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WarChron - Murder of Rasputin |
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The Year 1916
At Stavka, the Tsar appointed Rasputin's protégé N.A. Dobrovolskiy as Minister of Justice, replacing A.A. Makarov. The Empress's letter to the Tsar stated that Dr. Botkin had given her stronger drops for her heart condition.
At Petrograd, an Imperial decree announced that the Fourth State Duma was closed for Christmas recess, and that Duma sessions would be postponed until 3 March 1917.
At Petrograd, although the police had forbidden a meeting of the Union of Zemstvos and Union of Towns, the Union's secretly adopted a motion, which stated the Government had become a tool of occult forces and was leading Russia to her ruin, and to shake the imperial throne, “called for a government worthy of a great people at one of the gravest moments of its history.”
On the Romanian Front, heavy fighting continued on the Moldavian frontier. Germans under von Falkenhayn continued their advance north and east from Rimnicu Sarat.
On 30 December, at Petrograd, at 0400 hours Gregoriy Rasputin was murdered. He was poisoned and shot, and his heavily weighted body was dropped into the icy waters of the Neva River. His assassins were Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitriy Pavlovich, and V.M. Purishkevich, leader of the extreme right in the Duma.
At Tsarskoe Selo, the Empress's letter to the Tsar stated, “… our Friend (Rasputin ) has disappeared. I can't and won't believe He has been killed.” On the 31st, the Empress, stricken with grief, begged the Tsar to return to her at once. Before he left he rejected President Wilson's note in orders of the day to troops, then boarded his train to Tsarskoe Selo.
The Tsar read Russian Invalid (Russkiy Invalid), published by the War Ministry, but no other newspapers while at Stavka. He was sympathetic to the small patriotic newspaper, Russian Banner, published by Dr. A.I. Dunrovin, President of the Union of Russian People, but the Tsar's generals would not allow it to be sent to their soldiers.
At Kiev, on hearing of the death of Rasputin, Grand Duke Aleksandr Mikhailovich sent a long letter to the Tsar predicting revolution, saying, “We have to win the war no matter what it takes, otherwise it will be a disaster. None of the Ministers take this seriously. You may not understand, but I want you to know the truth. Revolution will come from the top, not from the bottom.”
During the war years, the Empress, heavily influenced by Rasputin and those on the extreme right, had been responsible for the changing of four Chairmen of the Council of Ministers, six Ministers of Internal Affairs, three Foreign Ministers, four Ministers of Agriculture, four Ministers of Justice, and four Over Procurators of the Holy Synod.
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She was an extremely poor judge of character. Everything depended on maintaining the autocracy and knowing her son would one day ascend to the throne.
On 30 December, on the Romanian Front, there was heavy fighting all along the line. The Bulgarians and Turks slowly advanced on Macin.
In Austria-Hungary, the Southern Slav Committee issued a declaration at the Coronation of Austrian Emperor Charles I (Karl I). The Committee's purpose was to unite all Slav races, sever connections with the Habsburg Empire, and unite with Serbia under the Karageorgievich Dynasty.
At Paris, on behalf of the Allies, France replied to President Wilson, refusing to discuss peace until Germany agreed to give "restitution, reparation, and guarantees."
On 31 December, at Stavka, General Gurko traveled to Petrograd to visit the Ministers. General Klembovskiy, from command of the 11th Army, came to Mogilev to act as the temporary Chief of Staff in the absence of Gurko. General Lukomskiy replaced General Egorievskiy as Quartermaster General at Stavka.
During December, in order to put an end to the Russian transportation crisis, General Kislyakov was appointed to a newly created post of Assistant to the Minister of Ways and Communications, with authority over all transport matters in the theatres of military operations. There was little he could do as the situation was already completely out of hand. Thousands of locomotives were out of operation. All rail lines were overburdened.
On the Romanian Front, enemy forces were making progress in the Moldavian mountains, with units advancing west and south of Focsani. Bulgarian and Turkish troops carried the positions east of Macin, but failed in an attack on the Braila bridgehead.
In Siberia, Bolshevik revolutionary Josif Dzhugashviliy (later known as Joseph Stalin) was called to Krasnoyarsk to report for military service, but was rejected as being physically unfit.
On the Romanian Front, the Romanian 2nd Army held the front line, while the 1st Army was trying to rebuild. Of over 560,000 men mobilized, only 70,000 were combat ready. At Stavka, the Russian Supreme Command ordered the establishment of the Romanian Front, uniting the Russian 9th, 4th and 6th Armies, and later the Romanian 1st Army. The front saw occasional local actions on their sectors until June 1917.
During December, arrival in Romania of a French Military Mission of 500 men, headed by General Berthelot. Their task was to help rebuild Romanian units and organize them into a new 1st and 2nd Army. The 1st Army would include the I, III and V Army Corps. The 2nd Army would be composed of the II and IV Army Corps. The Mission included 40 French airmen and aircraft.
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During late 1916, four Romanian merchantmen, Ruminiya, Dakia, Imperator Trayan and Regele Carol I, were converted into seaplane carriers. Ruminia could carry 1-4 flying boats, three on Dakia and Imperator Trayan, and one onboard Regele Carol I. After March 1917 they were renamed Rominskaya Respublika, 1907 God, Sotsialnaya Revolutsie and Ion Rote.
During late December, on the Romanian Front, isolated cases of typhus appeared in Moldavia, which multiplied during January, and reached epidemic proportions during February and March. It was finally checked in the Spring, and by Summer it had ceased to be serious.
By late December, two groups of volunteers from the Russian Brigade in France, having been trained as pilots and observers, were sent to General Franchet d'Esperey's French Armee de Orient on the Macedonia Front. About 14 men served in Serbian Escadrilles. During November 1917, soon after they learned of the Bolshevik Revolution, some expressed a wish to return to Russia, while a few mutinied and were sent to penal camps in Algeria. The final seven were degraded in rank and sent to French Escadrilles.
Since the outbreak of war in August 1914, Russian casualties have mounted to a staggering 4,500,000 men killed, wounded, and missing. Families throughout the country were torn apart by grief at the loss of their loved ones and the uncertain condition of prisoners. The same held true in other countries that had lost so heavily. Yet peace was still being rejected.
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© WARCHRON 2007
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