WIP I may never finish. Basically, it's a Tsarist Russia as Imperial Japan map.
Basic (and incomplete, mind you) premise is that Russia and Japan's fortunes flipped in the years before WW1, leading Japan down a worse path and Russia down a more imperialistic route than even in OTL. China sides with the Germans in hopes of getting stronger, but is largely left to fend for itself against the Japanese and British during WW1, as well as it's own rebelling subjects. In the end, the Qing collapse and are replaced by a republic which rapidly modernizes. Meanwhile, Japan falls to a revolution after failing in the Pacific and forms the Eastasian Workers Republic, which absorbs other communist movements in the far east such as the Philippines.
After WW1, the Russians feel a desire for more, especially after being treated with distrust by much of the great powers after the great war. Most of all, the Russians seek to prey on the decaying Ottoman Empire, already carving out a puppet state in Armenia in 1931, and launching an invasion of the rest of Turkey in 1937, seizing Constantinople and butchering the cities population. In 1941, the Russians take over Persia, which results in the newly formed (and pacifistic) Mitteleuropan Federation placing a trade embargo on St Petersburg. In response, the Russians launched a lightning invasion of Scandinavia, hoping such a sudden and quick attack would scare the Federation into complying as they hold Scandinavia for ransom. This move, however, resulted in a declaration of war from Berlin and brought in the other powers of the Tripartite Pact: The Greater America, which seeks to bring It's manifest destiny across the pacific to the Far East and regain it's pacific lands from the Reds, and the British, who also seek to regain there former glory.
While the Federation may have a pacifistic streak after the terror of the great war, the Russian Empire isn't in a much better position. The nation remains largely agrarian and stuck using WW1 to Interwar technology, but they make up for this with mass conscription and a fervent propaganda campaign, instilling a strong sense of martial pride and Orthodox Patriotism into the Russian Army (The Orthodox Church is now the state religion, and it has been slightly reorganized pre-war to emphasize the holiness of the Tsar, and any who disagreed were sent to Siberia. Oh, and the pogroms have gotten worse). In Europe, the Russian advance is going smoothly (On the homefront, a xenophobic propaganda campaign depicting the invaders as the Mongoloid "other" has been going strong), but their supply lines are beginning to be stretched thin, and High Command is more focused on supplying the surprisingly costly war in the Middle East. They reason that once they secure the Oil of the Ottomans, they will be able to fuel there conquest more effectively in Europe, although the truth is neither front is seeing any progress, and neither of the Tsar's allies are interested in backing them up. Only time will tell if the Motherland can secure another victory.
Fortunately it makes for a great graphic and tale.
