But at the time when the fate of the Tsar and his family hung in the balance, Germany was absolute mistress of the situation, and, had there been unity of method as well as of purpose between the German High Command and Berlin, the fate of Russia and, perhaps, of the war would have been changed. Berlin wanted to continue to rule Russia through the Soviets under Mirbach; Ludendorff aimed at the overthrow of the Soviets in order to enlist the support of the Cossacks and Volunteers. As might be expected, the conflict between them resulted in a fatal compromise--an attempt to run with the White hare and hunt with the Red hounds. Ludendorff’s plan was to substitute a more agreeable form of government in the place of the Soviets and to modify suitably the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Here we have the key to the removal of Nicholas II. from Tobolsk. But all that subsequently happened was conditional upon another set of forces. Sovietdom asserted itself. The working and organization of the Soviets fitted in admirably with German requirements, and incidentally subserved the plans of the murderers. New names, devised to appeal to the fancy of the mob, concealed familiar institutions. There were three principal bodies--Sovnarkom, Tsik, and Chrezvychaika, these names being abbreviations of _Soviet narodnykh kommisarov_ (Council of People’s Commissaries), _Tsentralny ispolnitelny komitet_ (Central Executive Committee), and _Chrezvychainaia komisia dlia borby z kontr-revoliutsiei_ (Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-revolution). Under the old _régime_ the Duma, the Council of Ministers, and the Okhrana had occupied the same relative positions. Instead of the former ranks and dignities there were _komisary_, all supposed to be elected, but in reality appointed by an inner and occult body. _Sovdeps_ (Councils of Deputies) and _Komitety bednoty_ (Poor Commissions) took over the functions of the old zemstvos and municipalities, grouped into regional communes, just as it had been proposed to group the zemstvos according to separate _oblasti_ (regions). Sovietdom (in Russian _Sovdepia_) had invented no new forms. It is still in the grip of the Red Okhrana. As there was no apparent authority, the local bodies often acted independently; indeed, Lenin encouraged this tendency. _Vlast na mestakh_ (every place its own master) was his motto. Lenin did not rule; the Soviet system was governed by other people, the fellow-passengers who came with him under German auspices. Though he delivered impassioned harangues before the Sovnarkom and received deputations from minor soviets, the real power was elsewhere--in the Tsik and Chrezvychaika; and, just as it had been in the Old Russia, the last word was always with the Police-Okhrana organisation.