScriptwriter: Matthew GaskillVoiceover Artist: Chris RedishMusic: Motionarray.com Copyright © 2021 A Day In History. All rights reserved.DISCLAIMER: This video and description contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I’ll receive a small commissionDISCLAIMER: All materials in these videos are used for entertainment purposes and fall within the guidelines of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. If you are, or represent, the copyright owner of materials used in this video, and have an issue with the use of said material, please send an email to [email protected]Managed by PodcastPayouts.com

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