Communist Russia

 Why was Russia the only significant Western nation to succumb to communism?

Imperial Russia was victimised by a number of simultaneous low-probability, high-impact elements at the time of the 1917 revolution:

The monarch—and those in his inner circle—have an extraordinary incompetence and unwillingness to govern.

Economic instability and the nation's mental fatigue following the World War.

Civil state employees and members of the aristocratic class displayed complete incompetence and disinterest in national politics.

While a significant number of peasants received weapons and killing instruction, their officers, the officer corps, felt alienated from the objectives of the Imperial state.

Communists were able to use a very small armed force to play the far right and liberals against each other in the conflict between them and seize power.

As a result, the State disintegrated in 1917. The vast nation was split up into numerous small villages, each of which was fighting for existence on its own. Armed gangs operating under various flags and engaged in a never-ending fight of all against all became the only source of power.

The Communists proved to be the most inventive and well-organized team in this contest.

A group of soldiers that served under Admiral Alexander Kolchak, "Supreme Leader and Commander-in-Chief of All Russian Land and Sea Forces," in 1919 are seen below. His forces were among the front-runners among the disparate group of anti-Soviet armies for the honour of Commie-slaying based on headcount and resource availability. And yet, they were utterly incompetent for the job. Corruption, inefficiency, and internal strife predominated.

You wouldn't know Admiral Kolchak was sitting on nearly 500 metric tonnes of gold from the Czar's vaults by looking at the men in the picture. They resemble a bunch of slobs that were thrown together for a photo shoot with some military paraphernalia. The rightmost man is the only one with a weapon; the other half of the men are all without guns.

The Russian elites feel no responsibility for the country, which is the chronic illness of Russian civilisation that continues to afflict the nation in the twenty-first century. The nation returns the favour. This explains why it has occasionally been remarkably simple to remove the top dogs from their plush perches at the top of the food chain in Russia.