You trust Alexandra Fedorovna, this is quite natural. Still, what she tells you is not the truth; she is only repeating what has been cleverly insinuated to her. If you are not able to remove this influence from her, at least protect yourself from constant systematic maneuvers attempted through the intermediacy of the wife you love.… When the hour comes—and it is already near—from the height of the throne you could make the ministers responsible to yourself and to the legislative institutions, and to do that simply, naturally, without pressure from the outside, and differently from the memorable act of October 17, 1905…. You stand on the eve of an era of new troubles, on the eve of an era of outrages [
Without bothering to read it, Nicholas forwarded the letter to Alexandra, whom it sent into a paroxysm of rage: she asked that Nikolai Mikhailovich be exiled from Petrograd.87
On November 7, the Tsar received Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, now in command of the Caucasian Front, who urged him to let the Duma choose the cabinet.88 Incredibly, even the United Nobility, the staunchest pillar of the monarchy, passed in Moscow and in Petrograd resolutions supporting the program of the Progressive Bloc.89 Indeed, it would be difficult to find any prominent individual or group, including those on the most conservative, nationalist end of the political spectrum, who did not join in the clamor for fundamental changes in the structure and personnel of the government.
Stürmer felt justified, not only on personal grounds but also those of state security, to request that the Duma be dissolved and Miliukov placed under arrest.90 But he did not find the support he had expected: the Tsar and the cabinet were paralyzed with fear. In the Council of Ministers only Protopopov sided with him. The others wanted to avoid anything rash. Nicholas did not want a break with the Duma and sought to appease it without giving in on the critical issue of a responsible ministry. On November 4 he sent the Ministers of War and of the Navy to the Duma to deliver conciliatory speeches.91 Alexandra was urging him to stand firm, but Nicholas no longer had the will. So instead of defending his Prime Minister against slanderous accusations—whose real target was the Crown—he decided to sacrifice him and put in his place someone more acceptable to the Duma. On November 8, Stürmer was dismissed. He never understood what had happened to him, why he was accused of treason which he had not committed, and why the Tsar did not defend him against these false charges. Shortly afterward, the French Ambassador saw him on the street, shuffling along, lost in thought.92 He died the following year, a broken man.
The Duma rejoiced over Stunner’s dismissal, which it took as proof that no minister whom it did not want could stay in office.93 This feeling received encouragement from the appointment, as Stunner’s successor, of the Minister of Transport, A. F. Trepov. The new Prime Minister, relatively young (fifty-two) by the standards of the late Imperial government—which saw in dotage assurance of loyalty—descended of an old servitor family. He wanted to emulate Stolypin, being similarly convinced that Russia could no longer be properly governed without the parliament’s cooperation. To secure it, he was prepared to make far-reaching concessions: forming a cabinet acceptable to the Duma, putting a stop to legislating through Article 87, and improving the status of workers, Jews, and Finns.94 In private meetings with Duma leaders during the recess (November 6–17), he obtained promises of support, on condition that he get rid of Protopopov.
In the first half of November 1916, Nicholas, for all practical purposes, capitulated to revolutionary demands; to his entourage he appeared apathetic and indifferent.95 If Russia’s liberal politicians had been able to view the situation rationally, they would have realized that they had achieved, in substance if not in form, their principal demands. By firing Stürmer for no good cause and replacing him with a Prime Minister amenable to the program of the Progressive Bloc, by keeping the revolutionary Duma in session instead of dissolving it, the Tsar had surrendered to the opposition. But the opposition, smelling blood, wanted more.
