Signs of the Living God — Page 25
25 a peaceful reconciliation and the administration of the Duma had done much to suppress any upheaval. Moreover, a regular Cossack militia, in whose loyalty the Tsar had complete confidence was ever present for his protection. And yet in spite of all this and the further subdual of rebel groups, the revolution which broke out on 12 March [ 1917 ] was so terrible that within three days the Tsar of Russia had been forced to abandon his throne. The graveness of the peril he faced can be seen from the constant fluctuations in his decision making. Initially, he informed his ministers that he was appointing General Alekseyev as the head of the government which shows how quickly the revolutionary movement had spread and how the Tsar , having been misinformed about the full extent of it at the beginning , considered it to be of little significance. Soon after, when he was told that the guards in the capital had revolted and the remaining imperial forces were joining the ranks of the revolutionaries, he resolved to abdicate in favour of his brother and when he saw that even this did not calm tensions, he made the following historic declaration: In agreement with the Duma we recognised that it was for the good of our country to abdicate the crown and lay down the supreme power.