Chapter 267: The August Revolution
After Lenin returned to St. Petersburg with the Bushwick Party, Eder closely followed the situation in Russia. In fact, the countries of Europe are now watching the situation in Russia, but none of them can imagine that Russia will leave the battlefield in an unexpected way.
After the Bushvik party returned to St. Petersburg to repel the rebellious Third Cavalry Army, General Kornilov, who was the source of this rebellion, was released. As a compromise agreement, Kornilov went to appease the Third Cavalry Corps in exchange for his release from prison.
Anton Ivanovich Denikin, who was mistaken for one of his gang because he served as chief of the General Staff, was also released along with it. So the hapless General Denikin could only leave the post of Chief of the General Staff and become a real deputy to General Kornilov.
After the settlement of the rebellion, the military power of St. Petersburg gradually came into the hands of the Bushwick Party. By this time, the top echelons of the Provisional Government, who had already discovered that the situation was not quite right, were planning to make a fuss about the Soviet regime. Soviet; It means "meeting of representatives" or "meeting". Because during the Russian Revolution of 1905 there was a kind of congress of delegates organized by striking workers as strike committees, referred to as "Soviets".
Soviet Ben is a transliteration of the Russian совет (English: soviet), which means the Council of Representatives. Originating in the Russian Revolution of 1905, it was a form of direct democracy for workers and soldiers, whose representatives could be elected and changed at any time, implying a Paris Commune-style form of government.
And in the first Soviet government, the Mensheviks and other left-wing parties played a major role in it. Plekhanov was chairman of the Soviet, Kerensky was deputy chairman of the Socialist-Revolutionary, and the Bushovik Party played little role in it. But after the first reshuffle of the Provisional Government, the Mensheviks and the Socialist-Revolutionaries and others focused their main efforts on the Provisional Government.
They all hoped that by participating in the Provisional Government, it would gradually transform into a left-wing government. It must be said that they almost succeeded, and after the Kornilov rebellion was put down, the Provisional Government reshuffled the cabinet of government for the third time on July 29. This time, however, the vast majority of the members of the Provisional Government were members of left-wing parties, and the "government of all socialists" that the Bolsheviks had advocated was about to be realized.
It was only then that the left-wing parties discovered that the Bushviks had taken the Soviets into their own hands, and that the forces that would allow the Bushviks to control the Soviets came from the military. In the Soviets, which were not universally suffrage, the military had more than ten times more voting power than the workers (at that time there were only "Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies", and the peasants did not count), and the Mensheviks took the lead in the Soviets by the Bolsheviks.
By this time, the Bolshevik Party had basically infiltrated the military forces around St. Petersburg. With the exception of a few locations such as the Winter Palace, where there were still loyal armed forces, the Bolshevik Party had taken full control of the military in St. Petersburg. Now all it takes is a gentle wave of the arm of the Bolshevik Party, and this ripe fruit will fall into its hands. By this time, however, other voices were emerging in the Bolshevik Party.
Zinoviev and Kamenev opposed Lenin's plan for an armed seizure of power, most notably not only verbally, but also informed the Provisional Government of the timing of the armed seizure of power among the Bolsheviks. Lenin, who had been busy with the Bolsheviks' seizure of supreme power in Russia, almost vomited blood after hearing the news of the two tipsters. So he hurriedly consulted with Trotsky, Dzerzhinsky and others.
At this time, it was impossible to retreat, and everyone only discussed a way to launch it in advance. And so on August 19, 1917, the revolution led by the Bolsheviks began. At this time, there were less than 30,000 troops loyal to the Provisional Government in St. Petersburg, while the Bolsheviks had organized an army of 200,000 (although most of them were workers, more than twice as many as the Provisional Government even after deducting the workers).
Many of the soldiers in the Provisional Government's army were wavering, and this had a lot to do with the unconditional peace talks propagated by the Bolsheviks. Because the largest anti-war group in Russia at that time was the soldiers, the slogans of the Bolsheviks touched the hearts of these soldiers. So before the battle, the Bolshevik army had the upper hand.
Lenin secretly came to the general command of the uprising, the Smolny Palace, and personally led the armed uprising. From the night of August 19 to the morning of August 20, 1917, more than 200,000 soldiers and workers of the uprising quickly occupied strategic points in Petrograd.
At 1 a.m. on the 20th, the rebel forces occupied the General Post Office. At 2 o'clock captured the Baltic and Nikolaevsky railway stations. The lighting circuits in the Government building were then turned off, and the Telephone Office cut off most of the telephones of the Interim Government and the Command. At about 6 o'clock, the Red Guards, soldiers and sailors had occupied the palace bridge. With the exception of the area of the Palace Square and Isaakievska Square, almost all other areas were in the hands of the insurgents.
The Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Kerensky, fled in a car from the US Embassy. At 10 o'clock, the Revolutionary Military Council circulated a letter to the citizens of Russia, drafted by Lenin, announcing that the Provisional Government had been overthrown and that power had been transferred to the Soviets.
After the occupation of the Palace Bridge. With the exception of the area of the Palace Square and Isaakievska Square, almost all other areas were in the hands of the insurgents. The Prime Minister of the Provisional Government, Kerensky, fled in a car from the US Embassy. At 10 o'clock, the Revolutionary Military Council circulated a letter to the citizens of Russia, drafted by Lenin, announcing that the Provisional Government had been overthrown and that power had been transferred to the Soviets.
As for the scene of the attack on the Winter Palace, according to the grapevine, there was no armed clash near the Winter Palace that night, and only one women's battalion and one non-commissioned officer battalion guarded the Winter Palace, which quickly surrendered under the onslaught of the crowd. The head of the defense of the Winter Palace, Parichinsky, himself opened the gates of the Winter Palace and took them to the place where the ministers of the Provisional Government were meeting.
And the cruiser Aurora is undergoing overhauls, without loading and without personnel. Beryshev, the temporarily appointed commissar of the Aurora, fired only a few blank rounds (without warheads) at the Hermitage. On the night of the uprising, the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee issued a "Circular on the Overthrow of the Provisional Government", stating that the uprising "was victorious without shedding a single drop of blood."
This made Eder, who was waiting to see a good show, a little unprepared, how could it be like this, saying that the bloody Winter Palace had defeated the provisional government.
However, after dropping the telegram from the Romanian embassy in St. Petersburg, Eder needed to step up the preparations of the army, because according to his estimates, due to the delay in time, Russia would not wait until 1918 to withdraw from the war, and this time there was no cold weather to drag it on.