From War to Revolution

Abstract

The article deals with the evolution of military officers’ political moods during the First World War. Democratization of the officer corps was a result of mass mobilization in war time, which united different classes and social groups. Among the main factors politicizing the military officers were the course of the war and the growing crisis in Russia. The most typical perception models, which determined the oppositional political views of the officers in 1916–1917, have been analyzed.

Notes

1. See, for example, L.G. Beskrovnyi, Russkaia armiia i flot v XIX v. (Moscow, 1973), p. 267; P.A. Zaionchkovskii, Samoderzhavie i russkaia armiia na rubezhe XIX i XX stoletii (Moscow, 1973), pp. 233–234; S.V. Volkov, Russkii ofitserskii korpus (Moscow, 1993), pp. 287–288; A.A. Plekhanov and A.M. Plekhanov, Otdel’nyi korpus pogranichnoi strazhi imperatorskoi Rossii (1893–1917): Istoricheskii ocherk (Moscow, 2003), pp. 99–101.

2. See, for example, L.G. Beskrovnyi, Armiia i flot Rossii v nachale XX veka: Ocherki voennogo potentsiala (Moscow, 1986), p. 47; A.G. Kavtaradze, Voennye spetsialisty na sluzhbe Respubliki Sovetov 1917–1920 gg. (Moscow, 1988), p. 28.

3. See S.V. Volkov, Tragediia russkogo ofitserstva (Moscow, 2002), p. 12.

4. S.G. Strumilin, “Iz perezhitogo (1897–1917 gg.),” in Vospominaniia i publitsistika (Moscow, 1968), p. 170.

5. Revoliutsionnoe dvizhenie v armii i na flote v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny. 1914–fevral’ 1917 g. (Moscow, 1966), pp. 190–191.

6. See A.A. Svechin, Iskusstvo vozhdeniia polka po opytu voiny 1914–1918 gg. (Moscow, 2005), pp. 86–87.

7. A.A. Brusilov, Moi vospominaniia (Moscow, 2001), p. 201.

8. N.V. Voronovich, “Vechernii zvon,” in Potonuvshii mir (Moscow, 2001), p. 122.

9. A.I. Verkhovskii, “Rossiia na Golgofe (iz pokhodnogo dnevnika 1914–1918 g.),” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 1993, no. 4, p. 31.

10. A.I. Denikin, Ocherki russkoi smuty (Moscow, 1991), vol. 1, p. 106.

11. M.K. Lemke, 250 dnei v tsarskoi stavk (Minsk, 2003), vol. 1, pp. 201–202.

12. Ibid., vol. 2, p. 356.

13. Russian State Military Historical Archive (RGVIA), f. 13835, op. 1, d. 79, l. 70 ob.

14. Ibid., l. 91 ob.

15. See, for example, S.P. Mel’gunov, Na putiakh k dvortsovomu perevorotu (Moscow, 2003), pp. 30–31; K.F. Shatsillo, “‘Delo’ polkovnika Miasoedova,” Voprosy istorii, 1967, no. 4, pp. 103–116; N.N. Iakovlev, 1 avgusta 1914 (Moscow, 2003), pp. 190–201; O.R. Airapetov, Generaly, liberaly i predprinimateli: rabota na front i revoliutsiiu. 1907–1917 (Moscow, 2003), pp. 69–72.

16. V.F. Dzhunkovksy, Vospominaniia (Moscow, 1997), vol. 2, pp. 531–532.

17. A.I. Denikin, Put’ russkogo ofitsera (Moscow, 1991), p. 216.

18. A.I. Denikin, Ocherki russkoi smuty (Moscow, 1991), vol. 1, p. 87.

19. “Frontovye dnevniki generala A.E. Snesareva,” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 2004, no. 8, p. 35.

20. See ibid., p. 52.

21. A.I. Verkhovskii, “Rossiia na Golgofe (iz pokhodnogo dnevnika 1914–1918 g.),” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 1993, no. 1, p. 66.

22. Pod’yesaul was a rank in the Cossack units equal to the rank of Staff Captain in the Army.—Au.

23. “Frontovye pis’ma esaula A.A. Upornikova perioda Pervoi mirovoi voiny,” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 2007, no. 3, p. 52.

24. Ibid., p. 53.

25. A.I. Verkhovskii, “Rossiia na Golgofe (iz pokhodnogo dnevnika 1914–1918 g.),” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 1993, no. 1, p. 66.

26. “‘Ia gord tem, chto mogu byt’ polezen Rossii’ Pis’ma russkogo ofitsera s voiny,” Istochnik, 1996, no. 3, p. 29.

27. See, for example, “Frontovye dnevniki generala A.E. Snesareva,” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 2004, no. 8, p. 35; M.N. Gerasimov, Probuzhdenie (Moscow, 1965), p. 231.

28. D. Oskin, “Zapiski praporshchika,” Otkrovennye rasskazy (Moscow, 1998), p. 256.

29. RGVIA, f. 13835, op. 1, d. 79, l. 6 ob.

30. Ibid., l. 512 ob.

31. “Frontovye pis’ma esaula A.A. Upornikova,” p. 51.

32. E.Iu. Sergeev, “Predstavlencheskie modeli rossiiskoi voennoi elity nachala XX veka,” in Voenno-istoricheskaia antropologiia. Ezhegodnik. 2002: Predmet, zadachi, perspektivy razvitiia (Moscow, 2002), pp. 248–249.

33. See A.A. Brusilov, Moi vospominaniia (Moscow, 2001), pp. 71–77; Denikin, Put’ russkogo ofitsera, pp. 227–229.

34. Denikin, Ocherki russkoi smuty, vol. 1, p. 89.

35. See A.A. Svechin, Iskusstvo vozhdeniia polka po opytu voiny 1914–1918 gg. (Moscow, 2005), pp. 381–382.

36. “Frontovye dnevniki generala A.E. Snesareva,” Voenno-istoricheskii zhurnal, 2003, no. 9, p. 34.

37. “‘Ia gord tem, chto mogu byt’ polezen Rossii’ Pis’ma russkogo ofitsera s voiny,” Istochnik, 1996, no. 3, p. 24. A.N. Zhilginskii wrote this letter dated June 14, 1916, to his aunt S.E. Gibschman.

38. Revoliutsionnoe dvizhenie v armii i na flote v gody Pervoi mirovoi voiny. 1914–fevral’ 1917 g. (Moscow, 1966), p. 428.

39. RGVIA, f. 13835, op. 1, d. 79, l. 70 ob.