Well, who do you think is winning ? Wilson or Johnson ? Who are you rooting for ?
Bog, Vozhd, Rodina - The History of the All-Russian People’s State
- Thread starter Kaiser of Brazil
- Start date
I'm inclined to think Wilson, if only because
Fun fact is that I haven’t even diverged in much except his stroke and creating the FBI early. In fact I haven’t included some of his wartime acts or the War Industries Committee either. Yep, Wilson was just that Authoritarian on his second term.
Poles, Ukrainians, Belorussians are mostly safe. The PNOR sees them as the “Slavic little brothers” of Russia that must be protected, although with the supervision of their elder sibling. Other minorities aren’t as condemned as Germans and Jews, but there will be specific chapters on what happens to them.
Nothing positive I would reckon, due to 1905 war, though that shame is greatly overshadowed by the WWI defeat. So unless their military juntas seek to antagonize Russia, they won't have much attention.
In other words, there will probably be conflicts.
In other words, there will probably be conflicts.
RISE OF THE VOZHD: THE OTHER SIDE
RISE OF THE VOZHD
THE OTHER SIDE
THE OTHER SIDE
The lights turned off, the spotlights turned on and pointed at the man on the stage, the crowd clapped to the man wearing a tuxedo. He waited for them to finish before approaching the microphone, pulling a paper from his pocket.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we thank you for your presence tonight at this presentation, times haven’t been great for our motherland, but we can always find solace in art. My name is Roman Dragunov, I shall be your host in your journey tonight into a more beautiful land, first I am honored to welcome the new mayor of our beloved city, Mr. Mikhail Nikolaevich Tukhachevsky.”
The master of ceremony gestured to one of the Cabins in the back, where the new Mayor of Moscow, dressed in an elegant suit, rose from his seat to the applause of the crowd, some less enthusiastic and other with arms crossed. The spotlight turned to him as he waved to the crowd with a smile, what the light didn’t show were the two guards of the OOB, along with Anastasy Vonsiatsky, the Chief bodyguard of Tukhachevsky. He sat back down and the crowd turned their attention back to the master of ceremony, he would go on to list other personalities in the Bolshoi Theater that night, none that were more relevant than the mayor himself.
“And now, we shall begin with a Beethoven Violin solo by the great Violonist Emil Kuper, followed by an orchestra by Master Leonid Sabaneyev. I hope all of you enjoy this night, and with no further delay, let us begin.”
The crowd applauded as Roman retreated from the stage, the curtains opened for the mid-aged Ukrainian violinist, and with no words, he started playing and letting his instrument guide him. Tukhachevsky saw the passion of that violinist, no doubt for him this was the high-point of the night, as a man passionated to his violin himself, one he had built years ago that served as his greatest solace from the trenches to Ingolstadt to the streets of Moscow. Tukhachevsky loved Beethoven, indeed he claimed it to be one of the few good things to ever come out of Germany, he claimed he was an “Austrian” not a “Teuton”, a Teutonic savage would never have the culture of Beethoven, there is a reason why the best German artists came from the south, a land far more cultured than their northern brothers. In his few private moments, Tukhachevsky enjoyed to play himself, it was the highest form of musical art, that had to be played with strict precision: If a string was too loose, the sound would be ruined, if it was pushed too far it could break, a violinist had to find the balance and once it was achieved, then art was made. Tukhachevsky’s greatest pleasure when he wasn’t leading the PNOR in a campaign where he won a plurality by a razor-thin margin to mayor, was to go to the theater and watch the peak of Russian culture and civility.
Yet he glanced around him, in other cabins the visitors came with their wives, even in the crowd bellow the visitors came as couples. It was at such moments that he frowned at his situation, seated alone and austere, he knew a Russian man had to be dedicated to it’s motherland, married with Rodina, but it was lonely, if not stressful. How long has it been since he visited his family ? When he was at the bottom, he felt that going back to his father’s house would be the personification of humiliation and shame, and he was far too busy in building up a National Party to save Russia to visit his parents, but now ? Now he was mayor of Moscow ! The capital and largest city of Russia was his’ to command, obviously within the weak constitutional limits, for now at least. Perhaps it was time to pay a visit to the old Tukhachevsky household, discuss his future with his father and show himself off to his brothers Nikolay and Alexander. As the presentation finished, he applauded the masterful display by Kuper, and did the same to Sabaneyev’s display, and then left to his new residence, not even bothering to pay the rent to old Asimov, the Mayor’s mansion was a far greater improvement compared to his old tenement.
On the next day, Nikolay Tukhachevsky, already in his 50s with greying hair, was seated outside on the balcony of his home, reading the newspaper and pulling his coat closer as a chilly breeze sent shivers down his spine. His wife Marva opened the door, with a worried look on her face.
“Nikolay, you will end up freezing out here, get inside, I don’t want to have you sneezing all over the house again.”
“My dear, I’m just finishing the newspaper, don’t you wanna hear what they talk about our son ?”
“They all say the same thing, just slander and lies all the time ! They don’t know him like we d-“
“Wait, look at that !”
A black closed car came down the road, a black limo stopped in front of the Tukhachevsky household, a man in black uniform opened the back door and from there emerged a man approaching his 30s, who looked already like that age, dressed with a black coat and a military cap. He and his guard went towards the door while another driver parked the car along that dirt road, he knocked on the door and was quickly answered by a woman on her late 40s, Marva Tukhachevskya, who embraced the man in a motherly hug.
“My syn, you are back !”
“Calm down Mama, you will be seeing me more often from now on. Where is papa ?”
“He is just upstairs, you know how he is slow. Come in, come in, Olga should be back from groceries soon, she will be so surprised !”
Mikhail and Vonsiatsky entered the house, soon father and son would begin to chatter in the living room, drinking coffee while discussing all that happened on these last years that wasn’t said in letters. Usually Tea was the most common drink, but ever since Tukhachevsky became a friend of Russian elites that began to finance him, especially after becoming mayor of Moscow in the 1920 elections, coffee became the favorite. Initially the talks were obviously about politics, and remained so for a couple hours, before going into more personal matters.
“But don’t you plan to marry ? Surely every woman in Moscow would dream of a young, powerful, war hero.”
“Well, that is the problem papa, they do but none of them are, well... dedicated, they don’t care about me or family, only about power. I do not want just a marriage of convenience, yes it is important to be well-connected and a wife adds a whole new family, but I won’t be spending the rest of my life with someone I can’t stand.”
“Well, your mama should know more about this than me, but you are already getting old and you can’t just be single forever. If you really want to be a ruler some day, you must start thinking of the future.”
“I am not going to be a Tsar.”
“No, but you like it or not, your family will remain relevant in Russia. You need someone to pass your mantle to.”
“Maybe Alexander ? He was always good in handling the Estate’s finances.”
“That poor boy would faint before showing up to a crowd, even one of your sisters is more audacious than him. No, you need a son of your own, get yourself together and find a bride, don’t you always go in these extravagant parties of Yusupov ? Those are full of beautiful potential wives. They are snobbish ? Yes, but they are some of the most powerful snobbish sluts in all of Russia.”
“Language, Nikolay.”
“The boy is old enough to be mayor of Moscow Marva, he can handle a curse word !”
The family meeting lasted the entire afternoon, with Mikhail’s parents insisting he stayed for dinner, his sisters would join at the table, Nikolay and Alexander arrived at the evening. And meanwhile, Vonsiatsky and the Vozhd’s driver remained on watch of the house to ensure nothing bad happened to their leader and his family. In the end, Mikhail had to return to Moscow and his parents would say their goodbyes.
“Papa, I have something to say before I go, my life is a dangerous one, there are Jews, communists, and other kinds of degenerates who would do anything to harm me. If something happened to you then I would never forgive myself, I have brought in one of my Security Squad guards, they are loyal and well disciplined, it would mean a lot to me if you accepted my protection.”
“Well... I think he can stay, do we have any rooms left Martha ?”
“We have a visitor’s quarters, he can sleep in there.”
“Good, his name is Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov, served in the war and won some medals, he will be keeping you safe even at his own personal costs.”
Mikhail gestured outside and a young man in OOB uniform approached, having an intimidating physique he claimed to come from his mother. It was his driver, who was now being placed in charge of protecting the Tukhachevsky family, from a cavalryman in the 10th Dragoons to protecting the family of the Vozhd. It was an honorable task, but it was far from the heights that he would achieve later on.
Tukhachevsky put on his cap and entered the car, going back to Moscow. It was a pleasant affair, especially seeing how proud he made his parents, but now he had to go back to business, his 4-year term started, and he would have to navigate Russia’s greatest city during the most chaotic period in Russian history since the Time of Troubles. A sky high unemployment, a massive opposition from the Moscow Duma and the press, labor unrest, and falling economy, many of Moscow’s main politicians believed this election to be a poisoned chalice, one of the reasons why Mikhail won in the first place, but they would soon discover that they gave Tukhachevsky a base to test his theories of National Renewal, and a Headquarters in the heart of Russia from where he could spread to the rest of the Nat.
Great update. Happy to see the Vozhd visiting the family, also I didn’t expect to see Zhukov.
This chapter didn’t have much in regards of politics other than showing Tukhachevsky becoming Mayor of Moscow and the introduction of Georgy Zhukov. I’ve made this one more to develop the personality of the Vozhd, showing him as more cultured and amicable person behind the politics. It’s important to remember people like him are still humans, otherwise we forget what humans can do.
SysyphusOfEphyra
Banned
Such a poisoned chalice is a very dangerous move. Yes if it works it would destroy his career, but that is not a assurance. A skilled politician would be able to spin it as making the best of a bad situation even if they are hurt. And a really skilled one like Tukachesvsky would simply drinl all the poison and overcome it, becoming muxh stronger.
Just to make myself clear, Mikhail Tukhachevsky is not a Mary Sue that will just walk his way into power, he is certainly charismatic and militarily competent, but he does NOT rule alone, he isn’t a politician. People in his inner circle like Ivan Ilyin (who has a privileged law knowledge), Stalin (Who is as politically savvy as the Stalin who maneuvered his way into being dictator), and Yusupov (An aristocrat that grew up in the intrigue environment of Russian nobility) are the ones who are propping him up for their own reasons thinking he can be controlled. He has his own individual flaws (like a tendency of acting irresponsibly and aggressively when giving an opening as shown in the Polish Campaign) which will become more obvious once he reaches power.
I apologize for my lack of activity in this month and a half, University has been keeping me distracted, along with a touristic trip to São Paulo. I shall soon go back to work in the Belarus Crisis, the moment that the PNOR will become the standard bearer for Russian Nationalism.
Awesome. I never lost faith in you, to be honest I was trying to keep the thread marked active. This is currently my favorite story, I know it'll turn out great!