Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/News/July 2017/Op-ed


 * By TomStar81

Following the uprising in Russia in February 1917, the world's largest country by landmass was suddenly left leaderless as a result of the actions taken by a combination of civilians and soldiers. Owing to his ineffectiveness in leading the country, the nation had forcibly deposed Emperor Nicholas II, who in a rare moment of clarity with regards to the government and his role in it elected not to contest the demand that he step down as the reigning monarch of the Russian Empire. This stemmed partially from the Emperor's position at the time, which found Nicholas II deprived of loyal troops, his family firmly in the hands of the Provisional Government, and his nation teetering on the brittle edge of a civil war which could have opened the way for German conquest. Nicholas thus abdicated on behalf of his son, and drew up a new manifesto naming his brother, Grand Duke Michael, as the next Emperor of all the Russians; however, with this blow the Russian Empire was irreversibly compromised. Michael declined to accept the throne until the people were allowed to vote through a Constituent Assembly for the continuance of the monarchy or a republic.

With no faith or confidence in the Emperor, and with order broken down across the Russian Empire, members of the Duma and the Soviet formed the Provisional Government to try to restore order to the nation. This transitional period came as welcome development initially, as the people were finally working on a government in which in the Czar and his family would not be a key part. However as is the case with all transitional periods the elements that worked together cooperatively to beat the greater threat broke off into independent fiefdoms when that threat was neutralized. Here, in Russia, the people who had stood so firmly together to oust the Czar would break into smaller units with their own goals and agendas, and more importantly their own ideas about what the government they were going to create should look like.

The Provisional Government at the time was composed of two large factions and a small, distant third faction that collectively brought three different ideas to the table concerning the future of the Russian Government. The smallest of these factions advocated for a return of the Czar to the throne so as to restore the Russian Empire, while the largest two factions (broadly) advocated for turning Russia into a constitutional republic or a socialist state. Hampered by hardliners on both the left and the right, the Provisional Government attempted to find some sort of middle ground between the factions that would leave all relevant groups content at least with the role their groups could play in this future government. However, with the Russian government in a state of collapse, some extremist members from the parties as well as anarchists sensed a chance to make trouble for what little remained of the establishment.

This first of these troubled moments came in early May (or mid-April, under the calendar then in use in Russia), when the foreign affairs minister sent a telegram to the Allied powers in which he pledged that Russia would see the war through to the "glorious end". This, however, resulted in a massive uprising of both soldiers and workers who were not keen on the idea of continuing the war in any capacity. Lawful order was restored with little bloodshed when the government accepted the resignation of the minister over the pleas from the Petrograd Soviet to suppress the uprising by force, however the incident served to undermine the growing rift between Soviets in Russia and the those looking to see some form of republic established for the country.

A month later, another massive uprising broke out in Petrograd, this time back by the Bolsheviks. At the time of this uprising, Vladimir Lenin had returned from exile in Switzerland in an attempt to lead the Bolsheviks. He spoke at their meetings and preached his political positions, typically to support his socialist and Marxist theories while denouncing attempts made by the Provisional Government to reconcile with the republic-leaning faction then working with the socialists in the Duma. Amid growing frustration in the ranks of the Bolsheviks, Lenin suggested an armed uprising to test the Provisional Government and its resolve. Initially the Bolsheviks were against the idea, but after spontaneous uprising across the city broke out they elected to change their position and supported the protesters. Lenin had been away from the city when the demonstrations broke out, but upon learning that they had grown violent he returned to issue a call for calm across the city. This uprising was eventually put down by the Provisional Government, but the government's success here help to stabilize Russia for the time being. Lenin, fearful of arrest or assassination by the Provisional Government, elected to go back into hiding.

As Lenin departed went into hiding for a second time the Provisional Government formed a new cabinet in an attempt to press forward with the creation of a new Russian state, however the members of the cabinet had underestimated the importance of a swift move towards a new government. As the Provisional Government fine-tuned laws and regulations for voting to occur the Bolsheviks took to the street to rally the people under the socialist flag, which would eventually lead to one final uprising in October that would definitively end the period of the Provisional Russian Government and usher in the newly created Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, which would lay the groundwork for the founding of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics as the official successor state to the Russian Empire.