Animal Farm Explained: The Real History Behind the Characters

Animal Farm looks like a story about pigs, but its characters were drawn from real history. Who are Old Major, Snowball, Napoleon, Squealer and Boxer in the Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union? Deuce draws it out, from the fall of the tsar to Stalin's purges, and looks at what Orwell, a democratic socialist, wanted readers to notice about power. Most character matches are how readers and historians interpret the book. Orwell confirmed only some of them himself, such as Napoleon as Stalin. Chapters 0:00 Intro 0:30 The man with the pen name 1:36 The Rebellion 2:51 The milk and the apples 3:57 Snowball 4:50 Napoleon 5:55 Boxer and the hens 6:57 The confessions 7:57 The deal with Frederick 9:19 Boxer's last ride 9:51 Two aces of spades 10:57 What Orwell wanted you to notice 12:25 Sign-off Sources Every claim in this video was checked against a source. Key sources: George Orwell: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell Why I Write (Orwell, 1946): orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/why-i-write/ Preface to the Ukrainian edition of Animal Farm: orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/books-by-orwell/animal-farm/preface-to-the-ukrainian-edition-of-animal-farm-by-george-orwell/ Orwell's letter to Dwight Macdonald, 1946 (New York Review of Books): nybooks.com/articles/2013/07/11/animal-farm-what-orwell-really-meant/ Orwell on Hayek, Observer review of April 9, 1944 (Reason): reason.com/2011/12/21/george-orwell-and-friedrich-hayek/ Orwell's 1949 letter to Francis Henson (Nineteen Eighty-Four): en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four Orwell and the Spanish Civil War: the May Days: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/May_Days The Russian Revolution: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Revolution Kronstadt rebellion, 1921: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kronstadt_rebellion Soviet famine of 1930 to 1933: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_famine_of_1930%E2%80%931933 Holodomor (University of Minnesota): cla.umn.edu/chgs/holocaust-genocide-education/resource-guides/holodomor Moscow show trials: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_trials The Great Purge: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Purge German-Soviet Pact (US Holocaust Memorial Museum): encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/german-soviet-pact Operation Barbarossa (National WWII Museum): nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/operation-barbarossa Tehran Conference (US State Department): history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/tehran-conf The Freedom of the Press (Orwell's preface, rejected): orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwell/essays-and-other-works/the-freedom-of-the-press/ Orwell's list and Peter Smollett (New York Review of Books): nybooks.com/articles/2003/09/25/orwells-list/ T. S. Eliot's rejection letter, 1944 (Open Culture): openculture.com/2013/11/t-s-eliot-rejects-george-orwells-animal-farm.html Animal Farm and its character readings: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_Farm Photos Nicholas II: Bain News Service, Library of Congress, public domain Karl Marx, 1875: John Jabez Edwin Mayall, public domain Lenin: Viktor Bulla, public domain Trotsky: Bain News Service, Library of Congress, public domain Tehran Conference, 1943: U.S. Signal Corps, public domain All photos via Wikimedia Commons. Music composed for this video with VSCO 2 Community Edition samples (CC0) and the GeneralUser GS sound font. The melody of The Internationale (Pierre De Geyter, 1888) is in the public domain. #AnimalFarm #Orwell #DrawItOut