A Precedent Putin Hopes Won’t Hold True: Protests by Turbo-Patriots in 1916 Helped Bring Down Nicholas II

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 26 – Many of the most committed supporters of Putin’s war in Ukraine, a group which “until recently” was absolutely loyal to the Kremlin, have become critics of the Putin regime, “outraged that Moscow is fighting half-heartedly, the editors of the Important Stories portal says.

            Many Russians have been surprised and are asking “how can pro-military forces come out in opposition to the government that started and continues to wage this war,” but they shouldn’t be (istories.media/opinions/2026/05/26/turbopatrioti-protiv-vlasti-v-rossii-takoe-uzhe-bilo/).

            “Such cases are not uncommon” in world history, Important Stories says, adding that “sometimes it is precisely these groups, as paradoxical as it may sound, which become the catalyst for revolutions and other serious political transformations. Indeed, that happened in Russia at the end of 1916.

            Many Russians view the 1917 February Revolution as “either a conspiracy or a bizarre accident,” but that event was neither the one or the other.” Instead, “the key role in the overthrow of the tsarist regime was played by people from its elites who wanted not the end of the war but victory in it.”

            “When these people became convinced that the Russian Empire was incapable of winning under the leadership of Nicholas II,” historians say, they decided that he had to be replaced so that Russia could win the war under leaders who would be more effective and bring victory.

            The support of victory under someone other than Nicholas II, Important Stories continues, was so widespread that it explains much of the speed and ease with which the monarchy collapsed. “Russia faded away in two days. At most, in three, writer Vasily Rozanov  wrote at the end of 1917.

            “That happened,” the editors argue in conclusion,  “because Emperor Nicholas II, having started the war and failed to cope with it, began to be perceived as the root of all problems and as the main obstacle on the way to the desired victory.” Undoubtedly many of today’s turbo-patriots feel the same way about Putin.