History vs. Vladimir Lenin - Alex Gendler

The TedEd talk I viewed and would use with my World History and European History students fits in nicely with the unit I just completed with my students on the Russian Revolution and the establishment of the Soviet Communist state.  It links in with the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework in World History II.

WHII.18 Summarize the major events and consequences of World War I.

C. the collapse of the Romanov dynasty and the subsequent Bolshevik Revolution and Civil 
War in Russia

AND:

WHII.22 Summarize the consequences of Soviet communism to 1945. 

A. the establishment of a one-party dictatorship under Lenin

C. the destruction of individual rights and the use of mass terror against the population, 
the use of terror against internal enemies, and the destruction of individual rights

D.            the Soviet Union’s emergence as an industrial power 

 The talk I would use is titled History vs. Vladimir Lenin by Alex Gendler.




I like the video lesson because it puts Lenin on trial as it examines the Tsarist Regime, the Bolshevik Revolution and the creation of the Soviet state under Lenin and his successor, Stalin.  The TedEd lesson page also has some multiple choice and open response questions for students to answer based on what they just viewed. Additionally it has some supplementary web links on topics mentioned in the video.  I did check the links and they are all high quality websites.

This animated lesson is just under seven minutes and would be accessible and useful for both my 9th and 12th graders.  I certainly could differentiate the assignments and activities with each level.  For the 9th graders, we could spend more time defining the vocabulary - names and terms such as Bloody Sunday, the Duma and Alexander Kerensky and linking it in with the events.  I would use this lesson to launch the unit telling students that as we study the historical narrative we would come back to this question and consider the pros and cons of the end of the Tsarist regime with the Russian Revolution and Lenin's establishment of the Soviet Union.  This topic would certainly be a great debate and would lend itself to an authentic written response: Was the average Russian  better off under the Tsarist regime or under the rule of the new Communist state?   I want students to consider that history is not neat, it is not simple but complex.  While it easy to condemn someone like Lenin for their actions, it is important to consider the positive aspects of what the Revolution/Lenin did and attempted to do.  This video lesson and these types of assignments enable students to consider a variety of view points as they determine the impact of Lenin as a historical figure and his legacy on the 20th century.