Traumazone - Russia 1985 - 1999

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i'm one episode away from finishing this and it is really eye-opening.

to see how badly the Soviet system was failing so drastically. from the self-shot, news clips, and other short video snips which is the format for this 7-parter really helps you understand how badly Soviet, and then the individual republic's people were suffering.

not just the people tho. the system was ripe for corruption and graft. it covers basically every part of the early Gobachev-era and his intention to save communism. i can remember him coming to power because at the time was i based in Germany. prior to Gorby taking over, both Andropov, and Chernenko had been old-guard USSR leaders, but Gorby brought definite positivity. and the idea that change was in the air.

once it moves away from his failure to save the USSR it moves to Yeltsin, and his time, including oligarchs buying all the 'good' nationalised industries up for pennies (or kopecks).

it also goes further into the independence struggles the former satellite states went thru. the first Chechen war is covered from the perspective of the political reasoning. and the strategy the Russian army used (in the context of the illegal invasion of Ukraine very little has changed)
the reason it grabbed my attention so much is that it is one of the first complete views inside the USSR at a crucial & historically important time. it has no narrator and is purely the clips & snips i mentioned

TraumaZone - Russia 1985-1999
 
His documentaries are always great

im on ep 3 - its just bonkers how broken it was at the end of the USSR
my thoughts exactly.

the gist that was being put around in armed forces circles was that the leadership were close to bankrupting the country because of the USSR's defence spending.
*allegedly* 80-90% of the GDP was being spent on defence. they had a huge presence in east Germany (GSFG) and on top of that each Warsaw Pact nation was contributing huge amounts to the equipment & man power needs. and the people suffered for it.

seeing the beggars going alongside cars when in traffic jams asking for money was soul-destroying. along with the amount of families who had to share 2 bedroom flats with other families of 5 equally so
 
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