"Boje Tsaria Khraneel" he thundered. "God save the Tsar," repeated the policeman. And "bye Jidoff!" (beat the Jews).
We drove on. Prochoroff did not hate the Jews. In so far as he had any political views he was a Liberal. But he would go on with his "God save the Tsar and beat the Jews" refrain all the way home. It was the prescribed ritual. It was the pre-revolutionary tradition.
Brooke McMurray
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03 February
What food is served at the court of the Russian emperor
Is the brother of Nicholas II planning a coup d’état?
Englishmen, Russians and Frenchmen listening to Strauss together in Bern
Harry Kessler
Bern, Switzerland
In the evening a concert of Strauss’s music: Till Eulenspiegel, Salome, A Hero’s Life. A full half of those present were Frenchmen, Englishmen and Russians, so that each half of the audience would have been perfectly within their rights to torpedo the other half.
Manuel Fajardo
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Elizaveta Naryshkina
Petrograd, Russian Empire
A rush of blood to the head. Sad thoughts: the Empress is abhorred. I believe danger will come from an unexpected source: Mikhail. His wife is “very much a member of the intelligentsia”, and, as such, lacks any constraints. She’s already wormed her way through to Maria Pavlovna. Her box at the theatre is teeming with Grand Dukes; they’ll connive together with Maria Pavlovna. She’ll see to it that she’s accepted by the Empress-Mother and the Emperor. I sense that they’re plotting. Poor Misha will, in spite of himself, be implicated in this plot; first he’ll be regent, then he’ll be emperor. They’ll accomplish everything.
Lisa May Davidson
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Edvard Munch
at work on "Horse and Man in the field"
Ekely estate, Norway
Brooke McMurray
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Alexandre Benois
38, 1st line of Vasilyevsky Island, Petrograd, Russian Empire
An “intimate” lunch at the Gorchakovs’. Delicious food, first-rate wine, a highly well-mannered maitre d’hotel such as are found in the best bonnes maisons, and an ecstatic (if sometimes exhausting) host. Akitsa and I are both terribly fond of these feasts, which extend long into the evening, are executed with great taste and accompanied by countless comforts (such as the oh-so delicious chocolates we enjoy after the meal). Not a word, thank God, was mentioned of the war; most of the time we spoke of friends and acquaintances.
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Max Linder
Premiere of the short comedy “Max and the handbag”
Hollywood, USA
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Vasily Gurko
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
Rumours have been circulating the world over to the effect that the Empress is a German sympathiser, with relevant evidence adduced. These rumours, which resist refutation, will undoubtedly find their way into the field army, and the consequences of their propagation may prove highly deleterious. It has been claimed, for example, that during one of my reports to His Majesty, the Empress entered his office, upon which I discontinued my report. His Highness, so it is alleged, proceeded to tell me that he had no secrets from the Empress, to which I am supposed to have responded that, on the other hand, did have such secrets. But, far from bespeaking the existence of any “fire”, as per the famous proverb, this tittle-tattle is “smoke-free”, too; during my time as Chief-of-Staff, the Empress has not been present at a single one of my reports to the Tsar, conversations at table excepted.
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Alexandra Feodorovna with Nicholas II
Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire
N. had a big dinner, I received these gentlemen of the conference in the evening.
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Maurice Paleologue
10, Kutuzova embankment, Petrograd, Russian Empire
At eight o'clock state banquet at Alexander Palace. As a matter of fact, the state part of it was displayed only in the liveries, lights and plate, for the menu was simplicity itself, a thoroughly bourgeois simplicity which contrasted forcibly with the ancient and far-famed splendour of the imperial cuisine. The Tsar looked as he does on his good days; he feared, I am told, that the delegates would give him unwanted advice on internal politics; he is now reassured on the point. The Tsarina is not well and remained in her room.
Dinner ended at last and we went into the next room where coffee was served. The Emperor lit a cigarette and passed from group to group. While these dull conversations were in progress, the Empress received the chief delegates in turn in her room.
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02 February
One of the leaders of the Russian opposition: “We need to steer a course for a coup d’état.”
Lenin: “We oldsters won’t live to see the decisive battles of the impending revolution.”
German U-boats threaten Europe-wide hunger
Vasily Shulgin
Shulgin's house, 22, Bol'shaya Monetnaya street, Petrograd, Russian Empire
Things have got even worse since Rasputin’s murder. Before everything was blamed on him, but now that his murder has changed nothing, people have realised that Rasputin was not the problem.
Hugo Greenhalgh
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Alexander Guchkov
Petrograd, Russian Empire
We need to steer a course for a coup d’état. All the elements necessary to trigger an explosion are already in place: the condition of the decaying regime itself; the deep mistrust of, and contempt for, that regime on the part of all strata of Russian society; external failures; and, finally, grave material hardships behind the lines—in a word, a comprehensive recipe for an explosion.
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Mikhail Zoshchenko
16th Mingrelia Grenadier Regiment
I promise myself to drink no more. I’m being taken off to the hospital in the slushy February snow.
Hugo Greenhalgh
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Vladimir Lenin
Zurich, Switzerland
We oldsters won’t live to see the decisive battles of the impending revolution.
Harsh Trivedi, Prashant Reddy and 2 others
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Romain Rolland
Grand Hotel Chateau Bellevue, Sierre, Switzerland
A policy of submarine warfare has been announced with the intention of starving Europe, which is already short of coal and which will soon be short of grain. For a few weeks Europe stood on the brink, wavering between utter destruction and salvation. It seems that her pathetic pride has prevented her from seeking the latter.
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Pathe News
Coal shortage in England.
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Tamara Karsavina
Kiev, Russian Empire
I went to perform at Kieff. No suite of balletomanes followed me, as it had a few years ago on a similar occasion. Their ranks had thinned, their traditions slackened ; spirited escapades were now out of place. My self-constituted knight and factotum, Vinogradoff, alone went to Kieff after me. Simple and illiterate man, his frantic devotion to the Ballet, and the fact that he had seen the glory of Virginia Zucchi alone qualified him as a leader of the gallery. He was fervently attached to me. Purple and apopleptic he used to rush from one end of the gallery to another shouting my name as a war-cry.