The Last Tsar - Chapter Nineteen Revolution March 1917 and Abdication

Chapter Nineteen
Revolution March 1917 and Abdication

In the month of February, 1917, the severe winter weather dealt Russia's railroads a final blow. The bitter cold and heavy snowfall virtually paralysed the means of communications. The cheap imported Cardiff coal stopped coming from Britain. One thousand, two hundred locomotive boilers froze and burst. Northern towns and cities were suffering from acute shortages of food as the supply was disrupted by the shortage of rolling stock, which became motionless because of the shortage of fuel. Factories had closed for lack of coal. Fifty-seven thousand railway cars were out of work.

Hungry people shivered in cold, stood hour after hour silently in long lines in front of bread factories. Their patience gave way. One of the hungry women shouted - 'Give us bread, look at those rich people, their children are not cold and hungry. We poor people are sent to the front to fight with the Germans. Our children are dying in the front.'

Hungry people, being impatient of long waiting, broke into the bakeries and helped themselves. More bakeries were sacked on 9th March. Cossacks appeared in the streets with their sabres, the traditional instrument of the mob control, but did not interfere with the mob, and assured the crowds - 'Don't worry, we won't shoot you.'

On Saturday most of the workers went on strike. Trains, trolley cars, cabs stopped running. Huge crowds passed through the streets carrying for the first time red flags and shouting - 'Down with the war, down with the Emperor.'

A sense of fear engulfed the whole country. The Cabinet met day and night to solve the problem of food, but failed. All the ministers, except Protopopov resigned.

At 4.30 p.m. there was shooting on the Nevsky Prospekt. Two hundred people died. Before the Nicholasky Station, the Volensky Regiment refused to fire on the public.

The mutiny spread quickly to other famous regiments: the Semonovsky, the Ismailovsky, the Litovsky, the Oranienbaum Machine Gun Regiment and, finally, to the legendary Preobrajinsky Guard, the most loyal, the oldest and finest regiment in the army.

Muriel Buchanan, the daughter of the British Ambassador, remembered what she saw on 12th March 1917 - 'The same wide streets, the same great palaces, the same gold spires and domes and yet everywhere emptiness, no lines of toiling carts, no crowded trams, only the waste of deserted streets and ice-bound river and on the opposite shore the low, grim walls of the fortress of Peter and Paul and the Imperial flag of Russia that, for the last time, fluttered against the winter sky.'

General Knox wrote in his book - 'We heard that the depot troops of the garrison had mutinied and were coming down the street. We came to the window. The demonstrators were led by the dignified students. All were armed and many had red flags. What struck me most was the uncanny silence of it all. We were like spectators in a gigantic cinema hall.'

The Grand Duke Michael, the younger brother of the Tsar, got alarmed. He was then living in the Ghatchina Palace, with is wife and a small boy. He left home and came to Petrograd. He met Rodziano, the President of Duma, and discussed with him the situation of the capital. He promised that he would do his best to prevent the catastrophe and save the country.

He rang the Tsar but General Alexisve, Chief of Staff, answered on behalf of the Tsar, that he was coming back to Petrograd as soon as possible and to form a cabinet acceptable to Duma. By nightfall most of the ministers had resigned and had arrived at the 'Tauride Palace' (Duma) to have themselves arrested and placed under the protection of Duma.

The next day at 3 o'clock the Duma met and appointed a temporary executive committee for the purpose of restoring order and gaining control over the mutinous troops. That executive committee became the Provisional Government, to rule the country for the time being with Prince Lvove (Prime Minister), Paul Mihikove (Foreign Secretary), Alexander Ghickkov (War Minister) and Kerensky (Minister of Justice).

On Wednesday 14th March, the Grand Duke Cyril, cousin of the Tsar, first member of the Imperial family and Romanov as well, broke publicly his oath of allegiance to the Tsar and pledged allegiance to the Provisional Government. On March 15th, except for a last outpost of tsarism in the Winter Palace, the city was in the hands of the rebels.

Petrograd had fallen, the Revolution was triumphant. The tsarism was ended. A week had gone by since Nicholas had left for Stavka. In that week he had lost his capital and throne.

On 12th March, at midnight, the Tsar left Mogilev (Stavka) for Tsarskoe Selo. At 2 a.m., on the morning of the 14th, the Imperial train was at Malayvishara, just a hundred miles south of the capital when the Imperial train was obstructed by the mob from going to the capital, and was diverted to Pskove, headquarters of the northern group of armies, commanded by General Ruzsky. Ruzsky received the Emperor at the station. The General gave him more bad news: the entire garrison of Petrograd and Tsarskoe Selo had gone over to the revolutionaries. General Ivanov's expedition, sent ahead to restore order, failed to do so as General Alexisv advised him to withdraw to avoid further bloodshed, so the monarchy could be saved.

At the advice of the Tsar Ruzsky telephoned Rodzianko that the Emperor was ready to grant a constitution to the people, but Rodzianko (President of Duma) answered - 'It is too late for concessions. The time for them is gone. There is no return.'

The Duma Committee and the Soviet had decided that Nicholas II must abdicate in favour of his son with the Tsar's brother, the Grand Duke Michael, as Regent. At headquarters, General Alexisve, himself, found abdication the only solution and decided to gather the opinions of the other generals commanding the different fronts. The verdict came soon. They were grimly unanimous that the Tsar must abdicate.

Nicholas was stunned and shaken by the decisions of the generals. For some time he could not speak. Grim silence fell in the compartment. Then suddenly he recovered from his grief and announced in firm voice - 'I shall give up the throne in favour of my son Alexis'.

A form of abdication was forwarded before him. Nicholas signed it, but later, after discussing with Dr. Fedorove (the specialist of Tsarvitch), about the health of Alexis, the heir to the throne, he changed his mind. For the second time on the same fateful day, he made another decision, which would affect not only his fate and the family, but the history of Russia.

He signed a second document abdicating in favour of his brother, Michael, and handed it over to Alexander Guchkov and Basil Shuligan who, on behalf of the Provisional Government, came to collect it. The final version removed both the father and son from the throne.

On the night of March 15th, Nicholas wrote in his diary - 'All around me I see treason, cowardice and deceit'.

The Tsar had fallen. It was an event of gigantic significance, but nobody, either in Russia or abroad, realised it fully. During his (Tsar's) stay at Stavka, the Dowager Empress arrived.

The Tsar's sister, Olga, wrote in her book - 'Nicky's abdication came like a thunderbolt. We were stunned. My mother was in a terrible state. She blamed Alicky (the Empress) for everything (from last Grand Duchess).

Marie, the Dowager Empress stayed in Mogilev for three days. The mother and son spent most of the time together. Nicholas tried to comfort his mother.

On March 21st Nicholas became the prisoner of the Provisional Government.

At 3 p.m. on the same day an express train was sent to bring the Tsar back to Tsarskoe Selo. Nicholas said goodbye to his distressed mother. They expected to meet again, either in Crimea or in England. How little did they suspect then that they would never meet again.