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Austrian Mountain Rangers 'resting in the shade of southern flora' on the Italian front. The card was postmarked from Berlin on January 5, 1916.
Russian Bolshevik soldiers demonstrating in Petrograd.
Detail from a 1898 map of St. Petersburg, the Russian capital, from a German atlas. Central St Petersburg, or Petrograd, is on the Neva River. Key landmarks from top to bottom include the Peter and Paul Fortress, which served as a prison, Nevski Prospect, a primary boulevard south of the Fortress, and the Mariyinsky Theater.
Alexander Kerensky, leader of Russia's Cadet party and a member of the Provisional government in 1917 as Minister of Justice, War, and Prime Minister. From 'The War of the Nations Portfolio in Rotogravure Etchings Compiled from the Mid-Week Pictorial Published by the New York Times Co. New York City N.Y.' © Copyrighted 1919 by the New York Times Company 1914 - 1919
Parted red curtains; in the center, in a trench, a German soldier, eyes closed, hands in overcoat pockets, leans against one side of a trench, smoking a pipe, his rifle resting on the other side of the trench. To the right, a Red soldier, red from red fur hat to red boots, holds two rifles. To the left, a Russian soldier casts away his his hat, backpack, and rifle. Across the bottom of the stage it reads, 1918. Operett: "Trockij", Operetta Trotsky. A watercolor postcard by Schima Martos.
"— The 2nd. The Germans have fallen back to a depth of one thousand yards on a front twelve miles in length, surrendering the line of the Ailette. But the outburst of enthusiasm in the Press has been cooled down by a recent Italian retreat (there is mention of 200,000 prisoners, and it is not known whether the Italians will stand firm on the Tagliamento)." ((1), more)
"Saluting the creation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the Petrograd garrison promises it complete support in all its actions, to unite more closely the front and the rear in the interests of the Revolution.The garrison moreover declares that with the revolutionary proletariat it assures the maintenance of revolutionary order in Petrograd. Every attempt at provocation on the part of the Kornilovtsi or the bourgeoisie will be met with merciless resistance." ((2), more)
"Sunday, November 4, was in the nature of a dress rehearsal for the clash ahead. The Petrograd Soviet—that is to say, the Bolsheviks—called on their followers to demonstrate in their own districts, not violently, but simply to make a show of strength. There was no serious incident, but the meetings were crammed with soldiers and workers who were clearly only waiting for a signal, and through the course of the day the Bolshevik Military Committee sent messages to the regiments that in future they were to obey no orders but those of their commissars." ((3), more)
"Now at last the government began to take serious action. Kerensky called a cabinet meeting late in the evening of November 5, and an emergency was declared. Polkovnikov was put in command of all forces in the city, with orders to take drastic action against disturbances. The Soviet Military Revolutionary Committee was declared illegal, and an order was sent out for the arrest of Trotsky and other Bolshevik leaders. Bolshevik newspapers were banned. Kerensky continued to be confident; he said he knew all about the Bolshevik plans. He would be glad if they did attempt a rising; he had ample forces to deal with it. Even now loyal troops were being summoned from outside the city. Yet Polkovnikov took no action on this night. He sent off a Women's Battalion to strengthen the guard inside the Winter Palace, but he made no attempt at all to attack the real center of the trouble, Smolny. And in fact the government had already suffered a major reverse on this day without a single shot being fired." ((4), more)
"October 24, a gray morning, early. I roamed about the building from one floor to another, partly for the sake of movement and partly to make sure everything was in order and to encourage those who needed it. Along the stone floors of the interminable and still half-dark corridors of the Smolny, the soldiers were dragging their machine-guns, with a hearty clangor and tramping of feet—this was the new detachment I had summoned. The few Socialist-Revolutionists and Mensheviks still at the Smolny could be seen poking sleepy, frightened faces out at us. The music of the guns was ominous in their ears, and they left the Smolny in a hurry, one after the other. We were now in full command of the building that was preparing to rear a Bolshevik head over the city and the country." ((5), more)
(1) Entry for November 2, 1917 from the diary of Michel Corday, French senior civil servant. The French October 23, 1917 Malmaison Offensive, named for an old fort retaken by the French in the attack, ended with a German retreat and the capture of the heights of Chemin des Dames, between Soissons and Reims. The next day, joint German and Austro-Hungarian forces struck the unprepared Italian Second Army, collapsing the Italian Front in northeast Italy, and driving the Italians back across the Isonzo River, the border between the two belligerents, and the Tagliamento River.
The Paris Front: an Unpublished Diary: 1914-1918 by Michel Corday, page 288, copyright © 1934, by E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publisher: E.P. Dutton & Co., Inc., publication date: 1934
(2) Resolution adopted on October 21 (November 3, New Style), 1917 in a meeting of soldiers of the Petrograd garrison. The Military Revolutionary Committee had been formed in the last days of October by the Petrograd Soviet. General Lavr Kornilov had attempted a coup in September.
Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed, page 71, publisher: Signet Books, publication date: 1967
(3) Some of the events of November 4 (October 22, Old Style), 1917 in Petrograd, capital of Russia. Although the Bolsheviks were in the majority in the Petrograd Soviet and the Military Revolutionary Committee, other socialist parties were also represented.
The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, page 238, copyright © 1958 by Time, Inc., publisher: Carroll and Graf, publication date: 1989
(4) Alexander Kerensky, head of the Provisional Government of Russia, responded to the formation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, led by Leon Trotsky and the Bolsheviks and formed to defend the Revolution, but to do so by seizing power. Kerensky may have thought he had command of the situation on November 5 (October 23 Old Style), 1917, but he had lost control of the army. General Polkovnikov was in command in the Petrograd Military District. The Winter Palace was the seat of the Provisional Government, the Smolny that of the Bolsheviks.
The Russian Revolution by Alan Moorehead, page 239, copyright © 1958 by Time, Inc., publisher: Carroll and Graf, publication date: 1989
(5) Leon Trotsky writing of the morning of November 6, 1917 — October 24, Old Style. The Smolny, a former school for girls, had been the seat of the Soviet Executive Committee, a Committee in which Bolsheviks had been increasingly represented in the weeks before the October Revolution. Earlier in the morning, Trotsky had found the machine guns in the building poorly maintained, and had sent for the detachment he writes of. The Provisional Government of Alexander Kerensky had determined to suppress the Bolsheviks on the 5th, and tried to do so on the 6th, but by the morning of the 7th the Bolsheviks would control Petrograd.
My Life: an Attempt at an Autobiography by Leon Trotsky, page 321, publisher: Dover Publications, Inc., publication date: 2007
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