Russian Army (1917)

In 1917, the Russian Army formally ceased to be the Army of the Russian Empire when the power in Russia was transferred to the Russian Provisional Government.

After the February Revolution of 1917 the systems of command and of supply of the Army were disrupted. The army became tired of World War I.^[1]

A German caricature of 1917. The capture says: "You are safe, Michael Alexandrovich": the Army is on strike today!

The revolutionary wave influenced the Army, and it was swept with the processes of democratization and the single line of command was questioned. The Order No. 1 issued by the Petrograd Soviet instructed soldiers and sailors to obey their officers and the Provisional Government only if their orders did not contradict the decrees of the Petrograd Soviet. The interpretation of the Order, both at the time and by the historians has been a matter of controversy. While many scholars agree that the order severely disrupted the army discipline, John Boyd argued that in fact, the order's intention was to restore the discipline and it clearly stated that it was to be applied only to the troops off the front lines. While the order did not call for the democratic election of the officers, it has been a widespread misinterpretation.^[2]

References

1. "The March Revolution was an event of tremendous magnitude… The Russian Army remained in the field against the Central Powers, but its spirit was broken and the Russian people were utterly tired of a war… The Russian Army had been poorly armed, poorly supplied, poorly trained and poorly commanded and had suffered a long series of defeats"
   The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th edition. Macropaedia. Vol.29. Chicago, 1994. p. 978
2. John Boyd, The Origins of Order No. 1, Soviet Studies, 19, No. 3 (1967): 359-372.