THE IMPERIAL FAMILY IN THE FIRST DAYS OF THE WAR—OUR JOURNEY TO MOSCOW  
(AUGUST, 1914)
 
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AT the moment when this historic scene was taking place in the Foreign Minister’s room at St. Petersburg, the Czar, the Czarina, and their daughters were attending evensong in the little Alexandria church. I had met the Czar a few hours before, and been much struck by the air of weary exhaustion he wore. The pouches which always appeared under his eyes when he was tired seemed to be markedly larger. He was now praying with all the fervour of his nature that God would avert the war which he felt was imminent and all but inevitable.
His whole being seemed to go out in an expression of simple and confident faith. At his side was the Czarina, whose care-worn face wore that look of suffering I had so often seen at her son’s bedside. She too was praying fervently that night, as if she wished to banish an evil dream....
When the service was over Their Majesties and the Grand-Duchesses returned to Alexandria Cottage. It was almost eight o’clock. Before the Czar came down to dinner he went into his study to read the dispatches which had been brought in his absence. It was thus, from a message from Sazonoff, that he learned of Germany’s declaration of war.{106} He spoke to his Minister on the telephone for a short time and asked him to come down to Alexandria Cottage the moment he could get away.
Meanwhile the Czarina and the Grand-Duchesses were waiting for him in the dining-room. Her Majesty, becoming uneasy at the long delay, had just asked Tatiana Nicola?evna to fetch her father, when the Czar appeared, looking very pale, and told them that war was declared, in a voice which betrayed his agitation, notwithstanding all his efforts. On learning the news the Czarina began to weep, and the Grand-Duchesses likewise dissolved into tears on seeing their mother’s distress.[30]
At nine o’clock Sazonoff arrived at Alexandria. He was closeted with the Czar for a long time, and the latter also received Sir George Buchanan, the Ambassador of Great Britain, in the course of the evening.
I did not see the Czar again until after lunch the next day, when he came up to kiss the Czarevitch[31] before leaving for the solemn session at the Winter Palace, at which, in accordance with traditional usage, he was to issue a manifesto to his people announcing the war with Germany. He looked even worse than on the previous evening, and his eyes sparkled as if he had the fever. He told me he had just heard that the Germans had entered Luxemburg and attacked French customs houses before war was declared on France.
I will reproduce here some of the notes I made in my diary about this time.
Monday, August 3rd.—The Czar came up to Alexis Nicola?evitch’s room this morning. He was a changed{107} man. Yesterday’s ceremony resolved itself into an impressive manifestation. When he appeared on the balcony of the Winter Palace the enormous crowd which had collected on the square fell on their knees and sang the Russian National Anthem. The enthusiasm of his people has shown the Czar that this is unquestionably a national war.
I hear that at the Winter Palace yesterday the Czar took a solemn oath not to make peace while a single enemy soldier remains on Russian soil. In taking such an oath before the whole world Nicholas II. shows the true character of this war. It is a matter of life and death, a struggle for existence.
The Czarina had a long talk with me this afternoon. She was in a state of great indignation, as she had just heard that on orders from the Emperor William II. the Dowager-Empress of Russia had been prevented from continuing her journey to St. Petersburg and had had to go from Berlin to Copenhagen.
“Fancy a monarch arresting an Empress! How could he descend to that? He has absolutely changed since the militarist party, who hate Russia, have gained the upper hand with him. But I am sure he has been won over to the war against his will. He’s been dragged into it by the Crown Prince, who openly assumed the leadership of the pan-German militarists and seemed to disapprove of his father’s policy. He has forced his father’s hand.
“I have never liked the Emperor William, if only because he is not sincere. He is vain and has always played the comedian. He was always reproaching me{108} with doing nothing for Germany, and has always done his best to separate Russia and France,[32] though I never believed it was for the good of Russia. He will never forgive me this war!
“You know that the Czar received a telegram from him the night before last. It arrived several hours after the declaration of war, and demanded ‘an immediate reply, which alone could avert the terrible disaster.’ He thus tried to deceive the Czar once more, unless the telegram was kept back at Berlin by those who were bent on war in any case.”
Tuesday, August 4th.—Germany has declared war on France and I hear that Switzerland also has mobilised. I have been to the Legation to get the orders for my ultimate departure.
Wednesday, August 5th.—I met the Czar in the park. He told me with immense pleasure that, as a result of the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, England has joined the great cause. The neutrality of Italy seems assured as well.
We have already won a great diplomatic victory. Military victory will follow, and, thanks to the help of England, it will come sooner than we think. The Germans have against them the whole of Europe, with the exception of Austria. Their insolence and despotism have at last been too much even for their allies. Look at the Italians!
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This evening I had another long talk with the Czarina, who will not hear of my leaving for Switzerland.
“It’s ridiculous! You will never get there. All communications are interrupted.”
I told her that an arrangement had been made between the French Embassy and the Swiss Legation, and that we should all go home together via the Dardanelles.
“The trouble is that, if you have some chance—it’s a very small one—of getting home, you will have no chance of getting back here before the end of the war. As Switzerland will not fight, you will be at home doing nothing.”
At that moment Dr. Derevenko entered the room. In his hand he held an evening paper announcing the violation of Swiss neutrality by Germany.
“Again! They must be crazy, mad!” cried the Czarina. “They have absolutely lost their heads!”
Realising she could not keep me now, she abandoned her resistance and began to speak kindly of my relations, who will be without news of me for some considerable time.
“I myself have no news of my brother,” she added. “Where is he? In Belgium or on the French front? I shiver to think that the Emperor William may avenge himself against me by sending him to the Russian front. He is quite capable of such monstrous behaviour! What a horrible war this is! What evil and suffering it means!... What will become of Germany? What humiliation, what a downfall is in store for her? And all for the sins of the Hohenzollerns—their idiotic pride and insatiable ambition. Whatever has happened to the{110} Germany of my childhood? I have such happy and poetic memories of my early years in Darmstadt and the good friends I had there. But on my later visits Germany seemed to me a changed country—a country I did not know and had never known.... I had no community of thought or feeling with anyone except the old friends of days gone by. Prussia has meant Germany’s ruin. The German people have been deceived. Feelings of hatred and revenge which are quite foreign to their nature have been instilled into them. It will be a terrible, monstrous struggle, and humanity is about to pass through ghastly sufferings....”
Thursday, August 6th.—I went into the town this morning. The violation of the neutrality of Switzerland is not confirmed and seems most improbable. It is impossible to travel via the Dardanelles. Our departure is thus postponed, and we cannot say when it will take place. This uncertainty makes me anxious.
Sunday, August 9th.—The Czar has had another long talk with me to-day. As before, he expressed himself with a confidence and frankness which can only be explained by the exceptional circumstances through which we are passing. Neither he nor the Czarina ever used to discuss political or personal questions with me. But the amazing events of the last few days, and the fact that I have been so intimately associated with their troubles and anxieties, have drawn me closer to them, and for the time being the conventional barriers of etiquette and Court usage have fallen.
The Czar first spoke to me about the solemn session of the Duma on the previous day. He told me how
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THE CZAR AND THE CZAREVITCH EXAMINING THE FIRST MACHINE-GUN CAPTURED FROM THE GERMANS. PETERHOF, AUGUST, 1914.
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THE CZAR AND THE CZAREVITCH BEFORE THE BARBED WIRE. WHITE RUSSIA, AUTUMN, 1915.
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tremendously pleased he had been with its resolute and dignified attitude and its fervent patriotism.
“The Duma was in every way worthy of the occasion. It expressed the real will of the nation, for the whole of Russia smarts under the insults heaped upon it by Germany. I have the greatest confidence in the future now.... Speaking personally, I have done everything in my power to avert this war, and I am ready to make any concessions consistent with our dignity and national honour. You cannot imagine how glad I am that all the uncertainty is over, for I have never been through so terrible a time as the days preceding the outbreak of war. I am sure that there will now be a national uprising in Russia like that of the great war of 1812.”
Wednesday, August 12th.—It is A............