[FONT=Courier New, monospace]This is an alternate history I have been working on for many days now. State your opinions and discuss below.
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Source(s): The Bolsheviks In Power, by Alexander Rabinowitch
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[FONT=Courier New, monospace]Petrograd, The Red Flame Of Russia:[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New, monospace]What If…The 1917 Russian Revolution Happened Differently?[/FONT]
Prologue
No such word on the lips of Russian radicals had been as powerful as revolution during the disastrous year of 1917, when the once feared Russian army was in full retreat on all fronts and, during February when Tsar Nicolas II was finally toppled from his throne.
The February Revolution had left a popular coalition of liberal and moderate socialist parties in charge of defending a war-weary Russia from utter defeat. However, in choosing to continue the fight, President Alexander Kerensky had made a grave mistake that would cost him dearly.
Meanwhile, the lower-classes of Petrograd had banded together around the Petrograd Soviet, providing an alternative to the increasingly shaky Kerensky government. To make matters worse, Vlaidmir Lenin, who was the leader of the radical Bolshevik Party, was secretly clamoring for war against the government amongst fellow party leaders.
That war came on October 25th, 1917, when Bolshevik insurrectionists dutifully stormed the Winter Palace where many government ministers including Kerensky were staying. Kerensky barely escaped with his life, heading off to the rapidly crumbling Northern Front to organize a resistance movement against the would-be Bolshevik rulers of "Red Petrograd."
Old Russia's fate was sealed, while New Russia's story had yet to be told...
Part One: War Or Peace?
After the dissolution of the reactionary Constituent Assembly and the failure of the Sovnarkom to seek a universal peace amongst all warring powers, The Bolsheviks sought out a seperate peace agreement with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk, that began on December 9th, 1917.
Initially, the peace agreements beforehand had been held in Stockholm, Sweden by the moderate socialist parties before Red October. But all attempts by the moderate socialists had failed miserably to reach a universal peace agreement to finally put an end to the imperialist World War, as had the Bolsheviks.
As head of the Soviet delegation, Adolph Ioffe was in charge of reaching a favorable peace agreement with his Austro-Hungarian counterpart, Count Czernin, whom represented the Central Powers as a whole. Chief concerns amongst Soviet negotiators was the withdrawal of all foreign occupying troops from Russia, and less so the national independence of all occupied nations(Poland, Lithuania Latvia,), as well as all national minorties from within Russia.
Despite a few intentional 'revisions' of the peace agreement terms by Germany, which included among other things full authorization by Germany to turn Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia into German protectorates, many Russians, including Trotsky, were elated by the otherwise fair peace agreement terms. Still, there was a growing concern of the ever-present possiability of a full-scale war initiated by Germany with the aim of capturing Petrograd, but such fears were cooled down by Trotsky's and others assurances that a full-scale war launched by the German government would only lead to a German revolution.
Further fears of Germany's imperialist designs for Russia were stoked after Lenin conducted an interview amongst Russian army officers. The results were predictable: the old Russian army was incapable of conducting a successful defense of Petrograd and the surrounding region, and the best it could do was to demobilize in the face of a rapidly advancing German invasion force.
Thus, it was decided by the Sovnarkom to form a new red army to defend the fruits of the revolution. Attempts to go through with the decision began in a hastily prepared fashion, as the peace talks gradually drew to a close.
Meanwhile, Trotsky's proposal to initiate a "no war, no peace" strategy was agreed upon by the Bolsheviks and Left-SR's to a certain extent, which meant that the Russians would neither go to war with Germany, nor would they sign a peace treaty. Essentially, Trotsky's strategy was to allow for additional time to be sought after in the peace talks while construction of a red army continued.
Startled by such a preposition, German high command officers and civilian diplomats argued over what to do as the soviet authorities continued to demoblize the old army and spread propaganda surrounding the defense of the socialist motherland.
Outside of Russia, determined strikes by German and Austrian workers were crushed with an iron fist, limiting hopes of successful socialist revolutions abroad bringing an end to German imperialism once and for all in the nick of time.
The stage was set for either immediate peace at a great cost to both the domestic and international revolutions, or a last stand by determined soldier, worker, and peasant defenders of the Russian revolution in Petrograd.
United in their opposition to the prospect of immediate peace, so called "Left" Communists wished to go out in a blaze of glory in a similar fashion to the Paris Commune, rather then let world revolution be put in peril.
Led to a large degree by Nikolai Bukharin, who served as the main voice for the Bolshevik Left Communists, many Left Communists made convincing arguments for why revolutionary war was preferable to immediate surrender. Using Russia's large landmass as a reason, they argued that a retreat could be made deep into central Russia til help arrived in the form of a successful German revolution. Others argued that the likely fall of Petrograd would empower the masses of the world, so much so that a world revolution would spontaneously break out soon enough after the death of the Russian revolution.
Suddenly and without warning, as the debates wore on, German high command had decided to launch a limited assault deeper into northern Russia. As reports flooded in from the front line that Russian troops were failing to sabotage railways, as well as simply running away in the face of unarmed Germans, the Left Communists clamored for a fight still.
More soon to come...
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Source(s): The Bolsheviks In Power, by Alexander Rabinowitch
[FONT=Courier New, monospace][/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New, monospace]Petrograd, The Red Flame Of Russia:[/FONT]
[FONT=Courier New, monospace]What If…The 1917 Russian Revolution Happened Differently?[/FONT]
Prologue
No such word on the lips of Russian radicals had been as powerful as revolution during the disastrous year of 1917, when the once feared Russian army was in full retreat on all fronts and, during February when Tsar Nicolas II was finally toppled from his throne.
The February Revolution had left a popular coalition of liberal and moderate socialist parties in charge of defending a war-weary Russia from utter defeat. However, in choosing to continue the fight, President Alexander Kerensky had made a grave mistake that would cost him dearly.
Meanwhile, the lower-classes of Petrograd had banded together around the Petrograd Soviet, providing an alternative to the increasingly shaky Kerensky government. To make matters worse, Vlaidmir Lenin, who was the leader of the radical Bolshevik Party, was secretly clamoring for war against the government amongst fellow party leaders.
That war came on October 25th, 1917, when Bolshevik insurrectionists dutifully stormed the Winter Palace where many government ministers including Kerensky were staying. Kerensky barely escaped with his life, heading off to the rapidly crumbling Northern Front to organize a resistance movement against the would-be Bolshevik rulers of "Red Petrograd."
Old Russia's fate was sealed, while New Russia's story had yet to be told...
Part One: War Or Peace?
After the dissolution of the reactionary Constituent Assembly and the failure of the Sovnarkom to seek a universal peace amongst all warring powers, The Bolsheviks sought out a seperate peace agreement with the Central Powers at Brest-Litovsk, that began on December 9th, 1917.
Initially, the peace agreements beforehand had been held in Stockholm, Sweden by the moderate socialist parties before Red October. But all attempts by the moderate socialists had failed miserably to reach a universal peace agreement to finally put an end to the imperialist World War, as had the Bolsheviks.
As head of the Soviet delegation, Adolph Ioffe was in charge of reaching a favorable peace agreement with his Austro-Hungarian counterpart, Count Czernin, whom represented the Central Powers as a whole. Chief concerns amongst Soviet negotiators was the withdrawal of all foreign occupying troops from Russia, and less so the national independence of all occupied nations(Poland, Lithuania Latvia,), as well as all national minorties from within Russia.
Despite a few intentional 'revisions' of the peace agreement terms by Germany, which included among other things full authorization by Germany to turn Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia into German protectorates, many Russians, including Trotsky, were elated by the otherwise fair peace agreement terms. Still, there was a growing concern of the ever-present possiability of a full-scale war initiated by Germany with the aim of capturing Petrograd, but such fears were cooled down by Trotsky's and others assurances that a full-scale war launched by the German government would only lead to a German revolution.
Further fears of Germany's imperialist designs for Russia were stoked after Lenin conducted an interview amongst Russian army officers. The results were predictable: the old Russian army was incapable of conducting a successful defense of Petrograd and the surrounding region, and the best it could do was to demobilize in the face of a rapidly advancing German invasion force.
Thus, it was decided by the Sovnarkom to form a new red army to defend the fruits of the revolution. Attempts to go through with the decision began in a hastily prepared fashion, as the peace talks gradually drew to a close.
Meanwhile, Trotsky's proposal to initiate a "no war, no peace" strategy was agreed upon by the Bolsheviks and Left-SR's to a certain extent, which meant that the Russians would neither go to war with Germany, nor would they sign a peace treaty. Essentially, Trotsky's strategy was to allow for additional time to be sought after in the peace talks while construction of a red army continued.
Startled by such a preposition, German high command officers and civilian diplomats argued over what to do as the soviet authorities continued to demoblize the old army and spread propaganda surrounding the defense of the socialist motherland.
Outside of Russia, determined strikes by German and Austrian workers were crushed with an iron fist, limiting hopes of successful socialist revolutions abroad bringing an end to German imperialism once and for all in the nick of time.
The stage was set for either immediate peace at a great cost to both the domestic and international revolutions, or a last stand by determined soldier, worker, and peasant defenders of the Russian revolution in Petrograd.
United in their opposition to the prospect of immediate peace, so called "Left" Communists wished to go out in a blaze of glory in a similar fashion to the Paris Commune, rather then let world revolution be put in peril.
Led to a large degree by Nikolai Bukharin, who served as the main voice for the Bolshevik Left Communists, many Left Communists made convincing arguments for why revolutionary war was preferable to immediate surrender. Using Russia's large landmass as a reason, they argued that a retreat could be made deep into central Russia til help arrived in the form of a successful German revolution. Others argued that the likely fall of Petrograd would empower the masses of the world, so much so that a world revolution would spontaneously break out soon enough after the death of the Russian revolution.
Suddenly and without warning, as the debates wore on, German high command had decided to launch a limited assault deeper into northern Russia. As reports flooded in from the front line that Russian troops were failing to sabotage railways, as well as simply running away in the face of unarmed Germans, the Left Communists clamored for a fight still.
More soon to come...