evolution was not a sudden movement of the people. Long
before the war it had raised its head. The Duma itself came into
existence as one of its fruits; but when the war began all parties
joined in patriotic support of the Russian armies and laid aside for the
time their cherished grievances. The war was immensely popular. Slavonic
nationalism turned against Austria-Hungary and Germany who were bent
upon crushing the Slavonic sister state, Serbia. The Liberal elements
saw in Germany the stronghold of reaction and of militarism, and trusted
that its downfall would be followed by that of Russian autocracy. But so
glaring was the incapacity of the old regime, that a union was formed
during the war by all the Liberal parties. This group united on the
single aim of pushing on the war, and silently preparing for the moment
when the catastrophe to Czarism was to come.

This was long before the revolution. But a conviction of the necessity
of immediate change gradually came to all. The Czar himself brought
matters to an issue. His vacillation, his appointment of ministers who
were not only reactionary, but were suspected of being German tools,
were too much for even honest supporters of the Imperial regime. Some of
these reactionaries, it is true, were easily driven from power. In 1915
Sukhomlinov and Maklakov were overthrown by the influence of the army
and the Duma. But in 1916 the parasites came to life again. M. Boris
Stuermer became Prime Minister, and appointed as Minister of the
Interior the notorious Protopopov. On November 14, 1916, Miliukov, the
leader of the Constitutional Democrats, or Cadet Party, attacked the
Premier in one of the fiercest speeches ever made in the Russian Duma.
Stuermer was compelled to resign, but his successor, M. Trepov, though
an honest man with high ambitions, was forced to retain Protopopov at
the Interior. For a moment there was calm. But it was the calm before
the storm.

The Russian Revolution, now recognized as the most bloody revolution in
history, began with the assassination of a single man. This man was
Gregory Novikh, known throughout the world under the name of Rasputin. A
Siberian peasant by birth, immoral, filthy in person, untrained in mind,
he had early received the nickname of Rasputin, which means
"ne'er-do-well," on account of his habits. A drunkard, and a libertine
always, he posed as a sort of saint and miracle worker, let his hair
grow long, and tramped about the world