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WarChron - Petrograd Soviet Military Revolutionary Committee

 
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The Year 1917

During early November, in Central Asia, at Tashkent, a coup was carried out by the Congress of Turkestan Soviets.

The British opened talks with the United States on possibility of a Japanese or American expedition to Russia.

On 2 November, at Petrograd, General A.I. Verkhovskiy replaced Kerenskiy as Minister of War.

The Petrograd Soviet had recently formed a "Military Revolutionary Committee," under Bolshevik leader Antonov. Its purpose was to control district staff and appoint Commissars to all units of the garrison and to arms factories. The action was immediately opposed by Northern Front Commander General V.A. Cheremisov. The Petrograd Military District was now headed by Polkovnik G.P. Polkovnikov.

At Novocherkassk, Don Ataman General A.M. Kaledin declared martial law in coal mining areas and in the districts of Rostov, Taganrog, and Cherkassk.

At Kiev, opening of a ten day All-Ukrainian Military Congress.

In London British Foreign Secretary A.J. Balfour sent a note to Baron Rothschild regarding the creation of a National Homeland for Jews in Palestine. Balfour hoped the move might rally patriotic feeling in Russia and counter German and Turkish efforts in this field. It was known as the Balfour Declaration, and was approved at the Treaty of Versailles in 1919.

On 3 November, Petrograd learned that Russian troops on the Northern Front had laid down their arms and were fraternizing with the Germans.

On 4 November, the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Soviet issued its first order to troops in Moscow, telling them to only take orders from the MRC.

In Bulgaria, German navy airship L.59 (LZ.104) arrived at its base at Jamboli, 89 km north of Adrianople.

On 5 November, at Petrograd, Leon Trotsky visited the garrison at the Fortress of St. Peter and Paul and won their support.

In Italy, opening of the Rapollo Conference, at which the Allied Supreme War Council was established. Its seat was to be at Versailles. Their purpose was to deal swiftly with urgent Allied problems.



 
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The Conference was attended by Britain's Lloyd George and General Wilson, France's Marshall Foch and Painleve, Italy's Orlando and General Cardona, and U.S. diplomat Edward M. House, who represented President Wilson. Later, General Tasker Bliss served as U.S. representative to the Council.

On 6 November, there was very limited fighting on all the Russian fronts.

At Petrograd, General Verkhovskiy resigned as Minister of War and went over to the Soviets. He was replaced by Assistant War Minister Prince Tumanov, who was murdered the following day by mutinous sailors. The Petrograd Military District HQ counteracted orders of the MRC, calling upon elite units near the city to offer resistance to a Bolshevik coup.

At Petrograd, Kerenskiy failed in an attempt to bring criminal proceedings against the MRC. The Parliament refused to support him and passed a vote of no confidence.

On 7 November (old style Julian date of 25 October), the Bolsheviks overthrew the government of Kerenskiy. Rrevolutionaries seized power in Petrograd in five days of street fighting. Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace, which was defended by the Women's Death Battalion and young military cadets.

Kerenskiy escaped in disguise by car to Pskov, the Northern Front HQ, which was now controlled by the MRC. The Bolshevik Party now has 240,000 members. Petrograd Red Guards now numbered 40,000. Moscow Red Guards were 30,000 strong. The Bolsheviks demanded immediate peace, partition of large estates, control of factories by workers, and creation of a government under their control. These moves destroyed any prospect that Russia could continue to fight on the Allied side.

At Petrograd, the Bolshevik MRC arrested the Minister of War, A.A. Manikovskiy. He was soon released on the 22nd, having agreed to serve the Bolsheviks.

During the first week of November, Generals Kornilov, Lukomskiy, Denikin, Markov, Romanovskiy, and others were imprisoned by Red Guards in Bykhov, near Mogilev.

At Petrograd, Admiral D.N. Verderevskiy was appointed by the MRC to replace Kerenskiy as the Naval Minister.

In Finland, at Helsingfors, the Soviet approved the overthrow of the Provisional Government.

 


 
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