Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
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Mutiny...
On August 25, 1905, five sailors of the Russian ironclad "Prince Pojomkin of Tauria" ("Knjas Potjomkin Tawritschewskij") ...
... sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on the same day.
How did that happen?
Spring 1905: Russia is in turmoil. A lost war and the economic crisis stir up anger and anger among the population. The sailors on the armored cruiser "Prince Potjomkin" also hear about this - and talk about the latest rumors behind closed doors.
The order is clear: "Knjas Potjomkin Tawritschewski", a warship in the service of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, is to practice target practice off the coast of Odessa. But the occupation is more interested in the workers' uprisings a few kilometers away, where parts of the population have risen against the tsar and the government. They demand better living conditions - and so do the sailors on the "Potjomkin".
The past few months had been difficult for the Russian people. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05, Russia suffered a humiliating defeat and lost a large part of its fleet. This was not least due to the inept diplomatic and strategic approach of the Tsar and his ministers.
The result was the biggest economic crisis in Russian history to date. Those who still had a job often had to work twelve hours or more a day, were poorly paid for it and got less and less for their money.
As a result of the industrialization of the 19th century, numerous farmers were forced to give up their farms and earn their living in the factories of the cities. When the European financial powers withdrew their money from the Russian factories, that led to more than 200,000 unemployed within a very short time.
The mood of the population was at the boiling point. Many farmers dreamed of the division of the still existing property, while the factory workers longed for the eight-hour day.
They were ready to fight for their claims. And every visible shock of tsarist authority strengthened their belief that the authorities had a lot in mind - just not the welfare of their own people.
Dissatisfaction also spread on board the "Potjomkin" in the weeks and months that followed. The supply was pathetic and the officers struggled to maintain discipline.
When, on the morning of June 27, 1905, the rumor got around that the meals on that day would again - as so often before - consist of spoiled provisions, the anger of the sailors could hardly be stopped.
After all, they tirelessly defended their homeland! So many of their comrades had only just lost their lives in the war - and their country and the tsar, to whom they had sworn their allegiance, thanked them for their commitment with rotten meat?
"All of Russia is rising, shall we be the last?" asked the sailor Nikolai Wakulintschuk ...
... his comrades and earned enthusiastic approval. To appease the angry men, the ship's doctor was called in and asked to examine the meat from which the soup was to be cooked today.
It was edible, he announced - and added cynically: "The few maggots can easily be washed off with salt water." The sailors unanimously decided not to eat the soup. The measure was full.
"Potjomkin"-captain Golikow ...
... tried to calm his men down. He appealed to the oath of loyalty and promised almost everything he believed his team would want to hear.
But to no avail: the sailors continued to refuse to eat the spoiled soup. With his patience at the end, the captain threatened the rebellious: "I'll hang rebels by the yard!"
Unimpressed and mute, the men looked at their commanding officer. Golikow now relied on violence and ordered the ship's watch on deck with the bayonet attached to announce with a threatening undertone: "If you want to eat the soup, step out on the right!"
Wakulintschuk and most of the crew saw the danger and stepped aside. But the captain didn't want the rebellious team to get away with it so lightly.
To strengthen his own authority on board, he decided to make an example of those who had been too reluctant to step aside. There were about thirty men who - undecided whether the development was going - were just about to step aside.
"They don't want to eat the soup!" Shouted the commandant and ordered the supposed troublemakers to be shot on the spot. However, the guard refused to give the order. Shoot your own comrades - because of rotten soup that you couldn't eat yourself? No.
At that moment the chief officer Giljarovskij ...
... picked up his pistol to carry out the captain's order himself. Officers and sailors rushed towards each other - and in the scuffle a shot was released that killed the sailors' spokesman, Wakulintschuk.
Full of anger, the sailors took the ship under their control in a very short time, killing Giljarovskij and overpowering the other officers, who are either thrown overboard or locked below deck ...:
Wakulintschuk's body was put on public display on the quay at Odessa ...:
The tsarist government reacted quickly when reports of the events on the "Potjomkin" came in. The mutiny was bad enough. But the fact that soldiers in the tsarist army joined anti-government groups and fought with them for better living conditions is almost worse. The government sent troops and warships to Odessa to overwhelm the insurgents.
Two days later, on June 29, the Tsar's troops marched in Odessa just in time for Vakulinchuk's funeral.
An angry crowd met the soldiers and shots rang out quickly. Only when the "Potjomkin" fired two cannon shots did the fighting crowd gradually break up.
But the situation came to a head again when the Tsar's dispatched warships arrived. Their crews still refused to shoot comrades in their own fleet, but no one knew how long this refusal would last.
In the meantime, the "Potjomkin" was isolated and everything the mutineers needed to survive was still lacking on board.
The armored cruiser therefore headed for the coast of Romania to find support there - a false hope. On July 8, 1905, twelve days after the mutiny began, the crew of the "Potjomkin" had to surrender to the Romanian authorities.
The next picture shows part of the team in Romania ...:
Many sailors were immediately extradited to the Russian government, which sentenced five of the crew to death and sent the rest to forced labor camps for years.
After Lenin's Bolsheviks came to power, the "Potjomkin" uprising became a central heroic tale of the Svojet Union. Wasn't it the first time soldiers, peasants and workers came together to form a common movement with common goals, thereby laying the foundation for the October Revolution of 1917?
The poster says "Glory to the crew of the ironclad 'Potjomkin'" ...:
Twenty years after their mutiny, a film memorial was also set up for the sailors of the warship. On December 21, 1925, Sergei Eisenstein's ...
... silent film "Borenosets Potjomkin" premiere.
Eisenstein's work went down in film history through the sequence that takes place on the famous "Vorontsov Stairs" in Odessa, in which the tsar's troops descend the stairs and knock down unarmed demonstrators ...:
Unlike in reality, however, the mutinous sailors in Eisenstein's film win freedom in the end - and not the tsarist firing squad ...
Since then the staircase has been called the "Potjomkin Staircase" ...
... although it was never officially renamed that way ...
For someone like me, who knows history, it was a strange and very intense moment to visit this place ...
On August 25, 1905, five sailors of the Russian ironclad "Prince Pojomkin of Tauria" ("Knjas Potjomkin Tawritschewskij") ...
... sentenced to death and executed by firing squad on the same day.
How did that happen?
Spring 1905: Russia is in turmoil. A lost war and the economic crisis stir up anger and anger among the population. The sailors on the armored cruiser "Prince Potjomkin" also hear about this - and talk about the latest rumors behind closed doors.
The order is clear: "Knjas Potjomkin Tawritschewski", a warship in the service of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, is to practice target practice off the coast of Odessa. But the occupation is more interested in the workers' uprisings a few kilometers away, where parts of the population have risen against the tsar and the government. They demand better living conditions - and so do the sailors on the "Potjomkin".
The past few months had been difficult for the Russian people. In the Russo-Japanese War of 1904/05, Russia suffered a humiliating defeat and lost a large part of its fleet. This was not least due to the inept diplomatic and strategic approach of the Tsar and his ministers.
The result was the biggest economic crisis in Russian history to date. Those who still had a job often had to work twelve hours or more a day, were poorly paid for it and got less and less for their money.
As a result of the industrialization of the 19th century, numerous farmers were forced to give up their farms and earn their living in the factories of the cities. When the European financial powers withdrew their money from the Russian factories, that led to more than 200,000 unemployed within a very short time.
The mood of the population was at the boiling point. Many farmers dreamed of the division of the still existing property, while the factory workers longed for the eight-hour day.
They were ready to fight for their claims. And every visible shock of tsarist authority strengthened their belief that the authorities had a lot in mind - just not the welfare of their own people.
Dissatisfaction also spread on board the "Potjomkin" in the weeks and months that followed. The supply was pathetic and the officers struggled to maintain discipline.
When, on the morning of June 27, 1905, the rumor got around that the meals on that day would again - as so often before - consist of spoiled provisions, the anger of the sailors could hardly be stopped.
After all, they tirelessly defended their homeland! So many of their comrades had only just lost their lives in the war - and their country and the tsar, to whom they had sworn their allegiance, thanked them for their commitment with rotten meat?
"All of Russia is rising, shall we be the last?" asked the sailor Nikolai Wakulintschuk ...
... his comrades and earned enthusiastic approval. To appease the angry men, the ship's doctor was called in and asked to examine the meat from which the soup was to be cooked today.
It was edible, he announced - and added cynically: "The few maggots can easily be washed off with salt water." The sailors unanimously decided not to eat the soup. The measure was full.
"Potjomkin"-captain Golikow ...
... tried to calm his men down. He appealed to the oath of loyalty and promised almost everything he believed his team would want to hear.
But to no avail: the sailors continued to refuse to eat the spoiled soup. With his patience at the end, the captain threatened the rebellious: "I'll hang rebels by the yard!"
Unimpressed and mute, the men looked at their commanding officer. Golikow now relied on violence and ordered the ship's watch on deck with the bayonet attached to announce with a threatening undertone: "If you want to eat the soup, step out on the right!"
Wakulintschuk and most of the crew saw the danger and stepped aside. But the captain didn't want the rebellious team to get away with it so lightly.
To strengthen his own authority on board, he decided to make an example of those who had been too reluctant to step aside. There were about thirty men who - undecided whether the development was going - were just about to step aside.
"They don't want to eat the soup!" Shouted the commandant and ordered the supposed troublemakers to be shot on the spot. However, the guard refused to give the order. Shoot your own comrades - because of rotten soup that you couldn't eat yourself? No.
At that moment the chief officer Giljarovskij ...
... picked up his pistol to carry out the captain's order himself. Officers and sailors rushed towards each other - and in the scuffle a shot was released that killed the sailors' spokesman, Wakulintschuk.
Full of anger, the sailors took the ship under their control in a very short time, killing Giljarovskij and overpowering the other officers, who are either thrown overboard or locked below deck ...:
Wakulintschuk's body was put on public display on the quay at Odessa ...:
The tsarist government reacted quickly when reports of the events on the "Potjomkin" came in. The mutiny was bad enough. But the fact that soldiers in the tsarist army joined anti-government groups and fought with them for better living conditions is almost worse. The government sent troops and warships to Odessa to overwhelm the insurgents.
Two days later, on June 29, the Tsar's troops marched in Odessa just in time for Vakulinchuk's funeral.
An angry crowd met the soldiers and shots rang out quickly. Only when the "Potjomkin" fired two cannon shots did the fighting crowd gradually break up.
But the situation came to a head again when the Tsar's dispatched warships arrived. Their crews still refused to shoot comrades in their own fleet, but no one knew how long this refusal would last.
In the meantime, the "Potjomkin" was isolated and everything the mutineers needed to survive was still lacking on board.
The armored cruiser therefore headed for the coast of Romania to find support there - a false hope. On July 8, 1905, twelve days after the mutiny began, the crew of the "Potjomkin" had to surrender to the Romanian authorities.
The next picture shows part of the team in Romania ...:
Many sailors were immediately extradited to the Russian government, which sentenced five of the crew to death and sent the rest to forced labor camps for years.
After Lenin's Bolsheviks came to power, the "Potjomkin" uprising became a central heroic tale of the Svojet Union. Wasn't it the first time soldiers, peasants and workers came together to form a common movement with common goals, thereby laying the foundation for the October Revolution of 1917?
The poster says "Glory to the crew of the ironclad 'Potjomkin'" ...:
Twenty years after their mutiny, a film memorial was also set up for the sailors of the warship. On December 21, 1925, Sergei Eisenstein's ...
... silent film "Borenosets Potjomkin" premiere.
Eisenstein's work went down in film history through the sequence that takes place on the famous "Vorontsov Stairs" in Odessa, in which the tsar's troops descend the stairs and knock down unarmed demonstrators ...:
Unlike in reality, however, the mutinous sailors in Eisenstein's film win freedom in the end - and not the tsarist firing squad ...
Since then the staircase has been called the "Potjomkin Staircase" ...
... although it was never officially renamed that way ...
For someone like me, who knows history, it was a strange and very intense moment to visit this place ...
