It was going to get worse.
THE serious plotters were now well advanced in their plans for a palace coup. Discounting the near- hysterical ‘champagne plot’ at the Vladimir palace, which served only to extinguish any hopes that the Romanovs could put their own house in order, there were a number of conspiracies, none knowing much if anything of the others. All necessarily were shadowy and perhaps only two were credible.
The Progressive Bloc of conservatives and liberals in the Duma had prepared a list of ministers who would form the government after a coup, with Michael as Regent, though they were vague as to how this was to be accomplished.
Demands that something should be done could be heard on all sides. Vladimir Stankevich, a henchman of the radical left-wing Duma deputy Aleksandr Kerensky, saw ‘a general determination to have done with the outrages perpetrated by court circles and to overthrow Nicholas. Several names were suggested as candidates for the throne, but there was unanimous agreement that Michael Aleksandrovich was the only one who could guarantee the constitutional legitimacy of government.’18
But talk was not action. Among those determined to act were Aleksandr Guchkov, the 55-year-old leader of the Octobrists, a right-wing party in the Duma, but one which favoured ‘constitutional government’; among his supporters were the liberal Nikolai Nekrasov, and industrialist Mikhail Tereshchenko, all destined to play a leading part in the events to come. Nekrasov and Tereshchenko were young men, the former 36 and the other only 29.
Guchkov, a former President of the Duma, had been hated by the Empress since 1912 when he had bitterly denounced Rasputin — ‘Oh, could not one hang Guchkov?” was her response.19 The gossipy French ambassador Paleologue called him ‘the personal enemy of Their Majesties’,20 so it was no surprise that he should now want to be rid of them.
Guchkov’s reasoning was that without change a revolution was inevitable and if it was left to extremists and the street mob then it would be they who would rule afterwards. ‘I fear that those who make the revolution will be at the head of that revolution’. The alternative was to be a bloodless palace coup, for none wanted that Michael should become Regent for Alexis ‘surrounded by lakes of blood’.21 The plan which they slowly pieced together was to capture the Tsar’s train while it was travelling between the capital at the army headquarters at Mogilev, and thus present the country next morning with a
But would Michael agree to be Regent? The plotters took that for granted, though they made no approach to him in advance. Certainly Guchkov seemed entirely confident. After all, he argued, faced with the reality of Nicholas compelled to abdicate, he would have no choice but to accept, willingly or otherwise. ‘The only illegality would be the moral pressure exerted. After that, the law would come into effect.’23
A second and unrelated plot went to the heart of the
However, the arrival in the capital in early January of General Aleksandr Krymov, a 46-year-old cavalryman from Brusilov’s army in the south, gave the Guchkov plot the better chance of success. In Krymov they had the military leader they needed. In the wider picture, it also helped that Krymov knew Michael and they respected each other.
At a meeting in Rodzyanko’s apartment, attended by a number of senior Duma representatives, Krymov made clear his intent. ‘The feeling in the army is such that news of a
The meeting lasted far into the night. Although Rodzyanko declined to have any part in it — ‘I have taken the oath of allegiance’ — the others were less squeamish, one quoting Brusilov’s remark that ‘if it comes to a choice between the Tsar and Russia, I will take Russia’.26
The plot, though lacking detail and with more questions than answers, was now a commitment. With the general in their ranks they were confident of recruiting enough officers for the task in prospect.
Michael was not made privy to any of this, for it was well understood that he could never allow himself to have any hand in bringing down his brother. He would become Regent, but that would be the direct result of the Tsar’s abdication, not because of any act on his part. He would take over with clean hands.
That said, they had first to capture and arrest the Tsar, and they were still weeks away from being ready to do that. But ready they would be, they were confident of that, as they were confident that the Tsar, once in their hands, would have no choice but to do as they commanded. Failure was not an option. They would strike in the middle of March.
In the event, that would be too late. What would be known as the February Revolution would render all that planning of no account. The end for Nicholas would be very different to the one which they had designed. Yes, he would sign his abdication as a result, and in a train as it turned out, but Michael would not be Regent, he would be Tsar.
10. ‘MAKE YOURSELF REGENT’
BACK home in Gatchina on Saturday, February 4, Michael telephoned his brother-in-law Sandro in Petrograd. Had there been any sign that Nicholas was ready to make concessions— anything hopeful at all — while he had been away at the front? The answer was depressingly No. Michael arranged to meet Sandro in the capital, and then proposed that the two of them should go together to Tsarskoe Selo in yet another desperate attempt to persuade him to see sense, appoint a responsible government, and take his wife out of politics altogether.1 Sandro agreed, but suggested that he first went there and confronted Alexandra privately. What had to be said to her in front of Nicholas would come better from him alone than with Michael. At least his wife Xenia, as the Tsar’s sister, could not be accused of being in ‘a bad set’.
Arriving in Tsarskoe Selo, Alexandra reluctantly agreed to meet Sandro. Nicholas led him into her mauve bedroom. ‘Alix lay in bed, dressed in a white negligee embroidered with lace…I kissed her hand and her lips just skimmed my cheek, the coldest greeting given me by her since the first day we met in 1893. I took a chair and moved it close to her bed, facing a wall covered with innumerable icons lit by two blue-and-pink church lamps.’
With Nicholas standing silently, puffing away on his cigarettes, Sandro told her bluntly that she had to remove herself from politics. Their exchange became heated, until all pretence at politeness vanished. ‘Remember Alix, I remained silent for thirty months!’ he shouted at her in a wild rage. ‘For thirty months I never said as much as a word to you about the disgraceful goings-on in our government — better to say in your government! I realise that you are willing to perish and that your husband feels the same way, but what about us? Must we all suffer for your blind stubbornness? No, Alix, you have no right to drag your relatives with you into a precipice. You are incredibly selfish!’
Alexandra stared at him coldly. ‘I refuse to continue this dispute’, she replied tersely. ‘You are exaggerating the danger. Some day, when you are less excited, you will admit that I knew better.’
He got up, kissed her, received no kiss in reply, and strode out in anger. He would never see Alexandra again.
Passing through the mauve salon he went straight to the library, ordered a pen and paper and sat down to write a report on his meeting for Michael. As he did so, he looked up and saw the Tsar’s ADC watching him, as if on guard. The aide refused to leave, and ‘in a fury’ Sandro stood up and stormed out of the
