Seite - 695 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Fall of the Tsar 695 voluntary formations. There were enough Poles in France, as well as those who could be brought west via Russia, in order to bring into being a Polish legion in France. There were also enough Czechs who could at least be used in the fight against German troops. The Russians had hundreds of thousands of Czech prisoners and defectors at their dis- posal, and believed as early as the end of 1916 that they could predict that in the event of a clear victory for the Entente there would be an independent ‘Czecho-Slovakia’. In order to prevent it falling into France’s sphere of influence, it was intended to deploy a noteworthy Czecho-Slovakian legion in Russia as soon as possible. Thus, by the end of 1916 and the beginning of 1917, a start had been made, although both the steps of the Central Powers and those of the Allies aimed not only at formulating a policy and making their own standpoint clear, but also aspired above all to take the wind out of the sails of those who claimed that more decisive action needed to be taken. When the Entente’s answer to President Wilson became known, the War Surveil- lance Office in Vienna argued that this response could be published in Austrian and Hungarian newspapers without further ado, since everyone could discern from it that the Allies were not interested in peace.1578 As it turned out, certain passages were then in fact left out.1579 The Fall of the Tsar In view of the balance of power, Great Britain and France felt very certain of the Allied cause. As early as November 1916, it had been decided at a conference of the Entente powers in Chantilly to go on the offensive again in February 1917. It was intended that subsequent conferences would persuade their allies, Italy and Russia, to strike at the same time. In Rome, a conference between 4 and 7 January 1917 concerned the question of the next Italian attack at the Isonzo River. Italy also wanted in this way to pre-empt a feared Austrian attack from Trentino or via Switzerland. At the beginning of February, a conference in Petrograd addressed the question of the timing of the Russian attack.1580 The core problem seemed in this case to be the supplying of the Tsarist Army with guns and ammunition in view of the deteriorating performance of the Russian railways. It had to be asked, however, whether the Russians would even still be capable of attacking. At the same time, reports grew stronger of a looming revolution in Russia. In Berlin and Vienna, and all the more so in London and Paris, it was assumed that there would be an imminent onset. When the revolution then broke out in mid-March (February in the Russian calendar), this initially appeared to merely confirm the reports. Just as it was impossible for the Entente powers to prevent a revolution, nothing had been under- taken on the part of the Central Powers to unleash a revolution or to prepare the terrain