Her Imperial Majesty, the White Tsarina, Anastasia I- Russian Empire Timeline

[GameBawesome]

After asking this scenario before in this thread:
https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/emperess-anastatia-of-russia.447325/#post-17282247

I decided to make my own timeline about Empress Anastasia I. All I ask is for people not to say this is ASB or impossible, but to leave helpful and positive comments that I can use to improve this timeline. I hope you enjoy.

December 1916- Tsar Nicholas II of Russia wrote a letter to his cousin King George V of England requesting asylum for the Royal Family of Russia, due to the problems in his empire.

George writes back that England will except all of the Tsar's children but not the Tsar or Tsarina Alexandra. Nicholas agrees to this, thinking it's for the best of the children.

Before the children leave, with the advising of Alexandra, Nicholas II writes one final decree, abolishing Pauline Law, in case anything happens to their dear son, Alexei.

January 1917-
Olga, Alexei, Anastasia, Maria and Tatiana are sent to England. They are housed in a small mansion in London.

The Royal Family were treated both with sympathy and suspicion, as they brought potential conflict with Russian socialist. However, the King of the United Kingdom visited them regularly, often with the Prince of Wales, who got along with Marie. Also, Tatiana meet Prince Paul, son of Peter I of Serbia, who was in England for his studies in the University of Oxford.

March 1917- The Tsar and his wife are taken into custody on March 15th and the Tsar is made to sign a letter of abdication.

They are taken to be imprisoned first in the Alexander Palace, then later in the Governor's Mansion in Tobolsk, and finally at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.

July 1918-
In the early morning of the July 17th,
they are taken, with two servants, to the basement of the Ipatiev House and all were executed.

News of the execution takes nearly a week to reach the children where they have been staying. Alexei in distraught, trips and fall down the stairs of his house. He dies the next day from severe blood loss, surrounded by his sisters, and doctors.

He is buried in grounds of Sandringham parish church on the 24th of July 1918.

Grand Duchess Olga was offered the title of Tsarina, with a government in exile.

Olga, after losing her parents and brother, realize that she was now, for many, the new political figurehead of the Aristocratic Russian exiles. While Nicholas II did end the Pauline law, many uncles and cousins did not accept her as the next in line

News that their uncle, Mikael, had also been murdered reached the royal sisters in late April.

May 1918- On May 3rd, Olga signed her own form of abdication, agreeing to give up any form of claim for any other family member. In her own words:

“I have given up Russia. Let either of my sisters or uncles have the throne. Or let the monsters have it.”

The title was offered to Tatiana and Marie, but Tatiana decided to go to Serbia and marry into Karadjordjevic dynasty, and Marie wanted to stay in England, falling in love with Prince of Wales, Edward.

The Title was then offered to Anastasia, who excepted it. She went on The Daily Telegraph, thanking the King of England and the People of London for their hospitality, and that the Russian Empire and the House of Romanov will not fall.

 

[GameBawesome]

June 1918- Anastasia worked for an agreement with the British for more aid and support in the Russian Civil War. The United States and British forces are ordered to stay incase of any Soviet aggression.

August 1918- On August 30 1918, Lenin is assassinated by Fanya Kaplan, who shot him in the chest, the neck and the side. Trotsky becomes his successor. This causes Stalin, to leave, with a small portion of men who were loyal to him.

September 1918- The White Army, under Denikin, moves into Ukraine, holding out from the Red Army

October 1918- The White Army, with foreign weaponry, attacks the Reds, this time trying to invade Petrograd through Estonia, which become successful, as British forces moves into the city.

November 1918- Anastasia returns to Russia. Olga was offered to return, but she refused, deciding to stay with Marie in Britain.

December 1918- On December 18th, France enters the Russian Civil War by sending troops to the city of Odessa in alliance with the Whites.

January 1919- Troops from most Allied nations, who are more abundant after the end of World War I, are sent to Russia to fight with the Whites against the Bolsheviks, largely in Siberia through the Eastern city of Vladivostok.

February 1919- In Moscow, Trotsky realizing that the revolution had ended in Russia, he plans to spread the revolution somewhere else. Poland invaded Eastward, however Trotsky pushed back with 80,000 men, but didn't pushed further, seeing a westward charge to soon. This caused the Polish-Soviet war, a front during the Russian Revolution

On February 30th- As the Allied forces moved into Moscow, Trotsky instead of fleeing Westward into Europe, flees East, to the now fragmented China, hoping to start a Communist state in China. He gathered 10,000 loyal men, to go on this Exodus to the East. A small number of Soviets actually did fled Westward into Germany and Poland.

March 1919- The Russian Civil War was over, what remaining Soviets were imprisoned, exiled, or killed.

The restored Russian Empire was to be a Constitutional Monarchy, with the Duma gaining more power, while the new Empress had power, nothing like that of her father. The new capital would be Moscow.

The Peace of Riga was signed, Poland was to take Western Belarus, while the restored Russian Empire was to take Eastern Belarus, Central Asia, and that the Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus was to be reintegrated back to the Empire.

On March 30th, Anastasia was coronated, she was now Her Imperial Majesty, The White Empress, The Tsarina of Russia, Anastasia I of the Russia.

However, there was still one question that was never answered in the Peace of Riga: What to do with Ukraine.

 

[Archdoor]

Intesting will watch!

 

[Zheng He]

This looks good...

 

[Zheng He]

I just read this so I am quite intrigued - http://steveberry.org/books/the-romanov-prophecy/synopsis/

 

[English Nationalist]

Really like the timeline though, in my opinion, military resolving the conflict as fast as you have seems a bit too quick in my mind. Otherwise, my only other point I want to raise is this...

Olga, after losing her parents and brother, realize that she was now, for many, the new political figurehead of the Aristocratic Russian exiles. While Nicholas II did end the Pauline law, many uncles and cousins did not except her as the next in line.

I believe you want accept not except as her kindred is not recognising her as head as supposed to excluding her. aside from that there a couple of insignificant grammatical issues but nothing that could possibly confuse the plot beyond that.

Keep up the work, I think you have a gem of a timeline in the works!

 

[Alex1guy]

Alrighty, Im intrigued

 

[mcdnab]

Couple of points then carry one with your ideas: Nicholas II asked in 1900 (when he had typhoid) about changing to the Pauline Laws in order to be succeeded by his eldest daughter in the event he failed to have a son (the Empress was pregnant at the time) - it was pointed out that it was unlikely to succeed and there would be strong objections from the wider dynasty. After 1905 the Pauline Laws were incorporated as part of the rules governing the now semi-autocratic Russian Empire - effectively the decision to abolish now rested with both Emperor and the Duma (Nicholas effectively no longer has absolute power to rescind the rules).
Nicholas' abdication - ended his right to dictate - did he abdicate in favour of his son or his brother - or was he in fact deposed (in which case most pro-Royal's would argue legally he remained Emperor until his murder).

Your problem with this in my view is actually who accepts Nicholas' youngest daughter (who is after all very very young) as the rightful claimant and as someone with the power to lead (incidentally Olga's character suggests she would take up the cudgels in this scenario rather than simply hand it off to her younger sisters)

 

[GameBawesome]

April 1919- One question remained on the minds in the Duma, and even the Tsarina herself: What will happen to Ukraine?

Would Ukraine remain an independent country, or be reintegrated into the Russian Empire? Denkin was stationed in Ukraine, and wrote a letter to the Duma and Tsarina, saying that at their request, his army is ready to reintegrate Ukraine, back into the empire.

However, the a majority of the Duma and even the Tsarina herself didn't want to reintegrate Ukraine. They think it's more trouble then a benefit, and if they attack another nation during a the armistice, it could prolong the War with Germany. The people who wanted to reintegrate Ukraine, argued that Ukraine has been a historic territory of Russia.

Anastasia I and the Duma decided to find a middle ground, and that they did. They decided to make Ukraine a client state of Russia. The Duma decided to reinstate the Ukrainian State, an old German Client State, but now a Russian Client State. They sent a message to the old Hetman, Pavlo Skoropadskyi, now in Berlin, asking him to come back and become Hetman again. Although, he refused at first, but he eventually took the title.

May 1919- Skoropadskyi returns to Kiev, and meet with Denikin, who handed control of Ukraine to him. He returned to being the Hetman of Ukraine, much to the displeasure of many Ukrainians.

Meanwhile, in the East, Trotsky established a military clique in the Chahar Province, in China. He wants to start a new revolution in China.

Back in Russia, there was one man who was not happy with the New Duma and how the Tsarina having less power. He believed that the Tsarina had divine right from God, to rule with absolute power. He will not stop until she has absolute power. That man, was Roman von Ungern-Sternberg.

 

[Seandineen]

The mad baron! In my morbid amusement, I can't wait for his adventures in slaughter.

 

[Seandineen]

Where is Denkin? He's my favorite white.

 

[Zheng He]

Is anybody upset that the new ruler is an Empress and not a Tsar? I realize Nicholas II changed the rules but somebody with ambitions to the throne himself has to be claiming that was not his call to make.

 

[GameBawesome]

Is anybody upset that the new ruler is an Empress and not a Tsar? I realize Nicholas II changed the rules but somebody with ambitions to the throne himself has to be claiming that was not his call to make.

I know, last time I said

While Nicholas II did end the Pauline law, many uncles and cousins did not accept her as the next in line

So technically speaking, yes, relatives are upset.

 

[TimTurner]

Tsarina is a better title, but I find either acceptable.

 

[GameBawesome]

Tsarina is a better title, but I find either acceptable.

Originally, I was about to use Tsarina, but on my previous thread, catalfalque said

I'm pretty sure that as a reigning empress, Anastasia would stick to the title Imperatritsa - if you look, this is the term used to commemorate the reigning empresses in battleship naming convention
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperatritsa_Mariya-class_battleship

IIRC Tsarina was not even the usage for the wife of the Tsar, it was Tsaritsa.

Thus, you may in fact being amusingly right - in common parlance she might well be called Tsarina abroad. But she would try hard to make sure people called her Empress, or their local alternative. That word would define her power.

And that just confused me to much, so I just used the Tsarina equivalent, which is empress

 

[TimTurner]

Originally, I was about to use Tsarina, but on my previous thread, catalfalque said



And that just confused me to much, so I just used the Tsarina equivalent, which is empress

Ok, schratch out Tsarina and replace it with Tsaritsa.
There's something so...Russian about it. So authentic, so idiosyncratic, so Orthodox. This is the stuff excellent AH is made of.

 

[GameBawesome]

Ok, schratch out Tsarina and replace it with Tsaritsa.
There's something so...Russian about it. So authentic, so idiosyncratic, so Orthodox. This is the stuff excellent AH is made of.

I'll just go back an edit it empress to Tsarina, because I heard people calling them Tsarina more, and you're right, it is more Russian. Thank you for your support.

 

[alexmilman]

June 1918- Anastasia worked for an agreement with the British for more aid and support in the Russian Civil War. The United States and British forces are ordered to stay incase of any Soviet aggression.

To stay were?

August 1918- On August 30 1918, Lenin is assassinated by Fanya Kaplan, who shot him in the chest, the neck and the side. Trotsky becomes his successor. This causes Stalin, to leave, with a small portion of men who were loyal to him.

Sorry, in which direction exactly is he "leaving"? And the obvious question is what "successor" means: formally, Lenin was not a head of the party or head of the state, just a head of the government controlled by the Politburo. In OTL Trotsky did not demonstrate any interest in any serious administrative work so him jumping into that position (even if he is allowed, which is unlikely) is unlikely, to put it mildly.

September 1918- The White Army, under Wrangel, moves into Ukraine, holding out from the Red Army

By that time Wrangel was just a division commander in the Volunteer Army. Perhaps you meant Denikin?

October 1918- The White Army, with foreign weaponry, attacks the Reds, this time trying to invade Petrograd through Estonia, which become successful, as British forces moves into the city.

Approximately the same as in OTL where the White Army troops of general Yudenich advanced to Petrograd formally under the Estonian High Command except that in the OTL it happened in 1919 and failed. Not that failure of Petrograd would be critical for the Bolsheviks because they moved capital to Moscow.

November 1918- Anastasia returns to Russia. Olga was offered to return, but she refused, deciding to stay with Marie in Britain.

December 1918- On December 18th, France enters the Russian Civil War by sending troops to the city of Odessa in alliance with the Whites.

They did it in OTL (with at least one Greek division besides the French forces) and had been forced to leave by the local nationalist forces (with a lost of most of the Greek division) and revolt of their own troops.

January 1919- Troops from most Allied nations, who are more abundant after the end of World War I, are sent to Russia to fight with the Whites against the Bolsheviks, largely in Siberia through the Eastern city of Vladivostok.

These troops were not abundant and their occupation of the area proved to be rather pointless. The Japanese hold for the longest time but eventually evacuated.

February 1919- In Moscow, Trotsky realizing that the revolution had ended in Russia, he plans to spread the revolution somewhere else. Poland invaded Eastward, however Trotsky pushed back with 80,000 men, but didn't pushed further, seeing a westward charge to soon. This caused the Polish-Soviet war, a front during the Russian Revolution

Sorry, but this sounds as a wishful thinking from beginning to end. Why would he suddenly "realize" that revolution is over if so far everything is going almost as in OTL and the timeline is one when creation of the massive Red Army just started?

On February 30th- As the Allied forces moved into Moscow,

I understand that geography is a boring science but how exactly these allied forces managed to get to Moscow from Vladivostok or even Petrograd? The rest of the military part is of the same quality. BTW, the "Soviets" in the terminology of the time did not imply exclusively "Bolsheviks" and your program of their extermination would be rather difficult to accomplish without a genocide.

The restored Russian Empire was to be a Constitutional Monarchy, with the Duma gaining more power, while the new Empress had power, nothing like that of her father. The new capital would be Moscow.

Don't want to rain on your parade but you really should look at the rules of the imperial succession: with the male Romanovs available, there would be no Empress Anastasia.

 

[GameBawesome]

I decided to make my own timeline about Empress Anastasia I. All I ask is for people not to say this is ASB or impossible, but to leave helpful and positive comments that I can use to improve this timeline.

But I did use some of your comments, like Denikin, so I thank you for that

 

[Zheng He]

I know, last time I said So technically speaking, yes, relatives are upset.

Are they doing anything about it like speaking out, actively resisting her, plotting her assassination? Or are they just stewing in their juices?

Or do I just have to wait?