In 1917, the First World War entered a stalemate stage, and Germany was in a tight situation on both the east and west fronts. Especially in February 1917, the diplomatic relations between Germany and the United States officially broke down. German Army Chief of Staff Ludendorff determined that this would lead to the United States joining the Allied Powers to attack Germany.
Declaring war, once American troops land in Europe, it will be impossible for Germany to win the war.
Therefore, Kaiser Wilhelm II was eager to negotiate peace with Russia, the "weakest link" in the Allied camp, so that all Eastern Front troops could be transferred to the Western Front to deal with the Allies. However, the Russian bourgeois Provisional Government that came to power through the January Revolution of 1917
Ignoring the Russian people's call to withdraw from the war, and on the pretext of shouldering the so-called "Russia's obligations to the Allied allies," the Russian army continued to strictly order the Russian army, which was short of ammunition and food, to attack the German army, which was armed to the teeth. This resulted in a series of catastrophic defeats, and several
Hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers died in the battle.
Faced with such a Russian provisional government that "will not surrender until it dies", Germany instead hoped to get in touch with the Russian Bolsheviks, who insisted on communism and European revolution, in order to prompt Russia to withdraw from the war. Ludendorff suggested that the Kaiser allow Lenin to return via Germany
Russia.
Of course, this does not mean that the German emperor and generals became fellow travelers with the communists. At the same time, Lenin, who was in exile in the neutral country of Switzerland, also discovered the contradictions between imperialist countries. On January 22, 1917, Lenin spoke in Zurich
He delivered his famous "Revolutionary Report" to the young workers of Switzerland in the People's Building. He said: "The predatory war in Europe will eventually trigger a large-scale popular uprising!"
Under this background, the contact between the German authorities and Lenin became possible. The secret contact was long before delivering the "Revolutionary Report" speech. Lenin had made up his mind to return to the country to launch the revolution and determined his return trip. One route was through France.
Detour back to Russia, but France and Russia are allies. If the French authorities discover that the anti-war Lenin has entered its territory, they will definitely not let him go easily. They may imprison him at least, or sentence him as a war criminal at worst. Another route is to head to Central Europe, passing through Germany
Head to Northern Europe and return home from Finland.
On December 28, 1916, Lenin walked out of his residence in Zurich carrying a small suitcase. We followed him by train to Bern, the capital, at 10 a.m. After getting off the train, he checked into a hotel not far from the train station.
, half an hour later, he walked out of the hotel and got on a tram bound for the border town of Fossouzurs. After getting off the bus, he looked around while walking, and then walked into the German consulate building there. At this time
It was 12:30 in the morning. It was not until 16:00 the next day that Lenin walked out of the consulate. About four hours later, he got on the train back to Zurich.
It was later learned that during Lenin's trip to Fossouzurs, he held talks with Count von Romberg, the German envoy to Bern, Switzerland, and negotiated two plans for escorting Russian revolutionaries back home. The first plan was to travel from Switzerland to Switzerland
Take a special train to Germany, then pass through Poland under German occupation or enter Russia through neutral Sweden.
In view of the fact that the Russian Provisional Government had made a request to Switzerland to extradite Lenin and other Bolsheviks, once Switzerland did not agree to Lenin and others leaving the country, the second plan was adopted. The German General Staff provided secret carriages and used international freight trains to transport the Bolsheviks.
Transport people out of Switzerland, or prepare ferries on Lake Constance, the boundary lake between Germany and Switzerland, to pick up Lenin and others.
Ludendorff believed that from a military point of view, returning Lenin to Russia was a wise move... No matter how Russia is not Germany's opponent, as long as it does not withdraw from the war, we cannot escape the shadow of failure. Under this premise
, when we help the Russian radicals who promote the Red Revolution, we are actually helping Germany.
In early February 1917, Kaiser Wilhelm II officially approved the "Toll Plan" jointly formulated by the German Foreign Ministry and the General Staff, and gave instructions on the plan: "More than 40 Bolsheviks headed by Lenin launched a military attack on Germany.
If there is value, accept their application.”
The Russian revolutionaries were divided into two groups and returned to the motherland via Germany in batches. On March 9, 1917, the first group of revolutionaries, headed by Lenin and his family, boarded the German special train from Zurich.
No one is allowed to get on the train, and no one is allowed to get off. The windows of the special train are tightly covered with curtains made of black linen, and the conductors on the train try to remain silent.
Fortunately, the Swiss government did not make any obstructions and the trip went very smoothly. After the special train entered Germany, a German officer named Herzog Muhl boarded the train and gave each Russian passenger a book said to be the German Emperor's
The pamphlet he wrote wished them "a smooth journey and a successful revolution" and specifically mentioned that he hoped they could seize power after returning to Russia.
In the early morning of March 12, Lenin and his party arrived in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Lenin attended a joint meeting between Russian immigrants and the Swedish Social Democratic Party there, established the Foreign Politburo of the Bolshevik Central Committee, and indirectly led the Soviets of Workers and Soldiers in Russia to fight against the Provisional Government.
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On March 17, Lenin and others returned to St. Petersburg and received an unprecedented warm welcome from workers and soldiers. Sailors from the Baltic Fleet also drove armored vehicles with searchlights to take charge of Lenin's security. Among the cheering crowd, the sailors commanded
Officer Maximov invited Lenin to say a few words. Lenin boarded the armored car and delivered the famous "Bread will be available, everything will be available" speech..."
After receiving the news that Germany was escorting him back from Switzerland, Edel immediately got the news. Regarding the name Lenin, Edel was very familiar with it. In his previous life, he had too many titles on his head. I remember that in the textbook of his previous life,
He is said to be a rare person in the world, a famous Marxist, proletarian revolutionist, politician, theorist and thinker. But what Edel values him most now is that he is the founder of the Bolshevik Party.
Edel's problem now is to expand the smuggling trade in Russia and strive to collapse the Russian Provisional Government as soon as possible. Because if Lenin does not come to power, how can the importance of Romania be shown. At that time, the only thing that can cause trouble for the Allies on the Eastern Front is
, only Romania. In order to win over Romania and complete the attack from behind, the conditions of the Entente will be much higher than they are now.
But the key to all this is that Lenin comes to power. If he does not come to power to stop the war with Germany, then Britain and France will not pay attention to Romania's role. As for the performance of the US military, the Allied Powers, including the Americans themselves, are not very good.
grasp.
Thinking of this, Edel called a guard. "Call the captain of the guard."
