Illusion and Reality: Into the Abyss, 1915–1917

Abstract

The First World War placed the political police system of Russia on alert. The forces of order like so many other institutions in Russia believed that the outbreak of war had merely granted Russia a reprieve from revolution, that its conclusion (with the inevitable victory of course) would bring on the long expected second revolution in the new century, challenging the last bits of authority the Romanov dynasty possessed over its people.¹ In the face of this bleak prospect, the forces of order assigned Fontanka's political police essential roles in the defence of the monarchy.