The Battleship Potemkin

‘Potemkin’ was a Russian battleship in 1905, when the Tsar and his government were in great trouble. The people were unhappy because they had few rights and less money. Many could not buy food or pay for a room where they could sleep, cook and stay warm in the freezing Russian winters.

In the east of this huge country in 1905, Russia was also fighting Japan. The war was a long way away and it was about some small islands that were not very important to the Russian people. Anyway, it was sure that the Japanese were going to lose. They did not have a strong army or a large country but Russia was huge and its army was powerful. Although ordinary Russians knew nothing about the islands that started the war, they were shocked when Japan won battles against their soldiers. So, in fact, Russia had problems at home and away from it.

At this time ‘Potemkin’ was in the icy water near the coast of Ukraine, then a part of the Russian Empire. Many of her sailors were now in the east of the country. They were fighting the Japanese. The best officers went with them and so there were not many professional sailors left in the northern European seas. News came that their friends in the east lost a sea battle against the Japanese. All the sailors on ‘Potemkin’ were sad: their country was losing a war against an unimportant enemy. What’s more, here in Europe, there was no food or money for the sailors.

One day, an officer told the sailors they must eat bad meat for dinner or he was going to shoot them. In fact, he killed a sailor.

Suddenly, unhappiness turned to anger. In a few minutes, the captain and six other officers were dead. The sailors chose twenty-five of their friends to manage ‘Potemkin’. They were the first sailors to turn against their officers, their government and their Tsar. ‘Potemkin’ headed for Odessa, a city on the Black Sea. They flew the red flag of socialism, not the Russian one.

When they arrived in Odessa later that night, the people were fighting the soldiers in the streets. There were fires everywhere. The sailors from ‘Potemkin’ wanted to bury their dead friends but some soldiers shot at them. The Tsar wanted ‘Potemkin’ back and its sailors in prison or he wanted the ship sunk and the men dead. More ships arrived and it was sure that the sailors must die but the new ships did not shoot at ‘Potemkin’. When their captains wanted to sink the battleship, the sailors stopped them. Many joined the sailors on ‘Potemkin’.

The next day, ‘Potemkin’ sailed to Constanta in Romania, where, after many days the Romanian government agreed to take the sailors. By then, many were already dead. But they also wanted to keep ‘Potemkin’. When the sailors left the ship for their new homes in Romania, they let water into their old ship and ‘Potemkin’ went to the bottom of the sea.

In 1917, the Communists controlled Russia. Soon the Tsar and his family were dead and a new system was born. Many people believe the men on ‘Potemkin’ were important in making that happen.