It became known, too, that large numbers
of machine-guns were being distributed among the police in Petrograd and
placed at strategic points throughout the city. It was said that Protopopov
was mad, but it was the methodical madness of a desperate, reactionary,
autocratic regime.
III
Protopopov and Sturmer and their associates recognized as clearly as the
liberals did the natural kinship and interdependence of the three great
autocracies, the Romanov, Habsburg, and Hohenzollern dynasties. They knew
well that the crushing of autocracy in Austria-Hungary and Germany would
make it impossible to maintain autocracy in Russia. They realized,
furthermore, that while the nation was not willing to attempt revolution
during the war, the end of the war would inevitably bring with it
revolution upon a scale far vaster than had ever been attempted before,
unless, indeed, the revolutionary leaders could be goaded into making a
premature attempt to overthrow the monarchy. In that case, it might be
possible to crush them. Given a rebellion in the cities, which could be
crushed by the police amply provided with machine-guns, and by "loyal"
troops, with a vast army unprovided with food and no means of supplying it,
there would be abundant justification for making a separate peace with
Germany.
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