Live from the capital of the Russian Empire, Petrograd, we bring you updates as they take place. Travel 100 years back in time with RT to witness the most tumultuous period in Russian history.
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READ MORE: Mass protests, bloody uprising & Tsar abdicates (#1917LIVE coverage)
16 March 2017
Pavel arrives back to Tsarskoe Selo, where he is taken into custody together with his loyal butler. He is now a prisoner together with his wife and children.
Grand Duke Pavel, her husband, earlier today visited with Countess Gogenfelzen at Tsarskoe Selo, which is now completely overrun with soldiers stationed there at the Provisional Government’s behest – allegedly to prevent any attempts on Paley and her children’s lives.
At about 19:00, he leaves for Mogilev, where he is to see his mother, who set off from Kiev earlier today to meet with him.
As he stands on the steps of the Alexander Palace with thousands of soldiers in attendance, he delivers his final speech:
“Brothers, you are aware by now that our beloved Master has renounced the throne of his forebears on behalf of himself and his son, and that the latter has also refused power in favor of handing it over to the people. At this moment inside the palace you are no longer guarding the Empress, or the next in line for the throne. There is only the housekeeper, who is looking after her ill children. Please, promise me, your old commander, to see that no harm comes to them. Don’t make a racket, don’t be noisy. Please, remember, the children are still very ill. I ask you to promise me this.”
Thousands of voices echo in unison in response: “We promise, your Highness. We promise this to you, our Father, the Grand Duke, you can rest assured. Hoorah!”
The Countess Gogenfelzen, Olga Paley, writes in her diary:
“About 6 O’clock in the evening on March 16, the commanders of the reserve regiment stationed at Tsarskoe, have met with the Grand Duke Pavel to discuss the situation now that Mikhail has abdicated…”
Paley says there is an overwhelming feeling that the army is now impossible to bring under control. She also writes of the goings on in the capital, and of Nicholas’ pleas for the Russians to follow the Provisional Government in its pursuit of one important objective – fighting the war “until victory.”
Paley believes the Tsar’s mind is “preoccupied only with the fate of the Russia that he loves so dearly,” and sees this as his motivation for abdicating.
Kiev has received word of Nicholas’ abdication. Authorities there have begun setting up new government institutions. However, unlike the case with Russian cities, instead of a dual power structure, there is talk of a trilateral one: aside from the Radicals and Liberals, there are rumors of a nationalistic Central Rada in the cards.
Over on the front line, the Germans are pulling back. Realizing it could thicken up its offensive line, the German Army retreats to the Hindenburg Line, designed specifically as a defensive buffer. The Germans ransack and destroy everything on their way as they withdraw, military sources report.
The Baltic Fleet continues to mutiny and execute superiors. Word of the new regulations threatening severe punishment for lawlessness has apparently not yet reached there, although, by some accounts, that was the way in which sailors implemented their own version of Order No.1.
After a lengthy discussion with members of the Provisional Committee at the Duma, in which Rodzianko also participated, Nicholas’ brother Mikhail Alexandrovich also abdicates. He issues a statement to the Russian people, in which he asks the citizenry to obey the Provisional Government until a new government structure is formulated.
There are rumors the Grand Duke’s life was threatened unless he gave up the crown. There are also rumors of threats made earlier on Nicholas’ family, unless he does the same.
The Samara Committee is formed with an emphasis on popular rule.
Word of unrest in Samara – a city on the Volga, in central Russia – reaches Petrograd. A raging crowd has occupied the district prison.
MPs Guchkov and Shulgin arrive in Petrograd with Nicholas’ letter of abdication.
The Executive Committee of the Petrosoviet publishes a statement in Izvestia, announcing its conditional support for the Provisional Government, “insofar as the new rule will act in ways that seek to fulfill its duties in fighting the old rule.”
The Committee emphasizes that there must be peace between soldiers and officers, and threatens severe punishment on lawlessness and insubordination among military ranks.
The paper also publishes the new plan of action by the Provisional Government.
15 March 2017
Tsar Nicholas II officially abdicates. Stranded in Pskov and unable to get to Tsarskoe Selo, he signs the document that effectively transfers power to his brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich.
Nicholas also makes Duke Georgy Lvov the premier, and Grand Duke Nicholas the commander-in-chief. However, as with his last speech to his troops earlier, the letter is not delivered.
General Nicholas Ruzsky sends a telegram to General Ivanov to inform him that he is no longer the commander of the Petrograd military district. Nicholas Ivanov was among the most decorated generals in the Russian Army, and has served in the World War and the Russian-Japanese War.
He was also to be in charge of crushing the revolution in Petrograd these past few days, but one of Nicholas’ last orders aborted the effort.
The letter delivered by Ruzsky also contains the order to send any troops deployed to Petrograd and Moscow back to the frontlines, where Russia is still at war.
The new government receives letters and telegrams from ministers of state institutions all formerly considered to be the cornerstones of the monarchy’s functioning.
These join earlier telegrams from the frontline, where the entire military supports Nicholas’ abdication.
The list of ministers for the new Provisional Government is announced. Alexander Kerensky is elected to represent the Petrosovet, while Nicholas Ckheidze decides not to join in after being offered the post of labor minister. Chkheidze, like Kerensky, is a Menshevik and until recently was chairman of the Petrosovet.
Ckheidze says that, while he supports an end to the monarchy, he would prefer if it wasn’t done under the banner of radical Bolshevism. He also recently voted to continue Russia’s involvement in the war.
The Petrosovet and the Duma Provisional Committee come to a consensus on the creation of a monitoring committee that would oversee the functioning of the new government.
Nicholas continues to receive telegrams from the frontlines. They are asking him to abdicate peacefully to avoid bloodshed.
News of Order no.1 is by now everywhere, and it is thought there is no point in trying to quell any uprising, particularly as Nicholas had already signed the decision to transfer power to a provisional government with Rodzianko as head.
The last of the Tsarskoe Selo garrison have switched sides, and now obey the orders of the Provisional Government, whose list of ministers is due to be read out later in the evening.
Heavy guns are being spotted by eyewitnesses outside Tsarskoe Selo, standing in formation.
Pavel Milyukov is appointed as Russia’s foreign minister, while General Alexander Guchkov is appointed minister for war.
Milyukov was a member on the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, to which he ascended earlier in February. He had changed political allegiances previously, but wanted the monarchy in place, albeit not with Nicholas, but with Alexei as tsar.
Izvestiya, the new pro-government newspaper, publishes Order no.1 – the Petrosovet’s first decree, sending the mutinying soldiers back to their barracks, but allowing them a choice of commander and unit representatives. The measure is thought to put their concerns at rest, as there were fears that the new head of government Rodzianko was too close to the tsar, and that the Order may be used as a tool to dismantle the rebellion.
All of Tsar Nicholas’ ministers have been taken into custody together with other political prisoners. They are being held at the Peter and Paul Fortress.
14 March 2017
A meeting at the Tauride Palace is underway, headed by the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, the representatives of the Petrosovet and others to decide on the future structure of the government. An 8-point plan for law enforcement and military is drafted, absolving the participants of the uprising of any sins against government.
At the same time, the Petrosovet ignores consultations with the Provisional Committee at the Duma, and drafts Order no.1, with which it seeks to bring the entire Petrograd military ultimately under its command, while also offering each garrison a choice of committee and representative.
The headquarters at Pskov receive a telegram timed to Nicholas’ arrival. The letter reads that Moscow is up in arms, and that any attempt to quell the uprising by force will in all likelihood lead to more bloodshed.
After dinner with the local command, Nicholas refuses to become a constitutional monarch, arguing that such a move is pointless, because he has a “duty to God,” and will not waver in surrendering the responsibility for running things to any sort of committee or democratically chosen official.
He does, however, agree to make Rodzianko prime minister and give him some choice of cabinet ministers.
The military’s marches on Petrograd and Moscow are halted as a decision is made not to press with crushing the revolution.
Nicholas’ train is in Pskov, where the headquarters of the northern front are located. There, he is met by an unwilling reception and a commander who has always harbored ill feelings toward the tsar. He tells Nicholas later that evening to “just surrender yourself to the mercy of the victor.”
Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich has arrived at the Duma with his personal guard. He is reportedly hoping to evade more bloodshed after Kronstadt.
But reports indicate it may be too late. Even as some lieutenants and admirals come in for detention of their own accord, sailors elsewhere have begun to carry out summary executions.
There are fears of mutinies spreading outside Petrograd. First reports are coming in of navy men and soldiers disobeying orders and mutinying, following the success at Kronstadt hours earlier.
Meanwhile, the scene at the Tauride Palace sees several of Nicholas’ remaining companies join up with the revolutionaries, including members of the Royal Convoy and Imperial Guard, as well as a company of gendarmes.
A second telegram from Moscow is received in Petrograd: “Moscow is in the midst of a total revolution.”
The head of the Office of the Commander in Chief receives a telegram from Moscow, informing him that the city is also experiencing a mutiny.
The Provisional Committee of the Duma – one of the two new governing bodies in Petrograd – has just received recognition from France and Great Britain.
The capital hears the news that Nicholas – who two days earlier set off from Mogilev in the direction of Tsarskoe Selo – has not reached his destination. The latest on this is that Nicholas’ train (and others that tried) has stopped at Malaya Vishera. An officer of the railway guard tells the royal train that all other stations on the way to Tsarskoe Selo are now in the hands of the uprising.
Admiral Wiren is confirmed as the executed official, while his deputy, Admiral Aleksandr Butakov, was also executed. Butakov was the commander at the Port of Kronstadt.
A crowd of servicemen at Kronstadt executes an admiral, reportedly by stabbing him to death with bayonets.
Trouble at Kronstadt, where sailors were thought to be unaware of the happenings in Petrograd. Some information of the chaos there has seeped through.
Several companies are refusing to obey orders.
13 March 2017
By 9pm Petrograd time, there are two official governments in Petrograd: the War Committee, headed by Engelgardt, and the Social Democrats’ own Committee. A decision has now been made between the two to work together and form a united body.
There is a mutiny ongoing in Tsarskoe Selo, the members of the garrison there say they no longer serve the monarchy.
The Navy command at Kronstadt earlier held an urgent meeting to discuss the turmoil in the capital. There is a direct line between the two. The command takes the decision to impose an information blockade from Petrograd, so as to prevent sailors at Kronstadt from mutinying. Everything is reportedly riding on the success of this decision.
Generals Khabalov, Belyaev and Balk are arrested in Petrograd as part of the sweeping changes started up by the revolutionary authorities. The only soldiers still loyal to the tsarist commanders are the elite guard, the private railway regiment, two companies of the tsar’s military entourage and some Winter Palace guards.
The country’s railway workers receive a telegram containing the following text:
“Railway men! The old rule, which has sown the seeds of collapse in all areas of the state's affairs, has proven powerless. The Committee of the State Duma has taken upon itself to form a new ruling body. The Fatherland now calls upon you to save your Home. The movement of trains must continue uninterrupted and with double the efficiency…”
This announcement reaches workers outside Russia’s major cities, marking this as the first instance that any word of the rebellion has spread beyond Moscow and Petrograd.
Rodzianko’s morning decisions are bearing fruit. He has given MP Bublikov control over the Transport Ministry as part of the Provisional Committee’s new authority. The Committee controls not just the railways, but has its own telegraph as well, separate from the one run by the Interior Ministry.
A decision is made to detain the former head of transportation.
First batch of revolutionary soldiers sets off for Tsarskoe Selo, where the Empress is currently.
Former Interior Minister Protopopov is currently under arrest. He reportedly showed up at the Tauride Palace around noon, and has been taken into custody.
Nicholas is reportedly in Orsh at the moment, somewhere between Mogilev and Tsarskoe Selo, where he has received a telegram asking him to confer the necessary powers to a relevant interim governing ministry.
Telegraph services are sluggish, traffic is delayed.
Word reaches Petrograd that Nichoas’ train had left Mogilev for Tsarskoe Selo as early as 5AM this morning.
Revolutionary authorities tally up the figures of the rebellion: by varying accounts, over 899 factories and close to 395,000 people across Petrograd are striking. More worryingly, there are reports that 127,000 soldiers have also joined up.
Khabalov vacates the Headquarters with the remainder of the soldiers, and is reportedly moving to the Zimny Dvorets (Winter Palace).
Sources say the rebellion has offered the general a choice: to leave the Headquarters of the Admiralty with his men, or face an attack from the fortress’s guns.
The rebels are meeting with General Khabalov; there are reports that an ultimatum is being laid down.
The Petropavlovskaya Fortress has been overrun by the rebellion, with its guards reportedly joining in the rioting masses.
The Petropavlovskaya Krepost (Peter and Paul Fortress) has been overrun by the rebellion, with its guards reportedly joining with the rioting masses.
Armed workers and soldiers have taken up positions at the Birzhevoy and Tuchkov bridges. Military sources say the rebels have removed the last of General Khabalov’s checkpoints and are now heading towards Vasilyevsky Island.
Sources say they came from the direction of Alexandrovsky Park. They were aided by the 180th Infantry Division, and their ranks were also joined by the Navy’s 2nd Baltic Company, as well as sailors from the Aurora, moored nearby.
The first issue of the Petrograd Soviet Izvestia (Petrograd Council Herald) is released.
By 10am, the Petrograd Soviet (or Petrosovet) is created. It follows on from the Central Military-Industrial Committee created by the Mensheviks in 1915.
Only two Bolsheviks are currently members of the 15-person council, and there are currently talks to extend the figure to 20 members.
Social Democrats Alexander Kerensky and Nikolay Chkheidze are chosen as representatives of the Petrosovet at the Duma.
The body will now be the governing body over all provisional committees being created.
Duke Golitsyn is removed from his post, making him the Russian Empire’s last official prime minister.
The Duma forms the Provisional Government, headed by Duke Lvov. It is the result of negotiations by the Provisional Committee of the State Duma and the Office of the Petrosovet.
Decision-making over how to proceed continues.
After the officer in charge of the Council of Worker-MPs creates a so-called rebel headquarters, the Interim Committee of the Duma creates the 'Duma War Committee' overnight that will be headed by Colonel B.A. Engelhardt.
In his first decision, Engelgardt gets Rodzyanko to sign an order to restore peace and bring Petrograd’s military under control. It contains three key provisions: for all lower rank officers to immediately return to their stations; for all officers to do the same and take immediate measures to restore order in their units; for all unit commanders to report to the new Duma to receive new orders at 11:00 this morning.
12 March 2017
At last, the Tsar, previously gripped by a demeanor of inaction many likened to psychological shock, finally responds with a string of orders - but is it too little, too late?
Duma chairman Mikhail Rodzianko sends Nicholas II his last warning, but in actual fact, evidence that the government has already lost.
General Khabalov was last seen making away with several loyal Volynsky officers. Reports indicate they are hiding out at the Offices of the Admiralty.
Petrograd is slowly being made aware of a new manifesto issued earlier by RSDRP, which calls for the creation of an interim revolutionary government, the implementation of democratic principles of rule, and a Republic, as well as an 8-hour work day. The manifesto further states that Russia should exit the war.
MPs are nervous that the protesters are beginning to target them. No one feels safe anymore.
All other government institutions have either been taken under the control of the mutineers or burned to the ground.
The headquarters of the secret police is destroyed.
The latest figure on mutinying servicemen is 67,000. A General is simply murdered.
The figure, meanwhile, continues to grow as reports come in. The situation is now officially a full-scale popular revolution.
According to Zeitlin and other senior figures, an effort is being mounted from inside to reverse the course of the rebellion by turning soldiers back. But, as the captain tweets, there is a “complete lack of leadership & organization from senior officers.”
Nearly all 600 men of the regiment have now been joined by three other regiments, bringing the total to several thousand. Police are no longer as willing as before to confront the mutineers. Word on the street is that anyone wearing a police uniform will be shot.
Armed soldiers with no commander are now commonplace. The afternoon issue of Novoe Vremya reports that the large crowd gathering downtown and started by the Volynsky men is now adding the police headquarters to their list of destroyed buildings. There are unconfirmed reports of several police officers dying in the process.
More barracks are “liberated” by soldiers.
First reports are coming in of soldiers shooting fellow army men.
Captain Zeitlin says the Volynsky regiment is no longer under anyone’s control. A mutinying Sergeant-Major has been determined to be behind the uprising.
Around 1,400 criminals are reportedly set free amid the chaos. It is said they also took part in burning down the court building.
Trouble at the Tauride Palace. Nicholas’ order to dissolve the Duma has the MPs fearing for tomorrow, it is being reported.
A crowd of several thousand soldiers has reached the palace; they reportedly want the Duma MPs out of office.
Inside, a gathering of legislators is said to be having an “informal meeting” where the ruling Council is reportedly electing an interim committee.
A fire breaks out at the District Court building downtown.
Around the same time, the enraged crowd – which now includes an increasing number of servicemen – is no longer just freeing soldiers and rescuing their cohorts from being targeted by the police; in their attacks on government buildings, they’ve now begun to target prisons.
News spreads that the mutinying Volynsky regiment is using force and coercion to get other regiments to join up. Information is leaked that a plan is being hatched to move in the direction of the headquarters of the Duma over at the Tauride Palace.
Khabalov is investigating the alleged desertions. Men under his command tell him there are “armed terrorists” dressed as officers who have infiltrated army and navy ranks. Their objective is allegedly to expedite the mutinying that has been underway for two days now.
Word spreads that Captain Lashkevich has died of his wounds. It is now unclear, however, who was behind the shooting. A version gaining traction is that Lashkevich was shot not by a soldier, but an outsider in disguise. The shooter allegedly hid in line early in the morning, choosing an opportune moment to step forward and take the shot.
Private Duma sessions that were being held in lieu of larger, more official gatherings, are dwindling in attendance as well. Senior figures are absent. MPs are showing no interest.
News of the mutiny has still not spread, but Novoe Vremya comes out with a report on the “inhumane” conditions the soldiers have to put up with in the barracks. It lists terrible living arrangements, including the fact that 160,000 men are forced to live in a space intended for 20,000.
The barracks are empty of officers. Half an hour ago, news came that Captain Lashkevich was reportedly shot by mutinying officers.
A mutiny has begun at the army barracks. The Volynsky regiment – which a day earlier opened fire on protesters at Znamensky Square – refuses to obey orders.
There are 600 men in the regiment.
The Empire’s fate hangs in the balance. The policemen and Cossacks are no longer enough to keep the crowds at bay. Word of desertions in Khabalov’s ranks spreads, which at 6AM (St. Petersburg time) are still short of a full mutiny. But Captain Zeitlin is wary.
11 March 2017
There are worrying reports that sniper fire is now commonplace. First reports came in late afternoon. According to local media, snipers are stationed on rooftops, while rebels on the ground are using handguns to fight.
Worse still, there are reports of troops shooting at each other. The scale of dissent remains unclear at this hour, according to Vremya.
Authorities note that cautionary warnings they’ve pasted across the capital are being taken down, presumably by protesters. The warnings concern the imposing of a state of emergency.
Authorities note that cautionary warnings they’ve pasted across the capital are being taken down, presumably by protesters. The warnings concern the imposing of a state of emergency.
General Khabalov reports on a grenade thrown at a gendarme company. An officer of the gendarmerie and his horse are reportedly wounded.
Scuffles begin between disparate groups of Cossacks and police. Word reaches Khabalov that Cossacks – who at the start of the revolt showed greater loyalty – are actually switching sides.
Reports are also coming in that ransacking and destruction of police headquarters in the volatile Vyborg area is now commonplace.
Police officers continue to carry out orders. They are reportedly hated by the demonstrators to the extent that they cannot join with the uprising, even if they want to. However, they are now beginning to be looked upon unfavorably by the Cossacks as well.
There is discord among police and the Cossack ranks. A shooting has reportedly taken place. Details are being ascertained, but eyewitnesses have told Novoe Vremya that a company of Cossacks have engaged in a shootout with police after several officers opened fire on a small group of demonstrators, also near Znamenskaya Square.
The estimate of the number of people revolting officially passes 306,000.
The Nevsky Prospekt crowd near the Gostiny Dvor trading area moves to Znamenskaya Square.
The Znamenskaya Square shooting is reported to have claimed the lives of 40 protesters. Some accounts indicate that a crowd of protesters tried to charge an outnumbered police squad. The police opened fire.
Upwards of 40 protesters sustain injuries – some life-threatening.
Shots fired on Znamenskaya Square, eyewitnesses tell local media. Female screams are heard. There is commotion in the area. Early reports indicate that dozens of demonstrators have been shot.
Other reports are coming in from Sadovaya Street, near the central Nevsky Prospekt and Ligovskaya Street, and on the corner of 1st Rozhdestvenskaya Street, as well as in the Suvorovsky district.
Trouble is brewing near Znamenskaya Square. Despite the bridges being raised yesterday, workers and demonstrators continue to make their way to the center over the ice across the Neva. A large section of the crowd is making its way toward army positions. Sources in the military say an armed confrontation is imminent.
Word comes in that the reinforcements Khabalov has asked for in the early morning hours have arrived.
Police sources tell local media that the organizers of the demonstrations have been appealing to anyone in the army not to take part in using force on the protesters, and to join the uprising.
General Khabalov sends a telegram to Nicholas to report on yesterday’s events. He tells the emperor that on the afternoon of March 10, “a crowd of workers gathered at Znamenskaya Square and Kazansky Cathedral had to be dispersed several times by police and the army.
“At about 17:00 revolutionary chants and songs were heard, and red flags raised, reading ‘To hell with the war!’… I have issued an order prohibiting mass gatherings in the streets under threat of the use of force.
“Today, as of the morning… the situation is calm.”
Public warnings appear on Petrograd walls.
“Any mass gatherings of people are prohibited. I am warning citizens that I have given an order to the military to use force to maintain order, and to terminate any threats with prejudice.”
The words are presumably Khabalov’s.
Arrests are continuing this morning. The number of people detained by police currently stands at 170, including five Bolsheviks thought to be key conspirators.
10 March 2017
A final meeting of the day is held among the joint military and police chiefs in Petrograd. The defense of Russia’s monarchy is crumbling. Mass desertions are being reported.
Earlier in the day, unnamed sources in the military tell local media there wasn’t any wonder Khabalov would fail to retain the men’s loyalties – the man “has no authority with the soldiers.”
Petrograd receives word that Nicholas has earlier today signed an executive order to disband the Duma until April. It is not yet clear if the MPs plan to follow suit, but unnamed sources tell Vremya that some have already been resolute, and do not see Nicholas’ orders as the law anymore.
By 7pm media can report with certainty that political and legislative power is now entirely in the hands of the members of the Vyborgsky district uprising – where the troubles started two days ago. RSDRP is now “toothless,” local newspapers report, citing Vremya.
Mass arrests continue. Lenin’s sister Anna Elizarova-Ulyanova is joined by five new members of the Petrograd RSDRP, including Aleksandr Skorokhodov, the party’s chairman.
General Khabalov receives word from Nicholas, demanding a situation report.
The Cossacks, who are reported to still be the most loyal, are hesitating when facing soldiers they used to fight alongside. Reports of insubordination continue to come in.
Khabalov’s military tallies up the number of demonstrations and the figures of participants for March 10: there was a total of 15 mass demonstrations in the downtown part of the capital. Adding to that were four separate rallies with crowd sizes exceeding 10,000 people.
Army barracks report more desertions. The soldiers are no longer running from the capital – they are now actively seeking to join up with the revolting crowds. The violence begins to increasingly look like it’s soldier against soldier, according to local reports.
Eyewitnesses report a scary sight: the ice of the River Neva has grown so thick it can now take whole armies without crumbling. A crowd of several thousand has been seen marching across the river, circumventing the checkpoints.
A telegram from Mogilev reaches Petrograd. The Tsar is outraged. It is still not clear just how much information was relayed to Nicholas about the chaos in Petrograd. There are now very few of his entourage left in Petrograd to ask, but he was reportedly told only yesterday that the situation has now turned into an all-out revolution.
“The chaos must be stopped by tomorrow,” the text reads.
The police checkpoints are having little effect, but too little to affect the situation in a major way, according to witnesses speaking to Novoe Vremya. Crowds are no longer reaching critical size thanks to the checks, but too many resources have already been thrown at the issue by the government.
There is another problem: the checkpoints were being placed in the morning at the Bolshoi Okhotinsky, Liteyny, Troitsky and Nikolaevsky bridge; it was thought that this would stop the out-of-towners from reaching downtown Petrograd. However, with the number of people taking part now exceeding 300,000, the plan does not work as intended – most of the outsiders had reached Nevsky Prospekt and other flashpoints by last night, police sources report.
An increasing number of protesters is marching under the motto of “To hell with the German!”, which refers to Nicholas’ wife, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna. The Empress has taken a somewhat dismissive view of the uprising from the outset, and has been very vocal with her opinions.
Scenes reminiscent of the French Revolution are taking place. An eyewitness tells local media that the workers are singing ‘The Marseillaise’.
Lines in front of dispensaries are unchanging. Witnesses report increased scenes where scuffles over bread turn violent, especially in dispensaries downtown.
The head of the Imperial Petrograd University, Ervin Grimm, is displeased with the students’ behavior. He begins to threaten mass expulsions as classes fail to start for the third day because of the mass absences.
Even more factories and plants are shuttering. The new figure stands at 421 factories. The number of striking workers, added to those making their way into Petrograd from the outskirts, is now around 300,000.
09 March 2017
Telegrams from the front line speak of increasing desertions, which are now in the thousands, though the exact figure is debated. At the same time, the Russian Empire’s Entente allies write that their worries of a disunited Russia “appear to be well founded.”
Germany’s underwater war effort reportedly sinks 79 Entente vessels.
Shots heard downtown. A man reportedly attacked a police officer, wgo was fatally wounded. More unconfirmed reports are coming in.
An emergency meeting is held for the city’s law enforcement. There are reports of a measure to set up police checkpoints.
Eyewitnesses report seeing increased police presence on the streets as the fighting reportedly wanes.
Word reaches Petrograd that the Provisional Government has gained the blessing of several Russian Dukes.
More than 230 factories are officially on strike. The capital is paralyzed.
There is word of more desertions. The Cossacks show the most bravery and loyalty.
Two men are killed in a street brawl over bread just off Nevsky Prospekt. The police tried to break up the fight, and an officer was wounded in the process.
An emergency meeting is held for the city’s law enforcement. There are reports of a measure to set up police checkpoints.
There are suggestions by the unions to start some form of special rations for the factory workers. The Novoe Vremya writes that there is a “chronic lack of organization,” threatening to enrage the starving people.
There are conflicting reports coming from the same paper – the pro-government Novoe Vremya (The New Times), which has resorted to publishing both accounts of the bread crisis, including ones from the Duma. General Khabalov says in a statement that “There shouldn’t be any bread shortages. If in some places that is the case, it is only because some people cheated and got extras to store and dry. Rye flour exists in ample quantities in Petrograd, and its delivery continues unabated.”
The Vremya publishes the following account of the crisis by the working classes as a counterweight to what Khabalov is saying:
“The fight against the food crisis hits hardest those who toil day in and day out in plants and factories, and has no time to stand in endless lines at the dispensaries. It follows then that it is they, who do the hardest work, who are stripped of all the food – and that is despite the recent increases in pay.”
Food prices soar, according to Petrograd media. The crisis engulfs not just flour, but vegetables as well. One pood of potatoes is now one ruble. Onions stand at eight. Other vegetables, such as cabbage, approach butter and cream values.
Lawmakers debate what to do with the bread situation, but only name-calling can be heard, no solutions. According to Russkie Vedomosti, the system of a quarter loaf of bread per one individual announced a day earlier has now commenced.
There are voices in the army now critical of Khabalov’s command, perhaps undeservedly. Newspapers tell of a lack of overall faith in the monarchy among army ranks, which pro-government commentators say has nothing to do with Khabalov’s command. 552 desertions are reported.
The military is feeling the repercussions of ‘Order no.1.’ Nowhere is this felt more than at home, in Petrograd. Desertions have begun. Soldiers complain of losing faith.
Between 160,000 and 250,000 are out in the streets of Petrograd, by varying accounts. They demand a leader that the entire people can get behind. As the morning progresses, the violence only increases in scale. “To hell with the monarchy” and “To hell with the war” are now the mottos.
The revolution is in its second day. Fighting is confined to the capital, but strikers from outside Petrograd have also joined in. Nicholas’ army has sustained heavy losses. Armed clashes continue.
08 March 2017
Petrograd is completely paralyzed as the Vyborgsky district clashes now spread to the rest of the city. By the end of the day, a new tallying up of the figures taking part in the revolt puts the masses at 128,000 people, most of them workers.
Authorities fear the number of striking factories and individuals will only grow come March 9.
Khabalov orders that the Cossacks be compensated 50 kopeks each to get new whips for their horses.
Another decision is made: that the military is now in charge of the security situation.
Another meeting is held, this time between the various sections of the Petrograd law enforcement, all of whom are under Khabalov’s command. According to a report by Petrograd Mayor Alexander Balk, not all companies have shown equal readiness (or willingness) to deal with an enraged crowd. The 1st Donskoy Cossack company is being accused of being particularly slow, owing to a lack of training in facing down large crowds in urban settings.
At the start of the day, the city commanded some 160,000 loyal troops with the military. The police numbered some 3,500 officers, and the Cossacks only about several hundred. However, shortly after midday, just the striking population in Petrograd already numbered more than 90,000 people with nothing to lose.
The question remains – will the Bolsheviks have enough means of mobilizing power to galvanize the entire country into a rebellion? Victory is still not won. Not until Nicholas’s forces completely abandon their posts and loyalties.
A strategy is decided upon by the RSDRP (Russian Social Democratic Labor Party) to aim for maximum involvement of all workers, particularly in the Vyborgsky district, where the uprising started.
The strategy agreed upon at the meeting is to plan for more strikes in the coming days, to increase subversive activities – including attempts to get more of Petrograd’s law enforcement on the workers’ side.
The Petrograd Bolsheviks have received a directive to work on two key aims and mottos for the continuing rallies: the overthrow of the monarchy and an end to Russian involvement in the war.
Not all factories joined in the uprising voluntarily. Khabalov’s forces say that key factories in the strike have been “using force” on their colleagues from other factories, getting them to join in.
Nicholas’s entourage is leaving Petrograd en masse. Word is only a few doctors, teachers and close confidantes remain in the capital.
Downtown Petrograd’s streets run red with the blood of the rebellion and the officers sent to crush it. Many people contemplate going home and staying out of trouble, but say they have nowhere else to be because the situation is dire – and it is either about fighting now, or disappearing into obscurity.
Young students are increasingly seen out on the streets. Petrograd university classes have stopped in solidarity with the protesters.
The students try to assist the wounded by providing food, water and first aid.
General Sergey Khabalov, the Commander of the Petrograd Military District, who is in control of security in the capital, dispatches more officers to quell what is now an all-out uprising. Workers from the Petrograd suburbs have now joined up.
There are plans to hold an evening meeting of the city’s law enforcement in order to decide how to proceed with guarding peace in the capital, which by this hour is all but gone.
Word spreads that the Tsar is in Mogilev, instead of the capital. Petrograd police are made aware of the telegram the Empress has sent to her husband: “If we give in by even an iota, there will be no King, Russia itself will cease to exist, nothing will remain! We need to be tough and show that we are the masters of the situation!”
There is word that factory workers from Rosencrantz, Eriksson, Russky Reno and Feniks are also in the crowd, as news spreads across Petrograd that production at nearly all factories in town employing women has all but stopped, although this has been suspected since morning.
By varying accounts, the number of factories now on strike stands at 50, which puts the number of total people on strike at around 97,000.
By now, previous crowd estimates almost double, as men who have earlier been taking part in scuffles with Cossacks and police elsewhere have now partially joined up with the crowd stream from the factories. According to varying estimates, the number of participants in the initial march far surpasses 3,000 people.
The women’s demonstration marching down Liteyny Prospekt merges with other factory workers from the Stary Lessner, Novy Lessner and Ayvaz plants. The crowd now numbers more than 1,000.
Tsar Nicholas’s train arrives in Mogilev. The job of guarding the estate at Tsarskoe Selo, outside Petrograd, is left to his Private Guard, Private Convoy and the special officers assigned to guard the estate. Until the previous night, the Tsar was being told by Interior Minister Protopopov that the situation in Petrograd had been taken under control.
It becomes apparent this is far from true, based on conflicting reports the Tsar receives.
1st and 4th Cossack companies clash with an angry crowd downtown. One police officer is badly beaten by several protesters.
A group of 10 men fight with five policemen in an alleyway. There are casualties. Whoever is wounded runs the risk of a slow and painful death. Bodies lie strewn on the streets of downtown Petrograd.
An order is given to dispatch Cossack and police battalions after word reaches the Winter Palace. What started out largely as a Female Workers’ Day demonstration grows into citywide unrest.
Over at the Toroshilovsky factory, a crowd of several hundred women begin their march through the center of Petrograd. Women from other factories join up, including the famed Stary Parviainen factory.
The grain and meat supply chain has been disrupted in the city, the people of Petrograd are enraged, and more businesses stop work. Factory workers mount strikes elsewhere.
Just days after the Putilovsky factory strike, the women of Petrograd factories hold one of the largest demonstrations witnessed during the revolution. Toroshilovsky factory workers stop their machines. Production at the factory stops as a large stream of female workers set off on a march in downtown Petrograd.