Thank you very much for the feedback, they truely help me, and as of Britain and Russia... Well, wait and see.
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For Mexican general Pancho Villa, giving the Americans evidence of German presence near Carranza was a giant « everything or nothing » deal : he managed overnight to go from an anarchist rabble constituting a terrible threat for United States homeland security and stability to secret potential ally, receiving arms and ammunition to keep him out of the US and avoid a German-influenced Mexico. Not only he managed to gain time between Constitutionnalists and Americans, but he may also gain the upper hand over Zapata…
For British Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law, the Conscription Law closely managed to be passed with the help of Liberal Unionists who felt much more patriotic after the assassination of the Duke of York. Secretly, he had hoped the assassin was an Irish nationalist, but now he has the women vote issue delayed until further time, now that suffragettes can be depicted as radical lunatics, not worth more than the Irish rabble ; at least, he has now free hands over Ireland, King George being too depressed (having vested his real hopes on the Duke of York, not trusting much the womanizing Prince of Wales). Nevertheless, passing Conscription is not the remedy for Bonar Law : Irish terrorists are too sleathy and numerous to be vainquished militarly, as General Murray evidenced. Yet, it gives his country some teeth for three reasons : first, showing determination publicly in Ireland while secretly conducting negotiations with Irish Parliamentaries for a revised Home Rule ; reinforcing the Army in wake of new tensions in India, the Middle East, Africa and South Africa ; and reinforcing the British military when Russia is bound to be the new dominant power in Europe, both in military and industrial terms. Influenced by Austen Chamberlain, Bonar Law is now turning his back to France, and considering Germany as a non-official ally. After all, Wellington won his medals fighting in Spain ; and Waterloo was won with the Prussians against the French, wasn’t it ?
French President of Council Alexandre Millerand is worried by both the reinforcements of the German alliance system, with the Ottoman Empire and Sweden, and with the internal turmoil happening with his allies : even if Russia remains powerful and staunchly on France’s side – at least to counter the Germans and bite into the Ottoman Empire -, Britain is now focusing on its empire and even seems to have sympathy for Germany ; turning the Entente Cordiale into a benevolant neutrality over Europe. Having to handle things without the power of the British Empire, Millerand begins to watch over the new plans devised by the General Staff – going all-offensive before Germany can truly mobilize… And even through Belgium, now that London seems distracted.
For Governor General of Armenia Theodore Roosevelt – sorry, Roosevelt Pasha –, Erzurum was a good position. He could help a new country to industrialize and educate itself, a western, Christian country, and keep it away from Ottoman and Russian intervening, at the best of his abilities. It was a way to mix both his past presidential duties and his taste for adventure. It also kept him far from Wilson doing all his racket over America, from the absurdity of the Republican Party ; from his palace in Erzurum, Roosevelt Pasha was really wondering if he would return in 1920 to seek the White House. Maybe he was better, at 58, as a travelling elder statesman, representing America’s best, and its interests – he had done much to have American enterprises invest in Armenia. He had also his own investment – his favorite son, Quentin, who had followed him and, as his private secretary, was beginning to learn the occupation of politics…
For Tsar of All the Russias Nikolai II, this Constitution issue was not a surrender to his opposition, but more a gambit he decided to undertake after emerging from his drowsiness following Rasputin’s murder. The Constitution did much to simplify the aging and overly bureaucratic organization of his Empire, and by putting the October Manifesto’s promises into laws ten years after, it deprived it from much of its substance, resting a lot of power in his monarchical hands. Backing off from the Duma would also help him consolidate his power, playing the loyal Kadets, obsessed over Western progressivism, with the ever feuding Socialist Revolutionnaries. Hell, they were even able to back an antisemite like Khvovstov as Prime Minister. All Russia needed was being stable while the army’s modernization and the country’s industrialization are being completed. The Constitution was also the best occasion to implement his new strategy, should something happen to poor Alexei (without the starets’ protection) : sure, Olga had to marry this horrible inverted Dmitri, but at least, Mikhail and these despicable Vladimirovici are left far behind in the order of succession. And Olga looks like the most capable of her sisters…
***
For Mexican general Pancho Villa, giving the Americans evidence of German presence near Carranza was a giant « everything or nothing » deal : he managed overnight to go from an anarchist rabble constituting a terrible threat for United States homeland security and stability to secret potential ally, receiving arms and ammunition to keep him out of the US and avoid a German-influenced Mexico. Not only he managed to gain time between Constitutionnalists and Americans, but he may also gain the upper hand over Zapata…
For British Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law, the Conscription Law closely managed to be passed with the help of Liberal Unionists who felt much more patriotic after the assassination of the Duke of York. Secretly, he had hoped the assassin was an Irish nationalist, but now he has the women vote issue delayed until further time, now that suffragettes can be depicted as radical lunatics, not worth more than the Irish rabble ; at least, he has now free hands over Ireland, King George being too depressed (having vested his real hopes on the Duke of York, not trusting much the womanizing Prince of Wales). Nevertheless, passing Conscription is not the remedy for Bonar Law : Irish terrorists are too sleathy and numerous to be vainquished militarly, as General Murray evidenced. Yet, it gives his country some teeth for three reasons : first, showing determination publicly in Ireland while secretly conducting negotiations with Irish Parliamentaries for a revised Home Rule ; reinforcing the Army in wake of new tensions in India, the Middle East, Africa and South Africa ; and reinforcing the British military when Russia is bound to be the new dominant power in Europe, both in military and industrial terms. Influenced by Austen Chamberlain, Bonar Law is now turning his back to France, and considering Germany as a non-official ally. After all, Wellington won his medals fighting in Spain ; and Waterloo was won with the Prussians against the French, wasn’t it ?
French President of Council Alexandre Millerand is worried by both the reinforcements of the German alliance system, with the Ottoman Empire and Sweden, and with the internal turmoil happening with his allies : even if Russia remains powerful and staunchly on France’s side – at least to counter the Germans and bite into the Ottoman Empire -, Britain is now focusing on its empire and even seems to have sympathy for Germany ; turning the Entente Cordiale into a benevolant neutrality over Europe. Having to handle things without the power of the British Empire, Millerand begins to watch over the new plans devised by the General Staff – going all-offensive before Germany can truly mobilize… And even through Belgium, now that London seems distracted.
For Governor General of Armenia Theodore Roosevelt – sorry, Roosevelt Pasha –, Erzurum was a good position. He could help a new country to industrialize and educate itself, a western, Christian country, and keep it away from Ottoman and Russian intervening, at the best of his abilities. It was a way to mix both his past presidential duties and his taste for adventure. It also kept him far from Wilson doing all his racket over America, from the absurdity of the Republican Party ; from his palace in Erzurum, Roosevelt Pasha was really wondering if he would return in 1920 to seek the White House. Maybe he was better, at 58, as a travelling elder statesman, representing America’s best, and its interests – he had done much to have American enterprises invest in Armenia. He had also his own investment – his favorite son, Quentin, who had followed him and, as his private secretary, was beginning to learn the occupation of politics…
For Tsar of All the Russias Nikolai II, this Constitution issue was not a surrender to his opposition, but more a gambit he decided to undertake after emerging from his drowsiness following Rasputin’s murder. The Constitution did much to simplify the aging and overly bureaucratic organization of his Empire, and by putting the October Manifesto’s promises into laws ten years after, it deprived it from much of its substance, resting a lot of power in his monarchical hands. Backing off from the Duma would also help him consolidate his power, playing the loyal Kadets, obsessed over Western progressivism, with the ever feuding Socialist Revolutionnaries. Hell, they were even able to back an antisemite like Khvovstov as Prime Minister. All Russia needed was being stable while the army’s modernization and the country’s industrialization are being completed. The Constitution was also the best occasion to implement his new strategy, should something happen to poor Alexei (without the starets’ protection) : sure, Olga had to marry this horrible inverted Dmitri, but at least, Mikhail and these despicable Vladimirovici are left far behind in the order of succession. And Olga looks like the most capable of her sisters…
