It started with Russian Imperial Army Chief of Staff Aleksey Kuropatkin.
[Chief of Staff Aleksey Kuropatkin, sudden voluntary resignation.]
Next was Kuropatkin's old friend and classmate, Viktor Sakharov, who served as the 10th and 12th Minister of War.
[Prime Minister Kokovtsov, orders War Minister replacement respecting parliament's opinion.]
Similarly, Alexander Rediger, who became central to the Kuropatkin faction while serving as vice-minister during Kuropatkin's War Minister period and held a pro-French stance as Military Council Chairman, was suddenly driven out.
While pro-British might still be an awkward, tiny or practically non-existent stance in Russia, pro-French was different.
Since the great Prime Minister Sergei Witte, France had been an ally with tradition and trust.
Who paid for that Trans-Siberian Railway?
Who helped expand into Manchuria in the 90s and bought Russo-Japanese War bonds?
