Iunker Rebellion of 1917

a counterrevolutionary revolt of iunkera (cadets in military schools) in Petrograd that was part of the Kerensky-Krasnov Rebellion in 1917. Preparation for the rebellion was directed by the counterrevolutionary Committee to Save the Homeland and the Revolution. The rebels intended to seize the city telephone exchange, the Peter and Paul Fortress, and the Smol’nyi and to arrest the Soviet government and the leaders of the Bolshevik party.

On the night of October 28 (November 10) a Red Guard patrol arrested one the leaders of the rebellion, the Socialist Revolutionary A. A. Bruderer, who was carrying documents pertaining to preparations for the revolt. The former commander of the Petrograd Military District, Colonel G. P. Polkovnikov, declared himself commander of the so-called “troops of salvation” and issued a directive to the troops of the garrison prohibiting them from carrying out the orders of the Military Revolutionary Committee and ordering them to arrest commissars and to send representatives from all military units to the Nikolai Engineering School (the Engineers’ Castle), where the leaders of the rebellion were headquartered. Iunkera from the Nikolai Engineering School seized the Mikhailovskii Gymnasium, forcing several armored cars from the area, then took over the city telephone exchange, isolated the Smol’nyi, and occupied the Astoria Hotel. They began disarming members of the Red Guard and revolutionary soldiers in the streets. Iunkera from the Vladimir Military School disarmed the guard protecting the school and arrested the commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee.

At 8:30 A.M. on October 29, the leaders of the rebellion distributed telegrams throughout Petrograd announcing the victory of the rebellion and calling on soldiers to arrest the commissars of the Military Revolutionary Committee and to gather the military units at the Nikolai Engineering School. However, the Petrograd revolutionary garrison refused to support the rebellion. The Military Revolutionary Committee issued an appeal to residents of the capital and proclaimed a state of siege in the city. As early as 11 A.M.on October 29, detachments of the Red Guard and revolutionary soldiers liberated the telephone exchange and surrounded the Engineers’ Castle. Many of the iunkera fled; by 5 P.M. those who remained had been disarmed and sent to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Suppression of the rebellion was facilitated by the rout of the entire Kerensky-Krasnov Rebellion.