(1)
George Buchanan met Nicholas
II at the Imperial Palace on 12th January, 1917. He later wrote
about this meeting in his book, My Mission to Russia and Other
Diplomatic Memories (1922).
I went
on to say that there was now a barrier between him and his people,
and that if Russia was still united as a nation it was in opposing
his present policy. The people, who have rallied so splendidly round
their Sovereign on the outbreak of war, had seen how hundreds of
thousands of lives had been sacrificed on account of the lack of
rifles and munitions; how, owing to the incompetence of the administration,
there had been a severe food crisis, and - much to my surprise,
the Emperor himself added, "a breakdown of the railways".
All that they wanted was a Government that would carry on the war
to a victorious finish. The Duma, I had reason to know, would be
satisfied if His Majesty would but appoint as President of the Council
a man whom both he and the nation could have confidence, and would
allow him to choose his own colleagues.
I next
called His Majesty's attention to the attempts being made by the
Germans, not only to create dissension between the Allies, but to
estrange him from his people. Their agents were everywhere at work.
They were pulling the strings, and were using as their unconscious
tools those who were in the habit of advising His Majesty as to
the choice of his Ministers. They indirectly influenced the Empress
through those in her entourage, with the result that, instead of
being loved, as she ought to be, Her Majesty was discredited and
accused of working in German interests. The Emperor once more drew
himself up and said: "I choose my Ministers myself, and do
not allow anyone to influence my choice."
(2)
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, letter to Nicholas II (January,
1917)
The unrest grows; even the monarchist principle
is beginning to totter; and those who defend the idea that Russia
cannot exist without a Tsar lose the ground under their feet, since
the facts of disorganization and lawlessness are manifest. A situation
like this cannot last long. I repeat once more - it is impossible
to rule the country without paying attention to the voice of the
people, without meeting their needs, without a willingness to admit
that the people themselves understand their own needs.
(3)
Alexander Kerensky, speech in the
Duma (13th February, 1917)
There are people who assert that the Ministers are
at fault. Not so. The country now realizes that the Ministers are
but fleeting shadows. The country can clearly see who sends them
here. To prevent a catastrophe the Tsar himself must be removed,
by force if there is no other way.
(3)
Alexandra Fyodorovna,
letter to Nicholas II (25th
February, 1917)
The strikers and rioters in the city are now in a more defiant
mood than ever. The disturbances are created by hoodlums. Youngsters
and girls are running around shouting they have no bread; they do
this just to create some excitement. If the weather were cold they
would all probably be staying at home. But the thing will pass and
quiet down, providing the Duma behaves. The worst of the speeches
are not reported in the papers, but I think that for speaking against
the dynasty there should be immediate and severe punishment.
(4)
Alexandra
Fyodorovna, letter to Nicholas
II (26th February, 1917)
The whole trouble comes from these idlers, well-dressed people,
wounded soldiers, high-school girls, etc. who are inciting others.
Lily spoke to some cab-drivers to find out things. They told her
that the students came to them and told them if they appeared in
the streets in the morning, they should be shot to death. What corrupt
minds! Of course the cabdrivers and the motormen are now on strike.
But they say that it is all different from 1905, because they all
worship you and only want bread.
(5)
Michael Rodzianko,
President of the Duma, telegram to Nicholas
II (26th February, 1917)
The situation
is serious. The capital is in a state of anarchy. The government
is paralyzed; the transport service has broken down; the food and
fuel supplies are completely disorganized. Discontent is general
and on the increase. There is wild shooting in the streets; troops
are firing at each other. It is urgent that someone enjoying the
confidence of the country be entrusted with the formation of a new
government. There must be no delay. Hesitation is fatal.
(6)
Michael Rodzianko,
President of the Duma, telegram to Nicholas
II (27th February, 1917)
The situation
is growing worse. Measures should be taken immediately as tomorrow
will be too late. The last hour has struck, when the fate of the
country and dynasty is being decided.
The government
is powerless to stop the disorders. The troops of the garrison cannot
be relied upon. The reserve battalions of the Guard regiments are
in the grips of rebellion, their officers are being killed. Having
joined the mobs and the revolt of the people, they are marching
on the offices of the Ministry of the Interior and the Imperial
Duma.
Your
Majesty, do not delay. Should the agitation reach the Army, Germany
will triumph and the destruction of Russian along with the dynasty
is inevitable.
(7)
Harold Williams, Daily
Chronicle (28th February, 1917)
All attention
here is concentrated on the food question, which for the moment
has become unintelligible. Long queues before the bakers' shops
have long been a normal feature of life in the city. Grey bread
is now sold instead of white, and cakes are not baked. Crowds wander
about the streets, mostly women and boys, with a sprinkling of workmen.
Here and there windows are broken and a few bakers' shops looted.
But, on the whole, the crowds are remarkably good-tempered and presently
cheer the troops, who are patrolling the streets.
(8) Robert Bruce Lockhart,
diary entry (28th February, 1917)
Revolution in Moscow. Great scenes in front of Duma.
Workmen and Socialists take the upper hand and encamp in Duma. Troops
all come over. No bloodshed and the crowd on the whole very orderly.
No news from Petrograd.
(9)
Robert Wilton, The
Times (3rd March, 1917)
The fine
weather brought everybody out of doors, and as the bridges and approaches
to the great thoroughfare were for some unaccountable reason left
open, crowds of all ages and conditions made their way to the Nevsky,
till the miles separating the Admiralty from the Moscow Station
were black with people. Warnings not to assemble were disregarded.
No Cossacks were visible. Platoons of Guardsmen were drawn up here
and there in courtyards and side streets. The crowd was fairly good-humoured,
cheering the soldiers, and showing themselves ugly only towards
the few visible police. Shortly after 3 p.m. orders were given to
the infantry to clear the street. A company of Guards took up their
station near the Sadovaya and fired several volleys in the direction
of the Anichkov Palace. Something like 100 people were killed or
wounded. On the scene of the shooting hundreds of empty cartridge
cases were littered in the snow, which was plentifully sprinkled
with blood.After the volleys the thoroughfare was cleared, but the
crowd remained on the sidewalks. No animosity was shown towards
the soldiers. The people shouted "We are sorry for you, Pavlovsky
(the Pavlovsky Guards Regiment). You had to do your duty.
(10)
Alfred Knox described the mutiny in the
army that led to the overthrow of Nicholas
II in his book, With the Russian Army: 1914-1917 (1921)
I was
talking to friends there in the corridor on the first floor, outside
the office of General Manikovsky, the Chief of the Department, when
General Hypatiev, the chemical expert, and M. Tereshchenko arrived
with the news that the depot troops of the garrison had mutinied
and were coming down the street. I heard for the first time that
a company of the Pavlovsky Regiment had fired on the police on the
previous evening and had been disarmed and confined in the Preobrazhensky
barracks. The Preobrazhensky and Volynsky Regiments had now mutinied.
We went
to the window and waited. Outside there was evident excitement,
but no sound came to us through the thick double windows. Groups
were standing at the corners gesticulating and pointing down the
street. Officers were hurrying away, and motorcars, my own amongst
the number, were taking refuse in the courtyards of neighbouring
houses.
It seemed
that we waited at least ten minutes before the mutineers arrived.
Craning our necks, we first saw two soldiers - a sort of advanced
guard - who strode along the middle of the street, pointing their
rifles at loiterers to clear the road. One of them fired two shots
at an unfortunate chauffeur. Then came a great disorderly mass of
soldiery, stretching right across the wide street and both pavements.
They were led by a diminutive but immensely dignified student. There
were no officers. All were armed, and many had red flags fastened
to their bayonets. They came slowly and finally gathered up in a
compact mass in front of the Department.
Soon
we heard the windows and doors on the ground floor being broken
in, and the sound of shots reached us. The telephone rang and Manikovsky
took up the receiver. "They are shooting at the Sestroresk
Works, are they?" he roared in his great voice. "Well,
God be with them! They are shooting at the Chief Artillery Department
too!"
An excited
orderly rushed in: "Your High Excellency! They are forcing
their way into the building. Shall we barricade your door?"
But Manikovsky had kept his nerve, and said: "No. Open all
doors. Why should we hinder them?"As the orderly turned away,
astonished at this new complaisance, Manikovsky sighed, and said
to me with the characteristic Russian click of worried anger: "Look
what our Ministry has brought us to!"
(11)
Stinton Jones was in Petrograd during
the February Revolution.
In a
short time the whole of the city was aglow with the glare from the
burning buildings which, in addition to the heavy firing, made the
situation appear far worse than it actually was, and had the effect
of clearing the streets of the more serious-minded and nervous citizens.
The mobs presented a strange, almost grotesque appearance. Soldiers,
workmen, students, hooligans and freed criminals wandered aimlessly
about in detached companies, all armed, but with a strange variety
of weapons. A student with two rifles and a belt of machine-gun
bullets round his waist was walking with another with a bayonet
tied to the end of a stick. A drunken soldier had only the barrel
of a rifle remaining, the stock having been broken off in forcing
an entry into some shop. A steady, quiet-looking business man grasped
a large rifle and a formidable belt of cartridges.
The crowds
commenced to commandeer every automobile in the city, no matter
to whom it might belong. These automobiles they filled with armed
men, with at least two soldiers lying on the mudguards with loaded
rifles and fixed bayonets. These formidable units then rushed all
over the city shooting wildly, but with the chief object of hunting
down the police, especially those in the outlying districts who
had not yet become aware of the true state of affairs in the city.
(12)
Harold Williams witnessed the
mutiny in the Russian Army that led to the overthrow of Nicholas
II.
When
all the speakers were hoarse and weary, it was certain that the
whole Petrograd garrison of 140,000 men had gone over to the revolution.
But the officers were not with them. Uncertain of their duty, unwilling
to break their oath of allegiance, they held back - all but a very
few - and passed the day in deep depression while Petrograd was
rejoicing.
(13)
Nicholas II, telegram to Michael
Rodzianko (1st March,
1917)
There
is no sacrifice that I would not be willing to make for the welfare
and salvation of Mother Russia. Therefore I am ready to abdicate
in favour of my son, under the regency of my brother Mikhail Alexandrovich,
with the understanding that my son is to remain with me until he
becomes of age.
(14)
General Lukomsky, assistant to the Chief of Staff, letter (3rd March,
1917)
The Tsar
entered the hall. After bowing to everybody, he made a short speech.
He said that the welfare of his country, the necessity for putting
an end to the Revolution and preventing the horrors of civil war,
and of directing all the efforts of the State to the continuation
of the struggle with the foe at the front, had determined him to
abdicate in favour of his brother, the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich.
(15)
Robert Wilton, The
Times (3rd March, 1917)
The astounding,
and to the stranger unacquainted with the Russian character almost
uncanny, orderliness and good nature of the crowds of soldiers and
civilians throughout the city are perhaps the most striking features
of the great Russian Revolution. At the Taurida Palace yesterday
it was wonderful to see the way in which the huge gathering of soldiers
and civilians managed to avoid collision. Inside the building the
work of the various Parliamentary Committees went on day and night
with unflagging intensity.
(16)
Edward T. Heald, letter to his wife (3rd
March, 1917)
Probably
the predominant impression that an American received from the events
of the day was the self-restraint and order of the soldiers, as
well as the workingmen. There were cases of killing and bloodshed,
and during the day many were taken to the hospitals; but considering
the size of the revolution and the number of men and soldiers engaged
in the struggle, the amount of bloodshed was small. Outside of the
destruction of property of the police districts, the officer's quarters,
and the homes of the suspected aristocracy, there was little looting.
(17)
Harold Williams, Daily
Chronicle (4th March, 1917)
The composition
of the new government is extraordinarily moderate in the circumstances.
There has been, and still is, danger from extremists, who want at
once to turn Russia into a Socialist republic and have been agitating
amongst soldiers, but reason has been reinforced by a sense of danger
from the Germans and the lingering forces of reaction gaining the
upper hand.
In numberless
talks I have had with soldiers I have been struck by their fundamental
reasonableness, their sense of order and discipline. They wish to
be free men, but very strongly realize their duty as soldiers. The
more moderate Socialists, the so-called Plekhanov party, who stand
for war, are very useful as mediators, and as soon as the new Government
secures its ground the influence of the extremists will be diminished.
(18)
Arthur Ransome
was an enthusiastic supporter of the February
Revolution.
It is impossible for people who have not lived here to know
with what joy we now write of the new Russian Government. Only those
who knew how things were only a week ago can understand the enthusiasm
of us who have seen a miracle take place before our eyes. We knew
how Russia worked for the war in spite of her Government. We could
not tell the truth. It is as if honesty had returned. Russia had
broken her chains and stands as the greatest free nation in Europe
with republican France and liberal England. Nowhere outside Germany
had Prussianism gone so far as here. Nowhere has it been so absolutely
defeated.
(19)
Harold Williams, Daily
Chronicle (6th March, 1917)
It is
a wonderful thing to see the birth of freedom. With freedom comes
brotherhood, and in Petrograd today there is a flow of brotherly
feeling. Everywhere you see it in the streets. The trams are not
yet running, and people are tired of endless walking. But the habit
now is to share your cab with perfect strangers.
The police
have gone, but the discipline is marvelous. Everyone shares the
task of maintaining discipline and order. A volunteer militia has
been formed and 7,000 men enrolled as special constables, mostly
students, professors, and men of the professional classes generally.
These, with the help of occasional small patrols of soldiers, control
the traffic, guard the banks, factories, and Government buildings,
and ensure security.
Soldiers,
with all their freedom, are displaying a sense of order and discipline
that would be hardly conceivable in any other nation. Throughout
the revolution, when the city was actually under the control of
thousands of soldiers, they behaved with few exceptions like thorough
gentleman. We heard of no cases of cold-blooded murder. Only those
officers or police were killed who opened fire on the soldiers.
Private property nearly everywhere was scrupulously respected, and
in most cases robbery was due to criminals disguised as soldiers.
Good
news comes this evening that the moderate group in the Soviet is
gaining the upper hand, and the prospects are brighter than ever.
Prince Kropotkin (now living in Brighton) and Plekhanov, veteran
Socialist exiles, who the champion war as a war of defence and liberation,
have been urgently invited to return to help in the work of reconstruction.
(20)
Nicholas II, abdication statement
(7th March, 1917)
Today, I am addressing you for the last time, my dearly loved
armies. I have abdicated for myself and for my son, and I am leaving
the throne of the Emperors of Russia. Much blood has been shed,
many efforts have been made, and the hour of victory is approaching
when Russia and her Allies will crush, in the common effort, the
last attempts of the enemy. The unprecedented war must be conducted
to the final victory. Those who think of peace and wish it now are
twice traitors to their country. Every honest soldier must think
that way. I urge you to fulfill your duty and to valiantly defend
your Russia. Obey the Provisional Government!
(21)
Alexandra Fyodorovna,
letter to Nicholas II (14th
March, 1917)
I quite understand your action, my hero. I know that you could
not have signed anything that was contrary to your oath given at
the coronation. We understand each other perfectly without words,
and I swear, upon my life, that we shall see you again on the throne,
raised there once more by your people, and your army, for the glory
of your reign. You saved the empire for your son and the country,
as well as your sacred purity, and you shall be crowned by God himself
on earth in your own hand.
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