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On February 23, 1917 first mass actions

that preceded the future revolution took place in Petrograd.

Those news took their time to reach Italy

where the Russian philosopher and revolutionary Boris Yakovenko lived.

However, in seven years in his book “History of the Great Russian Revolution”

he wrote: “The revolution started with an insignificant pretext

and then accelerated with incredible force and speed,

and in this respect, it was unexpected.

Everybody felt the incredible political and social tension

but nobody thought that the explosion would be so abrupt

and that the events would develop lightning-fast”.

The History of the Russian Revolution. February. Episode Three

The very first demonstration in Petrograd led to a bloodbath.

Only by February 23 calm returned to the city streets

and the top officials of the capital heaved a sigh of relief.

It seemed to them that the unrest had stopped by itself.

However, the long winter night passed and a new day came – Friday, February 24.

The morning started as always –

the workers came to the gates of their plants and factories.

However, nobody entered the workshops.

They organized a meeting right by the gates of the plant.

On February 23, 120,000 people went out into the streets,

and on February 24 that number grew to 210,000 people.

The agitators urged the population to go out into the streets.

Among there were representatives of different parties,

first of all, the socialists: Mensheviks, socialist revolutionaries, and Bolsheviks.

The majority of the protesters, though, didn’t belong to any party;

the events of the revolutionary days pushed those people to the centerstage.

Their shouts were turning the crowds on

and leading them deeper into the streets of Petrograd.

The law-enforcement officials didn’t resist the agitators,

and the columns moved towards the center of the city.

Posters of General Khabalov were glued all over the city:

“There is enough bread in Petrograd”.

The demonstrators went on tearing the posters off on their way.

“To the Neva Avenue! To the Neva Avenue!” they shouted.

The crowd sang revolutionary songs and shouted slogans

like “Get Rid of the Tsar!”, “Get Rid of the Government!”

and “Enough of the War!”;

the protesters stopped trams and coaches

and knocked out glass in the shop windows.

By the bridges, thin chains of police officers tried to block their way.

The fight started. The protesters hurled stones and pieces of ice at the officers.

Soon, shots were heard too. The Kazaks didn’t help the police.

The crowds started to scale the bridges or simply cross the Neva by the ice.

The police cavalry opened fire

but failed to contain the advance of the enraged crowd.

The police ran away,

and the demonstrators poured into the central streets of the capital.

At noon of February 24, the city mayor Alexander Balk

reported to the head of the Petrograd garrison General Khabalov

that the police were unable to stop the crowd.

Khabalov ordered to summon the reinforcements from the Kazaks

and move the guard regiments into the center of the city,

namely Grenadiers, Keksholm, Moscow and Finland.

The soldiers were to block the main roads

and reinforce the security of the governmental buildings

as well as bridges, post and telegraph departments.

The General issued an order:

“The troops may use their weapons

not stopping at anything for the sake of restoring order”.

By February 1917, 380 military units and army establishments

were stationed in Petrograd and its suburbs.

The garrison included over 460,000 people; in the city itself,

there were about 200,000 of soldiers and officers.

The Imperial Life Guards were considered to be the main support

of the Petrograd garrison. The oldest regiments of the Life Guards

were the Preobrazhenskiy, Semenovskiy and Izmailovskiy Regiments.

However, the guard units together with their officers were at the front.

Only their reserve battalions stayed in Petrograd.

The majority of the soldiers were novices and had neither battle experience

nor were educated in the military traditions of their regiments.

Former workers and peasants, they lacked experience of fighting.

Many of them hadn’t even sworn an oath,

and discipline among them was on the very low level.

It’s a paradox

but those formally guard units proved to be the least fit for restoring order.

The military were now fully responsible for the situation in Petrograd.

Army interfered in the events. At the first glance,

the position of the demonstrators was hopeless.

The revolution seemed to be destined for a failure.

The demonstrations continued throughout Friday.

The Kazaks who were to dispel the crowds behaved indecisively.

Often the Kazaks passed the meetings by,

smiling to the revolutionary slogans and bowing to the protesters.

It boosted the mood of the revolutionary masses immensely.

They were often saying: “The Kazaks are for us! The Kazaks are for the people!”

For a few centuries the Kazaks had been the loyal supporters

of the Imperial throne. But in February of 1917,

the Kazaks who happened to be in the capital were reluctant

to participate in the suppression of demonstrations and restoring order.

Italy, 1917

From the book of Boris Yakovenko “The History of the Great Russian Revolution”:

“The first fight with the police took place at the Neva Avenue;

in a result of it, a few dozens of people were wounded with cold weapons.

The Kazaks and the troops demonstrated open unwillingness

to succumb to decisive measures against the crowd”.

In Mogilev, at the Headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief,

Emperor Nicolay II was doing routine tasks.

His main concern was the preparation of the advance of the Russian army.

He was only getting the Empress’s letters from the capital

about the diseases of the children.

That day, on February 24 the Emperor wrote in his diary:

“At 10:30 I listened to a report that finished by the noon.

The weather was unpleasant – a blizzard.

I walked in the garden for a bit. Read and wrote.

Yesterday Olga and Alexei fell sick with measles

and today Tatyana followed suit”.

Nobody reported to the Emperor about the unrest.

The Empress and the children were at the Tsarskoye Selo

and knew nothing about the events in the capital.

It was calm in the usually noisy State Duma.

The capital was brewing but the Duma went on discussing the food supply issues.

The meeting slacked. Only a group of soldiers that arrived

to guard the Duma reminded the deputies about what was going on

behind the walls of the parliament.

At the end of the meeting the deputies approved a request

to the Council of Ministers regarding the food issue and went home.

Let’s continue.

No anxiety was felt in the governmental offices too.

The General-Major of the Gendarmes Separate Corps

Alexander Spiridovitch who was also a city mayor of Yalta recalled

that he had been in the capital that day

and discussed with the Deputy Minister of the Internal Affairs

not the revolution but the routine problems of the Crimea,

namely the repairs of the famous Yalta embankment.

General Spiridovitch used to head the Tsar’s security service

and was an experienced fighter with the revolutionaries

but even he wasn’t alarmed.

The Council of Ministers didn’t show any signs of anxiety too.

The Minister of the Internal Affairs Protopopov was absent at the meeting.

The Prime-Minister Prince Golitsin found out about the unrest

when strangers stopped him while he was crossing the Neva Avenue.

By the evening of February 24, the meetings and demonstrations subsided.

Their participants went home to gather again the following morning.

February 25, 1917 (according to the old style). Saturday.

The number of the protestors grew to 300,000 people.

The announcements of General Khabalov were everywhere.

The commander of the military district gave the workers three days

to stop the strikes and return to their workshops.

Military and police officers patrolled the bridges

waiting for the marchers.

Again, the police officers and soldiers failed to contain the crowd.

The demonstrators crossed the Neva by bridges and ice.

The main streets of the capital became the place

of a many-thousand strong manifestation once again.

However, the marchers were much more aggressive now.

They beat up the police officers and took away their weapons.

When the police officers attempted to dispel the crowd,

people started throwing stones and bottles in them.

Sometimes, they also shot at the police officers.

The law-enforcement officials tried to act in a more decisive way.

A fight with the workers took place at the Pipe Plant,

and an officer shot one of the workers.

At the Znamenskaya Square by the Nicolayevskiy railway station

the police officer tried to take a red flag from a marcher.

The Kazaks were there with the officers.

Unexpectedly one of the Kazaks took a sabre out of his sheath

and hit the officer. The crowd finished the poor man off with spades.

Before that moment, the Kazaks and the police were acting together.

But when a Kazak attacked a police officer,

the crowd went beside itself with delight and carried the Kazak in their arms.

In other places, nothing like that was happening.

Executing their orders, the soldiers were standing face-to-face

with the demonstrators, patrolling the streets

and guarding the state establishments. However, the soldiers were passive.

The employees of the Security Department were reporting:

“The troops summoned to assist the police

don’t express sympathy to the protestors

but also don’t instill fear into those instigating the unrest”.

On one of the streets adjacent to the Neva Avenue

a line of soldiers blocked the way of the protestors.

The rifles were directed at the crowd, the bayonets at the ready.

The workers retreated in fear.

An officer with a naked sword ran up to one of the workers

and shouted that they should leave.

The worker tore a shirt on his chest and started shouting:

“Give us freedom! Or kill me!”

Come on! Kill me! Kill me, bastard!

The officer returned the sword to the sheath

and ordered his soldiers to retreat.

At the shoulder!

The streets were in turmoil, but the Duma went on with its session.

However, that day the deputies worked just a little –

the session only lasted 49 minutes. A new one was scheduled for Tuesday.

But it was destined to never take place.

The Saturday session of the State Duma turned out to be the last in its history.

By the evening, nobody was trying to dispel the crowd.

The police started shooting at the protestors.

The State Duma had finished its session,

but Petrograd’s City Council went on working.

The demonstrators brought the bodies of their killed comrades to its walls.

A routine session immediately turned into a loud revolutionary meeting.

Having satisfied their wish to shout,

the deputies of the City Council went home.

The demonstrators went home too.

Only then, during the third day of the manifestations,

General Khabalov and the Minister of Internal Affairs Protopopov

reported to the Emperor about the state of events.

The Tsar’s reaction was easily predictable:

“I order to stop the unrest in the capital tomorrow

as it is intolerable during the difficult time of war with Germany and Austria”.

The Tsar made a note in the diary:

“A few days ago, rebellions started in Petrograd;

unfortunately, the troops are taking part in them.

It’s terrible to be so far away and receive such bad news”!”

The Emperor’s order was received.

General Khabalov convened a meeting with the commanders of the military units.

They decided to act according to the circumstances –

dispel the non-aggressive crowds with the help of the cavalry

and shoot at the aggressive and armed people.

The Council of Ministers convened for the meeting too.

For the first time since the beginning of the unrest

the government was discussing what was going on in the streets.

The Ministers had been arguing until 4 a.m.

At the end, they agreed to the plan of General Khabalov

to scare the demonstrators by disseminating announcements around the city

with a threat to dispel the crowds with the weapons.

Sunday, February 26 arrived.

In the morning, a telegram was sent to the Emperor’s Headquarters.

General Khabalov was reporting:

“Today, on February 26 the morning is calm in the city”.

The Minister of the Internal Affairs was even more optimistic.

He reported that the strike of the workers had stopped,

and the order had been restored. The reality was completely opposite.

The military were patrolling Petrograd; the soldiers were guarding the bridges.

However, closer to noon the crowds of demonstrators

moved towards the center of the capital.

The bridges across the Neva were raised but it didn’t stop the crowds –

they simply crossed the river by the ice.

The center of Petrograd was once again filled with the protestors.

The appeals “Enough of the War” and “Get Rid of the Monarchy!” were heard again.

People were simply tearing off Khabalov’s announcements.

In a few places, when the demonstrators attempted to break

through the military lines, the officers fired at them.

Some people lost it and ran away.

At that moment, the demonstrators opened fire at the soldiers.

It’s still unknown who started to shoot but the shots were fired everywhere –

from the roofs, out of the gateways, from the crowd.

On the Znamenskaya Square by the Nicolayevskiy railway station

the soldiers of the Life Guards of the Volyn Regiment opened fire at the crowd.

Shots were heard in other streets too.

The number of dead and wounded grew by dozens.

The situation was becoming more and more alarming.

Barricades started to appear in Petrograd’s suburbs.

The workers were ransacking the police departments…

An agent of the Security Department reported:

“The Neva Avenue is cleared of the crowds along all its length.

On the Znamenskaya Square, the police found about 40 dead

and about the same number of the wounded. At the same time,

on the corner of Italyanskaya and Sadovaya streets

a body of a murdered warrant officer with a sabre in his hands

from the Life Guards of the Pavlov Regiment was found.

On 5 p.m. on the corner of the 1st Rozhdestvenskaya Street and Suvorov Avenue

the troops opened fire at the crowd. Ten people were killed and a few wounded”.

Italy, 1917

“That day was marked by an entire row of bloody fights

and cost the protestors about 150 dead and over 400 wounded.

About 4 p.m. the soldiers of the Pavlov Regiment started a munity…”

Soldiers from the reserve battalions of the Pavlov Regiment

stood guard outside during the day and were greatly shaken by the events.

In the evening, agitators came to the caserns

and started to talk the guards out of shooting at the people.

In a result, a couple of soldiers seized their rifles and ran outside.

The police blocked their way. A shooting started.

The reinforcement consisting of the Life Guards

of the Preobrazhenskiy Regiment arrived at the officers’ rescue.

The mutinied soldiers were driven back into the caserns and disarmed.

Still, a part of them managed to escape with their rifles.

The mutiny was suppressed but the rumours about the incredible event

soon flew all around the Petrograd garrison.

The force-majeure at the Pavlov Regiment

seriously influenced the soldiers’ mood.

They were becoming more and more hesitant.

The police and the Preobrazhenskiy Regiment

had already been engaged in a shooting with the Pavlov Regiment

when Nicolay II received a telegram from the chairman of the State Duma.

Rodzyanko, who was silent a few days ago, was now raising the alarm:

“The situation is serious. Anarchy rules in the capital.

The government is paralyzed. Transport, food and fuel supplies are all disrupted.

The general dissatisfaction is growing. Endless shooting is heard in the streets.

Units of different troops are firing at each other.

A reliable person shall be immediately entrusted

with a task of forming a new government. We can’t wait.

Any delay may mean death”.

When Nicolay II left the capital, it was in a relative order.

He didn’t get any reports on the course of events.

It was impossible to believe that in the course of just three days

the situation slipped out of control

of the government, Duma, police and the military.

That’s why the Emperor dismissed that telegram

as some nonsense. 294 00:20:32,013 --> 00:20: to 36,270 He didn’t pay attention it and commented as follows:

“That fatty Rodzyanko wrote some nonsense to me again;

I won’t even honour him with a reply”.

In his diary, he wrote: “I played domino in the evening”.

However, the fire directed at the demonstrators

failed to have the desired effect.

The protestors grew more and more confident in their forces.

An agent of the Security Department reported:

“The people are certain that the revolution has begun,

that the masses will succeed and that the authorities

are unable to suppress the movement

because the military units will soon join the revolutionary forces,

that the movement that has started won’t die out

but will grow in intensity until the final victory and the coup”.

Despite such reports,

the Minister of the Internal Affairs Protopopov remained calm.

He was sure that General Khabalov would suppress the revolution.

However, not everybody shared Protopopov’s calm.

The Ministers who gathered on Sunday evening

at the Prime-Minister Golitsin’s house finally decided

to disband the State Duma. Almost everybody realized

that the Duma’s parties were disrupting the order in the capital

encouraging the munity. Golitsin got the Tsar’s order on dispelling the Duma

a few days ago; all he needed to do was to put a date.

The Ministers informed the Duma’s chairman Rodzyanko

about the disbanding of the Duma. He immediately sent another telegram

to the Emperor in which he confronted the Emperor with a choice:

he should either recall his order

and concede to the Duma or face the downfall of the dynasty.

It looked like an ultimatum. Nicolay didn’t reply to that telegram.

Night engulfed Petrograd. The streets of the capital were empty.

There were almost no patrols of the military and police officers.

Everybody was waiting for the next day.

The events didn’t keep them waiting for long.

Italy, 1917

At night from Sunday to Monday,

the soldiers of the Volyn Regiment lived through a deep psychological trauma

in their casern, which in the morning of February 27

predisposed the course of further events…

Th soldiers spent the entire previous day

face-to-face with the enraged revolutionary crowd.

The protesters were appealing to the officers

trying to convince them not to shot at the people

and not to dispel the demonstrations. The soldiers were listening to the appeals,

and their mood was changing. They returned to their casern deep in thoughts

and discussed what had been happening all night,

from February 26 to February 27.

Non-commissioned officer Timofey Kirpichnikov,

a peasant from the Penza province gave the most passionate speech.

Timofey Kirpichnikov came from a family of the Old Believers.

He was considered to be the first soldier

who came out against the Tsar’s regime.

For that, the Temporary Government later awarded him

with a rank of a warrant officer.

According to his contemporaries’ recollections,

he boasted his awards and was unduly rude even with the commanders.

In October of 1917, he tried to instigate a mutiny among the soldiers again,

that time against the new government, though unsuccessfully.

The soldiers decided not to fire at the protestors again.

Kirpichnikov raised his people before dawn;

the soldiers took their arms and assumed formation.

When their commander Staff Captain Lashkevitch came

the soldiers refused to greet him according to the Rules

and shouted “Hurray” instead of the usual “Good afternoon, Your Honora”.

Hurray!

One of the soldiers told Lashkevitch

that the members of the Volyn regiment wouldn’t fire

at the demonstrators anymore. Then the officer took out the Tsar’s telegram

with an order to stop the unrest and read it.

The soldiers answered with a disapproving rumble; somebody started to shout:

“Go away from us”! Staff Captain went out of the casern

to call the headquarters and report on the mutiny.

When Lashkevitch was crossing the grounds, somebody fired from the casern.

It was still possible to stop the mutiny.

However, the other officers collected the regiments’ money

and the banner of the regiment and rushed out of the gates.

The rebellious soldiers poured into the streets.

After the murder of the commander Kirpichnikov and his comrades

didn’t have any other choice. They would be executed for sure.

The Volyn Regiment started to involve other regiments into the revolt.

The first to join them were the soldiers

of the Life Guard Preobrazhenskiy Regiment.

They took rifles and bullets and a couple of machine guns.

They killed an officer who tried to stop them with bayonets.

Soldiers of the Lithuanian Regiment joined them, followed by the other units.

The military force that was loyal to the authorities was melting away.

Almost the entire garrison of the capital revolted.

The demonstrators gathered in Petrograd’s streets again,

but that time the soldiers were on their side.

They burnt the building of the District Count,

the Gendarmery Department, and the Secret Service.

The crowd seized the Main Artillery Department and the Arsenal.

The protestors killed General Matusov, the head of the Arsenal’s stores.

The Ministry of the Internal Affairs and the house of the city mayor were ransacked.

Sometimes the crowd didn’t realize what it was doing.

It included the supporters of the Duma, liberals, social democrats and Bolsheviks.

However, the majority was the common workers, soldiers, students,

clerks, shop salesmen, female students, house maids, drunks and hooligans.

They didn’t belong to parties, had no political programs

and didn’t know well what they were fighting for.

They were worried about the introduction of ration cards for bread,

the war everybody was tired of; they wished to immediately solve

all the problems and felt romantic certainty

that they could improve the situation right there and then –

regardless of the means. The intoxication of the crowd that realized its strength

and impunity was forcing people who were peaceful just yesterday

to hurl stones at the police and demand the change of power.

Nobody of those people could explain what power they wanted to have.

The crowd lived according to the rules of the crowd.

Hearing the shouts “hit” and “burn”, it was attacking the city police

and ransacking police departments. The people believed that their actions

would lead Russia to some other, unknown freedom, justice, order and well-being.

They didn’t realize that they were ruining their country, their own future

and the future of their children with their own hands.

Not the politicians and revolutionaries but the crowd led the country

to the wars, violence and chaos unknown in history before.

The rebels started to storm the prisons.

They seized the infamous “Kresty”, the “Lithuanian Palace” prison

and the detention cells in the Shpalernaya Street.

The political prisoners who were released appealed to the crowds

to save the State Duma. Among them were the members

of the so-called Working Group of the Central Military and Industrial Committee

Gvozdev and Bogdanov who had been arrested for organization of mass strikes.

They called upon defending the oppositional Duma

from the Tsar’s government that many considered to be the congregation

of the dark forces that had captured Russia.

The crowd rushed to the Tavria Palace.

The deputies of the Duma already knew about the revolt of the Petrograd garrison.

One of the Duma leaders Pavel Milyukov

lived right opposite to the caserns of the Volyn Regiment.

However, when the soldiers rebelled the deputy was sound asleep.

A yard cleaner woke him up to pass the important news.

Deputy Kerenskiy was sleeping as well.

He got the news about the rebellion of the Volyn Regiment by the phone.

Still groggy from his sleep, Alexander Fedorovitch couldn’t understand

what the soldiers’ support meant for the revolution.

However, as soon as he realized what was going on,

he rushed to the Tavria Palace.

No session of the Duma was scheduled for that day,

but the deputies gathered for a meeting anyway.

They were in a difficult situation.

On one hand, the Duma was officially dismissed and its activities were illegal.

On the other hand, it couldn’t withdraw from the events.

As opposed to Kerenskiy,

other deputies didn’t realize the significance of what was going on.

The most passionate deputies offered to announce Duma

transformed into the Constituent Assembly,

which meant undertaking the full authority.

The Constituent Assembly, the highest state body

consisting of the deputies elected by the people through the general vote.

The Constituent Assembly had an exclusive right to define

the form of government and develop the Constitution of the state,

while the State Duma consisted of the representatives of political parties,

a part of whom was appealing to overthrow monarchy in Russia.

However, the State Duma couldn’t undertake the functions

of the Constituent Assembly.

In a result of the discussions a less radical decision was taken.

A temporary committee was founded in the Duma for restoring the order.

The deputies decided to insure themselves.

The Duma was officially disbanded and any of its actions would be illegal,

especially an attempt to take control over the country.

Should the government win, all the participants of those actions

would be justly arrested for cooperation in a coup d’état.

However, the new committee founded by the deputies could be presented

as an ally of the authorities in case of the revolution’s failure.

In the course of the meeting, an officer ran into the hall

and begged the deputies to protect him.

He headed the guards who were defending the Duma,

and the rebels had almost killed him. The deputies were overwhelmed.

Kerenskiy was the first to come to his senses.

He ran out into the streets, pulled at the sleeve of the first soldier he saw

and said: “Comrades soldiers! You’ve been honoured

with defending the Duma. I announce you to be the first revolutionary guards…”

It was Kerenskiy’s minute of fame. The crowd poured into the Tavria Palace,

and the former lawyer delivered a passionate speech.

He talked about the revolution, demanded not to spill blood

and promised to arrest one of the top-ranking Tsar’s officials –

Ivan Scheglovatiy, the chairman of the State Council,

the upper chamber of the parliament. Soon Scheglovatiy,

whom the liberal opposition indeed loathed for long,

was marched to the Tavria Palace under guard.

Kerenskiy’s authority increased in a matter of hours.

He was the one to sign the papers, he was consulted,

he was expected to give instructions. One of the journalists asked Kerenskiy:

“Do you know that you’re the all-mighty in Russia now?”

“It was pleasant to hear”, he replied.

The street rebellion was illegal.

However, when the Duma openly joined the rebels,

the actions of the crowd were perceived differently.

Pavel Milyukov wrote in the emigration:

“The interference of the State Duma gave the street and military movement

a centre, a banner and a slogan and turned the rebellion into a revolution

that finished with the overthrowing of the old regime and the dynasty”.

The position of the Duma changed overnight.

A few hours ago, it was an illegal gathering that had violated the Tsar’s order.

But now it led the coup d’?tat and became the first representative

of the new authorities in the eyes of many.

A former head of the Emperor’s security General Spiridovitch

recalled that change: “Anybody who deemed himself

to be the supporter of the revolution could come to the Duma.

A soldier who killed his commander, a party worker who had been arrested,

a representative of the intelligentsia who dreamt about the revolution

while drinking vodka, excited young girls,

young men of different views and ages,

adventurers of all types and criminals released from prisons –

they all gathered in the Duma.

The Duma became the headquarters of the revolution”.

The revolution got its first headquarters and armed forces.

However, it still hadn’t won. The old regime was still in power in Petrograd,

the Tsar was at the Headquarters and had regular troops at his disposal.

The revolution could still be stopped. In the afternoon of February 27,

Military Minister General Belyayev sent a telegram to the Emperor

at the Headquarters: “The unrest that started in the morning in some military units

is being actively and quickly suppressed by the companies and battalions

that remained loyal. We haven’t succeeded in suppressing the revolt

but I’m certain that soon the order will be restored

as drastic measures are taken to that end.

The authorities remain completely calm”.

In reality, the situation was very different.

There were less and less of companies and battalions that remained loyal.

Besides, they were stationed in different parts of the city,

and it was difficult to gather them together.

The main thing was that all those units lacked an energetic and brave commander.

The authorities were looking for such a person and soon found him –

it was Colonel Kutepov.

Alexander Pavlovitch Kutepov, Infantry General.

During the Russian-Japanese War served as a scout

and executed complicated tasks undercover.

Received the St. Vladimir medal from the Emperor’s hands.

He started the First World War as Staff Officer of the Life Guards

of the Preobrazhenskiy Regiment and was fighting at the front.

He was incredibly brave, and for his bravery was awarded

with the St. George medal of the 4th class and the George’s arms. A Colonel.

When Kutepov came to Petrograd for a short vacation,

he was unexpectedly summoned to headquarters of the Petrograd garrison.

Comrade General? Colonel Kutepov.

You may come in.

There, General Khabalov informed Kutepov personally

that he was appointed the head of the punitive detachment

that was to restore order in the city.

Well? Good luck, Alexander Pavlovitch.

Kutepov became the commander; however, different obstacles blocked his way.

It turned out that the soldiers hadn’t eaten since the previous day.

The commandment led them out into the streets,

but nobody thought of organizing their nourishment.

Kutepov ordered the officers to buy the food for their soldiers.

After that, he met the machine gunners.

He asked whether they could open fire at order.

They answered that the machine guns weren’t ready for the fights –

the oil and water without which the machine gun couldn’t function froze.

He had to send a couple of people to the caserns

to put the machine guns in order.

Despite all those difficulties,

Colonel with his soldiers moved towards the Neva Avenue.

On their way, an envoy caught up with them and passed a new order:

to move towards the Winter Palace.

It was impossible to get to the Palace through the Neva Avenue.

The detachment moved along the Liteyniy Avenue.

On their way, they met groups of confused soldiers from different regiments.

They went out into the city following their rebellious comrades

but didn’t know what to do.

Many of them were simply afraid of the punishment.

Kutepov promised that they wouldn’t be sent to court martial

if they returned to their caserns immediately.

The soldiers started to disperse, and Kutepov’s detachment moved on.

The shooting was heard everywhere,

the cars with red banners were driving around.

Some rebels preffered to escape.

However, the detachment had to fight a couple of times.

Some of its people were killed or wounded. The forces were clearly uneven.

There were too many soldiers who chose to support the revolution.

To defeat them, Colonel’s will alone Wasn’t enough.

Soon Kutepov’s small detachment ceased to exist.

His soldiers and officers dispersed about Petrograd’s streets.

The situation in other units that remained loyal wasn’t much better.

On a square in front of the Winter Palace a group of soldiers

from the guard regiments and guard seamen gathered.

The officers were waiting for an order. However, no order came.

The cold was strong. So, after waiting for a few hours,

soldiers and seamen simply went home.

That very same day another pillar of the power went down –

the Security Department.

The Security Department.

Full name – the Department for Securing of Public Safety and Order.

The local department of the Police Department

of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs that was entrusted

with political investigations and investigation of crimes against the state.

It was founded in 1866 after another attempt at the life of Emperor Alexander II.

In the morning of February 27,

a platoon of soldiers arrived at the building

where the Security Department was situated.

They were to guard its officers and clerks.

The head of the department General Globachyov asked the commander

whether his soldiers would fire at the revolutionary crowd.

The confused officer confessed that he wasn’t sure about that.

Then Globachyov dismissed the soldiers.

They didn’t get any instructions from the Minister of Internal Affairs.

When General Globachyov heard that the enraged crowd

was nearing the Security Department, he dismissed all the personnel

and then left himself. Soon the crowd broke into the empty building

and completely ransacked it. All the archives and case files were burnt.

The Security Department ceased to exist.

In the streets, the revolution was in full swing

when the ministers convened at the Prime-Minister Golitsin’s house.

General Khabalov came to the meeting too.

He was scared; the hands of the commander of the military district were shaking,

his voice was trembling. The ministers had to interrupt the meeting

when they heard that the crowd was close to the building.

In a few hours, the government gathered together again,

that time at the Mariinskiy Palace.

They talked the Minister of the Internal Affairs into resigning.

Protopopov, whom the liberal opposition loathed, agreed.

However, it was too late to change anything.

Besides, a key ministry was left without any head at all.

That evening, Prince Golitsin sent a telegram to the Tsar

stating that the Council of Ministers announced Petrograd

to be in a state of a defence emergency.

The head of the government asked to send a popular general to the city

and to relieve all the ministers of their positions.

In that telegram, Golitsin confessed that the government

was unable to restore order. After sending the telegram,

the ministers went on with their discussions.

At that moment, a revolutionary crowd burst into the Mariinskiy Palace.

A pogrom started. That was how the last meeting of the Council of Ministers

of the Russian Empire ended.

Italy, 1917

“By the night the capital was decisively and irrevocable

in the revolutionaries’ hands; even the troops that didn’t join the rebels

were avoiding any fights and kept armed neutrality…”

By the evening of February 27, over 60,000 soldiers

were already on the side of the revolution;

the other troops of the Petrograd garrison

were still executing the orders of their commanders.

The commandment of the military district headed by general Khabalov

gathered in the Admiralty building. The generals were consulting each other,

putting forward and discussing different plans;

they laid more and more hopes for the help from the front.

Nobody believed that they could extinguish the revolutionary fire by themselves.

At night, two telegrams were sent to the Emperor at the Headquarters.

One was sent by the commander of the Petrograd garrison General Khabalov:

“Please report to His Imperial Highness that I couldn’t execute his order

and restore the order in the capital. The majority of the units, one by one,

are breaking their oaths and refusing to fight against the rebels”.

Military Minister Belyayev wrote: “The situation in Petrograd is serious.

We are still unable to stop the revolt with few military units that remained loyal.

On the contrary, many units have already joined the rebels. The fires started.

We don’t have the means to extinguish them.

An arrival of reliable troops is needed, besides, they shall be numerous enough

for simultaneous actions in different parts of the city”.

After Kutepov’s detachment dispersed,

Colonel had to hide in the first best house.

In the streets, the enraged crowd was looking for officers.

In the same house, there were nurses of the Red Cross

who offered the Colonel to disguise as a make nurse to escape

but Kutepov refused.

Are there officers here?

What do you have there.

Look for them well?

They won’t hide from us.

Have your checked these rooms?

And upstairs?

Where is this bastard?

He shall be somewhere in the house.

Move up.

One floor up.

Put him by the wall.

Here. Shoot!

Less than in one year he would participate in organization of the Volunteer Army

at the Don for a fight against the Bolsheviks.

At that time, an officer was brought to his headquarters

who informed Kutepov rudely that he wanted to fight the Bolsheviks.

When asked about who he was the officer said

that he had been one of the first soldiers

who came out against the Tsar’s regime.

It was Timofey Kirpichnikov who raised the mutiny at the Volyn Regiment.

At Kutepov’s order, the so-called “first soldier of the revolution”

was executed on the spot. His body was thrown into a nearby ditch.

Italy, 1917

In the evening of February 27, almost all the forces

that remained loyal to the Tsar’s government stopped the resistance.

“All the non-revolutionary oases were encircled by the revolutionary masses,

and their downfall was a question of just a couple of hours”.