Officers and Revolution: Civic Position of Russian Officers in 1917 Based on Archival Materials
| 04 June 2024
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Brinjuk N.Y.,Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation
Officers and Revolution: Civic Position of Russian Officers in 1917 Based on Archival Materials
Abstract
The article assesses civic position of Russian officers in the period between February and October revolutions. The significance of the study is confirmed by the persisting preoccupation of the public and the scientific community with the fates of Russian officers. Their chosen post-October 1917 trajectory was largely influenced by the experience gained during this period. For a long time the officers’ political beliefs were labeled as die-hard and ultraconservative, but in the recent decades the researchers are discovering just how differently they reacted to the revolutionary events of the spring, summer and autumn of 1917. Patriotism and desire to be useful to the army and the country were inherent to the civic position of the majority of Russian officers. However, the actions of the officers who had undergone all kinds of revolutionary trials were induced by different motives. The destabilizing processes in the army had a direct impact on their beliefs. In order to identify the transformations that occurred in the officers’ worldview, the author strives to observe the reactions of Russian officers caused by particular national news and developments in the army that took place while the revolution was unfolding and to determine which provoked most irreconcilable reprobation and which allowed some level of tolerance. The analysis of the officer worldview, which underwent a radical change in 1917 and influenced their path forward, is based on published memoirs of Russian military leaders and on archival materials. Among archival documents of particular importance are diaries, open letters addressed to the public and to the government, personal correspondence, reports to the command, orders of the day, etc. The process of forming an adequate response to the destruction of the army and the loss of authority by officers in 1917 was felt in the contemporaries’ first appraisal of the revolutionary changes which was made in the wake of the events. Many of them were seeking the culprit to blame for the collapse of the state and for the worst-case scenario happening in liberated from imperial power Russia. Taking their share of blame for the recent events, the officers considered the destruction of the Russian army one of the gravest causes for the national tragedy.
Keywords
The First World War, Great War, officers, revolution, freedom, Motherland, demoralization, civic position.
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About the authors
Brinyuk Nadezhda Yuryevna, PhD in history, researcher at the Military Medical Museum, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, 8-812-543-82-26, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it