The Last Tsar - Chapter Seventeen Stavka

Chapter Seventeen
Stavka

After the disastrous defeat in 1915, Russian military headquarters moved from Barnovici to Mogilev. On August 5th Warsaw fell.

'In the warm autumn evening I and the Empress sat at tea on her balcony when the Emperor, white and trembling, brought his news.' 'It cannot go on like this', - he exclaimed bitterly, recalled Anna Vyrubova, the confidante of the Tsarina.

On 7th August, the Grand Duke Nicholas was dismissed from the position of Commander-in-Chief. The Tsar became Commander-in-Chief and General Alexisve became Chief of Staff, Alexisve was, in fact, if not in name Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army.

In France and England the Tsar's decision was greeted with sighs and relief.

In appearance, General Alexisve compared poorly with the Grand Duke. He was cross-eyed. General Hanbury William, the British representative in the Russian General Headquarters, wrote in his book - 'General Alexisve was a quiet, conscientious, clever, modest and hard working man. He tried to do everything himself.'

In Mogilev, the Governor's home was requisitioned for military purposes. The Tsar occupied two rooms. One was his bedroom, which he shared with Tsarvitch Alexis and the other one was used as his study. The Tsar wrote in a letter to the Tsarina - 'It is cosy to sleep side-by-side with Alexis. When I enter the room at night I find him already in the bed. He asks me to read all your letters to him. When I finish he kisses your signature. He gets up early in the morning between seven and eight. His company gives light and life to all of us.'

Every morning at Headquarters, the Tsarvitch did lessons with Gilliard on the veranda.

Mogilev was like an enormous hotel. Tsarvitch loved to stay at Headquarters. His favourites were foreigners - the military attaches of Britain, France, Italy, Serbia, Belgium and Japan.

General Hanbury William wrote in his book - 'As time went on and his first shyness wore off, he treated us as old friends and had always some bit of fun. I had expected to find him a very delicate and not very lively boy, but instead I found him lively, high spirited, having mischief of any ordinary boy of that age. He had excellent manners and spoke various languages well and clearly.'

General Hanbury William remembered how some naughty games were devised by Alexis - such as bread pellet attack which risked all the imperial china and glass. Sometimes games continued in the garden. Sometimes he (Alexis) after lunch, dragged us to a fountain in the garden which had two holes. Once he asked me to plug up those holes with my finger, then turned on the fountain full split and suddenly let go. The result was that I nearly drowned the Emperor and his son.'

The Tsar mentioned this incident in one of his letters - 'Alexei has sprayed us at the fountain. It is his favourite game. I keep an eye in order to see things do not go too far.'

On December 20th 1916, General Hanbury William received the news of his son's death, who was wounded in France. On that night, as the General sat alone with his grief in his room, Alexis entered quietly and said 'Papa asked me to stay with you as you are very lonely tonight.'

In December 1916, the Tsar and Alexis left for Galicia, to inspect a number of regiments. Gilliard, Tsarvitch's tutor recalled - 'On the train Alexis, who had a cold the previous day, began to bleed heavily at the nose, as a result of sneezing violently. Professor Fedorov, Tsarvitch's specialist, was called but he could not entirely stop the bleeding.

During the night the condition of the Tsarvitch became so worse that at last it was decided to take him back to Tsarskoe Selo. So the train was diverted to Tsarskoe Selo. There the doctors applied all sorts of treatments known to them. The Empress, in despair, sent for Rasputin. He came into his room, made the sign of the cross over the bed and said, quietly, 'Nothing will happen, he will be all right.' Then he walked out of the room. That was all. The child fell asleep.

Once more the Empress attributed the improvement in her son's condition to the prayer of Rasputin.

On December 29th 1916, Rasputin was murdered. The Tsar was stunned and hurried home to Tsarskoe Selo to be united with the Empress. There he stayed for two months for rest. He returned to Mogilev on 8th March.

Four days later, on Monday March 12th, the Imperial Russia collapsed.