Rosa's Reich - Red Germany
- Thread starter GlobalHumanism
- Start date
And the Nazis made their move...
I ponder what will the different factions do now.
And now that Drexler and the Thule made their move, where's mr toothbrush moustache right now?
I ponder what will the different factions do now.
And now that Drexler and the Thule made their move, where's mr toothbrush moustache right now?
Chapter V (1919) | Part V (Revolution in Turin)
Chapter V: The Grand Coalition
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Time Period: September 16th - October 15th, 1919
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Time Period: September 16th - October 15th, 1919
An emergency meeting between the leaders of the Grand Coalition was called on September 17th to decide how best to answer Toller’s request. Per a military report from Deputy Director Radek, the German Army was still reorganizing after enacting another levy en masse within its recently liberated territories. Additionally, successive assaults from the Junker-back German White Army from the east required the continued encampment of the bulk of the Luxemburgist forces on the Oder River. “We haven’t the means to send a large force into Bavaria,” said Gustav Landauer. “Remmele’s smaller force will have to suffice,” said Radek in response. Rosa agreed, but furious at the turn of events caused in part by his hasty approval of the Toller-coup, she took the opportunity to strip him of his Deputy Directorship, and reassign him to front line operations within Remmele’s detachment. In his place Willi Münzenberg, a young militant and former student of Luxemburg during her exile in Switzerland, was appointed in his place.
On September 18th, Remmele, who was already marching south received word of the order and began to head towards Munich. At the same time Toller was ordered to call up the remainder of the Bavarian-based forces still loyal to his regime and establish defensive positions for the reinforcements.
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Italy
The Italian army corps which had been sent to quell the strikes spreading throughout Turin had, by September 19th, failed. Though several factories had been recaptured through force of arms, leading to middling loss of life on both sides, workers refused to return to their posts, sparking a growing economic crisis for the entire nation. Moreover, many industrial workers who sought revenge for their fallen comrades, took part in a Syndicalist Union backed terrorist campaign against the army. With a bomb exploding at an army garrison in the city go Milan on September 20th, the King had enough. 40,000 troops were ordered to begin marching toward the North to silence the insurrection once and for all. Upon hearing of this punitive offensive, Nicola Bombacci of the Italian Socialist Party order a walkout of party members from the Italian Chamber of Deputies, sparking a series of solidarity uprisings in Lombardia. By October 1st, the provincial capital became host to the displaced leadership of Italian Socialist Party. With his primary opposition self-sequestered, the King appointed Giovanni Giolitti as the prime minister and simultaneously suspended the November elections. Insurrections, sponsored heavily by the Syndicalist, spread further south into Romagna with Bologna specifically becoming a major center for socialist agitation by October 4th. And with news of the suspended elections spreading throughout the country, on October 5th the allied leaderships of the Syndicalist Union and Socialist Party began to debate the creation of a repubblica dei lavoratori to be based in the North of the country.
______________
Luxemburgist Germany
Remmele’s detachment arrived in Munich on October 1st, and immediately began to bolster itself with the forces that had remained loyal to Toller’s government. Though under no order from Berlin to do so, he took it upon himself to extract oaths of allegiance to the Union of Worker Republics from each of them. Now subsumed into the German Red Army, the entire detachment began to march toward Ingolstadt, with them successfully recapturing the city on October 5th.
On October 7th, after a several weeks of failed assaults across the Oder, the Junker-backed White Army of the East began to pull back toward Posen for the winter. Seeing this as an opportunity to gain the upper hand defensively, Thalmann ordered the German Red Army to advance.
“Any additional distance we place between them and our capital before winter will benefit our position in this civil war,” he said to his junior officers.
On October 8th they moved across the river. Spearheaded by then well experienced armored car corps, the Red Army was able to push several miles into the recently evacuated Junker territory.
Simultaneously in Berlin, Rosa was pouring over a bevy of personal correspondences she had recently received from ideological compatriots across Europe.
From the Italian province of Lombardia, Nicola Bombacci had written to her requesting her opinion regarding the potential declaration of an Italian Worker’s Republic in the socialist/syndicalist controlled districts. Already abreast of the disintegrating political situation in the country, and well informed on the mass action tactics employed by the syndicalist within the factories in Turin and Milan, she responded.
“As with the anti-worker actions of the now defunct Ebert-regime, the House of Savoy has likewise chosen to place itself on the wrong side of history. If you have indeed have the will of the people, as we had here in Berlin, bring forth the Worker’s Republic.”
Next was a request for emergency material aid by Bela Kun. In the months prior, his war with Romania had, by midsummer in 1919, placed the Hungarian Soviet Republic on the precipice of collapse. Though his ministers had begged him to sue for peace in the spring, Bela hope for a Luxemburgist-inspired military victory kept him from doing so. And with Romanian receiving diplomatic support to end the Hungarian Soviet Republic from increasingly hostile Western Europe, by June 5th 1919 Budapest had fallen. Now with the city of Gyor acting as his de-facto capital, Bela was without options.
However, Bela's implementation of Bolsheviki ideology in the formation of his power base, coupled with his instance to blend it with Hungarian ethno-nationalism had drawn the ire of Rosa; so much so that she dictated, rather than wrote a response.
“Step down and give the power to one of your deputies; then I may consider expending resources to aid your cause,” she dictated in response.
Finally, with the Russian Red Army beginning its campaign to capture Warsaw several weeks prior and likewise seeing successes in its initial engagements with the Pilsudski’s Polish Army, a personal correspondence from Lenin’s desk reached Rosa’s on October 14th.
“Comrade Trotsky, along 80,000 crack Soviet troops will be in Warsaw within 6 months - Let us use this interim to unite our causes.”
______________
Italy
Upon the receipt of the Rosa’s empowering response, and euphorically spurred on by German support of their machinations, the leadership council of the allied Italian Socialist Party and Syndicalist Union immediately forwarded a vote for the declaration of an Italian Worker's Republic from within Lombardia, on the night of October 15th.
______________
Voting Time
Should the PSI/Syndicalist Union alliance immediately declare an Italian Worker's Republic?
Results:
81% - Yes!
______________
On September 18th, Remmele, who was already marching south received word of the order and began to head towards Munich. At the same time Toller was ordered to call up the remainder of the Bavarian-based forces still loyal to his regime and establish defensive positions for the reinforcements.
______________
Italy
The Italian army corps which had been sent to quell the strikes spreading throughout Turin had, by September 19th, failed. Though several factories had been recaptured through force of arms, leading to middling loss of life on both sides, workers refused to return to their posts, sparking a growing economic crisis for the entire nation. Moreover, many industrial workers who sought revenge for their fallen comrades, took part in a Syndicalist Union backed terrorist campaign against the army. With a bomb exploding at an army garrison in the city go Milan on September 20th, the King had enough. 40,000 troops were ordered to begin marching toward the North to silence the insurrection once and for all. Upon hearing of this punitive offensive, Nicola Bombacci of the Italian Socialist Party order a walkout of party members from the Italian Chamber of Deputies, sparking a series of solidarity uprisings in Lombardia. By October 1st, the provincial capital became host to the displaced leadership of Italian Socialist Party. With his primary opposition self-sequestered, the King appointed Giovanni Giolitti as the prime minister and simultaneously suspended the November elections. Insurrections, sponsored heavily by the Syndicalist, spread further south into Romagna with Bologna specifically becoming a major center for socialist agitation by October 4th. And with news of the suspended elections spreading throughout the country, on October 5th the allied leaderships of the Syndicalist Union and Socialist Party began to debate the creation of a repubblica dei lavoratori to be based in the North of the country.
______________
Luxemburgist Germany
Remmele’s detachment arrived in Munich on October 1st, and immediately began to bolster itself with the forces that had remained loyal to Toller’s government. Though under no order from Berlin to do so, he took it upon himself to extract oaths of allegiance to the Union of Worker Republics from each of them. Now subsumed into the German Red Army, the entire detachment began to march toward Ingolstadt, with them successfully recapturing the city on October 5th.
On October 7th, after a several weeks of failed assaults across the Oder, the Junker-backed White Army of the East began to pull back toward Posen for the winter. Seeing this as an opportunity to gain the upper hand defensively, Thalmann ordered the German Red Army to advance.
“Any additional distance we place between them and our capital before winter will benefit our position in this civil war,” he said to his junior officers.
On October 8th they moved across the river. Spearheaded by then well experienced armored car corps, the Red Army was able to push several miles into the recently evacuated Junker territory.
Simultaneously in Berlin, Rosa was pouring over a bevy of personal correspondences she had recently received from ideological compatriots across Europe.
From the Italian province of Lombardia, Nicola Bombacci had written to her requesting her opinion regarding the potential declaration of an Italian Worker’s Republic in the socialist/syndicalist controlled districts. Already abreast of the disintegrating political situation in the country, and well informed on the mass action tactics employed by the syndicalist within the factories in Turin and Milan, she responded.
“As with the anti-worker actions of the now defunct Ebert-regime, the House of Savoy has likewise chosen to place itself on the wrong side of history. If you have indeed have the will of the people, as we had here in Berlin, bring forth the Worker’s Republic.”
Next was a request for emergency material aid by Bela Kun. In the months prior, his war with Romania had, by midsummer in 1919, placed the Hungarian Soviet Republic on the precipice of collapse. Though his ministers had begged him to sue for peace in the spring, Bela hope for a Luxemburgist-inspired military victory kept him from doing so. And with Romanian receiving diplomatic support to end the Hungarian Soviet Republic from increasingly hostile Western Europe, by June 5th 1919 Budapest had fallen. Now with the city of Gyor acting as his de-facto capital, Bela was without options.
However, Bela's implementation of Bolsheviki ideology in the formation of his power base, coupled with his instance to blend it with Hungarian ethno-nationalism had drawn the ire of Rosa; so much so that she dictated, rather than wrote a response.
“Step down and give the power to one of your deputies; then I may consider expending resources to aid your cause,” she dictated in response.
Finally, with the Russian Red Army beginning its campaign to capture Warsaw several weeks prior and likewise seeing successes in its initial engagements with the Pilsudski’s Polish Army, a personal correspondence from Lenin’s desk reached Rosa’s on October 14th.
“Comrade Trotsky, along 80,000 crack Soviet troops will be in Warsaw within 6 months - Let us use this interim to unite our causes.”
______________
Italy
Upon the receipt of the Rosa’s empowering response, and euphorically spurred on by German support of their machinations, the leadership council of the allied Italian Socialist Party and Syndicalist Union immediately forwarded a vote for the declaration of an Italian Worker's Republic from within Lombardia, on the night of October 15th.
______________
Voting Time
Should the PSI/Syndicalist Union alliance immediately declare an Italian Worker's Republic?
Results:
81% - Yes!
______________
Last edited:
I'd like to see some correspondence between the German, Italian, and Soviet revolutionaries.
What's interesting here is that if wasn't for the Western Allies, Budapest would've fallen in OTL as well. Romania was about to deliver the coup de grace when they were pretty much ordered at the Paris Peace Conference to fall back and accept Bela's peace offer.
The eastern Junkers are based in Poznan hmm? Would it be viable for the red army to capture that city? Getting rid of the eastern part of the white forces would be a big boon to the reds. (on how good terms are the Junkers with Poland? Though united against socialism I imagine german robber-barons and polish nationalists won't get along well. If anything, the poles would rather take Poznan themselves. Thankfully they're occupied for now.
I just want to say that I really enjoy the “choose our own adventure” voting aspect of the TL and I’m glad it’s back.
Chapter V (1919) | Part VI (Europe on Fire)
Chapter V: Grand Coalition
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Time Period: October 15th - November 1st, 1919
______________
Time Period: October 15th - November 1st, 1919
Italy
“The time is now, comrades!” shouted Antonio Gramsci, a revolutionary and writer that joined the leadership council of the Syndicalist Union camp. “First Petrograd, then Berlin, now Rome!” The votes were tallied and a vast majority agreed.
Between the nights of October 15th to October 25th, a manifesto to represent the unified interests of the Syndicalist Union and clandestine Italian Socialist Party (PSI) was drafted and adopted as the creed of a newly formed Council Communist Party of Italy. Taking many key features of the German Luxemburgist Manifesto, such as the rejection of party vangardism, and championing the creation of factory based worker’s councils to serve as the foundation of the socio-economic order, they hoped to cajole the same participatory mass action that had occurred in Germany. At the same time, in order to mitigate the potential intra-party conflict between the unified groups, the position of Chairman was left to be filled by a vote while the remaining directorial positions were split evenly between the former PSI and Syndicalist Union members. On October 26th, Antonio Gramsci was elected as Chairman based on the merit of actions with L’Ordine Nuovo during the Turin factory insurrections.
“We know a reactionist army marches north to crush the worker’s revolution,” he said during his first address to the newly formed party hierarchy. “Therefore we must direct our entire efforts to hasten the arming of our compatriots across Lombardia, along with our comrades in Piemonte. If we can successfully defend our position, we will use that prestige to declare our Worker’s Republic and march on Rome!”
______________
Soviet Russia
Nestor Makhno’s Black Army had, through successive successful guerilla attacks upon White Army supply depots and light encampments throughout the north-eastern territories of Ukraine, forced the delay of Denkin’s planned assault on Moscow from middle summer to the beginning of fall. However, once the rapustitsa began in earnest during the first days of October, a debate broke out within the junior officers corps.
Some, influenced by Denkin, argued that the assault should be begin regardless of the logistics, given scouting reports of Trotsky’s Smolensk Offensive; this assured them of light resistance between Kiev and Moscow. Others argued for the assault to be delayed until the following spring with main forces instead being directed towards crushing the Ukrainian Anarchists operating within their rear. This plan was also backed by the French who had remained encamped in Odessa.
However on October 15th Denkin’s dismissed the arguments of his dissenting subordinates and ordered the assault to begin on November 1st. “I will not allow cowardice to make our righteous cause to miss this fleeting opportunity,” he said in a correspondence with the French Expeditionary commander in Odessa. Either join us in glory or remain huddled in your camps.”
On October 20th, this communique was translated and forward to Clemenceau who, along with the rest of the French High Command, were re-evaluating their ever growing commitments in the Russian and German Civil Wars.
______________
France
“Infantry morale is reaching its breaking point,” said Philippe Petain during the opening minutes of the meeting. “Our boys want to return home – we must therefore de-escalate our commitments abroad, lest we repeat the troubles of 1917.”
Over a series of reports from months prior, junior officers encamped within the Ruhr, Saarland, and Belgium had relayed accounts of growing insubordination and disorderly conduct among the lay ranks, to the High Command. This coincided with growing domestic weariness with the lack of an outstanding peace agreement with the defeated powers; a fact that had played directly into the hands of The French Section of the Workers’ International.
Feeling politically boxed in by these issues, Clemenceau began to believe that a quick French-led victory in the Allied campaign in Russia by the end of 1919 could simultaneously help rescue his domestic popularity while also setting the stage for a French-led resumption in peace talks with the SPD-led Essen government in allied occupied Germany.
Thus on October 25th, in direct opposition with Petain’s petition, Clemenecau ordered the Odessa expeditionary forces to join Denkin’s assault.
On November 1st, Denkin's White Army began their march on Moscow.
______________
“The time is now, comrades!” shouted Antonio Gramsci, a revolutionary and writer that joined the leadership council of the Syndicalist Union camp. “First Petrograd, then Berlin, now Rome!” The votes were tallied and a vast majority agreed.
Between the nights of October 15th to October 25th, a manifesto to represent the unified interests of the Syndicalist Union and clandestine Italian Socialist Party (PSI) was drafted and adopted as the creed of a newly formed Council Communist Party of Italy. Taking many key features of the German Luxemburgist Manifesto, such as the rejection of party vangardism, and championing the creation of factory based worker’s councils to serve as the foundation of the socio-economic order, they hoped to cajole the same participatory mass action that had occurred in Germany. At the same time, in order to mitigate the potential intra-party conflict between the unified groups, the position of Chairman was left to be filled by a vote while the remaining directorial positions were split evenly between the former PSI and Syndicalist Union members. On October 26th, Antonio Gramsci was elected as Chairman based on the merit of actions with L’Ordine Nuovo during the Turin factory insurrections.
“We know a reactionist army marches north to crush the worker’s revolution,” he said during his first address to the newly formed party hierarchy. “Therefore we must direct our entire efforts to hasten the arming of our compatriots across Lombardia, along with our comrades in Piemonte. If we can successfully defend our position, we will use that prestige to declare our Worker’s Republic and march on Rome!”
______________
Soviet Russia
Nestor Makhno’s Black Army had, through successive successful guerilla attacks upon White Army supply depots and light encampments throughout the north-eastern territories of Ukraine, forced the delay of Denkin’s planned assault on Moscow from middle summer to the beginning of fall. However, once the rapustitsa began in earnest during the first days of October, a debate broke out within the junior officers corps.
Some, influenced by Denkin, argued that the assault should be begin regardless of the logistics, given scouting reports of Trotsky’s Smolensk Offensive; this assured them of light resistance between Kiev and Moscow. Others argued for the assault to be delayed until the following spring with main forces instead being directed towards crushing the Ukrainian Anarchists operating within their rear. This plan was also backed by the French who had remained encamped in Odessa.
However on October 15th Denkin’s dismissed the arguments of his dissenting subordinates and ordered the assault to begin on November 1st. “I will not allow cowardice to make our righteous cause to miss this fleeting opportunity,” he said in a correspondence with the French Expeditionary commander in Odessa. Either join us in glory or remain huddled in your camps.”
On October 20th, this communique was translated and forward to Clemenceau who, along with the rest of the French High Command, were re-evaluating their ever growing commitments in the Russian and German Civil Wars.
______________
France
“Infantry morale is reaching its breaking point,” said Philippe Petain during the opening minutes of the meeting. “Our boys want to return home – we must therefore de-escalate our commitments abroad, lest we repeat the troubles of 1917.”
Over a series of reports from months prior, junior officers encamped within the Ruhr, Saarland, and Belgium had relayed accounts of growing insubordination and disorderly conduct among the lay ranks, to the High Command. This coincided with growing domestic weariness with the lack of an outstanding peace agreement with the defeated powers; a fact that had played directly into the hands of The French Section of the Workers’ International.
Feeling politically boxed in by these issues, Clemenceau began to believe that a quick French-led victory in the Allied campaign in Russia by the end of 1919 could simultaneously help rescue his domestic popularity while also setting the stage for a French-led resumption in peace talks with the SPD-led Essen government in allied occupied Germany.
Thus on October 25th, in direct opposition with Petain’s petition, Clemenecau ordered the Odessa expeditionary forces to join Denkin’s assault.
On November 1st, Denkin's White Army began their march on Moscow.
______________
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The French are going all-in. The future of Europe now hinges on the battle of Moscow.
Redshank Galloglass
Banned
Let me guess: Petain refuses to give the French Army rest and refit periods leading to armed mutiny?
Clemenceau is the one being an idiot for the sake of politics there. Petain is the one trying to make him see reason. France came very close to being burned by this at least once. I think the military men learned their lesson. The politicians clearly didn't though.
Does anyone have any good sources on Allied/Entente military tactics during the Russian intervention?
It focuses more on the direct conflict between the Reds and Whites, but the Radio War Nerd episode on the Russian Civil War might be useful for you. I haven't read all of it but the memoir of William S. Graves, who commanded the US expeditionary force in Siberia, could be worth checking out as well, it's available as a free PDF download online.