The Shaking Soviet
Pyotr Wrangel. In the original timeline, he was the man who led the White Army and fought countless battles against the Reds across South Russia. So formidable that he even earned a mention in the Bolshevik military anthem The Red Army is the Strongest. The lyrics had gone something like, “The White Army and the Black Baron (Pyotr Wrangel) are preparing the Tsar’s throne once more.” Those words alone revealed that Wrangel was a man who longed for a return to the old order. It also showed just how much of a threat the Bolsheviks considered him.
He earned the nickname Black Baron because he favored the chokha, the traditional dress of the Caucasian peoples. He had grown fond of it while commanding Cossack units, and it became his signature. It feels strangely moving to see him now. In the original history this man had been the White Army’s last hope. In this life, I sincerely hope he survives.
“What are Lieutenant General Anton Denikin’s intentions? Will he operate independently, or does he wish to join us in Yekaterinburg?”
“The Lieutenant General wishes to join.”
“I see.”
The problem was that this was exactly the moment when Ukrainian anarchists and the Reds would begin to run wild. After all, their base was in the Crimea and Ukraine.
“What is the situation in Ukraine?”
“British forces have begun to occupy the region.”
“The British?”
Of course. We had handed Germany’s concessions over to Britain. I had never intended it, but after the civil war it would be nearly impossible for Russia to reclaim that land. The rich harvests from Ukraine’s fertile soil… It looked like we would have to expand agricultural production in other regions for the time being. With the great powers intervening, Ukraine was bound to become a chaotic and grotesque mess.
“Your Highness. With our current momentum, shouldn’t we march on Moscow at once?”
March on Moscow. Honestly, the timing was perfect. Trotsky’s Red Army reforms had not yet taken hold, so this was our golden opportunity. But rushing in would bring no benefit. Trotsky would rebuild his forces, yet it would not be easy. Because we existed. We would advance eventually, but integrating the White Army had to come first.
“We have only just begun to gather strength. Even with the tanks sent by Britain and France, if the enemy regains its senses and crushes us with sheer numbers, we will have no answer. In any case, preparation will take time. We will launch the offensive once we have secured support from the great powers and the White Army is fully unified.”
In the real civil war the Reds had mobilized five million men. Nothing but numbers. They had relied on that numerical superiority and pushed forward. By contrast, the White Army could field only a fifth of that force. When one considered they were not even unified, their strength was rather fragile, and the warlords spent their time fighting one another for dominance until everything collapsed. Of course that was precisely why it made sense to end the civil war quickly. But in this history, it would not be so simple.
“Even so, simply handing that Stalin fellow back to them… wouldn’t that produce the opposite effect?”
“On the contrary, his return to Moscow will throw a wrench into their army reconstruction.”
Stalin, defeated at Tsaritsyn, would try to shift the blame onto Trotsky. Trotsky’s military reforms, already under suspicion, would be delayed. Before we could invade, Stalin would seize the chance to pressure Trotsky fiercely. At the very least, unlike the original timeline, we had gained breathing room.
We had secured South Russia. We were no longer merely the Siberian White Army. Resistance against the Soviets continued in Finland and the Baltic states as well. No matter how loudly they denounced us as reactionaries, the Russian people who had already suffered under Nicholas II were not fools. Resentment was inevitable.
“We seek only to maintain the status quo, yet to them it will appear that we are the ones prolonging the civil war.”
“Exactly. The Bolsheviks will not last long.”
If they simply killed everything in sight and moved hastily, nothing would work. As I always say, we must demonstrate that communism has utterly failed, while carrying out reforms even more progressive than Stolypin’s. We must make every communist in the world realize that what they believe in is nothing but delusion.
Around this time the Soviets would be screaming about treaty violations and eyeing Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania. They called it the Western Offensive. Or perhaps not. With British troops occupying the region and my own performance exceeding expectations, maybe they could not carry out the offensive. It would be perfect if the Polish-Soviet War erupted as well.
Soviet Moscow had been plunged into turmoil for some time. Stalin’s retreat meant South Russia had fallen into the princess’s hands. On top of that, the Bolsheviks in the Far East had recently been crushed by Kolchak’s forces and could not even practice their specialty of agitation. And now Stalin had returned with a brazen, shameless face. Naturally, Trotsky, who bore responsibility for the Soviet armies, glared at him with bloodshot eyes.
“You lost Tsaritsyn! Koba, what were you thinking? You should have held that ground even if it meant biting your own tongue!”
The assault on Yekaterinburg had failed. From the beginning, with an army only just rebuilt, victory had never been certain. Yet if they did nothing, the reactionaries would only grow stronger and come for them, so a reckless gamble had been necessary. Yes, that failure could not be helped. Trotsky did not regret his decision. Had the reactionaries been in the same position, they would have attacked Yekaterinburg as well. But the very fact that their options were so limited showed how cornered the Soviets had become. They should have defended Tsaritsyn at all costs.
“Thanks to certain people, the princess arrived with a great host, and before we knew it the reactionaries were rolling tanks across the field. Did you imagine we could stop them?”
“You should have driven the people harder! When the workers of the revolution shed blood and tears to hold the line, how could the princess possibly endure?”
As if. Stalin did not even bother hiding his sneer. In the end this was Trotsky’s fault for failing to prevent an alliance between the princess and the reactionaries. This was the perfect opportunity to create an opening to purge him.
“Speak sense. Why should I clean up the mess you made?”
“What?”
“Let’s be honest, Trotsky. Because you failed to suppress Yekaterinburg, even that reactionary Kolchak’s army has gone over to the princess.”
“What did you say?”
“Thanks to that, the reactionaries’ forces reached Tsaritsyn. How were we supposed to fight while completely isolated? If we had kept fighting there, public sentiment would only have turned against us.”
It was all an attempt to pin the blame on Trotsky, yet the words were not entirely false. Only when the battle was even would they have desperately held the line at the cost of their own flesh. In a situation where fighting was impossible, what else could they have done? Though they had failed, the mere attempt to assassinate the princess with a handful of Bolsheviks meant they had fulfilled their duty.
“What kind of sophistry is this?”
The moment Trotsky tried to push back against the vein-bulging Stalin, Lenin intervened.
“Enough, both of you. Must we fight among ourselves at a time like this? We have lost South Russia, and British troops have entered Ukraine.”
The Soviet now faced the worst possible situation. The Great War had ended and the great powers had begun to pay attention. Enormous quantities of military supplies were flowing to the White Army through the Black Sea and the Far East. The execution incident had been splashed across American newspapers, and in the West the Soviets were now regarded as an untouchable pariah. Kolchak had joined them, Tsaritsyn had fallen, and South Russia was now in the princess’s grasp. At this very moment, with the Baltic reactionaries still unsubdued, the people groaned once more under the weight of war. At this rate the very meaning of the revolution would vanish.
Worse still, the princess was already advancing various reforms and had publicly revealed her future plans to the people. Those reforms carried a faint flavor of socialism, almost identical to what the Soviets had intended. If the Soviets continued down the same path, they would be accused of merely following the princess. In other words, the very reason for the Soviet’s existence would disappear. Had they at least succeeded in killing Anastasia, they could have easily crushed the warlord alliance, but that attempt had failed.
In every sense, the current Soviet was in dire straits.
“Comrade Trotsky. What of the officers from the imperial era?”
“They refuse to cooperate at all. The few whose families we hold hostage have joined the Red Army, but…”
Under Lenin’s bitter gaze, Trotsky could not even raise his head. The army was entirely his responsibility. He was, after all, the Soviet Minister of Defense.
“Even they will not be cooperative.”
“Some generals have fled during the night with their families.”
Fled at night with their families. Their destination was obvious. Some would seek asylum with the other great powers, but the majority would likely conclude the Bolsheviks were wrong and defect to the White Army.
“So we have merely helped the reactionaries grow stronger.”
From the side Stalin continued to mock Trotsky. The more Trotsky tarnished himself, the further Stalin could advance. The princess was certainly a threat, but Stalin judged that this civil war would become a long one. If he could defeat her using the army Trotsky had built while taking all the criticism, then succeed Lenin, it would be a perfect plan.
Unaware of Stalin’s inner calculations, Trotsky kept making excuses.
“But comrades, without doing this we would have been desperately short of commanders to lead the Red Army. There was no other choice.”
Because Anastasia had survived, unlike real history, recruiting imperial generals into the Red Army had become far more difficult. Moreover, since the princess had refused foreign military support beyond supplies, the Bolsheviks could no longer portray themselves as Russia’s defenders against traitors.
“Can General Brusilov not be persuaded?”
“We hold his family hostage. He should come over soon. It is fortunate the princess has not immediately marched on Moscow.”
Alexei Brusilov, the renowned general of the imperial era. As commander of the Eighth Army he had shattered the Austro-Hungarian forces on the Galician front during the First World War, then driven forward all the way to the Carpathians. He was the architect of the famous Brusilov Offensive. Fortunately the princess was not attacking, and if that man would lead the Red Army, they might yet achieve meaningful results on this frozen front.
“Why? We had the initiative. Why?”
“No matter how fine their army, having tasted the overwhelming numbers of the Red Army, even the princess dares not attack lightly.”
After all, those men had once been subjects of the Russian Empire. For Anastasia, who wished to restore the monarchy, capturing them would mean capturing her own people. If she tried to kill them all, she would suffer both political damage and bloodshed. Of course, if Anastasia herself, busy integrating the White forces, heard such reasoning she would call it nonsense, but Lenin and the other Bolsheviks had convinced themselves that the reason the princess did not attack despite inferior quality was the sheer numbers of the Red Army.
Above all, Trotsky himself was loudly proclaiming that because he had hastily organized the Red Army and failed at Yekaterinburg, the princess did not dare march on Moscow. If she targeted the capital, she would certainly receive a one-way ticket to the River Jordan. He had to believe it.
Around this time, imperial-era officers were being threatened by Trotsky into joining the Red Army.
“No matter how you look at it, she has more legitimacy than you.”
“These bastards should be begging for our service, yet they threaten us?”
“I’m going over to the White Army. Good luck.”
In the original history they had tried to win over imperial officers to rebuild the army; when that failed, they took families hostage and forced them into the Red ranks. Many opportunists had joined because they saw the Soviets gaining the upper hand. But in this timeline, with the White Army uniting around the princess and winning repeatedly, their eyes naturally turned toward the Whites. When these red fools threatened them without understanding their own position, the choice became obvious.
Meanwhile, Alexei Brusilov, whom the Bolsheviks so desperately wanted, was being hounded by the son who had already joined the Red Army.
“Father, the Red Army needs you now.”
“Haa…”
“The Soviet faces a mortal crisis the moment it was born. You must help us, Father.”
To his son’s desperate plea, Brusilov answered only by furrowing his wrinkled brow. He had no intention of joining the Red Army. He held no interest in either side at present. A mortal crisis the moment it was born. If the Bolsheviks had been a proper force from the beginning, would they have faced such a crisis?
“I have not yet decided.”
He still wished to remain neutral.
“Father. You aren’t being swayed by the princess, are you?”
Swayed by the princess. The words were meaningless. Brusilov did not want to belong to anyone. The Soviets had promised an end to war and a bright future for the workers, yet they conscripted young men, gathered an army, and marched on Yekaterinburg to kill them all just to catch one princess. Moreover, before they could even implement any real reforms, the princess had already begun carrying them out. There was no longer any hope in the old regime. That much was true, yet the Soviet was no answer either. Despite his son’s pleading, Brusilov ultimately refused to join the Red Army. Trotsky, fearing backlash from other officers, could not threaten him. This too was undoubtedly a butterfly effect born from Anastasia’s survival.