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WarChron -1914
- The Russian Front -
Tsar Nicholas II - Empress Alexandra |
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WarChron is a multivolume history of the Russian and Eastern European Fronts
in World War I and of the series of wars
that followed. Opening with the ascension of Nicholas
II to the throne in 1894. WarChron describes
the political and military events that led to
the entry of Russia into The Great War in August 1914
with France, Britain and Serbia against Germany
and Austria-Hungary.
WarChron takes the reader through
the war years, covering significant land
and naval action, as well as the air war. Included are the emergence
of political parties in Russia; the role the Tsar
and Empress played in impeding meaningful
democratic progress, and the constant personnel
changes in government ministries and military
commands. In addition there is coverage of the Russian Orthodox Church,
which helped to destroy public confidence in both
the Tsar and his administration, the inability
of Russian industry to meet the burgeoning military
supply needs, and the inadequate and overburdened
Russian railway system all played significant
roles in the dissolution of the Empire.
The forced abdication
of the Tsar in March 1917 occasioned the first
of four Provisional Governments. Each government
attempted in vain to deal with the multitude of
problems at the Front and in the cities. Key among
them was a flood of Bolshevik revolutionary propaganda,
which the Germans financed and directed at the
troops and the workers in order to destroy discipline
in the armed forces, stir up worker discontent
and bring down these provisional governments.
WarChron addresses the inevitable
emergence of nationalism within the Russian provinces,
and the attempts at independence in Finland, Estonia,
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Armenia, and the various Cossack lands.
WarChron covers the Bolshevik
takeover of power in November 1917, Russia's withdrawal
from the war on the Allied side, and the slide into Civil War between the
Reds and Whites, the Wars of National Independence, Polish-Soviet War and
the Allied Intervention during the period 1918-1922. A heavy emphasis will be placed on military aviation of all belligerents. |
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Please note that all dates are converted to the Western Gregorian calendar which was thirteen days ahead of the old style Julian calendar
used in Russia from 1 January 1900 until the first of
February 1918, when the Soviet authorities abandoned
the Julian calendar and changed the date to 14 February.
Prior to January 1900 there was a twelve day difference
between the two calendars.
Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov (known throughout the
text as Nicholas II) was to be the last of the Romanov
dynasty. On 3 November 1894, upon the death of his father, Tsar
Alexander III, Nicholas took the oath of allegiance
at the age of 26 and was crowned as Emperor of Russia.
Soon after the ceremony he spoke to his brother-in-law, Grand
Duke Aleksandr Mikhailovich (who would command the
Military Air Fleet in 1914), "Sandro, what am I going
to do? I am not prepared to be the Tsar. I never wanted
to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.
I don't know how to talk with the ministers. Help me.
Who to trust?" The Grand Duke urged the Tsar to learn
how to be a just and understanding ruler.
Sadly his efforts were largely ignored.
Nicholas' father had never encouraged his son to take
an interest in state matters or to express his own opinions.
For many years his extremely reactionary tutor, Konstantin
Pobyedonostev, had taught him to hold on to his fathers'
autocratic principles. During the first ten years of
Nicholas's reign, he listened largely to the advice
of his uncles, but did not always take it into account.
He was known to dislike confrontation of any kind.
On 23 March 1881, Tsar Alexander III issued an Imperial
Decree declaring his irrevocable decision to maintain
the autocratic form of government he had inherited.
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On
the same day, the executive committee of the underground
agencies of Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) published
a counter-manifesto, calling for an end to injustice
and the prospect of evolution, a general amnesty, a
convocation of representatives of the whole people,
free elections, a free press and public assembly.
During March 1887, terrorists failed
in an attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander III at St.
Petersburg, five of whom were caught and hanged, including
Aleksandr Ulyanov, the younger brother of Lenin.
During June 1890, Nicholas met his wife
to be, Princess Victoria Alix Helene Louise Beatrice
of the German Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, a Lutheran
by birth, and grand-daughter of Queen Victoria. She
was only 17 years old at the time. Tsarevich Nicholas
proposed to her in April 1894.
On 18 October 1894, the Tsar's fiancé
arrived at Livadia, near Simferopol in the Crimea.
She grew upset on seeing Nicholas was being neglected,
and left out of consultations and discussions. She gradually
withdrew from family meetings, while they were equally
upset by her chilly manner and unconcealed contempt.
On 4 November 1894, she was received
in the Russian Orthodox Church as Alexandra Feodorovna.
Her new found faith gave her a sense of piety that soon
developed into a hysterical faith. On the 26th of November
she married Tsar Nicholas II in St. Petersburg, and
became Empress of Russia. In the early years of Nicholas's
reign he often turned to his mother for political advice.
It was a Royal Family filled with cross currents of
affection, family pride, jealousy, admiration and aversion.
The Royal couple lived in the Winter
Palace in St. Petersburg until the spring of 1895, when
they moved to Petergof. When Alexandra discovered she
was pregnant they moved to the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe
Selo, where their lives became ever more isolated. The
Empress had been forced to yield pride of place to the
Dowager Empress (Maria Feodorovna, widow of Alexander
III). Alexandra accepted other members of the nobility
only reluctantly. Over time she adopted a maternal tone
towards her husband, eventually exerting considerable
pressure on his decisions. Her anxieties about having
a son and heir to the throne, plus a variety of physical
maladies, were factors in her neurotic religiosity.
The new Tsar was faced with series of
events that had taken place during the later part of
the 1800s, all of which had a bearing on the shifting
balance of power in Europe. On 18 June 1887, Russia's Foreign Minister N.K. Giers and German Chancellor
Bismark signed a secret Reinsurance (non-aggression)
Treaty. German Privy Council von Holstein dropped the
Treaty on 18 March 1890. Bismark resigned two days later.
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Tsar Alexander
III had urged continuation of the Treaty until May 1890,
but became suspicious when Germany signed a treaty with
Great Britain in June 1890 which traded Zanzibar for
Heligoland.
Russia and France wasted no time and signed a convention
on 27 August 1891. A secret defensive alliance was concluded
one year later. They exchanged notes on 27 December
1893 and on 4 January 1894 which sealed their military
and political alliance. In January 1895 they exchanged
notes ratifying their military convention.
Germany and Austria-Hungary had formed their Dual Alliance
on 7 October 1879. They were joined by Italy on 20 May
1882, when it became the Triple Alliance. During 1893,
the Russian Ministry of the Interior's Department of
Police established a police section to coordinate the
campaign against subversion.
During 1894, the Social Democratic Party of Poland
was formed at Warsaw, while the Union of Workers was
established in Moscow.
During the summer of 1894, anti-Japanese Koreans, called
Tonghaks, rebelled against the Korean government. Both
China and Japan sent troops to quell the rebellion.
On 23 July, Japanese troops invaded the Korean King's
palace in Seoul, forcing him at gunpoint to sign an
agreement ordering the expulsion of the Chinese.
On 1 August 1894, Japan declared war on China. The
Battle of the Yellow Sea took place on 17 September
1894. The Japanese navy controlled the Gulf of Chihlin, preventing any Chinese reinforcements getting to Korea
by sea.
On 29 January 1895, Tsar Nicholas II addressed Zemstvo
delegations at St. Petersburg. Zemstvos had been authorized
to form in 1864 as a means of providing districts with
a form of provisional self-government. The Tsar promised
them he would continue his rule of absolute autocracy,
which dashed their hopes for much needed constitutional
reform. The Zemstvo's took his message as a challenge.
In the Far East, Japanese forces occupied southern
Manchuria and the Liaotung Peninsula, including Port
Arthur, during the spring of 1895. China sued for peace
and in April, signed a treaty with Japan, ceding Formosa, the Pescadores Islands, and the Liaotung Peninsula, including Port Arthur to Japan. China also surrendered
her rights to Korea, and agreed to pay a large indemnity
to Japan.
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© WARCHRON 2007
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