Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,994
Tsar Nikolay II abdicates!
While the revolution has already triumphed in the capital and the revolutionaries' "Order No. 1", with which soldiers are urged to no longer obey their officers...
(The wording of this command:
“The 1st (July) / 14th (of our era) March 1917
To the Garrison of the Petrograd Military District! To all soldiers of the guards, the army, the artillery and the navy for immediate and precise execution, to the workers of Petrograd for your information!
The Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates has decided:
1. In all companies, battalions, regiments, batteries, squadrons, in all offices of the various military administrations, as well as on the ships of the navy, committees are to be elected immediately from elected representatives of the teams of the troops listed above.
2. All troop units that have not yet elected their representatives in the Soviet of Workers' Delegates should elect one representative for each company. These representatives have to appear with a written confirmation on March 15th, at ten o'clock in the morning, in the Duma building (the seat of the Russian parliament, note M: R.).
3. In all political affairs, every unit of the troops is subordinate to the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates and its committees.
4. The orders of the Military Commission of the State Duma are only to be carried out if they do not contradict the orders and resolutions of the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates.
5. All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored cars, etc., must be in the hands and control of the company and battalion committees and must under no circumstances be handed over to officers, even if they so request.
6. In exercising their service, soldiers must adhere to the strictest military discipline, but outside of their service soldiers must in no way be adversely affected in their political, civil and private life in those rights which all other citizens enjoy. The off-duty military salute will be abolished.
7. Likewise, the title of officers: Excellency, Well-Born, etc., is abolished and replaced by expressions such as: Herr General, etc. Rough behavior, including using Duzen to the soldiers, is forbidden. The latter are obliged to inform their company committees of any violation of this order as well as of all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers.
This order is to be read out in all companies, battalions, regiments, batteries and other military units.
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates. " )
... is disrupting the army, the formerly all-powerful tsar sits exasperated in his rolling headquarters, a luxurious one Train rolling through Russia without a destination ...:
But let's go back a few days first:
A scene on the Liteinij Bridge, Petrograd, February 24, 1917: The bridge that the demonstrators want to cross is blocked by a marching chain of Cossacks.
"Creepy. If they strike with their sabers, you have no cover, you can't defend them, you can't run away. Nevertheless, they stay together, uncomfortable in a tight spot. Then the wingman of the Cossacks says quietly: "Press yourself even closer together, we will let you over."
The Sotnik orders the Cossacks to ride out in a swarming line. He penetrates first and clears an alley with his horse. The Cossacks blink at the workers. They ride in single file after the officer into the alley. Quietly, one at a time, without pulling the saber. And the workers overflowing with joy: “Hur-ra-a-a-the Cossacks!” And the way over the bridge is free
In Kazan Street:
“Part of the crowd went across Kazaner Strasse to the inner courtyard where the police guarded twenty-five detainees. A train of Cossacks from the 4th Don Regiment blew up with an officer. The crowd stalled.
But the Cossacks only insulted the policemen: “Oh, you are serving for money!” They knocked down two policemen with the flat saber scabbards, and they puffed one in the back with a saber. And while the crowd roared, they freed the arrested. "
On Znamenskaya Square:
"... under the heavily hoofed horse (of the monument's note M.R.) Alexander III. The meeting continued, the speakers poured their suada down from the red granite pedestal. Next to it someone was holding a large red flag. Police master Krylov rode up from Goncharnaya Street with five policemen and a column of Don Cossacks. He sat on horseback like a good cavalryman, drew the saber, swung it up and rode into the crowd. The others followed him, the policemen also dressed, the Cossacks lazily left their sabers in their scabbards.
The crowd gave way, swayed, fled around the memorial: “They are beating!” But they did not beat. Krylov rode on alone, as if he were gaining something longed for with the point of his saber held high. Nobody prevented him from riding up to the flag. He tore off the flag - drove the flag bearer in front of him to the station. Past the policemen, past the Cossacks.
And suddenly a sword hit him on the head from behind, he fell from his horse into the street and also lost the flag. The mounted policemen galloped over to protect him, but were pushed aside by the Cossacks. The crowd roared triumphantly, waving hats and scarves: “Hurray the Cossacks! A Cossack killed the policeman! "
This is how Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes the moment on February 24th / 8th in his almost minute-by-minute report “March Seventeen” 1917 at the Russian capital Petrograd, when the Cossacks ceased to be protectors of the tsarist power and went over to the revolution.
The capital St. Petersburg had lost its old name at the beginning of the war and had been "Russified". It would take over 80 years before it got its old name again ... Mind you - the focus here is not on the “great October socialist revolution”, which was little more than a secret coup.
The people overthrew the tsars in February / March 1917 - and without the Cossacks changing sides they would hardly have succeeded.
The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, whose entire party leadership lived in exile, were completely taken by surprise by the revolt and could only react to it.
This completely spontaneous revolution, which broke out without a leader, developed out of a hunger riot.
When there was once again no bread to buy, people took to the streets en masse. From that day on, the factories went on strike indefinitely. Spontaneous demonstrations formed.
The desperate people faced a completely incompetent government, whose ministers had not been selected based on competence, but based on whether they had the sympathies of the "priest" Rasputin, who on 17/23. December 1916.
The demands of the workers 'and soldiers' wives concentrated on an immediate end to the war, the handing over of food and the immediate abdication of the Tsar. The next day, February 24th (March 9th), the workers' committees also became active again and now called for support for the rapidly expanding movement. Allegedly more than half of the Petrograd working class joined the uprising.
Already during the uprising there were elections for workers' councils in the factories, the form of self-organization that the workers had already developed in 1905. This resulted in workers 'and soldiers' councils throughout the country, which recognized the Petrograd Soviet as their government.
Three days after the Cossacks, on February 27th (March 12th) in Petrograd, the Volhyn Guard regiment went over to the side of the revolution. In the barracks of the capital there were no core troops, but hastily trained replacement regiments waiting to be transported to the front and their future prospects in this regard - and rightly so! - were little built.
The guard regiments “Preobrazhensky”, “Litowski”, “Sankt Peterburgski” and other military units also defected. Several commanders and officers were shot, the soldiers fraternized with the workers, who also received rifles after storming the arsenals. Police officers were disarmed or fought and killed.
**continued next post**
While the revolution has already triumphed in the capital and the revolutionaries' "Order No. 1", with which soldiers are urged to no longer obey their officers...
(The wording of this command:
“The 1st (July) / 14th (of our era) March 1917
To the Garrison of the Petrograd Military District! To all soldiers of the guards, the army, the artillery and the navy for immediate and precise execution, to the workers of Petrograd for your information!
The Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates has decided:
1. In all companies, battalions, regiments, batteries, squadrons, in all offices of the various military administrations, as well as on the ships of the navy, committees are to be elected immediately from elected representatives of the teams of the troops listed above.
2. All troop units that have not yet elected their representatives in the Soviet of Workers' Delegates should elect one representative for each company. These representatives have to appear with a written confirmation on March 15th, at ten o'clock in the morning, in the Duma building (the seat of the Russian parliament, note M: R.).
3. In all political affairs, every unit of the troops is subordinate to the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates and its committees.
4. The orders of the Military Commission of the State Duma are only to be carried out if they do not contradict the orders and resolutions of the Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates.
5. All kinds of weapons, such as rifles, machine guns, armored cars, etc., must be in the hands and control of the company and battalion committees and must under no circumstances be handed over to officers, even if they so request.
6. In exercising their service, soldiers must adhere to the strictest military discipline, but outside of their service soldiers must in no way be adversely affected in their political, civil and private life in those rights which all other citizens enjoy. The off-duty military salute will be abolished.
7. Likewise, the title of officers: Excellency, Well-Born, etc., is abolished and replaced by expressions such as: Herr General, etc. Rough behavior, including using Duzen to the soldiers, is forbidden. The latter are obliged to inform their company committees of any violation of this order as well as of all misunderstandings between officers and soldiers.
This order is to be read out in all companies, battalions, regiments, batteries and other military units.
The Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Delegates. " )
... is disrupting the army, the formerly all-powerful tsar sits exasperated in his rolling headquarters, a luxurious one Train rolling through Russia without a destination ...:
But let's go back a few days first:
A scene on the Liteinij Bridge, Petrograd, February 24, 1917: The bridge that the demonstrators want to cross is blocked by a marching chain of Cossacks.
"Creepy. If they strike with their sabers, you have no cover, you can't defend them, you can't run away. Nevertheless, they stay together, uncomfortable in a tight spot. Then the wingman of the Cossacks says quietly: "Press yourself even closer together, we will let you over."
The Sotnik orders the Cossacks to ride out in a swarming line. He penetrates first and clears an alley with his horse. The Cossacks blink at the workers. They ride in single file after the officer into the alley. Quietly, one at a time, without pulling the saber. And the workers overflowing with joy: “Hur-ra-a-a-the Cossacks!” And the way over the bridge is free
In Kazan Street:
“Part of the crowd went across Kazaner Strasse to the inner courtyard where the police guarded twenty-five detainees. A train of Cossacks from the 4th Don Regiment blew up with an officer. The crowd stalled.
But the Cossacks only insulted the policemen: “Oh, you are serving for money!” They knocked down two policemen with the flat saber scabbards, and they puffed one in the back with a saber. And while the crowd roared, they freed the arrested. "
On Znamenskaya Square:
"... under the heavily hoofed horse (of the monument's note M.R.) Alexander III. The meeting continued, the speakers poured their suada down from the red granite pedestal. Next to it someone was holding a large red flag. Police master Krylov rode up from Goncharnaya Street with five policemen and a column of Don Cossacks. He sat on horseback like a good cavalryman, drew the saber, swung it up and rode into the crowd. The others followed him, the policemen also dressed, the Cossacks lazily left their sabers in their scabbards.
The crowd gave way, swayed, fled around the memorial: “They are beating!” But they did not beat. Krylov rode on alone, as if he were gaining something longed for with the point of his saber held high. Nobody prevented him from riding up to the flag. He tore off the flag - drove the flag bearer in front of him to the station. Past the policemen, past the Cossacks.
And suddenly a sword hit him on the head from behind, he fell from his horse into the street and also lost the flag. The mounted policemen galloped over to protect him, but were pushed aside by the Cossacks. The crowd roared triumphantly, waving hats and scarves: “Hurray the Cossacks! A Cossack killed the policeman! "
This is how Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn describes the moment on February 24th / 8th in his almost minute-by-minute report “March Seventeen” 1917 at the Russian capital Petrograd, when the Cossacks ceased to be protectors of the tsarist power and went over to the revolution.
The capital St. Petersburg had lost its old name at the beginning of the war and had been "Russified". It would take over 80 years before it got its old name again ... Mind you - the focus here is not on the “great October socialist revolution”, which was little more than a secret coup.
The people overthrew the tsars in February / March 1917 - and without the Cossacks changing sides they would hardly have succeeded.
The Bolsheviks, on the other hand, whose entire party leadership lived in exile, were completely taken by surprise by the revolt and could only react to it.
This completely spontaneous revolution, which broke out without a leader, developed out of a hunger riot.
When there was once again no bread to buy, people took to the streets en masse. From that day on, the factories went on strike indefinitely. Spontaneous demonstrations formed.
The desperate people faced a completely incompetent government, whose ministers had not been selected based on competence, but based on whether they had the sympathies of the "priest" Rasputin, who on 17/23. December 1916.
The demands of the workers 'and soldiers' wives concentrated on an immediate end to the war, the handing over of food and the immediate abdication of the Tsar. The next day, February 24th (March 9th), the workers' committees also became active again and now called for support for the rapidly expanding movement. Allegedly more than half of the Petrograd working class joined the uprising.
Already during the uprising there were elections for workers' councils in the factories, the form of self-organization that the workers had already developed in 1905. This resulted in workers 'and soldiers' councils throughout the country, which recognized the Petrograd Soviet as their government.
Three days after the Cossacks, on February 27th (March 12th) in Petrograd, the Volhyn Guard regiment went over to the side of the revolution. In the barracks of the capital there were no core troops, but hastily trained replacement regiments waiting to be transported to the front and their future prospects in this regard - and rightly so! - were little built.
The guard regiments “Preobrazhensky”, “Litowski”, “Sankt Peterburgski” and other military units also defected. Several commanders and officers were shot, the soldiers fraternized with the workers, who also received rifles after storming the arsenals. Police officers were disarmed or fought and killed.
**continued next post**
