THE EASTERN FRONT

THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

THE FEBRUARY (MARCH)  REBELLION:  1917   (February is according to the Julien calendar)

THE ABDICATION OF THE CZAR and the setting up of a PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT

Acknowledgements

Fist: clipartbest.com Bloody Sunday: lookandlearn.com Rasputin: redbubble.com Eastern Front: amazon.co.uk Women on the March: history.com Russian Revolution: youtube.com Army in Support: links.org.au St.Petersburg: pixers.uk Lenin: booktable.net

    The February (March) Rebellion was initially motivated by hunger, but that, of course, was but one of its causes. On the 22nd February, thousands of industrial workers poured onto the streets of Petrograd, clamouring for bread, and they were joined the following day, International Women’s Day, by a like number of women. As we shall see, it proved to be a momentous occasion for the history of Europe and, indeed, the world. It marked the end of the Romanov dynasty; the end of centuries of Russian imperial rule; and, given time, the birth of Communist Russia.

     The question hanging over the Russian Revolution – one of the most momentous political events of the twentieth century – was not if it was to come but when it was to come. Social unrest in Russia had been simmering just below the surface for decades. Long before the turn of the century, this vast land (nine million square miles) was one of the poorest and most backward countries in Europe. Virtually undeveloped, its enormous peasant population, and its growing number of industrial workers, struggled to survive. Indeed, serfdom, whereby landless peasants were forced to work for the land-owning nobility (a practice long abandoned in Western Europe), continued in Russia long after it was officially abolished in 1861. The first major protest against these crippling conditions came in January 1905, the so-called massacre of “Bloody Sunday” (pictured). A peaceful strike of workers in St Petersburg, demanding more food and better living conditions, was ruthlessly put down by the Czar’s troops. Hundreds were killed or wounded, and this led to strikes in cities across the country and a naval mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin, serving in the Black Sea Fleet. There was now a surge of bitterness against Nicholas II, focused upon the oppressive and violent nature of his regime. He was no longer seen as the country’s benign “father figure”! There was a growing demand for political change.

    As noted earlier, Czar Nicholas saw himself as a servant of God, and was thus obliged to preserve his absolute power at all cost. In his eyes, he was the benevolent father of Mother Russia, and had no time for government based on elected representatives. Following Bloody Sunday, he did feel it prudent, via his October Manifesto, to introduce a series of elected assemblies, the Duma. However, he often dismissed them or pushed their proposals aside, whilst making sure that his army was always on hand to crush the slightest move to undermine his authority. In this respect, come the war, his decision in September 1915 to take command of his armed forces was a serious mistake on two counts. Firstly, failure on the battlefield – and he had his share – only served to question his divine infallibility, and, secondly, his need to be based at the Russian military headquarters at Mogilev, took him away from – and the control of – the affairs of state. These, by way of disaster, were then in the hands of the Czarina Alexandra – who, although faithful to the Russian cause, was of German ancestry – and, more to the point, in the hands of her constant companion, the charlatan “priest” Grigori Rasputin. He was eventually murdered at the end of 1916 by a group of noblemen, but not before he had brought the government to a virtual standstill, and hitherto moderates were joining up with Russian radicals to overthrow the Czar.

    And to this combination of widespread poverty and the increasing opposition to the Czar’s despotic rule, was to be added the weakness of Russia’s military strength in defence of its vast territory. Russia’s war with Japan in 1904/1905 – engineered to a large extent by the Czar himself – was an outstanding and humiliating defeat, and the First World War was to prove as equally disastrous for the Russian empire. It had the manpower, but it lacked the industrial capability and where-with-all to provide the needs of a modern army. Indeed, as noted earlier, there were many instances in which infantrymen were sent into battle without a rifle. Nor did Russia have the political and military leadership required in a war of this intensity. There were periods of success, but 1915 was the year of the Big Retreat, and this was followed in 1916 by decisive defeats at the Battle of Lake Naroch and, at its end, the Brusilov Offensive. These failures resulted in heavy losses in men killed and wounded – often due to the incompetence of commanders in the field – and the demand for manpower meant that, on the home front, agriculture suffered from an inadequate work force, thereby adding to the widespread lack of food across the empire. It can well be argued that Russia’s valiant contribution on the Eastern Front greatly eased the burden borne by its Allies, but it came at too great a cost.

THExFEBRUARY (MARCH) REVOLUTION: 8th – 16th March 1917

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     It was against this background that the February (March) Revolution took place. Four days after vast numbers of men and women had taken to the streets of Petrograd, overwhelming the police, troops from the town’s garrison were called out to quell the uprising (12th March). Initially some opened fire upon the protestors (killing or wounding about 1,300), but the vast majority sympathised with their demand for bread and the uprising was allowed to take its course. The followingxday the Duma, together with the city’s council, the Petrograd Soviet, formed a “Provisional Government” and its leaders introduced a raft of liberal measures which included universal suffrage, freedom of speech, and the right to strike. In the meantime, Czar Nicholas, having refused to stand down in favour of his son, Alexis, was forced to abdicate, and the royal family was arrested, putting an end to centuries of Romanov rule. Somewhat surprisingly, however, despite the public’s opposition to the war, the government decided to fight on, due, perhaps, to a sense of national pride or a determination to fulfil its commitment to its allies. Understandably, France, Britain and Italy wasted no time in recognizing the new government, but in Russia itself, unrest continued and, indeed, grew stronger, particularly over the continued shortage of food. As a result, the provisional government was not destined to last, and its replacement was to have consequences way beyond the boundaries of the new republic of Russia! And in this struggle for power the Czar, and, indeed, his whole family – though in captivity – were to play a vital part. For this, as we shall see, they were to pay the ultimate price.

     Incidentally, in Russia at this time the March Revolution was dated February in accordance with the Julien calendar (proposed by Julius Caesar and adopted in 45 BC). In February 1918 the Gregorian calendar (introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582) was adopted. ……

    …… In 1914 the Russians changed the name of the imperial city of St. Petersburg. From the beginning of the war it was called Petrograd because it was considered that St. Petersburg sounded too Germanic. In January 1924, following the death of Lenin, it was named Leningrad, but the name of St. Petersburg was restored following the collapse of the Soviet Union in September 1991.

    As noted above, the February (March) Rebellion was far from the end of the crisis. As we shall see, it was not simply a domestic issue centred around the political realignment of an ailing Russian government. Russia was a desperately poor and backward country, and the war, now in its third year, continued to devour the precious resources so vital for the building of a new order. In April, with the arrival on the scene of the revolutionary Marxist leader Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolsheviks, the changes that were so vitally needed were destined to spill over onto the world stage, and with devastating consequences. Lenin’s first attempt to overthrow the Provisional Government and to introduce a government of the proletariat (the peasants and the factory workers) did not receive the strength and width of support required. It was to be in October (November) that Lenin was to bring about the Russian Revolution, and, eventually, the creation of a communist state.