There’s only one word I can say to describe the main event of this week: Revolution!!!
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to the Great War.
Last week the British and Indian forces pushed up the Tigris toward Baghdad, the Ottomans
pulling back both there and in Persia, where they were being chased by the Russians.
Russia had big problems at home, with food riots, strikes, and demonstrations all week
in Petrograd.
The Toplica Rebellion continued in the Balkans, and Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated for his
second term as US President.
Here’s what came next.
As I said at the beginning, revolution came this week, and it came to Russia.
Russia had been in a state of chaos for a while now, with hundreds of strikes over the
past few months, as well as food riots and demonstrations, like last week.
This was all centered in Petrograd, the capital, and - especially since Rasputin was killed
a few months ago - it was centered against Tsar Nicholas.
By this time, large numbers of the military had even gone over to the revolutionaries.
Things came to a head this week, as the February revolution broke out.
It’s called that because this is February under the old calendar in use there at the
time.
On Saturday, March 10th by our calendar, huge crowds were in the street as they had been
for days.
The Cossacks were ordered to fire on them and they turned their guns on the police instead.
This ended generations of Cossack loyalty to the government.
The Tsar was asked to return to Petrograd from army headquarters and do something.
He wrote back (A World Undone), “I order that the disorders in the capital... be ended
tomorrow.”
Yeah, that’ll do it.
The next day was, though, a lot quieter in the streets, and Nicholas sent an order for
the dismissal of the Duma - the Parliament.
They voted to disregard it, thus joining the revolutionaries.
On the 12th, the 17,000 soldiers of the Petrograd garrison joined the huge crowds demonstrating
against the Tsar.
Soldiers loyal to him and the police tried to keep order, but there was fighting in the
streets and they were hugely outnumbered.
The law courts and police stations were set on fire, the armory was attacked and looted,
and the Russian Revolution had begun.
Nicholas began the long journey to Petrograd, but as he neared the capital, reports of violence
along the line made getting there impossible.
The revolutionaries held the main stations near town and Nicholas was stopped at the
small town of Pskov.
The next day the captain of the cruiser Aurora, in Petrograd for repairs, was killed by revolutionary
sailors, and other sailors near the capital killed or arrested well over 100 officers.
The Russian admiralty surrendered, Former Prime Minister Sturmer became prisoner in
the Duma.
Current Prime Minister Prince Golitsyn and War Minister General Belyaev were removed
from office.
The Duma formed a provisional government from the Tauride Palace on the 15th, and though
Moscow, Kharkov, and Odessa declare themselves for the Provisional government, the Petrograd
Soviet was a rival authority.
This was a council of workers, soldiers, and peasants’ deputies that challenged the Duma’s
leadership and they would soon begin a dual power situation, competing for legitimacy.
The Petrograd Soviet ordered that all weapons are to be controlled by elected committees.
The Russian army Chief of Staff Mikhail Alekseyev, on the morning of the 15th, urged the Tsar
to abdicate.
He actually urged the other army commanders to join him in this appeal.
General Russki believed that the only thing that could prevent total anarchy was abdication.
General Brusilov thought only abdication could preserve the monarchy and Russia’s ability
to continue the war.
Grand Duke Nikolai in the Caucasus and General Sakharov on the Romanian front, urged abdication
and by the early afternoon all of their replies by telegram were given to the Tsar.
The army would not keep Nicholas in power.
A few moments later, Tsar Nicholas Romanov telegraphed Alekseyev, “In the name of the
welfare, tranquility, and salvation of my warmly beloved Russia I am ready to abdicate
from the throne...”
The crown was passed to his brother, the Grand Duke Michael, who rejected the throne, afraid
of the revolutionaries, and the 300-year-old rule of the Romanovs was over, and all the
secret treaties and agreements made with the allies were no longer valid.
Nicholas seemed fairly calm about the whole thing and only really seemed concerned about
his family, who were basically prisoners since the 40,000 strong garrison at Tsarskoye Selo
joined the revolution.
Also, all five of his kids had the measles, which was a big deal in 1917.
As for the Tsarina, here’s what A World Undone has to say about her, “After years
of almost insanely self-destructive behavior, she began to display the strength and calm
acceptance that would support her family through the months of life that remained to them”.
Grand Duke Nikolai and Alexeev supported the new provisional ministry, which included Georgy
Lvov as Prime Minister, Pavel Milyukov as Foreign Minister, and Alexander Kerensky as
Minister of Justice.
Their government proclaimed the following principles: freedoms of the press, association,
speech, and labor organization, the freedom to strike, and the extension of these freedoms
to the troops as far as conditions allow.
Abolition of all social, religious, and national restrictions.
Preparations began for an assembly, but let’s make clear that this had not been an organized
revolution, but something that blossomed from a series of simultaneous uprisings against
a corrupt regime, and you did now have two rival organizations with ambitions of control.
And the Petrograd Soviet had issued its own “Order number one”, which was a manifesto
for the military that allowed political representation, expanded individual freedom, and a certain
degree of Soviet, or council, control.
This, as you may guess, is kind of the opposite of military discipline.
At first, it was only to be in the Petrograd area, but it would spread so that there were
Soviet committees all over the army, including at the front.
On the 16th there was a mutiny in the Russian Baltic Fleet, and in Zurich, as the week came
to an end, Vladimir Lenin, in exile, heard the news of the revolution.
But Petrograd was not the only city getting a new government this week.
On March 11th, British and Indian troops occupied Baghdad.
Some 15,000 soldiers were captured in the following confusion.
Ottoman General Khalil Pasha, Enver Pasha’s uncle, withdrew to Mosul with 30,000 men.
Gertrude Bell, the British Middle East expert… well, she was much much more than that and
has even been called the female Lawrence of Arabia, and she’ll have her own special.
She said, (Gilbert) “That’s the end of the German dream of domination in the Near
East.
Their place is not going to be in the sun.”
The British were worried that the Ottomans would flood the Tigris River, but that never
happened.
And taking Baghdad was a big morale boost after last year’s humiliation at Kut, and
the Ottomans were now basically forced to end actions in Persia and build up their army
in case the British marched on Mosul.
And a whole Ottoman province had now come under British rule, which was good news for
the British although it did spark infighting between the British governments in London
and India about who was in charge now.
Thing is, the capture of Baghdad wasn’t really an end in itself, and Peter Hart, in
“The Great War” writes, “Mesopotamia was like a vast sponge sucking in British
military resources... what had really been gained once the oil fields had been secured
in 1914?
Nothing.
The whole Mesopotamian Campaign had become an object lesson in mission creep...”
But if things weren’t going so well for the Central Powers in the Middle East, they
were doing okay in the Balkans.
On March 12th began the Austro-Hungarian and Bulgarian counterattacks against the Toplica
Rebellion.
The Serbian forces numbered 8 or 9,000 rebels and had taken a bunch of small towns and began
setting their sights on even larger towns that could conceivably help make a path to
Salonika.
The Central Powers attacks were under the command of Alexander Protogerov and Tane Nikolov,
and had about 30,000 troops joining the fight.
After just a few days of fighting, the Bulgarians had retaken Prokuplje and the Austrians took
Kurshumlija, and by the end of the week, though the fighting had been heavy, it looked like
the rebels were going to be defeated.
And further to the south, the Allies began their spring campaign in Macedonia.
And here are a couple of notes to end the week.
On the 13th, China breaks off relations with Germany.
A couple weeks ago, a German sub had drowned 543 Chinese laborers heading for the Western
Front.
And 700,000 men from Belgium were now working on German farms and in factories (Gilbert)
And that was the week, Serbian rebels beginning to falter, Baghdad falling to the British,
and a revolution in Russia.
And that would that mean for the war?
The Tsar had wanted to continue the fight, but did the two new Russian governments want
that?
And what would that mean for the other allies?
They were pretty quick to claim to support the Provisional government, but part of that
was to help try to persuade the US to join the war, since you can’t really say you’re
fighting for freedom when you’re huge ally has an absolute monarch.
And what would this mean for the Eastern Front?
For Romania?
For the Caucasus?
For the world?
At the moment, it’s anybody’s guess.
If you want to find out more about the situation in Russia before the February Revolution,
check out our special episode right here.
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