Anticipation of the apocalypse

V. A. Serov. "Soldiers, brave lads, where is your glory?", 1905.
Russo-Japanese detonator
The outwardly prosperous Russian Empire of the early 20th century was seriously ill (The approach of the Russian Time of Troubles). The society was split into several separate worlds. Rapid economic development (industrialization of the era of Alexander III) required effective management. However, the highest bureaucracy was dense and thieving. The royal family, represented by the grand dukes, was mired in various dark schemes and banal embezzlement. The upper classes continued to live in Russia as if in a colony, exporting capital abroad, living in Western Europe, which they considered a model to follow.
Nicholas II was a good family man, perhaps a mid-level officer, but as a top manager he was weak. For a stable time, his skills and the "bonds" of the empire would have been enough. But not for an era of change.
The overwhelming majority of the raznochintsy intelligentsia, including those from the nobility, hated the tsarist regime. They dreamed of its destruction. Of freedom, democracy and equality. Some wanted to create a “nice and enlightened” Europe in Russia. Some wanted a Marxist utopia. There were also anarchists. These sentiments were transmitted to the students.
The armed forces were outwardly the most powerful in the world. But the generals were already mostly "parquet", making a career. Initiative, decisive and smart people were not promoted. At parades and marches everything was fine. In peacetime. In addition, Russia traditionally prepared for war in the European theater. Here were the main and best forces, fortresses, supplies.
In the state of Russia at that time, it was impossible to fight. It was necessary to maintain the strategy of Alexander III – to refrain from conflicts and direct all attention and resources to internal development.
Unfortunately, St. Petersburg failed to reach an agreement with Japan on the division of spheres of influence in Korea and China. Although there was an example of good neighborly relations when the Russian fleet spent the winter in Nagasaki. Britain and the USA easily outplayed Russia, having pulled Japan over to their side and set it against the Chinese and Russians. In addition, in St. Petersburg they greatly underestimated the "Japanese monkeys" and believed that they would easily defeat the Asians.
The war immediately exposed a dangerous split in Russian society. For the first time in history In Russia, entire social groups almost openly wished for the defeat of their country. The leader of the Social Democrats, Lenin, put forward the slogan of Russia's defeat. St. Petersburg students sent congratulatory telegrams to the Japanese emperor, welcoming the victories of the samurai.
The severe failures at the front further divided society, demoralizing the statists and inspiring the defeatists. Revolutionaries of all stripes became active. The intelligence services of Japan and the Western powers also had a hand in this. Our Western "partners" were afraid of Russia's growth and development, that it would establish allied relations with Germany in the West and Japan in the East. Therefore, the West of that time, through various channels, including Masonic clubs and lodges, where the Russian aristocracy and high society were lured, did its best to corrupt Russia from within.
In particular, through agents of influence such as Witte, Russia was forced to conclude the Portsmouth Peace with Japan. Although by the summer of 1905 Japan was completely exhausted financially and economically, and could no longer build up its army on the continent, its human reserves were exhausted. Russia, on the contrary, had finally gotten going, was ready for a counteroffensive. It was possible to throw the Japanese into the sea and dictate a peace that was beneficial to us.
Bloody revolution
In order to force Russia to peace, a revolution was organized in early 1905. First there was the murky story of Bloody Sunday. When the scoundrel provocateur priest Gapon led crowds of gullible workers to the residence of Nicholas II, the Winter Palace. The peaceful and loyal demonstration was shot down.
Apparently, there were provocateurs among the palace guards and among the demonstrators. Shots were fired from both the guards and the demonstrators. When the first soldiers were killed and wounded, the enraged guards opened fire.
The provocation of January 9 (22), 1905 was a masterpiece. The Tsar, to whom peaceful people came with icons and banners, secured for himself the nickname "Bloody". In the country, which was waging a difficult external war, a bloody mess began, which almost led to a full-scale turmoil. The beginning civil war was extinguished, but it was later resumed in 1917.
The main social base of the Time of Troubles was the Russian common intelligentsia, which basically hated the tsarist regime, “this country.” It formed a wide variety of revolutionary parties and groups: Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs), People's Socialists, Anarchists, Workers' Social Democrats (Bolsheviks and Mensheviks), Bundists (Jewish socialists), Georgian, Armenian, Ukrainian, Polish, Baltic and Finnish socialists (in fact, nationalists, separatists).
At the same time, the security structures of the Russian Empire were struck by liberalism, apathy, and strange inaction, although they had all the data on the leaders and activists of revolutionary groups. Russia clearly lacked SMERSH, the Stalin-style KGB. That is, it was possible to suppress the unrest in the bud by seizing and destroying the revolutionary leaders, their secret sponsors, and organizers from the Russian elite. Spontaneous demonstrations were not dangerous.
It was also possible to cut off the channels of financing the revolutionaries. The money came from American and European banks. The West then discovered that the Russian Empire could be blown up from within. It was enough to give money to the Russian "cannon fodder" - various kinds of perestroika revolutionaries.
Along the way The West has dealt a powerful blow to Russia's financial system and robbed it. Russia then tried to borrow money from an international association of banks in order not to borrow money from England and France. However, at that time a series of Jewish pogroms were organized in Russia. Jews became one of the most passionate forces of the revolution.
At the same time, the world community of that time was in a state of hysteria over Russian anti-Semitism. In England, a British-Jewish committee was created, which collected funds for Jewish militants in Russia. Imports to Russia were made through England and Finland. weapons for revolutionaries. Soon Rothschild also created a committee in England to collect funds for the victims of Jewish pogroms.
Also during the revolution, capital began to flow from Russia to the West. Former Tsarist minister Witte wrote about hundreds of millions of rubles in gold that were flowing out of Russia. As a result, the Western economy received a "golden rain" from Russia.
Russian securities on world exchanges collapsed by 20%. The decrease in capitalization meant large losses in investments. The Western press reported almost a complete collapse of Russian finances.
War against Russia
Red (Bloody) Sunday in its results became more terrible than the loss of Port Arthur and the destruction of the fleet in the Battle of Tsushima. In June, the battleship Potemkin revolted. In October, the All-Russian strike began. In December, bloody battles were already underway in Moscow. Russia was plunging into the abyss of fratricidal slaughter.
It was a real war that revolutionary militants, with the help of Western structures, organized inside Russia. These were provocations. Combat groups were created, the targets of which were banks, pawnshops, post offices, transport and drinking establishments. This was mass terror against Russian managers and the military. Moreover, the best, most decisive and strong-willed were eliminated. Along the way, ordinary people who happened to be at the scene of terrorist acts died. Bombs and bullets of the Socialist Revolutionary terrorists killed and wounded thousands of people. There were fierce battles in Moscow, Siberia and the Caucasus. Military mutinies in the navy - on the Potemkin, in Kronstadt and Sveaborg. Peasants began to encroach on the property of landowners, burning estates, the first signs of a peasant war. And much more.
The situation was saved by the fact that the tsar had two more "bonds". A professional army and the Guard, who by 1917 had perished in Poland, Prussia and Galicia. There were decisive generals who were not afraid to shed a little blood in order to avoid a lot. In general, the armed forces were for the Tsar, the authorities. There was also "deep people", who still believed in the Tsar-father, tired of turmoil, disorder, anarchy, and which was headed by the so-called "Black Hundreds" - right-wing, conservatives, traditionalists. The "Black Hundreds" spoke out against anarchy and revolutionaries. There was also a man who gave battle to the turmoil - Stolypin. He took responsibility upon himself - military field courts, "Stolypin ties" (gallows).
In the end, order was restored, the country was calmed. In 1917, Nicholas II had nothing left. The regular army loyal to the throne perished in a war that the country did not need. The generals themselves participated in organizing the coup. The "Black Hundred" organizations were destroyed and disintegrated. The people were angry about the war, the socio-economic troubles. Among the top, there was no decisive and strong person who could have suppressed the unrest in the bud. On the contrary, the entire top, including the generals, the grand dukes and the church hierarchs, came out against the sovereign.
Thus, the Russo-Japanese War became a dangerous detonator that almost destroyed the Russian Empire. The authorities needed two years of the most difficult efforts to suppress the unrest that had begun. Russia suffered serious material damage. At the same time, a serious moral breakdown occurred: the people's faith in the Tsar was destroyed, the masses felt their strength, the taste of rebellion and blood. Everything was heading towards a new, more serious catastrophe.
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