MarshalBraginsky
Banned
Chapter Seven: Frustrations and Fascists
1921. Novoarkhangelsk. The formation of the Republic of Alaska under Aleksander Kerensky as President and Andrei Shkuro as Prime Minister began in a soft footing, though the national economy was still shattered as a result of the War of National Survival. What surprised the Alaskan government is that they had not only liberated their own country, but expanded its borders at the expense of both Canada and the United Socialist States of America. Kerensky knew too well that both of those countries would try to regain their lost territories, so he could use the occupied territories as a bargaining chip.
In Russia-Mongolia, Bogd Khan had died of old age and Navaanneren soon took over the regency while Felix Yusupov became de jure ruler. Though a power struggle was in the works, it soon ended with the agreement between the Yusupov family and Navaanneren to unite the two families through the marriage of Irina Yusupova and Temujin Borjigin, which finally occured in 1936. As for the economy of the gigantic Eurasian state, Ungern von Sternberg declared his intention to reform and modernize the Russo-Mongolian military through combining ancient Mongolian military tactics and modern military technology.
Our new Mosin-Nagant rifles are the new composite bows that could fire faster than the arrows themselves, though we don't need to keep on grabbing new arrows to fire. The tachanka mobile machine gun should be the new Keshiks, for they can easily be mass produced, as supposed to allowing our young men to mount on horses and ride to their deaths. The tank, which was invented in the Great War to break out of the trenches, should be used as a mechanical horse and a chariot in one vehicle. Not only should our great civilization be the most sophisticated one, but also the most mechanized and most flexible, for our first Great Khan must be pleased with the legacy he has carved in stone.
Von Sternberg's industrialization policies went hand in hand with political and cultural reformation as the number of Russian Buddhists increased by 28%. Though Buddhism remained the most popular religion in the Russo-Mongolian Empire, Islam was becoming the fastest growing religion in the empire, with Sunni Islam as the dominant Muslim faith. To appease both Muslims and Buddhists, Von Sternberg and Navaanneren standardized the banking system on the Muslim banking system, which forbade interest rates, and a collection of management fees in place. Workplace safety was also emphasized, for the death of a worker in any industry would be interpreted by the Buddhist monks as a sign of bad karma. Oil was discovered in the Azeri region, allowing Von Sternberg to prioritize the oil industry's growth and to order oil prospectors to look for potential sources elsewhere. Though industrialization of major cities became the vocal point of the Russo-Mongolian Empire's modernization policies, it was not without problems. For one thing, the invention of the airplane and its uses in the Great War were opposed by the traditional minded Navaanneren, but Felix Yusupov backed von Sternberg's argument that their adversaries would use the airplane to attack targets on the ground from the air.
Industrialization of Russia-Mongolia also went along with helping its allies with modernization of the economy, ranging from helping the Ottoman Empire set up its own oil industry in the Middle East, to constructing oil refineries on Japanese territories in the South Pacific. While the unity between the three Vladivostok Pact members were maintained, inside the Japanese government distrusted Russia-Mongolia because of their position in Manchuria and the thorny issue of the Mongolians living in China under the Khanate of Mengjiang. Moreover, Japan resented and regretted supporting the Ottoman Empire's expansion into SE Asia, too close to Japanese New Guinea. Emperor Taisho contemplated switching their alliance to the Hamburg Pact and to contain Russia-Mongolia from the East, but radical Japanese factions such as the Tohokai and the Black Dragon Clique advocated replacing all of the monarchs of Asia with one-party rule with a dictator to rule. Ikki Kita also advocated limiting expansion in China and to redirect their energies to improving the Japanese economy so they can weather any economical recession that would come their way. Kita's works were gaining popularity in the rest of Asia except for China, whose leaders were rabidly anti-Japanese due to their enroachment of Chinese territory. Nevertheless, Statism or the Asiatic equivalent, Oriental Statism was on the rise in Asia primarily to counter the communist threat emitting from the United States. Here are the rundown on these anti-communist movements in Asia that became the focal point of the pseudo-fascist and rabidly radical movements:
1) Chinese Blue Shirts Society:
A fascist movement which began in China during the unstable period of the American Socialist Revolution, which was led by Chiang Kai Shek. There was a rival movement called the Jasmine Dragon Society led by Chiang's rival, Wang Jing Wei. The main differences between Chiang's movement and that of Wang Jing Wei's was that the Blue Shirts Society was tailored to be led by members of the Whampoa Military Academy. The Jasmine Dragon Society on the other hand, became more interested in salvaging what was left of China's territorial integrity in the face of Japanese and Russo-Mongolian enroachment. In 1928, Wang was nearly assassinated by a KMT agent while staying in Ottoman Singapore. His near encounter with death would prod the Jasmine Dragon Society leader to realign his movement with that of the Hamburg Pact, promising Germany some support and bases in return for much needed modernization. It is also worth noting that the JDS was originally a leftist movement but suffered a split among the pro-Wang 'social revolutionaries' and the radical Marxist faction led by Wang's former protege named Mao Tse Tung.
2) Iranian National Revivalist League:
Although Persia emerged as one of the victors in the Great War, it was not without problems. Owing its origins to the Persian Revolution of 1921, radical elements of the Persian Cossack Brigade staged a coup d'etat against the Qajari Shah and ushered in the new ruler of Persia, Reza Khan Pahlavi. Inspired by the Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire and the Meiji Restoration, Reza Pahlavi sought advisors from the Japanese Empire in terms of modernization and political reformation. Under his leadership, far-right organization sprang up throughout Persia in response to the establishment of the socialist state in America. Thanks to Persia's association as a member of the Vladivostok Pact, Persia was guaranteed safety and aid from her allies. With the Oil Discovery Period going on in Russia-Mongolia and the Ottoman Empire, Persian technicians were trained in Baku on working in the oil industry by Ottoman workers. On the military arena, the Japanese Military Attache in Persia supervised the training of the new Persian Army and Navy while a new Persian High Command was being created from among the Persian officer cadets who went to the Imperial Military Academy in Tokyo. Most of these Persian cadets had been influenced by ultranationalist thinking, and with Japanese encouragement, the Iranian National Revivalist League was founded. Among the civilian students who were sent to Japanese universities, Davud Monshizadeh also founded the VEVAK, or the Persian Ministry of Intelligence that was supposed to police the Persian state through his training with the Japanese Kempeitai.
The main purpose of the Iranian National Revivalist League was to bring all classes of Persian society into one, single unit that would ensure the protection of the new Iranian nation. In 1925, Reza Shah changed the country's name to Iran, meaning the Land of the Aryans. Coincidentally, the new Iranian Shahdom was recognized by the German Empire on the same day it changed its name. Even more surprisingly, Iran was becoming the center of an archeological project. A group of German archeologists traveled to Iran/Persia as part of an effort to write a complete history of Iran from the Achaemenid period into the modern era, led by a charismatic intellectual named Alfred Rosenberg. Rosenberg's mission in Iran was to find and connect the Achaemenid and Parthian Empires' legacies and to bring his report back to another intellectual named Heinrich Himmler. Curiously, Anton Drexler went to Iran to witness the Iranian National Revivalist League's first rally.
3) Tohokai:
A Japanese fascist party which was officially founded in 1936, although the Black Dragon Society dominated Japanese far-right movements way before that. It subsequently split into two factions, the Daitohokai led by Ikki Kita and the Sakurakai led by Lieutenant Hashimoto. The writings of Kita soon influenced other statist movements, all of which would contribute to the formation of a single, Pan-Eurasian ultranationalist movement that will embrace Nationalism, Socialism, Authoritarianism, and Statism. Both the Daitohokai and the Sakurakai contributed to the formation of the Eurasian National Solidarists, which would be explained briefly.
4) Eurasian National Solidarists:
An organization founded by Russian and Mongolian nationalists with Japanese support. It was founded in 1933, with Marshals Choibalsan and Tukhachevsky as the co-founders, but the real ruler in power was in fact Ungern von Sternberg. Von Sternberg's guidance of the movement was appreciated and applauded by the majority of the population, mainly because of his guidance in the industrialization policies of the 1920s. Although the ENS could have taken the reactionary character, it was radical in nature. For instance, not only do the ENS members wished to replicate the Japanese style of government, but to incorporate militarist and statist elements in it.
It is worth noting that only a few fascist movements were ever successful in Europe, though the Rhomanoi Empire was facing a crisis as Greek separatists were eager to re-establish the Byzantine Empire, without any ties to Catholicism whatsover and reversing Bismarck's policy towards Russia. The Greeks knew too well that if the Alaskans were ever to liberate Old Russia from the Buddhists, they need a European supporter in Constantinople. The Italians did everything to crack down on the Greek separatists, labeling them as 'unrepentant schmismatics' and 'agents of Novoarkhangelsk.
As mentioned earlier, Japan couldn't trust the rest of the Vladivostok Pact members because of their plans for expansion towards their territories. The Sakurakai was actually pro-Hamburg Pact while the Daitohokai was pro-Bourbon Pact. Neither party was able to win the votes in the Diet, though most of the Japanese people feared the ascension of either one of the two parties. What's more, a few Japanese delegates were seen talking to British and German delegates in Tokyo, negotiating for the possible defection of Japan from the Vladivostok Pact to the Hamburg Pact. China on the other hand, was thinking of joining the Bourbon Pact to escape both Japanese and Russo-Mongolian enroachment.
Most of the world had not anticipated the collapse of the entire economy on December 25th, 1926 as a result of reckless spending and laissez-faire policies that were in place on most of the world's economies. Luckily, the United Socialist States was immune from the world economy as they mostly relied on human capital for economical recovery. Unfortunately, Debs had died of heart failure in October of 1926, setting off a series of power struggles between Al Capone and Robert LaFolette Jr. LaFolette Jr's faction favored exporting revolutions to other countries around the New World and turning the Americas into a gigantic, socialist New Frontier while Capone's faction favored building a socialist state with American characteristics. In the end, Capone emerged as the victor of the power struggle and succeeded Debs. Debs however, had favored an unknown member as his successor, named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt's proposed New Deal would have helped weather the depression if it wasn't for his defection to Canada. Capone then began to create the National Security Bureau to eliminate dissidents, using some of his Mafia syndicates as secret police agents. Capone's economical plan, which was loosely based on von Sternberg's industrialization policies was enacted, with a Four Year Plan in its place. However, Capone had to be careful to maintain his reputation as a benevolent dictator who would cultivate the socialist botanical garden which will provide a bright future for mankind.
Europe During the Recession:
The Hamburg Pact emerged as the main victors of the war, the other being the Vladivostok Pact. With victories however, came problems at home. Although the Anglo-German political domination seemed to be unbeatable, there were significant fractures among the colonial subjects of the British Empire, who viewed the Teutonic German Empire as a serious rival, and indeed Bismarck became synonymous with anti-German sentiment. In Poland-Hungary however, only the Poles were anything but friendly to the Germans. There were divisions among the Poles and Hungarians over what went wrong in the Great War, particularly with the Rhomanoi Empire's relationship with them. Pilsudski blamed Admiral Horthy and the Hungarian king for needlessly appeasing the Italians over the Mediterrenean Sea and its colonies. (Of course, while the Italians wanted to fight the Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth over Croatia, the Greeks wished to crush the Uniate movement and bring Old Russia back into the European family. All of which seemed to be a bit appealing at first, until the Papacy reminded the Greeks of the Russian rejection of Orthodox Christianity. Furious at the Papacy and the Germans in particular, Prime Minister Venizelos and his eventual successor Metaxas had organized the Greek National Liberation Movement, aiming at bringing back Byzantine influence into the empire and to apologize to the Russians for not consulting them on Christian unification.
In 1929, the Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth collapsed without a whimper. Subject peoples of the Commonwealth declared themselves independent from the dominant Polish ruling elite. The Uniate Ukrainians and Belorussians formed a new union with Poland called Zapadoslavia, or the Land of the West Slavs in response to Hungary, Wallachia, Serbo-Bulgaria and Croatia's admission into the Rhomanoi Empire, which in itself was becoming more Byzantine than Latin in outlook. Benito Mussolini couldn't be more happier. He not only helped engineer the destruction of the hated Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth, but he even allowed the Hungarians to enter his union. Meanwhile, the United Baltic Duchy under Lithuania's control managed to remain independent by playing off the German Empire and the Kingdom of Sweden against each other.
Asia During the Depression:
By 1931, the Eurasian National Solidarists had gained popularity in Russia-Mongolia. The Ottoman Empire was also embracing the Eurasian ideology, as well as the Persians, and the Japanese. A Pan-Eurasian ideology was in the works, and von Sternberg called for a meeting of influential leaders of the entire Vladivostok Pact. Keep in mind, this happened five years before the Tohokai split apart into the pro-Bourbon Daitohokai and the pro-Hamburg Sakurakai. Ikki KIta was still interested with maintaining Japan's alliance with the two Eurasian giants of Russia-Mongolia and the Ottoman Empire.
To help ease up on the Japanese economy, Emperor Showa/Hirohito authorized a limited expansion of the Japanese Empire into Manchuria, where they hoped to carve out a rump Qing state that could serve as the forward base for Japan's eventual domination of China. Thus in 1932, the Kwangtung Army was established in Japanese occupied Korea and swiftly moved into Manchuria, amidst a cheering number of Japanese civilians and curious Manchua but they had also encountered a hostile Chinese crowd. The international community condemned Japan for her actions, though it fell short of calling for sanctions against the Land of the Rising Sun. There was another reason why the international community hesitated to condemn Japan. They needed her support in their containment of both Russia-Mongolia and Ottoman Southeast Asia.
Things got out of hand however, when the new Empire of Manchukuo was established in April of 1933. Manchukuo was basically a Japanese puppet state, but it was also turning into a colony, primarily designed to attract Japanese settlers. This time, the Bourbon Pact decisively called for an international committee to investigate and come up with a solution to counter Japanese expansion in Asia. France in particular, was eager to regain French Indochina back from Japan, which was lost in the Great War. The minor members of the Bourbon Pact however, were hesitant in admitting China as a new member.
Road to War, Once More:
Though the oil prices were quite stable, it wasn't quite useful yet. Not yet anyways, until war clouds were beginning to gather around Europe. Surprisingly, it would occur in Eastern Europe and the instigator would be the Polish-dominated Zapadoslav kingdom. With the official establishment of Zapadoslavia in 1929, Marshal Pilsudski and General Skoropadsky had to rule the fragile state together until in May of 1932 when it transitioned its government to a Federal Republic. By this time, Pilsudski had retired from politics due to his old age, allowing Skoropadsky to have a free reign. Under Skoropadsky's reign, the Uniate Christian faith had become so popular with the Ukrainians and Belarusians that any attempt by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in communion with the Patriarch of Novoarkhangelsk in Alaska) to separate from the Uniate Church would receive harsh criticism. It also resulted in the emigration of Ukrainian Old Orthodox believers to Alaska and Canada, where they formed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Outside Ukraine in Ottawa.
Skoropadsky continued with Pilsudski's plan to utterly destroy Russia once and for all, and indeed, he proposed a new Pact that would replace the redundant Bourbon Pact, called the Lvov Pact, with Zapadoslavia, the Japanese Empire, Belgium, Spain and Portugal as the new members. The interesting fact about the proposed Lvov Pact was that Skoropadsky wanted to include France in it, thereby making the Lvov/Lviv Pact the successor to the Bourbon Pact, but because of France's desire to regain Indochina from Japan, the French government seriously thought about a possible entry into the Vladivostok Pact. The Hamburg Pact on the other hand, reacted in shock when Skoropadsky declared in his speech in Kiev that as long as the Anglo-German domination remain untouched, there will be more incentives for oppressed peoples to rise up. Luckily, all of the Pacts had excluded Communist USSA from any of its alliances, meaning that the Americans have a free hand to expand. In the end, Japan would eventually join the Hamburg Pact in 1937 as a result of the Sakurakai's rise to power, forcing France to join the Lviv Pact.
The Vladivostok Pact didn't certainly anticipate the loss of Japan as their member, and China had joined the Lviv Pact by 1937. Although Japan and China went to war with each other by March 29th, 1937 over a clash at the Chinese-Manchukuoan border, the Japanese government had also targeted the Russo-Mongolian territories as early as 1935. A border skirmish on the Amur River broke out in April of 1937, but the Russo-Mongolians emerged victorious, thanks to Von Sternberg's introduction of the tank in the Russo-Mongolian military arsenal. However, the real war was only a few years away from breaking out, and all it needed was a spark. The spark, as it turned out, was a border clash in the Suwalki triangle, when a Zapadoslav recon squad was ambushed by German border guards. The firefight also spread into the Baltic Duchy, forcing the government in Vilnius to deploy their troops.
1921. Novoarkhangelsk. The formation of the Republic of Alaska under Aleksander Kerensky as President and Andrei Shkuro as Prime Minister began in a soft footing, though the national economy was still shattered as a result of the War of National Survival. What surprised the Alaskan government is that they had not only liberated their own country, but expanded its borders at the expense of both Canada and the United Socialist States of America. Kerensky knew too well that both of those countries would try to regain their lost territories, so he could use the occupied territories as a bargaining chip.
In Russia-Mongolia, Bogd Khan had died of old age and Navaanneren soon took over the regency while Felix Yusupov became de jure ruler. Though a power struggle was in the works, it soon ended with the agreement between the Yusupov family and Navaanneren to unite the two families through the marriage of Irina Yusupova and Temujin Borjigin, which finally occured in 1936. As for the economy of the gigantic Eurasian state, Ungern von Sternberg declared his intention to reform and modernize the Russo-Mongolian military through combining ancient Mongolian military tactics and modern military technology.
Our new Mosin-Nagant rifles are the new composite bows that could fire faster than the arrows themselves, though we don't need to keep on grabbing new arrows to fire. The tachanka mobile machine gun should be the new Keshiks, for they can easily be mass produced, as supposed to allowing our young men to mount on horses and ride to their deaths. The tank, which was invented in the Great War to break out of the trenches, should be used as a mechanical horse and a chariot in one vehicle. Not only should our great civilization be the most sophisticated one, but also the most mechanized and most flexible, for our first Great Khan must be pleased with the legacy he has carved in stone.
Von Sternberg's industrialization policies went hand in hand with political and cultural reformation as the number of Russian Buddhists increased by 28%. Though Buddhism remained the most popular religion in the Russo-Mongolian Empire, Islam was becoming the fastest growing religion in the empire, with Sunni Islam as the dominant Muslim faith. To appease both Muslims and Buddhists, Von Sternberg and Navaanneren standardized the banking system on the Muslim banking system, which forbade interest rates, and a collection of management fees in place. Workplace safety was also emphasized, for the death of a worker in any industry would be interpreted by the Buddhist monks as a sign of bad karma. Oil was discovered in the Azeri region, allowing Von Sternberg to prioritize the oil industry's growth and to order oil prospectors to look for potential sources elsewhere. Though industrialization of major cities became the vocal point of the Russo-Mongolian Empire's modernization policies, it was not without problems. For one thing, the invention of the airplane and its uses in the Great War were opposed by the traditional minded Navaanneren, but Felix Yusupov backed von Sternberg's argument that their adversaries would use the airplane to attack targets on the ground from the air.
Industrialization of Russia-Mongolia also went along with helping its allies with modernization of the economy, ranging from helping the Ottoman Empire set up its own oil industry in the Middle East, to constructing oil refineries on Japanese territories in the South Pacific. While the unity between the three Vladivostok Pact members were maintained, inside the Japanese government distrusted Russia-Mongolia because of their position in Manchuria and the thorny issue of the Mongolians living in China under the Khanate of Mengjiang. Moreover, Japan resented and regretted supporting the Ottoman Empire's expansion into SE Asia, too close to Japanese New Guinea. Emperor Taisho contemplated switching their alliance to the Hamburg Pact and to contain Russia-Mongolia from the East, but radical Japanese factions such as the Tohokai and the Black Dragon Clique advocated replacing all of the monarchs of Asia with one-party rule with a dictator to rule. Ikki Kita also advocated limiting expansion in China and to redirect their energies to improving the Japanese economy so they can weather any economical recession that would come their way. Kita's works were gaining popularity in the rest of Asia except for China, whose leaders were rabidly anti-Japanese due to their enroachment of Chinese territory. Nevertheless, Statism or the Asiatic equivalent, Oriental Statism was on the rise in Asia primarily to counter the communist threat emitting from the United States. Here are the rundown on these anti-communist movements in Asia that became the focal point of the pseudo-fascist and rabidly radical movements:
1) Chinese Blue Shirts Society:
A fascist movement which began in China during the unstable period of the American Socialist Revolution, which was led by Chiang Kai Shek. There was a rival movement called the Jasmine Dragon Society led by Chiang's rival, Wang Jing Wei. The main differences between Chiang's movement and that of Wang Jing Wei's was that the Blue Shirts Society was tailored to be led by members of the Whampoa Military Academy. The Jasmine Dragon Society on the other hand, became more interested in salvaging what was left of China's territorial integrity in the face of Japanese and Russo-Mongolian enroachment. In 1928, Wang was nearly assassinated by a KMT agent while staying in Ottoman Singapore. His near encounter with death would prod the Jasmine Dragon Society leader to realign his movement with that of the Hamburg Pact, promising Germany some support and bases in return for much needed modernization. It is also worth noting that the JDS was originally a leftist movement but suffered a split among the pro-Wang 'social revolutionaries' and the radical Marxist faction led by Wang's former protege named Mao Tse Tung.
2) Iranian National Revivalist League:
Although Persia emerged as one of the victors in the Great War, it was not without problems. Owing its origins to the Persian Revolution of 1921, radical elements of the Persian Cossack Brigade staged a coup d'etat against the Qajari Shah and ushered in the new ruler of Persia, Reza Khan Pahlavi. Inspired by the Young Turk Revolution in the Ottoman Empire and the Meiji Restoration, Reza Pahlavi sought advisors from the Japanese Empire in terms of modernization and political reformation. Under his leadership, far-right organization sprang up throughout Persia in response to the establishment of the socialist state in America. Thanks to Persia's association as a member of the Vladivostok Pact, Persia was guaranteed safety and aid from her allies. With the Oil Discovery Period going on in Russia-Mongolia and the Ottoman Empire, Persian technicians were trained in Baku on working in the oil industry by Ottoman workers. On the military arena, the Japanese Military Attache in Persia supervised the training of the new Persian Army and Navy while a new Persian High Command was being created from among the Persian officer cadets who went to the Imperial Military Academy in Tokyo. Most of these Persian cadets had been influenced by ultranationalist thinking, and with Japanese encouragement, the Iranian National Revivalist League was founded. Among the civilian students who were sent to Japanese universities, Davud Monshizadeh also founded the VEVAK, or the Persian Ministry of Intelligence that was supposed to police the Persian state through his training with the Japanese Kempeitai.
The main purpose of the Iranian National Revivalist League was to bring all classes of Persian society into one, single unit that would ensure the protection of the new Iranian nation. In 1925, Reza Shah changed the country's name to Iran, meaning the Land of the Aryans. Coincidentally, the new Iranian Shahdom was recognized by the German Empire on the same day it changed its name. Even more surprisingly, Iran was becoming the center of an archeological project. A group of German archeologists traveled to Iran/Persia as part of an effort to write a complete history of Iran from the Achaemenid period into the modern era, led by a charismatic intellectual named Alfred Rosenberg. Rosenberg's mission in Iran was to find and connect the Achaemenid and Parthian Empires' legacies and to bring his report back to another intellectual named Heinrich Himmler. Curiously, Anton Drexler went to Iran to witness the Iranian National Revivalist League's first rally.
3) Tohokai:
A Japanese fascist party which was officially founded in 1936, although the Black Dragon Society dominated Japanese far-right movements way before that. It subsequently split into two factions, the Daitohokai led by Ikki Kita and the Sakurakai led by Lieutenant Hashimoto. The writings of Kita soon influenced other statist movements, all of which would contribute to the formation of a single, Pan-Eurasian ultranationalist movement that will embrace Nationalism, Socialism, Authoritarianism, and Statism. Both the Daitohokai and the Sakurakai contributed to the formation of the Eurasian National Solidarists, which would be explained briefly.
4) Eurasian National Solidarists:
An organization founded by Russian and Mongolian nationalists with Japanese support. It was founded in 1933, with Marshals Choibalsan and Tukhachevsky as the co-founders, but the real ruler in power was in fact Ungern von Sternberg. Von Sternberg's guidance of the movement was appreciated and applauded by the majority of the population, mainly because of his guidance in the industrialization policies of the 1920s. Although the ENS could have taken the reactionary character, it was radical in nature. For instance, not only do the ENS members wished to replicate the Japanese style of government, but to incorporate militarist and statist elements in it.
It is worth noting that only a few fascist movements were ever successful in Europe, though the Rhomanoi Empire was facing a crisis as Greek separatists were eager to re-establish the Byzantine Empire, without any ties to Catholicism whatsover and reversing Bismarck's policy towards Russia. The Greeks knew too well that if the Alaskans were ever to liberate Old Russia from the Buddhists, they need a European supporter in Constantinople. The Italians did everything to crack down on the Greek separatists, labeling them as 'unrepentant schmismatics' and 'agents of Novoarkhangelsk.
As mentioned earlier, Japan couldn't trust the rest of the Vladivostok Pact members because of their plans for expansion towards their territories. The Sakurakai was actually pro-Hamburg Pact while the Daitohokai was pro-Bourbon Pact. Neither party was able to win the votes in the Diet, though most of the Japanese people feared the ascension of either one of the two parties. What's more, a few Japanese delegates were seen talking to British and German delegates in Tokyo, negotiating for the possible defection of Japan from the Vladivostok Pact to the Hamburg Pact. China on the other hand, was thinking of joining the Bourbon Pact to escape both Japanese and Russo-Mongolian enroachment.
Most of the world had not anticipated the collapse of the entire economy on December 25th, 1926 as a result of reckless spending and laissez-faire policies that were in place on most of the world's economies. Luckily, the United Socialist States was immune from the world economy as they mostly relied on human capital for economical recovery. Unfortunately, Debs had died of heart failure in October of 1926, setting off a series of power struggles between Al Capone and Robert LaFolette Jr. LaFolette Jr's faction favored exporting revolutions to other countries around the New World and turning the Americas into a gigantic, socialist New Frontier while Capone's faction favored building a socialist state with American characteristics. In the end, Capone emerged as the victor of the power struggle and succeeded Debs. Debs however, had favored an unknown member as his successor, named Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Roosevelt's proposed New Deal would have helped weather the depression if it wasn't for his defection to Canada. Capone then began to create the National Security Bureau to eliminate dissidents, using some of his Mafia syndicates as secret police agents. Capone's economical plan, which was loosely based on von Sternberg's industrialization policies was enacted, with a Four Year Plan in its place. However, Capone had to be careful to maintain his reputation as a benevolent dictator who would cultivate the socialist botanical garden which will provide a bright future for mankind.
Europe During the Recession:
The Hamburg Pact emerged as the main victors of the war, the other being the Vladivostok Pact. With victories however, came problems at home. Although the Anglo-German political domination seemed to be unbeatable, there were significant fractures among the colonial subjects of the British Empire, who viewed the Teutonic German Empire as a serious rival, and indeed Bismarck became synonymous with anti-German sentiment. In Poland-Hungary however, only the Poles were anything but friendly to the Germans. There were divisions among the Poles and Hungarians over what went wrong in the Great War, particularly with the Rhomanoi Empire's relationship with them. Pilsudski blamed Admiral Horthy and the Hungarian king for needlessly appeasing the Italians over the Mediterrenean Sea and its colonies. (Of course, while the Italians wanted to fight the Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth over Croatia, the Greeks wished to crush the Uniate movement and bring Old Russia back into the European family. All of which seemed to be a bit appealing at first, until the Papacy reminded the Greeks of the Russian rejection of Orthodox Christianity. Furious at the Papacy and the Germans in particular, Prime Minister Venizelos and his eventual successor Metaxas had organized the Greek National Liberation Movement, aiming at bringing back Byzantine influence into the empire and to apologize to the Russians for not consulting them on Christian unification.
In 1929, the Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth collapsed without a whimper. Subject peoples of the Commonwealth declared themselves independent from the dominant Polish ruling elite. The Uniate Ukrainians and Belorussians formed a new union with Poland called Zapadoslavia, or the Land of the West Slavs in response to Hungary, Wallachia, Serbo-Bulgaria and Croatia's admission into the Rhomanoi Empire, which in itself was becoming more Byzantine than Latin in outlook. Benito Mussolini couldn't be more happier. He not only helped engineer the destruction of the hated Polish-Hungarian Commonwealth, but he even allowed the Hungarians to enter his union. Meanwhile, the United Baltic Duchy under Lithuania's control managed to remain independent by playing off the German Empire and the Kingdom of Sweden against each other.
Asia During the Depression:
By 1931, the Eurasian National Solidarists had gained popularity in Russia-Mongolia. The Ottoman Empire was also embracing the Eurasian ideology, as well as the Persians, and the Japanese. A Pan-Eurasian ideology was in the works, and von Sternberg called for a meeting of influential leaders of the entire Vladivostok Pact. Keep in mind, this happened five years before the Tohokai split apart into the pro-Bourbon Daitohokai and the pro-Hamburg Sakurakai. Ikki KIta was still interested with maintaining Japan's alliance with the two Eurasian giants of Russia-Mongolia and the Ottoman Empire.
To help ease up on the Japanese economy, Emperor Showa/Hirohito authorized a limited expansion of the Japanese Empire into Manchuria, where they hoped to carve out a rump Qing state that could serve as the forward base for Japan's eventual domination of China. Thus in 1932, the Kwangtung Army was established in Japanese occupied Korea and swiftly moved into Manchuria, amidst a cheering number of Japanese civilians and curious Manchua but they had also encountered a hostile Chinese crowd. The international community condemned Japan for her actions, though it fell short of calling for sanctions against the Land of the Rising Sun. There was another reason why the international community hesitated to condemn Japan. They needed her support in their containment of both Russia-Mongolia and Ottoman Southeast Asia.
Things got out of hand however, when the new Empire of Manchukuo was established in April of 1933. Manchukuo was basically a Japanese puppet state, but it was also turning into a colony, primarily designed to attract Japanese settlers. This time, the Bourbon Pact decisively called for an international committee to investigate and come up with a solution to counter Japanese expansion in Asia. France in particular, was eager to regain French Indochina back from Japan, which was lost in the Great War. The minor members of the Bourbon Pact however, were hesitant in admitting China as a new member.
Road to War, Once More:
Though the oil prices were quite stable, it wasn't quite useful yet. Not yet anyways, until war clouds were beginning to gather around Europe. Surprisingly, it would occur in Eastern Europe and the instigator would be the Polish-dominated Zapadoslav kingdom. With the official establishment of Zapadoslavia in 1929, Marshal Pilsudski and General Skoropadsky had to rule the fragile state together until in May of 1932 when it transitioned its government to a Federal Republic. By this time, Pilsudski had retired from politics due to his old age, allowing Skoropadsky to have a free reign. Under Skoropadsky's reign, the Uniate Christian faith had become so popular with the Ukrainians and Belarusians that any attempt by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (in communion with the Patriarch of Novoarkhangelsk in Alaska) to separate from the Uniate Church would receive harsh criticism. It also resulted in the emigration of Ukrainian Old Orthodox believers to Alaska and Canada, where they formed the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Outside Ukraine in Ottawa.
Skoropadsky continued with Pilsudski's plan to utterly destroy Russia once and for all, and indeed, he proposed a new Pact that would replace the redundant Bourbon Pact, called the Lvov Pact, with Zapadoslavia, the Japanese Empire, Belgium, Spain and Portugal as the new members. The interesting fact about the proposed Lvov Pact was that Skoropadsky wanted to include France in it, thereby making the Lvov/Lviv Pact the successor to the Bourbon Pact, but because of France's desire to regain Indochina from Japan, the French government seriously thought about a possible entry into the Vladivostok Pact. The Hamburg Pact on the other hand, reacted in shock when Skoropadsky declared in his speech in Kiev that as long as the Anglo-German domination remain untouched, there will be more incentives for oppressed peoples to rise up. Luckily, all of the Pacts had excluded Communist USSA from any of its alliances, meaning that the Americans have a free hand to expand. In the end, Japan would eventually join the Hamburg Pact in 1937 as a result of the Sakurakai's rise to power, forcing France to join the Lviv Pact.
The Vladivostok Pact didn't certainly anticipate the loss of Japan as their member, and China had joined the Lviv Pact by 1937. Although Japan and China went to war with each other by March 29th, 1937 over a clash at the Chinese-Manchukuoan border, the Japanese government had also targeted the Russo-Mongolian territories as early as 1935. A border skirmish on the Amur River broke out in April of 1937, but the Russo-Mongolians emerged victorious, thanks to Von Sternberg's introduction of the tank in the Russo-Mongolian military arsenal. However, the real war was only a few years away from breaking out, and all it needed was a spark. The spark, as it turned out, was a border clash in the Suwalki triangle, when a Zapadoslav recon squad was ambushed by German border guards. The firefight also spread into the Baltic Duchy, forcing the government in Vilnius to deploy their troops.
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