14 May 1917. Alfred Knox

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Alfred Knox

Petrograd, Russian Empire

I addressed a letter to-day to the Ambassador. I commenced by quoting my letter of April 14th, with Prince Lvov’s reply that the army was a better fighting machine than it had ever been and that it was quite well able to deal with agitators, and continued :“ I returned to Petrograd from a visit to the Northern Front on April 28th. I gave you my opinion of the deplorable state of things at the front. Units have been turned into political debating societies; the infantry refuses to allow the guns to shoot at the enemy; parleying in betrayal of the Allies and of the best interests of Russia takes place daily with the enemy, who laughs at the credulity of the Russian peasant soldier.

Many senior officers complained that the Government, to which every army has a right to look for support, had left all the burden of dealing with agitation to the army. In Petrograd things are growing worse daily. The tens of thousands of able-bodied men in uniform who saunter about the streets without a thought of going to the front or of working to prepare themselves for war, when every able-bodied man and most of the women in England and France are straining every nerve to beat the common enemy, will be a disgrace for all time to the Russian people and its Government. "Even Lenin disclaims the idea of a separate peace, but his agitation tends to the same end by the utter ruin it is bringing on the Russian army.“ The movement of German troops to the

Westtern theatre which you foretold to Prince Lvov on April 14th has commenced.

<…>

“It is necessary for us to arrive at some conclusion as to whether the Russian army will fight;

No army in the history of the world has ever fought with such anti-war agitation in rear as is

now permitted in Petrograd by the Government.”

I suggested certain steps as necessary: the isolation of the army from political pollution, the

suppression of the most bitterly anti-ally papers, the Pravda, the Soldatskaya Pravda, and the

Novaya Jizn, the arrest of anti-war agitators, the prohibition of parleying with the enemy

, and others

1 Comment

✍ Also today

Alexander Blok

57, Ofitserskaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire

We (the whole world) have become scarily cut off. We need something completely new.

, and others

6 Like

Comment

Nadezhda Krupskaya with Vladimir Lenin

Kshessinska mansion, Petrograd, Russian Empire

I was more and more burdened by my work in the secretariat. I wanted to go to direct mass work. I also wanted to see Ilyich more often, for whom I was becoming increasingly and greater alarmed for. He was being persecuted more and more. You walk in Petersburg and hear some housewives talking: “And what should we do about this Lenin, who came from Germany? Should be drown him in a well." Of course it was clear where all this talk about bribery and betrayal was coming from, but it was not fun to listen to it. It’s one thing when a bourgeoisie speaks, and it’s another matter when the masses speak.

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Alexander Kerensky

is delivering a speech to the front delegates:

Petrograd, Russian Empire

Comrades, for 10 years you have endured and kept silent. You knew how to perform the duties that the old hated regime imposed on you. You knew how to shoot people when the regime demanded so. Why don’t you have patience now? Is the Russian free state the state of rebellious slaves?

, and others

Comment

Maurice Paleologue

10, Kutuzova embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire

The War Minister, Gutchkov, has sent in his resignation on the ground that he is powerless to change the conditions under which supreme authority is held, "conditions which threaten to have consequences fatal to the liberty, safety, and indeed the very existence, of Russia."

Generals Gourko and Brussilov have asked to be relieved of their commands. See more

, and others

2 Like

Comment

Nicholas II

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

It was a nice warm day. During the morning I took a nice long walk. At 12 o'clock I gave Alexis a geography lesson. During the day we worked again in our vegetable garden. Even though the sun was scorching, we continued working successfully, I read until dinner time to myself and in the evening I read aloud. Yesterday we learned of the resignation of General Kornilov as Commander-in-Chief of the Petrograd Military District and this evening about the dismissal of Guchkov, See more

, and others

4 Like

Comment

13 May

“Maybe…we really don’t need Russia?”

Kerensky decides that the war must be continued at all costs.

The Empress’s Maid of Honour: “I am consoled by reading prophecies about the end of the world.”

Map of the Royal dynasties of Europe

Romanovs dangerous liaisons

1916: Year in Review.

+12

in Petrograd

in Moscow