Part 2-2 Historical Madness, European Wars
RamscoopRaider
Donor
…The reason why the new Russian government continued to wage an obviously unwinnable war has bedeviled people for decades. Surely it would have been better for them to make peace than to keep fighting to the breaking point and let the communists take over. With hindsight the obvious choice is to make peace and accept whatever losses are necessary in order to avoid civil war and communist takeover. This view overlooks two important facts about the provisional government.
The first was that it was in fact a semi-democratic body. The second was that its constituency wanted to continue the war. But the Russian people were totally against continuing the war, that is why the Czar was overthrown and the provisional government was as well, you say. That was not actually the case in anything accept communist propaganda. In truth the Russian people as a whole were quite opposed to any kind of peace with Germany, this was why the Communists cancelled plans for an election of a constituent assembly in November as they were quite certain to lose. Later on they found the best way to rally the Russian people was with nationalism, one figure was quoted as saying “who knew there were so many patriots in Russia?”.
But if the Russians were for continuing the war why did the Revolutions happen? That can be explained by the fact that while the Russian people as a whole were for continuing the war, certain groups within the Russian Empire were not. Most importantly the urban populations of St. Petersburg, Moscow and to a lesser extent the other Russian cities. The war had disrupted life greatly in the urban centers, causing shortages of food, disruptions to employment and more direct exposure to Czarist incompetence. As such St. Petersburg, like Paris in the French Revolution, was able to be the tail that wagged the dog, an urban minority that was able to steer the country in a direction opposite the wishes of the rural majority.
The other group opposed to the war was the common soldiery. They were the ones who dealt with the worst conditions, were poorly equipped and saw defeat after defeat shatter their morale, with brutal and incompetent officers making the situation worse. While the urban population of St. Petersburg drove the Revolution it was their dissatisfaction that allowed it to move forward…
…One must be honest and state that the Provisional government did consider opening negotiations with the Germans if they were not given a guarantee of American loans, both during the war and after. That is not to say that the negotiations would have gone anywhere as the Provisional government was not prepared to make peace in Spring 1917, certainly not on any terms the Germans might have offered then, it was merely a threat to get those loans that they so desperately needed. In this way it was similar to the promises of peace they mad in the early days to quiet down the St. Petersburg mobs which they had no intention of following through on. Furthermore, actually talking to the Germans would have caused much dissension in the ranks and possibly brought down the government. So the Provisional Government was never actually seriously considering leaving the war…
-Excerpt from Why did they do THAT!?! Historical Madness in Context: Volume III, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2015
…After the February revolution a provisional government was put into place in Russia led by the state Duma. The new government remained committed to continuing the war, as they viewed living up to the nation’s commitments essential to the future of the Russian state. However, they were realistic about their military situation. 1916 had shown that even a supremely well-prepared offensive against the Germans or Austrians was likely to end badly, and the Russian army was in even worse shape in 1917than in 1916. However, they needed to do something both to show their commitment to the war to the rest of the Entente and to rebuild the deficient morale.
Minister of War Alexander Kerensky proposed a solution. They would stand on the defensive against the Germans and Austrians, while transferring additional forces and supplies to fight the Ottomans. The Russian Army had performed very well against the Ottomans in previous years campaigns, and the forces in the Caucuses had the highest morale in the Russian Army. With reinforcements and supplies victories were guaranteed and examples could be used to restore the morale of the Russian Army so that in 1918 they would be able to restore the offensive, with the help of greater supplies from the new railroad from Murmansk.
The plan relied on the British, French and Italians playing their parts to keep the Germans and Austrians from launching major offensives that could damage the Russian Army. The British and Italians were able to live up to their commitments, thanks to the mutinies the French were not. Despite this the offensive went on as planned, as no other option had been seen launching on June 30th.
Russian forces quickly overwhelmed the Ottomans, still reeling from the defeats of 1916 and by July 10th had captured the port of Ordu and pushed the Ottomans back all along the front, despite the best efforts of Mustafa Kemal, the Ottoman’s finest general. The Kerensky offensive had achieved its goals.
However, this victory was overshadowed by new from elsewhere on the front. After the losses of 1916 and with the fresh Romanian army to consider the decision had been made to focus attention on the southern portion of the front. Thus the North was left neglected in the faint hope the Anglo-French would cause enough trouble for the Germans to not launch major offensives.
This was not to be and on July 2nd the Germans launched a major push for Riga. Using tactics developed by the Russians for the Brusilov offensive, but perfected by officers like Branchmüller and Hutier, the Germans rapidly broke through the front. On July 14th they were at the gates of Riga.
This pressed the governing coalition sorely and the Kadet Party left the government on July 15th, leaving only moderate left Socialists in the government. This prompted Prime Minister Georgy Lvov to resign effective the 20th.
Demonstrations started on the 16th by soldiers from local units, soon joined by sailors and factory workers. They called upon the Soviets to seize power from the useless provisional government and to use the power they had. Elements of the Bolshevik party supported these moves, however the party leadership was opposed to openly taking power at this time. Attempts by demonstrators to convince Lenin to intervene had failed.
On the 17th Riga fell to the advancing Germans, though the defending forces managed to pull back and avoid heavy losses. Alexander Kerensky, then the favorite to replace Lvov was blamed for the loss and placed out of the running. This delayed the response of the government for two days. During that time period Lenin was finally convinced of the need to take charge and on the 19th started speaking out and leading the demonstrators.
Attempts by the provisional government to entail local military forces to intervene proved fruitless, local units either remained in the barracks or joined the demonstrators. Armories, utilities, bridges, railway stations and other pieces of infrastructure were being seized by the demonstrators, slowly tightening their control over the city. The Provisional government felt they had to act now or control would be lost and ordered General Lazar Kornilov to bring reinforcements from the front and crush the demonstrations.
Kornilov had already been gathering troops since the protest started, partly due to his desire to create a more unified government and end the dual power system between the Soviets and the Provisional Government, partly due to the urging of Alfred Knox, the British military attaché. Kornilov immediately acted upon receipt of orders, and along with some British troops in Russian uniform, attempted to advance on St. Petersburg.
As his progress was impeded by striking railway and telegraph workers in sympathy with the demonstrators Kornilov took drastic measures to keep moving. Striking workers were made to return to work under threat of immediate execution, a threat carried out more than once on the 21st. Attempts by workers to impede his progress by absenteeism on the 22nd were met with threats of execution of workers families. This was counterproductive and on the 23rd Kornilov was killed when his train was derailed by railway workers. Without Kornilov the attempt to put down the revolt disintegrated as soldiers dispersed and officers squabbled over command.
Buoyed by the failure of Kornilov pro-Soviet and pro-Bolshevik demonstrations spread rapidly to other cities across Russia, followed by the seizure of the cities. The Russian civil war had begun…
-Excerpt from European Wars for Americans, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2004
The first was that it was in fact a semi-democratic body. The second was that its constituency wanted to continue the war. But the Russian people were totally against continuing the war, that is why the Czar was overthrown and the provisional government was as well, you say. That was not actually the case in anything accept communist propaganda. In truth the Russian people as a whole were quite opposed to any kind of peace with Germany, this was why the Communists cancelled plans for an election of a constituent assembly in November as they were quite certain to lose. Later on they found the best way to rally the Russian people was with nationalism, one figure was quoted as saying “who knew there were so many patriots in Russia?”.
But if the Russians were for continuing the war why did the Revolutions happen? That can be explained by the fact that while the Russian people as a whole were for continuing the war, certain groups within the Russian Empire were not. Most importantly the urban populations of St. Petersburg, Moscow and to a lesser extent the other Russian cities. The war had disrupted life greatly in the urban centers, causing shortages of food, disruptions to employment and more direct exposure to Czarist incompetence. As such St. Petersburg, like Paris in the French Revolution, was able to be the tail that wagged the dog, an urban minority that was able to steer the country in a direction opposite the wishes of the rural majority.
The other group opposed to the war was the common soldiery. They were the ones who dealt with the worst conditions, were poorly equipped and saw defeat after defeat shatter their morale, with brutal and incompetent officers making the situation worse. While the urban population of St. Petersburg drove the Revolution it was their dissatisfaction that allowed it to move forward…
…One must be honest and state that the Provisional government did consider opening negotiations with the Germans if they were not given a guarantee of American loans, both during the war and after. That is not to say that the negotiations would have gone anywhere as the Provisional government was not prepared to make peace in Spring 1917, certainly not on any terms the Germans might have offered then, it was merely a threat to get those loans that they so desperately needed. In this way it was similar to the promises of peace they mad in the early days to quiet down the St. Petersburg mobs which they had no intention of following through on. Furthermore, actually talking to the Germans would have caused much dissension in the ranks and possibly brought down the government. So the Provisional Government was never actually seriously considering leaving the war…
-Excerpt from Why did they do THAT!?! Historical Madness in Context: Volume III, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2015
…After the February revolution a provisional government was put into place in Russia led by the state Duma. The new government remained committed to continuing the war, as they viewed living up to the nation’s commitments essential to the future of the Russian state. However, they were realistic about their military situation. 1916 had shown that even a supremely well-prepared offensive against the Germans or Austrians was likely to end badly, and the Russian army was in even worse shape in 1917than in 1916. However, they needed to do something both to show their commitment to the war to the rest of the Entente and to rebuild the deficient morale.
Minister of War Alexander Kerensky proposed a solution. They would stand on the defensive against the Germans and Austrians, while transferring additional forces and supplies to fight the Ottomans. The Russian Army had performed very well against the Ottomans in previous years campaigns, and the forces in the Caucuses had the highest morale in the Russian Army. With reinforcements and supplies victories were guaranteed and examples could be used to restore the morale of the Russian Army so that in 1918 they would be able to restore the offensive, with the help of greater supplies from the new railroad from Murmansk.
The plan relied on the British, French and Italians playing their parts to keep the Germans and Austrians from launching major offensives that could damage the Russian Army. The British and Italians were able to live up to their commitments, thanks to the mutinies the French were not. Despite this the offensive went on as planned, as no other option had been seen launching on June 30th.
Russian forces quickly overwhelmed the Ottomans, still reeling from the defeats of 1916 and by July 10th had captured the port of Ordu and pushed the Ottomans back all along the front, despite the best efforts of Mustafa Kemal, the Ottoman’s finest general. The Kerensky offensive had achieved its goals.
However, this victory was overshadowed by new from elsewhere on the front. After the losses of 1916 and with the fresh Romanian army to consider the decision had been made to focus attention on the southern portion of the front. Thus the North was left neglected in the faint hope the Anglo-French would cause enough trouble for the Germans to not launch major offensives.
This was not to be and on July 2nd the Germans launched a major push for Riga. Using tactics developed by the Russians for the Brusilov offensive, but perfected by officers like Branchmüller and Hutier, the Germans rapidly broke through the front. On July 14th they were at the gates of Riga.
This pressed the governing coalition sorely and the Kadet Party left the government on July 15th, leaving only moderate left Socialists in the government. This prompted Prime Minister Georgy Lvov to resign effective the 20th.
Demonstrations started on the 16th by soldiers from local units, soon joined by sailors and factory workers. They called upon the Soviets to seize power from the useless provisional government and to use the power they had. Elements of the Bolshevik party supported these moves, however the party leadership was opposed to openly taking power at this time. Attempts by demonstrators to convince Lenin to intervene had failed.
On the 17th Riga fell to the advancing Germans, though the defending forces managed to pull back and avoid heavy losses. Alexander Kerensky, then the favorite to replace Lvov was blamed for the loss and placed out of the running. This delayed the response of the government for two days. During that time period Lenin was finally convinced of the need to take charge and on the 19th started speaking out and leading the demonstrators.
Attempts by the provisional government to entail local military forces to intervene proved fruitless, local units either remained in the barracks or joined the demonstrators. Armories, utilities, bridges, railway stations and other pieces of infrastructure were being seized by the demonstrators, slowly tightening their control over the city. The Provisional government felt they had to act now or control would be lost and ordered General Lazar Kornilov to bring reinforcements from the front and crush the demonstrations.
Kornilov had already been gathering troops since the protest started, partly due to his desire to create a more unified government and end the dual power system between the Soviets and the Provisional Government, partly due to the urging of Alfred Knox, the British military attaché. Kornilov immediately acted upon receipt of orders, and along with some British troops in Russian uniform, attempted to advance on St. Petersburg.
As his progress was impeded by striking railway and telegraph workers in sympathy with the demonstrators Kornilov took drastic measures to keep moving. Striking workers were made to return to work under threat of immediate execution, a threat carried out more than once on the 21st. Attempts by workers to impede his progress by absenteeism on the 22nd were met with threats of execution of workers families. This was counterproductive and on the 23rd Kornilov was killed when his train was derailed by railway workers. Without Kornilov the attempt to put down the revolt disintegrated as soldiers dispersed and officers squabbled over command.
Buoyed by the failure of Kornilov pro-Soviet and pro-Bolshevik demonstrations spread rapidly to other cities across Russia, followed by the seizure of the cities. The Russian civil war had begun…
-Excerpt from European Wars for Americans, Harper & Brothers, New York, 2004