New episode of Revolutions Podcast came out yesterday: 10.100- History Never Ends: After one hundred episodes, you might agree!

These episodes have been coming out later and later in the week recently.  They used to come out at the beginning of the week, but recently it shifted to mid-week, and then end of the week.

The good news is it's worth the wait.  This was another fascinating episode.

Almost all of the stuff in this episode was new to me.  

For example, I had known that the Bolsheviks were active observers of the German Revolution in 1918, but I had no idea that they tried to get involved again in 1923.  I also didn't know that the Great Powers almost went to war again in 1923.

And I really had no idea about the politics inside the Bolshevik party during this time.  I mean, I knew that there was a feud between Stalin and Trotsky, but that's about it.  I didn't know about the Troika that Mike mentions.  

Listening to Mike Duncan's podcasts, I'm always humbled to realize how little about history I actually know.  When introducing the Troika, Mike Duncan said something like, "If you know anything about 1920s Soviet history, then you already know that..." , and it was all stuff I didn't know!  (I had the same insecurities listening to The History of Rome Podcast, especially the sections dealing with the latter years of the Empire.)

This is also, as Mike mentions, the last episode of the the Russian Revolution podcast.  Kind of.  He's actually promised 3 more epilogue episodes that will wrap up everything through the Great Purge.  The next episode is promised to deal with the battle between Stalin and Trotsky.  (I'm really looking forward to those episodes.  The rivalry between Stalin and Trotsky is one of those things I've always been curious about, but have never bothered to learn in any great detail.)

But this is the last of his episodes chronically the Russian Revolution in detail.  It's not a surprise (he's been mentioning this for few couple months now), but it is the end of an era of sorts.  

I wonder if he planned it out intentionally to finish on episode 100?

Other Notes:

* Last week I mentioned that Mike was beginning to slip up on the names.  There was a big slip this week as well.  It was only one (that I noticed), but it was a jarring one. It was one of those that makes you go "What? Why?  That doesn't make any sense...oh, he said the wrong name."

Of course, someone has already mentioned it in the comments: At 26:14 I think you meant to say Trotsky, not Stalin, tried to resign and go to Germany??

* Mike's made some ironic comments about 1923 Beer Hall Putsch, saying that it exposed German right-wingers as a bunch of incompetent clowns and they were never heard from again.  (If you've listened to this podcast for a long time, you know Mike likes those sort of dry ironic comments.)

Still, it sent a bit of a chill down my spine.  We laugh at the incompetence of the January 6 rioters now, but hopefully it wasn't a prelude to a more organized coup in the future.

* Mike's comments in the beginning of this episode--about how we always think we're going to have time to get stuff done next week, but we never actually do--really hit home for me.  I'm behind on so many things right now, and for months I've been thinking that I'll catch up next week.