The democrats of Russia knew, moreover, that, in addition to the natural affinity which served to bind the two autocracies, the Romanov and Hohenzollern dynasties had been closely knit together in a strong union by years and years of carefully planned and strongly wrought blood ties.  As Isaac Don Lenine reminds us in his admirable study of the Russian Revolution, Nicholas II was more than seven-eighths German, less than one-eighth of his blood heritage being Romanov.  Catherine the Great, wife of Peter III, was a Prussian by birth and heritage and thoroughly Prussianized her court.  After her—­from 1796 to 1917—­six Czars reigned in Russia, five of whom married German wives.  As was inevitable in such circumstances, the Russian court had long been notoriously subject to German influences and strongly pro-German in its sympathies—­by no means a small matter in an autocratic country.  Fully aware of their advantage, the Kaiser and his Ministers increased the German influence and power at the Russian court by encouraging German nobles to marry into Russian court circles.  The closing decade of the reign of Nicholas II was marked by an extraordinary increase of Prussian influence in his court, an achievement in which the Kaiser was greatly assisted by the Czarina, who was, it will be remembered, a German princess.

Naturally, the German composition and character of the Czar’s court was reflected in the diplomatic service and in the most important departments of the Russian government, including the army.  The Russian Secret Service was very largely in the hands of Germans and Russians who had married German wives.  The same thing may be said of the Police Department.  Many of the generals and other high officers in the Russian army were either of German parentage or connected with Germany by marriage ties.  In brief, the whole Russian bureaucracy was honeycombed by German influence.

Outside official circles, much the same condition existed among the great landowners.  Those of the Baltic provinces were largely of Teutonic descent, of course.  Many had married German wives.  The result was that the nobility of these provinces, long peculiarly influential in the political life of Russia, was, to a very large degree, pro-German.  In addition to these, there were numerous large landowners of German birth, while many, probably a big majority, of the superintendents of the large industrial establishments and landed estates were German citizens.  It is notorious that the principal factories upon which Russia had to rely for guns and munitions were in charge of Germans, who had been introduced because of their high technical efficiency.