A German tool from the beginning, the Rada had nevertheless failed to satisfy the German demands because of its democratic form, which enabled an honest minority within its composition to block the pro-German majority. With the autocratic powers of the new dictator at their disposal, the Germans now hoped to accomplish their ends more effectively, for now they could place the responsibility squarely on him.
In their drive for food supplies, however, the Teutons were not disposed to confine themselves to the boundaries of Ukrainia. They still continued their military expeditions into the territories of the Soviet Government.
In the early part of June, 1918, the Germans made an advance into the Roslav region, in the Province of Kursk, taking Roventki. On May 10, 1918, they began an eastward advance, sixty miles wide, between Valuyki and Zhukovo. On that date they captured Rostov on the Don, an economic center of great importance, but held it only overnight, as the next day they were driven back by the Russian Red Guards. Finally, however, during this period, but on a date not mentioned in the dispatches, Sebastopol was captured, very little resistance being offered on this occasion. Here the majority of the ships constituting the Russian Black Sea fleet were captured, but, according to a German report, it was found that the ships were in a deplorable condition; only the battleship Volga and the cruiser Pamyat Mercuria were in serviceable condition. The rest of the fleet consisted of the battleship Rostislav, the cruiser Potemkine, and a number of torpedo boats and submarines and twenty transports. The protected motor-boat flotilla had already been seized at Odessa, as had been the new war vessels still lying on the slips in the shipyards. The latter consisted of a dreadnought of 23,000 tons, two protected cruisers of 7,600 tons, and two unprotected cruisers.
CHAPTER LXIII
GERMAN POLICY OF AGGRESSION
The White Guards of Finland, having triumphed over the Socialistic Red Guards, with the active assistance of German intervention now began to show a disposition to widen Finnish territory in truly Prussian fashion. Already in May Finnish and German troops had begun operations in the direction of the Murman Coast, the main object undoubtedly being to seize the railway from the interior of Russia to the Arctic ports of Alexandrovsk and Archangel, where large supplies of war material were stored. It was stated that a small force of English and French marines had been landed here and were cooperating with the Bolshevist Red Guards in defending this territory against Teutonic invasion; that the war council attached to the local Murman Soviet consisted of one Russian, an Englishman, and a Frenchman. At any rate, the German Government made the landing of Allied troops at Alexandrovsk the pretext for a strong protest to the Soviet Government. In the early part of June, 1918, the Finnish Government, in response to communications from the French and English Governments, informed its ambassador in Stockholm that Finland had no desire to take possession of the Murman Railroad, but it could not undertake to forego its ambition to annex Russian Carelia. Apart from the small number of Russian immigrants in Carelia, the note said, the population was entirely Finnish and had preserved its national character during a century of oppression.
"Heretofore it has been impossible for the Finnish Government," the note continued, "to support these national desires, but the Finnish Government feels that it cannot for all time disregard its duty to liberate Carelia from the Bolshevist bands, of Russian and Finnish origin, which are terrorizing the peaceful population. Intervention may become necessary for purely defensive reasons, since the Bolshevist bands are threatening devastation to the territories on the Finnish border. Many attempts at invasion have already been repulsed.... Many pathetic appeals have been received from the Carelians to help them place in order their administrative and economic life where Russian methods have made all civilizing work impossible."
The German policy, obviously, where actual conquest was not practical, was the dismemberment of the former Russian Empire. Every encouragement was given to the separatist tendency. As an instance, the German Government was reported to have inquired of the local Crimean authorities concerning the nationalization of their flag, which the Soviet Government naturally interpreted as an indication of the German desire to separate the Taurida Republic from the Russian Federative Republic.
The annexation of Bessarabia to Rumania was another German intrigue to diminish the territory of the Russians. According to a Rumanian report on April 9, 1918, the National Assembly of Bessarabia had voted for annexation to Rumania, by a vote of 86 against 3. The Rumanian Premier had then proclaimed the union to be "definitive and indissoluble," and a delegation was sent to Jassy to present the homage of the people of Bessarabia to the Rumanian king. This action was taken at the suggestion of Germany, that Rumania might partly compensate herself for the loss of territory to Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, according to the conditions of the peace she had signed with the Central Powers. Previously, in March, Russia and Rumania had agreed that Bessarabia was to be evacuated by Rumanian troops, whence they had gone to establish "law and order" at the request of the population, or, more accurately, the landed gentry, who desired them as a protection against Bolshevism. Local militia was to take the place of the Rumanian troops of occupation, while military garrisons were to be occupied by Russian troops. Russia undertook to leave Rumania the surplus of Bessarabian grain remaining after the population and the Russian troops had been provided for. All these arrangements were now revoked through German intrigues.
On the other hand, the captured provinces of Esthonia and Livonia were given a comparatively free hand by the Germans, the understanding being that they should remain in the Russian Federative Republic, if their populations so desired. Yet here Germany endeavored to accomplish by propaganda what she did not choose to attain by armed force.