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present
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Abdication
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On March 4, 1917 in the Mariinskiy Palace
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a session of the new Russian government took place.
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The following announcement was sent immediately to all the troops
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at the front and in the rear:
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“On March 2 of this year, Emperor Nicolay II
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abdicated on behalf of himself and his son
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in favour of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovitch.
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On March 3, Mikhail Alexandrovitch refused to accept the highest power
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until the Constituent Assembly approved the form of government
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and appealed to the population to submit to the Temporary Government…”
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Boris Valentinovitch Yakovenko
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The Russian philosopher and revolutionary Boris Yakovenko went on writing his book
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that became one of the first dedicated to the Russian revolution of 1917.
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The History of the Russian Revolution. October. Episode Five
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In March of 1917 the 300-year history
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of the Imperial House of the Romanovs came to its end.
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The coup d’état took place in Russia,
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that came to be known as the February Revolution.
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What will the new form of government in the state be?
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Will be remained a monarchy or will it become a republic?
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The deputies of the Constituent Assembly were to answer those questions.
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The elections of those representatives of the people
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were to be held around all the former Empire,
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and then they had to meet in Petrograd to define the future of the state.
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Before that, the power stayed in the hands of the so-called Temporary Government.
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The Temporary Government was the highest executive and legislative body
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of state power in Russia after the February Revolution.
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The Temporary Government was functioning under the circumstances of diarchy,
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together with the Petrograd Council of the Deputies from Workers and Soldiers.
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The revolution became the reason for great joy
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for many residents of the capital and other cities.
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The air of freedom was so intoxicating
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that they were often forgetting both the war and hunger.
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During those days, nobody could believe
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that the new power would last less than a year.
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However, the reality was already reminding them about that,
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and behind the facade of celebrations alarm and fear could be noticed.
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The meetings were grey from the soldiers’ overcoats, the red banners were raised,
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the posters with the revolutionary slogans hang everywhere,
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people addressed each other as “citizen” or “comrade”
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and sang revolutionary songs…
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Mummy!
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Together with the police officers and street cleaners
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order and cleanness disappeared from the streets.
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The revolutionary masses were making mess readily and happily –
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now they were not afraid either of a shout or a fine or an arrest.
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The foul language was heard everywhere.
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Seeds became the main obsession, though.
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All the pavements were covered with their husks
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almost in all the cities of the Empire.
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They were everywhere – at the military parades, in the rows of soldiers
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and at the endless meetings. As a witness recalled,
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the constant sound of the seeds being husked resembled a locust swarm.
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Dad? Why aren’t you sleeping? Dad?
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The contemporaries perceived that habit as something like a nervous disease
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that demonstrated the fear of the future and a wish to get distracted,
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to make oneself busy in the endless queues for bread and other food.
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Italy, 1917
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The meetings knew no end. Everybody was convening, and everybody,
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in that form or another, was publishing resolutions,
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greetings and support letters to the Temporary Government
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and expressing the best wishes to its organizational activities.
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The Temporary Government moved into the Mariinskiy Palace,
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into the building of the former State Council.
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During that spring, the leaders of the minds of the Russian society
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and, first of all, of the intelligentsia were gathering there.
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Nobody doubted the honesty and good intentions of the ministers.
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However, the realization of their beautiful ideas was quite another matter.
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The darkest worries of Emperor Nicolay II were coming true.
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The Ambassador of France in Russia Maurice Paleologue wrote the following
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about the new rulers:
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“Not a single person who is at the power these days
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has the political width of mind or decisiveness or bravery
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demanded in such dire circumstances. The same expression of patriotism,
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smartness and honesty. But they all look so tired from overwork and worries!
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The task they have undertaken is clearly too much for them”.
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Prince Georgiy Lvov became the chairman of the Temporary Government
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and Minister of the Internal Affairs.
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It’s a paradox that the Tsars from the House of the Romanovs
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were replaced by a representative of an ancient Tsars’ dynasty of Rurik –
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the Lvovs were the descendants of the antient princes of Smolensk and Yaroslavl.
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A historian and writer Pavel Milyukov became the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
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The post of the military and naval minister was taken
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by another favourite of the liberal society – Alexander Guchkov.
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He was now responsible for the preparation of the Russian army
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that for three years in a row had been fighting a very difficult war
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that would go down in history as the First World War.
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Mikhail Tereschenko, a large Ukrainian sugar producer, millionaire and patron
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was appointed the Minister of Finances.
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And Alexander Kerenskiy whose popularity continued to grow
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became the Minister of Justice.
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The Temporary Government dismissed all Tsar’s governors and vice-governors.
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They were replaced by the commissars of provinces.
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Censorship was legally banned, the national and religious limitations
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of the freedom of movement, certain jobs and education cancelled.
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A law on the freedom of meetings and unions was adopted.
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It seemed to many that Russia was nearing the era of freedom,
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equality and fraternity so patiently awaited by the Russian intelligentsia.
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Nobody paid attention to weird actions and events
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that accompanied the arrival of that new era.
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People sang “Long Live the Temporary Government” in churches;
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all over the country, the so-called Days of Freedom
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or Holidays of Transfer to the New Regime were held.
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The theatrical performances with orchestras
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and military parades were organized in the cities.
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Special masses on giving freedom to Russia were served.
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Those incredible events sometimes lasted for ten hours in a row
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and gathered huge crowds of people.
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They were accompanied with collective singing of the revolutionary songs.
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Sometimes those feasts looked like mass craze.
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For example, in Lipetsk a specially made black coffin with a sign
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“Eternal Curse at the Romanovs House”
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was burnt in the street to the song of a chorus.
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After the coffin had been burnt, the soldiers marched about the city
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with music, red banners and revolutionary posters.
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The Days of Freedom often coincided with the burials of people
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who died during the street disturbances.
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On March 23, on the Mars Field in Petrograd a few thousand people
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marched in a mourning procession.
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The coffins were lowered into huge common graves to the shots of the guns
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from the Fortress of Peter and Pavel.
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The representatives of the Temporary Government
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also participated in the ceremonies.
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The Military minister Guchkov
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even kneeled in front of the graves and crossed himself.
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The general atmosphere of excitement led to conflicts too.
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At one such event in Kronstadt where a lot of officers were killed
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during the days of the revolution, a seaman hit a priest shouting:
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“We can’t do the revolution with God!”
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Another seaman beat up a deacon
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who dared offer the burial of the officers tortured by the seamen.
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However, the monuments suffered the hardest blow.
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In Bakhchisaray, the revolutionary soldiers performed a pogrom
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at the Palace described in Pushkin’s poems and ruined a monument
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to the 300-year anniversary of the Romanovs House.
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In Feodosia, they glued the posters with the words “Shame”
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to the monument to Alexander III who died over 20 years ago.
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In the center of Kiev, a monument to the Prime-Minister of Russia Peter Stolypin
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who died a tragic death was erected.
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The monument was judged in court and sentenced to the execution.
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The next day, a rope was thrown on the bronze Stolypin’s neck, and it was hung.
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Then the sculpture was taken off from the monument
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and driven away from the central square of Kiev.
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Such acts made the street crowds gloat,
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but the majority of the population was justly at a loss and scared.
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People expected the new authorities to bring not just freedom but order too.
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However, when the period of euphoria finished,
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the chaos in the country only exacerbated. Partly, it was the government’s fault.
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However, the parallel body of power, the Petrograd Council of the Deputies
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from Workers and Soldiers played a much more significant part
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in the destructive processes that engulfed the country.
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The Council included both people who were organizing strikes in February
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in the street of the cities (Gvozdev, Bogdanov) and the former deputy of the Duma
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Skobelev, and other liberal socialists. Nicolay Tchkheidze headed the Council.
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Nicolay Semenovitch Tchkheidze came from a noble Georgian family.
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The deputy of the State Duma from the fraction of the Mensheviks.
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Together with Gvozdev and Bogdanov,
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became one of the organizers of the Petrograd Council of the Working Deputies.
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As was the case with many others, he wasn’t actually elected to the Council.
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He also headed the higher bodies of the Council.
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The Council recognized the Temporary Government by the word only;
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it started to fight it for the power in the country right away.
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The Order no. 1 issued by the Council gave it the opportunity
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to deprive the Temporary Government of the armed forces.
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The Order no. 1 was issued by the Petrograd Council of the Deputies
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from Workers and Soldiers on March 1, 1917.
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The Order decreed to immediately form elected committees
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from soldiers and seamen in the military units.
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All the military men were now to report not to their officers
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but to those committees.
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Plus, the arms were taken away from the officers.
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Any orders of the commandment were to be discussed by the committee
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that was to deliver a decision whether to execute that order.
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The circulation of the Order that was published was enormous – 9 mln copies.
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The Order no. 1 stroke a destructive blow at the discipline in the army.
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The soldiers were refusing to go into attacks and ignoring officers’ order.
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The military units turned into gatherings of armed people.
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The officers and war leaders were outraged.
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Many of them were taking sides
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with the counter-revolutionary forces and against the Councils.
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In its fight with the power-in-effect the Council stooped to open demagogue
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giving unrealizable promises both to the population and the soldiers
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and blaming the Temporary Government for reactionary
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and counter-revolutionary views.
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At that, the Councils themselves didn’t bear any responsibility
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for the state of affairs in the country.
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However, the armed masses of people in the streets were for them,
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so that was why their position was taken into account.
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To control the activities of the Temporary Government,
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the Petrograd Council formed the so-called Contact Commission
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of the Executive Committee all the wishes of which
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were immediately fulfilled by the Ministers.
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A very dangerous diarchy was formed in Russia.
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On the one hand, there was the Temporary Government,
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on the other hand – the Councils.
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The Government was the weakest side that was lagging behind in everything
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and blamed for anything.
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On the other hand, numerous political parties and groups were pressing
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both on the Councils and on the Government.
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The Bolsheviks were among the most aggressive.
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They proved to be the most dangerous enemy of the Petrograd Council.
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The Bolsheviks were an extreme wing of the Russian Social-Democratic Party
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with Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin) at the helm,
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formed after its division
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into the fractions of the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks.
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With time, some Mensheviks took Lenin’s side too,
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for example Lev Trotskiy and some others.
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After the downfall of the monarchy,
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an immense quantity of different parties and groups appeared in the country.
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The cadets, socialist revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks
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and different groups of the anarchists were the most influential.
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The cadets were the only force out of all the pre-revolutionary parties
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that kept some traces of influence.
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They now changed the name into the Party of the People’s Freedom.
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However, after the revolution the socialistic parties took control
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over the minds of the major part of the population.
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The socialist revolutionaries became the leaders.
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In 1917, the party reached its record number – about 1 mln of people.
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The Russian Social-Democratic Working Party of the Mensheviks was popular too.
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The programs of the Mensheviks and socialist revolutionaries were similar –
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the division of land, the republican form of government
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and the federative structure of Russia.
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The socialist revolutionaries had a huge influence among the peasants
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and the Mensheviks – among the workers.
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The social-democratic working party of the Bolsheviks
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didn’t exercise any significant influence in 1917.
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Almost all its leaders were in exile, in emigration or in prisons.
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The situation started to change after the amnesty.
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The former prisoners solemnly left their prisons on two special trains.
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Meetings, orchestras and red banners met them at railway stations.
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The Bolsheviks started to arrive from abroad too.
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In April, the leader of the Bolsheviks Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin)
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arrived in Petrograd from Switzerland
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having passed the enemy Germany and neutral Sweden in a sealed wagon.
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At the Finland railway station, honorary guards and Petrograd workers
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who supported him met him. Lenin climbed up an armored car
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and delivered a speech finishing it with the appeal:
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00:17:51,492 --> 00:17:55,001
“Long Love the Socialistic Revolution!”
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00:17:56,586 --> 00:17:58,852
He then went to the Bolsheviks’ headquarters
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00:17:59,083 --> 00:18:00,869
that was stationed in the estate
243
00:18:01,027 --> 00:18:05,342
that previously belonged to Matilda Kshesinska, a famous ballerina.
244
00:18:05,946 --> 00:18:09,025
There, Lenin appealed to his comrades to immediately start the preparation
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00:18:09,290 --> 00:18:12,222
for overthrowing the Temporary Government.
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00:18:12,583 --> 00:18:15,349
His words sounded fearfully radical.
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00:18:15,780 --> 00:18:18,615
However, even before Lenin arrived in Russia,
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00:18:18,871 --> 00:18:22,709
Kerenskiy said the prophetic words at the session of the government:
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00:18:23,002 --> 00:18:28,356
“Wait, Lenin himself is coming. That is when it’ll start in earnest”.
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00:18:28,856 --> 00:18:31,815
Kerenskiy was 11 years younger than Lenin.
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00:18:32,067 --> 00:18:34,481
They both came from the town of Simbirsk;
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00:18:34,717 --> 00:18:38,857
Vladimir Lenin graduated from a gymnasium headed by Kerenskiy’s father.
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00:18:39,623 --> 00:18:42,131
Kerenskiy knew a lot about Lenin, his energy
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00:18:42,398 --> 00:18:45,580
and his methods of the revolutionary struggle.
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00:18:48,118 --> 00:18:51,415
After his arrival, start in earnest it did.
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00:18:52,559 --> 00:18:55,781
The situation in which the Bolsheviks found themselves
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00:18:55,962 --> 00:18:57,956
after the February revolution was difficult.
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00:18:58,163 --> 00:19:00,672
Their influence on the workers and soldiers was insignificant.
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00:19:00,957 --> 00:19:02,878
The Bolsheviks weren’t represented
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00:19:03,021 --> 00:19:05,656
either in the Temporary Government, or in the Councils.
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00:19:06,270 --> 00:19:09,700
However, Lenin knew that the situation of his opponents was shaky too.
262
00:19:10,032 --> 00:19:12,836
Therefore, he planned the following tactics.
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00:19:17,528 --> 00:19:22,120
On one hand, the Bolsheviks mercilessly criticized
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00:19:22,500 --> 00:19:26,234
any actions of the government and the Councils;
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00:19:26,411 --> 00:19:29,528
on the other, they spared no efforts to gain influence in the Councils,
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00:19:29,672 --> 00:19:32,132
take control over them; later they planned to use the soldiers and workers
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00:19:32,353 --> 00:19:36,171
who supported the Councils to arrest the Temporary Government and seize power.
268
00:19:36,847 --> 00:19:40,015
To realize that program, they had a huge task of agitation
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00:19:40,262 --> 00:19:43,811
among the soldiers and workers ahead of them, and it demanded money.
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00:19:44,134 --> 00:19:46,588
As there were no television and radio at those times,
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00:19:46,869 --> 00:19:50,347
the main mass media were printed newspapers and leaflets)
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00:19:50,621 --> 00:19:54,115
as well as the speeches of the agitators at the meetings.
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00:19:54,518 --> 00:19:56,925
Those who could pay more for the printed materials
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00:19:57,135 --> 00:20:00,201
and outbid agitators and speakers at the meetings
275
00:20:00,451 --> 00:20:03,970
would raise the ratings of their political party.
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00:20:04,388 --> 00:20:08,714
The Bolsheviks threw all their efforts and money into that work.
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00:20:13,786 --> 00:20:16,903
Some researchers believe that the material means
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00:20:17,219 --> 00:20:20,871
that the Bolsheviks were getting from Germany
279
00:20:21,106 --> 00:20:25,180
as well as the printed materials published by the German and Swedish typographies
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00:20:25,352 --> 00:20:28,699
played a decisive part in that struggle.
281
00:20:28,960 --> 00:20:32,005
Besides, the Bolsheviks were offering the highest wages to the agitators
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00:20:32,282 --> 00:20:35,378
for their speeches at the meetings.
283
00:20:39,653 --> 00:20:42,192
Starting from the very beginning of the First World War,
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00:20:42,396 --> 00:20:45,221
Lenin was for the defeat of Russia in the war.
285
00:20:45,696 --> 00:20:50,603
It let the German Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the German Secret Service
286
00:20:50,804 --> 00:20:56,002
bet for Lenin’s Bolsheviks to help them throw Russia out of the war.
287
00:20:57,775 --> 00:21:00,553
That would considerably ease the situation in Germany
288
00:21:00,771 --> 00:21:03,179
that was fighting at the two fronts.
289
00:21:03,638 --> 00:21:08,322
That’s why Germany permitted the transit of Lenin through its territory.
290
00:21:08,717 --> 00:21:11,945
On April 8, one of the heads of the German secret service in Stockholm
291
00:21:12,105 --> 00:21:15,457
sent a telegram to the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Berlin:
292
00:21:15,652 --> 00:21:21,539
“Lenin arrived in Russia safely. He is working just in the way we wanted him to”.
293
00:21:21,756 --> 00:21:25,436
Germany didn’t spare money for the so-called “peaceful propaganda”
294
00:21:25,670 --> 00:21:28,089
in the countries that were fighting against it.
295
00:21:28,369 --> 00:21:31,336
According to the data of British historian Jonathan Smil,
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00:21:31,582 --> 00:21:34,764
by the end of 1917 Germany’s expenses for organization of disturbances in Russia
297
00:21:34,949 --> 00:21:39,770
amounted to 30 million marks.
298
00:21:40,391 --> 00:21:44,192
Still, the question of whether Germany was indeed financing the Bolsheviks
299
00:21:44,445 --> 00:21:46,689
remains open to this day.
300
00:21:51,560 --> 00:21:55,000
With every passing day, the influence of the Bolsheviks in Petrograd grew.
301
00:21:55,326 --> 00:21:59,595
Soon, Lev Trotskiy returned to Russia from the United States of America.
302
00:22:13,571 --> 00:22:17,966
Lev Davidovitch Trotskiy was a son of a large landowner David Bronstein.
303
00:22:18,392 --> 00:22:20,850
Since his youth, he participated in the revolutionary movement,
304
00:22:21,140 --> 00:22:24,193
studied Marxism and worked as a journalist.
305
00:22:24,644 --> 00:22:28,898
During the Russian revolution of 1905-1907,
306
00:22:29,163 --> 00:22:31,921
was one of the heads of the Petrograd Council,
307
00:22:32,276 --> 00:22:36,211
was arrested and sentenced to an exile and settlement in Siberia.
308
00:22:36,638 --> 00:22:39,130
However, he escaped on his way and emigrated.
309
00:22:41,829 --> 00:22:44,538
After returning to Russia, Trotskiy was first the leader
310
00:22:44,758 --> 00:22:48,984
of a small fraction of the so-called “inter-district Mensheviks”
311
00:22:49,209 --> 00:22:52,832
who were for the coalition of the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks.
312
00:22:53,089 --> 00:22:57,762
However, he was already tying his fate to Lenin and his Bolshevik party.
313
00:22:58,271 --> 00:23:01,375
Right after coming to Russia, Trotskiy delivered a speech
314
00:23:01,615 --> 00:23:04,258
at the Council of the Deputies from the Workers and Soldiers and stated:
315
00:23:04,462 --> 00:23:08,713
“The Russian revolution is a prologue to the world revolution,
316
00:23:08,984 --> 00:23:12,996
I believe that your next step will be the passing of the power
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00:23:13,191 --> 00:23:17,662
into the hands of the Councils of the Deputies from the Workers and Soldiers.”
318
00:23:17,866 --> 00:23:21,576
Those words sounded like a declaration of war against the Temporary Government.
319
00:23:24,952 --> 00:23:28,780
Meanwhile in mid-April the investigator of the extraordinary commission
320
00:23:28,959 --> 00:23:32,183
of the Temporary Government Pavel Alexandrovitch Alexandrov
321
00:23:32,413 --> 00:23:34,989
opened a criminal case against the Bolsheviks
322
00:23:35,221 --> 00:23:38,876
on suspicions of their connections with the German secret services.
323
00:23:43,019 --> 00:23:46,166
The pretext for that were some letters and telegrams sent by Lenin
324
00:23:46,363 --> 00:23:48,892
and his comrades abroad and intercepted by the police.
325
00:23:49,101 --> 00:23:51,948
The police planned to accuse them of espionage and cooperation with Germany
326
00:23:52,108 --> 00:23:55,717
at three articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Empire.
327
00:23:56,178 --> 00:23:58,515
The investigators started to gather the materials.
328
00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:02,387
The threat of arrest loomed over all the leading Bolsheviks.
329
00:24:08,698 --> 00:24:10,938
The atmosphere in the country was becoming tenser and tenser.
330
00:24:11,142 --> 00:24:12,773
The Temporary Government was losing the struggle
331
00:24:12,913 --> 00:24:15,141
with the Petrograd Council but at the same time was concerned
332
00:24:15,301 --> 00:24:17,503
about the possible attack from the counter-revolutionary forces,
333
00:24:17,711 --> 00:24:22,405
first of all, the military. Mass cleansing started in the Russian army,
334
00:24:22,605 --> 00:24:26,680
initiated primarily by the Military Minister Guchkov.
335
00:24:28,836 --> 00:24:32,657
Each senior military officer was to undergo a special assessment
336
00:24:32,858 --> 00:24:35,426
which was issued by Guchkov’s trusted people.
337
00:24:35,632 --> 00:24:40,378
The military men called these docs “merzavki” – “foul papers”.
338
00:24:40,568 --> 00:24:44,291
On the basis of those assessments, in March of 1917 alone
339
00:24:44,432 --> 00:24:49,167
about 60% of the top commandment of the army lost their positions.
340
00:24:49,499 --> 00:24:53,683
Among them were 8 commanders of the fronts and commanders of the army,
341
00:24:53,951 --> 00:24:55,992
35 commanders of the corps
342
00:24:56,209 --> 00:24:59,244
and 75 heads of the divisions.
343
00:25:00,469 --> 00:25:03,371
It was absolutely inadmissible for the army in a state of a difficult war
344
00:25:03,566 --> 00:25:07,593
and led to awful consequences at the fronts.
345
00:25:08,818 --> 00:25:15,644
The commander of the 3rd cavalry corps Fedor Keller, Cavalry General,
346
00:25:15,855 --> 00:25:21,087
the war hero nicknamed “the first sabre of Russia” was one of the first to go.
347
00:25:21,834 --> 00:25:25,690
On March 6, Keller sent a telegram to the abdicated Emperor Nicolay II
348
00:25:25,909 --> 00:25:28,543
with a request not to leave the throne.
349
00:25:29,602 --> 00:25:32,870
The General refused to swear his allegiance to the Temporary Government claiming:
350
00:25:33,075 --> 00:25:37,347
“I’m a Christian and I believe that it’s a sin to change allegiances”.
351
00:25:37,624 --> 00:25:40,519
The telegram was intercepted and sent to Guchkov
352
00:25:40,798 --> 00:25:43,675
who ordered that Keller should resign.
353
00:25:46,166 --> 00:25:51,476
Keller Fedor Arturovitch, Cavalry General, the hero of the Russian-Turkish
354
00:25:51,684 --> 00:25:55,207
and Russian-Japanese wars. Cavalier of the soldiers’ George Cross
355
00:25:55,461 --> 00:25:58,614
and some other top awards of the Russian Empire.
356
00:25:58,990 --> 00:26:02,548
In 1918, was defending Kiev from Petlyura’s forces
357
00:26:02,721 --> 00:26:05,426
with a detachment of 30 officers.
358
00:26:05,665 --> 00:26:10,159
He was taken prisoner and killed. He was the prototype of Colonel Nay-Turs
359
00:26:10,394 --> 00:26:13,509
in of Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel “The White Guards”.
360
00:26:14,395 --> 00:26:16,628
The government didn’t believe in the loyalty of the senior officers;
361
00:26:16,776 --> 00:26:19,207
besides, it was scared that it would be blamed
362
00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:21,409
for the betrayal of the revolution.
363
00:26:21,642 --> 00:26:24,106
That was the reason why it listened to the demands of the soldiers.
364
00:26:24,409 --> 00:26:27,921
The cleansing of the army was accompanied by arrests of the officers and reports.
365
00:26:29,220 --> 00:26:32,207
They were accused not only of espionage, which was always a popular accusation
366
00:26:32,429 --> 00:26:35,104
at the time of the wars, but also of the counter-revolutionary activities.
367
00:26:35,605 --> 00:26:36,756
You’re arrested.
368
00:26:37,951 --> 00:26:39,752
The newspapers were pouring oil into the fire –
369
00:26:40,042 --> 00:26:42,568
first they scared the population with the impeding advance of the Germans
370
00:26:42,778 --> 00:26:45,596
which could strangle the revolution and then swore
371
00:26:45,817 --> 00:26:48,335
that the revolution wouldn’t retreat in the face of the Teuton bayonets
372
00:26:48,647 --> 00:26:52,500
and wouldn’t give back achievements gained with blood.
373
00:26:52,980 --> 00:26:55,101
That hysteria in the newspapers had its effect.
374
00:26:55,489 --> 00:26:58,886
The Volyn Regiment arrived at the Tavria Palace
375
00:26:59,078 --> 00:27:01,242
and demanded the war until the victorious end.
376
00:27:01,493 --> 00:27:04,465
They held the posters and banners with the notes:
377
00:27:04,750 --> 00:27:09,041
“Don’t forget your brothers in the trenches”, “The war until the victory”,
378
00:27:09,295 --> 00:27:11,067
“Long love the Temporary Government
379
00:27:11,266 --> 00:27:14,381
and the Council of the Deputies From the Workers and Soldiers”.
380
00:27:16,268 --> 00:27:21,424
The other guard regiments like the Pavlovskiy, Semenovskiy
381
00:27:21,612 --> 00:27:24,312
and Lithuanian held similar manifestations.
382
00:27:24,464 --> 00:27:26,730
However, the situation in the army worsened with each passing day,
383
00:27:26,962 --> 00:27:29,235
and it was impossible to remedy it with the meetings.
384
00:27:29,400 --> 00:27:32,190
The mass cleansing of the commandment only exacerbated the situation.
385
00:27:32,453 --> 00:27:36,328
The attempts to cancel Order no. 1 didn’t succeed.
386
00:27:36,799 --> 00:27:40,123
Guchkov managed to make the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Council
387
00:27:40,284 --> 00:27:45,444
issue Order no. 2 which clarified that Order no. 1
388
00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,607
applied to the rear units only.
389
00:27:49,194 --> 00:27:52,012
However, the soldiers at the front wouldn’t listen to that.
390
00:27:52,518 --> 00:27:55,274
The committees still discussed the orders of the commanders
391
00:27:55,490 --> 00:27:59,604
and nobody fought for the restoration of the discipline.
392
00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:02,663
Meanwhile, the commander of the Ussuriysk’s Kazak division
393
00:28:02,957 --> 00:28:06,323
General Krymov arrived in Petrograd.
394
00:28:06,536 --> 00:28:09,672
Before that, he was one of the leaders of the military opposition
395
00:28:09,883 --> 00:28:12,229
that was plotting a coup together with Guchkov.
396
00:28:12,893 --> 00:28:16,245
Guchkov appointed Krymov the commander of the 3rd cavalry corps
397
00:28:16,462 --> 00:28:21,173
that was previously headed by Keller. Krymov came to the capital
398
00:28:21,449 --> 00:28:24,989
to share his revolutionary plan of how to restore order
399
00:28:25,196 --> 00:28:28,220
in the course of just two days and with only one division.
400
00:28:28,453 --> 00:28:32,123
Lvov and Guchkov weren’t decisive enough to support that radical idea.
401
00:28:32,349 --> 00:28:36,127
So, after getting a promotion Krymov went back to the front.
402
00:28:36,390 --> 00:28:38,913
However, the idea of the military dictatorship in Russia
403
00:28:39,174 --> 00:28:42,595
already took root in some minds.
404
00:28:45,173 --> 00:28:48,516
Less than a month had passed since the Emperor’s abdication.
405
00:28:48,723 --> 00:28:52,172
The elections of the deputies to the Constituent Assembly was to start.
406
00:28:52,398 --> 00:28:54,820
That highest state body had to define the future form of government
407
00:28:54,961 --> 00:29:02,271
and decide whether Russia should remain a monarchy or become a republic.
408
00:29:04,362 --> 00:29:07,829
However, by that time the main political forces had formed
409
00:29:08,023 --> 00:29:10,620
and entered the struggle for power:
410
00:29:10,827 --> 00:29:15,132
the Temporary Government that wasn’t in a rush to hand it authority over
411
00:29:15,315 --> 00:29:18,038
or convene the Constituent Assembly,
412
00:29:18,226 --> 00:29:21,156
and the Council of the Deputies from the Workers and Soldiers
413
00:29:21,325 --> 00:29:22,968
that reported to nobody.
414
00:29:23,296 --> 00:29:27,096
The government and the councils consisted mostly of socialist revolutionaries and Mensheviks.
415
00:29:27,357 --> 00:29:30,474
They were in effect the power.
416
00:29:30,903 --> 00:29:36,168
The forces that wanted to seize the power opposed them,
417
00:29:36,449 --> 00:29:41,560
namely the military that were ready to establish the military dictatorship
418
00:29:41,744 --> 00:29:44,685
in the country, the Bolsheviks headed by Lenin, and other parties and forces.
419
00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:52,288
The position of the Temporary Government that was criticized from all sides
420
00:29:52,471 --> 00:29:55,806
was the most precarious. At the end of April it met its first serious crisis.
421
00:29:56,138 --> 00:29:59,381
It was provoked by a diplomatic note of Milyukov
422
00:29:59,539 --> 00:30:01,867
that seemingly wasn’t of any importance at all.
423
00:30:02,101 --> 00:30:04,405
In that document addressed to Russia’s allies
424
00:30:04,567 --> 00:30:07,263
and first of all, to France and Great Britain
425
00:30:07,453 --> 00:30:10,123
the Minister for Foreign Affairs claimed the following:
426
00:30:10,295 --> 00:30:12,508
“The Temporary Government will stick to the liabilities
427
00:30:12,685 --> 00:30:16,026
undertaken regarding our allies”.
428
00:30:17,286 --> 00:30:19,632
There was nothing counter-revolutionary in those words.
429
00:30:19,853 --> 00:30:23,562
It wasn’t the first time that the Temporary Government said
430
00:30:23,755 --> 00:30:26,040
that it supported the war until the victory.
431
00:30:26,507 --> 00:30:29,985
That’s why it was taken aback by the reaction at Milyukov’s note.
432
00:30:30,182 --> 00:30:34,568
As soon as the newspapers published the note, deserters and soldiers
433
00:30:34,759 --> 00:30:38,089
of the reserve regiments who hadn’t been at the trenches even for a single day,
434
00:30:38,268 --> 00:30:39,961
went out into the streets.
435
00:30:40,260 --> 00:30:42,721
For them, Milyukov’s note meant one thing –
436
00:30:42,893 --> 00:30:46,651
imminent departure to the front which they were trying to avoid by any means.
437
00:30:46,935 --> 00:30:49,977
The members of the reserves whom the Bolsheviks supported
438
00:30:50,208 --> 00:30:52,461
claimed that they did it to save the revolution.
439
00:30:52,688 --> 00:30:56,223
In truth, it was another attempt to avoid going to the front.
440
00:30:57,521 --> 00:30:59,669
The armed crowd encircled the Mariinsky Palace
441
00:30:59,836 --> 00:31:02,884
where the Temporary Government was meeting.
442
00:31:03,138 --> 00:31:07,418
The Ministers were close to panic. One of them even said:
443
00:31:07,596 --> 00:31:14,003
“Maybe in a few hours we’ll all be in the “Kresty” or in the fortress”.
444
00:31:14,374 --> 00:31:16,425
The session of the government was nearing its end
445
00:31:16,726 --> 00:31:20,524
when General Kornilov came to the Palace.
446
00:31:25,414 --> 00:31:30,661
Kornilov Lavr, Lieutenant General, a son of a common Kazak.
447
00:31:30,894 --> 00:31:35,866
He served in Turkestan, carried out a couple of scout expeditions in the east.
448
00:31:36,401 --> 00:31:40,461
During the First World War headed the 48th Infantry Division
449
00:31:40,673 --> 00:31:44,244
and was nicknamed “Steel” for his bravery.
450
00:31:44,498 --> 00:31:46,345
He was taken prisoner and managed to escape
451
00:31:46,561 --> 00:31:48,890
after what he was appointed the commander of the corps.
452
00:31:49,362 --> 00:31:52,994
Since March 1917, he was the commander of the troops
453
00:31:53,210 --> 00:31:55,299
of the Petrograd military district.
454
00:31:57,806 --> 00:32:00,218
The suppression of the revolt…
455
00:32:02,195 --> 00:32:06,334
Kornilov suggested suppressing the advance with the armed force.
456
00:32:06,694 --> 00:32:11,696
Kerenskiy answered the General: “Lavr Georgiyevitch…
457
00:32:14,386 --> 00:32:17,296
Our force is our moral influence,
458
00:32:17,604 --> 00:32:23,577
and to use the arms means to step on the former path
459
00:32:23,777 --> 00:32:30,981
of the policy of violence, what I believe is impossible”.
460
00:32:34,597 --> 00:32:36,701
…what I believe is impossible.
461
00:32:38,807 --> 00:32:43,593
Meanwhile, the supporters of the government gathered by the Mariinskiy Palace too.
462
00:32:44,142 --> 00:32:48,436
New slogans were heard: “The War until the victorious end”
463
00:32:49,212 --> 00:32:52,414
and “Give Lenin back to Wilhelm”.
464
00:33:04,805 --> 00:33:08,186
In the evening, a joint session of the Temporary Government
465
00:33:08,412 --> 00:33:10,620
and the Petrograd Council took place
466
00:33:10,827 --> 00:33:13,292
during which the socialists demanded to withdraw the note.
467
00:33:13,548 --> 00:33:16,868
Milyukov refused. The very next day, the shootings started.
468
00:33:17,125 --> 00:33:20,896
The exact number of victims is unknown, but it wasn’t great –
469
00:33:21,130 --> 00:33:24,638
a couple of wounded and none dead.
470
00:33:25,048 --> 00:33:28,973
However, the bloodless period of the Russian revolution was over.
471
00:33:32,932 --> 00:33:34,478
Italy, 1917
472
00:33:34,684 --> 00:33:39,446
From the book of Boris Yakovenko “History of the Great Russian Revolution”:
473
00:33:40,651 --> 00:33:46,206
“Thus, on April 21, on the Neva Avenue the first victims of the feudal struggle
474
00:33:46,395 --> 00:33:50,267
fell and the first drops of blood of the free Russian citizens
475
00:33:50,451 --> 00:33:52,903
who came out into the streets to show their allegiance
476
00:33:53,136 --> 00:33:55,744
to the new regime were spilled”.
477
00:34:03,346 --> 00:34:06,595
Fearing the armed crowd, the government approved the resignation
478
00:34:06,826 --> 00:34:10,639
of the Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Military Minister Guchkov.
479
00:34:10,965 --> 00:34:14,342
Two politicians who spared no efforts to ensure the success of the revolution
480
00:34:14,581 --> 00:34:16,931
lasted at their positions less than a month.
481
00:34:17,416 --> 00:34:21,405
Soon General Kornilov left his post too and went back to the front.
482
00:34:23,135 --> 00:34:28,154
The Temporary Government, despite having both the armed and the moral forces,
483
00:34:28,391 --> 00:34:31,392
was too apprehensive to use them and lost.
484
00:34:31,630 --> 00:34:35,328
In a result, the new Temporary Government was formed.
485
00:34:35,643 --> 00:34:39,811
The sugar producer Mikhail Tereschenko became the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
486
00:34:40,045 --> 00:34:42,914
Kerenskiy’s positions strengthened immensely,
487
00:34:43,108 --> 00:34:45,894
and he took over the key position of the Military Minister.
488
00:34:46,751 --> 00:34:49,706
The peace that set in between the government and the Petrograd Council
489
00:34:49,916 --> 00:34:53,757
was nearly ruined by the events in Kronstadt.
490
00:34:54,222 --> 00:34:57,746
The local council proclaimed that it was the only authority in the city
491
00:34:57,932 --> 00:35:01,266
and refused to recognize the Temporary Government.
492
00:35:01,643 --> 00:35:06,099
However, that time the bloodbath was avoided, and the order restored.
493
00:35:09,088 --> 00:35:13,295
Besides the internal political struggle, the increase of separatist movements
494
00:35:13,496 --> 00:35:16,861
in different corners of the former Empire was another problem
495
00:35:17,038 --> 00:35:19,516
challenging the Temporary Government.
496
00:35:21,644 --> 00:35:24,592
The party “Dashnaktsyutun” (“Council”) in Armenia,
497
00:35:24,824 --> 00:35:27,967
the party “Musavat” (“Equality”) in Azerbaijan,
498
00:35:28,186 --> 00:35:30,247
the Union of the Highlanders of the Caucasus
499
00:35:30,434 --> 00:35:34,309
and many other national organizations announced their nations
500
00:35:34,469 --> 00:35:38,788
to have been oppressed and demanded as many rights as privileges as possible.
501
00:35:39,014 --> 00:35:42,047
The Central Rada (“Council”) that convened in Kiev claimed
502
00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:45,217
that Ukraine needed to be given autonomy.
503
00:35:45,456 --> 00:35:47,884
During the first months of the revolution,
504
00:35:48,099 --> 00:35:50,289
that body unexpectedly gained huge popularity,
505
00:35:50,552 --> 00:35:54,099
and in mid-May a delegation from Kiev went to the capital.
506
00:35:54,697 --> 00:35:56,818
The deputies demanded the Temporary Government
507
00:35:56,998 --> 00:36:00,466
to recognize the Central Rada as the highest body of state power in Ukraine
508
00:36:00,675 --> 00:36:07,202
and also grant Ukraine autonomy. The delegation got a refusal.
509
00:36:07,512 --> 00:36:10,708
The government rebuked the first attack at the central power.
510
00:36:13,456 --> 00:36:16,358
In Petrograd, the precarious era of agreement
511
00:36:16,639 --> 00:36:19,894
between the Temporary Government and the Petrograd Council
512
00:36:20,090 --> 00:36:23,079
consisting of the socialist revolutionaries and Mensheviks still existed.
513
00:36:23,298 --> 00:36:25,961
The First All-Russia Meeting of the Councils that began
514
00:36:26,128 --> 00:36:31,460
at the start of June adopted a resolution of trust to the Temporary Government.
515
00:36:31,657 --> 00:36:35,656
At the same meeting, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee
516
00:36:35,835 --> 00:36:38,166
of the Councils of the Deputies from the Workers and Soldiers
517
00:36:38,300 --> 00:36:43,215
under the head of a Menshevik Nicolay Tchkheidze was formed.
518
00:36:43,730 --> 00:36:46,003
According to the Meeting’s decision, a mass manifestation
519
00:36:46,309 --> 00:36:52,618
was scheduled for June 18. About half a million people took part in it.
520
00:36:53,096 --> 00:36:55,659
There the influence that Lenin’s party had gained
521
00:36:55,846 --> 00:37:00,184
in the course of the last 2.5 months became evident.
522
00:37:00,384 --> 00:37:03,083
The demonstration was walking shouting the Bolsheviks’ slogans.
523
00:37:05,376 --> 00:37:08,488
The Council that was calling itself “the representative of people”
524
00:37:08,686 --> 00:37:11,618
had just confirmed its trust to the Temporary Government.
525
00:37:11,880 --> 00:37:14,781
However, the people went out into the streets with the slogans
526
00:37:14,945 --> 00:37:18,396
“Shoo the Temporary Government and Ten Ministers the Capitalists!”
527
00:37:19,036 --> 00:37:22,076
The socialist revolutionaries and the Mensheviks from the Petrograd Council
528
00:37:22,300 --> 00:37:26,964
believed that there was only one way to stop the war – defeat the enemy.
529
00:37:27,213 --> 00:37:29,967
However, the people were shouting “It’s time to stop the war!”,
530
00:37:30,217 --> 00:37:31,835
“Pass all the power to the Councils!”.
531
00:37:32,070 --> 00:37:34,699
The people were now evidently on the Bolsheviks’ side.
532
00:37:34,963 --> 00:37:39,245
Lenin’s program of agitation of workers and soldiers proved effective.
533
00:37:39,481 --> 00:37:41,806
Thanks to the populistic slogans and promises,
534
00:37:42,045 --> 00:37:45,811
the Bolsheviks gained more and more influence on the people.
535
00:37:46,117 --> 00:37:49,047
Due to that influence, they were close to taking control
536
00:37:49,244 --> 00:37:52,070
over the Petrograd Council on a whole.
537
00:37:52,650 --> 00:37:54,974
Despite the peaceful nature of the manifestations,
538
00:37:55,166 --> 00:37:59,759
both the Council and the Temporary Government were alarmed.
539
00:38:00,211 --> 00:38:03,000
The Military Minister Kerenskiy even got special authority
540
00:38:03,199 --> 00:38:07,209
to suppress possible disturbances. There were no disturbances.
541
00:38:07,416 --> 00:38:09,780
However, that situation seriously exacerbated
542
00:38:09,958 --> 00:38:12,054
the problem of the groups of anarchists.
543
00:38:12,333 --> 00:38:15,010
Anarchism, from the Greek word “anarchia” – “no power”,
544
00:38:15,311 --> 00:38:18,481
is a teaching based on a theory of unlimited freedom
545
00:38:18,701 --> 00:38:21,563
and equality of rights of all the people.
546
00:38:22,226 --> 00:38:24,388
The anarchists denied the necessity of existence
547
00:38:24,586 --> 00:38:27,603
of any type of social power and the state.
548
00:38:27,956 --> 00:38:33,143
The movement wasn’t uniform and consisted of different groups, parties and circles.
549
00:38:33,469 --> 00:38:36,731
The anarchists relied on the strength of their battle detachments.
550
00:38:36,927 --> 00:38:39,691
Despite many illegal actions of the anarchists,
551
00:38:39,875 --> 00:38:43,018
their ideas about the passing of the plants to the working people
552
00:38:43,146 --> 00:38:45,635
were very popular among the workers.
553
00:38:46,414 --> 00:38:50,316
By summer of 1917, the anarchists seized control
554
00:38:50,472 --> 00:38:54,291
over some professional unions and organized the printing of newspapers.
555
00:38:54,487 --> 00:38:59,289
They had an implacable stance regarding the war and the Temporary Government.
556
00:39:04,231 --> 00:39:07,172
On June 5, the battle detachment of the anarchists illegally seized
557
00:39:07,402 --> 00:39:10,057
the typography of the newspaper “The Russian Will”.
558
00:39:12,621 --> 00:39:16,071
The attempts of the Petrograd Council to interfere were in vain.
559
00:39:16,657 --> 00:39:20,466
The anarchists claimed that they wouldn’t recognize any Council.
560
00:39:23,458 --> 00:39:26,320
The anarchists put a machine gun in the yard of the typography
561
00:39:26,503 --> 00:39:29,423
and started printing the proclamations.
562
00:39:39,063 --> 00:39:41,375
The Minister of Justice Pereverzev order the commander
563
00:39:41,628 --> 00:39:46,682
of the Petrograd military district General Polovtsev to clear the typography.
564
00:39:47,730 --> 00:39:50,586
After some resistance, the anarchists surrendered.
565
00:39:51,934 --> 00:39:56,007
The invaders were taken out of the building to the applause of the street crowd.
566
00:39:56,239 --> 00:39:58,153
General Polovtsev recalled:
567
00:39:59,451 --> 00:40:01,706
“The public that filled all the adjacent streets
568
00:40:01,907 --> 00:40:06,146
made a roaring ovation as if I seized Berlin”.
569
00:40:07,070 --> 00:40:10,251
The government got scared of the armed actions
570
00:40:10,492 --> 00:40:13,197
and tried to seize the headquarters of the anarchists
571
00:40:13,411 --> 00:40:16,945
who settled in the summer estate of the former Tsar Minister Durnovo.
572
00:40:17,610 --> 00:40:20,375
That attempt ended with protests and unrest.
573
00:40:20,681 --> 00:40:24,360
The anarchists were shouting that the authorities were strangling the revolution.
574
00:40:24,588 --> 00:40:27,401
Under that slogan, they ushered the workers for a demonstration,
575
00:40:27,619 --> 00:40:31,186
and the authorities let the headquarters of the anarchists in peace.
576
00:40:31,387 --> 00:40:32,913
The strikes started.
577
00:40:33,126 --> 00:40:34,865
The rumours on possible introduction of the punitive operation
578
00:40:35,050 --> 00:40:36,615
circulated in the streets.
579
00:40:36,882 --> 00:40:40,736
In a couple of days, the anarchists seized the famous “Kresty” prison
580
00:40:40,918 --> 00:40:44,244
and released six of their members.
581
00:40:44,548 --> 00:40:48,855
Hundreds of the criminals used that to their benefit and escaped.
582
00:40:49,105 --> 00:40:55,693
After that action, General Polovtsev had to get down to business again.
583
00:40:55,889 --> 00:40:57,989
His soldiers penetrated the building of the summer cottage
584
00:40:58,141 --> 00:40:59,701
and arrested 59 anarchists.
585
00:40:59,945 --> 00:41:02,473
One of them died under unexplained circumstances.
586
00:41:02,771 --> 00:41:04,818
The anarchists shouted to the Minister of Justice Pereverzev
587
00:41:04,996 --> 00:41:10,842
who came to the place of the operation: “Mr. Minister, you’re a murderer!”
588
00:41:11,713 --> 00:41:15,747
After all those actions that bordered on crimes General Polovtsev
589
00:41:15,914 --> 00:41:18,471
and the Minister of Justice had to justify themselves
590
00:41:18,670 --> 00:41:23,633
at the meeting of the Council for the alleged violence against the revolutionaries.
591
00:41:23,847 --> 00:41:27,183
The perished anarchist was solemnly buried, and in some time,
592
00:41:27,387 --> 00:41:33,810
all the arrested anarchists were released, as if nothing had happened.
593
00:41:35,030 --> 00:41:40,134
The political life bordering on chaos and craze was boiling in Petrograd.
594
00:41:40,402 --> 00:41:44,193
All the ministers and opposition members, Bolsheviks and anarchists
595
00:41:44,396 --> 00:41:46,945
were solving their political tasks forgetting about the fact
596
00:41:47,135 --> 00:41:50,909
that the country was in the state of war.
597
00:41:53,884 --> 00:42:00,360
Cavalry General Alexei Brusilov was appointed the Commander-in-Chief of the army.
598
00:42:00,742 --> 00:42:03,634
He headed the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief
599
00:42:03,847 --> 00:42:07,564
which reported to the Temporary Government and the Military Minister Kerenskiy.
600
00:42:08,510 --> 00:42:12,331
The Petrograd Council and the soldiers’ committees also tried to press
601
00:42:12,557 --> 00:42:14,791
on the commandment of the army.
602
00:42:14,998 --> 00:42:18,940
In a result of all those influences and after the adoption of Order no. 1,
603
00:42:19,114 --> 00:42:22,244
the discipline and the fighting spirit of the military men decreased.
604
00:42:22,503 --> 00:42:24,960
Sometimes, they demonstrated complete indifference
605
00:42:25,192 --> 00:42:27,777
to the military duty and their oaths.
606
00:42:28,159 --> 00:42:31,420
By October, the army amounted to 10 million people
607
00:42:31,657 --> 00:42:36,414
although only 20% from that number were actually at the front.
608
00:42:37,557 --> 00:42:41,423
Meanwhile, the commandment was preparing for a grandioso advance.
609
00:42:41,677 --> 00:42:43,931
In a case of success, the Austro-Hungarian Empire
610
00:42:44,105 --> 00:42:46,637
would be thrown out of the war stage, and the German Eastern front
611
00:42:46,891 --> 00:42:49,784
would be made to fight in defines and lose initiative.
612
00:42:50,119 --> 00:42:52,833
Because of the revolution the advance that had been planned for April
613
00:42:53,043 --> 00:42:56,675
was delayed because of the changes in the commandment of the army.
614
00:43:00,260 --> 00:43:03,427
However, the soldiers didn’t want to fight at all.
615
00:43:03,860 --> 00:43:07,219
The Military Minister Kerenskiy went to the front himself.
616
00:43:07,485 --> 00:43:09,833
He gathered meetings, delivered speeches in front of the soldiers
617
00:43:10,007 --> 00:43:13,425
and appealed to them to demonstrate the strength of the new revolutionary army.
618
00:43:13,951 --> 00:43:16,173
The humorous people even nicknamed Kerenskiy
619
00:43:16,369 --> 00:43:18,775
“the head of talking into something”.
620
00:43:19,007 --> 00:43:21,358
Still, the Minister achieved his goal.
621
00:43:25,902 --> 00:43:29,414
On June 18, after the heavy artillery preparation
622
00:43:29,628 --> 00:43:33,885
the 11th and the 7th armies attacked,
623
00:43:34,106 --> 00:43:37,822
directing their main blows towards Lvov.
624
00:43:38,219 --> 00:43:42,324
It wasn’t the new Commander-in-Chief Brusilov who ordered to advance
625
00:43:42,505 --> 00:43:45,275
but the Military Minister Kerenskiy.
626
00:43:45,556 --> 00:43:48,807
The successful advance was to become his personal victory.
627
00:43:49,398 --> 00:43:52,165
At first, the Russian troops were succeeding.
628
00:43:52,625 --> 00:43:57,757
They seized three lines of the enemy trenches, took many prisoners and trophies.
629
00:43:58,565 --> 00:44:02,676
The Germans were in shock – they didn’t expect that from the Russians.
630
00:44:03,085 --> 00:44:05,353
However, later the advance stalled.
631
00:44:05,623 --> 00:44:07,458
The front units bore huge losses
632
00:44:07,650 --> 00:44:11,322
and the rest of the soldiers wanted neither to fight nor to die.
633
00:44:14,103 --> 00:44:16,201
Italy, 1917
634
00:44:16,507 --> 00:44:19,466
From the book of Boris Yakovenko “History of the Great Russian Revolution”:
635
00:44:19,775 --> 00:44:22,653
“Many units started to escape in panic.
636
00:44:22,844 --> 00:44:24,882
The entire divisions shamefully ran away
637
00:44:25,141 --> 00:44:28,045
in front of the isolated companies of the enemy.
638
00:44:28,476 --> 00:44:34,975
The demoralized units didn’t listen to orders and rushed to the east…”
639
00:44:44,617 --> 00:44:46,880
The soldiers often refused to go to their positions
640
00:44:47,081 --> 00:44:50,592
and even threatened to beat their officers up.
641
00:44:50,976 --> 00:44:53,237
On July 2, the commander of the 22nd Grenadier Suvorov Regiment
642
00:44:53,425 --> 00:44:57,635
Lieutenant Colonel Rykov was murdered
643
00:44:57,847 --> 00:45:01,056
for the attempt to stop the escape from the front line.
644
00:45:01,340 --> 00:45:04,244
The commander-in-chief of the front General Gutor immediately ordered
645
00:45:04,434 --> 00:45:06,911
to disband the regiment but it didn’t help the situation.
646
00:45:07,121 --> 00:45:10,425
Not all the units were running away from the front.
647
00:45:10,601 --> 00:45:15,411
The 8th army of General Kornilov showed itself from the best side.
648
00:45:15,643 --> 00:45:18,110
It managed to cover dozens of kilometres
649
00:45:18,262 --> 00:45:21,797
and seize the enemy towns of Galitch and Kalush.
650
00:45:22,188 --> 00:45:24,644
However, the general picture was dispiriting.
651
00:45:24,905 --> 00:45:28,431
The Austrians and Germans who saw the weakness of the Russian troops
652
00:45:28,610 --> 00:45:32,416
started the counter-attack. It was successful.
653
00:45:32,708 --> 00:45:36,592
The Russian troops couldn’t hold their ground and retreated.
654
00:45:41,213 --> 00:45:43,750
The army was turning into an uncontrollable crowd
655
00:45:44,025 --> 00:45:49,878
that was wiping all the obstacles off its way, robbing and killing.
656
00:45:53,775 --> 00:45:55,788
Mass deserting began.
657
00:45:56,259 --> 00:45:58,838
The police were catching and hanging the deserters.
658
00:46:03,063 --> 00:46:06,043
The crowds of the retreating troops walked
659
00:46:06,251 --> 00:46:10,601
looking at the bodies of their comrades hanging from the trees and telegraph poles.
660
00:46:11,742 --> 00:46:17,369
The last grandioso advance of the Russian army ended with a complete defeat.
661
00:46:27,643 --> 00:46:30,960
Less than four months had passed after the victory of the revolution.
662
00:46:31,331 --> 00:46:35,495
The soldiers were retreating. The army was virtually non-existent.
663
00:46:37,289 --> 00:46:41,916
The politicians in the rear were leading the country to a new catastrophe…
64059
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