INTRODUCTION

In late 1916 Captain Donald Thompson as photographer and Florence Harper as reporter were sent by Leslie's Weekly magazine to cover the Russian front in WWI for an American audience. The American public was increasingly focused on the war - and our government would soon be entering the war on the side of Allies, who were lead by France, Britain and Russia. Americans as a whole knew little about Russia, although they were intriqued by its exotic customs and constituted the largest group of tourists to Russia in the years before the war. The American press speculated that America entered the conflict she would fight on both fronts and this created interest in Russia's struggle against the Axis powers on the Eastern front.

Assuming they were coming to cover the war, Thompson and Harper arrived in time to find themselves unexpectedly dodging revolutionary bullets on the streets of Petrograd in February 1917. They and their publishers realized the rare opportunity they had at hand to document a revolution in pictures and personal experiences.

Thompson and Harper had a unique opportunity to witness the disintegration of Russia into chaos as it occured step-by-step from February until August 1917. They made unique contacts through Americans who had been in Russia throughout the war assisting in hospital work or fighting with the Russian Army. In some cases they became a part of the story they were covering. Harper became a nurse herself and worked in a Russian hospital run by an American. We are fortunate that Thompson and Harper were journalists whose focus was the pictoral documentation of events for they have left us a fascinating record of what they witnessed. Unfortunately, Thompson and Harper missed the Bolshevik coup in October 1918 as they left Petrograd in August and pictures of these fateful events are missing from their book.

Left: Captain Thompson on top of a car photographing events in Russia. Thompson is the man standing behind the camera wearing a cap.

After leaving Petrograd, through many adventures and a final harrowing escape from Russia through Siberia, they arrived in Japan with their valuable negatives intact. Their picture book "Blood Stained Russia" was rushed to press and hit the street in late fall 1918.

The original book has 201 photographs from which collection of 30 is but a small selection. I am sorry not to have been able to reproduce the entire book, but that would have been a major task taking more time than I could alot to this project. I hope that you will find the pictures I have chosen interesting. The picture menus are broken into three pages in oredr to reduce load time. You can click on any image or the headline to view a large version of the picture. The captions are the originals and reflect the attitudes of the times.

Bob Atchison

Your comments are appreciated.

A Typical Group of Cossacks

The Cossacks are a military organization composed of about ten distinct bodies. They own lands from the Ukraine on the Austrian border to the Amur River in Mongolia. Each settlement chooses a head by election; these in turn elect a man who is head of the district. The district has a Congress which elects one head of the entire organization. General Kaledine was Hetman (head-man) of the entire Cossack forces in Russia. A report of his suicide has reached America.

The Duma in Session

The Cossack's lands were free from taxes. Each male at birth received a small parcel of land to hold in perpetuity. The Duma, against the wishes of the Czar, decided to tax these lands. After a bitter argument, the Czar yielded. The day he signed the degree he signed his abdication, just as surely as he signed the actual document at Pskoff. The Cossacks answered him by saying: "we have defended you for the last time against your own people; when the next revolution comes we shall fight with the people." The picture shows the Duma in Session, It will be noticed that every man is in uniform.

The Monk Rasputin, the Evil Genius of the Old Regime in Russia, Surrounded by Admiring Women

Among the many working for the downfall of Russia was the monk Rasputin. His popularity amongst the ladies of the court and the society women of Petrograd was great and his influence at court incredibly strong. The beginning of the rew regime might be said to date from his murder by Prince Yussopoff.

The Princess Virubova, Lady-in-Waiting to the Czarina and the Most Notorious of Rasputin's Woman Intimates at The Court

Among the most notorious of the woman friends of Rasputin was the princess Virubova. She was arrested during the March Revolution and, with other favourites of Rasputin, was kept in the Fortress of Peter and Paul. They were held there until September, 1917, when they were put on a train and exiled from Russia. At Helsingfors, the Red Guard, deciding that the Russian Government had sentenced them to too light of a punishment, detached the carrige containing these people. They were kept there for weeks, when they seem to have dropped out of sight.

A Russian Bread Line Guarded by the Imperial Police

In March 1917 it was learned by the Revolutionary Party that the pro-Germans had planned a revolution to take place very soon. This revolution was to be used as a pretext to stop the war and make a shameful peace with Germany. The people were discontented, food was scarce, and bread lines were forming. This queue was so long that it was necessary to have police to keep order. This is one of the few pictures showing the police of the old regime.

Duma Messengers Protected by Armed Guards

The Duma communicated with various parts of the city by messengers who rode in automobiles with guards of soldiers. These motors were driven at a terrific speed through the streets. One ran even more risk of being killed by them than by the bullets that were flying in all directions.

The Hotel Astoria, After it Had Been Sacked by a Mob of Revolutionists

Early Tuesday morning (during the revolution) the Hotel Astoria was sacked. While soldiers were crossing the square of St. Yssack's, some one fired upon the revolutionists. They thought the shots had come from the hotel. This was not true because the hotel had been taken over by the Russian Government for foreign officers and their families. However, the mob didn't wait for explanations, but smashed the windows on the lower floors, and began looting the wine cellars. Had it not been for the fact that some British officers smashed the casks and bottles of wine, instead of only a few being killed, indescribable horrors would have resulted.

The Hotel Astoria After It Had Been Sacked

A corner of the lobby, with a revolutionary sentry on guard. The big stain on the carpet is blood.

Captain Thompson's Room in the Hotel Astoria

The bullet marks speak for themselves. The mobs stood outside and fired into the windows. Some of them took possession of a building across the street and fired into the fourth and fifth story windows. There were no foreigners killed, although some of them were wounded. Some Russian officers who unwisely exposed themselves at the windows were shot and their bodies dragged out by the crowd.

A Group of City Militia, the Volunteer Police with an Armoured Car.

A temporary police force was formed by volunteers who wore white bands with the letters C.M., meaning "city mlitia." They succeeded so well with commandeered armoured cars that by Thursday morning practically all the former police spies were rounded up and the revolutionists were in complete possession of the city, This quick action undoubtedly saved Petrograd from falling into a state of absolute anarchy as thousands of released criminals were roaming around, killing and stealing.