The German Revolution
The next problem was, of course, the nations that had supported us in the civil war. I wondered whether any of them might now come knocking with the attitude that, since they had helped us, we owed them something in return.
“Do the great powers expect nothing from us?”
“Nothing yet. And even if they did, wouldn’t Germany be the one with expectations? After all, it was Germany that actively supported the arming of the White Army.”
Germany. Come to think of it, they had been strangely quiet. That left America. The Americans were the nouveau riche who had kept the White Army from starving through various Lend-Lease programs. Refusing them would be difficult if they asked for anything.
“What about the United States?”
“The Americans are demanding that we guarantee the independence of the countries that became independent under the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.”
That was easy enough. Russia was a land of boundless potential, overflowing with resources and people. We were barely standing on our feet thanks to the great powers; tearing up the treaty was out of the question. The Baltic states had all gone their own way, but we had made Finland a pro-Russian nation, swallowed Belarus after the Bolsheviks took it, and Britain had looked the other way. We had also kept the eastern half of Ukraine and allowed it to survive. So be it.
“Is that all?”
“Haven’t those fellows already profited simply from the fact that we won?”
Well, I was rather ignorant about America at this period. I had hidden away in the library reading books to avoid the motorcycle gangs, but I knew little about the American side of things. All I knew was that Wilson was half-paralyzed and living on borrowed time. Whether the Red-White Civil War would influence American politics remained to be seen. That same Wilson had also granted a doctorate to Syngman Rhee, the first president of Korea. I had heard his principle of national self-determination had influenced the March First Movement and the Korean Provisional Government.
“Have Britain and France said nothing?”
“Aren’t those two busy enough trying to manage the spoils they gained by tearing apart their own ally?”
“Is it that bad?”
“As I understand it, Germany tossed its colonies into the mouths of Britain and France simply to save itself.”
Huh. Wait. That meant Britain and France were in no position to demand any crumbs from Russia for their support. Strictly speaking, Germany had provided the largest share of aid. America had helped a great deal too, but they were on the far side of both the Pacific and the Atlantic. If we absorbed all the German colonies…
For now, it seemed events would follow the original history. So was Germany the immediate problem? No—hadn’t Britain kept Germany on a short leash anyway? If Germany posed no major threat either, then the most urgent task facing Russia was rebuilding the nation itself.
So many had died in the war and the civil war that even if the Great Depression arrived, there would probably be no unemployment. But the end of the civil war was not the end of everything. The devastated land had to be restored. All faults would be laid at the Bolsheviks’ feet. Everything—everything—was their fault.
“For the time being, let us enter a period of national reconstruction. We will implement the land reform already carried out and the economic policies we plan to enact across the whole of Russia. I trust the Duma will handle this well.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Many people died in the recent civil war. Most of those who could have helped us were killed by the Bolsheviks, and now that the fighting is over, others will begin to creep out of hiding.”
Now that the civil war had ended, bureaucrats from the old imperial regime and the Kerensky government would start pushing their way back in. To form a functioning administration, it would be best to bring them aboard.
“There are former ministers who took refuge in South Russia. We will include them in the Duma as well.”
“We must also give preferential treatment to technicians in every department. Only then can we build industrial strength and prepare for the future.”
“The future, Your Highness?”
I could hardly speak of World War II in this setting. How many here would believe me even if I did? And even if they did believe me, I had no certainty that a similar second world war would erupt. What was certain was that, with this momentum, we had to push reforms through without pause. The moment life became even slightly easier, the stubborn nobles might begin yearning for a return to the old order. Therefore it was wise to warn them that another war might come.
“The great war has not ended in a satisfactory manner. A new conflict could break out within a few decades.”
“Surely not again?”
They were not entirely without intuition. In fact, wars I knew nothing about from alternate history might still occur. Take Germany, for example. Wasn’t it suspicious? They weren’t brainwashed; why were they obeying Britain’s every command? Had the entire Germanic race fallen under some collective hypnosis?
“For one thing, would Germany remain quiet with that temperament of theirs? Doesn’t it seem odd that those same people became arms merchants happily supplying us with weapons? Wasn’t the army that captured Stalin during the Battle of Moscow a German force?”
Too eager. It felt as though they were showering us with favors while expecting nothing in return—an act of grace meant to secure something later.
“Yes. The man was a corporal named Adolf Hitler.”
“Adolf Hitler, you say?”
The man before he became the finished monster—Hitler in his mature phase.
“Do you know him?”
“Not personally. It is simply that I have never seen anyone accomplish such a feat. In any case, Stalin was the linchpin of the Bolsheviks.”
Hitler had turned Stalin into a eunuch. What bitter historical irony. Had he already been using that name in this era? Killing him now to block the future—no. I had no idea how the future would unfold from here. It was not as if I could simply have him killed because I wished it. Chasing down the retreating German army to capture and execute him? That felt wrong. Besides, with the German Empire still intact, Hitler’s own path might change. Moreover, if history refused to change, it might be easier to deal with an enemy I already knew. If I killed Hitler only for some unknown figure to seize power and start another war for entirely different reasons, then leaving him alive was the wiser choice.
That said, it was clear Germany was plotting something. We simply had not yet discovered what it was.
“That is reasonable. Then we shall—”
“In the meantime we must rebuild Russia and guard against external threats. If another great war comes, we who accepted their help will inevitably be swept into it. At the very least, we must build enough national strength that we will not be dragged in anywhere. Everyone must roll up their sleeves and work.”
I did not know whether I could raise Russia to the same heights Stalin had achieved with his Soviet Union. Even though he had unleashed the bloody winds of the Great Purge, Stalin had still transformed the Soviet Union into a superpower by vastly increasing its economic power.
“As I have said before, railroads are the most vital infrastructure in this country. Therefore we must connect rail networks across the entire nation so that logistics flow smoothly.”
“Understood.”
“Of course, I hope there will be no second great war like this one that gave the Bolsheviks their chance to run wild.”
The Red-White Civil War had ended in victory and World War I had been altered. There was no telling what kind of snowball we had started rolling. If the future diverged from everything I knew, then from that point onward even I would have no answers. In preparation for that day, perhaps we really did need to acquire nuclear bombs. But for now the priority was rebuilding Russia. It would be nice if a ripe pumpkin simply dropped into our lap, vine and all.
Before long the collateral branches of the Romanov imperial family would probably begin to stir as well.
Berlin, Germany
“Then now we must pressure France—”
“Out of the question! It’s a revolution!”
At this time, the tide of revolution was surging through Germany. The end of the war had not been the end of everything. Unlike the original history, minimizing the damage Germany would suffer under the Treaty of Versailles had not been the end of it either. The Germanic pride wounded by defeat, the humiliation of acting as errand-runners for the Anglo-Americans while aiding the Russian White Army, the crushing burden of reparations squeezing the German people. On top of all that, rumors began to spread that yet another war was being planned. The surface reasons sounded plausible enough.
“The reparations are too high! We can’t pay! Keep this up and we’ll have ideas of our own!”
The excuses were that the reparations were excessive and French arrogance unbearable. But apart from that, calling for another war was nothing but a head full of flowers. Some factions within the military, already seething with resentment toward the Kaiser who had arbitrarily ended the previous war and was now planning a new one, joined the revolutionary forces. And just as Wilhelm was about to declare a grand mobilization on the grounds that he could no longer tolerate France, the German Communist Party—its time finally ripe—rang the bell of revolution. A revolution that belonged to Germany alone, different from Russia’s.
Wilhelm II, who had been exhilarated at the thought of devouring France, could not immediately grasp the situation when news of the revolution reached him.
“Your Majesty, you must flee at once!”
“What is happening?”
“The communists of the KDP have declared the German Free Socialist Republic and have begun seizing Berlin!”
The communist bastards had finally begun to run amok in Germany. Wilhelm II was stunned. He had been preparing for war so carefully—what was this?
“What is the army doing?”
“The army is divided as well.”
“How long has it been since the Russian Civil War ended? Who are the ringleaders!”
What wretches deserving to be torn apart would dare launch a communist revolution in Germany!
“The leaders are Roza Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht. Those two have raised the revolution.”
At that moment something clicked inside Wilhelm II’s head. His mind spun faster than it ever had before. The death of his relative Nicky. Anastasia, the sole survivor. The Russian Civil War. Communism and monarchy could not coexist. Those people would surely try to execute the entire Hohenzollern imperial house.
“W-where should we go?”
“Our forces are waiting outside Berlin. We must join them. In the worst case we may have to retreat all the way to East Prussia.”
“East Prussia?”
“Yes. It appears the rebels have co-opted even the regular army.”
“Then let us go.”
Wilhelm II executed a swift evacuation, leading the imperial family out of Berlin. The German Communist Party, furious at having missed the imperial family, nevertheless made securing complete control of Berlin and firmly establishing the German Free Socialist Republic their first priority.
In actual history the Social Democrats who proclaimed the Weimar Republic had been suppressed by the German Communist Party; now, for the first time, a communist state was emerging in German history.
Of course, it could not be easy.
“Reds? Unthinkable!”
August von Mackensen, who had remained in East Prussia to watch the Baltic states, Poland, and Ukraine now under British influence, gathered the remaining imperial troops together with Ludendorff and moved to suppress the Communist Party.
In February 1921, Germany fell into civil war because of the revolution launched by the German Communist Party. Germany’s internal conflict was more than enough to affect its neighbors.
“Wasn’t it precisely to prevent Germany from ending up like this that we showed restraint?”
“What in the world did that Kaiser do to bring about a revolution?”
The former Entente powers were thrown into chaos. Just as the Russian Civil War seemed about to end in White victory, revolution had now broken out next door. At this time the former Entente powers were already engaged in a fierce struggle with Atatürk’s Grand National Assembly of Turkey, which had risen in fury over the excessive dismemberment of the Ottomans. Already mired in a muddy fight with the Turks, they now had to worry about their neighbor as well.
When the German Communist Party failed to seize complete momentum in the civil war, they even requested assistance from France.
“From the beginning the Kaiser was planning to attack France once more! Here is the evidence, and the reason France must recognize us as the legitimate government.”
“What?”
France too was thrown into turmoil by the German Empire’s hidden intentions. They had shown leniency, only to discover such schemes lurking behind their backs. They would have liked to crush the German Empire, but another war was a burden France could ill afford. Within France it had not yet been confirmed as truth that the German Empire had planned war, and preventing the rise of communism was deemed more urgent; thus they provided support to the military government of Ludendorff and Mackensen.
Of course France itself was hardly stable. The French Communist Party was watching the German revolution and dreaming of reviving the Paris Commune.
And within France there was one man who viewed these developments with deep displeasure.
“How has the once-great France fallen into such a wretched state?”
François de La Rocque was that man. In the original history he had led the far-right anti-republican organization Croix-de-Feu and called for the overthrow of the Third Republic. In this changed timeline, he had been galvanized both by the war’s hollow conclusion due to the Russian Civil War and by the German revolution.
The filthy German Empire that once again eyed France, and the German Communist Party with whom they would share a border if the revolution succeeded. One had tried to stab France in the back; the other were reds unworthy of any association. La Rocque worried whether France would be able to stop them when they inevitably clashed with Germany again.
And then there was Japan.
“The Koreans are rioting, claiming they must carry out an independence movement centered on the Yi royal family!”
“What is the Government-General doing? Why haven’t they suppressed them all?”
“They say we must not suppress them by force alone but resolve the matter amicably!”
“When we treat them amicably, those bastards look down on the Empire of Japan and cause disturbances!”
“For now, keep the Yi royal family under strict surveillance so they cannot entertain any foolish ideas!”
The story of how the Russian princess had personally led troops to resolve a national crisis had spread across the Korean peninsula like a fairy tale. Koreans had begun to move, calling for an independence movement centered on the royal family. The snowball Anastasia had set rolling continued onward without end.