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Chapter 9: Bolsheviktory
There are few better examples of the carnage wrought by the Great War than Russia. Once the world’s fourth largest economy and one of the fabled Great Powers, it was now both smaller and locked into deadly civil war. In one corner was the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Lenin, a faction determined to finally make Russia a land for the humble laborer. In the other corner was a hodgepodge of numerous seemingly conflicting ideologies collectively known as the White Army, united only through their collective desire to crush the communist menace.
This task proved quite herculean however due to several debilitating disadvantages. One in possession of a map with limited knowledge of the country might in fact conclude that the White Army was to win both easily and inevitably due to the difference in size of land controlled, with all the bonuses that arise from said quality. Yet this assumption ignores the value of the land each side commanded. Siberia was massive yes but had a severe lacking in both population and industry. Comparatively Bolshevik-held territory was in the vital western portions of the nation, scoring for the Reds more manpower, manufacturing output, and infrastructure such as railroads which could be used to transport troops and supplies. Obviously these inequalities make prosecuting a war from the east a major challenge. The next major issue was inward division. Though differences in beliefs among the Bolsheviks were present, there were no ideological gaps as wide as in the White Army. The mix included liberals, conservatives, and monarchists among others, hardly making cooperation between far flung allies simple.
Not that it was sunshine and rainbows for the Red Army either. The sheer enormity of enemy lands turned advancing into a slow and grueling affair, a factor made more unpleasant by the foreign aid that the Whites were sent by many an outside nation. On top of this was the fact that while Lenin held the most valuable areas in his grasp, much of prewar Russia had been absorbed into either Germany or one of the newly formed nations of Eastern Europe. A thoroughly neutered Russia therefore remained on the edge of Europe, and it was essentially impossible for the Bolsheviks to change this without invoking German military response and in turn committing suicide. Rather they grumbled in anger when Czar Nicholas was brought to the safety of his mother's homeland of Denmark, but quietly continued their war as a non-belligerent Germany watched from the sidelines.
Regardless of their deficiencies the Red Army pressed on over the course of a few years and eventually ground their opponents to dust. Following the Japanese pulling out of the Russian Far East and the fall of Vladivostok in July of 1923, the Russian Civil War had ended in Red victory. The many realms carved out of the dying Russian Empire were safe from Bolshevik incursion, however the more isolated and sparsely populated Finland proved to be less lucky and fell under Soviet control. German forces were presently maintaining order across much of continental Europe, and the Finns found themselves too far down on the list of priorities. Socialist puppet countries were established in Tuva and Mongolia as well. Winning the conflict and forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were achievements which Lenin was unable to celebrate for very long as he suffered a speech-silencing stroke a mere few weeks afterward. His health problems and death the next year would lead the way for a major power struggle in the U.S.S.R.
News of the war's outcome sent shivers down the spines of the leadership of major nations. Fears of communism in the United States famously created a "Red Scare" during the 1920's. Similar worries manifested in Britain and Japan. The people of France and Italy were drawn in by the prospects of communism in the coming years, though the governments which rose in both came to hold different views. The success of a communist revolution in the multinational state of Russia certainly put Austria-Hungary on edge and necessitated the need for reform. Germany viewed the situation as uncomfortable yet manageable, as it would take years of modernization and recovery for the Soviet Union to truly be a threat to their power base, a fact recognized by many in the Soviet capital of Leningrad as well.