How Russia wins WW1 with the Kerensky government

As a minimum, the PG should:
1. Promise a comprehensive land reform after the war. There should be an effective large scale propaganda campaign saying that the Germans are planning to occupy a big part of Russia, confiscate the land and move their farmers there or some othe demagoguery to the similar effect to provide at least some plausible reason for the soldiers to keep fighting. Idiocy of the claims is absolutely irrelevant: in OTL Bolshevik propaganda portrayed general Wrangel as a German (and a loyal servant of Kaiser Wilhelmina) who can’t speak proper Russian and it was OK. Needless to say that he came from a family that lived in Russia for many generations and, while he was not as a good writer as his father, his memoirs are written in a very good Russian, he graduated from Institute of Mining Engineering in St. Petersburg and made military career during WWI. As far as propaganda is involved, the facts do not matter and during WWI Russian propaganda was quite inept.
2. Not to let organization of the Soviets, especially on of Petrograd and in the army.
3. Maintain discipline by all means. Rights of the officers should be restricted only in the area of beating soldiers. By all means keep the officer corps loyal (by that time most of them were from a middle class).
4. Adopt the defensive strategy disregarding allied requests: they paid no attention to the events on the East and these requests proved to be excessively costly.
5. Execute as many Bolsheviks as possible labeling them as the German spies.
6. Actively create serious loyal force in the rear, not just a female battalion and a bunch of kids from the military schools. Cossack, Chinese, Latvians, etc. like the commies did. Even the Czech POWs. When this is done start gradually rotating the troops from the front with those garrisoned in Petrograd. Disarm the Kronstadt sailors or start sending them to the front.
7. Try to improve food supplies in the Petrograd and Moscow.
8. Don’t print worthless money.
9. Don’t disband the police.
10. Martial law could be helpful if there is enough forces to enforce it: Bolsheviks managed this with ad hoc forces.
11. Take care that Constitutional Assembly starts producing at least some results ASAP.
12. Fire Brusilov. :)

This user is advocating genocide and should be banned.

Nr 5 "Execute as many Bolsheviks as possible" would be genocide, that would be 45 million people. "As many as possible"

The OP suggested that the landed elite and nobles have to fight at the front and had the possibility of surviving and capturing weapons from the enemy

This user suggests direct murder and genocide and should be banned unless of course the mods are hypocrites and have different standards.
 
This user is advocating genocide and should be banned.

Nr 5 "Execute as many Bolsheviks as possible" would be genocide, that would be 45 million people. "As many as possible"

The OP suggested that the landed elite and nobles have to fight at the front and had the possibility of surviving and capturing weapons from the enemy

This user suggests direct murder and genocide and should be banned unless of course the mods are hypocrites and have different standards.

Interesting first post.

So did you report the post you quote, or are you just making conversation?
 
This user is advocating genocide and should be banned.

Nr 5 "Execute as many Bolsheviks as possible" would be genocide, that would be 45 million people. "As many as possible"

The OP suggested that the landed elite and nobles have to fight at the front and had the possibility of surviving and capturing weapons from the enemy

This user suggests direct murder and genocide and should be banned unless of course the mods are hypocrites and have different standards.

Depends on what he when this is done and whether he is merely referring to the leadership. After all he also said this
However, their top leadership proved to be the most talented and ruthless and ready to use any means to grab the power. Even then we are not talking about the whole leadership but just about few figures on the very top of it. The rest could flow with a tide but hardly were able to organize the coup. Execute Lenin and Trotsky (maybe couple more like Podvoysky and Antonov-Ovseenko, the people who were seriously involved in staging the coup) and send the rest to do something useful like cutting the trees in Siberia or digging gold in Kolyma and you have a breathing space.
If he is talking about the Politburo and the Central Committee you are talking a few hundred people and that seems to be who he referring to. He said Lenin and Trotsky and maybe a couple more. Considering between Stalin and Lenin you are talking tens of millions of dead in comparison. The death of a few hundred (At most, since he mentioned only four people) would be sad but better that than at least 20 million. There also was not 45 million Bolsheviks early in the Revolution, that came later with some no doubt joining to jump on the bandwagon.
 
Depends on what he when this is done and whether he is merely referring to the leadership. After all he also said this If he is talking about the Politburo and the Central Committee you are talking a few hundred people and that seems to be who he referring to. He said Lenin and Trotsky and maybe a couple more. Considering between Stalin and Lenin you are talking tens of millions of dead in comparison. The death of a few hundred (At most, since he mentioned only four people) would be sad but better that than at least 20 million. There also was not 45 million Bolsheviks early in the Revolution, that came later with some no doubt joining to jump on the bandwagon.

"As many as possible" has only one interpretation.

The Bolsheviks got 1/4 of the total votes in the Election. That is 45 million out of 180 million.

And now YOU are excusing genocide and should also be banned
 
"As many as possible" has only one interpretation.

The Bolsheviks got 1/4 of the total votes in the Election. That is 45 million out of 180 million.

And now YOU are excusing genocide and should also be banned

Considering the context I would say he meant "As much of the leadership as possible".
After all, he said " Lenin and Trotsky and maybe a couple more.", that isn't 45 million. That is four. My guess is he talked fairly loosely like many people do. The OP was absolutely clear about it being the entire noble class, not only did he mention "300,000 or so" but he was given several opportunities to clarify and doubled down. BTW, the elections was MONTHS after Lenin arrived and he gained popularity fast. He had nowhere near 45 million followers in Feb.
 
This user is advocating genocide and should be banned.

Nr 5 "Execute as many Bolsheviks as possible" would be genocide, that would be 45 million people. "As many as possible"

The OP suggested that the landed elite and nobles have to fight at the front and had the possibility of surviving and capturing weapons from the enemy

This user suggests direct murder and genocide and should be banned unless of course the mods are hypocrites and have different standards.

Thanks for a good laugh.
 
This user is advocating genocide and should be banned.

Nr 5 "Execute as many Bolsheviks as possible" would be genocide, that would be 45 million people. "As many as possible"

The OP suggested that the landed elite and nobles have to fight at the front and had the possibility of surviving and capturing weapons from the enemy

This user suggests direct murder and genocide and should be banned unless of course the mods are hypocrites and have different standards.

In February 1917 the Bolsheviks had been a relatively small party which started growing and killing millions of people only after they took power. By supporting them you are supporting genocide. As an option, you simply don’t have a clue about relevant history. And, in case in missed it, in the following posts I clarified that item by saying that there would be a need to execute few top level leaders. Most of their supporters in 1917 were not the party members so your reference to 45 millions is a pure nonsense.

The original post suggested to send all members of the lander class (aka, minors, elderly and women) to the front naked and without the weapons. Talk about them being able to get weapons under these circumstances is a pure hypocricity.
 
Last edited:
"As many as possible" has only one interpretation.

The Bolsheviks got 1/4 of the total votes in the Election. That is 45 million out of 180 million.

And now YOU are excusing genocide and should also be banned
An overwhelming majority of the votes they got were not votes of the members of Bolshevik party. You have to do something about your overdeveloped imagination and learn history.
 
The original post suggested to send all members of the lander class (aka, minors, elderly and women) to the front naked and without the weapons. Talk about them being able to get weapons under these circumstances is a pure hypocricity.

Not talking about the fact he said 90% of that would be taken by the government anyways. So if you are so incredibly lucky as to get a weapon (Which most likely will be low on ammo which you have no secure resupply of) in 9 in 10 cases they take it from you anyways.
 
Not talking about the fact he said 90% of that would be taken by the government anyways. So if you are so incredibly lucky as to get a weapon (Which most likely will be low on ammo which you have no secure resupply of) in 9 in 10 cases they take it from you anyways.

Putting aside a genocidal aspect of the proposal, it’s framework is set in such a way that these NAKED unarmed people (predominantly non-combatants by the reasons of age or gender) would just raise their hands and march to the enemy’s trenches because there is absolutely no reason for them to do otherwise.
 
Have you ever stopped and listened to your arguments? Maybe then you’ll see why literally no one is agreeing with them.

Not only did no-one agree with him, but he managed to unite people with some pretty darn different views of Russian history.

True, does anyone want to come up with a SANE version?

I have to say, I don't have the knowledge.

Certainly, if Kerensky had not ordered an immediate offensive, the Russian army would be MUCH stronger going forwards. But is it strong enough to actually defend Petrograd (the most vulnerable major city) long enough for Russia's allies to win the war in the west? And can Kerensky ride out the political unrest that will come from all quarters if he insists on staying on the defensive for long enough that the Russian army can build up enough strength to attempt a limited offensive near the end of the war (IMO the best case)?

When Kerensky came to power, Russia hadn't yet lost the war, but it was damn close and there's no margin for bad political mistakes.

fasquardon
 
Top