Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich of Russia - War and Revolution

War and Revolution

At the outbreak of World War I, Nicholas Mikhailovich joined the war effort with the formal title of aide-de-camp general, which was an honorific post. He had not been in active service for a decade and was not given a field command. Instead, he was sent to the southwest front facing the armies of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Stationed in Kiev in August 1914, he moved later to Rovno. He did not interfere with military matters but was assigned to make visits to hospitals. Within just a few days, at the end of August 1914, 6,000 wounded soldiers passed through Rovno alone. Nicholas was horrified by the slaughter "I have seen such suffering, such abnegation", he wrote, "that my heart has stopped, suffocated by the horrible spectacle of human suffering". His work with the army had a profound impact. "The suffering of the injured tears my heart," he wrote. Daily he visited the hospitals and "the masses of wounded". He remained in this position until his hospital visits became less necessary in 1915. However, this experience left him embittered: "there is every reason to become socialist after these massacres", he said. After the terrible Russian defeat in eastern Prussia in the Battle of Tannenberg, the Grande Duke prophetically wrote "in all Russian military disasters comes a gigantic uprising, which would bring to an end many monarchies and the triumph of international socialism".

During the war, his opinions in military matters were in the antipodes of his cousin Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaievich, who was commander in chief of the Russian armies between 1914 and 1915. Nicholas Mikhailovich disliked his cousin from their youth when they were rivals in their military careers. He was a pacifist and was against the war in a time of uppermost patriotism. He criticized his cousin's strategy and tactics, particularly the sacrificing of the Imperial guard and a large part of the regular army in the ill-fated advance on Eastern Prussia. He foresaw that Russia would not win the war with only half-trained reservists and draftees.

Worried with what was happening in the Russian government, the grand duke sent a letter to Nicholas II begging him to deprive Empress Alexandra of power and a sixteen-page tract on the misdeeds of the prime minister, Stürme. Horrified by the actions of the Government at this time, he publicly lambasted their actions. So much so that by the end of 1916 Nicholas II finally lost his patience with him and exiled Nicholas Mikhailovich to his rural estates. The grand duke did not return to Petrograd until he freed himself from exile after the fall of the monarchy. He had little faith in the provisional government, feeling that nothing short of a miracle could save Russia. After the October Revolution he was initially undisturbed by the Bolsheviks. He remained in Petrograd thinking, as many did at the time, that they would not last in power. He hesitated about escaping from Finland to Denmark, where his niece was queen. This would ultimately cost him his life. In January 1918, the Bolsheviks occupied his palace. He was initially allowed to continue living in his own apartments at the palace, but soon after he was expelled.