"Russian democracy can realize its goals only through the complete crushing of tsarism and the dismemberment of Russia into small states"
Thus, the German leadership was left with the only way to lead Russia out of the war - to conclude a separate peace. The question was, with whom to enter into it? With the king, or to help in the decomposition of the rear, to support the revolution to overthrow Nicholas II and negotiate with the new government?
The Germans used both methods. They supported nationalists, revolutionaries and at the same time tried to start negotiations with Nikolai Alexandrovich. The first sounding was done in 1915, through the brother of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Eric, Count of Eilenburg (colonel of the German General Staff), bankers Fried Wartburg and Andersen. The minister of the royal court, Count Fredericks, received a letter from his Berlin friend, Count Eilenburg, with the proposal “to put an end to the misunderstanding between the two states”. Nikolay listened to the letter and noticed that "the friendship is dead and buried." The king refused to respond to this letter so that it would not be interpreted as the beginning of negotiations.
Soon followed a new attempt by Berlin to find a common language with Petrograd. Princess Vasilchikova arrived in Petrograd from Germany with an offer to make peace. She had to inform representatives of the former “pro-German party” (opponents of the war with Germany) that the German Kaiser was ready to guarantee Russia the most favorable conditions for a peaceful settlement. In order to increase the attractiveness of the proposal, it was reported that England allegedly already offered Germany a separate peace. The main idea was that reconciliation between the two empires was necessary for the salvation of two dynasties in the coming era of unprecedented social unrest. Tsar Nicholas II and Russian Foreign Minister S. D. Sazonov, who were handed letters with these proposals, had not yet seen the threat to the throne and had not accepted the arguments of the Germans. Vasilchikova fell into disgrace and was exiled to the estate.
Attempts to find a common language were continued in the 1916 year. Empress Alexandra Feodorovna continued correspondence with her brother Eric. In addition, one of the main opponents of the war with Germany was the "royal friend" G. Rasputin. However, this line did not succeed. It is possible that this was due to the elimination of G. Rasputin in December 1916. As historian A. B. Shirokorad writes: “What kind of puppeteers did Rasputin have? Could Grigori Efimovich achieve a separate peace in the early days of 1917? Alas, these secrets died with him. ... It was unprofitable for the Provisional Government and the Bolsheviks to delve into Rasputin's relations with German intelligence, though for various reasons ”(A. B. Shirokorad. Germany. Opposition through the ages. M., 2008).
Austrian troops in Odessa. 1918 year
Thus, the Germans failed to make peace with the tsarist government. But it was possible to conclude an agreement with the new government of Russia. And for this it was necessary to cause confusion in Russia, to bring to power a new government, those who oppose the war with Germany. Since the beginning of the war, the Bolsheviks and various national separatists (from Finnish and Polish to Georgian) have consistently opposed it.
Adventurer, speculator, revolutionary and agent of several intelligence agencies A. Parvus (Israel Gelfand) in January 1915, met with the German ambassador in Constantinople, Hans von Wangenheim (Wagenheim), in conversation with whom he put forward the idea of organizing a revolution in Russia. Parvus declared: “Russian democracy can realize its goals only through the complete crushing of tsarism and the dismemberment of Russia into small states. Germany, for its part, will not achieve complete success if it fails to initiate a large-scale revolution in Russia. Russian danger, however, will exist even after the war, until the Russian Empire is split into its components. The interests of the German government coincide with the interests of the Russian revolutionaries. "
Thus, Parvus expressed in a concentrated way the essence of the “Russian question” for the West — the need to “dismember Russia in small states.” They say that the “Russian danger” (threat) can be eliminated only by splitting the Russian empire.
At the request of the German ambassador, in March 1915, Parvus sent the German government a detailed plan for organizing a revolution in Russia - a document known as the “Memorandum of Dr. Gelfand”. Relying on the experience of the 1905-1907 revolution, Parvus on 20 pages described in detail how to organize a campaign in the press, how to raise workers, peasants and national outskirts to fight tsarism.
Parvus believed that the revolution in Russia could be organized with the help of a mass political strike: “Petrograd will be the center of the movement, and in Petrograd itself Obukhovsky, Putilovsky and Baltic factories will be. The strike should cover the railway connection between Petrograd and Warsaw, as well as the South-Western Railway. The railway strike will mainly be held in large centers with large working groups, railway workshops, etc. ”It is also necessary to intensify campaigning and propaganda with the aim of unrest and strikes in the cities of the Black Sea, Caucasus, mining Donetsk region, in the Ural industrial region. “Particular attention should be paid to Siberia ... During the revolutionary 1905 movement, all control was in the hands of the revolutionary committees. The administrative apparatus is extremely weak. The armed forces were reduced to a minimum, as calmness and confidence are felt in relation to Japan. These circumstances make it possible to create some centers of action in Siberia. ”
Parvus correctly identified the weaknesses of the Russian Empire in the national question. The goal was to create an "independent Ukraine", to raise a general uprising in Finland, to create the conditions for an uprising and falling away from Russia of the Caucasus. It was also noted that “the peasant movement is, as in the 1905 year, an important contributing factor” of unrest in Russia.
In his opinion, the plan could be carried out "only under the leadership of the Russian Social Democrats," but with the participation of the Mensheviks. Also in the revolution were to take part the Social Democratic Party of Jews, Poles, Finns, Lithuanians. “Separate negotiations should be held with the party of Russian socialist revolutionaries” (the Social Revolutionaries), since they have a significant influence on the peasantry.
However, many high-ranking German officials were skeptical of Parvus's memorandum. Thus, the Minister of Finance Helnferich December 26 wrote: "In my opinion, he too imagined too much in his plans, especially in the so-called financial plan, in which we are unlikely to be able to participate." As a result, instead of the originally requested 5 million rubles (for the full realization of the revolution, according to Parvus, 20 million was required) he received only one million rubles - December 29 1915 of the year.
The German leadership also relied on national separatists. Before the war with the separatists, Germany tried not to have a deal, but in August 1914, the situation radically changed. Already 3 August 1914, the deputy state secretary Zimmerman telegraphed instructions to the German embassy in Constantinople-Istanbul: the Caucasus should be raised against the Russians. On August 6, German Chancellor T. Bettman-Golweg instructed the ambassador to Sweden to promise the creation of an “autonomous buffer state” for the Finns. Thus, already at the start of the war, the Germans set the task of creating a “national front” against the Russian Empire from Finland to the Caucasus. Betman-Golweg set a goal: "Russian despotism must be thrown back to Moscow."
According to the instructions from 11 of August 1914, issued by Foreign Minister Gottlieb von Yagov, the goals of the policy of the German Empire were: “The realization of the revolution is very important not only in Poland, but also in Ukraine: 1. As a means of warfare against Russia. 2. In the event of a favorable end to the war, the creation of several buffer states between Russia, on the one hand, Germany and Austria-Hungary, on the other, is desirable as a means of easing the pressure of the Russian colossus on Western Europe and to throw Russia eastward as much as possible. ”
As a result, the Germans from Tehran tried to establish ties with the Muslim radicals in Turkestan, but the exit of Russian troops in Northern Persia greatly hampered the activities of German agents. Also, the Germans forged ties with the Georgian and Finnish nationalists. In February 1915, scout camps were organized for young Finns, they came to Germany through Sweden. These courses were not in vain. Under Mannerheim, the 165 graduates became officers, of whom 25 became generals, making up the core of the Finnish army, police, special services, and security officer ("security corps"). In 1915, the Germans began to separate the captured Russian-Little Russians from other prisoners of war. They were sent to separate camps, where they were subjected to intensive psychological treatment by the German special services and the Galician “Ukrainians”.
True, all these measures were of little importance, while it was quiet in the capital of the Russian Empire. All these "bookmarks" could fully explode only with paralysis of the central government, the tsarist government. Everything depended on the events in Petrograd. And as a result, the empire was not blown up by the Social Democrats and nationalists, but the fevralists, the liberal-bourgeois part of society, the representatives of the “elite” part of the empire's population who wanted to live “like in the West”, wanted “freedom” from autocracy and full power.
To be continued ...
- Alexander Samsonov
- Dive On the causes of the death of the Romanov empire
On the causes of the death of the Romanov empire. H. 2
The last attempt to save the empire of the Romanovs
"The role of the ram penetrating the thickest German defense, we will get ..."
“The social revolution, in its most extreme manifestations, is inevitable with us”
"Stupidity or treason?"
External forces against the Russian Empire
Information