On August 26, General Kornilov sent to me Duma Deputy Vladimir Nikolaevich Lvov, to demand that the Provisional Government transfer to General Kornilov full civil and military authority with the proviso that he himself, at his own discretion, would appoint a new government to administer the country. The authority of Duma Deputy Lvov to make such a proposal was subsequently confirmed to me by General Kornilov in a direct wire conversation.69
To defend the country from the attempts of “certain circles of Russian society” to exploit its difficulties for the purpose of “establishing … a political system inimical to the conquests of the Revolution,” the statement went on, the cabinet had authorized the Prime Minister to dismiss General Kornilov and place Petrograd under martial law.
Kerensky’s accusation threw Kornilov into an uncontrollable rage because it touched his most sensitive nerve, his patriotism. After reading it, he no longer thought of Kerensky as a Bolshevik captive, but as the author of despicable provocation designed to discredit him and the armed forces. He responded by sending to all front commanders a counterappeal drafted by Zavoiko:†
The telegram of the Prime Minister … in its first part is an out-and-out lie. I did not send Duma Deputy Vladimir Lvov to the Provisional Government—he came to me as a messenger from the Prime Minister.… Thus, there occurred a grand provocation which gambles with the destiny of the Fatherland.
Russian people: our great homeland is dying!
The moment of death is near!
Forced to speak out publicly, I, General Kornilov, declare that the Provisional Government, under pressure from the Bolshevik majority in the Soviet, acts in full accord with the plans of the German General Staff and, concurrently with the imminent landings of enemy forces on the coast of Riga, destroys the army and convulses the country from within …
I, General Kornilov, the son of a Cossack peasant, declare to each and all that I personally desire nothing but to save Great Russia. I swear to lead the people through victory over the enemy to the Constituent Assembly, where it will decide its own destiny and choose its new political system.70
61. N. V. Nekrasov.
This, at last, was mutiny: Kornilov later admitted that he had decided on an open break with the government because he had been accused by it of open rebellion—that is, treason. Golovin believes that by his actions Kerensky provoked Kornilov to rebeclass="underline" 71 the assessment is correct in the sense that Kornilov rebelled only after having been charged with rebelling.
That Kerensky wanted to exacerbate rather than heal the breach became apparent from the several communiqués he released on August 28. In one he instructed all military commanders to ignore orders from Kornilov, whom he accused of having “betrayed the Fatherland.”72 In another, he lied to the public about the reasons for the advance of Krymov’s corps on Petrograd:
The ex-Commander in Chief, General Kornilov, having rebelled against the authority of the Provisional Government, while professing in his telegrams patriotism and loyalty to the people, has now by his deeds demonstrated his treachery. He has withdrawn regiments from the front, weakening its resistance to the pitiless enemy, the German, and has sent all these regiments against Petrograd. He has spoken of saving the Fatherland and consciously instigates a fratricidal war. He says that he stands for freedom, and sends against Petrograd Native Divisions.73
Had Kerensky forgotten, as he was later to claim, that only a week earlier he himself had ordered the Third Cavalry Corps to Petrograd to come under his command?74 It would strain credulity to the utmost to find such an explanation plausible.
During the three days that followed, Kornilov tried without success to rally the nation “to pull our Fatherland out of the hands of the mercenary Bolsheviks, who lord it over Petrograd.”75 He appealed to the regular armed forces as well as the Cossacks and ordered Krymov to occupy Petrograd. Many generals gave him moral support and sent wires to Kerensky protesting his treatment of the Commander in Chief.76 But neither they nor the conservative politicians joined him, being confused by the disinformation spread by Kerensky, which, by blatantly distorting the background of events, made Kornilov into a mutineer and counterrevolutionary. The refusal of all the top generals to follow Kornilov furnishes additional proof that they had not been involved in any conspiracy with him.
On August 29, Kerensky wired Krymov as follows:
In Petrograd complete calm. No disturbances [vystupleniia] expected. There is no need for your corps. The Provisional Government commands you, on your personal responsibility, to stop the advance on Petrograd, ordered by the removed Commander in Chief, and direct the corps not to Petrograd but to its operational destination in Narva.77
The message makes sense only if Kerensky assumed that Krymov was advancing to Petrograd to quell Bolshevik disturbances. Although confused, Krymov obeyed. The Ussuri Cossack Division stopped at Krasnoe Selo, near Petrograd, and on August 30 swore loyalty to the Provisional Government. The Native Division, apparently on orders of Krymov, also halted its advance. The actions of the Don Cossack Division cannot be determined. In any event, the available sources indicate that the role usually attributed to agitators sent by the Soviet to dissuade the Third Corps from advancing on Petrograd has been considerably exaggerated. The principal reason why Krymov’s forces did not occupy Petrograd was the realization of its commanding officers that the city was not, as he and they had been told, in the hands of the Bolsheviks and that their services were not required.*
62. Soldiers of the “Savage Division” meet with the Luga Soviet.
Krymov arrived in Petrograd on August 31 on the invitation of Kerensky and with a promise of personal safety. He saw the Prime Minister later that day. He explained that he had moved his corps to Petrograd to assist him and the government. As soon as he had learned of a misunderstanding between the government and headquarters, he ordered his men to halt. He never intended to rebel. Without going into explanations and refusing even to shake hands with him, Kerensky dismissed Krymov and instructed him to report to the Military-Naval Court Administration. Krymov went instead to a friend’s apartment and put a bullet through his heart.*
Because the two generals whom he had asked to assume Kornilov’s duties—Lukomskii followed by V.N. Klembovskii—had turned him down, Kerensky found himself in the awkward position of having to leave the military command in the hands of a man whom he had publicly charged with treason. Having previously instructed the military commanders to ignore Kornilov’s orders, he now reversed himself and allowed Kornilov’s strictly military orders to be obeyed for the time being. Kornilov thought the situation extraordinary: “An episode has occurred which is unique in world history,” he wrote, “the Commander in Chief, accused of treason,… has been ordered to continue commanding his armies because there is no one else to appoint.”78
Following the breach with Kerensky, Kornilov fell into despondency: he was convinced that the Prime Minister and Savinkov had deliberately trapped him. Afraid that he would commit suicide, his wife requested him to surrender his revolver.79 Alekseev arrived in Mogilev on September 1 to assume command: it had taken Kerensky three days to enlist him for this mission. Kornilov yielded without resistance, asking only that the government establish firm authority and cease abusing him.80 He was first placed under house arrest at a Mogilev hotel and then transferred to the Bykhov Fortress, where Kerensky incarcerated thirty other officers suspected of involvement in the “conspiracy.” In both places he was guarded by the faithful Tekke Turkomans. He escaped from Bykhov shortly after the Bolshevik coup and made his way to the Don, where with Alekseev he would found the Volunteer Army.