Chapter 252： January Revolution

The actions of Russian officials have made the country even worse. According to post-event statistics, Russia lost 2.18 million tons of materials in 1916, many of which were reported to have been lost to various accidents.

Among the biggest losses, three large tankers loaded with crude oil disappeared on the Black Sea. At the time, everyone thought it was the Ottoman Navy who captured them, but a year later there were people who had worked on it and saw similar ships in Romania, but it was not known whether it was specific.

Romania is making big deals with officials, so that the people who are increasingly dissatisfied because of the high prices of living materials are finally unwilling to bear it. On January 24, 1917, the workers in St. Petersburg could no longer accept this kind of life. About 140,000 men and women workers in 50 factories staged strikes and marches, kicking off the revolution. The next day, the number of people participating in the strike demonstration increased to 200,000.

Mass strikes and demonstrations were also held in Moscow, Kharkov, Baku and other cities. At that time, the Petrograd police chief said in a report to the Minister of the Interior: "The idea of ​​a general strike is gaining new supporters day by day, and it is as popular as it was in 1905."

At this time, the panicked people appealed to the czar, hoping that the czar would let them participate in power. As in history, Nicholas II simply ignored the wishes of the people and threatened to dissolve the State Duma. In order to support the people, the socialists who organized the strike invited the workers to hold a peaceful demonstration near Tafrida Palace, where the National Assembly is located, and demanded that the Assembly establish a government that "lives the people". This can increase the prestige of the council and put pressure on the czar.

At the same time, there were other voices from the strike. "Down with the Tsarist monarchy!" "Oppose war with war!" "Long live the Provisional Revolutionary Government!" and other slogans also appeared in the parade, which is also one of the Bolshevik Party's role in this parade. Only at the time because most of its senior leaders were abroad (the slogan was too radical and Russia could not stay in Russia), so when this popular dissatisfaction broke out, the Bolshevik Party had very limited influence on the revolution.

But the Bolsheviks made it an important task to win the direction of the army. The Bolsheviks organized workers to go deep into barracks, outposts, and patrols to persuade soldiers not to shoot at the people. Because of the domestic chaos and poor performance in the war, the soldiers gradually ceased to be loyal to the Tsar and began to sympathize with the people.

This has also allowed the Bolshevik Party to develop smoothly in the army. The number of people who joined the revolution in the army has gradually increased from less than 500 on the 24th to more than 60,000. More soldiers remain neutral because they sympathize with the people.

Seeing a large number of popular riots against him in St. Petersburg, Nicholas II's first reaction was to suppress it first, just like in 1905.

Because on January 22, 1905 (January 9th in the Julian calendar), the Orthodox clergyman, Father Gepen, led a group of about 30,000 workers to a peaceful demonstration in the square outside the Winter Palace, with the purpose of submitting a petition to the Tsar To express the plight and oppression of the working class and the people at the bottom of the society, it requested the Tsar to carry out social reforms and end the Russo-Japanese War, and hoped that there would be no overtime work and reasonable treatment.

However, when they encountered the armed soldiers who were in charge of guarding the palace at that time, they lined up to confront the demonstrators, and the people gathered gradually increased to 200,000. Soldiers later fired warning shots in the air, and shortly after they shot at the crowd, the crowd fled in panic and rushed to push, and Father Gepen died in the chaos. It is estimated that there were approximately 1,000 casualties. This **** suppression incident aroused public outrage, and the Russian people no longer pined their hopes on the Tsar.

In fact, after the events of 1905, the Russian political parties no longer pursued the czar's compromise. The confrontation between the czar now known as the little father and the people is also a satire of the Romanov dynasty that has ruled for more than 300 years.

At that time, Tsar Nicholas II was in the imperial village. After receiving a report from the Petrograd Military Region Commander Khabarov on the situation in the capital, he ordered the suppression of the Petrograd strike movement. However, because of the soldiers' sympathy for the people, the refusal to implement this order made the situation of Nicholas II worse.

"These traitors, they are betraying the government. When we were fighting against Germany and Austria, they were behind inciting the people to sabotage this war."

In the imperial village, Nicholas II scolded the revolutionary groups with red ears. The army did not listen to his orders overnight, making him frightened. He has never figured out what the situation is, so that the army will not listen to the command of the commander overnight.

"what should we do?"

Empress Alexandra looked at her husband angrily reprimanding the rioting political group, and asked sadly.

Queen Alexandra's reputation in Russia is not good. Not only is it inferior to the predecessor model Ekaterina, but after the outbreak of the war, rumors of the Queen's German spy also spread. Although the rumor soon subsided, from here we can see how the Queen's evaluation in Russia is not very good.

Not to mention that when Nicholas II went to the front line to supervise the battle, the queen cited the demon monk Rasputin as a sustenance for her soul. Let this unlearned Siberian peasant disrupt the operation of the Russian government at the court. It wasn't until a month ago that the monk was killed by the royalist Yusupov and others. It is a pity that the royalists acted too late, and because the people could not survive, their dissatisfaction with the government and the tsar reached a new height.

"Now we need to delay time. There are still troops loyal to me on the front line."

After hearing his wife’s cry Nicholas II thought about sending an army to suppress it. This is really Muyu's head. In fact, it was not that Nicholas II was stupid, but because he had contaminated too much blood of revolutionaries on his hands, whether it was from his orders or not. Many revolutionaries regarded him as Russia's greatest reactionary leader, so if Nicholas II feared that his rights would be taken, his life would be difficult to guarantee.

However, those who participated in this revolution had long anticipated the actions of the tsar. The October party member Ya I Guchkov and the State Duma representative Va Wei Shurgen, representing the revolutionary groups, went to the imperial village to have a showdown with Nicholas II. Moreover, these revolutionary groups also called for a large number of troops to turn, and prevented troops loyal to the tsar from entering St. Petersburg.

After seeing that he had no way to change all this, Nicholas II gave way to his brother Mikhail on January 31. The next day, Mikhail also announced his abdication. In this way, the Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia for 304 years, was crushed by the revolution. The Russian Democratic Revolution was victorious.

From January 24 to 31, the Romanov dynasty collapsed in just 8 days, leaving the Allies and Allies still fighting on the battlefield by surprise. However, there are two provisional governments in this revolution, which will also bring certain variables to the future situation in Russia.