February palace coup. How the Tsar was betrayed by his family, church, merchants and future "whites"

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

During the Yeltsin period, the attitude to the events of 1917 was unequivocal - Russia at that time developed by leaps and bounds, the empire was moving towards victory in the First World War, and February became one of the progressive stages of development..

The coup brought honest and educated people to power, they decided whether there would be a way Of Russia republican or it is possible to preserve the monarchy according to the British scheme "the king rules, but does not rule." Although in that discourse, the tsar remained a positive and tragic figure, but according to post-perestroika thinking, in February he came to power in At last, liberal democrats came to Russia, and there was literally a little step left to prosperity.…

But then, after eight months of progress, Vladimir Ilyich jumped out like a devil from a snuffbox, and the bird-three rushed to the abyss of communism. Understand why during the Yeltsin period "Provisional government" acquired the historical halo of messianism, it is not difficult - it was with it that the "democratic power", which "finally returned", associated itself with. So birth trauma Russian Federation became the myth of the Beautiful February with the White Guards and monarchism.

For 25 years the accents have shifted, now the interpretation of February is not so pathetic - after all, a coup d'etat, sir! But the "whites," and the emigrants, and the church - those who supported the February coup - remained out of habit as positive characters in the drama that took place a hundred years ago. Surprisingly, in unison about the Russian Empire, the forces of praise are singing today in 1917, disunited - both those who overthrew the tsar and those who simply did not interfere, but "remained a monarchist in their souls." So in 2017, the history of the country got bipolar disorder of society.

The situation at the time of the last month of the monarchy in Russia was not easy - February was a knot of conspiracies and intrigues, largely because, we have to admit, Nicholas aroused little sympathy from anyone - even from his relatives.

We do not quite correctly call it the February Revolution - in fact, it was a palace coup. Many events of the February days cannot be considered an accident, an element, there was a lot of thought out in advance - for example, problems began with the supply of bread to Petrograd, but at the same time there was bread. Somehow, according to the remarks of the researchers, which seems to be an insignificant detail, all the bakers of the city were mobilized to the front. Putilovsky plant revolted … Social discontent used for their own purposes both the opposition and the king's relatives - they have long dreamed of seeing on the throne young Alexei with the regent from among them. The king no longer enjoyed the love of the people, the scandals with Rasputin, suspicions that the queen is associated with Germany, did their job - an information war was launched against Nikolai, to which the king did not attach importance - what difference does it make what this one thinks as his people.

What is more serious - his decisions were criticized by the generals, the second layer of a multi-level conspiracy - conspiracy of generals (Ruzsky, Alekseev) … These two forces - the military and relatives - simply wanted to remove the king, but there was no talk of abolishing the monarchy. The Duma members were more radical, albeit not much, they saw Russia either a republic or a constitutional monarchy (they saw it dimly, obscured by a simple thirst for power and profit, the vain dream of many generations - to overthrow the autocrat). It is worth mentioning that almost all the political leaders of the Duma were Masons, so this third level can be called - Masonic conspiracy … As tells historian Andrei Fursov, in January 1917the Masonic organizations of Petrograd were instructed to compile lists of people who would fall into power - then these people ended up in the Provisional Government.

And, finally, the fourth layer of the conspiracy, about which they have begun to talk a lot nowadays, is allied conspiracy … Today, it is on the vile foreigners that most of the responsibility for the internal coup and revolution is being shifted.

And yet, yes - the British and French used the Russian Empire as a battering ram to fight the same people exactly like her, empires of German and Austro-Hungarian. Probably, then it would be worthwhile to think about why your allies have a different political system, and you are fighting with exactly the same empires, is there a catch?

Nicholas' big mistake was entering this war. On the one hand, the allies could not have allowed Russia to withdraw from the war, on the other hand, she could not win either.… Ambassador UK Buchanan, according to contemporaries, behaved extremely arrogantly and even hinted that Nicholas had no place on the throne. Any other autocrat would have expelled such a diplomat from the country, but this is not in Nikolai's habits - to conflict over trifles. During the war, the British Embassy was the gathering center for opposition forces, and the secret police turned a blind eye to all this, continuing to "beat" their people for strikes. Amazing how Nikolay danced to the tune of the Anglo-Saxons. Humility and gentleness made him a great martyr well deservedly. Actually, these qualities led him to his own scaffold in Yekaterinburg.

By the way, speaking of the British, brother of Nicholas, so surprisingly similar in appearance to him, George V prudently did not accept the crowned family of a relative in England, although there was such a request. And only then the Romanovs were sent to Tobolsk and beyond..

The people no longer deified the tsar and openly hated the tsarina - the very information war unleashed by the opposition, the circulating rumors that the tsar was henpecked and simply did what his German wife dictated to him, gossip that the tsarina was in cahoots with the Germans that she is subject to the will of Rasputin. Many of the newspapers and rumors were, of course, not true. But there is no smoke without fire.

Maurice Paleologue, French Ambassador to the Russian Empire, wrote in his diary that the most devoted servants of tsarism, and even some of those who usually make up the society of the tsar and the tsarina, begin to be horrified by the turn that events take: "So, I learn from a very faithful source that Admiral Nilov, adjutant general of the emperor and one of the most loyal of his entourage, had recently the courage to reveal to him all the danger of the situation; he went so far as to plead with the Empress to be removed as the only remaining means to save the empire and the dynasty. Nicholas II, adoring his wife and chivalrously noble, rejected this idea with sharp indignation: “The Empress,” he said, “is a foreigner; she has no one but me to protect her. In no case will I leave her … However, everything that is accused of her is wrong. Vile slander is spread on her account; but I will be able to make her respect …"

Thoughts Nicholas II were focused at this time on his family, and his strange indifference to the country did not go unnoticed by historians.

"He was a great family man, but he was not suitable for the role of the leader of the country. He was thinking about his family all the time, rather than about the country, - says Alexander Kolpakidi in conversation with On the eve. RU … - He was a strangely indifferent person, as if flawed. Even if you read his diaries, it’s scary to think that this man has shot several thousand cats and dogs in his life. The king's diaries are not fake. He really after Khodynka he wrote: "It was stuffy." He really left a stupid note after Bloody Sunday. Think who you should be if after Bloody Sunday he met with the workers and said: "I forgive you."? Every time there were large executions of workers, he every time thanked those who shot … Yes, he was smart enough and educated, but he was not fit for the role of king. And thus he destroyed the country. Therefore, when they are now trying to impose on us the monarchy and all this nonsense associated with the descendants of the Romanovs, I urge everyone to remember the words of Churchill, who said brilliantly: “ Better than a monarchy, there is no building, but there is one problem - it is not known who will be born »".

A year before the February events, the war broke out at the top, as the historian says. Alexander Pyzhikov - there was a serious struggle among the elites. It was a confrontation between the government (of course, and Nicholas II as the head of state) and the opposition forces. Under the opposition forces, the Moscow merchants are quite clearly visible, this is the Moscow financial and industrial clan, which was the main beneficiary of all these opposition affairs and had political servants in the person of the Cadets and Octobrists. This is, in fact, to them, to the political attendants, and the term "liberal opposition" is applicable.

The situation was aggravated by the war, which had been going on for 2, 5 years. Nikolai believed that victory would put an end to all unrest in society, and therefore saw its successful completion as the most important, for March-April a key offensive was scheduled on the western and eastern fronts at the same time, and Nikolai wanted the offensive to take place. Historians believe that this is why Nikolai gave up power without a single shot, without bloodshed and without a fight - he wrote the abdication largely because he completely unreasonably believed that it would benefit the army.

Nikolai went to Mogilev. Unrest, strikes broke out in the capital, Minister of the Interior Protopopov conducts convulsive arrests, chairman Council of Ministers Golitsyn announces a break in the work of the Duma and the State Council. 25 February Nikolai issues a decree dissolving the State Duma. Rodzianko telegraphed the sovereign that there was anarchy, shooting in the capital, and a new government should be formed immediately. "Again this fat man Rodzianko wrote me all sorts of nonsense, to which I will not even answer him.", - says Nikolai to the minister of the imperial court Fredericks … Nikolay COMMANDS to stop the riots "unacceptable during the war" TOMORROW. Apparently, he does not quite understand what is happening and that there will be no "tomorrow" by one command. However, On February 26, troops in the capital used firearms to disperse demonstrations - many were killed and wounded. Although it was simply impossible to surprise the people with executions in Nikolayev's Russia.

1917 was the logical end of 1861 when another favorite of the Yeltsin period Alexander II announced emancipation, but in fact - there was a release in the form of robbery of the people. The Stolypin reform did not resolve the land issue. According to historians, in order to provide the aristocracy with life according to European standards - to give balls, to maintain several houses (in the city, an estate, a summer residence), outfits, luxury goods, trips in the 18-19 century - it was necessary to have order 100 souls, that is, 500-600 people in slavery. And only 15% could afford to live like this. Of course, this did not happen under Nicholas, but it is with the Romanovs that the current situation is associated. Envy, pride - that's what struck the elite of the Russian Empire, the nobles wanted to live like in the West - luxuriously. But we did not have colonies, the enslavement of the peasants by the Romanovs gave the aristocrats one large colony - the Russian people. Well, the colony turned out to be large - 80% of the population. An artificial separation took place - on a nation of Russian aristocrats and a native people, dark, poor, living in their own country, as in a country enslaved.

This is how he described it in his diary railway engineer, revolutionary who played an important role in the February Revolution, Yuri Lomonosov:

The provisional government was formed on March 2. Democratization turned into a social collapse. So, order number 1 of the Petrograd Soviet simply demoralized the army. Even before Lenin returned on April 3, 1917. announced the elimination of the estate system, national and religious restrictions. "Parade of sovereignty", the collapse of the country began on March 17 - when independence was given to Poland, later - in July - the independence of Finland. So who overthrew the tsar and destroyed the glorious Russian Empire?

"The Februaryists showed their complete political impotence, they couldn't offer anything at all. These were not the people who could stand at the helm of a huge country, - says Alexander Pyzhikov. - Nobody considered them capable managers, they were held for the bourgeoisie who came to power in order to profit, to use such a difficult situation - they simply fell for the treasury, which was the dream of more than one generation of merchants. Therefore, the reaction to them was so very, very sour. And what happened to them is what should have happened. It all took eight months. Then the Bolsheviks were the beneficiaries, who uncompromisingly assessed this situation and understood that it would come to its logical conclusion."

February-March coup it was not the people who did it, but the conspirators took advantage of the popular discontent. February did not change the situation in the country, but changed the elite dispositions. The Februaryists did not propose solutions for the peasant, worker, or any other important question. Amnesty has filled the streets with terrorists and criminals. And it was the stupid policy of the Provisional Government that gave rise to the Civil War, after which both the monarchists and the White Guards turned into emigrants who are honored in Russia today.

"Let them tell about this dynasty than it was during Great Patriotic War hunted … Why did the overwhelming majority of monarchists abroad go to serve the Germans? Famous collaborators in the Far East - Ataman Semyonov, Bakshi, Shipunov and all the other hanged men are all monarchists … In fact, it is believed that the basis of the collaboration was the Russian fascists, but no one notices that the majority of Russian fascists were monarchists. Therefore, when the prosecutor comes out with the icon of Nicholas II, it is at least tactless, because the monarchists in the majority were on Hitler's side, - says the historian of the special services Alexander Kolpakidi. - But this is all absurd, this monarchical nonsense! The church screams the most, the same church that just washed its hands in February 1917 … Then they washed their hands, and now you demand that the people repent? Why don't you repent? There is a version that they were twice offered to speak for the king, and they refused twice. Now they say that there was no such thing. They came up with them, they didn't come up with them - why did they have to ask you at all? The next day they glorified the Provisional Government in prayers."

Now we have a consensus - both communists and liberals admit that it was a collapse, that the February coup is an event with a minus sign, the expert says, but it was an inevitable event due to the weakness of the government.

Februaryism passed away with the Yeltsin era, but monarchism and the White Guard remained.