The Kornilov Affair Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Kornilov Affair - Essay ExampleKornilov was respected by his troops as an peachy officer, but his politics did not go much further than loving his country. He was never Kerenskys first choice as Commander in Chief but he had wide support and had to be taken into account. The only problem was that it was clear from the beginning that there were tensions between Kerensky and Kornilov about the trouble the Russian army should take. And there were tensions about the direction of the Russia as it was under threat both externally and internally and had to make big decisions. Things came to a head, as Richard Pipes writes, whenKerensky procrastinated in implementing the legions reforms that Kornilov had made a condition of assuming command . . . Kornilov requested permission to meet with the cabinet. The meeting took place on August 3. objet dart he was giving an overview of the situation at the front, Kerensky leaned over to Kornilov and asked him in a whisper to exercise caution . . . This incident shattered Kornilovs faith in the Provisional Government, for it convinced him that there were ministers in the cabinet capable of betraying military secrets to the enemy.1Within a short amount of time, following some decisive military preparations, Kornilov began to be seen by some in Russia as a rival to power for Kerensky. Kerensky began to get more and more agitated, ignoring the Bolshevik problem in install to focus on securing his own hold on power. What followed was Kerenskys effort to destroy Kornilovand the result was the rise of the Bolsheviks. A ridiculous exchange of messages pitted the ii men against each other, each completely misunderstanding what the other intended. Kerensky thought Kornilov was plotting to seize dictatorial control, Kornilov thought Kerensky was offering it to him. His unfounded suspicion confirmed, Kerensky fired the habitual Kornilov, who had