Stories were circulated of her desire for a separate peace, rumours which could gain credence only in the public's total ignorance of the Empress's character. Tales of her pro-German sympathies were invented and assiduously spread. Besides the exploitation of the exaggerated tales of Rasputin's influence, the most was made of the Empress's German origin. There was nothing in the personal conduct of the Emperor that could shake his prestige, so the undercurrents began to be directed against the Empress, in the hope of weakening his position through her. The revolutionary movement of 1905 had been thwarted, mainly by the people's innate fidelity to the throne. They particularly directed their efforts towards encouraging attacks on the sovereign. The revolutionary organizations, which were lying low, blew on the flame in pursuance of their own ends. There was bitter criticism behind the lines of what was done at the front.

The responsibility for all disasters was laid on the Government, without any allowances being made for the inordinate difficulties of the situation. The Russian temperament always fluctuates from extreme optimism to utter pessimism, and now the blackest view of the future was generally taken.

The reverses of 1915 had unsettled the public mind and given rise to a not unnatural anxiety. During 1916 the political atmosphere in the capital and in all the big towns became more and more threatening.

Before the Storm by Sophie Buxhoeveden