Headquarters in Mogilev. Fatal departure. Abdication manifesto
100 years ago 8 (21) August 1915 was transferred to Mogilev Headquarters of the Supreme CommanderThe Armed Forces of Russia, which was created to control troops during the First World War of 1914-1918.
As you know, the reason for the outbreak of the First World War was the assassination of June 28, 1914 (hereinafter, the dates are indicated according to the new style) in Sarajevo (Bosnia) of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. For the Russian Empire, this war began on August 1, 1914, when Germany, Austria-Hungary's ally, declared war on it. In total, 38 states were drawn into the war (34, including the Russian Empire, on the side of the Entente and 4 states on the side of the Austro-German bloc). The First World War in terms of its scale, human losses and socio-political consequences had no equal in all previous history. The results of the war were the February and October revolutions in Russia, the November revolution in Germany, as well as the elimination of four empires: Austria-Hungary, German, Ottoman and Russian.
At the beginning of the war, the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was appointed the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and the Headquarters was in Baranovichi. But as a result of the breakthrough by the German troops of the front in the area of \u200b\u200bthe Polish city of Gorlice in May-June 1915, the Russian armies were forced to retreat, and in August 1915 it was decided to transfer the Headquarters to Mogilev.
SECOND CAPITAL
Arriving in Mogilev, the top leadership of the Headquarters, including Emperor Nicholas II, who by this time took over the leadership of the army, settled in the governor's house (not preserved) on the Governor's Square, which is now called the Square of Glory. Together with the emperor, part of the Court, all the top generals, hundreds of officers, missions and embassies of European countries moved to Mogilev. So from August 1915, at the height of the First World War, Mogilev practically became a capital city for a year and a half.
In Mogilev, not only were strategic military plans developed, diplomatic moves were coordinated, negotiations were held, but also social events, premieres of performances, performances of the then opera and pop stars were staged. Troupes of several leading theaters of St. Petersburg arrive in Mogilev, an operetta is moved, two cinemas are opened. The small streets of the city were filled with cars, and there were no empty seats in the Bristol and Metropol hotels. Mogilev's social life reached its peak when the empress came here with children. The inhabitants of Mogilev were amazed at the simplicity of the tsar's daughters, who walked around the city without any protection, entered shops and shops. They especially liked Bernstein's dry goods store. The heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, communicated even more closely with the townspeople. He easily played with the Mogilev boys living in the neighborhood. The royal family loved to relax in Pechersk, on the banks of the Dnieper, went on picnics in Polykovichi. Usually they sailed to the Polykovichy spring on a pleasure boat up the Dnieper. During the day, Nikolai sometimes went out by car, he especially liked the places near Shklov. The emperor often visited the Epiphany Church, together with his family he also visited St. Nicholas and Buinichsky monasteries.
As a result of the February Revolution of 1917, Nicholas II abdicated the throne. After his abdication, Generals MV Alekseev, AA Brusilov, LG Kornilov were alternately supreme commanders. In September 1917, L. G. Kornilov was arrested, and the minister-chairman of the Provisional Government, A. F. Kerensky, declared himself Supreme Commander-in-Chief. After the October Revolution, Lieutenant General N.N.Dukhonin, Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, who was in Mogilev, acted as commander-in-chief.
IN THE EPICENTER OF THE REVOLUTION
What happened during this period in Mogilev had a great influence on the course of the October Revolution of 1917 and on further events in Russia. Already on November 8, 1917, General Dukhonin announced that he would fight to the last to restore the power of the Provisional Government. Dukhonin gave every possible support to the Kerensky-Krasnov rebellion, and after the failure of the rebellion, he immediately began to pull reliable military units to Mogilev. The leaders of the Socialist-Revolutionary, Cadet and Menshevik parties also arrived in Mogilev. They, having enlisted the support of the military missions of Britain, France and the United States, decided, under the cover of Headquarters, to create a bourgeois government in Mogilev headed by the Socialist-Revolutionary V.M. Chernov, opposing it to the Council of People's Commissars. On November 21, Chernov made a speech at a general meeting of the Mogilev organization of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party, in which he accused the Bolsheviks of "a criminal adventure" to seize power and incite a civil war. On the same day, an appeal "To all parties and organizations" was sent out from Mogilev with a proposal to immediately start organizing a government headed by Chernov. To give this government the appearance of a legitimate one, an attempt was made to use the All-Russian Congress of Peasant Soviets and for this to hold it not in St. Petersburg, but in Mogilev in the building of the city theater. Notifications were sent to all provinces of Russia with a request to send their delegates to Mogilev. But the delegates to the All-Russian Peasants' Congress gathered for a preliminary conference and nevertheless decided to hold the congress in Petrograd. So the plan for the formation of a new bourgeois government in Mogilev was not realized, and the Mogilev Drama Theater did not become the second Smolny. In an effort to speed up the implementation of the Decree on Peace, the Council of People's Commissars on November 20 ordered Dukhonin "immediately upon receipt of this notification to apply to the military authorities of the enemy armies with a proposal for an immediate suspension of hostilities in order to open peace negotiations." Dukhonin did not give any answer to this prescription. All day on November 21, he consulted with the generals of Headquarters and with representatives of foreign military missions. In the evening of the same day, Lenin asked Dukhonin on a direct wire about the reasons for the delay in his reply. In the negotiations, which were held intermittently from 2 to 4 and a half in the morning on November 22, Dukhonin avoided explaining his behavior. To Lenin's categorical demand to immediately begin negotiations on an armistice, he refused. In response to this, Lenin told Dukhonin that he was being removed from the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief "for disobeying the orders of the government." Instead of General Dukhonin, Bolshevik ensign N.V. was appointed commander-in-chief. Krylenko. In turn, General Dukhonin addressed the commanders of the fronts and armies with the following telegram: "I do not consider myself entitled to leave my post until the formation of a generally recognized legitimate government, confident that I am acting in full agreement with ... the command staff and military organizations." General Dukhonin was actively supported by the governments of England, France and the United States. They instructed their military missions to provide all possible assistance to Dukhonin. After the open disobedience of Dukhonin, at the suggestion of Lenin, a combined detachment of soldiers and sailors of the Baltic Fleet was formed in Petrograd. The task was set before him: to seize the Headquarters, to arrest Dukhonin and his supporters. On November 24, this detachment departed in the direction of Mogilev. The detachment was headed by the new commander-in-chief Krylenko. The General Staff of the Headquarters took urgent measures to organize the defense. But it soon became clear that the troops guarding the Headquarters were showing massive disobedience to their commanders. And on December 1, when echelons with troops from Petrograd approached directly to Mogilev, at a special meeting it was decided to evacuate without offering resistance. On the same day, representatives of foreign military missions left Mogilev, and the leaders of the parties left on December 2.
RIGHT OVER THE DUKHONIN
I was going to leave Mogilev and Dukhonin, but at the last moment decided to stay. On December 3, at 10 o'clock in the morning, the vanguard of Krylenko's troops arrived in Mogilev, and a detachment of sailors headed for Headquarters. After occupying Headquarters, Dukhonin was arrested and escorted to the station in the Krylenko carriage. At this time it became known that the day before, by his order, generals Kornilov, Denikin and others were released from the prison in Bykhov. A crowd of soldiers surrounded the carriage and began to demand the extradition of Dukhonin. The soldiers shouted that if Kornilov managed to escape, they would not let him out of their hands. Krylenko's arguments about the need to bring Dukhonin to Petrograd, where he would be tried for disobeying the Soviet government, did not work. The guards were unable to contain the excited crowd. Several soldiers entered from the other side of the carriage and climbed into the vestibule, the door to which was closed but not locked. At that moment, Dukhonin unexpectedly entered the vestibule. Then one of the soldiers stabbed him in the back with a bayonet, and he fell face down on the railroad tracks. It was not possible to establish who the killer was. In the history of the Russian army, the deaths of a commander-in-chief, albeit a former one, are rare. One of them happened at the train station in Mogilev on December 3, 1917. According to eyewitnesses, Krylenko did everything possible to save Dukhonin. Later, he addressed the army with a special appeal: “Comrades! That date I entered Mogilev at the head of the revolutionary troops. The Headquarters, surrounded on all sides, surrendered without a fight. I cannot remain silent about the sad fact of lynching the former commander-in-chief Dukhonin. The flight of General Kornilov on the eve of the fall of the Headquarters was the cause of the excess ... "
The headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief continued its activities in Mogilev until February 26, 1918, and was transferred to Oryol in connection with the approach of Austro-German troops to our city. On the building of the regional museum of local lore, which is located on Glory Square, it would be correct to install a memorial plaque about the presence of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Armed Forces in Mogilev during the First World War.
A significant deterioration in the socio-economic situation of the Russian Empire caused by the protracted First World War (1914-1918). Failures at the fronts, the economic devastation caused by the war, the aggravation of the needs and calamities of the masses, the growth of anti-war sentiments and general dissatisfaction with the autocracy led to massive uprisings against the government and the dynasty in large cities, primarily in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg).
The State Duma was already ready to carry out a "bloodless" parliamentary revolution for the transition from autocracy to constitutional monarchy. Duma Chairman Mikhail Rodzianko continuously sent alarming messages to the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander in Mogilev, where Nicholas II was staying, presenting on behalf of the Duma to the government all new insistent demands for a reorganization of power. Part of the emperor's entourage advised him to make concessions, giving his consent to the formation by the Duma of a government that would be responsible not to the tsar, but to the Duma.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Here the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was located, Nicholas II and members of the royal family lived. In modern Mogilev, buildings have been preserved where the last Russian emperor visited and worked.
The headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief moved to Mogilev in August 1915 from the city of Baranovichi. By the time it appeared in Mogilev, the Headquarters consisted of 16 directorates, three chanceries, and two committees.
About a thousand generals, officers and officials worked here. To guard the Headquarters, two battalions of St. George's Cavaliers, an automobile company, and a detachment of barrage balloons were deployed in the city.
Nicholas II arrived in Mogilev two weeks later, and another five hundred Guards Kuban and Terek Cossacks appeared in the city, as well as His Majesty's combined Guards Infantry Regiment. The garrison was replenished by 2 thousand people and amounted to a total of 4 thousand soldiers.
On December 17, 1916, the emperor suddenly left Headquarters. There was an important meeting that day - the plan of the military campaign for 1917 was discussed.
But the assembled officers did not wait for the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. Later they were informed that the tsar had received news of the murder of Rasputin and urgently left for Tsarskoe Selo.
On the way to Pskov
In the diary entries of Nicholas II of February 25 and 27, there is no noticeable alarm: he got up early, had breakfast, accepted the obligatory report of General Alekseev, and later made a car trip along the road north, towards the city of Orsha.
However, the emperor did not go far - he turned to St. Nicholas Monastery to venerate the icon.
On the 27th, and according to some reports on February 28, early in the morning, Nicholas II left by train for St. Petersburg. On the way to Pskov, the abdication of the throne took place, and on March 3, Nicholas II returned to Mogilev not as emperor - Colonel Romanov.
In Mogilev, he said goodbye to his mother - Maria Feodorovna left here abroad.
A building has survived, where in the premises of the general on duty Nicholas II said goodbye to the officers - they say that many officers were crying. C set off from the second floor, got into the car and drove down the street, which is now called Pervomayskaya, to the station.
Unique buildings
The building of the railway station in Mogilev has practically not been rebuilt since those times. On the Governor's, now Sovetskaya Square, there are unique buildings that knew the last Russian tsar.The former provincial court, where the premises of the general on duty was located, is now the Wedding House. And on the place where the military headquarters and the governor's house were - there Nicholas II lived with his son - a memorial complex to the heroes of the Great Patriotic War, erected in the era of Brezhnev's stagnation.
“The ruins of the Headquarters and the governor’s house survived after the German occupation,” says the Mogilev historian Igor Pushkin, “but they were not going to be restored. Not only these buildings were demolished with a well-known goal in Soviet times: so as not to remind of the tsar.”
According to historians, the tsar liked Mogilev. And the king - to Mogilev.
On the City Wall, the Heir played quite freely with the local children. The daughters of Nicholas II also walked around the city without security and loved to shop at Berstein's shop, which sold haberdashery goods.
The tsarina, however, disliked Mogilev and lived in her own carriage on a dead-end track near the railway station. Sergei Yesenin lodged in this car for some time - it was from Mogilev that he left for his village, leaving the front.
Tales from different times
“The emperor, walking around the neighborhood, loved to talk to the peasants, - says Igor Pushkin. - The peasants“ kept tact ”- they did not ask for anything from the tsar. And in the village of Dashkovka, Alexandra Fedorovna liked the estate of the nobleman Zhukovsky. The royal family wanted to buy an estate the nobility became obstinate, and the deal did not take place. "The emperor regularly went to pray at the St. Nicholas Monastery. And city officials, getting tired, built a special sidewalk for Nicholas II. The king demanded an account, and paid for the work from his own funds, and not from the treasury.
“This, of course, impressed the townspeople,” says Igor Pushkin. But in Soviet times, they impressed with a different story - how the tsar shot a raven on the Buinichi field.
Demolished "under the capital"
“Before the reconstruction of the city theater, the audience argued in the hall, whispering in which box the emperor was sitting,” says Mogilev publicist Gennady Sudnik. “Nobody knew for sure, and in general, such a fact in the history of Mogilev was not supposed to be known, but there were legends. then in the mid-1990s, historians told us that in this auditorium Nicholas II watched not performances, but military chronicles. Especially for the tsar, a movie camera was installed here. "There were practically no Bolsheviks in Mogilev at the beginning of 1917 - the first local Soviet of Workers 'and Peasants' Deputies was headed by the Menshevik Vetrov.
And it was here in the Metropol hotel, and then in the town of Bykhov near Mogilev, that the White Guard took shape.
“The old buildings in our city were also unlucky for the reason that at the end of the 30s Mogilev was planned to be made the capital of the Byelorussian SSR. a little smaller, built a little earlier, "says history teacher, coordinator of local democratic organizations Alexander Silkov.
In search of roots
Local museum workers attribute the poverty of the exhibitions to the lack of original documents from the period of February 1917. And they admit that there is little demand for the "tsarist theme": in recent years, specialists and ordinary visitors are interested in a more ancient history - Belarusians are looking in the depths for their roots and the beginnings of sovereign statehood.
Another topic in demand is the defense of Mogilev in 1941. Konstantin Simonov wrote about these fierce battles and bequeathed to scatter his ashes over the Buinichi field ...
The city authorities, meanwhile, are looking for funds to create an excursion route associated with the name of the last Russian tsar.
And in the church in Podnikolye there is a unique icon - not a canonical image of the new martyr Nikolai Romanov (the emperor and the murdered members of his family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church at the beginning of this century), but a royal portrait from the beginning of the last century.
"This is an interesting story," says Igor Pushkin. "They were doing repairs in the building on Pionerskaya Street, they began to break down the walls in the basements - suddenly a walled niche was discovered. We thought it was a treasure! It turned out - a portrait of Tsar Nicholas II. The portrait was brought to the church and has been revered ever since like an icon. "
On February 22, 1917, Emperor Nicholas II left for Mogilev from Tsarskoe Selo. The reasons for this last departure of the Emperor to the Headquarters still remain unclear. The plan for the spring campaign was approved, the situation at the front was calm. On January 24, the Tsar approved the plan for the spring campaign of 1917, which provided: “ 1. Delivering the main blow from the regions of the 11th and 17th armies in the Lvov direction. 2. Development at the same time of the offensive on the Romanian front, in order to defeat the enemy in front of the armies and the occupation of Dobrudja. 3. Conducting auxiliary strikes on the Western and Northern fronts. In His own Imperial Majesty's hand it is written: "I approve" January 24, 1917 ".The rate was supposed to repeat the success of the Lutsk breakthrough.
The sovereign's sudden decision to leave for Headquarters was a complete surprise even for his closest entourage. Adjutant wing Colonel A. A. Mordvinov testified that “ the internal political situation in those days was especially stormy and difficult, in view of which the Tsar spent all the Christmas holidays, all January and most of February in Tsarskoe Selo and hesitated to leave for Headquarters».
Nicholas II was leaving urgently, because of some important business. AA Vyrubova recalled that on the eve of her departure “ The emperor came very upset.[…] Drank tea in the new room at a round table. The next morning, when I came to the Empress, I found her in tears. She informed me that the Tsar was leaving. We said goodbye to him, as usual, in the Empress's green drawing-room. The Empress was terribly upset. To my remarks about the difficult situation and the impending riots, the Tsar replied to me that he did not say goodbye for long, that he would return in a few days».
This is also confirmed by another friend of the Empress Yu. A. Den: “ The sovereign intended to stay with his family, but one morning, after an audience with General Gurko, he unexpectedly announced: - Tomorrow I am leaving for Headquarters. Her Majesty asked in surprise: - Can't you stay with us? - No, - answered the Emperor. - I have to go».
Emperor Nicholas II with military leaders at the Tsar's Headquarters in Mogilev. Sparava - Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov. Reproduction Photo by ITAR-TASS
Baroness S. K. Buxgewden recalled: “ I was near the Empress at the moment when the Emperor came to her with a telegram in his hand. He asked me to stay and told the Empress: "General Alekseev insists on my arrival. I can't imagine what could have happened there that would require my obligatory presence. I will go and check personally. I will not stay there longer than a week, since I should be right here "».
However, apparently, Nicholas II knew what Alekseev was going to talk with him about. In the evening, February 21, Nicholas II explained to the palace commandant V. N. Voeikov that “ general Alekseev has recently returned from Crimea, wishing to see him and talk about some issues". The emigre historian G. M. Katkov pointed out that “ from available sources it is unclear why Alekseev insisted on the personal presence of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief. In the light of subsequent events, the emperor's departure to Mogilev, undertaken at the insistence of Alekseev, seems to be a fact that had the greatest calamity.».
We are prompted to interesting conclusions by a number of circumstances preceding the departure of the Tsar. On January 4, General V. I. Gurko visited M. V. Rodzianko in Petrograd and stated that “ if the Duma is disbanded, the troops will stop fighting».
On January 30, the Security Department informed the Police Department that M. V. Alekseev's health had improved so much that his arrival at Headquarters was expected on February 8-10. But Alekseev returned there only on February 17, and on February 5, without waiting for Alekseev's return, General Gurko left Mogilev for Petrograd.
Thus, in the period from 5 to 17 February, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief remained virtually without a leader. From the point of view of military interests, this was undoubtedly a negative fact. But, as General A. A. Brusilov wrote: “ At Headquarters, where Alekseev had already returned, it was obviously not up to the front. Great events were being prepared that overturned the entire way of Russian life and destroyed the army that was at the front.". It should be said here that Gurko coordinated all his actions with Alekseev.
On February 13, M. V. Rodzianko informed V. I. Gurko that he had reliable information: “ A coup is prepared and the rabble will make it". Rodzianko asked the general to point this out to the Tsar and get him to make concessions to the opposition. On February 13, Gurko was received in Tsarskoe Selo by Nicholas II, who left the following diary about this meeting: “ February 13. The beginning of Great Lent. From 10 o'clock... [s] accepted:[…] Gurko. The last one detained me so much that I was completely late for the service". What could Gurko say that made the deeply religious Nicholas II skip the service on the first day of Great Lent? Gurko urged Nicholas II to introduce a responsible ministry, claiming that without this he would suffer " our international position, the attitude of our allies to us».
For Nicholas II, Gurko's statement was a wake-up call. The sovereign could not help but understand that Gurko expressed not just his personal opinion, but the opinion of a certain and very influential military group. This was confirmed by the operational reports of the police and gendarmerie, which, of course, were known to Nicholas II. For example, on January 14, 1917, the head of the Minsk City Police Department informed the Director of the Police Department that “ there is a version that the troops under the leadership of their beloved Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich will make a coup d'etat».
The immediate result of Gurko's meetings with Guchkov and allied representatives was the general sabotage of the Emperor's orders. So, Nicholas II ordered the transfer of the Guards crew from the front to Petrograd, but this order was "not understood" by General Gurko, and the crew remained at the front. Nicholas II again gave the order to transfer the Guards crew to Petrograd, and Gurko again, under the pretext of quarantine, detained him near Tsarskoe Selo. Only after the third order of the Tsar, the Guards carriage arrived at Tsarskoe Selo. The same thing happened with the lancers of His Majesty.
The actions of General V.I. Gurko were neither impromptu, nor a consequence of his sole will. Thus, Duke S.G. Leuchtenberg assured A.I. Guchkov that the order of the Emperor to transfer four reliable guards cavalry regiments from the front to Petrograd would not be carried out. The Duke explained this by the fact that frontline officers were protesting against this transfer, saying that they could not order their soldiers to shoot at the people.
On February 17, Alekseev finally returned to Headquarters, and no later than 19 Nicholas II, apparently, had a telephone conversation with him, or received a telegram from him, after which he urgently left for Headquarters. On February 21, on the eve of the departure of Nicholas II, Gurko hurriedly went to Mogilev there. On the eve of his departure, the general met at a dinner at his brother's with AI Guchkov and other members of the Progressive Bloc. The thought of the coup was imbued with " all gathered, all said».
Thus, one cannot fail to notice the synchronicity of actions of generals MV Alekseev and VI Gurko. This synchronicity could only be the result of a preliminary conspiracy, the purpose of which was to lure Emperor Nicholas II out of the capital to Headquarters in any way. It is difficult to disagree with A. A. Vyrubova, who argued that the conspirators “ began to rush the Tsar to go to the front, in order to commit the greatest atrocity later».
In his conversation with the Tsar's Couple on February 10, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich “ strongly insisted on Nika's early return to Headquarters". On February 22, another Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, during the seeing off of his August brother, expressed his deep satisfaction with his departure to Mogilev. Mikhail Alexandrovich convinced Nicholas II that “ great displeasure grows in the army that the Tsar lives in Tsarskoe and is absent from Headquarters for so long". Vyrubova believed that the latter circumstance was the main reason why the Tsar decided to go to Mogilev: “ The discontent of the army seemed to the Emperor as a serious reason to rush to Headquarters. "Thus, apparently, in his telephone conversation with the Tsar, MV Alekseev told him that a military conspiracy was brewing at Headquarters and that his presence there was needed. If this is so, then Alekseev deliberately revealed the true facts to the Tsar in order to lure him out of Petrograd by any means. Knowing how the Tsar relates to the matter of victory, the conspirators had to be sure that he could not ignore such information, and they were not mistaken. The French historian M. Ferro believes that “ the tsar had a premonition that something was being planned, at least in the army, after brother Michael told him about his displeasure at Headquarters about his long absence».
But there was another reason why Nicholas II decided to urgently go to Headquarters. She was most directly related to the first reason. Not trusting the generals, who almost openly sabotaged his orders, the Emperor strove to personally send loyal troops to Petrograd from Headquarters. V. M. Khrustalev writes: “ NikolayII was going to carry out the planned transfer of troops in the vicinity of the capital upon arrival at Headquarters».
Sovereign Emperor Nikolai Alexandrovich in front of the troops. Photo chronicle TASS
Late in the evening of February 21, the Tsar summoned A.D. Protopopov. Entering the tsar's office, the minister found Nicholas II extremely worried: “ Despite the sovereign's amazing self-control, i saw that he was concerned. I was terribly alarmed the first time I saw the King in such confusion. "Do you know what Gurko did?" He said. "Instead of four Guards regiments he sent us three sailor crews." The blood rushed to my face, I instinctively held back the instantly flaring anger. "This is already overstepping all boundaries, Sire, worse than disobedience. Gurko is obliged to consult with you before changing your orders. Everyone knows that factory workers are recruited into sailors, these are the most revolutionary units in our armed forces." "That's it! But the last word will remain with me. I never expected this. And you still think my departure to the front is premature. I will send you the cavalry."».
Meanwhile, General P.G. Kurlov told A.D. Protopopov that to expect “ for the solid support of the garrison "the government cannot , because "There are many propagandized workers in the units, discipline is extremely weak".
The opposition considered the organization of riots in Petrograd to be an important stage in the implementation of the coup. Their implementation could not be realized without the help of the military leadership of the capital and the military district. In this regard, the actions of the commander-in-chief of the armies of the Northern Front, General of Infantry N.V. Ruzsky, appear to be direct assistance to the organizers of the coup. By order of Ruzsky, a large number of spare parts were concentrated in Petrograd, which, according to General Kurlov, were “ rather armed revolutionary masses". All measures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs to maintain order were met with opposition from Ruzsky.
Not trusting General N. V. Ruzsky, the Tsar singled out Petrograd from his subordination to the Special Military District, at the head of which, on the advice of the Minister of War, General M. A. Belyaev, was appointed Lieutenant General S. S. Khabalov. The new commander " practically the soldier did not know and did not correspond to the position. The emperor knew about this, but during the war it was difficult with the military commanders».
Ph.D. V. M. Khrustalev writes that for the post of Commander of the Petrograd Military District “ general KN Khagondokov (a participant in the suppression of the uprising in Manchuria) was supposed to be nominated, but the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, hearing that he had imprudently spoke about Rasputin, said that "his face is very cunning." The appointment never took place. "In fact, Major General K. N. Khagondokov cannot be included in the ranks of devoted monarchists. The researcher V.G. Popov writes about Khagondokov that he was “ the first of the major Far Eastern leaders in the revolutionary days of March 1917, who came out with ardent support for the Provisional Government of Russia, spoke in favor of the soonest transformation of the former Empire into a democratic Republic. "
Obviously, Nicholas II did not appoint Hagondokov to a responsible position, not because he had a "cunning face", but because he reasonably doubted his loyalty.
Simultaneously with the appointment of General S. S. Khabalov, Nicholas II ordered General M. A. Belyaev to withdraw Kronstadt from the jurisdiction of the land department and transfer it to the department of the sea. A plan was developed in case of organized unrest in the capital. According to this plan, Petrograd was divided into several sectors, controlled by special military commanders. General N.V. Ruzsky unsuccessfully tried to oppose these measures. However, the actions of General S. S. Khabalov were rather strange. On February 24, the general removed the police posts and transferred the police to full subordination to the army command. Khabalov handed over the entire security of the city to unreliable army units, which had already been sufficiently promoted and did not want to go to the front.
All of the above facts indicate that by February 1917 the conspiracy against Emperor Nicholas II entered its final phase. The most important moment in the plans of the conspirators was the departure of the Tsar to the army. It would seem that this is contrary to common sense. After all, giving the Emperor the opportunity to leave for the army, the conspirators, as it were, gave him a formidable mechanism for suppressing this very conspiracy and any revolt. But the fact of the matter is that by February 1917 the top of the army was already against the Tsar, and, above all, this concerns General MV Alekseev.
On February 22, the same day when Nicholas II left for Headquarters, in the house of the commander of the 1st Infantry Division, Major General P.A. von Kotzebue, in the presence of many guests, the officers openly said that “ His Majesty will no longer return from Headquarters».
D.S.Botkin, brother of the physician of the Tsar's family killed in Yekaterinburg, wrote in 1925: “ We must not forget that all the train attendants, down to the last mechanic on the tsarist train, were involved in the revolution. ".
On February 21, the Tsar examined the refectory that had just been rebuilt in the Russian style in Feodorovsky town. He was shown ancient icons and iconostases from the Church of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich near Moscow, wall paintings of the refectory and several vaulted chambers. The king repeated several times: “ It's a waking dream - I don't know where I am, in Tsarskoe Selo or in Moscow, in the Kremlin". Then he went to the rest of the rooms. In the living room, he sat down in an easy chair, looked for a long time at the picture, which depicted an old steam locomotive and several carriages that appeared from around the corner. “So I would sit in this comfortable chair, forgetting about all the affairs, but, unfortunately, they remind of themselves all the time».
An old steam locomotive and several carriages! They have already appeared because of the turn of history. In a day they will take the emperor to Mogilev, so that in two weeks they will bring him back as a prisoner, doomed to the path of the cross and martyrdom. On February 22, on the platform of the Tsarskoye Selo railway station, to the ringing of the bells of the Feodorovsky Sovereign Cathedral, Emperor Nicholas II bade farewell to the Empress and went to Headquarters.
On February 22, 1917, Emperor Nicholas II departed for Headquarters in the city of Mogilev. The final acts of the great tragedy began.
Annotation.
The authors describe the experience of research project activity on the example of the preparation of research work devoted to the study of materials telling about the life of Emperor Nicholas II at Headquarters in the city of Mogilev, the life and life of his family members; how life changed in the provincial city of Mogilev after the arrival of Emperor Nicholas II, the course of the First World War.
Keywords:
World War I, materials from the archive of the local history and ethnographic museum, Emperor Nicholas II, Headquarters of the Sovereign, Mogilev
World War I 1914-1918 became one of the bloodiest and largest conflicts in human history. It began on July 28, 1914 and ended on November 11, 1918. 38 states took part in this conflict.
As a result of the war, four empires ceased to exist: Russian, Austro-Hungarian, Ottoman and German (although the Weimar Republic, which emerged instead of Kaiser's Germany, formally continued to be called German Empire). The participating countries lost more than 10 million soldiers and about 12 million civilians killed, about 55 million people were injured.
In the summer of 1915, in connection with the retreat of Russian troops, the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army was transferred to the "rear Mogilev".
When I studied from various sources information about the residence of Emperor Nicholas II in Mogilev during the First World War, I was surprised to learn that the streets that I walk, the Pechersky forest park and the Dnieper, where the Emperor and the Heir bathed, bathed.
Having studied the photographs from the archive of the ethnographic museum, telling about the residence of Emperor Nicholas II and his family, as well as from the stories of the workers of the local history museum, I learned that the headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief was in Mogilev from 1915 to 1917 until the Emperor's abdication.
Another five hundred Guards Kuban and Terek Cossacks, as well as His Majesty's combined Guards Infantry Regiment, appeared in the city. The garrison was replenished by 2 thousand people and amounted to a total of 4 thousand soldiers.
The provincial city of Mogilev is located on the high bank of the Dnieper. From a distance, one could see the sumptuous white house of the governor standing on the highest point, surrounded by a beautiful garden.
At the Mogilev Headquarters, the course of the war is discussed, a strategy is developed, and the dates of the offensive are determined.
In 1915, after a series of setbacks at the fronts, Nicholas II dismissed his uncle, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich, from the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief and decided to lead the Russian army himself.
In the first days of his stay at Headquarters, Nicholas II lived on the imperial train, but soon he moved to the city.
For the resettlement of the staff of the headquarters, representatives of neighboring states, all city hotels were requisitioned, and a large number of people were required to accommodate. There were more than a thousand staff workers alone. To this must be added over one and a half thousand soldiers and security officers.
The king was very religious. The Tsar visited churches in Mogilev, including the Nikolsky Cathedral (monastery), where later the portrait of the Tsar-Martyr was reverently introduced and placed on the left kliros next to the icon of St. Sergius of Radonezh.
On Saturdays and Sundays, church services for the tsar and members of the Headquarters were held at the Transfiguration Cathedral. The emperor often visited the Epiphany Church, where he prayed at the miraculous icon of the Mogilevo-Bratsk Mother of God. Together with his family, Nicholas II visited the Buinichsky and St. Nicholas monasteries. The emperor did not miss a single Orthodox service. In the church he was widely baptized, kneeling down, touching the floor with his hands, after each service he approached to receive the priest's blessing.
To make it easier for Nicholas II to get to the church, in April 1916 an asphalt path was laid there from the governor's house, where the autocrat lived. Made it at the personal expense of the Tsar.
For state funds, in particular, by order of the Minister of Railways, a small steam yacht was delivered to Mogilev, on which the Emperor sailed along the Dnieper in summer.
In the last years of his reign, Nicholas II spent more time in Mogilev than in St. Petersburg. The duties of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, which he assumed, required his almost permanent stay at Headquarters. And so it happened that in fact, the last capital of the empire was Mogilev - the city where the tsar's headquarters was located.
The life of a small town changed a lot with the arrival of the royal family. I specially went to the places where the Emperor lived, which were marked in the museum and photographed them.
The operetta arrives and the theater is filled in the evenings with ladies and fixed-rate officers. Two cinemas are opening. Sometimes the tsar arranges a screening of films for all Mogilev schoolchildren. They also say that Chaliapin himself sang for Nicholas II in the theater.
Even a new restaurant is opening in the mansion of the exiled German brewer Janik. And on the streets of Mogilev, no, no, and you could meet the queen, the heir to Alexei and the Grand Duchesses - Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. The Emperor's wife Alexandra Feodorovna and her daughters visited the city on short visits. The inhabitants of Mogilev did not like the Emperor's wife from the very first visit. She gave the impression of an "angry and haughty woman." So, for dinners, when the royal family was in Mogilev, no one was invited: the sovereign preferred to spend time in a narrow circle of relatives.
The commanders of the fronts and the fleet arrive. The generals, whose glorious names we know today from documentaries and history textbooks, are Kolchak, Denikin, Brusilov, Kornilov, Alekseev ...
I was amazed that, together with Nicholas II, his son Alexei was at the headquarters, where he studied, went with the Tsar to the front, loved to walk in the Pechersky forest park and on the Dnieper.
The position of the Central Powers in 1917 became catastrophic: there were no more reserves for the army, the scale of hunger, transport disruption and a fuel crisis grew. The Entente countries began to receive significant assistance from the United States, while simultaneously increasing the economic blockade of Germany, and their victory, even without conducting offensive operations, became only a matter of time.
On February 22, 1917, the Emperor left Tsarskoe Selo for Mogilev. And already here, at Headquarters, he received telegrams that the children had contracted measles, that unrest had begun in St. Petersburg.
On March 3, he arrives at Headquarters. Mogilev, who has not yet been touched by active revolutionary events, receives Colonel Romanov with dignity.
A crowd of townspeople with bare heads stood at the headquarters building.
At the end of July 1918, the news of the execution of the royal family came to Mogilev. For the majority of Mogilev residents, it was also a family that had recently lived in the city. With the death of the royal family, a new era began.
According to modern data, losses in the First World War amounted to 10 million soldiers. There are no exact figures on civilian casualties. Presumably, due to harsh living conditions, epidemics and hunger, twice as many people died. In the local history museum, I visited an exhibition dedicated to the First World War. I saw the soldiers' weapons, looked at photos of tanks and guns, photos of refugees.
Following the results of the First World War, Germany had to pay reparations to the allies for 30 years. She lost 1/8 of her territory, and the colonies went to the victorious countries. The banks of the Rhine have been occupied by the Allied forces for 15 years. Also, Germany was prohibited from having an army of more than 100 thousand people. All types of weapons were severely restricted.
But, the consequences of the First World War also affected the situation in the victorious countries. Their economy, with the possible exception of the United States, was in a difficult state. The standard of living of the population fell sharply, the national economy fell into decay. At the same time, the military monopolies were enriched. For Russia, the First World War became a serious destabilizing factor that largely influenced the development of the revolutionary situation in the country and caused the subsequent civil war.
One of the results of the First World War was the fall of several powers: the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary ceased to exist. In addition, Finland and the Baltic countries gained independence.
List of sources
- Rzhevutskaya T [Text], Excerpts from "The route of His Imperial Majesty STATE EMPEROR in the cities of central and southern Russia, to the Caucasus and to the army (November-December 1914): January 2010, the magazine" Mogilev Style "
- The First World War [Electronic resource]. URL: [https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D0%BC%D0%B8%D1% 80% D0% BE% D0% B2% D0% B0% D1% 8F_% D0% B2% D0% BE% D0% B9% D0% BD% D0% B0] Date of access: 14.06.2015.
- Nikolay 2 - one and a half years in Mogilev [Electronic resource]. URL: [. http://yablor.ru/blogs/nikolay-2-poltora-goda-v-mogileve/4751916] Date of access: 11.06.2015.
- The First World War 1914-1918 [Electronic resource]. URL:)