How the Army and the Black Hundreds Saved the Empire
Street demonstration in 1905. Polish artist Władysław Skoczylas
Revolution
The Russian Time of Troubles of 1905–1907 was caused by both internal factors (the crisis of the Romanov project, the centuries-old contradictions that had been building up) and external ones. The Western masters and Japanese intelligence, with the help of a "fifth column" (various liberal democrats, socialists, and revolutionaries), attempted to overthrow the Russian Empire and devour it.
Formally, the First Russian Revolution began on January 9, 1905. This day became history Russia as "Bloody Sunday." On this day in St. Petersburg, the priest Gapon acted as a provocateur, leading to the shooting of a mass demonstration marching to the Winter Palace to present a petition to the Tsar about the needs of workers.
The shooting of a peaceful demonstration in St. Petersburg sparked outrage across the country. The Russian press, largely liberal and radical, unleashed an incredible wave of hatred against "bloody tsarism." However, the suppression of similar unrest in England or France, beloved by Russian Anglophiles and Gallo-philes, resulted in far more casualties, and the authorities acted far more brutally and mercilessly.
Mass strikes, demonstrations, and protest rallies were taking place in the cities. The revolutionary movement was gaining momentum, spreading to new districts and new segments of the population. Mutinies began in the imperial armed forces, including the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin (June 14, 1905). Workers' Deputies' Councils were being formed everywhere. The first Council was established in May 1905 in Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
The revolution reached its peak in October and December 1905. In October, an all-Russian political strike took place, spreading across 120 cities and involving over 2 million people. In December, a dangerous uprising erupted in Moscow, suppressed only by the energetic actions of General Min, commander of the Guards Semyonovsky Regiment.
Terrible events were unfolding in the countryside. There, in essence, a dreadful peasant war had already begun. As the Russian military historian A. Kersnovsky noted, "the autumn nights of 1905 were lit by the torches of burning landowners' estates and farmsteads all the way from the Baltic Sea to the Volga."
The situation was critical. People were being transported from abroad through practically open borders (especially through Finland). weaponThe revolutionaries were financed, in particular, by Japanese intelligence. Various nationalists and separatists rose to prominence—Polish, Finnish, Baltic, Caucasian, and others.
As usual, as in any period of unrest, the Caucasus erupted. The situation was particularly severe in Georgia and Armenia. Entire districts and provinces were terrorized by gangs. For several weeks, from late 1905 to early 1906, a full-blown war raged there. The 33rd Infantry Division was hastily transferred from Kyiv to assist the divisions of the Caucasus Military District. The border district of Kiev had to be stripped bare to pacify the Caucasus.
Spring 1905. Polish artist Stanislav Maslowski
The army and the Black Hundreds save the empire
The empire was saved by three “bonds”: the tsarist power, the army, and the “deep people” (nicknamed the “Black Hundreds”).
The presence of the Guard, an army of career officers and non-commissioned officers, Cossacks, and police, who, en masse, did not succumb to revolutionary agitation and madness, saved the Russian Empire. The state still had decisive and strong-willed generals and commanders, ready to stop a major revolution with minimal bloodshed.
The Guard will endure the boiling cauldron of St. Petersburg in 1905. Loyal units pacified the dangerous mutiny of the garrison of the Kronstadt fortress and the sailors of the Baltic fleet October 26-27 (November 8-9), 1905.
As the historian Kersnovsky wrote:
And everywhere, the imperial troops, loyal to their duty, stood in the way of anarchy and the nascent collapse. The Latvian revolts of the Baltic region, the Lodz riots, the Sveaborg uprising, and the Black Sea atrocities were cruel blows to Russia's weakened organism, but this organism was still, fortunately, protected by steel chain mail.
The commander of the Odessa Military District, General Alexander Kaulbars (researcher of Turkestan, scientist-geographer, one of the “fathers” of the Russian military aviation) pacified the south of Russia; the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Grigory Chukhnin, held the fleet, suppressed the Sevastopol uprising, and paid for it with his life (he was killed by a militant on June 28, 1906). In Moscow, the December uprising was suppressed by General Georgy Min (killed in August 1906 by the Socialist Revolutionary terrorist Konoplyannikova). In Siberia, the unrest (mutinies of spare parts, railway strikes, manifestations of separatism) was suppressed by the generals Alexander Meller-Zakomelsky (who later suppressed the revolutionary movement in the Baltics) and Pavel Rennenkampf, who were moving towards each other.
Unfortunately, during the World War, the tsarist authorities would bury the guard and the regular army in the swamps and forests of East Prussia, Poland, Galicia, and the Carpathians, and there would be no one left to save the autocracy and the empire in February–March 1917.
A significant portion of the urban population also sided with the authorities—the "black people," merchants, artisans, part of the working class, plus peasants and lower-ranking clergy. The revolutionary press dubbed them "Black Hundreds" pogromists, and later, practically the forerunners of the fascists.
The Black Hundreds movement did not represent a unified whole and included various associations, such as the "Russian Monarchist Party," the "Black Hundreds," the "Union of the Russian People," the "Union of Michael the Archangel," and others. The social basis of these organizations consisted of the most diverse elements: from the lower classes to representatives of the big bourgeoisie, landowners, and the conservative intelligentsia.
In essence, this was "deep Russia," standing up against anarchy and unrest. Its ideology was "Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality."
Again, the authorities viewed popular support with skepticism or mistrust, fearing the mass appeal of the "Union of the Russian People." Therefore, by 1917, the popular forces prepared to support the throne were disintegrated, denigrated, and unable to resist a new revolution.
Overall, the government failed to learn the lessons of 1905. The only attempt to save the empire through reforms "from above" was made by Pyotr Stolypin. He also kept Russia out of war with Germany, understanding that France and England would reap all the benefits. But no one supported him—neither the tsar, nor high society, nor the State Duma, nor the right, nor the liberals. Ultimately, he was simply assassinated in 1911, so as not to interfere with the preparations for Russia's collapse.
A demonstration of the Black Hundreds in Odessa shortly after the announcement of the Manifesto of October 17, 1905. Photograph from the Illustrated London News
Manifesto
To stem the revolutionary tide, Emperor Nicholas II, at the suggestion of the head of government, Sergei Witte, made concessions. On October 30 (October 17, Old Style), Nicholas II's manifesto "On the Improvement of State Order" was published. It declared the granting of political freedoms to Russian citizens, personal immunity, and an expansion of the electoral qualifications for elections to the State Duma.
Formally, such a step meant the transformation of the autocracy into a constitutional monarchy (The October Manifesto and its significance). The Manifesto created legal conditions for the formation of political parties. By 1906, there were already more than 50 parties in the country.
The manifesto generated great enthusiasm among the educated classes. However, it also provoked a wave of criticism from both the right and the left. Some believed that the revolution could not be abandoned, while others believed that this was not enough.
Witte himself was struck by the wave of criticism and disappointed. Diplomat Alexander Izvolsky recalled Witte's words:
The October 17 Manifesto averted immediate catastrophe, but it did not provide a radical cure for the current situation, which remains threatening. All I can hope for is that the situation will remain undisturbed until the opening of the Duma, but even this hope cannot be fully realized. A new revolutionary explosion always seems possible.
The State Duma could not represent the country. It was composed primarily of ideologists, chatterbox orators, mostly from the intelligentsia and lawyers, who claimed to represent tens of millions of peasants and city dwellers. The First Duma, convened in the spring of 1906, was so revolutionary and anti-state that it had to be hastily disbanded. Its members demanded that recruits not be sent to the army, taxes not be paid, and government orders not be followed—in other words, they were calling for civil war and continued unrest.
The second Duma of 1907 also turned out to be just as anti-state and anti-Russian. Only in 1908, when Stolypin’s government managed to suppress the revolutionary wave, was it possible to assemble a relatively sane and efficient Duma.
St. Petersburg City Administration Bulletin. October 18 (31), 1905
Appendix. S. Yu. Witte. Memories, memoirs. In 3 volumes., 1994.
On October 17, a manifesto was issued "on improving the state order." This manifesto, which, whatever its fate, will mark an era in Russian history, proclaimed the following:
The turmoil and unrest in the capitals and in many parts of our empire fill Our hearts with great and grievous sorrow. The welfare of the Russian Sovereign is inseparable from the welfare of the people, and the people's sorrow is His sorrow. The unrest that has now arisen could lead to profound national unrest and a threat to the integrity and unity of the All-Russian State. The great vow of royal service compels Us to strive with all the powers of reason and authority to quickly end this unrest, so dangerous to the state. Having ordered the appropriate authorities to take measures to eliminate direct manifestations of disorder, outrage, and violence, and to protect peaceful people striving to peacefully fulfill their duties, We, for the most successful implementation of the general measures We have designated for the pacification of state life, have recognized the necessity of uniting the activities of the supreme government.
We entrust the government with the duty of fulfilling Our unwavering will:
1) Grant the population the unshakable foundations of civil liberty on the basis of genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.
2) Without stopping the scheduled elections to the State Duma, to attract now to participation in the Duma, to the extent possible, corresponding to the short period remaining before the convocation of the Duma, those classes of the population that are now completely deprived of electoral rights, thereby leaving the further development of the principle of general electoral rights to the newly established legislative order (i.e., in accordance with the law of August 6, 1905, the Duma and the State Council).
3) To establish, as an immutable rule, that no law could come into force without the approval of the State Duma, and that those elected by the people would be guaranteed the opportunity to effectively participate in overseeing the legality of the actions of the authorities appointed by Us.
We call upon all faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to their homeland, to help end the unprecedented turmoil and, together with Us, to exert all their efforts to restore peace and quiet in their native land.
We entrust the government with the duty of fulfilling Our unwavering will:
1) Grant the population the unshakable foundations of civil liberty on the basis of genuine inviolability of the person, freedom of conscience, speech, assembly and association.
2) Without stopping the scheduled elections to the State Duma, to attract now to participation in the Duma, to the extent possible, corresponding to the short period remaining before the convocation of the Duma, those classes of the population that are now completely deprived of electoral rights, thereby leaving the further development of the principle of general electoral rights to the newly established legislative order (i.e., in accordance with the law of August 6, 1905, the Duma and the State Council).
3) To establish, as an immutable rule, that no law could come into force without the approval of the State Duma, and that those elected by the people would be guaranteed the opportunity to effectively participate in overseeing the legality of the actions of the authorities appointed by Us.
We call upon all faithful sons of Russia to remember their duty to their homeland, to help end the unprecedented turmoil and, together with Us, to exert all their efforts to restore peace and quiet in their native land.
Count (from 1905) Sergei Yulyevich Witte (1849–1915). Minister of Railways (in 1892), Minister of Finance (in 1892–1903), Chairman of the Committee of Ministers (in 1903–1906), Chairman of the Council of Ministers (in 1905–1906)
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