Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia - War and Revolution

War and Revolution

After visits to Austria and Germany in 1913 Sergei Mikhailovich reported to the Government of the feverish work of military factories of the central European powers, but his warning about an imminent war was not heeded by the Russian ministers. In the summer of 1914 just before the outbreak of World War I, Grand Duke Sergei was traveling near Lake Baikal when he fell ill with rheumatic fever in Chita. At his return to Mikhailovskoe, during the first days of autumn, his illness, complicated with pleurisy took a severe form. He spent five months confined to bed before being pronounced fit enough to resume his duties. He was appointed inspector general of Artillery and was attached to the general headquarters, once making a trip to Archangel to check on the munitions sent there by the allies.

As chief of the artillery department Grand Duke Sergei came under fire of the president of the Duma, Michael Rodzianko. Corruption and negligence were rampant at the artillery and there was a scandal over contracts. Kschessinskaya was accused of getting preferential orders for firms in pursuit of economic gains. The grand duke was blamed for not uncovering a band of thieves and protecting the dealings of his mistress. A special commission launched an investigation on the matter and in January 1916, Grand Duke Sergei had to resign as head of the artillery department. He was then appointed Field Inspector General of Artillery at Stavka.

He was in a position to deal with Nicholas II every day, living in the same headquarters train with the Tsar. He was increasingly pessimistic about the outcome of the war for Russia but he could not assert any influence over Nicholas II who only trusted his wife Alexandra Feodorova who disliked Sergei Mikhailovich and had listed him among her enemies. The Tsarina following the rumors of corruption that had clouded Sergei’s reputation had pressed her husband to make Sergei Mikhailovich resign from the artillery department. The scandal over the bribes did not die down in the last period of Imperial Russia and Grand Duke Sergei spent nearly all his time at Stavka. He became more cautious in an attempt to distance himself from Kshessinskaya, who had used him in her quest for financial profit. About the outcome of the war, Grand Duke Sergei had no hope.

At the fall of the monarchy, Grand Duke Sergei was at Mogilev in the company of Nicholas II when he had to abdicate. During the first months of the provisional government, Grand Duke Sergei remained in Mogilev in voluntary exile on the advice of his brother Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, because of the cloud of corruption that hung over him as a result of the Ksehesinskaya scandal. However, after twenty-two years of having a substitute of a family life with his mistress, he resisted pressure from his brother to break off all relations with Mathilde and her son.

Sergei Mikhailovich returned to Petrograd at the beginning of June 1917. He remained in the former Imperial capital during the period of the constitutional government, living with his brother Nicholas Mikhailovich in the New Michaelovsky Palace. Grand Duke Sergei proposed to Kschessinskaya. She, although caring for him, did not love him and refused. Instead, she decided to join Grand Duke Andrei in the Caucasus. On 13 July, Grand Duke Sergei went to the Nicholas Railway Station to say goodbye to Mathilde and her son.