The Last Tsar - Chapter Fifteen The Great War

Chapter Fifteen
The Great War

By the end of June 1914 the Imperial family was cruising along the coast of Finland, when on 28th June 1914, the Austrian heir to the throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie, were assassinated in Sarajevo by a member of the terrorist organisation known as the 'Black Hand'. Its leader was the chief of the Serbian army intelligence.

The tragic new shocked the world. Nicholas and Alexandra were stunned. Emperor Franz Joseph wrote to the Kaiser, Austria's ally - 'The bloody deed is a well organised plot whose threads extend to Belgrade, capital of Serbia.' 'Serbia', the Emperor concluded 'must be eliminated as a political factor in the Balkans.' But the Kaiser did not think that the assassination meant war. Most Europeans did not consider the Archduke's assassination a final act of doom.

On July 20 1914, President Poincare, of France, arrived in Russia for a visit. France had been living in fear since the Franco Prussian War in 1970, when 'Alsace Lorraine' was occupied by Germany. Lorraine was the birth place of the President. On July 23, after Poincare was at sea, the Austrian government had presented Serbia with an ultimatum. With the approval of the Emperor, Franz Joseph, the Austro-Hungarian empire had decided to make war on Serbia. The Austrian government thought that the terms of the ultimatum were so humiliating that Serbia would be forced to reject it, but to the surprise of every country in Europe, Serbia accepted them.

One of the most humiliating terms was that the Austrian police force would have access to Belgrade, capital of Serbia, for investigation. In spite of Serbia's acceptance of Austria's ultimatum, the following morning, of July 29, at 5 a.m., the Austro-Hungarian artillery began pounding shells on Belgrade. The bombardment continued all day, in disregard of the white flags fluttering from Belgrade rooftops. Now Russia, the traditional protectress of Serbia and Slavs, came forward to save Serbia.

In St. Petersburg, the Tsar gave the order for partial mobilisation of the army along the Austrian frontier. At this point Germany intervened to save her Austrian ally. On 1st August 1914, Russia, France, Germany and Austro-Hungary were entangled in the most terrible life and death conflict the world had ever known. Three days later Britain declared war upon Germany, as she had violated the neutrality of Belgium. Later, Turkey, Italy, Bulgaria, Rumania, Greece and America joined the war.

No country had ever entered a war as Russia did in the First World War. Her army was ill-equipped, ill-prepared. The country was not prepared for war at all, especially to face an enemy like Germany, which was technically, militarily, and economically the most advanced country in the world. Her navy was badly battered at the battle of Tsushiwa by Japan in 1905. Russia had terrible internal problems too. In July 1914, one and a half million workers were out on strike, the barricades were erected in the streets of the capital.

On 1st August at Peteroff, the Tsar and his family had just come from evening prayer. Before going to dinner, Nicholas went to his study where Count Frederick, the Grand Master of the Ceremony, brought him the message from Sazonov, the Foreign Minister, that Germany had declared war upon Russia. On August 2 1914, the Tsar issued a formal proclamation of hostilities at the Winter Palace.

'Now all Russia is involved', told Rodzianko, the President of the Duma. 'We want to rally to our Tsar to make certain of victory over the Germans.'

For the time being all internal conflict and discontent disappeared from Russia while the whole nation united in one mission, bound in one aspiration that was complete victory over the enemy.

The Russian army was a colossus. During three years of war 15,500,000 men marched away to fight for the Tsar and the country. But the army was suffering from the inadequacy of weapons, ammunition and even boots. The Russian railroad was hopelessly inadequate. On the Russian side the Supreme Command ordered, but the railroad decided. Russian industry was small and primitive. Russian guns, having fired all their ammunition, quickly fell silent, while enemy shells arrived steadily, bursting continually overhead. At one point Russian artillery men were threatened with court-martial if they fired more than three rounds per day.

During the war Germany blockaded the Baltic and Turkey barred Dardanelles and the Black Sea. Communications were possible only through Murmansk, as Archangel remained frozen throughout the whole winter, and Vladivostock, another port on the Pacific far away from the capital. Russian exports dropped ninety-eight percent, and imports by ninety-five percent. Russian northern towns and cities scarcely produced food, being always dependent on the food supplied by southern Russia.

As the younger peasants were recruited by the army and sent to the fronts to fight with the enemy, agricultural production was reduced by half than normal. In normal time Russia imported cheap Cardiff coal for her industry, now it was stopped because of Germany's blockade of the Baltic Sea. As a result three fourths of the Russian steam engines came to a standstill. During the severe winter of 1916 and 1917 St. Petersburg (renamed Petrograd) was suffering from an acute shortage of food and fuel. If there were some supplies of food, weapons and ammunition from her allies they were left abandoned at Murmansk, as the construction of railway lines between Murmansk and Petrograd was incomplete.

The Ccabinet, during the war, was most inefficient and incapable to fight with a strong and powerful enemy like Germany. General Sukomolinoff, the War Minister, was old and lazy. 'He enjoyed life and disliked work', - wrote Sazovov, the Foreign Minister of Russia. Besides the War Minister and Russian Commander-in-Chief, Grand Duke Nicholas disliked each other.

In its first weeks the war ran brilliantly for the German army: one million men in grey uniforms moved like a human scythe across Belgium and northern France. On September 2nd, the German army stood thirty miles north of Paris. To save Paris, two Russian armies were selected to make the attack.

The first army consisting of two hundred thousand men under General Rennenkamf was to move south west parallel to the Baltic coast, while the second army of one hundred and seventy thousand men, under General Samsonov, would advance northwards from Poland.

Rennenkamf's tactics recalled the Napoleonic wars, a hundred years before. Under fire from German canon the General sent his cavalry to charge the guns. As a result in the war's first engagement, many young guards officers, the flower of Russia's aristocratic youth, were shot from their saddles.

The Russian artillery, firing four hundred and forty shells per day, was effective and the result was a partial German defeat. In desperation the German general staff lastly dispatched a new pair of generals. They were Paul Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff.

While Rennenkampf rested too long from his victory, Samsonov's army was struggling north in the wild, uninhabited country north of the Polish border. On the eve of the battle, some of the soldiers had been without their full ration of bread for five days. Despite their hardship, Samsonov's men struggled forward. Samsonov received constant signals to hurry, as Paris was in danger. 'I cannot go more quickly', he telegraphed back. His men were fighting without having food, his horses without oats, his supply columns disorganised, his artillery mired.

Leaving two divisions to meet Rennenkamf, Hindenburg loaded every other German soldier onto trains to meet Samonov. In four days of battle Samsonov's exhausted troops did what they could. Nevertheless, faced with the hurricane barrages of German artillery, enveloped in three sides by German infantry, the second army disintegrated. At the battle of Tannenburg, Russians lost one hundred and ten thousand men. Samsonov committed suicide, but Paris was saved.

In 1915, the Russian army, battered, retreated. After a summer of terrible losses, the Russian army badly needed a lift in morale. Poland was abandoned after Warsaw, the capital was occupied by Germans. The Grand Duke's scorching policy, followed by General Kntzove in 1812 in war with Napoleon, caused enormous suffering to the people. So the Tsar asked the Grand Duke to return and he himself became Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army. Head Quarters (Stavka) also moved form Barnovichi to Mogilev.

Russian losses of men and land were colossal. She was choked in her own blood.

Rasputin, after visiting some villages, mentioned in the heart-rending runes to the French ambassador, Paleologue -'Enough blood has been shed, I have seen some villages where I did not find a single young able-bodied man, only old, crippled widows and orphans.'

Paul Hindenburg recalled in his memoirs - 'Russian losses were staggering. Five or eight million? All we know is that sometimes in our battles with the Russians we had to remove the mounds of enemy corpses in order to get a clear field of fire against fresh assaulting waves.'

Despite a shortage of food and ammunition, Russia held out. The Russian army, under the command of General Brusilov, erupted in June 1916 with a heavy attack on the Austrians in Galacia. The Austrian line sagged and broke. Brusilov inflicted a million casualties, took four hundred thousand prisoners, pulled eighteen German divisions away form Verdrun and prevented the Austrians from exploiting their great victory over the Italians at Corporetto. Yet all this was done at heavy cost to Russia.

Throughout the summer, as Brusilov pushed forward, Russian losses reached one million, two hundred thousand. To the Empress and Rasputin, Russia was choking in her own blood. At the request of Rasputin, the Empress forced the Tsar to stop the offensive. As a result Brusilov's great offensive ground to a halt.

Despite the objections of every member of the Imperial family, every member of the Cabinet, the Tsar took over from Grand Duke Nicholas the position of Commander-in-Chief. Grand Duke Nicholas was sent to Caucasus to fight against the Turks.

'It is the gravest mistake you are doing Niki', - said the Dowager Empress, Marie Fedorovna.

After the departure of the Tsar for Mogilev G.H.Q., the Empress became the Regent. Her dream to rule Russia came true. Her ambition was fulfilled. At her shoulder stood her friend Rasputin. Together they would finally bring the downfall of the Russian Empire.