Having liquidated the institution of the monarchy, the Februaryist revolutionaries themselves launched the mechanism for the destruction of Russia. After all, only autocracy and held back the Russian Empire from collapse.
The sacredness of the Russian autocracy
The overwhelming majority of public, political, military and church leaders who shattered the empire, called for the liquidation of the autocracy, which allegedly hindered the development of Russia, at the same time sincerely considered themselves Russian patriots, wished to serve the new, democratic and republican Russia, which would become part of the “civilized the world.
The fact is that the Russian tsar is not only the supreme head of the state. This is a sacred figure. In the East, Russian rulers have long been called "White Tsars".
“And he keeps the baptized faith, Baptized faith, pious, Stands for the Christian faith, For the house of the Most Pure Mother of God, White tsar over tsars tsar …"
(from the Pigeon Book).
Thus, the Russian tsar in the East is one of the manifestations of God on Earth, holding back darkness and chaos.
Liberals and Westernizers, undermining the foundations of autocracy, did not understand this at all. They wanted to turn Russia into a part of "enlightened Europe", to make Holland or England out of Russia.
They believed that Russia was a part of European civilization, but was “spoiled” by Asia, the Horde yoke, and the despotism of the Russian tsars. You just need to get rid of the autocracy and return the Russians to the family of "civilized peoples", and everything will work out.
Duma leaders and generals, grand dukes and industrialists, bankers and churchmen after 1905 felt like independent players in the political field of Russia. The Russian autocrat became a hindrance to their political and economic plans and career ambitions. Therefore, the then Russian elite supported the desire of the “fifth column” and the West to overthrow the monarchy.
It is interesting that approximately the same events took place in Germany, which is closely connected with Russia by many historical, traditional, dynastic and economic threads. The German generals represented by Hindenburg, Ludendorff, Gröner and others wanted to bring the "war to a victorious end," but without the Kaiser. However, as soon as Emperor Wilhelm II died, it immediately became clear that all their plans were an illusion, a mirage.
E. Ludendorff later admitted:
“I warned against attempts to undermine the emperor's position in the army. His Majesty was our Supreme Commander, the whole army saw in him its head, we all swore allegiance to him. This weightless data could not be underestimated. They entered our flesh and blood, closely linked us with the Kaiser. Everything that is directed against the emperor is directed against the unity of the army. Only very short-sighted people could undermine the position of the officer corps and the Supreme Commander-in-Chief at such a moment when the army is undergoing the greatest test."
These words can be fully attributed to Russia as well.
The threat of turning Istanbul into Russian Constantinople
There seemed to be no catastrophe in 1916.
Russia overcame the consequences of the military failures of 1915. Turkey and Austria-Hungary could no longer overcome the Russians. The Austrians held the front only with the help of the Germans. Germany was on the brink of complete exhaustion.
The shell starvation in Russia was defeated, the industry, including the military, grew and developed. The production of guns (10 times), shells, rifles, machine guns, cartridges increased sharply (this weapon and ammunition was enough for the entire Civil War).
For the new campaign of 1917, 50 new divisions were formed. There were enough human reserves. There was no hunger in the rear. The construction of the strategic Murmansk railway was completed, linking Petrograd with the port of Romanov-on-Murman (Murmansk), where the allies were transporting weapons, ammunition and ammunition.
Russia was to emerge victorious from the war. Get Ugric (Carpathian) and Galician Rus, the historical lands of Poland, which belonged to Austria-Hungary and Germany, completing the creation of the Kingdom of Poland under the supreme authority of the Russian sovereign. Poles (Slavs) were pulled out from the power of the West, destroying the anti-Russian battering ram.
The West promised us the Strait Zone and Constantinople, Western Armenia. Russia closed the Black-Russian Sea from possible enemies, included the Balkans, Transcaucasia in its sphere of influence, restored historical Armenia and Georgia.
The thousand-year mission of the Russians, which was designated by the Grand Duke Oleg, was coming to an end.
"Prophetic Oleg nailed his shield on the gates of Constantinople."
“If Russia in 1917 remained an organized state, all the Danube countries would now be only Russian provinces … - said in 1934 the Chancellor of Hungary, Count Betlen. "In Constantinople on the Bosphorus and in Catarro on the Adriatic, Russian military flags would fly."
Fifth column
Obviously, this could not be allowed by Russia's "allies" - England and France.
Initially, the stake was placed on the military collapse of the colossus with feet of clay. But the Russians, despite all the problems and difficulties, withstood the blow of the Teutons, moreover, they defeated the Austrians and Turks. We were preparing for a new battle already in Germany.
Therefore, the main role in the fall of the Russian Empire was played by the "fifth column" - a large part of the then Russian elite.
Liberal intelligentsia, who hated the "horrors of tsarism." The financial-industrial bourgeoisie, which believed that the autocracy was holding back the capitalist, "market" development of Russia. Grand dukes and aristocrats who wanted to "modernize" the monarchy, the constitution. Generals who believed that the tsar was making it difficult to bring the war to a victorious end, dreamed of career growth. The clergy, thirsting for the reform of the church, the restoration of patriarchy.
Many liberals and Westernizers were members of various Masonic lodges associated with the West, that is, they were subordinate to the older “brothers”. Therefore, the British, American and French embassies played a large role in organizing the February Revolution.
The liberals dreamed that Russia's victory in the war would be theirs. It will allow you to "rebuild" and "modernize" Russia in a Western, European way. Make Russia a part of an "enlightened and free Europe". Create a republic, introduce parliamentarism. Introduce "market relations".
How did the Februaryist revolutionaries manage to destroy the empire and autocracy?
First, during the war, the army lost its personnel, which had been sworn in. The officer corps was "diluted", replenished at the expense of the liberal intelligentsia, raznochintsy. The rank and file were tired of the war and were angry with the "rear rats" and dreamed of peace. Therefore, the army easily succumbed to revolutionary propaganda. A significant part of the generals, especially the top ones, maintained contact with the liberal bourgeoisie and were ready to surrender the monarch.
Secondly, the church, the second stronghold of the autocracy, by 1917 had completely lost its authority among the people. The process began back in the days of Nikon, when the church succumbed to a provocation coming from the West, and broke the people over the knee. The best part of the people - the most honest, stubborn and hardworking - went into schism. The rest obeyed, but from that point on, faith as a whole became a formality. The essence was replaced by the form. By the beginning of the 20th century, the degradation of the church reached its peak. Moreover, the churchmen themselves supported February.
Thirdly, the Russian Empire was ruined by excessive freedom. Emperor Nicholas II did not clean up the liberal "fifth column" before the war and at its very beginning. Only the few in number and not having much support in society, the Bolsheviks - outright radicals who themselves substituted themselves with the slogan of turning the imperialist war into a civil war, came under attack. And at this time the liberal opposition - the Octobrists, the Cadets, were preparing for the "restructuring" of Russia.
During the war, Russia was the freest of the belligerent countries. There was freedom of speech: the sovereign, empress and their entourage were poured with mud. The opposition acted freely, which subjected the actions of the government and the tsar himself to unbridled criticism. The State Duma became the nest of the revolution. The public, which at the beginning of the war took a patriotic position, under the influence of failures and difficulties quickly slipped into rejection of "tsarism".
It seemed that it was enough to remove Nicholas II, create a constitutional monarchy or a republic, and all problems were solved! Workers could go on strike during the war. The nationalists practically openly advocated the separation of the national borderlands from the empire.
In "free" Europe, everything was different.
In the stronghold of democracy and republican values - France, during the German invasion in 1914, thousands of people were shot without any trial (according to the law on martial law) - criminals (they were considered a threat to society during the war), deserters, etc. to be emulated for Russian liberals, after the outbreak of the war, they adopted a tough law on the protection of the kingdom. According to it, the strictest censorship was introduced in the press, state control over transport and enterprises, strikes were prohibited, confiscation of any property was allowed in the interests of the defense of the kingdom, a wage ceiling was set at enterprises, etc. The workers worked seven days a week, without holidays and rest. Similar measures were taken in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Turkey and other belligerent countries.
In Russia, it was the opposite. Freedom was preserved, which was expressed in the preparation of the revolution. The coup in the capital was not prepared by the workers, not the Red Guards, not the Bolshevik commissars, not the peasants, as we were taught in the framework of the “white myth” in Russia, but the Russian elite. A well-fed, well-to-do and educated elite who dreamed of living as in “sweet France or England”.
Catastrophe
The better things were at the front, the more actively the liberal opposition and the military who joined it acted. The famous General A. A. Brusilov, who eventually joined the Bolsheviks, seeing that they were restoring statehood and the army in Russia, described the situation that developed before February 1917 in this way:
“At Headquarters, … as well as in Petrograd, it was obviously not up to the front. Great events were being prepared that overthrew the entire way of Russian life and destroyed the army that was at the front."
In essence, the liberal opposition was preparing a coup rather than a revolution. The modernization of Russia was supposed to take on the highest possible character, without the participation of the people. The army was controlled through their generals, the workers through part of the Social Democracy. The interests of the peasants were of no interest to anyone.
Just before February, the leaders of the liberals sounded out the reaction of the Entente countries to a possible revolution in Russia. The reaction was positive. This was enough to destroy the autocracy and the empire, but the Februaryists opened Pandora's box, paved the way to hell. They were unable to retain power in Russia, rule the country and control the masses that came into the movement.
Western curators were smarter, they understood that without a tsar Russia would be swallowed up by anarchy and chaos. Therefore, plans were drawn up for the dismemberment of Russia, the separation of national "independent" bantustans and banana republics from it. Painful decay will be accompanied by putrefaction, fermentation and general decay. The territory of the fallen empire will boil with endless turmoil, clashes and strife, which will be accompanied by external interference. Great powers around the world will compete with each other for new small states, seek dominance and seize strategic points. Neighbors will begin to seize the border areas. Social and moral scum, adventurers from all over the world will come to Russia. The country will be robbed to the bone.
And the Russian liberal Westernizers were simply used. When the Moor has done his job, the Moor can leave. The Russian elite, when the turmoil began, simply flees, having lost most of its wealth and capital. Former earls and brilliant officers of the imperial army will become taxi drivers and mercenaries, and noblewomen and daughters of merchants and industrialists will join the world's brothels and other hot spots. Part of the officers and students will become the cannon fodder of the West in the Russian Civil War.
