1890 King of Southeast Asia

In June, a large-scale demonstration broke out in St. Petersburg, with anti-war factions, anti-imperialist factions, capitalist liberals, etc. gathering together, with a total number of more than 200,000 people.

At the beginning of the outbreak, Grand Duke Mikhail decisively restricted the army and sent people to negotiate with the parade 5, hoping to avoid bloodshed.

He was not afraid of what the parade 5 could do, but that his brother, Tsar Nicholas II, would order the army to suppress it - just like during the Russo-Japanese War.

That time, it was also a peaceful demonstration, but Nicholas II was afraid of the opposition and chose to suppress the demonstration by force.

In the St. Petersburg parade of 100,000 to 40,000 people, more than 1,000 civilians died in the suppression, and thousands of others were injured and killed, and countless people were arrested.

Of course, Mikhail was not a saint. In addition to not wanting to see bloodshed, he was also afraid.

After the St. Petersburg demonstration in January was suppressed, the number of strikers in Russia exceeded 440,000 in May, exceeded 1 million in September, and exceeded 2.8 million in the total strike at the end of December, and several uprisings broke out.

In this way, it will be impossible to recover within one or two years, and the Russian Empire will end in failure in this war, and even end the Romanov dynasty because of the failure of the war.

Unfortunately, Mikhail's efforts were destined to be in vain. It was not that he did anything wrong, but that the demonstrators grasped the pain point of Nicholas II - responsibility.

In April, the former chief of staff Alexeev had completely removed all his rights, and only retained one noble title and one general rank.

And this great defeat occurred in May and ended in early June, but Nicholas II regarded Alexeev as the person responsible for the failure.

This matter has been exposed. Alexeev's victory in the early stage of the battle has accumulated huge popular prestige for him. After being used as a scapegoat, the people are very dissatisfied.

During the parade, the people held up icons, photos of the emperor, and photos of themselves, Alexeev, and marched in four places with various slogans questioning Nicholas II.

At first, Grand Duke Mikhail stopped Nicholas II, but as the parade intensified, Nicholas II's reputation in public opinion began to stink, which made Nicholas II very angry.

On June 10, Nicholas II ordered the removal of Grand Duke Mikhail from his post as chief of staff, but he did not use Mikhail as a scapegoat - this was Grand Duke Mikhail's own request, but Nicholas II could not make up his mind.

On June 11, the Guards, under the order of the Tsar, began martial law to deal with the demonstrations in St. Petersburg, and began to impose a curfew.

If Nicholas II still maintained a strong control over the Russian Empire, or if he still maintained a good reputation, there would be nothing wrong with doing this, and it would also quickly stabilize the order.

However, Nicholas II had lost all of this, and even lost absolute control over the army.

Even though the army was on the streets, radical demonstrators still held rallies and speeches without fear.

On June 14, the angry Nicholas II ordered the arrest of the "rebels" and stubbornly rejected the request of the front to shrink the defense line.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was stepping up its offensive. Due to the lack of supplies, the officers on the front wanted to shorten the battle line and concentrate on replenishing supplies, so that their pressure would be much less.

But Nicholas II did not allow it. He needed a victory, a victory that was worthy of praise, to increase his support rate and reduce the power of the resistance.

In this way, on June 19, the Austro-Hungarian Empire broke through the Russian defense line, with more than 100,000 casualties and more than 100,000 prisoners. The last elite division of the Russian army was sent out in vain.

On June 20, the situation had reached an unmanageable point. Nicholas II summoned ministers to discuss the possibility of ending the war.

Of course, it was not to end the war as a victor, but to end the war on the premise of admitting defeat and paying a certain price, so that he could have the energy to deal with the situation within the empire.

No one knew whether it could be done, because the content of the meeting spread out after the meeting ended.

Nicholas II thus lost his last support - peasants and ordinary soldiers.

On June 21, the people gathered again, but this time it was no longer a peaceful march, but a massive armed uprising.

Under the organized attack of the workers' armed team, the already very wavering soldiers and police did not put up much resistance. Within a day, the arsenal, police station, docks, and government were all captured.

There were tens of thousands of soldiers standing on the side of the uprising, and there were only a hundred thousand soldiers and police in St. Petersburg. A small half of them stood on the side of the uprising, and a small half were watching.

Nicholas II could only rely on the three regiments around the Winter Palace and the less than 10,000 guards.

Fortunately, even the uprising was very contradictory and mixed, and did not attack the palace in the first time.

"Your Majesty." In this situation, Alexeev risked being killed by both sides as an enemy, crossed the buffer zone outside the Winter Palace, entered the Winter Palace, and met the haggard Nicholas II.

"Alexeev... What's the situation outside?" Nicholas II's expression was a bit complicated, and finally he simply turned his head away from Alexeev.

"The front line has been stabilized, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire does not have enough resources to continue fighting."

"But now the whole country is in chaos. St. Petersburg has lost its role as the highest government. Chaos is also breaking out in the local areas all the time. Order has been lost."

"The nobles and bureaucrats did nothing and let the chaos spread. Fortunately, the railway has not completely failed and can barely carry out transportation."

The telegraph and telephone lines connecting the Winter Palace to the outside world have been cut off. Nicholas II can only use military pigeons to get news from the outside world or give orders.

But the soldiers are also surrounding the Winter Palace. When the pigeons fly back, they may not fall back to the Winter Palace.

Alekseyev also ventured to come after knowing that Nicholas II was still resisting.

Regardless of other things, Alekseyev is a patriot who knows the current situation of the empire, so he came.

"What about the troop mobilization? When will the nearest troops arrive?" Nicholas II asked with red eyes.

"Unfortunately, Your Majesty, there is no troop movement."

"The Southern Army Group and the Caucasus Front were preparing to return to St. Petersburg, and then a mutiny broke out in the Southern Army Group. General Ivan suppressed the mutiny, but he couldn't come."

"The Caucasus Front was on the road normally under the order of Grand Duke Nicholas, and then it was attacked endlessly. The attackers destroyed the roads and railways, and they could only come on foot."

"Your Majesty, no one will come."

After a moment of silence, Alexeev said heavily.

"These traitors..." Nicholas II had guessed this situation.

If he was outside, he could still regain support through the exchange of interests, and then sort out the rebellion.

But he was trapped in the Winter Palace.

"Your Majesty, if you want to maintain the existence of the empire, you must make a choice now." Alexeev came for this.

As the former Chief of the General Staff, he had enough vision to see the world situation. He didn't want to care about this matter, but the peace faction outside was gaining the upper hand.

Germany and the Allied Powers had been blockaded for three years, and the three-year war had made them very weak.

There is a very good testimony.

If the Russian army had suffered such a huge defeat and the country had become chaotic when the war broke out in 1915, the German army would have marched straight in and tried to drive the Russian army out of the war.

To a certain extent, Alexeev hoped that the German army would do so, so that Russia would unite because of the Germans.

Unfortunately, it did not happen, but it can be seen that the Germans are no longer good, and they no longer have the strength to maintain two fronts.

Alexeev could tolerate the end of the Romanov dynasty and even the empire, and the emergence of a new country, but he could not tolerate Russia's withdrawal from the war.

If Russia withdraws from the war now, it will get nothing. There is no way to balance the war expenditures for more than three years. If the deficit of hundreds of billions of gold rubles cannot be filled by war dividends, Russia will have to pay for the war in the next few decades, thus withdrawing from the ranks of powerful countries.

Even after losing the emperor, many ethnic settlements would separate from the Russian Empire because they refused to share the debt.

This was something Alexeev could not tolerate.

"I will issue an abdication edict. Alexei's body cannot bear this responsibility. Let Mikhail inherit the position of Tsar."

"Alexeev, the external communication of the Winter Palace has been interrupted. You need to take the edict out." Nicholas II hesitated for a while and made a decision.

Alexeev looked at Nicholas II in surprise. This was the most decisive time that Nicholas II had made a major decision since he knew Nicholas II for so long.

In his opinion, it was also the most correct time.

"His Highness Mikhail is a suitable candidate." Alexeev nodded.

There is no way if it is not suitable. You can't let Grand Duke Nicholas take over, right? He is already 62 years old. How long can he last in the face of such a mess?

Moreover, although Grand Duke Nicholas has great prestige in the army, he has very few supporters among the people, unlike Mikhail, who has a hot spot and is well-known.

"I will deliver your edict to His Majesty Mikhail, so Your Majesty, I will take my leave first."

After receiving the edict, Alexeev stood up and prepared to leave.

"By the way, Your Majesty, if possible, please send Mr. Rasputin to the execution ground in the city center and hang him, and read out his crimes in front of the people of the city."

"At the same time, you should also announce the illness of His Majesty the Crown Prince, so that we can get more supporters."

Alexeev said in a good mood before leaving.

In any case, Mikhail does not seem to be as sensitive and ridiculous as Nicholas II.

Perhaps, the Russian Empire can still be saved?

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