The Dog's Resolve
The French, who had been steadfast allies of the White Russians throughout the Great War and the Red-White Civil War, were now trembling with anxiety. They feared that Poland might collude with Germany to strike at Russia. If the Russian forces holding the eastern front collapsed, those red bastards in Germany and Poland could very well turn their sights on France next.
"Cooperate with Germany? That's just talking out of your ass... Wait. This bastard's a red!"
On one side, the French communists who had been secretly working with the German Communist Party were now quietly insisting that this was the perfect moment to cut ties with Russia. But no one was buying it.
And in communist Germany itself, which already had a headache from the rogue actions of their dispatched agents in Poland, this incident was far from welcome.
The rogue Polish communists had acted out of greed and failed. As a result, communist Germany was now branded as the puppet master behind Poland, the evil force that had incited the assassination attempt on me. The German Communist Party vehemently denied any involvement, but no country in the world believed them.
Even Mussolini in Italy, supposedly an ally, believed the Germans were behind it and sent a letter to Karl Liebknecht, the General Secretary, praising him for demonstrating the spirit of communist revolution. That should tell you everything.
And then, in Austria—
In Austria, Adolf Hitler had founded the National Liberal Austrian Workers' Party, shouting for the extermination of communism. At first its numbers were insignificant, but with the threat of the reds looming and support from influential German exiles who had fled to Austria, the party expanded its power at astonishing speed.
When I returned from Poland to Moscow, I was greeted by furious citizens of the United States. The news had already spread like wildfire. Well, there had been quite a few foreigners at the scene. Russian journalists must have been among them. While I was busy negotiating and signing agreements in Poland, they had already rushed back to Moscow ahead of me.
"How dare those Polish dogs attempt to harm Her Majesty!"
"We must punish them immediately!"
"I'll take up arms myself!"
A huge crowd was waving the United States flag and chanting for the destruction of Poland. If I had arrived even a little later, the Duma might have buckled under public pressure and launched a Special Military Operation.
Anyway, as the police struggled to calm the enraged citizens seething over Poland's barbaric act, I noticed a newspaper lying on the ground on my way into the Kremlin. It was rather amusing.
Hmm. These were all sensational headlines practically screaming that war was imminent. That wouldn't do. If war broke out with Poland now, it would be a nuisance for Russia as well. Britain, being a monarchy itself, probably wouldn't be able to complain if we dealt with Poland over this incident. Still, I decided to check on the military's stance first.
As expected, the military was reacting exactly as I had predicted.
Special Military Operation. They'd used the term once in Turkey, and it seemed Anton Denikin had grown rather fond of it. I had a feeling that this phrase, which wasn't technically war, was about to become a meme because of me. Some people were even saying I had deliberately gone to Poland to create a pretext for war.
"No, no. We will not strike Poland. Poland will serve as an excellent meat shield to hold back Germany."
No, I'm telling you, I have absolutely no intention of going to war with Poland right now. There will be opportunities later. Why fight them now? If we covet Poland at this moment, it will only make the war against communist Germany more difficult.
When did I ever say I would let them off? I don't even know how much longer this tanghulu life of mine will last. If this were a game, I'd say my lives were ticking down one by one. The next bomb might actually kill me. Absorbing Poland right now would only create headaches in multiple ways.
Looking at the newspapers, there were quite a few articles praising me for showing restraint toward Poland. Yes. War with Poland must be avoided. But it's not so bad. If we swallowed Poland now, the communists would stir up revolution within Poland during our war with communist Germany. For now, we'll maintain a good image. Later, when Poland pulls another dog stunt, we can split it in half and take only the eastern part.
Besides, even if we had justification for war, what would Britain do after we took Poland? Those bastards might start scheming against Russia again, saying we've swallowed Poland too. "What a shame," they'd say.
I barely managed to talk the military out of invading Poland. If I hadn't stopped them today, Anton Denikin's forces might have already crossed the Polish border for a Special Military Operation.
When I finally returned to the Kremlin and thought I could relax a little, I was greeted by a mountain of documents waiting for my approval. Did I really have to handle all of this? Couldn't they manage on their own? They could just take my seal and stamp them all. Ever since I pointed out the oil field in Surgut, it felt like they were dumping even more work on me.
"Aside from these documents, is there any other news?"
"There is, actually. Here it is."
Prime Minister Alexander Krivoshein handed me a newspaper. It was an American one. Upon closer inspection, it was about communist Germany.
"Hmm. American journalists went to see communist Germany in person?"
Americans had gone to witness the world's first communist state for themselves. It was... rather pitiful, to be honest.
The reality of communism. Photographs of factory workers taken by journalists who had visited Germany. On the surface they appeared to be smiling, but soldiers who looked like political officers stood behind them. There were also images of workers on the verge of tears. There was no such thing as photo manipulation in this era. If they had seen the Soviet Union, wouldn't they have learned something? Or had the revolution simply taken a different path from the Soviet one? It looked suspiciously like a German version of the Soviet Union.
I had thought communist Germany would be better than Russia. That was why I had been a little more tense. But it seemed communist Germany wasn't doing so well either. Why did it look like the Soviet Union under the reign of terror by political officers?
Of course, there must be some people who had turned completely red and were happily chanting how wonderful communism was, but they probably weren't the ones appearing in the newspapers. Still, the very fact that such articles were being published suggested that the situation in communist Germany wasn't all that great.
"I wonder if they learned anything from watching Lenin."
If they had, they wouldn't be doing this. Or perhaps seeing Lenin made them turn out this way. I had expected that once the revolution succeeded, they would present communism in a better light than the Soviets had. But it seemed not.
In the end, our very existence was tormenting communist Germany. As expected, the White Army's victory—no, if it had been the Soviet Union from the beginning, the German Free Socialist Republic would never have come into existence. Looking at what Wilhelm II had done, a communist revolution probably would have broken out anyway.
If not only we but also Austria and East Prussia were actively accepting German immigrants fleeing the reds, then what? If they ran vigorous anti-communist propaganda and promoted nostalgia for the German Empire, people would naturally choose Austria, a fellow Germanic nation and the Kaiser's country. In that case, they would naturally mobilize the People's Army to seal the borders. The People's Army that protects the workers. Would it turn out like that?
The Invincible Red Army That Protects (Surveils) the Workers. Something like that? Ah, no need to guess. It's right there in the newspaper poster. It seems they've created something called the People's Self-Defense Force, though not exactly a workers' army. The front page already featured posters for the People's Army. Imitating the slogan "The Red Army is the strongest," they were strongly promoting "The People's Self-Defense Force is powerful."
It was probably a way to circumvent the Versailles Treaty clauses. Even though they had declared the treaty void, since the revolution had been carried out under the banner of opposing war, they would still be wary of openly expanding the military. Weapons would be another problem. Our one-armed friend had turned Russia into a weapons factory and diverted everything here, and we had swallowed it all. Anyway, when the time came, they would become the People's Army. They would steadily prepare their own version of communist reform in order to ready themselves for world revolution.
In the Soviet Union, I had preemptively taken the lead on things Lenin or Stalin might have done. But communist Germany was a nation that had never existed in the original timeline. The Weimar Republic had been completely different from the current German Free Socialist Republic, so I set that aside. In any case, Karl Liebknecht was someone I didn't know. What was a man who should have died doing now that he was alive? It seemed Germany was now under thorough control.
"And the person Your Majesty desired has arrived in Russia."
"Who?"
"A man named Robert Goddard. Also, Igor Sikorsky entered Russia a few days ago."
Oh. Already? That was quite fast. Beria really was excellent at getting things done.
"That's good. That fellow Beria is doing his job properly."
Now that he had become our dog, he was proving quite useful. If he started acting like a psycho again, we'd have to deal with him, but for now he was fine. His current behavior was quite satisfactory. Finding Trotsky would probably take more time.
At this point, he wouldn't switch sides to become Trotsky. If it were Trotsky, he might try to make a comeback. But for Beria, leaving Russia—where his rise to power was all but guaranteed—to follow Trotsky, who would be endlessly hunted by the Ohrana, made no sense. If he had, Robert Goddard and Igor Sikorsky wouldn't have arrived safely in Russia.
"Let's meet those two first."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Right. Let's go see Robert Goddard, the man who would create the weapons that would one day defeat Germany.