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Asami
Banned
Aye, a small patch of land along the Western shores of Lake Baikal are now under the control of the Czechoslovak Legion. With the war in Europe not seeming to end with the liberation of their homeland, they've dug in Siberia and have established their own Revolutionary state. Not communist, but revolutionary. They're centered primarily around Irkutsk, while Kolchak-Wrangel Siberian state is largely centered around Omsk.
Trotsky's state is centered around Petrograd and has basically made a suicide-push for Moscow; while the Provisional Government is centered around Tsaritsyn.
Trotsky's state is centered around Petrograd and has basically made a suicide-push for Moscow; while the Provisional Government is centered around Tsaritsyn.
Asami
Banned
Nope. While Britain extracted the concession that Germany wouldn't inflict anything on Belgium after the war, Belgium is still occupied by Germany. It isn't expected that Germany will follow through on that promise.. that is of course... unless something happens...
You picked the wrong meaning of "order". The title in German should be "Osteuropäische Ordnung".
John Fredrick Parker
Donor
Liking this TL for the most part, though I do have to say, the Russian Revolution here doesn't make much sense -- I mean, the Duma overthrowing the Tsar and demanding his young daughter, not Michael, replace him? The moderate monarchists explicitly looking to drop out of the war, and by way of killing Rasputin? Working with Lenin?
Asami
Banned
It's confusing, I admit.
The Duma had done what they have done because of the growing fears of Germany's complete domination of the Eastern Front. Russia has managed minor victories thus far, but nothing has broken the 'Grey Tide' from rolling east, flattening Russia's army in its wake. They don't want their entire empire broken up by German captiulation demands, and are trying to peace out of the war like Japan and Britain have. Serbia has fallen, there's no more point to fighting the war for Russia.
Also, they were afraid of Rasputin's influence over the Tsar and his wife, that he was a dark and evil man of some sort, and they were afraid of the complete breakdown of Russia's ability to maintain peace and order because of Germany's hemorrhaging of Russian troops.
It was decided that while Michael or Alexei would have an immediate claim on the throne, they installed Tatiana because of her pre-existing leadership skills, stable health, and youth; plus their desire to create a reformed Russia, something that won't collapse every few years to revolution.
The Provisional Government sees appointing a new monarch and separating them from the negative influences of the Romanov's past as important--hence why Tatiana was anointed, and the reason why the rest of the Romanovs are running around trying to evade Trotsky's revolutionaries.
Lenin's decision to work with the Provisional Government (and not join Trotsky) stems from some events during the POD. When Lenin attempted to reassert his power in the Bolsheviks in 1912, he got burned harder than he did OTL; and Lenin reconsidered the viability of the factionalist revolution working from one perspective, and acknowledged another method of doing so. Lenin's revolutionary zeal has softened some, as he has revised some of his revolutionary statements to be more oriented towards taking over from the inside. Kind of like that one Khrushchev quote--"one day they will wake up under communism", etc.
When the Provisional Government asked for his aid, Lenin resolved that the revolution could be completed without the need to upend everything all at once-- if the ends justify the means, do the means justify the ends, I suppose. Trotsky doesn't see it that way, and believes that only by total revolution, can the people be free; Lenin sees that if the system can be bent to the will of the People, then the revolution has succeeded anyway. If that fails, then violent revolution is the only way to go.
I would see Japan crushing the separatists in the Far East and assisting the Provisional Government in return for commercial rights and border revisions.
@Sakura_F, what of Germany's border adjustments against Poland? There was always plans in the German war designs to enlarge at Poland's expense creating the Kingdom of Poland as a sort of rump buffer state. I'm not sure of the exact details, but it seems unlikely that they would simply break off all of Congress Poland from Russia without absorbing some territory for themselves.
Great updates, by the way. I like the quirkiness of the Czech state in Siberia. I wonder if it will gain recognition, and what this means for Czech nationalism at home.
Great updates, by the way. I like the quirkiness of the Czech state in Siberia. I wonder if it will gain recognition, and what this means for Czech nationalism at home.
Asami
Banned
In the pipeline for Berlin. They're not quite done with the organization of the East, yet.
Asami
Banned
So far, the Czech state is unrecognized, but there are at-distance discussions between them and Tokyo about a possible recognition.
So I might have mapped the future...
I gave de facto states the red border and left the rebellious regions without border. So Ukraine is de facto an independent state, assailed from within by communist agitators (as shown by a paler red, indicating they have the support of the true Bolsheviks) and just regular rebels. Other things of note would be Germany's eastern border. As I said, I pre-emptively added in their annexations (sorry!), but the Kingdom of Poland, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and Hetmanate of Ukraine are all de facto German protectorates, while the United Baltic Duchy is given a darker outline with a lighter interior to indicate that it is de jure in personal union with Germany (by way of Kaiser Wilhelm II being Grand Duke), but de facto a part of Germany proper (by way of Kaiser Wilhelm II being Grand Dick).
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