The Martyr Made Podcast #26 Enemy: The Germans' War, ep. 2 - The Work of the Men
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Mar 30, 2026 A vivid tour of post‑1918 Germany: revolutionary uprisings, food shortages, and the collapse of old regimes. The narrative links Bolshevik terror and famine in Russia to German fears and radicalization. Street battles, Freikorps mobilization, returning soldiers turned political actors, and harsh urban reprisals drive the story.
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Blockade Continued As Leverage After Armistice
- The Allies kept the naval blockade until Germany signed surrender terms, prolonging starvation despite regime change.
- The armistice required the victors to provision Germany, but food shipments were withheld until treaty terms were accepted.
Bolsheviks Used Chaos As A Political Tool
- Bolshevik governance aimed to turbocharge chaos as revolutionary strategy rather than stabilize society.
- Dzerzhinsky said Bolsheviks must 'allow the revolutionary spontaneity of the masses' to break the old order.
Red Terror Outpaced Tsarist Repression
- Execution rates under Bolsheviks dwarfed the Tsarist era quickly, signaling an unprecedented scale of terror.
- Bolsheviks executed 6,185 people in two months of 1918 versus 6,321 death sentences across 92 Tsarist years.