One of the most fascinating aspects of Russia right before the October revolution in which
the Bolsheviks under Lenin seized power is, in my opinion, the Kornilov-affair.
The affair, named after General Lavr Kornilov, took place during the six months reign of
Alexander Kerensky’s provisional government, and, surrounded by unclear information as
the entire event was chaotic, it paradoxically achieved the exact opposite of what it intended
to do: it paved the way for the Bolsheviks to seize power, even though Kornilov’s goal
was to purge any Bolshevik elements from Russia’s capital, Petrograd.
-intro-
Background
Russia was in complete shambles during the First World War, a war that exhausted all
its resources and caused food shortages at the home front, while the European Eastern
front was in a terrible condition, nearly two million Russian soldiers died during the
war.
Mutiny wasn’t uncommon and eventually in March nineteen-seventeen (I’ll be using
the new style gregorian calendar, even though it was only adopted after the october revolution)
the February Revolution, or, as Soviet historians refer to it, the Democratic Bourgeois revolution
erupted.
In vain, Tsar Nicholas II sought to rally a favourable political consensus and bodies
of troops that were loyal to him.
However, even his most loyal advisors and captains recommended he’d abdicate, and
eventually on the fifteenth of March he did so.
Before Nicholas abdicated, on the second of March, the provisional government had already
formed.
It consisted of a coalition of predominantly middle-class liberal-socialists.
The government decided it would be provisional until full, representative elections could
be held and a political composition could be made up.
Prince Georgi Lvov was a liberal member of the Duma and accepted the post as first prime
minister, while Alexander Kerensky, a Socialist Revolutionary, became the first minister of
justice.
The months ahead were rather chaotic, but amidst the chaos Kerensky rose through the
ranks.
On the eighteenth of May he became minister of war, and on the twenty-first of July he
became prime minister.
On the first of August, Kerensky replaced General Alexei Brusilov, the one from the
Brusilov offensive, with General Lavr Kornilov as commander-in-chief of the Russian army,
an appointment he would soon regret.
The Kornilov Affair
Kornilov was a war hero that managed to escape after being taken as a prisoner of war by
the Austro-Hungarians.
He supported a military dictatorship in order to restore peace and order in Russia, as during
the six months of Kerensky’s provisional government there was utter chaos throughout
the country, not in the least from the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin en Leon Trotsky, whose
abortive attempt at a revolution in July, known as the ‘July days’, was a preview
of what was to come.
Now, Kornilov was convinced the soldier ‘soviets’, committees of soldiers, ought to be constrained
in their power and meetings between soldiers ought to be forbidden, in order to restore
discipline in the army that was losing at the Eastern, and home front.
On the third of August Kornilov, with the support of Russian officers such as Denikin,
Lukomsky, Romanovsky and Markov, decreed a state of emergency throughout the entire country,
he reinstated capital punishment for civilians, militarized the railroads and issued the illegality
of strikes and meetings between labourers.
Kornilov ordered troops, under command of lieutenant-general Alexandr Krymov, to station
themselves near Petrograd, which he did in order to force the provisional government
to meet his demands.
To top this semi-coup off, he ordered Krymov that he was to invade Petrograd in case the
Bolsheviks were to launch a coup, and this will be important later on and the whole crux
of the Kornilov affair.
While his role isn’t completely clear, Vladimir Lvov, a former parliamentarian, approached
Kerensky and told him Kornilov and the army command were making plans to murder him.
Lvov offered Kerensky to hold a meeting with Kornilov.
Kerensky constended to the idea, and Lvov traveled towards Kornilov’s base in order
to confront him.
When he returned he declared Kornilov was planning on becoming the dictator of Russia,
though Kornilov later denied this.
Kerensky, upon hearing this news, fired Kornilov as the commander-in-chief via telegram.
The telegram, however, convinced Kornilov that Petrograd had fallen to the Bolsheviks
who supposedly forced Kerensky to fire him as commander in chief, and his army was required
in order to restore order and drive out the Bolshevik menace.
On the twenty-ninth of August, Kornilov issued his order to Krymov and his 3rd Cavalry Corps
to capture Petrograd.
Kerensky, now well-aware of an advancing army under Krymov, was convinced that the army
was out to oust him and commit a coup.
He opened the arsenals to arm the Petrograd Soviet, among which the Bolsheviks, who promptly
called on all loyal adherents to erect field emplacements at key points controlling the
city.
The Kronstadt sailors entered Petrograd to protect the Soviet and the Provisional Government,
and railroad workers sabotaged trains and the tracks.
There was, among others, a Bolshevik that was imprisoned previously, who was now released
and aided the Petrograd Soviet in preparing and organizing the defences of the city.
His name was Leon Trotsky.
Groups of agitators met Krymov’s troops as they marched onto Petrograd, and through
fraternization had soldiers desert, while others became demoralized, slowing down the
advance.
After all, the troops were ordered, by Kornilov, to protect the Provisional Government, whereas
it seemed they were going to instigate a coup now.
Some soldiers, after being convinced by Soviet deputies, arrested their own officers.
It didn’t take long for Krymov to agree to talks with Kerensky, where he would attempt
to convince him that he had orders to protect the Provisional Government against the Bolsheviks.
Kerensky didn’t believe him and told Krymov he was to have him stand trial at military
court for an attempted coup.
Thoroughly shaken, Krymov committed suicide, and while the coup attempt didn’t see much
bloodshed, Kornilov and the officers that supported him, Denikin, Lukomsky, Romanovsky
and Markov, along with seven-thousand other officers, were arrested.
Even though the Provisional Government survived the coup, it lost credibility and the image
of a government that was able to maintain control.
It would only be a couple of weeks until the Bolsheviks would seize power.
Kornilov… had achieved the exact opposite of what he meant to.
After the Bolsheviks seized power, the Russian civil war would wage on for multiple years,
seeing millions of casualties from war, hunger and executions, but that’s a story for another
time.
Thank you for watching this video and what is an event or person from early 20th century
Russia that you would like to know more about, and perhaps see a video of?
Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you enjoyed the video, consider subscribing
to my channel.
See you next time.