The July offensive launched by the Russian Provisional Government was a crushing defeat, followed by a fierce German-Austrian counterattack. When the Russian army attacked, they happened to collide head-on with the German-Austrian coalition forces, which were also preparing to attack, and the offensive battle was doomed before it even began.

In eastern Ukraine and Belarus, on the muddy roads of summer, there are scattered Russian troops. Arm after another Russian units collapsed, and large numbers of exhausted Russian troops simply chose to surrender rather than flee. The Russian army is retreating in spite of the orders of the officers, and they are like crazy, robbing all kinds of means of transport in order to flee to the east, towards their homeland. The officers who tried to stop them were shot by the soldiers, all of whom were shrouded in a primitive desire to survive, and even the soldiers' council was powerless to stop anything.

The offensive hastily organized by the Provisional Government failed and was a fiasco.

More and more soldiers turned to the Social Revolutionary Labour Party, which called for and preached an immediate end to the war, Prince Lvov announced his resignation, and his government fell. Kerensky became the head of the new Provisional Government and at the same time Minister of the Army and Navy, but he was powerless to prevent the situation from deteriorating. Brusilov was relieved of his post and Kornilov was appointed Supreme Commander of Russian forces at the front, where he was ordered to transfer troops back from the collapsed front and go to Petrograd to suppress the Soviet power led by the Social Workers Party and the pro-Social Workers workers' forces.

Kerensky took advantage of the patriotic enthusiasm of the soldiers, accusing the leader of the Social Democratic Labor Party, Ulyanov, of being a spy sent by Germany, and showed the neutral garrison "evidence" that he had obtained from nowhere, which showed that the defeat of the Russian army on the front line was all due to the fact that the Social Workers were behind the scenes and betrayed Russia.

One after another, contingents of troops recruited by the Provisional Government from the front arrived in Petrograd and began to suppress and purge the Socialist Workers' Party. The Provisional Government issued a proclamation that Umilyanov was declared a German spy, and later issued an order for the arrest of Ulyanov, Zinoviev, and Kamenev, members of the Central Executive Committee of the Russian Social Workers' Party.

But this could not save Russia, and the Social Democratic Labor Party went underground and began to plan to overthrow the Provisional Government by force and carry out an armed seizure of power. As a result of the defeat of France, Russia faced a much more dire situation, with many troops simply not obeying the orders of the Provisional Government, and the PSDT even openly carrying out activities to overthrow the Provisional Government.

As we entered September, the weather gradually cooled down, and the German-Austrian offensive slowed down.

After nearly a month of pursuit, the German-Austrian forces had pushed the front forward to Estonia, Belarus and the border between Ukraine and Russia, and the whole of Russia was facing the collapse of the former state. If it were not for their own logistical and supply problems, no one would have doubted that the Germans and Austrians had now hit Petrograd and Moscow. The Russians would soon withdraw from the war, and in the United States and Britain there was a wave of pessimism and disappointment about the future of the war.

"Petrograd is like a powder keg at the moment, and a new revolution could break out at any moment!"

The judgment of the Austro-Hungarian intelligence was not bad in the slightest, and now the Social Democratic Labour Party was fanning the flames everywhere, agitating the workers and soldiers together to overthrow the "Provisional Government on behalf of the bourgeoisie".

General Kornilov tried to overthrow the Provisional Government with a coup d'état and achieve a new military dictatorship at home in order to change the current chaos in Russia. But the general's attempt failed, and the new commander-in-chief of the army and his associates were arrested. But Kerensky was powerless to solve the problem, and there were only two ways out: either Kornilov or Ulyanov. But Kerensky solved the problem for the Socialist Workers' Party.

Kornilov's march into Petrograd made the workers' pickets and Red Guards under the control of the Socialist Workers' Party legal armed groups, and Soviet power was gradually controlled by the Bolsheviks, and Kerensky's Provisional Government was no longer able to control the situation.

At 9:25 p.m. on September 21, 1917 (August 9 in the Russian calendar), the cruiser "Aurora" anchored on the Neva River fired three empty shells into the sky indicating the signal of attack.

Armed forces such as sailors and workers' Red Guards under the leadership of the Social Democratic Labor Party began an all-out assault on the Winter Palace, the seat of the Provisional Government. The Guards, who were tasked with defending the Winter Palace, remained neutral and watched from the sidelines, with less than a company of non-commissioned officers and students returning fire outside the Winter Palace.

Soon they were crushed, and the ranks of sailors and workers stormed the Winter Palace. Kerensky escaped death because he was not in Petrograd, and the ministers of the Provisional Government and members of the Duma were arrested and sent to the Paul Fortress under the supervision of the Red Guards.

Denikin and Chief of Staff Markov and their 8th Army were sent to Rostov by the Austrians, and with them were released General Vanovsky and the commander of the Special Army, General Ergelly, and part of the officers and men of the Special Army.

They began to march their troops into Georgia in accordance with the agreement.

In autumn, the weather is warm, the leaves are starting to turn yellow, the migratory birds of the north are migrating south, and the sky is filled with the mournful chirping of geese.

The news of the outbreak of the "August Revolution" in Petrograd reached the mountains of the Caucasus only at the end of the month.

Denikin summoned his senior generals and General Ergeli to discuss the situation, and Chief of Staff Markov had been in contact with the commander of the Don Front, General Karekin, in the telegraph room. The tiresome negotiations dragged on and off until late at night, and no one could figure out the situation or make up their minds.

"It is clear that the Socialist-Labor Party has claimed to have overthrown the Provisional Government and that every power has been handed over to the Soviets, to the workers and peasants." "We're going to talk about whether we're going to go to the Caucasus to fight the Turks, or whether we're going to go back home and overthrow the SWD regime," Denikin said. ”

"What's the use, now the majority of the workers and soldiers are inclined towards the SWO, and they promise to withdraw from the war soon, which is what the people want." "I heard that Karekin released General Kornilov? ”

"But what's the use? There was no one left under Kornilov. "General Ergeli was not prepared to obey the orders of the Soviets, and strongly advocated going to Georgia to calm down and see the limelight first.

"What's the use of going back to the country and killing each other, let's follow the agreement and go to defend the Caucasus!" Markov returned from the telegraph room and shrugged his shoulders, the country was now in chaos, and General Duhanin proclaimed himself supreme commander and demanded the resumption of the Duma elections, which was against the Soviet power.

Denikin was a little tempted to return home, but after hesitating for a while, he gave up again, and the whole army continued to climb the Caucasus Mountains and enter Georgia.

I1153