Here's the update about Russia and Japan I mentioned earlier. This is a rather large update, about 2,500 words.
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SHADES OF CRIMSON: THE SOVIET AND EN'AN REVOLUTIONS 1907-1924
The War of 1911
The Russo-Japanese War had left both belligerents with severe domestic outrage. The Tsarist government and its feared secret police, the Okhrana, cracked down hard on demonstrations and dissidents in the following years up to the War of 1911. With tensions in Europe rising, Tsar Nicholas II gave his security forces free reign in persecuting any groups or individuals they suspected of rebellious or otherwise anti-establishment activity. This led to a campaign of terror as well as increased corruption among the elite. Though the creation of a proto-totalitarian atmosphere may not have been the Tsar's intent, this and the disaster that was the War of 1911 irredeemably taint the legacy of Russia's final monarch.
While the state terror suppressed revolutionary activity at home, the Russian Empire faced a formidable array of foreign enemies. None of her relations with other European powers were particularly good due to the Tsar being perceived first as a glutton who wanted the lion's share of the Chinese "cake", and then a brutal despot better suited for the days of Ivan the Terrible. Thus when a conflict in the Balkans led to direct engagement between Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and then German armies, the French and British made no action, preferring to see who would prevail and then act accordingly.
This conflict, the War of 1911, as it came to be known, was preceded by a massive modernization of the Russian Army. Tsarist generals had seen the effect of heavy artillery and machine guns, and paid special attention on their deployment. Unfortunately, corruption was rampant and coordination between commanders was hopelessly sabotaged by petty disagreements and ulterior motives. The Russian officer corps in general was affected by elitism and utter disregard for subordinates. Young conscripts were routinely beaten, starved, or otherwise maltreated as their superiors sold off supplies and rations meant for them to such ends as furnishing their headquarters, consuming fine wines, or enjoying the company of expensive prostitutes. In hindsight, it thus comes as no surprise that the vast Russian Army, which looked so mighty on paper, suffered such embarrassing defeats at the hands of a much smaller and, in some respects doctrinally and technologically inferior Austro-German force.
The War of 1911 was fought for three years, during which the Russians were continuously pushed back, from Poland and Serbia, then Byelorussia and Ukraine, where the front lines stabilized. Despite many isolated instances of tactical brilliance and bravery, the Russian Army was no match for the well-organized and disciplined Germans and their allies, who took advantage of their adversaries' incompetence. In addition, poor conditions and a pervasive feeling of hopelessness prompted whole units to kill their officers and either desert or surrender outright. In 1913 the Baltic peoples revolted and threw their lot in with the Germans, and an Ottoman invasion into the Caucasus led to uprisings by the myriad southern ethnicities. Aghast, the Tsar ordered hasty reorganizations of the military staff and for the Okhrana to ensure the punishment of "treasonous officers", actions which in practice further paralyzed the war effort.
Even the Franco-Russian alliance agreement of 1914 could not salvage the war. With little actual experience in fighting a large-scale modern war, the naive French offensives against the Saar and Ruhrgebiet were easily repulsed. After this failure, the Tsar was detained by his cabinet and coaxed into entering negotiations. In July 1914 representatives of all sides (except the French, who were still trying to rectify the situation at the front) met at and signed the Treaty of Riga, which stripped the Russian Empire of Ukraine, Poland, Byelorussia, the Baltic states, and the Transcaucasia region. It also forbade the alliance of Russia with any European nation and required the creation of a parliamentary system in which the Tsar was to be reduced to a figurehead. Increased German and Austro-Hungarian access to Chinese markets via the Trans-Siberian railroad was also granted.
Virtually all Russia was in uproar over the treaty. Patriots considered it treasonous and socialists saw it simply as the ruling class selling out the nation to save their own skins. The reforms promised by the terms also failed to materialize in any meaningful sense. The only difference, many commented, was that the corrupt officialdom no longer had to use the tsar as a puppet to run their unscrupulous activity. A new wave of dissent, like the one seen after the Russo-Japanese war, now swept across Russia. But unlike the last time, the government's ability to simply suppress undesirable elements was now very limited. Returning men, officers, and even agents of the Okhrana found common cause with the message of those they once persecuted.
The Soviet Revolution
By 1916, the so-called "constitutional government" had proven inept at actually implementing the reforms it had promised, and was in fact passing policies that went counter to those stated goals. An industrial scandal broke out in Moscow and was protested by thousands of workers, who were soon joined by ordinary folk. When troops were sent to crush the demonstration, the soldiers actually turned to the side of the demonstrators in a famous display of solidarity. The Moscow Soviet was formed and soon Tsarist authorities were driven from the metropolis. Following the Muscovite example, similar "Soviets" sprang up all across urban Russia. The Soviets took over the "constitutional government" and began issuing orders to the military. A large contingent sided with the Reds, as the Soviets were known, while officers and personnel still loyal to the old government scattered, mostly eastwards to Siberia and China. Some even famously fled to German-held territories such as Ukraine, where the loyalist government-in-exile was formed. The Tsar himself was apprehended, put on trial, and put under house arrest.
The Soviet government spent the next few years consolidating its power and implementing the reforms demanded by the people. A very liberal system was designed to protect workers' rights and improve their conditions. Salient industries were nationalized and entrepreneurial activity closely examined. Separation of church and state was established and civil and military conscription implemented to strengthen the country, which in 1919 was declared the Union of Soviet Sovereign Republics. The voting population of each subdivision would elect representatives to a local Soviet, which would in turn recommend members for the Supreme Soviet in Moscow. Rule of law was in theory ensured by an independent judiciary while the legislative and executive roles were combined into the authority of the Supreme Soviet. Officially, the USSR was not intended to have an individual head of state or government.
The effects of the Revolution could be felt abroad. In France, which was smarting from its defeat by the Germans, a similar attempt to set up a "second Parisian Commune" was crushed after a few days. Workers' demonstrations and strikes also occurred in Great Britain, Germany, and America, and people in Ukraine, Belarus, and the Slavic regions of the Austro-Hungarian empire rose up in a period of short-lived but highly-visible revolts. Soviet-aided partisan activity in some of these regions would continue for over a decade until after the "War of Slavic Liberation".
But perhaps the most startling event would be what happened in the Orient, in the Empire of Japan.
Workers and Peasants - The Rise of the Ronoto
Like Russia, Japanese society had been deeply impacted by the trauma of the war in Korea and Manchuria. Increasingly paranoid, the Japanese government deigned to allow the Choshu military clique to retain hegemony over the Imperial Army. In line with the political decision to raise and maintain strong modern army, conscription was continued even past the war; unfortunately, young soldiers had to train and serve under brutal conditions. Those who had finished their service often had to return to a life of poverty, be it the toils of a farm or a factory. Young officers not from the Choshu clique saw little opportunity to rise in the ranks, regardless their merit. They saw the Choshu hegemony as a reflection of society itself: an inefficient, self-destructive system that would bring the country down with it. The hope
As economic and political conditions became worse and worse for the common man, especially the peasants and soldiers, who were the most disenfranchised, various intellectuals and officers took note of this and their theories started becoming more radical in nature as many of them saw hope in the rural and urban poor. Many new soldiers and officers, patriotic and perceiving the capitalist system as the source of their ills, were endeared to the radical left.
In the 1910s, two main trends in Japanese leftist thought emerged: the so-called Urban and Rural blocs. The Urban bloc was more intellectually-driven and seen as more faithful to the original intent of the Western writings they studied, while the Rural bloc was more concerned with radical action and a more "organic" progression, by which it was expected that a revolution could happen any day.
By 1915, there were two significant leftist parties in existence: The Social Reform Party, founded in 1909, was associated with the Urbanists and the agrarian Workers' and Peasants' Party (Ronoto, founded 1915). While the SRP was more successful in urban movements and mobilizing labor forces, the Ronoto found a sort of crass support in the ranks of farmers and soldiers, especially soldiers. By 1920 inroads had been made among factory workers as well, and various scholars were commenting on the future of Japan as being driven by radical revolution.
The En'an Reorganization
In early 1922, the Taisho emperor and the heir to the throne, Hirohito, were assassinated by Korean anarchists. This led to great distrust of radicalism by politicians and pronounced anti-Korean sentiment in society at large. Fearful of a mass movement like in Russia, however, the Japanese government opts out of a harsh crackdown, instead targeting a few prominent leftist figures and dealing with them in a low-key manner. Ironically, this has little effect on the radical portions of the leftist movement and strengthens their resolve to fight the "elements of reaction".
The "elements of reaction" were not as united as the leftist radicals would have their subscribers believe. Many moderate and even conservative politicians and civil servants were against or at least had reservations against the two costly and inconclusive wars that had been fought against Russia. Furthermore, these indecisive wars, coupled with the increased hardship they levied upon the people, worried many patriots, especially soldiers who had fought long and hard only to come home and find their families in destitution. In this way, a radical core materialized from the emerging group of unsatisfied individuals of difficult background. The representation of their concerns, the Ronoto, was banned immediately but continued underground, advocating "unlimited revolution" and "accelerated development of the Japanese nation."
The Japanese leadership eventually decided, if very hesitantly, that, after failing to sufficiently satisfy the people for two decades, they would have to make more sweeping reforms to keep the radicals from gaining more influence and thereby threatening civil chaos or even war, as had been the case in Russia. High-level political debates and meetings resulted in the Enan Reorganization. Opposition* parties were permitted, new laws were passed to protect workers and women, and suffrage requirements were relaxed.
The characters making up the new era name "Enan"（延安）mean "lasting peace", reflecting the desire for Japan to remain united and not descend like China or Russia into civil war.
*= Notably, the Ronoto was not included in the list of permitted parties.
Of course, not all in Japan were satisfied with the reforms. Hardliners and those influenced by business obligations did their best to oppose the reform's implementation. The government lost control over some sections of the police and armed forces controlled by rightist officers. This angered the proletarian peoples. They responded with increased strikes and riots.
The new Emperor, Chichibu, was only twenty when he was crowned. He had been allowed to continue his studies until graduation in October 1922 from the Central Military Preparatory School. He had been sympathetic to the demands of the people and understood something of the anguish felt by returning soldiers. In September 1923 the Great Kanto Earthquake hit Japan, killing 150,000 people. In response to banditry and looting on the part of corrupt police and their criminal affiliates, the young Emperor took military initiative and ordered those who hindered the implementation of the En'an Reorganization to be actively punished.
Opinions on the Ronoto, known as the eminent radical organization, were quite polarized. More affluent people and even fellow socialists regarded it as a gang of soldiers-turned-bandits and uppity, uncultured proletarians. However, they provided a unique sort of security to the earthquake survivors and protected them from the corrupt police and looters. This was made known throughout Japan and improved their image greatly. The En'an Emperor officially removed them from the list of banned organizations and they were able to participate in elections. This gesture of goodwill strengthened the more moderate faction in the party.
The rehabilitation of the Ronoto was strongly opposed by conservative segments of society. As the 1924 elections were underway, the Ronoto's moderate candidate was murdered by right-wing thugs. Simultaneously, a reactionary general blockaded the residence of the En'an Emperor and prevented him from leaving, with the excuse that he be in danger as well.
The En'an Revolution
The Election Incident prompted an uproar and a series of riots. After some time, units of the army sympathetic to the Ronoto attacked first the general who had imprisoned the Emperor and then other enemies. For a couple weeks, chaos reigned as leftist troops marched through cities and countryside killing and arresting "reactionaries" and gathering any support they could find, mostly from the working poor. In Korea, a spontaneous and badly-organized revolt was crushed. Tokyo was controlled by leftist forces and became the location of the Ronoto's headquarters.
Occupying Tokyo and various government halls, the Ronoto, now clearly led by uncompromising radicals, declared the planned elections to be null and void and hastily held their own "people's election", and won 90% of the vote. They released the En'an Emperor on the condition that he was to give up his power and claim to divinity, and recognize the "people's election". The 22-year old Tenno could do nothing but comply with these demands. He would continue to reign for another sixty years until his death in 1984.
While the Soviet Revolution received some support from the West, due to Germany's new image as a hegemony threatening dominion over the European continent, the radical movement in Japan was seen as an abomination. Granted, the En'an socialists were also far more conscious and overt about the stated aims and anti-Western flavor of their ideology. Foreigners were largely excluded from the country, unless they were Russian or Chinese. The Anglo-Japanese alliance was terminated at the request of both parties. Japanese businessmen deemed public enemies fled the country and told sensational tales of revolutionary brutality. It seemed that a new sakoku or "closed nation" period was in the works. However, relations with Russia and the Federal Chinese, particularly with the latter, were warm. Though the USSR kept Yuan Shikai's, then Yuan Kewen's NROC as something of a client state, the Japanese government deigned to keep quiet about this annoyance. This was because the Japanese economy was now largely dependent on the good graces of the Soviet and Russian authorities. Aside from Siberian raw materials that fed Japanese production, large numbers of Japanese, barred from Manchuria, settled in the Russian Far East. They would come to form a multi-million diaspora.
