Place In the Sun: What If Italy Joined the Central Powers? (1.0)

[ahmedali]

Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth

When will the next chapter be ready?

Will there be a role for the other Romanovs in the coming chapters?

But I was surprised that during the reign of Michael II and Xenia there was no mention of the Empress Dowager Maria Feodorina (Dagmar of Denmark)

Although she was considered a competent political advisor to Nicholas II, most of the good decisions that Nicholas made were owed to the Empress Dowager, so much so that Nicholas II was telling the Duma that he would advise his mother about the decisions that were being discussed and even the Duma members suggested that the tsar should consult his mother

It is strange that she did not have any role during the reign of Mikhail or Xenia

Even the Empress Mother supported the liberal reforms after the death of Alexander III

It is strange that it is not mentioned here and its role does not exist

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth]

Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth

When will the next chapter be ready?

Will there be a role for the other Romanovs in the coming chapters?

But I was surprised that during the reign of Michael II and Xenia there was no mention of the Empress Dowager Maria Feodorina (Dagmar of Denmark)

Although she was considered a competent political advisor to Nicholas II, most of the good decisions that Nicholas made were owed to the Empress Dowager, so much so that Nicholas II was telling the Duma that he would advise his mother about the decisions that were being discussed and even the Duma members suggested that the tsar should consult his mother

It is strange that she did not have any role during the reign of Mikhail or Xenia

Even the Empress Mother supported the liberal reforms after the death of Alexander III

It is strange that it is not mentioned here and its role does not exist

Maria was killed in the September Revolution (way back in chapter 12)

The timeline updates once a week, on Sundays.

 

[ahmedali]

Maria was killed in the September Revolution (way back in chapter 12)

The timeline updates once a week, on Sundays.

Oh, it's so sad

This is why the era of Michael ii and Xenia ended in disaster

I'm so excited for the next chapter

 

[Kylia]

Don't pester the author for updates.

 

[ahmedali]

Don't pester the author for updates.

oh i am so sorry

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth]

Chapter Fifty-Five: Unwilling Belligerent​

"Hiding across the border- how dare they? Does Kornilov think he can play me for a fool? And what of Passivuori? If this is neutrality, I would hate to see what war is like..."
-General Yudenich

"I never wanted to fight on your side, Provisonal President. Finland has seen too much war in too little time. But what has happened today has made it all too clear: the survival of the Russian Republic is a prerequisite for the survival of Finland. So, on we will march."
-Matti Paasivuori to Alexander Kerensky

Petrograd was gone.

The surprise was not that the Tsarists had lunged at the capital, but that it took them weeks to conquer it rather than days as in the September Revolution. Hunger and death were the watchwords in the capital. The House of Romanov had betrayed its divine mandate to govern Russia. What sort of imperial father could do this to his people? General Nikolai Yudenich's conduct as military governor only confirmed to the people of Petrograd that revolt had been the right choice.

The Russian Republic was down but not out. Kerensky and Kornilov had drawn up evacuation plans early in the war, and his designated escape cruiser remained on standby throughout the siege. Honour had told Kerensky to remain with his people, but common sense had won out. The Provisional President spent New Years Day 1920 aboard a Baltic Fleet cruiser. Had the Tsarists known his whereabouts, they would've sent every ship in the fleet against him. Seasickness conspired with fear for his life and the Republican project to make Kerensky deathly ill. Along with everyone aboard the ship, he contracted the Kansas flu. Frigid Baltic sea air was the last thing he needed, but he knew too well someone would end up a million rubles richer if he set foot in a neutral country to recuperate. The closest Republican-held port, Murmansk, was frozen over and so the ship was isolated. Kerensky's temperature dropped, patrolling Tsarist craft grew closer every day, and they had nowhere to go. Waking on 16 January, the Provisional President ordered the captain to set course for Rauma, Finland. If there was one man who wouldn't betray him to the Tsarists, it was Matti Passivuori. Finnish soldiers interned the cruiser and crew, but did a double take when they realised who the gaunt man was.

Kerensky rebuilt his health and connections that spring. Many had died in the siege or been trapped by the Okhrana, but many others had fled. Republican officials arrived in their twos and threes, all eager to meet the Provisional President. The gaunt Kerensky was a beacon, a reminder that the Tsarists hadn't won. Russian dreams of liberal democracy were not dead yet.

The most important visitor, though, belonged to the other Republican faction. Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev had survived the siege and made it to Helsinki. The ailing Provisional President found the strength to wrap the second-in-command of the Petrograd Soviet in a great Russian bear hug. "Grigory Yevseyvich, you survived!"

"Da." Zinoviev smiled properly for the first time in months. "I have not forgotten the promise we made. Yudenich cannot defeat the people!"

Kerensky and Zinoviev developed an odd relationship. Ostensibly, they were quite different. Zinoviev still viewed Kerensky as an oppressor who'd have to be swept away eventually; the Provisional President was still damned if he was going to let Zinoviev build a worker's paradise over the ashes of his system. Yet, the two had somehow bonded. When Kerensky had summoned the Bolsheviks after the Republican Coup, Zinoviev had gone, not Lenin, suggesting which revolutionary was more reliable. As a career politician, Kerensky wouldn't abandon an ally without good cause. Zinoviev appeared a moderate, reasonable Bolshevik, one who might counteract Lenin's radicalism. The affection was mutual. Zinoviev was still the Provisional President's "class enemy", but the capitalist had impressed him. Fear, not pride, had kept Lenin from visiting the Tauride Palace. Kerensky's lair had pleasantly surprised Zinoviev. The Provisional President wasn't a Black Hundredsman promising to massacre his enemies; he'd been courteous, flexible, and had a productive vision for Russia. "When the time to build comes", Kerensky had told him, "I hope you will set down your gun and help build a republic the workers can be proud to call their own." What was Zinoviev to do? And what was he to do with his comrade-in-arms?

Vladimir Lenin needed to figure out his next move before his enemies did. His position resembled his archrival Julius Martov’s three years ago. In both cases, enemy forces drawing on Petrograd had placed their revolt in mortal danger; Passivuori's Finland offered a safe haven. Finnish Red Guards answering to Kullervo Manner escorted the Petrograd Soviet to Helsinki. There were, however, important differences. Julius Martov had acted alone. All he’d had at his disposal were the Petrograd revolutionaries, and his support died with them. Lenin and Zinoviev, though, sat atop a movement. Even if Tsarist troops destroyed the Petrograd Soviet, its counterparts across the country would still be there. The Moscow Soviet, the Kazan Soviet, the Nizhny Soviet… all these answered to them. And besides, many under Tsarist rule looked to Lenin. The Central Volga People’s Army had proven its worth and would keep fighting even if Petrograd fell. Less stoically, Lenin didn't care about the people of Petrograd and was happy to watch his Tsarist and Republican foes bleed from the Finnish sidelines. Much as he may have hated the bourgeois Kerensky and privately plotted to destroy the Republic, Lenin must’ve been glad about his alliance. Whereas Julius Martov acted alone, the Bolshevik had many of the most powerful men in Russia, however temporarily, on his side.

Of course, Kerensky was a partner of convenience, not a true ally. Lenin had no doubt that the war was won, they would be at each other's throats. Thus, it was essential to win as many allies in exile as possible, to strengthen his hand for the return to the Rodina. Grigory Zinoviev was an immediate worry. Lenin didn't know what he'd discussed with Kerensky after the Republican Coup but had his suspicions. The Provisional President had been far too friendly with Zinoviev, embracing him in Turku while ignoring Lenin. Zinoviev hadn't been like this before the civil war- something had to have changed. Though moving against his comrade would've alienated all his allies- and could have ended with him at the bottom of the Baltic- Lenin was most definitely watching Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev.

All this took place against the backdrop of a foreign country. The young Finnish Worker's Republic was beset by divisions. Though leftists and conservatives had united to expel the Russians, their visions of what their country should be were wildly different. Matti Passivuori led the ruling Finnish Social Democratic Party. His strength was that, as a moderate socialist, he was acceptable in principle to everyone. Passivuori's leftist economics didn't prevent him from admiring liberal democracy and he hoped to forge a modern, Western, Finland. Passivuori was to Finland what Kerensky was to Russia. Circumstances had forced both men to abandon political careers for revolution. Both saw themselves as liberators and modernists. Both wanted to abolish the nobility (even if neither could yet), broaden the electorate, and bring their nations into the twentieth century.

President Paasivuori, founder of modern Finland

​

Intervention was actually quite popular in Finland. Passivuori's moderate socialists considered it a matter of national security: Alexander Kerensky was the closest Russia came to sharing their political views. A liberal democratic Russia would hopefully be far more willing to respect Finland than a Tsarist autocracy. Collaborating with Lenin's radicals was an acceptable price. Kullervo Manner's hardliners advocated intervention for different reasons. As an ally of Lenin and believer in world revolution, Manner wanted to see the Soviets turn Russia into the world's second communist state, which could then bring the revolution to Finland. Collaborating with Kerensky's capitalism was an acceptable price. Even the conservatives- many of whom, as monarchists, abhorred the Republican Coup- slowly came round. Being Finnish superseded politics, and Grand Duke Mikhailovich would punish them all the same regardless of their fancy title. Of course, many pointed out that intervention might be the worst choice: if the Finns declared for Kerensky and lost, they'd face the Tsarist bear's claws. Nonetheless, as the leaders of the conservative Finnish Party fell in line, most of the country's nobility acquiesced. If it would save their homeland, collaborating with men guilty of regicide was an acceptable price.

Having watched his countrymen pay in blood for independence, Matti Passivuori was determined never to let the Russians reconquer Finland. He understood that, wedged between Berlin and Petrograd as he was, he'd always have to appease the Great Powers at the expense of his own agenda, but no foreigner was ever going to rule the country again. Unfortunately, for all his liberalism, Alexander Kerensky was a Russian nationalist. Very few in Russia, regardless of which side of the civil war they were on, didn't dream of undoing the hated Treaty of Konigsberg. Being remembered as the man who brought democracy to Russia would be glorious; being remembered as the man who expanded Russia west would be even greater. Passivuori realised that having Kerensky in his country gave him a fleeting opportunity.

If he played it right, he could unite the fractured political scene and have his independence confirmed.

On 1 March 1920, with the Finnish army and exiled Republican units moving towards the border, Kerensky awoke to find his house surrounded. He was just about to telephone Passivuori when the Finnish president walked in. Passivuori calmly explained that he had to "negotiate an arrangement between the Finnish Worker's Republic and the Russian Republic for the conduct of the war", and handed Kerensky a list of demands in Finnish and Russian. Amongst them was a promise to recognise Finland's independence, to cede an ethnically Finnish chunk of western Karelia, and establish a demilitarised zone twenty miles from the border after the war. In exchange for this, Passivuori would join the war... and Kerensky would walk free. The Provisional President reluctantly signed.

Political goals shaped the counteroffensive. Though Kerensky had promised Finland western Karelia, Passivuori knew what promises were worth. Having boots on the ground would make it much harder for the Republicans to renege after victory. Thus, he graciously volunteered to man the more than four hundred miles between Lake Ladoga and the Murmansk pocket. This suited Kerensky- not only because he was willing to cede "a few hundred square miles of tundra"- but because it enabled him to concentrate on Petrograd. Though Passivuori had never claimed the city, Kerensky saw no reason Finland wouldn't grab it: holding a metropolis on the border would give him tremendous leverage against the giant to his south. Thanking the Finns for undertaking so much of the fighting, the Provisional President directed Kornilov to concentrate on the capital. (Ironically enough, Passivuori didn't care about Petrograd, considering it too damaged to be worth occupying). The one contribution Kerensky asked for was use of the Finnish Navy. A Tsarist flotilla had left its Ottoman exile and passed through the Danish Straits (Denmark, like the rest of the world, recognised the Romanovs), to Petrograd via the Baltic coast. Eliminating them was essential if the Republicans wanted to retake the capital. Passivuori was hesitant- he didn't want to risk losing his nascent navy- but agreed after Kerensky promised to compensate him for losses and let the Finnish ships operate under a Finnish admiral.

It was all moot.

The Tsarists were waiting for their foe. Espionage was effortless when both sides spoke the same language, and the Republican bases in Finland were crawling with double agents. These men helped the House of Romanov in small ways ('accidentally' dropping a lit cigarette in a division's worth of horse feed and watching the smoke rise) and large (informing Petrograd where the Republican sector stopped and where the Finnish one began). Nikolai Yudenich, who'd strangled Petrograd in December, prepared accordingly. He didn't care about "those few acres of snow" in Karelia; it was the capital that mattered. On the tenth, he issued a proclamation containing four words which sent a chill down everyone's spine- "a state of siege." People panicked at the thought of reliving the horrors of winter. However, Yudenich had no intention of playing the siege out in reverse. Not bothering to get clearance from his superior (War Minister Grand Duke Nicholas), Grand Duke Mikhailovich, or even Tsar Andrei, for fear that enemy Intelligence would pick up on it, he decided to pre-empt an enemy attack on the capital.

Finnish troops photographed the day before the Russians attacked.​

The invasion of Finland commenced at dawn on 17 March 1920. With the border less than twenty miles north of Petrograd, Tsarist troops had watched the Finns like hawks for months. The northern suburbs of Petrograd had been the first to be rebuilt, with pillboxes and watchtowers replacing butchers and church steeples. Artillery which had pounded the Republican defenders in the winter moved north, ready to blast the Finns if need be. Yudenich had always believed the Finns would enter eventually, and only strict orders from Mikhailovich had kept him from crossing the border in December. As he explained later, Yudenich believed that "military necessity: the need to preserve the lives of Russian soldiers and integrity of Russian positions to eliminate the possibility of enemy assault on the above" allowed him to break that order. Besides, the Finns were abusing their neutrality by harbouring Republican leaders and soldiers. It wasn't even Finns who took the first blows. With Petrograd a Republican sector, Yudenich's shells crashed down on Russians, and it fell to Lavr Kornilov to respond. Republican troops, augmented by Finnish border guards, ceded substantial border towns which, properly fortified, could've held the foe up for days. Bewildered civilians found themselves under Tsarist occupation... it proved just as harsh as they'd feared.

These triumphs were spectacular but isolated.

Finland rapidly pulled itself together. President Passivuori was furious at the Tsarist attack, though he understood that his highly un-neutral policies had caused it. Nonetheless, by striking first Yudenich had given his foe a propaganda advantage. At noon on the seventeenth, Passivuori issued a "National Declaration of Resistance" extending diplomatic recognition to the Russian Republic. Its promise to "assist the government of Russia in its struggle against illegitimate warlordism under the so-called House of Romanov" seems amusing when one considers the disparity between the two. Just as the President had hoped, the war put politics on hold. Yudenich had shelled conservative sympathies for the Tsarist monarchy to oblivion as his men crossed the border. Liberals and socialists found it easier to rally around a war of national defence than a foreign intervention. Kullervo Manner put a radical spin on things, declaring that the "war against Tsarist aggression" marked the first stage in a global revolution. International opinion condemned the Tsarists. When the average Westerner thought of Finland, he imagined a peaceful, pro-German republic; when he thought of the Tsarists, he imagined the Okhrana, divine-right monarchy, and instability. The violation of an innocent country's rights outraged Americans and Britons; the idea of the Russian bear starting a revanchist march west horrified Germans. Sweden and Norway were far too close to the action for comfort. Though both were monarchies with little sympathy for Alexander Kerensky, they happily gave the Finns guns and loans. None of this would've been possible had Passivuori struck first as per the plan.

Popularity couldn't shore up the fighting front. Even as Finnish and Republican troops reached prepared defences, supplies, and reinforcements, the Tsarists kept attacking. There were numerous cases of Finnish units mistaking Republicans for Tsarists, as well as Republican commanders deciding the war was lost and defecting, bringing their units over en masse. However, the defence remained mostly coherent. With national subjugation the price for defeat, this was a battle the Finns couldn't afford to lose. They took few prisoners and fought to the last man and bullet. Republican troops lacked the national incentive but still fought hard- a quick death in Lapland was better than a lingering one in Siberia. One fortunate product of the Finns living in fear was the fixed defences along the border. General Haapalainen hadn't expected Russian troops to man them, but wasn't complaining. Tsarist troops paid a steep price for every step they took up the Karelian Isthmus. By the end of March, they'd only advanced thirty miles at a cost of fifteen thousand lives. The tightly-packed defences and Tsarist infantry charges recalled the Great War and the worst of the Danubian Civil War more than the other fighting in Russia. Nonetheless, despite a heavy cost in blood, the Republicans and Finns were winning. Day by day, Finnish reinforcements slowed the Russian tide until Yudenich stopped. The Tsarist general privately conceded defeat. He'd forestalled an attack on Petrograd, but only at the cost of creating a new fighting front, one which couldn't be resolved any time soon.

This move cost Yudenich his career. Grand Duke Mikhailovich was furious when he heard about the invasion. His standing order to respect Finnish neutrality had existed for a reason: to prevent the Tsarists from being seen as aggressors. Now that Yudenich had deliberately disobeyed, the world saw Mikhailovich not just as someone willing to murder a fellow Grand Duke for an innocent peace proposal, but as someone happy to trample on innocent bystanders. Nonetheless, after discussing it with his military supremo, the Grand Duke Nicholas, Mikhailovich decided on clemency. Defeating the new enemy took precedence over everything, and assigning a new man to the front would impede that. Quick results could still redeem Yudenich. A month of slaughter in the Karelian Isthmus persuaded Mikhailovich to pull the plug. Yudenich obviously couldn't win and so needed to face punishment for the mess he'd made. The disgraced Tsarist travelled to Vladivostok and settled in the Netherlands after the civil war. Mikhailovich chose his replacement on the basis of loyalty: his younger brother. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich had disgraced himself during a Great War shell shortage, and Tsar Michael had 'encouraged' him to resign in November 1916. Once his nephew Andrei mounted the throne, Sergei had petitioned him for a command. The petition had sat on his brother's desk for months until now. It didn't matter that Sergei hadn't had a field command in fifteen years or that his staff work was a bad joke: nothing could go wrong with the Tsar's uncle in power!

The Grand Duke: a man who never should have been let near power

​

Sergei had much to do, and soon discovered that Yudenich had provoked a sleeping giant. Finnish participation provided the spark the Republicans needed in the north. The winter of 1919-1920 hadn't been easy on Tsarist forces in the north- frostbite had claimed many lives while sleet and snow had closed badly needed roads. A month of intense combat in Karelia did no one any favours. By contrast, the Finnish Army, though it was small, was fresh. Fear of a Russian attack had led Passivuori to reach out to Germany and Sweden, who'd happily given him old arms for a suitable price. Many Finnish nobles had been Russian officers before the Great War and, once they realised they weren't going to be persecuted, served their new country. General Kornilov had collaborated with Eero Haapalainen, chief of Finland's nascent General Staff, to rebuild the Republican units which had crossed the border. Several months of rest and retraining had produced revitalised units that were ready for action. The generals had scrapped the initial plan to attack north of Lake Lagoda, placing everything into the Karelian Isthmus. Passivuori had called up conscripts and reservists back in December, and had been husbanding them during the past month of fighting. Now, it was time to put that piece on the board.

The name given to this offensive after the war- the "Petrovskoe Piercing"- says much about its effectiveness. The conscripts and reservists were organised into a new formation, the Finnish Second Army. As Passivuori said of them after the battle, "that the Finnish nation entrusted this vital counterstroke to young boys and greybeards can be attributed to two things. Either we were truly at the end of our tether, or the Finnish national spirit is undefeatable wherever it appears!" Both were likely true, but had the Tsarists not been so exhausted, the Second Army would've got nowhere. After a brief bombardment, the Second Army went into action on 20 April 1920. Much of the heaviest fighting was to the west, as the Tsarists pushed towards the key town of Vyborg. The eastern town of Petrovskoe was an easier target. This was where the decision to sack Yudenich hurt the Tsarists. Whereas the conqueror of Petrograd would've sent enough force to hold the Second Army without depriving the rest of the line, Sergei panicked and ordered one-quarter of the entire Tsarist strength in the isthmus sent to stem the tide. Poor logistics forced these units to spend two days marching... which the Finns and Republicans put to good use. By the time the reinforcements arrived, Petrovskoe flew the Finnish flag. Sergei's reinforcements got to work containing the breakthrough, but the damage was already done. Worse still, while the reinforcements were ambling to the breakthrough, the Finns and Republicans they'd opposed attacked. By the end of April, the entire Tsarist line in the Karelian Isthmus was coming apart. Surrounded Tsarist units tried to surrender to the Republicans; their comrades who'd tried surrendering to the Finns didn't have long to ponder what a mistake they'd made. Kornilov gave these men a choice between joining the Republican army or going to a Finnish prison camp in the far north. Thus reinforced, the Republicans swept on. Grand Duke Sergei could make the walls shake with his curses but not stop the enemy tide south. As the towns captured in Yudenich's first offensive fell, Sergei realised how much danger he was in. Yudenich's strike north- designed to prevent an attack on Petrograd- had failed.

Republican troops advance south towards Petrograd, May 1920​

The capital now faced another siege.

Alexander Kerensky would've been happy if the Finns halted at the prewar border. Initially, of course, the plan had been for Republican troops to take Petrograd while the Finns occupied Karelia. However, Yudenich's unprovoked attack had required maximum force to stop it. Once the Finns had committed their whole army to the Karelian Isthmus, they weren't going to transfer them east just because the initial plan said so. This posed the risk that General Haapalainen's men might occupy the capital and deny it to him. A telegram from the Provisional President to Kornilov ordered him to reach Petrograd before the Finns, giving rise to the "race to Petrograd". Republican and Finnish units vied to be the first in the capital. It made the men more aggressive but strained supply columns. As April turned to May, Kerensky and Passivuori had one question on their minds: whose flag would fly above the Winter Palace?

May 4 saw the Tsarists pushed back to the prewar border. As the rumble of gunfire drew closer, everyone prepared for another ordeal. Many must have cursed fate, asking why they had to relieve the horrors of the siege all over again. Unlike before, there were no more emergency stocks to call upon, no more will to stand and fight. Survival trumped patriotism. Every shell which overshot the Tsarists and crashed into the northern suburbs reminded Petrograd of what lay ahead.

Grand Duke Sergei was a cowardly political appointee. A glance outside his office told him all he needed to know about the siege. If it returned, his titles and honours would do him no good; his guards would happily spill all that noble Romanov blood on the floor if it meant peace. Sergei fled to Veliky Novgorod, instructing his deputy to "resist". His convoy drew much attention, and people soon realised he'd fled. Realising that their cause was hopeless and their commander had deserted them, tsarists crossed to the Republican lines in droves. A delighted Kornilov ordered that these men be well-treated before being enrolled in the Republican army, but few were in any shape to fight. Shocked nurses found clammy-skinned skeletons wrapped in Romanov colours, their eyes dull, frostbite gnawing at infected wounds- and these were the best-supplied men in Petrograd.

Those who remained in the capital had given up hope. Their choices were subjugation or experiencing the pain they'd inflicted on the defenders throughout the winter. Shooting oneself, or letting an enemy do it for you, was an easy way out. Yet others clung on for one reason: the damage done by the war paled in comparison to what the Finns would do. Being subjugated for centuries, barely achieving independence, and then facing an unprovoked attack had enraged the Finns, and what better way to extract revenge than by torching Petrograd? The defenders fought, in their mind, not for the House of Romanov but the Russian race.

It was clear what had to be done.

A messenger crossed the lines under flag of truce three days after Grand Duke Sergei fled, asking to speak with Lavr Kornilov. What exactly the two men agreed on is still not known, but their bargain became an enormous sticking point in Russo-Finnish relations. What is known is that at dusk on 7 May 1920, a year after the Tsarina's regime collapsed, Republicans and Tsarists stopped shooting. The weary men of the House of Romanov stood aside as the Republicans marched into Petrograd. Grand Duke Sergei's wet-faced deputy presented himself to Kornilov, who took pity on him and placed him under house arrest. For the people of the capital, this was the best possible outcome. There would be no second siege, no more privations and suffering, and best of all, they were under the rule of fellow Russians. Lavr Kornilov went from being the dreaded storm on the horizon to the shield against vengeful Finns. This was most definitely a liberation, not a conquest. Petrograd was the birthplace of the Republic. Kerensky had looked after his people; the Tsarists had given them six months of hell. The people rewarded him with their loyalty. As Republican troops handed out rations and bandages, the people were quite content to stay under Alexander Kerensky's banner.

After a year of chaos, Petrograd was ready for peace.

The people of the capital were the only ones happy with the agreement. Grand Duke Mikhailovich and the puppet Tsar were livid. Six months of fighting and the loss of thousands of rubles and lives had been wasted! "For God's sake", Mikhailovich thundered to his nephew, "how will we win the fucking war if these imbeciles carry on?" Barging into Sergei's office a week after the surrender, the Grand Duke heaped verbal abuse on his subordinate until the guards restrained him. After simmering down, Mikhailovich dismissed Sergei; Tsar Andrei stripped him of his nobility several days later. The disgraced Sergei committed suicide three months later. Mikhailovich was fighting not just for his son's throne or to preserve the system; he was fighting to avenge his wife. Failure was not just dangerous; it was a personal insult. Deciding the only man he could trust was himself, Mikhailovich assumed temporary command of the Petrograd sector. Reserves stabilised the front around Volkhov, Gatchina, and Kingisepp- in short, where it was before the campaign, minus tens of thousands of good men gone.

Matti Paasivuori was dejected. Though he could never have admitted it, he'd wanted Petrograd. Privately, he was furious at Kornilov. How much did the Republican general trust his Finnish ally, if he was more willing to fraternise with the enemy than see the Finns enter Petrograd? Was this the thanks Finland received for sheltering the Republicans? Kornilov's retort that the Tsarists had requested a ceasefire, not him, fell on deaf ears. To this day, Finnish nationalists believe they were cheated out of Petrograd in summer 1920; Russians decry Finnish "revanchism". Nonetheless, he played it off as a victory. Ignoring the way he'd abused his neutrality, Passivuori lauded his countrymen for resisting the Tsarist invasion and pledged continued support to "stabilise the internal situation of Russia and secure our own national interests." Since being left alone was too much to ask, Finland would fight on.

The greatest loser of the Petrograd campaign was not the Tsarists, but the Bolsheviks. Vladimir Lenin had stoked the fires of revolution from Petrograd. The capital had been home to the leading Soviet. And now, it was in Kerensky's pocket. As Lenin paced his room in Helsinki, he fumed. Was he any better off than Julius Martov had been in his Norwegian exile? Would he be remembered, after more than a quarter century's exertion, as nothing more than a bit part, a failed would-be revolutionary, a stepping stone on the way to Alexander Kerensky's bourgeois regime? Being sidelined was bad enough, but what came next was an insult. On the first of June, Grigory Zinoviev recieved an invitation from the Provisional President to come to the capital- but Lenin did not. Paranoia took over. Was he being set up for a hit? Would Zinoviev take over the Soviets scattered throughout the country? That would be to Kerensky's liking, after all. Zinoviev was affable and diplomatic- but, Lenin realised, he did not have the spirit of a revolutionary. In his hands, the Soviets would wither. Only one man, Lenin realised, could save Russia from itself, and he sported a newsboy cap and goatee.

Like all the players in this endless war, Vladimir Lenin could only guess who his true enemies were, and what the future of Russia would ultimately be.

Comments?

 

[Couperin]

Chapter Fifty-Five: Unwilling Belligerent​

"Hiding across the border- how dare they? Does Kornilov think he can play me for a fool? And what of Passivuori? If this is neutrality, I would hate to see what war is like..."
-General Yudenich

"I never wanted to fight on your side, Provisonal President. Finland has seen too much war in too little time. But what has happened today has made it all too clear: the survival of the Russian Republic is a prerequisite for the survival of Finland. So, on we will march."
-Matti Paasivuori to Alexander Kerensky

Petrograd was gone.

The surprise was not that the Tsarists had lunged at the capital, but that it took them weeks to conquer it rather than days as in the September Revolution. Hunger and death were the watchwords in the capital. The House of Romanov had betrayed its divine mandate to govern Russia. What sort of imperial father could do this to his people? General Nikolai Yudenich's conduct as military governor only confirmed to the people of Petrograd that revolt had been the right choice.

The Russian Republic was down but not out. Kerensky and Kornilov had drawn up evacuation plans early in the war, and his designated escape cruiser remained on standby throughout the siege. Honour had told Kerensky to remain with his people, but common sense had won out. The Provisional President spent New Years Day 1920 aboard a Baltic Fleet cruiser. Had the Tsarists known his whereabouts, they would've sent every ship in the fleet against him. Seasickness conspired with fear for his life and the Republican project to make Kerensky deathly ill. Along with everyone aboard the ship, he contracted the Kansas flu. Frigid Baltic sea air was the last thing he needed, but he knew too well someone would end up a million rubles richer if he set foot in a neutral country to recuperate. The closest Republican-held port, Murmansk, was frozen over and so the ship was isolated. Kerensky's temperature dropped, patrolling Tsarist craft grew closer every day, and they had nowhere to go. Waking on 16 January, the Provisional President ordered the captain to set course for Rauma, Finland. If there was one man who wouldn't betray him to the Tsarists, it was Matti Passivuori. Finnish soldiers interned the cruiser and crew, but did a double take when they realised who the gaunt man was.

Kerensky rebuilt his health and connections that spring. Many had died in the siege or been trapped by the Okhrana, but many others had fled. Republican officials arrived in their twos and threes, all eager to meet the Provisional President. The gaunt Kerensky was a beacon, a reminder that the Tsarists hadn't won. Russian dreams of liberal democracy were not dead yet.

The most important visitor, though, belonged to the other Republican faction. Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev had survived the siege and made it to Helsinki. The ailing Provisional President found the strength to wrap the second-in-command of the Petrograd Soviet in a great Russian bear hug. "Grigory Yevseyvich, you survived!"

"Da." Zinoviev smiled properly for the first time in months. "I have not forgotten the promise we made. Yudenich cannot defeat the people!"

Kerensky and Zinoviev developed an odd relationship. Ostensibly, they were quite different. Zinoviev still viewed Kerensky as an oppressor who'd have to be swept away eventually; the Provisional President was still damned if he was going to let Zinoviev build a worker's paradise over the ashes of his system. Yet, the two had somehow bonded. When Kerensky had summoned the Bolsheviks after the Republican Coup, Zinoviev had gone, not Lenin, suggesting which revolutionary was more reliable. As a career politician, Kerensky wouldn't abandon an ally without good cause. Zinoviev appeared a moderate, reasonable Bolshevik, one who might counteract Lenin's radicalism. The affection was mutual. Zinoviev was still the Provisional President's "class enemy", but the capitalist had impressed him. Fear, not pride, had kept Lenin from visiting the Tauride Palace. Kerensky's lair had pleasantly surprised Zinoviev. The Provisional President wasn't a Black Hundredsman promising to massacre his enemies; he'd been courteous, flexible, and had a productive vision for Russia. "When the time to build comes", Kerensky had told him, "I hope you will set down your gun and help build a republic the workers can be proud to call their own." What was Zinoviev to do? And what was he to do with his comrade-in-arms?

Vladimir Lenin needed to figure out his next move before his enemies did. His position resembled his archrival Julius Martov’s three years ago. In both cases, enemy forces drawing on Petrograd had placed their revolt in mortal danger; Passivuori's Finland offered a safe haven. Finnish Red Guards answering to Kullervo Manner escorted the Petrograd Soviet to Helsinki. There were, however, important differences. Julius Martov had acted alone. All he’d had at his disposal were the Petrograd revolutionaries, and his support died with them. Lenin and Zinoviev, though, sat atop a movement. Even if Tsarist troops destroyed the Petrograd Soviet, its counterparts across the country would still be there. The Moscow Soviet, the Kazan Soviet, the Nizhny Soviet… all these answered to them. And besides, many under Tsarist rule looked to Lenin. The Central Volga People’s Army had proven its worth and would keep fighting even if Petrograd fell. Less stoically, Lenin didn't care about the people of Petrograd and was happy to watch his Tsarist and Republican foes bleed from the Finnish sidelines. Much as he may have hated the bourgeois Kerensky and privately plotted to destroy the Republic, Lenin must’ve been glad about his alliance. Whereas Julius Martov acted alone, the Bolshevik had many of the most powerful men in Russia, however temporarily, on his side.

Of course, Kerensky was a partner of convenience, not a true ally. Lenin had no doubt that the war was won, they would be at each other's throats. Thus, it was essential to win as many allies in exile as possible, to strengthen his hand for the return to the Rodina. Grigory Zinoviev was an immediate worry. Lenin didn't know what he'd discussed with Kerensky after the Republican Coup but had his suspicions. The Provisional President had been far too friendly with Zinoviev, embracing him in Turku while ignoring Lenin. Zinoviev hadn't been like this before the civil war- something had to have changed. Though moving against his comrade would've alienated all his allies- and could have ended with him at the bottom of the Baltic- Lenin was most definitely watching Grigory Yevseyevich Zinoviev.

All this took place against the backdrop of a foreign country. The young Finnish Worker's Republic was beset by divisions. Though leftists and conservatives had united to expel the Russians, their visions of what their country should be were wildly different. Matti Passivuori led the ruling Finnish Social Democratic Party. His strength was that, as a moderate socialist, he was acceptable in principle to everyone. Passivuori's leftist economics didn't prevent him from admiring liberal democracy and he hoped to forge a modern, Western, Finland. Passivuori was to Finland what Kerensky was to Russia. Circumstances had forced both men to abandon political careers for revolution. Both saw themselves as liberators and modernists. Both wanted to abolish the nobility (even if neither could yet), broaden the electorate, and bring their nations into the twentieth century.

President Paasivuori, founder of modern Finland
View attachment 674863​

Intervention was actually quite popular in Finland. Passivuori's moderate socialists considered it a matter of national security: Alexander Kerensky was the closest Russia came to sharing their political views. A liberal democratic Russia would hopefully be far more willing to respect Finland than a Tsarist autocracy. Collaborating with Lenin's radicals was an acceptable price. Kullervo Manner's hardliners advocated intervention for different reasons. As an ally of Lenin and believer in world revolution, Manner wanted to see the Soviets turn Russia into the world's second communist state, which could then bring the revolution to Finland. Collaborating with Kerensky's capitalism was an acceptable price. Even the conservatives- many of whom, as monarchists, abhorred the Republican Coup- slowly came round. Being Finnish superseded politics, and Grand Duke Mikhailovich would punish them all the same regardless of their fancy title. Of course, many pointed out that intervention might be the worst choice: if the Finns declared for Kerensky and lost, they'd face the Tsarist bear's claws. Nonetheless, as the leaders of the conservative Finnish Party fell in line, most of the country's nobility acquiesced. If it would save their homeland, collaborating with men guilty of regicide was an acceptable price.

Having watched his countrymen pay in blood for independence, Matti Passivuori was determined never to let the Russians reconquer Finland. He understood that, wedged between Berlin and Petrograd as he was, he'd always have to appease the Great Powers at the expense of his own agenda, but no foreigner was ever going to rule the country again. Unfortunately, for all his liberalism, Alexander Kerensky was a Russian nationalist. Very few in Russia, regardless of which side of the civil war they were on, didn't dream of undoing the hated Treaty of Konigsberg. Being remembered as the man who brought democracy to Russia would be glorious; being remembered as the man who expanded Russia west would be even greater. Passivuori realised that having Kerensky in his country gave him a fleeting opportunity.

If he played it right, he could unite the fractured political scene and have his independence confirmed.

On 1 March 1920, with the Finnish army and exiled Republican units moving towards the border, Kerensky awoke to find his house surrounded. He was just about to telephone Passivuori when the Finnish president walked in. Passivuori calmly explained that he had to "negotiate an arrangement between the Finnish Worker's Republic and the Russian Republic for the conduct of the war", and handed Kerensky a list of demands in Finnish and Russian. Amongst them was a promise to recognise Finland's independence, to cede an ethnically Finnish chunk of western Karelia, and establish a demilitarised zone twenty miles from the border after the war. In exchange for this, Passivuori would join the war... and Kerensky would walk free. The Provisional President reluctantly signed.

Political goals shaped the counteroffensive. Though Kerensky had promised Finland western Karelia, Passivuori knew what promises were worth. Having boots on the ground would make it much harder for the Republicans to renege after victory. Thus, he graciously volunteered to man the more than four hundred miles between Lake Ladoga and the Murmansk pocket. This suited Kerensky- not only because he was willing to cede "a few hundred square miles of tundra"- but because it enabled him to concentrate on Petrograd. Though Passivuori had never claimed the city, Kerensky saw no reason Finland wouldn't grab it: holding a metropolis on the border would give him tremendous leverage against the giant to his south. Thanking the Finns for undertaking so much of the fighting, the Provisional President directed Kornilov to concentrate on the capital. (Ironically enough, Passivuori didn't care about Petrograd, considering it too damaged to be worth occupying). The one contribution Kerensky asked for was use of the Finnish Navy. A Tsarist flotilla had left its Ottoman exile and passed through the Danish Straits (Denmark, like the rest of the world, recognised the Romanovs), to Petrograd via the Baltic coast. Eliminating them was essential if the Republicans wanted to retake the capital. Passivuori was hesitant- he didn't want to risk losing his nascent navy- but agreed after Kerensky promised to compensate him for losses and let the Finnish ships operate under a Finnish admiral.

It was all moot.

The Tsarists were waiting for their foe. Espionage was effortless when both sides spoke the same language, and the Republican bases in Finland were crawling with double agents. These men helped the House of Romanov in small ways ('accidentally' dropping a lit cigarette in a division's worth of horse feed and watching the smoke rise) and large (informing Petrograd where the Republican sector stopped and where the Finnish one began). Nikolai Yudenich, who'd strangled Petrograd in December, prepared accordingly. He didn't care about "those few acres of snow" in Karelia; it was the capital that mattered. On the tenth, he issued a proclamation containing four words which sent a chill down everyone's spine- "a state of siege." People panicked at the thought of reliving the horrors of winter. However, Yudenich had no intention of playing the siege out in reverse. Not bothering to get clearance from his superior (War Minister Grand Duke Nicholas), Grand Duke Mikhailovich, or even Tsar Andrei, for fear that enemy Intelligence would pick up on it, he decided to pre-empt an enemy attack on the capital.

Finnish troops photographed the day before the Russians attacked.​

View attachment 674862

The invasion of Finland commenced at dawn on 17 March 1920. With the border less than twenty miles north of Petrograd, Tsarist troops had watched the Finns like hawks for months. The northern suburbs of Petrograd had been the first to be rebuilt, with pillboxes and watchtowers replacing butchers and church steeples. Artillery which had pounded the Republican defenders in the winter moved north, ready to blast the Finns if need be. Yudenich had always believed the Finns would enter eventually, and only strict orders from Mikhailovich had kept him from crossing the border in December. As he explained later, Yudenich believed that "military necessity: the need to preserve the lives of Russian soldiers and integrity of Russian positions to eliminate the possibility of enemy assault on the above" allowed him to break that order. Besides, the Finns were abusing their neutrality by harbouring Republican leaders and soldiers. It wasn't even Finns who took the first blows. With Petrograd a Republican sector, Yudenich's shells crashed down on Russians, and it fell to Lavr Kornilov to respond. Republican troops, augmented by Finnish border guards, ceded substantial border towns which, properly fortified, could've held the foe up for days. Bewildered civilians found themselves under Tsarist occupation... it proved just as harsh as they'd feared.

These triumphs were spectacular but isolated.

Finland rapidly pulled itself together. President Passivuori was furious at the Tsarist attack, though he understood that his highly un-neutral policies had caused it. Nonetheless, by striking first Yudenich had given his foe a propaganda advantage. At noon on the seventeenth, Passivuori issued a "National Declaration of Resistance" extending diplomatic recognition to the Russian Republic. Its promise to "assist the government of Russia in its struggle against illegitimate warlordism under the so-called House of Romanov" seems amusing when one considers the disparity between the two. Just as the President had hoped, the war put politics on hold. Yudenich had shelled conservative sympathies for the Tsarist monarchy to oblivion as his men crossed the border. Liberals and socialists found it easier to rally around a war of national defence than a foreign intervention. Kullervo Manner put a radical spin on things, declaring that the "war against Tsarist aggression" marked the first stage in a global revolution. International opinion condemned the Tsarists. When the average Westerner thought of Finland, he imagined a peaceful, pro-German republic; when he thought of the Tsarists, he imagined the Okhrana, divine-right monarchy, and instability. The violation of an innocent country's rights outraged Americans and Britons; the idea of the Russian bear starting a revanchist march west horrified Germans. Sweden and Norway were far too close to the action for comfort. Though both were monarchies with little sympathy for Alexander Kerensky, they happily gave the Finns guns and loans. None of this would've been possible had Passivuori struck first as per the plan.

Popularity couldn't shore up the fighting front. Even as Finnish and Republican troops reached prepared defences, supplies, and reinforcements, the Tsarists kept attacking. There were numerous cases of Finnish units mistaking Republicans for Tsarists, as well as Republican commanders deciding the war was lost and defecting, bringing their units over en masse. However, the defence remained mostly coherent. With national subjugation the price for defeat, this was a battle the Finns couldn't afford to lose. They took few prisoners and fought to the last man and bullet. Republican troops lacked the national incentive but still fought hard- a quick death in Lapland was better than a lingering one in Siberia. One fortunate product of the Finns living in fear was the fixed defences along the border. General Haapalainen hadn't expected Russian troops to man them, but wasn't complaining. Tsarist troops paid a steep price for every step they took up the Karelian Isthmus. By the end of March, they'd only advanced thirty miles at a cost of fifteen thousand lives. The tightly-packed defences and Tsarist infantry charges recalled the Great War and the worst of the Danubian Civil War more than the other fighting in Russia. Nonetheless, despite a heavy cost in blood, the Republicans and Finns were winning. Day by day, Finnish reinforcements slowed the Russian tide until Yudenich stopped. The Tsarist general privately conceded defeat. He'd forestalled an attack on Petrograd, but only at the cost of creating a new fighting front, one which couldn't be resolved any time soon.

This move cost Yudenich his career. Grand Duke Mikhailovich was furious when he heard about the invasion. His standing order to respect Finnish neutrality had existed for a reason: to prevent the Tsarists from being seen as aggressors. Now that Yudenich had deliberately disobeyed, the world saw Mikhailovich not just as someone willing to murder a fellow Grand Duke for an innocent peace proposal, but as someone happy to trample on innocent bystanders. Nonetheless, after discussing it with his military supremo, the Grand Duke Nicholas, Mikhailovich decided on clemency. Defeating the new enemy took precedence over everything, and assigning a new man to the front would impede that. Quick results could still redeem Yudenich. A month of slaughter in the Karelian Isthmus persuaded Mikhailovich to pull the plug. Yudenich obviously couldn't win and so needed to face punishment for the mess he'd made. The disgraced Tsarist travelled to Vladivostok and settled in the Netherlands after the civil war. Mikhailovich chose his replacement on the basis of loyalty: his younger brother. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich had disgraced himself during a Great War shell shortage, and Tsar Michael had 'encouraged' him to resign in November 1916. Once his nephew Andrei mounted the throne, Sergei had petitioned him for a command. The petition had sat on his brother's desk for months until now. It didn't matter that Sergei hadn't had a field command in fifteen years or that his staff work was a bad joke: nothing could go wrong with the Tsar's uncle in power!

The Grand Duke: a man who never should have been let near power
View attachment 674861​

Sergei had much to do, and soon discovered that Yudenich had provoked a sleeping giant. Finnish participation provided the spark the Republicans needed in the north. The winter of 1919-1920 hadn't been easy on Tsarist forces in the north- frostbite had claimed many lives while sleet and snow had closed badly needed roads. A month of intense combat in Karelia did no one any favours. By contrast, the Finnish Army, though it was small, was fresh. Fear of a Russian attack had led Passivuori to reach out to Germany and Sweden, who'd happily given him old arms for a suitable price. Many Finnish nobles had been Russian officers before the Great War and, once they realised they weren't going to be persecuted, served their new country. General Kornilov had collaborated with Eero Haapalainen, chief of Finland's nascent General Staff, to rebuild the Republican units which had crossed the border. Several months of rest and retraining had produced revitalised units that were ready for action. The generals had scrapped the initial plan to attack north of Lake Lagoda, placing everything into the Karelian Isthmus. Passivuori had called up conscripts and reservists back in December, and had been husbanding them during the past month of fighting. Now, it was time to put that piece on the board.

The name given to this offensive after the war- the "Petrovskoe Piercing"- says much about its effectiveness. The conscripts and reservists were organised into a new formation, the Finnish Second Army. As Passivuori said of them after the battle, "that the Finnish nation entrusted this vital counterstroke to young boys and greybeards can be attributed to two things. Either we were truly at the end of our tether, or the Finnish national spirit is undefeatable wherever it appears!" Both were likely true, but had the Tsarists not been so exhausted, the Second Army would've got nowhere. After a brief bombardment, the Second Army went into action on 20 April 1920. Much of the heaviest fighting was to the west, as the Tsarists pushed towards the key town of Vyborg. The eastern town of Petrovskoe was an easier target. This was where the decision to sack Yudenich hurt the Tsarists. Whereas the conqueror of Petrograd would've sent enough force to hold the Second Army without depriving the rest of the line, Sergei panicked and ordered one-quarter of the entire Tsarist strength in the isthmus sent to stem the tide. Poor logistics forced these units to spend two days marching... which the Finns and Republicans put to good use. By the time the reinforcements arrived, Petrovskoe flew the Finnish flag. Sergei's reinforcements got to work containing the breakthrough, but the damage was already done. Worse still, while the reinforcements were ambling to the breakthrough, the Finns and Republicans they'd opposed attacked. By the end of April, the entire Tsarist line in the Karelian Isthmus was coming apart. Surrounded Tsarist units tried to surrender to the Republicans; their comrades who'd tried surrendering to the Finns didn't have long to ponder what a mistake they'd made. Kornilov gave these men a choice between joining the Republican army or going to a Finnish prison camp in the far north. Thus reinforced, the Republicans swept on. Grand Duke Sergei could make the walls shake with his curses but not stop the enemy tide south. As the towns captured in Yudenich's first offensive fell, Sergei realised how much danger he was in. Yudenich's strike north- designed to prevent an attack on Petrograd- had failed.

Republican troops advance south towards Petrograd, May 1920​

View attachment 674865

The capital now faced another siege.

Alexander Kerensky would've been happy if the Finns halted at the prewar border. Initially, of course, the plan had been for Republican troops to take Petrograd while the Finns occupied Karelia. However, Yudenich's unprovoked attack had required maximum force to stop it. Once the Finns had committed their whole army to the Karelian Isthmus, they weren't going to transfer them east just because the initial plan said so. This posed the risk that General Haapalainen's men might occupy the capital and deny it to him. A telegram from the Provisional President to Kornilov ordered him to reach Petrograd before the Finns, giving rise to the "race to Petrograd". Republican and Finnish units vied to be the first in the capital. It made the men more aggressive but strained supply columns. As April turned to May, Kerensky and Passivuori had one question on their minds: whose flag would fly above the Winter Palace?

May 4 saw the Tsarists pushed back to the prewar border. As the rumble of gunfire drew closer, everyone prepared for another ordeal. Many must have cursed fate, asking why they had to relieve the horrors of the siege all over again. Unlike before, there were no more emergency stocks to call upon, no more will to stand and fight. Survival trumped patriotism. Every shell which overshot the Tsarists and crashed into the northern suburbs reminded Petrograd of what lay ahead.

Grand Duke Sergei was a cowardly political appointee. A glance outside his office told him all he needed to know about the siege. If it returned, his titles and honours would do him no good; his guards would happily spill all that noble Romanov blood on the floor if it meant peace. Sergei fled to Veliky Novgorod, instructing his deputy to "resist". His convoy drew much attention, and people soon realised he'd fled. Realising that their cause was hopeless and their commander had deserted them, tsarists crossed to the Republican lines in droves. A delighted Kornilov ordered that these men be well-treated before being enrolled in the Republican army, but few were in any shape to fight. Shocked nurses found clammy-skinned skeletons wrapped in Romanov colours, their eyes dull, frostbite gnawing at infected wounds- and these were the best-supplied men in Petrograd.

Those who remained in the capital had given up hope. Their choices were subjugation or experiencing the pain they'd inflicted on the defenders throughout the winter. Shooting oneself, or letting an enemy do it for you, was an easy way out. Yet others clung on for one reason: the damage done by the war paled in comparison to what the Finns would do. Being subjugated for centuries, barely achieving independence, and then facing an unprovoked attack had enraged the Finns, and what better way to extract revenge than by torching Petrograd? The defenders fought, in their mind, not for the House of Romanov but the Russian race.

It was clear what had to be done.

A messenger crossed the lines under flag of truce three days after Grand Duke Sergei fled, asking to speak with Lavr Kornilov. What exactly the two men agreed on is still not known, but their bargain became an enormous sticking point in Russo-Finnish relations. What is known is that at dusk on 7 May 1920, a year after the Tsarina's regime collapsed, Republicans and Tsarists stopped shooting. The weary men of the House of Romanov stood aside as the Republicans marched into Petrograd. Grand Duke Sergei's wet-faced deputy presented himself to Kornilov, who took pity on him and placed him under house arrest. For the people of the capital, this was the best possible outcome. There would be no second siege, no more privations and suffering, and best of all, they were under the rule of fellow Russians. Lavr Kornilov went from being the dreaded storm on the horizon to the shield against vengeful Finns. This was most definitely a liberation, not a conquest. Petrograd was the birthplace of the Republic. Kerensky had looked after his people; the Tsarists had given them six months of hell. The people rewarded him with their loyalty. As Republican troops handed out rations and bandages, the people were quite content to stay under Alexander Kerensky's banner.

After a year of chaos, Petrograd was ready for peace.

The people of the capital were the only ones happy with the agreement. Grand Duke Mikhailovich and the puppet Tsar were livid. Six months of fighting and the loss of thousands of rubles and lives had been wasted! "For God's sake", Mikhailovich thundered to his nephew, "how will we win the fucking war if these imbeciles carry on?" Barging into Sergei's office a week after the surrender, the Grand Duke heaped verbal abuse on his subordinate until the guards restrained him. After simmering down, Mikhailovich dismissed Sergei; Tsar Andrei stripped him of his nobility several days later. The disgraced Sergei committed suicide three months later. Mikhailovich was fighting not just for his son's throne or to preserve the system; he was fighting to avenge his wife. Failure was not just dangerous; it was a personal insult. Deciding the only man he could trust was himself, Mikhailovich assumed temporary command of the Petrograd sector. Reserves stabilised the front around Volkhov, Gatchina, and Kingisepp- in short, where it was before the campaign, minus tens of thousands of good men gone.

Matti Paasivuori was dejected. Though he could never have admitted it, he'd wanted Petrograd. Privately, he was furious at Kornilov. How much did the Republican general trust his Finnish ally, if he was more willing to fraternise with the enemy than see the Finns enter Petrograd? Was this the thanks Finland received for sheltering the Republicans? Kornilov's retort that the Tsarists had requested a ceasefire, not him, fell on deaf ears. To this day, Finnish nationalists believe they were cheated out of Petrograd in summer 1920; Russians decry Finnish "revanchism". Nonetheless, he played it off as a victory. Ignoring the way he'd abused his neutrality, Passivuori lauded his countrymen for resisting the Tsarist invasion and pledged continued support to "stabilise the internal situation of Russia and secure our own national interests." Since being left alone was too much to ask, Finland would fight on.

The greatest loser of the Petrograd campaign was not the Tsarists, but the Bolsheviks. Vladimir Lenin had stoked the fires of revolution from Petrograd. The capital had been home to the leading Soviet. And now, it was in Kerensky's pocket. As Lenin paced his room in Helsinki, he fumed. Was he any better off than Julius Martov had been in his Norwegian exile? Would he be remembered, after more than a quarter century's exertion, as nothing more than a bit part, a failed would-be revolutionary, a stepping stone on the way to Alexander Kerensky's bourgeois regime? Being sidelined was bad enough, but what came next was an insult. On the first of June, Grigory Zinoviev recieved an invitation from the Provisional President to come to the capital- but Lenin did not. Paranoia took over. Was he being set up for a hit? Would Zinoviev take over the Soviets scattered throughout the country? That would be to Kerensky's liking, after all. Zinoviev was affable and diplomatic- but, Lenin realised, he did not have the spirit of a revolutionary. In his hands, the Soviets would wither. Only one man, Lenin realised, could save Russia from itself, and he sported a newsboy cap and goatee.

Like all the players in this endless war, Vladimir Lenin could only guess who his true enemies were, and what the future of Russia would ultimately be.

Comments?

It looks like the only group that seems to be winning definitively are the Finns, who have effectively played the Republicans and Tsarists into giving them international sympathy, territory, and internal cohesion where previously there was little.

 

[wietze]

hmmm since finland will fight on, maybe they will end up with the whole of the Kola peninsula and a border as far east as the white sea?

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth]

It looks like the only group that seems to be winning definitively are the Finns, who have effectively played the Republicans and Tsarists into giving them international sympathy, territory, and internal cohesion where previously there was little.

This is very true. Neutrality, peace, and quiet would've been best, but barring that, playing both sides off each other for greater gain works too...
Germany sees Finland (even a left-wing one) as a good counterweight to Russia-- the rest of the world is cheering for "plucky, innocent, unprovoked Finland!" not dissimilar to the Winter War of OTL.

hmmm since finland will fight on, maybe they will end up with the whole of the Kola peninsula and a border as far east as the white sea?

That would be Paasivuori's ideal outcome, yeah. But would Kerensky ever agree to such a thing?

 

[Jaenera Targaryen]

This is very true. Neutrality, peace, and quiet would've been best, but barring that, playing both sides off each other for greater gain works too...
Germany sees Finland (even a left-wing one) as a good counterweight to Russia-- the rest of the world is cheering for "plucky, innocent, unprovoked Finland!" not dissimilar to the Winter War of OTL.

That would be Paasivuori's ideal outcome, yeah. But would Kerensky ever agree to such a thing?

He might be forced to, if subtle hints were passed onto him about the Finns talking to the Germans. And say...maybe a battlecruiser or two, loitering outside the Gulf of Finland? Army exercises in Livonia?

I mean, the Tsarists did attack Finland, but as you yourself pointed out, everyone in Russia wants to reclaim all the land lost in WWI. It wouldn't take much (or long) for the Republicans to start acting like the Tsarists once their domestic position is secure, and they can start looking outward instead.

I wouldn't be surprised if by then the Finns started talking with Krupp about buying artillery pieces, as well as with Mauser for rifles and machine guns.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth]

He might be forced to, if subtle hints were passed onto him about the Finns talking to the Germans. And say...maybe a battlecruiser or two, loitering outside the Gulf of Finland? Army exercises in Livonia?

I mean, the Tsarists did attack Finland, but as you yourself pointed out, everyone in Russia wants to reclaim all the land lost in WWI. It wouldn't take much (or long) for the Republicans to start acting like the Tsarists once their domestic position is secure, and they can start looking outward instead.

I wouldn't be surprised if by then the Finns started talking with Krupp about buying artillery pieces, as well as with Mauser for rifles and machine guns.

You raise an excellent point. Paasivuori is cooperating with the Republicans out of expediency, not genuine loyalty. He views them as a means to an end, not an end in and of itself.

 

[TGW]

That statement about neutrality is a great of dark humour, and also very sad at the same time.

Oh boy, Kerensky struggling for his life can't be a great morale booster for the Republicans. He and Zinoview having developed a "Fuck you we don't respect each other!" relationship cracks me up nonetheless. I mean I'm still team Martov all the way, but Zinoview's position at present is interesting.

Man it is going to be very interesting to see how the Finnish people feel about getting dragged kicking and screaming into this war. Especially seeing as the Tsarist attack has done some damage. This is all warfare stuff which I honestly struggle with a bit as an aspiring writer, but the writing of it is all very dynamic and exciting. Yudenich shot himself in the foot here, not going to lie.

nothing could go wrong with the Tsar's uncle in power!

I mean is that not a crystallization of the entire fucking problem of Russia in the 20th century? Oh and ANOTHER SIEGE. Hooray! The Russians love them a siege! Man it is impressive with all the shit Georgy Lvov pulled it's this Sergei who comes across as the most unlikeable and incompetent member of the Romanovs.

And in one fell swoop the crafty Kerensky has ensured the Republic's victory in a massive war of propaganda. Mind, he's also shafted himself into assuring that damn near everyone hates him, but honestly being hated by everyone is practically the norm for Russian politicians at this point in the timeline. And Lenin's at his lowest point while, again, being at his highest in paradoxical fashion.

In short, the game's not over yet and it won't be for some time.

 

[Kylia]

Well, this is just... maddness. How does this mess even end for anyone winning?

 

[jonathan hanson]

man i hope the republicans don't win the russian civil war i just want the monarchy to survive maybe loose some territory sure but still survive i'm american but i have a strong dislike for democratic/republican forms of government

 

[Sphenodon]

Well, looks like it was Finland after all. Pretty interesting seeing the diplomacy in action - the Finns and Republican Russians going back on each other as readily as fighting together for survival is wonderfully realistic as a depiction of realpolitik. As is that of the continual bane of aristocratic governments, political appointees bumbling within their stations. I wasn't expecting Sergey Mikhailovich to brick Yudenich's gains so thoroughly, but that a single bad decision or two up top can undo months or years of progress is a time-honored truth.

Lenin continues to sit in his kettle, and I think the heat and pressure are beginning to get to him. One wonders if he will keep on the down-low and seek opportunities to gain more influence in the provisional government as the war goes on, if he will try to assassinate some key rivals to water down the power disparity between his loyalists and the Kerensky-Zinoviev cliques, or if he is desperate enough to try and incite revolt in Muscovy's industrial production centers. One could argue he would find commonality with Anton's disillusionment, but given Lenin's OTL relationship with the Greens I have a hard time seeing him in an effective alliance with agrarian autonomists.

Keep up the good work!

 

[Pexa]

That would be Paasivuori's ideal outcome, yeah. But would Kerensky ever agree to such a thing?

Perhaps, perhaps not - easily. However, at the time, there were quite a few Finns living in the Kola area. I'm certain that at least some of the Karelians would prefer Finland to Russia, too, not that they would be asked most likely.

Great update, and the whole story is interesting. A very minor detail, but the name of the Finnish President seems to vary between Passivuori and Paasivuori quite a lot.

 

[Alpha-King98760]

Great chapter but Lenin needs to die soon and violently. Bolshevism is not what Russia needs in any sense of the word.

 

[Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth]

Perhaps, perhaps not - easily. However, at the time, there were quite a few Finns living in the Kola area. I'm certain that at least some of the Karelians would prefer Finland to Russia, too, not that they would be asked most likely.

Great update, and the whole story is interesting. A very minor detail, but the name of the Finnish President seems to vary between Passivuori and Paasivuori quite a lot.

Thanks for the comment... this will become important later on.

You're right about the spelling-- I know it's two "a"s and only one "s", but my autocorrect begs to differ... Thanks for bringing it to my attention though; I'll strive to improve in future.

Well, looks like it was Finland after all. Pretty interesting seeing the diplomacy in action - the Finns and Republican Russians going back on each other as readily as fighting together for survival is wonderfully realistic as a depiction of realpolitik. As is that of the continual bane of aristocratic governments, political appointees bumbling within their stations. I wasn't expecting Sergey Mikhailovich to brick Yudenich's gains so thoroughly, but that a single bad decision or two up top can undo months or years of progress is a time-honored truth.

Lenin continues to sit in his kettle, and I think the heat and pressure are beginning to get to him. One wonders if he will keep on the down-low and seek opportunities to gain more influence in the provisional government as the war goes on, if he will try to assassinate some key rivals to water down the power disparity between his loyalists and the Kerensky-Zinoviev cliques, or if he is desperate enough to try and incite revolt in Muscovy's industrial production centers. One could argue he would find commonality with Anton's disillusionment, but given Lenin's OTL relationship with the Greens I have a hard time seeing him in an effective alliance with agrarian autonomists.

Keep up the good work!

Finland it was! But there may be more to come...
Yes, this is a good example of realpolitik. It serves Finland's national interest to ally with the Republicans, and to be fair there are plenty of similarities between Paasivuori and Kerensky. However, as a Russian Kerensky will always symbolise, to some degree, the damned foreigners who occupied Paasivuori's country for two centuries, and as a Finn Paasivuori will never be treated like a true equal. There are plenty of ways this could go, so we'll have to see...

Ah yes, Lenin. I've not forgotten about him- I do have an end goal for him in mind, as well as Trotsky- but it's all he can do to lie low for now. Aside from Kullervo Manner, he hasn't got many allies in Finland, while Kerensky isn't interested in a close alliance with him either. Officially, relations between the Soviets and Republic are okay, with Zinoviev acting as a go-between, but on the ground things are... tense. A Bolshevik uprising against the Republicans is definitely possible, but only if Lenin is truly desperate, because such a thing would weaken the anti-Tsarist united front. And yes, he's quite sympathetic towards Antonov, even if there's no real opportunity for them to collaborate right now.

Thanks for commenting

man i hope the republicans don't win the russian civil war i just want the monarchy to survive maybe loose some territory sure but still survive i'm american but i have a strong dislike for democratic/republican forms of government

I'm an American with a soft spot for monarchy too.... We will see the fate of the Republicans in due time. No holds will be barred and no quarter shown!

Well, this is just... maddness. How does this mess even end for anyone winning?

I agree- it's complete chaos. What's crazy is that this RCW is actually pretty tame compared to our own: the Baltic, Belarus, and even Poland, all of which were fought over in OTL, are safely under German control, while the 'stans are mostly quiet. Stuff is happening in Ukraine and the South Caucasus, but not on our world's scale. As opposed to the warlordism which characterised the OTL Whites, both of TTL's factions are (relatively) well-organised and centrally directed. And it is still a catastrophe which will leave Russia a lot emptier.

The only winning move would be not to play. Far better to sit down for a nice Russian game of chess...

Great chapter but Lenin needs to die soon and violently. Bolshevism is not what Russia needs in any sense of the word.

Thanks, glad you liked it. Believe me, I abhor Communism in all its forms. But Comrade Lenin hasn't run out of energy just yet. Kerensky might find it convenient for him to suffer an "unfortunate accident"... perhaps I could arrange such a thing.

That statement about neutrality is a great of dark humour, and also very sad at the same time.

Oh boy, Kerensky struggling for his life can't be a great morale booster for the Republicans. He and Zinoview having developed a "Fuck you we don't respect each other!" relationship cracks me up nonetheless. I mean I'm still team Martov all the way, but Zinoview's position at present is interesting.

Man it is going to be very interesting to see how the Finnish people feel about getting dragged kicking and screaming into this war. Especially seeing as the Tsarist attack has done some damage. This is all warfare stuff which I honestly struggle with a bit as an aspiring writer, but the writing of it is all very dynamic and exciting. Yudenich shot himself in the foot here, not going to lie.

I mean is that not a crystallization of the entire fucking problem of Russia in the 20th century? Oh and ANOTHER SIEGE. Hooray! The Russians love them a siege! Man it is impressive with all the shit Georgy Lvov pulled it's this Sergei who comes across as the most unlikeable and incompetent member of the Romanovs.

And in one fell swoop the crafty Kerensky has ensured the Republic's victory in a massive war of propaganda. Mind, he's also shafted himself into assuring that damn near everyone hates him, but honestly being hated by everyone is practically the norm for Russian politicians at this point in the timeline. And Lenin's at his lowest point while, again, being at his highest in paradoxical fashion.

In short, the game's not over yet and it won't be for some time.

Thanks. I always write those quotes off-the-cuff right before posting and sometimes worry they're too ad hoc.
Regarding Kerensky, his illness was mostly kept secret. Part of this was because he was on an isolated ship without much ability to contact the outside world till he reached Finland, but part of it was for the exact reason you describe- preservation of morale.

The Finns didn't want to join the war, but now they're in, they might as well do a good job.

No, the game is not over yet by a long shot! Neither side, it seems, can destroy the other. The only smart one here was the late Grand Duke Kiril Vladimirovich of chapter 52. He saw the war was destroying his country and tried to arrange a compromise... because he loved Russia more than he loved ideology and pride. And what did Mikhailovich do? He killed him for it. Right now, Russia is its own worst enemy.

He might be forced to, if subtle hints were passed onto him about the Finns talking to the Germans. And say...maybe a battlecruiser or two, loitering outside the Gulf of Finland? Army exercises in Livonia?

I mean, the Tsarists did attack Finland, but as you yourself pointed out, everyone in Russia wants to reclaim all the land lost in WWI. It wouldn't take much (or long) for the Republicans to start acting like the Tsarists once their domestic position is secure, and they can start looking outward instead.

I wouldn't be surprised if by then the Finns started talking with Krupp about buying artillery pieces, as well as with Mauser for rifles and machine guns.

Something I ought to have added to my earlier message: yes, the Germans value Finland as a shield against Russia. The possibility of intervention from Berlin is still slim, but Tsarist boots in Helsinki (however unlikely that may be right now) would almost certainly precipitate war. Small acts of sabre-rattling like what you described would be excellent shots across the bow.

Thanks for the comments everyone. This sort of thing encourages me to keep chugging on... it is appreciated. Next update will be a rather military-focussed one again, but after that there are some political things I want to cover.

 

[Titanium49]

To tie up a loose end from the chapter:

The four girls lived happier lives. Along with their maternal aunt Elisabeth, they were sent to live in Hesse, where their mother’s side of the family hailed from. Michael gave them a generous allowance, and they were treated well by Elisabeth’s brother, the Grand Duke.

• Olga, the eldest, married a minor noble from Saxony five years later and spent the rest of her life in Dresden, dying in 1988 at the ripe old age of 95 and leaving five children and twelve grandchildren behind.
• Tatiana defied the many suitors she found in Germany, and moved to Vladivostok in 1927, where she spent her last forty-three years in a convent.
• Maria left Hesse at the start of 1918 and married Prince Kiril of Preslav. After her husband’s death in 1967, she quietly returned to Petrograd, where she died in 1970. Her children and grandchildren remain in Bulgaria to the present.
• Finally, Anastasia lived in Hesse for a year before marrying the American vice-ambassador, whom she met at a soiree in Berlin to which her uncle was invited. They moved to California but divorced after only two years; she never remarried. She subsequently entered the film industry and became a respected celebrity in 1920s America. Anastasia became an active supporter of a Romanov restoration and partnered with an up-and-coming German filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, in 1936 to produce The Riddle, an allegory of her family and exile. She died in a motor accident in 1947. Her memoirs, published posthumously, are read today by monarchists the world over.

Alix was a carrier of the X-linked recessive gene for factor IIX deficiency, which she passed on to Alexei. Her daughters have a 50% of being carriers, and 50% of their sons will suffer from haemophilia.

I've just read the story from the beginning today and I'm really enjoying it. A couple of other comments. The Sindh city of Hyderabad should be the the Sindhi city of Hyderabad. The difference between adjectives and nouns is a bit confusing here. If the entity ends in A no one makes the mistake, no one says an America actor or an India city, rather an American actor or an Indian city. In the game of cricket one never hears the Australia captain or the India wicket-keeper, but you do hear the England captain, Pakistan wicket-keeper or West Indies bowler. English captain, Pakistani wicket-keeper or West Indian bowler. are much preferable, although confusion occurs because there is no word for New Zealandish, so people say the New Zealand Captain.

In your little story about the Irish girl, you describe the English, Scots and Welsh as limeys. I would be very surprised if this word were used in Ireland because the word was arose because British sailors, which included the Irish, were forced to eat fresh fruit to prevent scurvy.

Your little scene in the Deccan city of Hyderabad is lovely, but I'm not aware that there are sacred cows and non-sacred cows, rather all cows are sacred. In Hyderabad, I'm sure it occurs that people are insulted in Hindustani, although further south it's unlikely. The main language of Hyderabad is Telugu, which is Dravidian and further removed from Hindi than is English. Nonetheless, the Muslim elite that ruled Hyderabad during the Raj spoke Urdu which is Hindustani written in Arabic script. The British had a whole hierarchy of native rulers in India, some of which were complete puppets, with British security forces and British advisers and others which were more independent. The Nizam of Hyderabad I think had his own army, railways and post office, whereas others didn't. The Maharajah of Mysore fancied himself as a constitutional monarch and Mysore had a parliament. Any rising in India would have led to the Mysore parliament debating the issue before taking a side.

 

[ahmedali]

Kaiser Wilhelm the Tenth

The class was so amazing

I feel that Grand Duke Mikhailovich's actions will negatively affect his cause as revenge begins to devour him (we can't blame him), but it will be detrimental in the long run.

The tsar seems reasonable compared to his father

The Finns are the biggest winners in this battle. They were able to play on both sides and win victories and leave losses to the Russians but, oddly enough, they were not a kingdom since the Central Powers won and gave their candidate to Finland.

Will we see an Ottoman intervention in the Russian Civil War like Finland or is it not possible? (due to the ambition of the three pashas in the Caucasus)

It seems that Russia will be divided into two parts, republican and tsar

We hope that the palace coup will end Mikhailovich's influence and replace him with a more pragmatic person who benefits the tsarist faction, since the current situation does not bode well for the tsar.

Lenin should try his luck elsewhere. It seems that the situation in Russia is not in his favour (we want to see Bolshevik France)