“Manifesto Signed. Delivery Detained due to Duplication”: Documentary Records on the First World War

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Safonov M.M.,

St. Petersburg, The Russian Federation

“Manifesto Signed. Delivery Detained due to Duplication”: Documentary Records on the First World War

Abstract

The so called “act of abdication” of Nicholas II was to be a means to “fight to the finish”. Yet actuallyitbecamea milestoneon the way leading to the Russian withdrawal from the war,despiteRussia having all chances to be among the winners. In form, it is a very strange document: neither an act, nor a manifesto or telegram. The “act of abdication” was drafted by Alexander I Guchkov., Vasily V. Shulgin, who arrived toPskov from Petrograd, together withchief of staff of the Northern Front Yuri N. Danilov. No doubt, Nicholassigned some sort of document of abdication without any regardto common form. He hoped tosave his family and believed that circumstances might change and he would be ableto disavow the illegal act. But Guchkov, Shulgin and Danilov doctored the text and passed it as original. The fabricated act played an important role in the Russian history. It closed the chapteronthe rule of the Romanov’s dynasty and marked the end of monarchy in Russia. Instead of victory in the war, it led the Russian empire to total collapse and, eventually, shot down all emerging geopolitical prospects.

Keywords

The First World War, Stavka (Headquarters),Chief of Staff of the Stavka, the abdication of Nicolas II, manifesto, a telegram, A.I Guchkov, V.V. Shulgin, Yu.N. Danilov.

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About the authors

Safonov Mikhail Mikhailovich, PhD in History (candidate of historical sciences), senior researcher at the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences,St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, +7812-784-81-39, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

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