BRITISH DIPLOMATIC PERSPECTIVES on the SITUATION in RUSSIA in 1917: an Analysis of the British Foreign Office Correspondence. By
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BRITISH DIPLOMATIC PERSPECTIVES ON THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA IN 1917: An analysis of the British Foreign Office Correspondence. By SALLY A. STOCKSDALE B.A., Stephens College, Columbia, Mo., 1979 B.A., City of London Polytechnic, U.K., 1981 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (Department of History) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA October 1987 ©Sally A. Stocksdale, 1987 In presenting this thesis in partial fulfilment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of British Columbia, I agree that the Library shall make it freely available for reference and study. I further agree that permission for extensive copying of this thesis for scholarly purposes may be granted by the head of my department or by his or her representatives. It is understood that copying or publication of this thesis for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. y Department The University of British Columbia 1956 Main Mall Vancouver, Canada V6T 1Y3 Date |^ O^^b f\n DE-6(3/81) i ABSTRACT During the third year of the Great War 1914-1918 Russia experienced the upheaval of revolution, precipitating the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II and installation of the Provisional Government in March, and culminating in the Bolshevik takeover of November, 1917. Due to the political, military, and economic chaos which accompanied the revolution Russia was unable to continue the struggle on the eastern front. Russia was not fighting the war against the Central Powers of Germany and Austria- Hungary alone, however, and her threat to capitulate was of the gravest concern to her Allies, Great Britain and France. In fact the disintegration of Russia's war effort was the pivotal issue around which Anglo-Russian relations revolved in 1917. Britain's war policy was dominated by the belief that the eastern front had to be maintained to achieve victory. It appeared that any interruption to the eastern front would allow Germany to reinforce her lines on the western front, then to win and control the economic destiny of Europe. Britain could not allow this to happen. This study focuses on the reportage from British diplomats and representatives in and outside of Russia to their superiors at the Foreign Office in London from December 1916 to December 1917. A vast wealth of documentation is available in the Foreign Office Correspondence. Analysis of these notes reveals certain trends which were dictated by the kaleidoscopic turn of events in Russia and the national ethos of these representatives. A minute analysis demonstrates a great diversity of opinion regarding the situation in Russia, ranging from optimism to pessimism and objectivity to prejudice in all phases of the year 1917. To a limited degree this diversity can be correlated with the geographical location and diplomatic status of the individual representatives. Above all it is clear that when historians quote from these sources, they choose the quotations which support the conclusions they have already reached because they know the outcome of the developments that they are describing. The individuals on the spot at the time were far less prescient and insightful. They were much more affected by their ii own historical prejudices and rumours, as well as the vagaries and short-term shifts of their immediate environment. Many of them believed in the great-man theory of history; a number attributed all developments and difficulties to some aspect of the Russian national character; some explained certain events during the year by conspiracies, especially of the Jews, with whom they tended to equate the Bolsheviks. Only a few were consistently solid and realistic in their appraisal of events, attributing them to factors favoured by our most respected historians. Ul TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii INTRODUCTION 1 Chapters I. December 1916 - The March Revolution 16 II. The March Revolution - The May Crisis . ... 31 ELI. The May Crisis - The July Offensive 49 IV. The July Offensive - The Kornilov Revolt... 66 V. The Kornilov Revolt - The Bolshevik Revolution . 83 VI. The Bolshevik Revolution - Year End 101 CONCLUSION 115 BIBLIOGRAPHY 121 1 INTRODUCTION For Britain, the most important aspect of the Russian Revolution in 1917^ was its effect on the Allied effort in World War I. The British wanted above all to defeat Germany and implicit in that goal was the assumption that active Russian participation on the eastern front was imperative. The consequences of an interruption in Russia's contribution would be staggering to the Allies since Germany would presumably bring enormous additional pressure on the armies in the west. From 1914-16 Russia's contribution had strongly assisted the Allied position on the western front. Formidable in numbers only^ Russia's armies faced superior German armament time and again, often with the sole object of relieving pressure on the Allies as opposed to serving her own strategic needs.4 This contribution was offset by the country's inefficiency as an instrument of war. Russia was neither administratively nor industrially equipped to engage in warfare on the scale called for in the Great War.^ By November 1915 Russia had lost Poland, 750,000 men were prisoners, and the number of deserters had reached approximately one million. Only in the field of diplomacy did 1915 yield a major coup for the Russians, when in the spring Britain and France agreed to the Russian acquisition of the coveted Dardanelles Straits and Constantinople - after Allied victory of 7 course. The military outlook for Russia on the eve of 1916 showed some signs of Q improvement. A faction in the Duma known as the Progressive Bloc began a campaign aimed at unifying the country during the latter part of 1915 and various officials in the government and military were replaced. The government began to utilize the efforts of voluntary organizations to aid the war effort. Most notable were The Zemstvo Union and the Union of Towns under the chairmanship of Prince George E. Lvov^, the War Industry Committee (WIC) led by industrialist Alexander I. Guchkov^, and the Red Cross. In addition, Allied war material and financial assistance were stepped up during the summer. 2 However, 1916 was marked by the deterioration of the government's integrity. The tsar had fatally weakened his position politically by assuming personal command of the armies in the field on 5 September 1915. In doing so, Nicholas II identified himself with Russia's defeats and placed himself in the hands of the generals. This deprived the country of an effective authority in Petrograd^^ when the Empress Alexandra and her infamous advisor, Rasputin, were left in charge. Throughout 1916, ministers changed rapidly in what has been described as the ministerial leapfrog.1^ By the winter of 1916- 17 the Russian "steam-roller," as the Russian army was nicknamed owing to the sheer weight of her numbers, was grinding to a halt. This, coupled with the turmoil caused by an inept government and disabled economy rendered a revolution imminent. During the months that followed the overthrow of the tsarist regime in March 1917, Britain's active policy toward her ally remained much the same as it had been from 1914 to 1916, i.e. to induce the Russian government to fight Germany with maximum efficiency. However, these months were marked by continued deterioration of the Russian war effort. The fall of the tsar left a duality of power between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet (council) of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies. These bodies were separated initially by a narrow gap which gradually widened until the Bolsheviks seized power. The Russian generals, preoccupied with the war effort, at first looked to the liberal politicians in the Provisional Government to stabilize the home front. But the task was to prove beyond the politicians' powers. Brought into prominence by an old electoral system that had disfranchised the mass of the population, these political leaders' names held no magic for the masses. They had acquired administrative experience in the wartime committees that had made a contribution to the organization of industry and supply services, but had never shared governmental power. They had inherited the identical problems of national defense and inefficient organization from the Imperial Government, but not the huge administrative, legal, and long established governing apparatus which was the tool for enforcement. 3 The Provisional Government's lack of understanding of the demands posed by the revolutionary situation in which Russia found itself was evident in its perception of itself (the primary one being that sovereignty rested with the Russian people), and the tasks it should perform. The view of sovereignty meant that the Provisional Government had to be a purely temporary body, in existence solely to fulfill the will of the people by preparing for the convocation of the Constituent Assembly, the nationwide representative body slated to decide a permanent governmental system to replace the monarchy. This, in turn, required the protection of the existing, albeit temporary, order which meant that any threat of a counter-revolution had to be thwarted. Because the high command represented a potential force for counter-revolution, one aspect of revolutionary defensism, or the protection of the revolution, was that the Provisional Government allowed the Soviet's notorious Order No. 1 be implemented. The charter urged the army to obey the government's orders only if they did not conflict with instructions from the Soviet and called for the election in every unit of committees which would cooperate with the Soviet. In accordance with the new democratic principles of the revolution, the Provisional Government released political prisoners in Siberia, extended invitations to those political exiles abroad to return, and upheld the rights to freedom of the press and speech.