Army Committees.

_Knights of St. George._ The Cross of St. George was awarded for
distinguished action in battle. Its holder automatically became a
_"Knight of St. George."_ The predominant influence in the
organisation was that of the supporters of the military idea.

_Peasants' Union._ In 1905, the _Peasants' Union_ was a
revolutionary peasants' organisation. In 1917, however, it had become
the political expression of the more prosperous peasants, to fight
the growing power and revolutionary aims of the Soviets of Peasants'
Deputies.

Chronology and Spelling

I have adopted in this book our Calendar throughout, instead of the
former Russian Calendar, which was thirteen days earlier.

In the spelling of Russian names and words, I have made no attempt
to follow any scientific rules for transliteration, but have tried to
give the spelling which would lead the English-speaking reader to the
simplest approximation of their pronunciation.

Sources

Much of the material in this book is from my own notes. I have also
relied, however, upon a heterogeneous file of several hundred
assorted Russian newspapers, covering almost every day of the time
described, of files of the English paper, the _Russian Daily News,_
and of the two French papers, _Journal de Russie_ and _Entente._ But