CONTINUED GERMAN AGGRESSION
On the day the Russian delegates to Brest-Litovsk had signed the peace treaty the Germans had announced an end to military activities on the eastern front, and until the treaty had been ratified they did indeed refrain from further aggression. It was even reported that practically all the German forces on the Russian front had been removed to the western front and those few that remained would be insufficient to carry on any further operations, even against the disorganized Russians. But after the middle of March reports of military operations began to appear again, the pretext of the Germans being that they were "establishing order" along the new frontier and were merely suppressing irresponsible bands.
The Teuton advance was most pronounced in Ukrainia, where the legal authorities were ostensibly cooperating with the invaders. Apparently the forces employed in the conquest of this territory were largely the Slavic contingents of the Austrian Army, supported by the so-called Ukrainian troops, regiments recruited from the Ukrainians which had formerly been units of the Russian Army and were now loyal to the Rada. German officers were in the higher commands, so that the operations were entirely in the interests of the German Government.
Thus, by the end of the third week in March the Teutons had overrun all of Ukrainia west of the Dnieper and were in possessionof the chief center, Kiev, as well as the important cities of Zhitomir, Nikolaiev, and the chief seaport of southern Russia, Odessa. Bolsheviki Red Guards succeeded in driving the invaders out of Odessa some days later, but it was again captured on the arrival of Austrian reenforcements. Over two thousand ships and great quantities of war material were seized. According to some reports, even the Rada became alarmed and protested at continuous invasion, but no heed was taken of the request.
Up in northern Russia there was also continued aggression. An advance on Petrograd was begun, but when the Soviet Government became established in Moscow, the Germans switched off in that direction, especially from the direction of Ukrainia, whose borders with Russia proper were crossed for a considerable distance, to within 150 miles of Moscow.
The peace treaty provided for the ceding to the Central Powers of the Transcaucasian provinces, already mentioned. But here the people had organized a constituent assembly of their own, which now refused to recognize this provision of the treaty. Meeting in Tiflis, the assembly declared for a defensive war, and independence was declared. In the middle of April the Armenian National Council, in an official protest addressed to the German Government, said:
"Following upon the withdrawal of the Russian troops Turkish forces have invaded the undefended country and are not only killing off the Turkish Armenians, but all the Russians as well. In spite of the terms of the peace treaty, which recognizes the right of self-determination for these Caucasian regions, the Turkish Army is advancing toward Kars and Ardahan, destroying the country and killing the Christian inhabitants. The responsibility for the future destiny of the Armenians lies entirely with Germany, because it was Germany's insistence which resulted in the withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Armenian regions, and at the moment it rests with Germany to prevent the habitual excesses of the Turkish troops, increased by revengefulness and anger."
In Russia, the Bolshevist leaders had actually betrayed their country to the Germans. In Finland, it was the conservativeelement that welcomed the Teutons. Hatred of Russia and fear of the excesses committed by the extreme Socialists had made the Finns strongly pro-German. For the Socialists were not only a numerous element in Finland, but were well organized in the Labor party. In January, 1918, these radicals, corresponding to the Bolsheviki in Russia, rose in armed revolt and seized Helsingfors, driving the members of the Government north, where it established its headquarters at Vasa, under the leadership of M. Svinhufvud. The Socialists organized a government of their own in the old capital, the head of their cabinet being Kullervo Manner. Thus was begun the civil strife with the conservative White Guards on the one hand and the Socialist Red Guards on the other, the former receiving German support, the latter being backed by the moral and a great deal of material support from the Soviet Government of Russia. The Germans occupied the Aland Islands, March 2, 1918, and in April took Helsingfors and Viborg, cooperating with the Finnish White Guards. At the end of April, Finland was practically controlled by Germany. Meantime the Germans were organizing the conquered provinces taken from Russia.
The continued aggression of the German forces aroused a very bitter spirit among the Russians. Even Lenine openly declared that the peace was only for the purpose of reorganizing the war. Trotzky, who at least outwardly opposed the acceptance of the treaty, came to the fore again. He declared for the organization of an army of half a million men on the regular disciplined basis. On April 2, 1918, Podvoisky, assistant commissary of war, announced that Russia would establish an army of 1,500,000 men, in which the elective principle would be more limited, and some of the leaders openly advocated conscription. On April 10, 1918, Trotzky was again admitted into the cabinet as minister of war.
Meanwhile there were strong indications that a more conciliatory attitude would be adopted toward the "capitalistic" governments of the Allies, who had been denounced as only a little less hostile to Russia than Germany. Tchitcherin, the foreign minister, made the statement that "Russia's relations toward the Entente are unchanged."
JAPANESE TAKE ACTION IN THE EAST
The Allied Governments, naturally, including that of the United States, refused to recognize the treaty of peace which Germany and Austria had imposed on the helpless Russians. It was their recognition of the helplessness of the Russians which caused them to realize the fact that Germany might still further force them into a position which would be detrimental to the Allied cause; that, in a sense, the Russians were not responsible and that therefore it might become necessary to take certain measures which would prevent their falling too far under Teuton control, or permitting Russia to become a vast storehouse and granary for the Central Powers, which might exploit and develop Russian resources to further Austrian and German ends. Now that Russia was not even nominally hostile to Germany, she became a potential auxiliary instead of a menace to the military success of the Central Powers.
Just before the collapse of Russia, brought to a climax by the rise into power of the Bolsheviki, large stores of military supplies from Japan and the United States had been accumulating at the Vladivostok terminus of the Siberian Railroad. It was only natural to assume that it would be Germany's great desire to obtain possession of these stores. What quickened anticipation of this possibility was the rumor that large numbers of Austrian and German prisoners had been armed in Siberia and were gathering along the line of the Siberian Railroad. Both Lenine and Trotzky denied this report most vigorously and invited the Allies to send representatives into Siberia to investigate. This was done, notably by the United States, and the reports of the investigators seemed to indicate that there had been no foundation to the rumors.
Nevertheless, the danger remained and action became necessary. Japanese intervention in the East now became a lively subject of discussion in the Allied countries. On April 5, 1918,two companies of Japanese marines were put ashore in Vladivostok, the immediate pretext being some disorders ashore, in which a Japanese subject had been killed. The local soviet reported that the Japanese had taken this action on their own initiative, without consulting the diplomatic representatives of any other of the Allied countries. But a later report indicated that the British had also landed marines, and on the following day the Japanese put ashore another small landing party. The Japanese naval commander, Admiral Kato, issued a proclamation in which he assumed personal responsibility for the landing of forces, and stated that it had absolutely no political significance, the object being merely to protect Japanese lives and property until the local authorities could guarantee law and order themselves. The local governing bodies, however, protested vigorously.
The news of the landing produced keen excitement in Moscow and was construed as the beginning of Japanese intervention in Russian domestic affairs. On the following day, April 6, 1918, the Soviet Government issued a statement in which it declared that the murder of the Japanese subject was part of a pre-arranged plan and that "the Japanese have started a campaign against the Soviet Republic." Two days later Premier Lenine said, in a public speech:
"It is possible that, within a short time, perhaps even within a few days, we shall be compelled to declare war against Japan."
Two days later it was reported that Russia had requested the German Government to permit postponement of that provision of the peace treaty which demanded the demobilization of the Russian military forces, on account of the possible need of defensive military action against the Japanese.
On April 16, 1918, Mr. Francis, American ambassador to Russia, issued the following statement:
"The Soviet Government and the Soviet press are giving too much importance to the landing of these marines, which has no political significance, but merely was a police precaution taken by the Japanese admiral on his own responsibility for the protection of Japanese life and property in Vladivostok, and the Japanese admiral, Kato, so informed the American admiral,Knight, and the American consul, Caldwell, in Vladivostok. My impression is that the landing of the British marines was pursuant to the request of the British consul for the protection of the British consulate and British subjects in Vladivostok, which he anticipated would possibly be jeopardized by the unrest which might result from the Japanese landing. The American consul did not ask protection from the American cruiser in Vladivostok Harbor, and consequently no American marines were landed. This, together with the fact that the French consul at Vladivostok made no request for protection from the British, American, or Japanese cruisers in the harbor, unquestionably demonstrates that the landing of Allied troops is not a concerted action between the Allies."
The fears of the Soviet Government were not completely allayed, however, for they began to remove the stocks of war material westward, with the result that on April 20 the Japanese landed still more marines to reenforce those already on guard ashore.
On April 26, 1918, Tchitcherin, the foreign minister of the Soviet Government, informed the representatives of the United States, Great Britain, and France that his Government desired the recall of their consuls stationed at Vladivostok on account of their participation in counter-revolutionary plots. He also asked them to set forth their attitudes toward the Soviet Government. An official report of the demand for the removal of John K. Caldwell, the American consul at Vladivostok, was received by the American State Department on May 6, 1918, from Ambassador Francis. The State Department replied that it had no definite information on which to base such charges and refused to remove the consul. These charges were largely in relation to the counter-revolutionary movement which had been instigated by General Seminov, who had established himself in the Transbaikal and had gathered around him a number of former officers in the Russian army of high rank and who were now inspired, either by a hope that a monarchial form of government might be reestablished, or at least that a less radical form of government than that of the Bolsheviki might take its place.Here were gathered also many civilian enemies of the Bolsheviki, with the same hope of overthrowing them by military force.
During the middle of April, 1918, hostilities were reopened by General Kornilov against the Soviet forces, but his campaign from the Cossack country in the south met with disaster in its incipiency, and Kornilov was himself badly wounded.
It was also stated that General Dutov, another anti-Bolshevist Cossack leader, was captured by the Bolshevist troops, and that Seminov, the leader of the anti-Soviet forces in Siberia, was killed.
Meanwhile the Germans were continuing their aggressive operations, largely through Ukrainia, where they were almost completely in possession of the country. The German Government was evidently keenly disappointed in its hopes of obtaining food supplies from this region.
If the demanded food supplies were to be had, it was obvious that stronger measures must be resorted to. In the latter part of April it was announced officially by the Washington State Department that the Ukrainian Rada was to be dissolved by the Teuton military commander in Kiev and another government established in its place.
The pretext came with the "arrest" on April 24, 1918, of a prominent pro-German banker by an organization calling itself the Committee of Ukrainian Safety. The German Vice Chancellor, Von Payer, said before the Main Committee of the Reichstag that this secret society had as its object the expulsion of the Germans from the country, which it proposed to accomplish by means of the old terrorist methods employed in the earlier days of the autocracy. Among the members of the organization were many men of public prominence, and it was said that its central executive committee had been meeting in the residence of the minister of war. The German ambassador had demanded an investigation, but the Rada would not, or could not, take action.
Within forty-eight hours the commander in chief of the Teuton forces in Ukrainia, General von Eichhorn, proclaimed a state of "enhanced protection," tantamount to martial law.
On April 28, 1918, while the Rada was in session, the doors to the assembly chamber were suddenly thrown open by German soldiers and a number of the members of the assembly were seized, among them being the minister of war. When the president of the Rada protested against the outrage, he was struck by a soldier and thrown to the floor.
On the following day a convention of wealthy peasants and landed gentry, who were holding a convention in the city, proclaimed itself the government of the land, declared the Rada non-existent, and proclaimed General Skoropadsky, a strong pro-German and a reactionary, hetman of Ukrainia, thus giving him practically dictatorial powers, subject to German approval. The German Government hastened to recognize the new governing power.
A German tool from the beginning, the Rada had nevertheless failed to satisfy the German demands because of its democratic form, which enabled an honest minority within its composition to block the pro-German majority. With the autocratic powers of the new dictator at their disposal, the Germans now hoped to accomplish their ends more effectively, for now they could place the responsibility squarely on him.
In their drive for food supplies, however, the Teutons were not disposed to confine themselves to the boundaries of Ukrainia. They still continued their military expeditions into the territories of the Soviet Government.
In the early part of June, 1918, the Germans made an advance into the Roslav region, in the Province of Kursk, taking Roventki. On May 10, 1918, they began an eastward advance, sixty miles wide, between Valuyki and Zhukovo. On that date they captured Rostov on the Don, an economic center of great importance, but held it only overnight, as the next day they were driven back by the Russian Red Guards. Finally, however, during this period, but on a date not mentioned in the dispatches, Sebastopol was captured, very little resistance being offered on this occasion. Here the majority of the ships constituting the Russian Black Sea fleet were captured, but, according to a German report, it was found that the ships were in a deplorable condition; onlythe battleshipVolgaand the cruiserPamyat Mercuriawere in serviceable condition. The rest of the fleet consisted of the battleshipRostislav, the cruiserPotemkine, and a number of torpedo boats and submarines and twenty transports. The protected motor-boat flotilla had already been seized at Odessa, as had been the new war vessels still lying on the slips in the shipyards. The latter consisted of a dreadnought of 23,000 tons, two protected cruisers of 7,600 tons, and two unprotected cruisers.
GERMAN POLICY OF AGGRESSION
The White Guards of Finland, having triumphed over the Socialistic Red Guards, with the active assistance of German intervention now began to show a disposition to widen Finnish territory in truly Prussian fashion. Already in May Finnish and German troops had begun operations in the direction of the Murman Coast, the main object undoubtedly being to seize the railway from the interior of Russia to the Arctic ports of Alexandrovsk and Archangel, where large supplies of war material were stored. It was stated that a small force of English and French marines had been landed here and were cooperating with the Bolshevist Red Guards in defending this territory against Teutonic invasion; that the war council attached to the local Murman Soviet consisted of one Russian, an Englishman, and a Frenchman. At any rate, the German Government made the landing of Allied troops at Alexandrovsk the pretext for a strong protest to the Soviet Government. In the early part of June, 1918, the Finnish Government, in response to communications from the French and English Governments, informed its ambassador in Stockholm that Finland had no desire to take possession of the Murman Railroad, but it could not undertake to forego its ambition to annex Russian Carelia. Apart from the small number of Russian immigrants in Carelia, the note said, the population wasentirely Finnish and had preserved its national character during a century of oppression.
"Heretofore it has been impossible for the Finnish Government," the note continued, "to support these national desires, but the Finnish Government feels that it cannot for all time disregard its duty to liberate Carelia from the Bolshevist bands, of Russian and Finnish origin, which are terrorizing the peaceful population. Intervention may become necessary for purely defensive reasons, since the Bolshevist bands are threatening devastation to the territories on the Finnish border. Many attempts at invasion have already been repulsed.... Many pathetic appeals have been received from the Carelians to help them place in order their administrative and economic life where Russian methods have made all civilizing work impossible."
The German policy, obviously, where actual conquest was not practical, was the dismemberment of the former Russian Empire. Every encouragement was given to the separatist tendency. As an instance, the German Government was reported to have inquired of the local Crimean authorities concerning the nationalization of their flag, which the Soviet Government naturally interpreted as an indication of the German desire to separate the Taurida Republic from the Russian Federative Republic.
The annexation of Bessarabia to Rumania was another German intrigue to diminish the territory of the Russians. According to a Rumanian report on April 9, 1918, the National Assembly of Bessarabia had voted for annexation to Rumania, by a vote of 86 against 3. The Rumanian Premier had then proclaimed the union to be "definitive and indissoluble," and a delegation was sent to Jassy to present the homage of the people of Bessarabia to the Rumanian king. This action was taken at the suggestion of Germany, that Rumania might partly compensate herself for the loss of territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, according to the conditions of the peace she had signed with the Central Powers. Previously, in March, Russia and Rumania had agreed that Bessarabia was to be evacuated by Rumanian troops, whence they had gone to establish "law and order" at the request of the population, or, more accurately, the landed gentry, who desiredthem as a protection against Bolshevism. Local militia was to take the place of the Rumanian troops of occupation, while military garrisons were to be occupied by Russian troops. Russia undertook to leave Rumania the surplus of Bessarabian grain remaining after the population and the Russian troops had been provided for. All these arrangements were now revoked through German intrigues.
On the other hand, the captured provinces of Esthonia and Livonia were given a comparatively free hand by the Germans, the understanding being that they should remain in the Russian Federative Republic, if their populations so desired. Yet here Germany endeavored to accomplish by propaganda what she did not choose to attain by armed force.
In March, 1918, the Lithuanians had organized a provisional government, which immediately demanded recognition of Germany.
On May 5, 1918, the British Government granted an informal recognition to the Esthonian Provisional Government, and, as stated by Mr. Balfour, reaffirmed a "readiness to grant provisional recognition to the Esthonian National Council as a de facto independent body until the peace conference, when the future status of Esthonia ought to be settled as far as possible in accordance with the wishes of the population."
GERMANY'S APPEAL TO CLASS HATREDS
A survey of the geographical position of the Murman Peninsula and its harbors will show at a glance the strategic and economic importance of this region and explain the keen desire of the Germans to obtain a foothold here. The Murman Coast is that section of the Arctic shore stretching from the frontier of Russia with Norway, at the mouth of the Voryema River; to Cape Svyatov, on the White Sea, a distance of about 250 miles.On the west the coast is a succession of precipitous cliffs and bluffs, pierced by a number of deep inlets, of fiords, several of which are excellent harbors for large ships. An inward sweep of the Gulf Stream washes the shore, keeping it free of ice the year around, though the White Sea, to the southward, is icebound six months of the year.
On this account it was long ago planned to connect this ice-free piece of coast with the interior of Russia by means of a railroad, but the project never went beyond paper until the beginning of the present war, when it suddenly assumed unusual importance. It was realized that practically all other Russian ports would be closed to commerce, but that the Murman Coast could still be reached by an open sea route. In the winter after the outbreak of hostilities the construction of the railroad to Kola was begun and completed by the fall of the following year, 1916. The railroad, which is about 800 miles in length, runs from Petrozavodsk to the little port of Kem, on the White Sea. Here it follows the coast to Kandalaska, also on the White Sea, whence it crosses the Kola Peninsula to the Port of Kola. This terminal port can be reached by ship from England quicker than Petrograd, while the route from New York is twenty-four hours shorter than from New York to Libau.
While this railroad remains in Russian hands, Russia has an open trade route with the outside world. Possession of this railroad would give the Germans control of this open doorway and so increase the strength of their economic grip on Russia. Furthermore, it would prove an invaluable base for submarine warfare.
As already stated, the Finnish-German forces began operations in this direction in April, and the Allies immediately landed a small force of marines to support the Red Guard defense of this important region. In June, 1918, the Finns and Germans resumed their advance on the railroad, heading for the important stations of Kem and Kandalaska. According to one report, the Germans had completed a railroad to Kem, along which they proposed to transport some 40,000 troops, stationed at Viborg. Lenine was disposed to make concessions at this point to the Germans. The local population, which is largely Russian, was violentlyopposed to German invasion. On July 7, 1918, it was reported that the people of the Murman Coast had risen against the Soviet Government, declared themselves independent, and appealed to the Allies for protection.
French, English, and American forces were immediately landed, in spite of the strong protest of the Moscow Government. As a matter of record, before landing, the British commander of the landing forces had requested permission of the Soviet Government, which had been immediately granted by Trotzky, minister of war. The protest which followed was therefore compelled by German pressure, which was applied so strongly that the Soviet Government made a show of mobilizing a special army for transportation to the Murman Coast.
After the landing of the American forces, in the early part of July, 1918, the Allied troops advanced on Kem and occupied that port, then continued on toward Toroki, the Bolshevist forces there withdrawing to Nirok. By the end of July, 1918, the whole Murman Coast had been occupied by the Allied troops, the German-Finnish forces, amounting to about a division, being too far south to offer any opposition. According to one dispatch General Gurko, one of the chief commanders of the Russian troops in the days before the revolution, had been placed in command of the Murman Coast army. It was also said that an appeal had been made for the support of the local population, which was being given with hearty enthusiasm.
The grip which Germany had taken on Finland was indicated when even so strong a reactionary as General Mannerheim, commander of the Finnish White Guards, resigned early in July, 1918, and left the country for Stockholm. Here he stated publicly that Finland had practically become a territory of the German Empire and would remain so unless expelled by force. He added that he was waiting for the opportune moment to rally the patriotic Finns against the Germans. Said Hugo Haase, leader of the German minority Socialists, in a speech in the Reichstag:
"The list of those sentenced to death in Finland contains the names of a former premier and fifty Socialists, members of Parliament, some of whom have already been shot. Owing to thenumber of daily executions in the town of Sveaborg that place has been renamed 'Golgotha.'"
The Finnish Constitutional Committee, by a vote of 16 against 15, has decided on a monarchial form of government, and the new constitution is being drafted accordingly.
ASSASSINATION OF THE GERMAN AMBASSADOR
The policy of Lenine, as has already been noted, was one of protesting acquiescence to German outrage and demands; he snarled and assumed indignation, but complied. But this attitude was not by any means participated in by all the radicals. Even Trotzky, it will be remembered, had resigned his post as foreign minister because he had been unable to agree with Lenine on this point.
It was among that ultraradical group, the Socialist Revolutionists, that bitterness against Germany glowed hottest, so hot that its members, though having much in sympathy with the Bolsheviki, split away from them on the peace policy. Kerensky himself had been of this school of politics. In the early days of the autocracy, before the war, it had been this group which had carried on those terrorist activities which had given the Russian Revolution so bad a name among the conservatives of all countries.
Again they resolved to resort to these methods. On July 6, 1918, General Count von Mirbach, the German ambassador to Moscow, was assassinated by members of the Socialist Revolutionist Party.
Among others of the prominent Socialist Revolutionary leaders who were said to have been seized for this crime were Tseretelli, Chernov, Skobelev, and Savinkov, all of whom had been members of the Kerensky Cabinet. On July 12, 1918, it was reported thatChernov was marching on Moscow at the head of an army of peasants.
Contrary to general belief in the Allied countries, Germany was inclined to hold the Lenine Government blameless of the murder of Count von Mirbach, for on July 10, 1918, the Berlin Government announced that it did not intend to hold the Soviet responsible. "The German Government and the nation," the dispatch added, "hope that the Russian Government and people will succeed in nipping the present revolutionary agitation in the bud." In a speech on July 11, 1918, Von Hertling, after having laid the blame to the intrigues of the Allies, said:
"We do not want fresh war with Russia. The present Russian Government wants peace and needs peace, and we are giving it support in this peaceful disposition and aim. On the other hand, it is true that political currents of very varied tendencies are circulating in Russia—movements having the most diverse aims, including the monarchist movement of the Constitutional Democrats and the movement of the Socialist Revolutionaries. We will not commit ourselves to any political countercurrent, but are giving careful attention to the course Russia is steering."
Apparently the personality of Von Mirbach had also something to do with his assassination, for as an intriguer he was reported to be absolutely without conscience. After his death the Constitutional Democrats made an official statement to the effect that he had called to him representatives of their party and, while professing to be upholding the Lenine Government, promised them German aid in overthrowing the Bolsheviki under certain conditions. Germany, he told them, desired a more conservative government in Russia, and if the Constitutional Democrats would be willing to establish a monarchy, under German influence, then they might expect a substantial revision of the Brest-Litovsk peace treaty, to the advantage of Russia. This offer the Constitutional Democrats had indignantly refused.
Not alone in Great Russia was it that the bitter hatred of the Germans was breaking out into flames. In the middle of June, 1918, it was reported from Kiev that the peasants were breaking out into local disorders and attacking the soldiers whowere protecting the wheat-gathering expeditions. A dispatch dated in June, 1918, indicated that these disorders had taken on a more general and better organized aspect; that 40,000 peasants were assembled in an army and were entering the streets of the capital, where they were attacking the garrison and exploding artillery munitions. Later dispatches indicated that the revolt had spread into the Poltava and Chernigov districts, and ten days later the number of armed and officered insurgents was said to number 200,000. At the village of Krinichki, in the province of Ekaterinoslav, the peasants attacked the Germans in big force and a pitched battle took place, the Germans being driven back with a loss of over 1,000 men. In response to a call from the German commander in Kiev it was reported that Germany was obliged to send over a quarter of a million men to reenforce the German and Austrian forces in Ukrainia.
THE MARCH OF THE CZECHO-SLOVAKS THROUGH SIBERIA
By far the most picturesque of the events occurring in Russia during June and July, 1918, was the so-called Czecho-Slovak movement.
In the earlier periods of the war, but especially after the first revolution, in March, 1917, great numbers of Czechs, or Bohemians, and Slovaks, in the Austrian Army, had surrendered to the Russians voluntarily, on account of their hatred of Austria. The Bohemians and Slovaks are Slavs by race, so closely allied racially to the Russians that they are able to converse together with little difficulty. Whole regiments of them had come over to the Russians, en masse, and were enrolled as special regiments in the Russian Army.
Shortly before the Brest-Litovsk Peace Conference the French Government requested the Lenine Cabinet to equip and send ontheir way for the western front these Slavic soldiers of the Russian Army. This request was granted by the Soviet Government, and the Czechs and Slovaks, said to number 100,000, were allowed to retain their arms and entrain for France, via the Siberian Railroad.
At this time the Czecho-Slovak troops were decidedly not opposed to the Bolsheviki; on the contrary, most of them were known to be Socialists, and their sympathies were inclined to be in favor of all radical Russians. Upon hearing that this large body of soldiers was to leave Russia for the western front, Germany, naturally, raised a strong protest after the signing of the peace treaty. By this time the Czecho-Slovaks were en route on Siberian territory.
As to the cause of the friction which arose between them and the Soviet Government forces, there are two versions. One side contends that German pressure forced the Bolsheviki to endeavor to disarm the Czecho-Slovaks and intern them again. This effort was violently resisted and led to open hostilities.
The Bolsheviki affirm that the request of the French Government was not made in good faith; that behind it was an intrigue whose object was to make of the Czecho-Slovaks an armed force which should be the nucleus of an uprising against the Soviet in Russia. At an opportune moment the Czecho-Slovaks were to attack the Red Guards, hoping to rally around them all the anti-Bolsheviki forces in Russia, and so cause an overthrow of the Soviet.
Whatever the truth may be, open hostilities began on May 26, 1918, when Czecho-Slovak forces began operations in the Volga district and in Siberia simultaneously. Early in June, 1918, they had taken possession of a considerable stretch of territory in the Volga district, including several important towns. At about the same time some thousands of them, arriving at the terminus of the railroad, in Vladivostok, precipitated an uprising there and took possession of the city. On June 9 and 10, 1918, they occupied Samara and advanced to Ufa, in the Urals, where they were able to seize the railroads by which European Russia obtained its food supplies from Siberia. By the middle of June, 1918, theywere in control of the southern section of the Trans-Siberian Railroad, from Samara to Chelyabinsk, the northern branch from Chelyabinsk to Ekaterinburg, and the main line on the east of Novonikolaiefsk. Some weeks later they held the railroad from Chelyabinsk, in the Ural Mountains, to Krasnoyarsk, a distance of 1,300 miles, as well as its eastern terminus, while scattered units of the Czecho-Slovak army stretched clear across Siberia.
On June 30, 1918, a pitched battle was fought with the Red Guards at the important city of Irkutsk, in Siberia, from which the local Bolshevist soviet was ousted. On the same day the last of the Bolsheviki were driven out of Vladivostok, the fighting being so severe that the Japanese and English warships in the harbor were obliged to land marines to protect the Allied consulates. Having established themselves in Vladivostok, the Czecho-Slovaks advanced into the Amur region and took Nikolaiefsky, on the Amur River, besides a number of other towns. By the middle of July, 1918, most of the Trans-Siberian Railroad was in the hands of the Czecho-Slovaks.
Meanwhile the Czecho-Slovaks in the Volga region were also engaged in heavy fighting with the Soviet troops. On July 9, 1918, the Soviet Government announced that it had delivered a heavy defeat to the Czecho-Slovaks at Bugulma, the enemy fleeing in the direction of Samara. Another dispatch stated that Muraviev, the commander of a large force of Soviet troops, suddenly decided to go over to the enemy and march with them on Moscow. When his soldiers refused to obey him, he committed suicide.
The commander in chief of the Czecho-Slovak forces in Russia is the Russian General Dieterichs, who was chief of staff under Dukhonin, after the fall of Kerensky. In a statement addressed to the American representative of the Finnish People's Republic, the Czech Socialist Federation of the United States insisted that the Czecho-Slovak movement in Russia was in no way connected with counter-revolutionary intrigues tending toward a reestablishment of the autocracy, or of a constitutional monarchy, the great majority of the Czecho-Slovaks being themselves Socialists. Professor Masaryk, representing the movement in Washington, says:
Admiral Knights flagship, the old cruiser "Brooklyn" of Spanish-American War fame, is lying in the harbor of Vladivostok, to cooperate with the American and other Allied troops who have landed in Russia. Behind the "Brooklyn" is the British cruiser "Suffolk".
Admiral Knights flagship, the old cruiser "Brooklyn" of Spanish-American War fame, is lying in the harbor of Vladivostok, to cooperate with the American and other Allied troops who have landed in Russia. Behind the "Brooklyn" is the British cruiser "Suffolk".
"Our army is struggling against the external foe. We are the guests of our brothers in Russia and we will not interfere in their internal affairs."
On July 10, 1918, a new, autonomous Siberian Government was proclaimed, with headquarters at Novonikolaiefsk, on the River Ob. The new government, while anti-Bolshevist, is radical in character and is based on universal suffrage and a constituent assembly representing all classes of the population.
On the same date, July 10, 1918, General Horvath, vice president of the Chinese Eastern Railroad, proclaimed himself military dictator of another government of Siberia. He established his headquarters at Harbin.
EXECUTION OF EX-CZAR NICHOLAS
Since the latter part of June, 1918, there had been frequent rumors to the effect that ex-Czar Nicholas had been executed. The first of these stated that he had been killed by Red Guards at Ekaterinburg. This dispatch was denied officially, but was followed by another report that the ex-Czar had been tried and executed by the Bolsheviki at the city of the same name. This report was confirmed apparently by advices reaching the Washington State Department.
The next report was what purported to be an intercepted wireless message from the Soviet Foreign Minister Tchitcherin, in which it was stated that Nicholas was dead. Still another report had it that he had been bayoneted by Red Guards while being taken from Ekaterinburg to Perm.
On July 20 an official statement was issued from Moscow which stated definitely that the one-time autocrat of Russia had been shot on July 16, 1918.
The most prominent issue regarding Russian affairs which has been before the public of the United States and the otherAllied countries during the past month or more has been the question of extending assistance to Russia in reestablishing herself as a free, independent nation, with the power to resist German aggression; whether this should be done through active military intervention from the east, or whether it should be confined to economic and financial aid. On this point there has been a wide division of opinion, not only in this country, but among Russians as well.
The Bolsheviki, naturally, are strongly opposed to any military aid, which they would interpret as an attempt on the part of the capitalists of the Allied countries to suppress the socialistic state which they claim to have erected on Russian soil.
The membership of the Great Russian Cooperative Movement, expressing its views through its leaders and its official organs, is also opposed to military intervention, having small faith in the benevolent intentions of the Japanese Government. The cooperators, however, realize the danger from German economic control and have been fighting it with intensive effort. The Narodni Bank and the Consumers' Union, in Moscow, have opened offices in London and New York, and have opened a campaign for British and American aid in their efforts to stem the German economic invasion. The contention of their representatives is that the cooperative movement of Russia is a weapon which could be used by the Allied countries to great advantage, and should be aided in an extension of credit and loans of capital, with which their cooperative industrial system might be developed to such dimensions as to form an invincible bulwark against the flood of German capital flowing into Russia.
So far as reports from Russia indicated, the Russians in favor of military intervention by the Allies were largely among the conservative elements, represented by the Constitutional Democrats, and among those comparatively moderate radicals represented by Kerensky and Konovalov. The first group are largely of the professional classes and the so-called bourgeoisie who have not been able to bring themselves to prefer German dominance to even the disorders of Bolshevikism. Among the second group are many of the old-time revolutionists, such asTchaikovsky, Prince Kropotkin, Katherine Breshkovskaya, Vladimir Bourtsev and Maria Spiradonova. These latter are, most of them, of the old Social Revolutionary Party.
On July 31, 1918, the New York "Times" published the following Washington dispatch:
"Negotiations between the Entente Powers, Japan, and the United States regarding the extension of aid to the Czecho-Slovaks in Siberia and Russia have advanced another step. Information sought by the Japanese Government upon certain points of the American proposal looking to a definition of the aims and scope of any joint action now has been furnished by the State Department. This places the whole subject again before the Japanese Foreign Office at Tokio, which must determine whether the American proposal is now in a sufficiently concrete form to warrant the inauguration of a policy of action.... Meanwhile, from unofficial sources, comes news that in anticipation of a satisfactory conclusion of the negotiations, Japan and the Entente Allies are perfecting their arrangements for the organization of whatever military force may be necessary for the execution of the joint agreement. Because of their proximity to Siberia, Japan and China have been foremost in this work, with a full understanding and cooperation between the military commanders, though for strategic reasons the exact extent and nature of these preparations cannot be disclosed. It is generally realized, however, that upon these two countries will lie the burden of providing the greater part of any military force that may be employed. To preserve the international character of the enterprise France and Great Britain are preparing contingents. Both of them will draw on their near-by colonies."
By the end of July, 1918, it was practically certain that the United States Government had consented to participate in a limited military expedition into Russia, by way of Siberia, not for the purpose of conquest or interference in the internal affairs of the Russian Republic, but to create a nucleus about which all the anti-German forces of Russia might rally for the reestablishment of an eastern front against Germany.
ITALY REVIVES
After the few local engagements which, during the last few days of January, 1918, resulted in some slight Italian gains and a corresponding improvement of the Italian positions in some sectors, comparatively little of importance happened during the first half of February, 1918. On the first of that month the Italians succeeded in advancing their lines to the head of the Melago Valley, while an attempt on the part of the Austro-Hungarian forces to reach the Italian lines by means of a drive against the Italian position on Monte di Val Bella failed.
Artillery fire was the extent of military operations on February 2 and 3, 1918, being restricted on the first of these two days to the Asiago Plateau and the front east of the Brenta, but spreading on the next day along the entire front.
During the next few days the outstanding feature was increased aerial activity on both sides. On February 4, 5, 6, and 7, 1918, Italian and British airplanes made repeated successful attacks against the Austrian positions and a number of Austrian aviation grounds. On the other hand the Austrians bombed repeatedly Venice, Mestre, Treviso, Calviano, and Bassano. On some of these days there were also artillery duels and outpost actions, although the weather seriously interfered with military operations almost along the entire front.
Lively artillery duels and concentrations of fire in the Val Brenta and in the Mt. Melago and Mt. Asolone areas occurred during February 8, 1918. Austrian patrols attempting a surpriseattack against some Italian troops were repulsed by hand-grenade fire. Between the Posina and the Astico, east of Lake Garda, and along the coast, Italian reconnoitering parties effectively harassed the Austrian outposts. During the evening two infantry attacks in force were attempted by the Austrians south of Daone, west of Lake Garda, but failed under the heavy fire of the Italian advanced posts.
Along the whole front fighting activity was confined on February 9, 1918, to artillery actions, more intense and frequent in the eastern sector of the Asiago Plateau and in the area west of Mt. Grappa.
On February 10, 1918, very violent concentrations of fire and offensive thrusts of infantry were repeatedly carried out by the Austrians to the east and west of Val Frenzela, at the eastern end of the Sette Comuni, or Asiago Plateau.
At the new Italian positions of Mt. Val Bella and Col del Rosso, four and a half miles east of Asiago, Austrian attacks were promptly frustrated by the very effective fire of the Italian batteries. Farther to the east, on the southern slopes of Mt. Sasso Rosso, seven miles northeast of Asiago, Austrian detachments made various attempts to reach, under the protection of fire, some advanced trenches in front of the Italian lines, which had been evacuated, but they did not succeed, owing to the deadly Italian barrage fire.
On February 13, 1918, it was semiofficially announced that the British part of the battle line on the Italian front had been lengthened considerably east of the Montello ridge along the Piave and extended then some miles east of Nervesa.
Opposite the Montello, on February 15, 1918, British reconnoitering parties crossed the Piave and reached the Austrian lines. There were the usual artillery actions in the plains; one of the Italian patrols, starting from the bridgehead of Capo Sile (northeast corner of Venetian lagoons), surprised an Austrian post, killed or put to flight its garrison, and returned without losses, bringing back the captured arms.
Lively artillery actions took place in February 16, 1918, to the west of Lake Garda, to the east of the Brenta, and on theMiddle Piave. Allied batteries carried out effective concentrations of fire on Austrian movements east of Val Frenzela and on the back slopes of Col della Berretta, two miles east of Brenta. In the Val Lagarina, east of Lake Garda and south of Canove on the Asiago Plateau, Austrian reconnoissance parties were repulsed by rifle fire.
Between the Posina and the Astico Italian patrols, on February 16, 1918, displayed increased activity, and small caliber batteries harassed with frequent bursts of fire Austrian movements in the basin of Laghi. On the Asiago Plateau Allied artillery fired on Austrian troops marching along the Galmarara Valley, and carried out concentrations of fire on the sector Val Frenzela-Val Brenta; the Austrians repeatedly shelled Italian positions on the eastern edge. Between the Brenta and the Piave there was a reciprocal cannonade at the salient of Mt. Solarolo. Allied patrols carried out effective harassing actions against the Austrian advanced posts at Grave di Papadofoli. Along the coast region the Austrians intensified the artillery fire at different points, and pushed various patrols toward Cortellazzo, at the mouth of the Piave. They were, however, driven back by the hand-grenade fire of the sailors who garrisoned the bridgehead.
Again on February 18, 1918, artillery activities greatly increased, especially toward the eastern edge of the Asiago Plateau, and occasionally in the Val Giudicaria, west of Lake Garda, in the Posina-Astico sector, east of Lake Garda, on the front of Mt. Tomba, west of the Piave, and to the south of Ponte della Priula, on the Piave.
Italian batteries opened a sudden fire in strong Austrian parties in the Galmarara and Seren valleys and dispersed them. French batteries carried out effective concentration fire along their sector of the front. British patrols, having forded the Piave, raided the Austrian advanced trenches.