The course of the revolution

"Nicholas the Bloody to the Peter and Paul Fortress" Manifestation of soldiers

On February 23 (March 8) there was a revolutionary explosion that marked the beginning of the February Revolution. The Petrograd Bolsheviks used the celebrated International Women's Day for rallies and meetings against the war, the high cost and the plight of workers. They were especially violent on the Vyborg side, spontaneously developing into strikes and revolutionary demonstrations, which set the entire proletarian Petrograd in motion. From the outskirts of the workers, the columns of demonstrators headed for the city center, broke through to Nevsky Prospekt, and here merged into a single revolutionary stream. More than 128,000 workers went on strike that day. The revolutionary initiative of the masses was taken up by the Bolsheviks. They brought consciousness and organization into the rapidly growing movement. The Russian Bureau of the Central Committee and the St. Petersburg Committee gave the party organizations a directive: to develop the movement that had begun as much as possible. Late in the evening a meeting of the leading collective of the Petrograd Bolsheviks was held in the Vyborg district, which recognized the need to continue and expand the strike, organize new demonstrations, intensify agitation among the soldiers, and take measures to arm the workers. The meeting recommended that two main slogans be put forward: the overthrow of the monarchy and the cessation of the imperialist war, suggested that "all comrades come to the enterprises in the morning and, without starting work, after a flying meeting, bring as many workers as possible to a demonstration." In the following days, rallies and flying meetings were held at the enterprises of Petrograd in the morning, workers under the leadership of the Bolsheviks took to the streets and joined the ranks of the demonstrators. The Bolsheviks lacked the strength to organizationally embrace this entire revolutionary stream, but the movement developed under the direct ideological influence of the Bolshevik Party, its slogans became the slogans of the insurgent workers and soldiers.

On February 24, workers from 224 Petrograd enterprises took part in the strikes, and the number of strikers rose to 214,000. Strikes and political actions began to grow into a general political demonstration against tsarism.

On February 25, a general political strike began, which paralyzed the life of the city. On the evening of February 25, General Khabalov received an order from the tsar to immediately end the unrest in the capital. The city was declared under a state of siege. Additional units were called to Petrograd, and on February 26, bloody clashes with the police and troops took place in a number of districts of the city. On the same day, a large demonstration of workers was shot at Znamenskaya Square; the police made mass arrests in various public organizations and political parties. On the night of February 26, the secretary of the St. Petersburg Committee of the RSDLP A.K. Skorokhodov and a member of the St. Petersburg Committee A.N. Vinokurov and E.K. Eizenshmidt were arrested. On behalf of the Russian Bureau of the Central Committee, the functions of the Petersburg Committee were temporarily performed by the Vyborg District Committee. The proletariat intensified its struggle for the masses of soldiers. In the leaflet "Brothers soldiers!" the Bolsheviks urged them to support the workers, to strengthen the "fraternal alliance between the army and the people." On the evening of February 26, the 4th company of the reserve battalion of the Pavlovsky Guards Regiment rebelled, opening fire on the policemen who were shooting the workers. The transition of the army to the side of the revolution began.

Chairman of the Duma M. V. Rodzianko telegraphed the tsar: The situation is serious. Anarchy in the capital. The government is paralyzed...

In the conditions of the revolution that had actually begun, the bourgeoisie continued to bargain with the tsar and sought to wrest from him consent to the "ministry of trust." But the tsar ordered a break in the work of the Duma from February 26, 1917.

On February 27, the general political strike developed into an armed uprising, the revolutionary actions of the workers joined forces with the movement of the masses of soldiers. The first to rise that day were the soldiers of the training team of the Volynsky regiment, then the soldiers of the Preobrazhensky and Lithuanian regiments. On the morning of February 27, over 10 thousand soldiers joined the uprising, in the afternoon - over 25 thousand, by the evening - about 67 thousand, at the end of the next day - 127 thousand, and on March 1 - 170 thousand, that is, the entire garrison of Petrograd. The soldiers of the Petrograd garrison stood up under the banner of the revolution. By joint efforts, on February 27, armed workers and soldiers almost completely captured Petrograd. Bridges, railway stations, the Main Arsenal, the telegraph office, the Main Post Office, and the most important government institutions passed into their hands. Police stations were destroyed and prisons seized, political prisoners were released, and arrests of tsarist ministers began. General Khabalov, with a small number of troops, tried to fortify himself in the Admiralty building, but on February 28 (March 13) he was forced to capitulate. The last bastions of tsarism fell: the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Winter Palace. The tsar's attempt to organize a punitive expedition led by General N.I. Ivanov failed. The ministers of the last tsarist government were arrested and soon imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. The revolution won in the capital.

At about 2 pm, thousands of soldiers came to the Taurida Palace, where the State Duma was meeting, and occupied all its corridors and the surrounding area. The Duma faced a choice either to join the uprising and try to control the movement, or to perish along with tsarism. Under these conditions, the State Duma decided to formally obey the tsar's decree on the dissolution of the Duma, but by decision of a private meeting of deputies, it created a Provisional Committee of the State Duma at about 17:00, chaired by the Octobrist M. Rodzianko, by co-opting 2 deputies from each faction. On the night of February 28, the Provisional Committee announced that it was taking power into its own hands.

After the insurgent soldiers came to the Tauride Palace, the deputies of the left factions of the State Duma and representatives of the trade unions created the Provisional Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies in the Tauride Palace. He distributed leaflets to factories and soldier units with a call to choose their deputies and send them to the Taurida Palace by 19 o'clock, 1 deputy from every thousand workers and from each company. The Bolsheviks sought to lead the movement to create Soviets. Thus, the Vyborg District Committee organized an initiative group for elections to the Soviets of Workers' Deputies, which addressed the workers and soldiers with a proclamation: The desired hour has come. The people take power into their own hands... First of all, choose deputies, let them get in touch with each other. Let a Council of Deputies be created under the protection of the troops

At 9 pm, meetings of workers' deputies opened in the left wing of the Tauride Palace and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies was created, headed by the Menshevik Chkheidze and Trudovik A.F. Kerensky, deputy chairman of the Executive Committee. The Petrograd Soviet included representatives of the socialist parties (Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries and Bolsheviks), trade unions and non-party workers and soldiers. The Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries played a decisive role in the Soviet. The Soviet enjoyed the unconditional support of the insurgent workers and soldiers, the real power was in its hands. He set about creating a workers' militia and the formation of district organs of people's power. But the revolutionary activity of the Soviet was hindered by the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries.

February 28 - an uprising began in Moscow, which was joined by the night by the 1st reserve, artillery brigade, and then other military units. The Chairman of the Provisional Committee, Rodzianko, is negotiating with the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Alekseev, on the support of the Provisional Committee from the army, and is also negotiating with Nicholas II in order to prevent a revolution and overthrow the monarchy.

The Petrograd Soviet draws up "Order No. 1"

March 1 - The Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies renamed itself the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. On the same day, despite the protest of the Bolsheviks, the executive committee of the Soviet decided to give the Provisional Committee the right to form a government. The Council also issued Order No. 1 on the Petrograd garrison. With this order, he revolutionized the army and won its political leadership (soldiers' committees were created in all parts of the garrison, they were given control of weapons, discipline outside the ranks was abolished, class titles were abolished when addressing officers and the appeal to "you" to soldiers, the general appeal "Mr. "). Order number 1 eliminated the main components of any army - hierarchy and discipline. By this order, the Soviet subordinated the Petrograd garrison in resolving all political issues and deprived the Provisional Committee of the opportunity to use the army in its own interests. The Provisional Committee, in turn, seeks support from the leadership of the army and the generals.

On the same day in Moscow, the work detachments created at the enterprises seized weapons and, with the help of soldiers, by the evening occupied the key points of the city - the Kremlin, Arsenal, railway stations, bridges, the State Bank, arrested the mayor and the governor. The first meeting of the Moscow Soviet of Workers' Deputies took place.

On March 2, the Provisional Committee sent its representatives A. I. Guchkov and V. V. Shulgin to the Headquarters. As a result of negotiations, Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on March 2 both for himself and for his young son Alexei in favor of his younger brother Mikhail Alexandrovich. On the same day, the Plenum of the Petrograd Soviet approved the decision of the Executive Committee on the formation of the Government Duma by the Provisional Committee. A bourgeois Provisional Government headed by Prince G. E. Lvov was immediately formed.

On March 3, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Romanov, following his brother, renounced the throne and transferred all power to the Provisional Government. Dual power arose: official power was in the hands of the Provisional Government, and actual power in the capital was in the hands of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

During March the revolution triumphantly spread throughout the country. The process of democratization of the army unfolded, soldiers' committees arose at the front and in the rear. The revolution engulfed the national outskirts of Russia.

Main results

The overthrow of the autocracy and the establishment of dual power

The main result of the February Revolution was a change in the form of government. Russia turned from a monarchy into a republic. The centuries-old regime of autocracy collapsed; The three-hundred-year-old throne of the Romanov dynasty collapsed. Rapidly developing new classes entered the political arena of the country: the Russian bourgeoisie and the proletariat. In the course of the revolution, organs of new power were born in the bowels of each class.

On the one hand, the Provisional Government formed from the Provisional Committee of the State Duma reflected the interests of the capitalists, manufacturers and landowners. On the other hand, throughout the country, workers and peasants created their own bodies of power. During March, 600 Soviets arose: workers' deputies, workers' and soldiers' deputies, soldiers' deputies, peasant deputies.

Thus, the result of the overthrow of the autocracy was the emergence of dual power between the Provisional Government ("power without power") and the Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies ("power without power"). Their struggle determined the entire subsequent period of Russian political life and ended with the victory of Soviet power in October 1917.

Change of political regime

The old state bodies were abolished. On October 6, 1917, by its decree, the Provisional Government dissolved the State Duma in connection with the proclamation of Russia as a republic and the start of elections to the All-Russian Constituent Assembly.

The State Council of the Russian Empire was dissolved.

The Provisional Government formed an Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the malfeasance of tsarist ministers and senior officials.

On March 12, a Decree was issued on the abolition of the death penalty, which was replaced in especially serious criminal cases with 15 years of hard labor.

On March 18, an amnesty was announced for those convicted on criminal grounds. 15,000 prisoners were released from places of detention. This caused a surge in crime in the country.

On March 18-20, a series of decrees and resolutions were issued to abolish religious and national restrictions.

Restrictions in the choice of place of residence, property rights were abolished, complete freedom of occupation was proclaimed, women were equalized in rights with men.

The Ministry of the Imperial Court was gradually liquidated. The property of the former imperial house, members of the royal family - palaces with artistic values, industrial enterprises, lands, etc. in March-April 1917 became the property of the state.

Decree "On the establishment of the police". Already on February 28 in Petrograd, the police were de facto abolished and the people's militia was formed. 40,000 people's militia guarded enterprises and urban areas instead of 6,000 policemen. Detachments of the people's militia were also created in other cities. Subsequently, along with the people's militia, fighting workers' squads (the Red Guard) also appeared. According to the adopted resolution, uniformity was introduced into the already created detachments of the workers' militia, the limits of their competence were established.

Decree on Assemblies and Unions. All citizens could form unions and hold meetings without restrictions. There were no political motives for closing the unions; only the court could close the union.

The uprising of the Petrograd garrison, which brought victory to the February Revolution, began with a mutiny in the reserve battalion of the Volynsky Life Guards Regiment.

But how could this happen?

After all, the Life Guards Volynsky was the most disciplined in the Russian army!

He stood out even against the background of other regiments of the 3rd Guards Infantry Division - famous for its "hard labor" discipline and exemplary appearance of a soldier 1 .

"hard labor" division

Discipline in the soldiers of the 3rd Guards was forged at every turn. For this, they sought from them an exemplary appearance, perfect combat training and steadfast observance of internal order. After all, accustoming to accuracy in trifles, learning to do only what is necessary, and only when it is necessary, a person learns to follow the established rules, to subordinate his will to someone else's.

“Strictness - neither gasp nor sigh; you can’t stretch your legs without the permission of the authorities,” wrote one of those who got into the reserve battalion of the Life Guards of the Lithuanian Regiment in September 1914. “If you want to go to the restroom, go with a report to the detached corporal. [.. .]

Boots in fact do not shine - the outfit is out of turn. The buttons are dull - the outfit.

Klyamor does not shine - walk with a goose step "2.

Yes, in the 3rd Guards they were forced to clean the bracket (clasp) of the waist belt that was not even visible under the badge. And the main teachers of the soldiers - non-commissioned officers and corporals - also used "methods of training and education not provided for by the regulations of that time" 3 .

“Some walk at a goose step”, “others run around the stable with caps, with belts, with bowlers, with mugs, with footcloths, with socks, with boots in their teeth” - and all, “trying to outshout each other, yell:

I'm a fool! I'm a fool! I'm a fool!

That's how they clean the clay! That's how they clean the clay!

I'm a badass! I'm a fool!" 4

After such training, people carried out orders automatically.

Which is what was required.

Indeed, in combat, a person turns on a powerful instinct for self-preservation. To suppress it, consciousness may not be enough for many. This is where the habit will help out without hesitation, automatically, almost instinctively, to follow orders.

So, in the Volynsky Life Guards, discipline was forged even more persistently than in other regiments of the "hard labor" division.

"Iron" regiment

"Special distinctness - decisively in everything: in saluting, marching, rifle techniques, in every movement - always and everywhere singled out Volintsev," an officer of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment admitted in 1930 5 .

The Volynians managed to maintain this distinctness in the First World War - when the regiment changed its rank and file more than once. "A firm, as in a parade, step, perfect alignment, a special wave of the hand [back to failure. - Auth.], by which the Sovereign recognized our soldiers even when they, having been transferred to another regiment, wore a different uniform. Thin lines bayonets, strictly aligned in rows in a horizontal and vertical plane, completely motionless ... " 6 This is how the Volynians passed in front of the authorities as early as July 15, 1916, on the march in the front line.

The regiment naturally fought, not paying attention to death. Seeing in July 1916 on the cuffs of Russian tunics a yellow braid (3rd Guards Infantry Division), and on the slats, along the cut, dark green (the fourth regiment of the division, i.e. Volynsky Life Guards), the captured Germans perked up: " Ah, I’m familiar with the regiment [regiment (German). - Auth.] ... Zelazny regiment ... "7

And this is just seven months before the historic riot.

"Discipline was visible in everything and manifested itself at every step," - so, according to the memoirs of the then regiment commander, it was back in February 1917 8 .

In just a few days...

Lashkevich and "Murdoboy"

And in the reserve battalion of such a unit, a training team rebelled! The one where non-commissioned officers were trained - those who themselves had to discipline the soldiers! And even with such a head of the training team as staff captain Ivan Stepanovich Lashkevich ...

Suffice it to say about this "girlishly ruddy, with a round Russian face and clear, kind, large gray eyes" 9 officer, who turned 26 in February, that he is a former sergeant major of the Alexander Military School.

This is a brand.

This means - a great drill and a mercilessly demanding boss.

Only such junkers were appointed to the post of sergeant major (in Soviet - foremen). After all, it was the sergeant major, the direct head of all the cadets of his company, who was responsible for order in it.

According to a number of officers of the Volyn regiment, as well as Colonel M.N. Levitov (already in the summer of 1917 he communicated with the ranks of the reserve battalion), the instigator of the riot, senior non-commissioned officer Timofei Ivanovich Kirpichnikov, also had a "reputation for a strict boss". The soldiers even nicknamed him "Fighting" 10 .

A smile of fate: on the night of February 26, Lashkevich appointed Kirpichnikov as a sergeant major of the 1st company (a few days before, two companies were formed from the ranks of the main training team to suppress possible unrest) - instead of the urgently "ill" lieutenant Lukin. From the story of "Mordoboy" about further events, it can be seen that Lukin's main position, the sergeant major of the main training team, also passed to him (there were two more preparatory and additional).

Lashkevich's decision became fatal - both for his personal fate and for the fate of Russia.

Murder before formation

On February 24-26, both companies dispersed demonstrators on Znamenskaya Square (now Vosstaniya Square).

According to Kirpichnikov's later recorded story, he quietly ordered the soldiers to aim over their heads, and on the night of the 26th he suggested to the non-commissioned officers of both companies not to shoot at all. On the evening of the 26th, he called the commanders of platoons and sections of the main training team and proposed that they refuse to pacify the riots altogether.

They agreed. They instructed their soldiers 11 . And on the morning of February 27, the team built for the arrival of Lashkevich defiantly and grossly violated discipline.

According to Kirpichnikov, the team shouted "Hurrah!" after the staff captain greeted him. According to Konstantin Pazhetnykh, who was in the ranks, this was the answer to Lashkevich's greeting to the team.

To Lashkevich's question: "What does this mean?" junior non-commissioned officer Mikhail Markov answered, and it became clear that the team had rebelled. The order to shoot (according to the Pazhetnykhs - Lashkevich's orders in general) will not be carried out by people, Markov said.

And, taking the rifle "on hand", directed the bayonet at the staff captain.

The next minute the rioters demanded that Lashkevich leave 12 .

And when he appeared in the courtyard, Markov and Corporal Orlov 13 shot him from the windows - and killed him outright.

(According to the officer, who later questioned the soldiers, the team twice responded with silence to the greeting of their chief: after that, Lashkevich himself went out, and Kirpichnikov shot him 14. But can the testimony of two eyewitnesses be rejected?)

After the assassination, Kirpichnikov persuaded the non-commissioned officers of the preparatory teams to join the main training team. And when they went out into the street, the 4th company joined them without any persuasion.

undertreated

It is quite understandable that the Volynians did not want to shoot at the demonstrators at all. He asks for his own, Russian, bread - is this a rebel?

But to refuse to follow orders...

Here, first of all, it came back to me that the soldiers and most of the "non-commissioned officers" of the reserve battalion did not experience the Volyn drill in full.

Almost all the old-timers died by October 1916, by February they were left in miserable crumbs. "Volyntsy" of the 3rd company of the reserve battalion - who refused to shoot at the demonstrators on February 26, 15 - are recruits who have not served even 6 weeks! The same in the 1st and 2nd companies.

The soldiers of the 4th company and the people of Lashkevich were drilled at the most for two to five months. The front-line past also prevented these latter from automatically carrying out orders to shoot at demonstrators.

They were in the reserve battalion for the second time.

In between were the front and the wound.

And not just a front, but offensive battles in August - September 1916 in the Vladimir-Volyn direction. Those who went through this meat grinder were no longer afraid of much. There will be no more terrible German front! It is no coincidence that they rebelled first in the battalion.

Soldiers-front-line soldiers of the beginning of 1917 were at least not afraid to talk.

And how can one not argue here, if by the evening of the 26th the inaction of the authorities became noticeable?

Staff Captain A.V. Tsurikov lets the demonstrators go to Znamenskaya with a gesture.

And captain P.N. Gaiman silently swallowed the 2nd Preparatory Training Team's refusal to fire on the crowd streaming across the Liteiny Bridge to 16 Liteiny Prospekt.

Actually, a dozen or two 17 passionaries like Kirpichnikov and Markov ensured the success of the uprising. After all, many Volynians did not want to rebel.

collapse

Part of one of the Volyn companies - stationed in the barracks of the Life Guards of the 1st Artillery Brigade on Baskova Street (now Korolenko Street) - rested even at noon on February 27. She returned to the barracks in an organized manner, when Colonel A.P. Kutepov assured her that they would not shoot her 18 .

But in the center of the revolt, in the southeastern part of the Tauride barracks, at the end of Vilensky Lane, the way back was cut off for many by the shots of Markov and Orlov.

Now either go to the end - or be shot. For participating in a riot aggravated by the murder of an officer.

There is nothing to lose!

"On the shoulder-cho! Step march!" - Kirpichnikov commanded, and the training teams with the 4th company moved along Vilensky to the nearby barracks of the 18th engineer battalion - to raise the other Volyn companies stationed there.

"Muldoboy" was informed that machine guns were posted ahead, and, not even reaching Fontannaya, he deployed a detachment. Never mind, let's go the other way and turn left, onto Front Street. We will raise the reserve battalions of the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky and the Life Guards of the Lithuanian regiments stationed in the Taurida barracks.

There is nothing to lose! - and, breaking in from the Parade, with firing and shouting "Hurrah!" into the courtyard of the Tauride barracks, soldiers with dark green buttonholes with yellow piping on their greatcoats "fought" for an hour and a half to rebel the soldiers with red and yellow 20 .

Those also found Kirpichnikovs - senior non-commissioned officer Fedor Kruglov raised the 4th company of the reserve battalion of the Preobrazhenians. People were tied with blood here too: the Volynians stabbed the head of the Preobrazhensky workshops, army lieutenant colonel Bogdanov 21 ...

The crowd of thousands of rebels, which had become thousands of people, passed Front Street and turned left, onto Kirochnaya - to raise other units!

There is nothing to lose!

Having turned onto Preobrazhenskaya (now Radishcheva Street), Kirpichnikov raised (already easily!) a reserve company of the Life Guards of the Sapper Regiment.

At the corner of Kirochnaya and Znamenskaya (now Vosstaniya Street), the troublemakers mutinied the 6th reserve engineer battalion, killing its commander, Colonel V.K. von Goering.

Further along Kirochnaya, at the corner of Nadezhdinskaya (now Mayakovsky Street), the Petrograd gendarmerie division lodged. The gendarmes were also taken out into the street, followed by the cadets of the Petrograd school of ensigns of the engineering troops located obliquely.

"Well, guys, now the work has begun!" - Kirpichnikov uttered with relief.

"Go work!"

Indeed, crowds of demonstrators have already joined the soldiers. The building of the District Court was already burning at the corner of Liteiny and Shpalernaya - part of the divided mass of the rebels penetrated there as well. The police have already been arrested and killed. The emissaries of members of the State Duma - who decided to seek the abdication of the tsar - were already leading groups of soldiers to the Tauride Palace, where the Duma members had gathered ...

The unrest turned into the February Revolution.

1. Aramilev V.V. In the smoke of war Notes of a Volunteer. 1914-1917 years. M., 2015. S. 26; Fomin B. Behind Stokhod // Military Historical Bulletin. No. 17. Paris, 1961. S. 31.
2. Aramilev V.V. Decree. op. P. 26. The regiment was not named as a memoirist, but references to yellow overcoat buttonholes, lieutenant Zarembo-Rantsevich and an indirect message about the former camp of the regiment in Warsaw clearly point to the Lithuanian Life Guards.
3. Gerua A.V. Memoirs of the regiment commander // Bulletin of Volynets (Belgrade). No. 5. January 15, 1931. S. 5.
4. Aramilev V.V. Decree. op. pp. 59-60.
5. Khodnev D. To the Volyn brothers // Bulletin of Volynets (Belgrade). No. 3. February 20, 1930. S. 6.
6. Kulikov V.Ya. Battle on Stokhod // Bulletin of Volynets (Belgrade). No. 4. August 16, 1930. S. 4.
7. Ibid. C. 3.
8. Kushakevich A. The first days of the revolution at the front L. Guards. Volyn regiment // Bulletin of Volynets (Belgrade). N 10/11. October 1, 1933, p. 17.
9. Gerua A. Memoirs of the regiment commander // Roll call. Body of the current communication of the Society. Officers L. Guards. Volynsky Regiment (Brussels). No. 6. August 1937, p. 24.
10. Levitov. From General Kiriyenko's promise to tell the whole truth "as in confession, before Holy Communion," to his distortion of facts and deliberate lies. My objections to General Kirienko // Answer to Kirienko's book "1613. From honor and glory - to meanness and shame of February 1917." Collection of articles by members of the Association of ranks of the Kornilov Shock Regiment. Paris, 1965. S. 43.
11. Kirpichnikov T.I. The uprising of the life guards of the Volynsky regiment in February 1917 // The collapse of tsarism. Memoirs of participants in the revolutionary movement in Petrograd (1907 - February 1917). L., 1986. S. 302-307.
12. Ibid. pp. 309-310; History of the Civil War in the USSR. T. 1. Preparation of the Great Proletarian Revolution. (From the beginning of the war to the beginning of October 1917). M., 1935. S. 100-101.
13. History of the Civil War in the USSR. T. 1. S. 101.
14. Volynets. The first shot of the February Revolution // Military story (Paris). 1963. October. N 63. S. 46.
15. Bolshevization of the Petrograd garrison in 1917. Collection of documents and materials. L., 1932. S. 33.
16. Ibid. pp. 33-34.
17. Ganelin R.Sh., Solovieva Z.B. Memoirs of T.I. Kirpichnikov as a source on the history of the February Revolutionary Days in 1917 in Petrograd // Working class of Russia, its allies and political opponents in 1917. L., 1989. S. 189.
18. The first days of the revolution in Petrograd. (Excerpts from the memoirs of A.P. Kutepov) // General A.P. Kutepov. Memories. Memoirs. Mn., 2004. S. 163-165.
19. Volynets. Decree. op. S. 46.
20. Kirpichnikov T.I. Decree. op. S. 311.
21. The first days of the revolution in Petrograd. pp. 158-159; Zubov Yu.V. Life Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. With a regiment of grandfathers and great-grandfathers in the great war of 1914-1917. M., 2014. S. 183.
22. Kirpichnikov T.I. Decree. op. S. 311.

Final work on the topic: February and October revolutions in Russia. Option 1.
1. The February revolution in Petrograd began:
1) February 23, 1917 2) February 25, 1917 3) February 28, 1917
2. The reason for the start of mass demonstrations in the city were:
1) demonstration of workers in honor of the International Day;
2) demonstration of soldiers against the planned major performance;
3) demonstrations by members of the Progressive Bloc in favor of convening the Duma.
3. Soldiers of the Petrograd garrison during the revolution:
1) opposed the elders; 2) declared their neutrality; 3) went over to the side of the rebels.
4. By the decision of the Executive Committee of the Petrosoviet of October 12, 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee was created. Its leader was...
1) L.D. Trotsky 2) V.I. Lenin 3) V. Antonov - Avseenko 4) P.E. Dybenko.
5. By March 1917 Two bodies of power were formed in Petrograd:
1) the V State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet;
2) the Soviet of Peasants' Deputies and the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies;
3) The Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.
6. The provisional government was:
1) proletarian power; 2) bourgeois power; 3) peasant power.
7. The first chairman of the Provisional Government was:
1) G.E. Lviv;
2) G.E. Guchkov;
3) A.F. Kerensky.
8. In July 1917, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the Soviet gave the Provisional Government consent to the arrest of Lenin. What were Lenin, Zinoviev and other Bolsheviks accused of?
1) that they were preparing an attempt on the life of Kerensky
2) that they were Freemasons.
3) in espionage in favor of Germany, in receiving money from the German government and organizing a rebellion on July 4, 1917.
9. The following became the Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet:
1) V.I. Lenin;
2) A.F. Kerensky
3) N.S. Chkheidze.
10. Common goals for the provisional government and the Petrograd Soviet include
1) the transfer of landowners' lands to the peasants;
2) democratization of the country;
3) ending the war.
11. Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet introduced:
1) the dictatorship of the proletariat;
2) democratization of the army;
3) convocation of the Constituent Assembly.
12. What was contained in the April theses: 1) a course towards an armed uprising 2) a course towards a peaceful seizure of power
3) support for the Provisional Government; 4) the assassination of Kerensky.
13. Nicholas II abdicated in favor of:
1) son Alexei;
2) brother Michael.
3) the Constituent Assembly.
14. The February Revolution led to:
1) acceptance of the democratic revolution;
2) the destruction of the monarchy;
3) the formation of a socialist state.
15. The April crisis of the Provisional Government was associated with:
1) with Milyukov's note on the continuation of the war;
2) with a decree on the dissolution of the Petrograd Soviet;
3) with a decree on the prohibition of rallies and demonstrations.
Part 2.
Reveal the essence of dual power in 1917.
How many crises of power there were. Name only the causes of crises.
Name the first decrees of the Soviet power.

Final work on the topic: February and October revolutions in Russia. Option number 2.
1) The causes of the revolution do not include:
1. economic ruin caused by the war and led to the impoverishment of the people;
2. continuation of the bloody war;
3. crisis situation of power;
4. Russia's withdrawal from the war.
2. Revolutionary events in Petrograd began:
1) spontaneously;
2) at the call and under the control of the Bolsheviks;
3) from the provocation of the German intelligence services.
3. Arrange in chronological order:
1) joining the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison to the rebels;
2) demonstration of workers in honor of International Women's Day;
3) the beginning of a general strike in the city;
4) the transfer of the entire city into the hands of the rebels;
5) the formation of the Petrograd Soviet.
6) the formation of the Provisional Government headed by Prince. Lvov;
7) abdication of Nicholas II.
4. Combine the name of the authorities, their chairmen and class interests:
1) Provisional government a) N.S. Chkheidze; a) bourgeois power.
2) Petrograd Soviet b) G.E. Lviv; b) proletarian power.
5. The program of the temporary government does not include:
1) replacement of the police by the people's police;
2) organization of elections to the Constituent Assembly.
3) liquidation of private industrial enterprises;
4) the introduction of broad civil rights and freedoms.
6. Find the wrong statement:
1) after the revolution, the old structures of power were replaced by new ones throughout the country;
2) following the example of Petrograd, councils of workers' and soldiers' deputies were created in other cities;
3) the police guarded public order in the conditions of self-dissolution of the old authorities;
7. The provisional government after the victory of the revolution had:
1) the judiciary;
2) administrative authority;
3) legislative and executive power.
8. Emperor Nicholas II in the conditions of the victory of the uprising in Petrograd:
1) entered into negotiations with the rebels;
2) tried to suppress the uprisings by units from the front;
3) asked for political asylum in France.
9. Choose the wrong statement:
1) the generals advocated the abdication of Nicholas II in order to preserve the peace of the army;
2) the abdication of Nicholas II was accepted by representatives of the Petrosoviet N.S. Chkheidze and A.F. Kerensky;
3) with the abdication of Nicholas and his brother Mikhail ended the reign of the Romanov dynasty in Russia.
10. The main result of the February Revolution:
1) the establishment of a republic;
2) the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
3) the overthrow of the monarchy.
Part 2.
What is the April Theses?
What are the reasons for the speech of General Kornilov. What goals did he achieve?
What are the main provisions of the 1918 constitution?
Decipher obreviature: SNK, VRK, Supreme Council of National Economy, RSFSR, executive committee.

Petrograd garrison

Soldiers and officers of the Petrograd garrison. March 1917

The February Revolution ended by mid-March 1917 with the overthrow of the monarchy and the coming to power of the Provisional Government. Its success - quick and almost bloodless - the leaders and participants in the coup owe, first of all, to the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison.

For some reason, it is generally accepted that at the beginning of 1917 the authorities did not even suspect that unrest could begin in the country and, first of all, in the capital. In fact, a working plan to combat possible riots began to be developed as early as November 1916, and by mid-January 1917 it was ready. It was based on technologies tested during the First Russian Revolution of 1905-1907. The main pillar of this plan was the police force (3,500 people) and the military units of the capital's garrison, more precisely, the training teams of the reserve battalions stationed in the city, who were preparing reinforcements for the personnel regiments at the front. None of the developers of the plan even dared to suggest that it was these training teams, as well as the reserve companies, that would go over to the side of the insurgent population.

Every betrayal has motives and reasons. They were also among the soldiers of the reserve regiments. Both objective and subjective. But more on that later, but for now, about what the Petrograd garrison was like in early 1917.

The Petrograd (formerly Petersburg) military district was formed in 1864. Territorially included the lands of the entire Russian north-west plus Finland. That is, about 1/3 of all European territories of the empire. Before World War I, the Guards, 18th and 22nd Army Corps, many military educational institutions, separate units like the Life Guards of His Own Imperial Majesty's convoy, the top military leadership of the army and navy and much more were stationed here. In 1915, the district was reformed and turned into a rear area of ​​the Northern Front. As before the war, most units were stationed in Petrograd and its environs. So, in the city itself at the beginning of 1917 there were from 160 to 200 thousand people (Petrograd garrison), in Tsarskoye Selo - more than 40 thousand.

Lieutenant General

Sergey Khabalov

In anticipation of the "troubles" the Petrograd Military District was recreated. Troops numbering 715,000 were drawn into its orbit. The Petrograd garrison, including units stationed in the Petrograd province (Peterhof, Gatchina, Oranienbaum, Strelna, etc.), totaled 460 thousand. In the summer of 1916, Lieutenant General Sergei Khabalov was appointed head of the Petrograd District (then still the rear region of the Northern Fleet). He automatically took over the Petrograd garrison. On February 19, 1917, when the district was again separated from the Northern Front into an independent military-administrative unit, S. Khabalov became known as the air defense commander. I wonder who recommended to the emperor to appoint Khabalov to this difficult position and give him full power in the capital?

The 58-year-old artillery general was an excellent theoretician and teacher, but he had no combat experience, nor experience in commanding large masses of troops. His combat limit is the qualified command of a battalion for 4 months in 1900. The last 17 years of his career - service in the Pavlovsk and Moscow military schools, military governorship in the Ural region. Here is what the mayor of Petrograd Alexander Balk noticed about the commander: “General Khabalov, for all my joint service, impressed me as an accessible, hard-working, calm person, not devoid of administrative experience, but quiet-minded and without any ability to impress his subordinates and, most importantly, dispose of the troops ". Only on March 12, on the fifth day of the uprising, did the emperor, who was in Mogilev, at Headquarters, receive enough information to assess the scale of the danger. In particular, Minister of War Mikhail Belyaev said that “the state of affairs is catastrophic, that the entire government, as well as the commander of the troops, General Khabalov, were completely at a loss and that, if energetic intervention was not followed, the revolution would take on grandiose proportions.”

“On the same evening, the Sovereign ordered the appointment of Adjutant General Nikolai Ivanov (66 years old) as Commander-in-Chief of the Petrograd Military District and appointed at his disposal: the St. command. Approximately the same outfit was given to the Western Front, ”recalled Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich. General Nikolai Ivanov did not have time to fulfill the order, since the emperor soon canceled it as unnecessary. It became impossible to correct the situation.

Demonstration of parts of the Petrograd garrison

Now is the time to talk about the motives and causes of betrayal, which will become clear after a brief description of what happened in the Petrograd barracks and on the streets of Petrograd in February 1917.

By the beginning of the twentieth century, the Petrograd garrison was adequately equipped. Guards units stationed in the capital and its environs were located in modern and comfortable barracks. There was all the infrastructure necessary for life and service. But it was designed for about 50 thousand people. Approximately so many regiments of the Guards Corps, minus the infantry division, cavalry and artillery brigade, stationed in Warsaw. The madness of the general mobilization that had engulfed the War Department and the local logistics agencies reached its climax by 1917. Everyone they could was dragged into the reserve companies. At that time, the military department calculated that the remaining unconscripted human resource was no more than 1.5 million people. This is in Russia with its 180 million people! The answer is simple. If we subtract the number of soldiers who were at the front, the number of casualties and compare the resulting figure with the number of those called up, it will easily become clear that several million people were “marinated” in the training camps of Petrograd, Moscow, Kyiv and other large cities. In inhuman, admittedly, conditions. Because in the company barracks, say, the Life Guards of the Preobrazhensky Regiment on Kirochnaya Street, designed for 200-250 people, it was necessary to squeeze 2,000 or even more.

The stay of soldiers in reserve companies could be called training with a big stretch. It is objectively impossible to teach military science to such masses of people in urban conditions. And then another problem arrived - a subjective one. Who to teach? With a shortage of infantry combatant officers at the front, where personnel officers in platoon and company positions were replaced by wartime ensigns, the rear got crumbs. The same green ensigns, who for some reason were not sent to the "front" and veteran officers discharged from hospitals. Both those and others accounted for three or four people per company of 1000-2000 recruits. Sometimes one hears that the elite of the Russian army - the Guards - went over to the side of the rebellious people. Absolute fake. The Guard fought and died at the front. And in her barracks in Petrograd and the suburbs, recruits could not find a place for themselves from idleness, who did not have time to become not only guardsmen, but simply soldiers. The professional soldiers-guardsmen who returned after being wounded in the reserve companies were an insignificant minority, and could not influence the situation. And some, morally killed by the war, did not want to. Paradoxically, it was also not possible to send all this mass of people to the front. There simply would have been nowhere to put them there, since there were quite enough divisions in the front line, major operations, and therefore heavy losses, were not expected until May.

Option number 1.

1. The cause of the February Revolution was

2) Formation of the parties of the Bolsheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries

3) Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War

4) Execution of a peaceful procession of workers to the Winter Palace

2. Parliamentary institution, which was supposed to legislate the new system of government

1) RSDLP 2) Dual power 3) Constituent Assembly 4) Council

3. Soldiers of the Petrograd garrison during the revolution:

1) opposed the rebels; 2) declared their neutrality; 3) went over to the side of the rebels.

4. By the decision of the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet of October 12, 1917, the Military Revolutionary Committee was created. Its leader was...

1) L.D. Trotsky 2) V.I. Lenin 3) V. Antonov - Avseenko 4) P.E. Dybenko.

1) the V State Duma and the Petrograd Soviet;

2) the Soviet of Peasants' Deputies and the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies;

3) The Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

6. The provisional government was:

1) proletarian power; 2) bourgeois power; 3) peasant power.

7. The following became the Chairman of the Petrograd Soviet:

1) V.I. Lenin; 2) A.F. Kerensky 3) N.S. Chkheidze.

8. What was the name of the counter-revolutionary rebellion in August 1917 with the aim of establishing a military dictatorship in the country:

1) Kornilovism; 2) Stolypin; 3) dual power; 4) Brusilovsky breakthrough

1) a course towards an armed uprising 2) a course towards a peaceful seizure of power

3) support for the Provisional Government; 4) the assassination of Kerensky.

10. NicholasIIrenounced power in favor of:

1) son Alexei; 2) brother Michael. 3) the Constituent Assembly.

1) acceptance of the democratic revolution;

2) the destruction of the monarchy;

3) the formation of a socialist state.

1) with Milyukov's note on the continuation of the war;

2) with a decree on the dissolution of the Petrograd Soviet;

3) with a decree on the prohibition of rallies and demonstrations.

Test on the topic: February and October revolutions in Russia.

Option number 2.

1. To the causes of the February revolutionnot applicable :

1. economic ruin caused by the war and led to the impoverishment of the people;

2. continuation of the bloody war; 3. crisis situation of power;

4. Russia's withdrawal from the war.

2. Revolutionary events in Petrograd began:

1) spontaneously; 2) at the call and under the control of the Bolsheviks;

3) from the provocation of the German intelligence services.

3. What are the main results of the February Revolution?

1) the monarchy fell 3) dual power arose

2) the democratization of the country began 4) the Constituent Assembly was convened

4. The first chairman of the Provisional Government was:

1) G.E. Lviv; 2) G.E. Guchkov; 3) A.F. Kerensky.

5. A coalition government consisting of 10 liberal ministers and 6 socialist ministers was created in 1917.

7. What was the cause of the October Revolution?

1) the beginning of World War I; 2) the unification of the Cadets and monarchists into one anti-revolutionary camp;

3) the shooting of a peaceful demonstration of workers in Petrograd; 4) the inability of the Provisional Government to resolve the most important issues facing the country

8. What is among the activities carried out by the provisional government?

1) restoration of the autonomy of Finland

2) amnesty for political prisoners

3) announcement of the continuation of the war to a victorious end

4) granting independence to all national outskirts of Russia

9. What Decrees did the II Congress of Soviets adopt?

10. VRK is an acronym for

1) the body that prepared and carried out the Bolshevik coup
2) the highest body of executive power in Soviet Russia
3) an emergency body created to combat sabotage and counter-revolution
4) planning body for the development of the national economy of Soviet Russia

11. Which event happened later than the others?

1) abdication of Nicholas 2

2) creation of a provisional government

3) speech by General Kornilov

12. V. I. Lenin in his "April Theses" in 1917 argued that:

1) the policy of the Provisional Government does not meet the expectations of the people

2) the policy of the Provisional Government will give the country peace, and the peasants - land;

3) the policy of the Provisional Government can solve the most acute problems of the country.