attitude was unsympathetic and chilly—in some cases even openly hostile to the Revolution. They proclaimed their loyalty to the new régime, but began to collect reactionary elements round them at the front. The front became a refuge for reactionary officers who had fled from the Revolution. Even the attitude of the "Stavka" or General Headquarters was doubtful and suspicious. General Alexeiev threatened court-martial on all revolutionary "gangs" who were found disarming the railway gendarmes.[1] In an order of the day, General Rad'ko-Dmitriev, another of the commanders-in-chief, threatened court-martial for refusals to salute. General Evert, of the same rank, actually defied the Provisional Government, and continued to recognise the Grand Duke Nicholas as the head of the army, appealing to the troops to support the Romanovs.
On the very next day after the Revolution, when the revolutionary forces were just beginning their new organisation, there was a conflict between the "parties of order" and the revolutionary democracy, which illumined in a flash the necessity for settling the status of the soldier and the constitution of the army decisively and at once. The situation was exceedingly difficult. The soldiers had left their barracks and joined the Revolution, their leaders in most cases being private soldiers themselves. The majority of the officers lay low, but in some regiments they gained the upper hand and tried to disarm the soldiers. It was a very uncertain and dangerous position. The soldiers were in a state of anxiety and tension. They had not the confidence to
- ↑ Alexeiev's Order of the Day of March 3 is very characteristic of the inability or unwillingness of the Generals to understand the new position. This Order was issued when the very necessary business of disarming the police of the old régime was in full swing. After referring to the "purely revolutionary gangs" from Petrograd who were disarming the railway gendarmes, the Order concludes: "… Wherever such self-appointed delegations make their appearance, they are not to be dispersed, but taken prisoner and court-martialled if possible on the spot, and the decision of the court is to be executed at once… 3rd March, 1917. No. 192. Alexeiev."
