100 years ago, on March 3 (16), 1917, the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich signed an act of refusal to accept the throne of the Russian Empire (the act of “non-acceptance of the throne”). Formally, Mikhail retained the rights to the Russian throne; the question of the form of government remained open until the decision of the Constituent Assembly. However, in reality, Mikhail Alexandrovich's abdication from the throne meant the fall of the monarchy and the Romanov empire.
The acts of Nicholas II and Mikhail Alexandrovich were followed by public statements about the renunciation of their rights to the throne of other members of the Romanov dynasty. In doing so, they referred to the precedent created by Mikhail Alexandrovich: to return their rights to the throne only if they are confirmed at the All-Russian Constituent Assembly. Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, who initiated the collection of "statements" from the Romanovs: "Regarding our rights and, in particular, my rights to the Succession to the Throne, I ardently love my homeland, fully subscribe to those thoughts that are expressed in the act of refusal of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich."
Having learned about the refusal of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich from the throne, Nikolai Alexandrovich (the former Tsar and elder brother of Mikhail) made an entry in his diary dated March 3 (16), 1917: “It turns out that Misha abdicated. His manifesto ends with a four-tail for elections after 6 months of the Constituent Assembly. God knows who advised him to sign such disgusting! In Petrograd, the riots have stopped - if only this continues further."
The fatal essence of this act was also noted by other contemporaries. The Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General MV Alekseev, having learned about the signed document from Guchkov on the evening of March 3, told him that “even a short accession to the throne of the Grand Duke would immediately bring respect to the will of the former Sovereign, and the readiness of the Grand Duke to serve his Fatherland in the difficult days he was going through … it would have made the best, invigorating impression on the army … and the Grand Duke's refusal to accept supreme power, from the general's point of view, was a fatal mistake, the disastrous consequences of which for the front began to affect from the very first days.
Prince S. Ye. Trubetskoy expressed the general opinion: “In essence, the point was that Mikhail Alexandrovich immediately accepted the Imperial Crown transferred to him. He didn't. God will judge him, but his abdication in its consequences was much more formidable than the sovereign's abdication - this was already a rejection of the monarchical principle. Mikhail Aleksandrovich had a legal right to refuse to ascend to the Throne (whether he had a moral right to this is another question!), But in his act of abdication, he, completely illegally, did not transfer the Russian Imperial Crown to his legal successor, but gave it to … the Constituent Assembly. It was terrible! … Our army survived the abdication of the Tsar Emperor relatively calmly, but the abdication of Mikhail Alexandrovich, the rejection of the monarchical principle in general, made a stunning impression on it: the main pivot was removed from the Russian state life … From that time on, there were no serious obstacles on the path of the revolution. The elements of order and tradition had nothing to cling to. Everything passed into a state of formlessness and decay. Russia plunged into the sucking swamp of a dirty and bloody revolution. "
Thus, the state of the Romanovs, which had existed since 1613, and the dynasty itself collapsed. The "White Empire" project collapsed "into the sucking swamp of a dirty and bloody revolution." And it was not the Bolsheviks who crushed the autocracy and the Russian Empire, but the top of the then Russia, the Februaryists - Grand Dukes (almost all of them renounced Nicholas), top generals, leaders of all political parties and organizations, State Duma deputies, the church that immediately recognized the Provisional Government, representatives of financial and economic circles, etc.
March 2/15
On the night of 1 to 2 (15) March, the garrison of Tsarskoye Selo finally went over to the side of the revolution. Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich, under pressure from generals Ruzsky, Alekseev, Chairman of the State Duma Rodzianko, representatives of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma Guchkov and Shulgin, decided to abdicate.
The highest generals and grand dukes surrendered the tsar, thinking that Russia would follow the path of Western "modernization", which is hindered by the autocracy. Generally, the General Headquarters welcomed Rodzianko's arguments in favor of abdication as a means of putting an end to revolutionary anarchy. Thus, General-Quartermaster General of Headquarters, General Lukomsky, in a conversation with the Chief of Staff of the Northern Front, General Danilov, said that he was praying to God that Ruzsky would be able to convince the emperor to abdicate. All the front commanders and the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (governor in the Caucasus) in their telegrams asked the emperor to abdicate "for the sake of the unity of the country in the terrible time of war." On the evening of the same day, the commander of the Baltic Fleet, A. I. As a result, everyone renounced Nicholas II - the top generals, the State Duma, and about 30 grand dukes and princesses from the Romanov family and church hierarchs.
Having received answers from the commanders-in-chief of the fronts, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, Nicholas II announced his abdication in favor of his son, Alexei Nikolaevich, under the regency of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich. At this time, representatives of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma A. I. Guchkov and V. V. Shulgin arrived in Pskov. The king, in a conversation with them, said that the day before he had made the decision to abdicate in favor of his son. But now, realizing that he cannot agree to be separated from his son, he will deny both himself and his son. At 23.40, Nikolai handed over to Guchkov and Shulgin the Act of abdication, which, in particular, read: inviolable oath. At the same time, Nikolai signed a number of other documents: a decree to the Governing Senate on the dismissal of the former Council of Ministers and on the appointment of Prince G. E. Lvov as chairman of the Council of Ministers, an order on the Army and Navy on the appointment of Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich as Supreme Commander-in-Chief.
March 3 (16). Further developments
On this day, leading Russian newspapers came out with an editorial specially written for this day by the poet Valery Bryusov and beginning like this: “Liberated Russia, - What wonderful words! The awakened element of the People's pride is alive in them! " Then there were reports of the collapse of the 300-year-old Romanov monarchy, the abdication of Nicholas II, the composition of the new Provisional Government and its slogan - "Unity, order, work." In the armed forces, however, began "democratization", lynching officers.
Early in the morning, during a meeting of the members of the Provisional Government and the Provisional Committee of the State Duma (VKGD), when a telegram was read from Shulgin and Guchkov with information that Nicholas II had abdicated in favor of Mikhail Alexandrovich, Rodzianko announced that the accession to the throne of the latter was impossible. There were no objections. Then the members of the VKGD and the Provisional Government gathered to discuss the situation at the apartment of the Putyatin princes, where Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was staying. Most of the participants in the meeting advised the Grand Duke not to accept the supreme power. Only P. N. Milyukov and. AND. Guchkov persuaded Mikhail Alexandrovich to accept the All-Russian throne. As a result, the Grand Duke, who was not distinguished by his fortitude, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon signed an act of non-acceptance of the throne.
Almost immediately, the Romanov family, which for the most part participated in a conspiracy against the autocracy, and apparently hoped to maintain high positions in the new Russia, as well as capital and property, received an appropriate response. On March 5 (18), 1917, the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet decided to arrest the entire royal family, confiscate their property and deprive them of their civil rights. On March 20, the Provisional Government adopted a resolution on the arrest of the former Emperor Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna and their delivery from Mogilev to Tsarskoe Selo. A special commission headed by the commissar of the Provisional Government A. A. Bublikov was sent to Mogilev, which was supposed to deliver the former emperor to Tsarskoe Selo. The former emperor left for Tsarskoe Selo in the same train with the Duma commissars and with a detachment of ten soldiers, whom General Alekseev gave under their command.
On March 8, the new commander of the troops of the Petrograd military district, General L. G. Kornilov, personally arrested the former empress. On March 9, Nikolai arrived in Tsarskoe Selo already as "Colonel Romanov."
Before leaving for Tsarskoe Selo, Nikolai Aleksandrovich issued his last order on the troops on March 8 (21) in Mogilev: “I will turn to you for the last time, soldiers so dear to my heart. Since I renounced my name and on behalf of my son from the Russian throne, power has been transferred to the Provisional Government, formed on the initiative of the State Duma. May God help this government to lead Russia to glory and prosperity … May God help you, valiant soldiers, to defend your homeland from a cruel enemy. For two and a half years, you endured the hardship tests hourly; much blood was shed, tremendous efforts were made, and the hour is already approaching when Russia and her glorious allies will jointly crush the last resistance of the enemy. This unparalleled war must be brought to a final victory. Whoever thinks about the world at this moment is a traitor to Russia. I am firmly convinced that the boundless love for our beautiful homeland that inspires you has not faded away in your hearts. God bless you and may the great martyr George lead you to victory! Nikolay.
The interim government took a number of measures that did not stabilize the situation; on the contrary, they were aimed at destroying the legacy of "tsarism" and increasing chaos in the country. On March 10 (23), the Provisional Government abolished the Police Department. Instead, the "Provisional Directorate for Public Police Affairs and for Ensuring the Personal and Property Security of Citizens" was established. Police officers were repressed and banned from working in the newly created law enforcement agencies. Archives and filing cabinets were destroyed. The situation was aggravated by a general amnesty - not only political prisoners, but also criminal elements took advantage of it. This led to the fact that the police were unable to prevent the outbreak of the criminal revolution. The criminals took advantage of the favorable situation and began en masse to join the police, in various detachments (workers, national, etc.), they simply created gangs, without political overtones. High crime rates were a traditional feature of the turmoil in Russia.
On the same day, the Central Committee of the Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies adopted a resolution in which it established its main tasks for the near future: 1) Immediate opening of negotiations with the workers of hostile states; 2) Systematic fraternization of Russian and enemy soldiers at the front; 3) Democratization of the army 4) Rejection of any plans of conquest.
On March 12 (25), the Provisional Government issued a decree on the abolition of the death penalty and the abolition of military courts (this is in conditions of war!). On the same day, the Provisional Government adopted a law on the state monopoly on bread, which was being prepared under the tsar. In accordance with it, the free grain market was abolished, "surpluses" (in excess of the established norms) were subject to withdrawal from the peasants at fixed state prices (and in case of finding hidden reserves, only at half of that price). It was supposed to distribute bread by cards. However, the attempt to introduce a grain monopoly in practice failed, faced with fierce resistance from the peasants. Grain procurements made up less than half of the plan; in anticipation of even greater turmoil, the peasants preferred to hide their supplies. The peasants themselves at this time began their own war, taking out the age-old hatred of the "masters". Even before the Bolsheviks took power, the peasants burned down almost all of the landlord's estates and made the division of the landlord's land. The sluggish attempts of the Provisional Government, which, in fact, no longer controlled the country, to restore order, did not lead to success.
On the whole, the victory of the liberal-bourgeois revolution led to the fact that Russia became the freest country of all the belligerent powers, and this is in the conditions of waging a war that the Westernizing Februaryists were going to "wage to a victorious end." In particular, the Orthodox Church freed itself from the tutelage of the authorities, convened a Local Council, which ultimately made it possible to restore the patriarchate in Russia under the leadership of Tikhon. And the Bolshevik Party got the opportunity to get out of the underground. Thanks to the amnesty announced by the Provisional Government for political crimes, dozens of revolutionaries returned from exile and political emigration and immediately joined the political life of the country. On March 5 (18), Pravda began to appear again.
The collapse of the autocracy, the core of Russia at that time, immediately caused a "stir" in the outskirts. In Finland, Poland, the Baltics, the Kuban and Crimea, the Caucasus and Ukraine, nationalists and separatists have raised their heads. In Kiev, on March 4 (17), the Ukrainian Central Rada was created, which has not yet raised the issue of Ukraine's "independence", but has already started talking about autonomy. In the beginning, this body consisted of representatives of Ukrainian political, social, cultural and professional organizations, which had practically no influence on the huge masses of the South and West Russian population. A handful of professional "Ukrainians" could not tear away Little Russia, one of the ethno-cultural nuclei of Russian civilization, from Great Russia in ordinary times, but the turmoil became their time. Since the external enemies of Russia (Austria-Hungary, Germany and the Entente) were interested in them, they relied on the split of the Russian super-ethnos and the creation of a "Ukrainian chimera", which led to a clash between Russians and Russians.
On March 5 (18), the first Ukrainian gymnasium was opened in Kiev. On March 6 (19), a many-thousand-strong demonstration took place under the slogans "Autonomy of Ukraine", "Free Ukraine in free Russia", "Long live free Ukraine with the hetman at its head." On March 7 (20) in Kiev, the famous Ukrainian historian Mikhail Hrushevsky was elected chairman of the Central Rada (moreover, in absentia - since 1915 the scientist was in exile and returned to Kiev only on March 14).
Thus, the collapse of the empire began, caused by the discrediting and destruction of the central government. Despite the stated course of the Provisional Government to preserve the "united and indivisible" Russia, its practical activities contributed to the decentralization and separatism not only of the national outskirts, but also of the Russian regions, in particular, the Cossack regions and Siberia.
On March 5-6 (18-19), notes on the recognition of the Provisional Government by Great Britain, France and Italy de facto arrived in Petrograd. On March 9 (22), the Provisional Government was officially recognized by the United States, Britain, France and Italy. The West quickly recognized the Provisional Government, as it was interested in the elimination of the Russian autocracy, which, under certain circumstances, had the opportunity to create a Russian project of globalization (a new world order), an alternative to the Western one. First, the masters of England, France and the United States themselves took an active part in the February coup, supporting the organization of the conspiracy through the Masonic lodges (they were subordinate to the Western centers along the hierarchical ladder). Russia was not supposed to become a winner in the First World War, they were not going to share the fruits of victory with it. From the very beginning, the masters of the West hoped not only to crush Germany and Austria-Hungary (the struggle within the Western project), but also to destroy the Russian Empire in order to solve the "Russian question" - the millennial confrontation between the Western and Russian civilizations, and to get at the disposal of the enormous material resources of Russia, which were necessary for the construction of a new world order.
Secondly, power in Russia was seized by the Westernizers-Februaryists, who planned to finally direct it along the Western path of development (capitalism, "democracy", which in reality hid the construction of a global slave civilization). They focused primarily on England and France. This completely suited the masters of the West. The new bourgeois-liberal Provisional Government of Russia hoped that “the West would help,” and immediately took a subordinate, servile position. Hence the "war to the bitter end," that is, the continuation of the policy of supplying the "partners" with Russian "cannon fodder" and the refusal to solve the most pressing, fundamental problems of Russia.
