Damn anyone that who live in Europe in the '90s will have even worse time and that not even dealing with the Yugoslav wars too with that
The Death of Russia - TL
- Thread starter Sorairo
- Start date
This could snowball into an earlier arab spring jeez. Imagine Iraqis and Syrian fed up with economic going to drain and still continuing supporting the controversial govt in russia. Also inspire by the revolt in Cuba and Russia could start their own revolt around libya, Syria, and iraq
Wait a minute. How rich are the Romanov branches in the 90s?
Those navy assholes are looking for a big payday right? I assume for the right price would probably declare a new Tsardom from either Magadan and/or Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Certainly wouldn't equal long term stability with an arrangement like that though.
Those navy assholes are looking for a big payday right? I assume for the right price would probably declare a new Tsardom from either Magadan and/or Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Certainly wouldn't equal long term stability with an arrangement like that though.
OTOH, the Vladivostok guy is apparently a monarchist, so yeah.
I've added an extra session in the previous chapter with respect to Lev Rokhlin in the Siberian section. After reading about him, I knew I had to include him in this story. I'll repost his credentials from the post in this one:
He was the first Jewish Lietenant General in the Soviet Union since WW2. His father was a victim of the great purge. He was also the one who reorganized Russia's forces in the first Chechen War that allowed them to take Grozny after the first disasterous attempt when Grachev sent the troops in while barely conscious from drunkenness at his birthday party. Angry from the incompetence and cruelty of the military officers, he refused to accept medals for his service and said the Chechen war was devoid of honour. He would go into politics as a Pro-Yeltsin candidate, before resigning in disgust at Yeltsin. Yeltsin retaliated by cooperating with the Communists to strip him of his parliamentary position. He was almost certainly murdered by the KGB in 1998, who framed it on his wife (this was essentially confirmed by Alexander Livinenko).
EDIT: I've added Ugryumov as the face of the Vladivostok navy - he certainly has the (lack of) morality to do it.
He was the first Jewish Lietenant General in the Soviet Union since WW2. His father was a victim of the great purge. He was also the one who reorganized Russia's forces in the first Chechen War that allowed them to take Grozny after the first disasterous attempt when Grachev sent the troops in while barely conscious from drunkenness at his birthday party. Angry from the incompetence and cruelty of the military officers, he refused to accept medals for his service and said the Chechen war was devoid of honour. He would go into politics as a Pro-Yeltsin candidate, before resigning in disgust at Yeltsin. Yeltsin retaliated by cooperating with the Communists to strip him of his parliamentary position. He was almost certainly murdered by the KGB in 1998, who framed it on his wife (this was essentially confirmed by Alexander Livinenko).
EDIT: I've added Ugryumov as the face of the Vladivostok navy - he certainly has the (lack of) morality to do it.
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On that note, as he's with Lebed, any other prominent officers/generals who would be with him?
Well, North Korea is definitely getting invaded/couped; shame that it's very likely hundreds of thousands to millions of South Korean civilians will die when the Norks gas Seoul.
Even if they don't, this probably butterflies away much of the South Korean rise to dominance of the microchip industry; the government will have too much work rebuilding the newly unified country to really support Samsung and the other conglomerates.
Instead, probably they'll be an even bigger player in the shipbuilding sector; that seems like an optimal choice for the North Korean civilians, given the NK focus on heavy industry and the cheaper wages.
Even if they don't, this probably butterflies away much of the South Korean rise to dominance of the microchip industry; the government will have too much work rebuilding the newly unified country to really support Samsung and the other conglomerates.
Instead, probably they'll be an even bigger player in the shipbuilding sector; that seems like an optimal choice for the North Korean civilians, given the NK focus on heavy industry and the cheaper wages.
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I'm open to suggestions about who to include but I'm not aware of any other respected army generals who weren't Reds or Ultranationalists. If there are I can add them to one of the factions.
I also just recently read about German Ugryumov, hence my decision to make him one of the Vladivostok commanders refusing to help.
There will be really great markets for SE Asian and Colombian drug cartels. Probably Russians are too going to suffer even more severe alcoholism. There barely wouldn't be any Russian who wouldn't suffer from PTSD.
Igor Sergeyev - Wikipedia
Igor Rodionov - Wikipedia
‘The King of All’
‘The King of All’
Extract from ‘The Bells of Vladivostok’ by Anya Desmond
Extract from ‘The Bells of Vladivostok’ by Anya Desmond
The thunder of North Korean artillery in the distance, the sight of the Pacific Fleet abandoning their people to die, the certainty that no one was coming to help them. Two hundred thousand strong members of the vicious North Korean army marched upon a town barely concealing a mere 50,000 troops and another 100,000 hastily assembled volunteers of all ages. Viktor Aksyuchits had brought this state to life only a few months ago and it seemed certain to be smothered in its cradle. He had no navy, no air force, only a few hastily scrambled divisions and militias. Some of the volunteers and conscripts were so old that they had last fought in the Great Patriotic War. With everything they could grab onto, they prepared to face the advancing armies of North Korea. What few survivors who had escaped north relayed stories of an army devoid of any of the rules and ethics of civilization. Though they were few, the North Korean Air Force had begun their bombing runs on the city almost as soon as the navy had left. The only way they were ‘discriminate’ was in how they seemed to aim specifically in the civilian areas. North Korea publicly mocked UN calls to refrain from attacks and to let civilians and children flee the city, as they wanted to get the operation done as quickly as possible to try and find nuclear weapons afterward.
The population had picked up rifles but they felt certain they were doomed to die. Anguish was carved into every face and heart along the city, devoid of places to run or hide. While everyone cursed Ugryumov and his fleet, many cursed Aksyuchits too, saying that the navy would have been loyal if he hadn’t declared independence to fulfil his deluded dream of a modern Christian state. Though they had resolved to fight, it was almost a formality. They had accepted their deaths, the deaths of their family and the destruction of their homes. Many took to drinking in what they assumed would be their last moments on Earth, some giving their children cyanide in case the North Koreans ever found them.
Ironically the most enthused people were the last ones expected in such a zone. A small IDF unit had landed in Vladivostok a few days earlier to get the last few Jews out of the city. While the Jewish women and children boarded, the Jewish men (many from the abolished Jewish Autonomous Zone) refused, saying they would not be men if they let their fellow citizens perish like this while they ran away. While the IDF tried to convince the residents, after a few hours of negotiations, the residents actually convinced the IDF to stay around. Thus, a handful of IDF soldiers had set up camp while the women and children were safely flown to Japan, the men promising they would leave when the city either fell or was saved. When asked later why he decided to stay in Vladivostok to fight during the battle, one IDF commander said ‘They had the only flag in the world with a Jew on it’. At the same time, a private plane from South Korea carrying members of the Unification Church would arrive in the city after narrowly avoiding being shot down, pledging with weapons they had brought along to help defend the Christian Republic against the invaders. One of the members had actually been one of the ‘Roof Koreans’ during the LA Riots of 1992, subsequently recalling that the LA Riots were ‘a lullaby’ compared to Vladivostok. Rounding up the motley crew were members of the Greater Japan Patriotic Party (大日本愛国党), who had likewise flown into Vladivostok with other Japanese ultranationalists in the hope of killing Communists, particularly Korean ones. Of course, a lot of the anger had stemmed from North Korea’s kidnapping and torture of Japanese citizens sometimes plucked from beaches to be trapped their whole lives in the Hermit Prison. In Japan, the reaction to the news of the Ultranationalists fighting the North Koreans was, at worst, happiness that both would surely shoot the other - some would receive limited political success in coming years. But of course, all these groups together could not realistically stop the weight of mechanised death rolling towards the city. Though they were certain they were doing the right thing (for different reasons), that was no guarantee or even an argument for their success.
It was in these circumstances, perhaps the most unenviable in the history of nations, that Aksyuchits found himself. The country had no love for him, the country was soon to perish and those in the country were about to perish alongside it. Aksyuchits had only one strategy: hold on. Hold on long enough for someone to save the city. It didn’t matter who, where or why, only as long as they could repel the North Koreans from their city to save them. Aksyuchits therefore tailored his message, making an explicit call to Christians the world over, hoping against hope that it would raise voices in Washington and Europe to take pity on the dying city. As artillery and planes began to savage the city on February 23rd 1995, Aksyuchits would give the most important speech he ever gave in his life.
Extract from Viktor Aksyuchits’ ‘When you See Him’ Speech
“Brothers in Christ, the Satanic armies of North Korea are upon us. The barbarians are at the gate, there is nowhere we can run to. And most heartbreakingly of all, we are alone. Alone to face these monsters by ourselves. If we fall here, the forces of that abomination of a state will squat in your homes with your family’s corpses on the floor. They will burn the churches your ancestors were baptised in. They will defile and use your wives and mothers, and they will enslave your little children. We are facing an army devoid of mercy, kindness or humanity. We are at our lowest point, our humblest point. There is no deeper crevice of hell and agony we can sink into. And it is in this moment, that the decisions we make on this day will change the destiny of the world forever.
“I am not Admiral Ugryumov - I will not abandon you to foreign subjugation. Until the forces of darkness and evil have been cast from Vladivostok, I will not leave this city. I won’t leave this city because I know you. I know the people of this city. I know the hardship they can endure, the freedom they love, the families they will fight for. I know the courage that lies dormant in their hearts, ready to explode in flaming passion in service of civilization. I know that if this city can fight with the courage of their ancestors, who overcame the elements of nature to conquer the leviathan of Siberia to make their way to the Pacific, that no North Korean army will even be able to put a dent in it. The destiny of our country is not in their hands, but ours. We will decide if we win or lose this battle, not that demon in Pyongyang!
“And if we all shall fall together in the defence of our God, like the heroes of Constantinople before, be not afraid. Imagine what you will do when you see Him. When you pass off from earthly life and enter his kingdom, when you see Him for the first time. What will you do when you first see your creator, your saviour, who died that the world could be saved? The One who would go through all the sufferings and agonies of the cross again, even if you were the only person on this Earth? Will you fall to your knees in wonder? Will you stand with reverence and awe? Will you run to His arms, and weep in his embrace, to feel a love that will never go cold, that will never falter, that will never fail?
“This is the worst that can happen - to reunite with the being that loves you more than words can describe. And if you win, then after a long life basked glory, the receiver of unchristian envy from Russians the world over, in your old age and from your bed you will be taken by angels to the Halls of Heaven. And there, you will break bread with the defenders of our faith from all the ages: King Jan of Poland and his 20,000 Hussars, Richard the Lionheart of England and the Knights Templar, even Alexander Nevsky and Vladimir the Great ready to embrace their descendents as their equals in valour. And then at the end of the table, will be Him. Always ready to greet you, to embrace you, and who will love you whether you prevail on the parapets of Vladivostok or not. All He asks you is that as he died for you, that you fight for Him, and that is what we will do. We will fight for our God, our children, and our civilisation!
“Every dawn, we shall ring the Bells of Vladivostok. As long as those bells ring, the city has not fallen! As long as those bells ring, God has not abandoned you! As long as those bells ring, you must not abandon hope! Our God did not come to bring peace but a sword! And we shall cast out those Satanists from out city like Christ cast out the money lenders from his temple!
“To the Christians of the world, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, raise your voice in prayer to the God of Abraham and Moses! Pray that the brothers and sisters of your faith can prevail against the forces of Satan, if only for the sake of our children. And if there is anything more than prayer that you can do, your brothers in Christ plead of you to provide it. And to all the women and children of this city, pray. Pray for your husbands, your fathers, your brothers, and especially your children. Because if thousands, or millions, or more children of God join their voices in prayer, surely, surely a miracle will happen!”
Extract from ‘The Hermit Emperor: The Rise and Fall of Kim Jong-Il’ by John Miles
Similarly to Stalin’s mockery of the Pope, Kim mocked Aksyuchits’s calls for prayer, considering it an admission of defeat. What he could never have guessed was how Aksyuchits’s speech turned the gloom that pervaded Vladivostok into the most explosive roar of defiance seen since London fought Hitler. Vladivostok had, like most cities in Russia, been of a relatively secular nature. There was nothing particularly special about it in the Orthodox lore, but in that narrow window of history its citizens found a special mission. As the fear of death and destruction of all they loved had suspended their old ways, the words of Aksyuchits and his Party had given them a sense of destiny and purpose. It wasn’t just for fear of imminent nonexistence, but the sense of finding unity with an entire millenia of Russian history. As one veteran recalled, ‘I could almost see Saint Vladimir and all the saints of Russia in the heavens, and suddenly I knew it wasn’t we who were outnumbered’. A serene peace had rested over the souls of Vladivostok, as they prepared to meet their creator in heaven with clear conscious, while the rest of the world’s began to muddy.
The first assault on Vladivostok fell on February 25th, as North Korean troops began to march into Trudovye, just north of the city as they turned around the bay. They were told that the Russian population would ‘by their natural submissiveness to superior strength’, surrender without a fight, encouraged by the Pacific Fleet abandoning the population to their fate. Instead, the first regiment sent into Vladivostok was utterly torn to pieces, forced to make a hasty retreat. Molotov cocktails were thrown from every window and manhole, turning North Korea’s decaying tanks to lines of flaming husks. It would later be discovered that a few T34s likely from the Korean War itself were among the carcasses, the last confirmed use of the T34 tank in combat. The North Koreans responded with all that the Soviet had taught them - merciless firepower. There were hopes that with the sight of such overwhelming resistance, the citizens of the young country would surely break. But instead, they had been reborn with a spirit of chivalry that the world had not seen since the ancients. A legend was being born before the worlds’ eyes, a Thermopylae of the modern era. The CIA’s estimate was that the city would fall in two days. After two days, it was North Korea forced to stop and try to recalibrate their attack.
All the while, given the geography, northward reinforcements were shelled from Vladivostok as they tried to move in to reinforce their troops. Already, the North Korean supply lines began to stretch, a given that the northern border was so inhospitable. It was believed they would quickly take Vladivostok and use the port, but they were quickly disabused of this notion as the port fired at any North Korean ship they could lay their eyes on. The hunger that was destroying North Korea was now just as manifest in their own troops. Infamously, one FER veteran recalled, “I remember shooting at one of the Communists from the windows while he was with his comrade. I moved to a different position and could see his buddy looking around for where the shot came from but his eyes started to turn to his dead friend on the ground. Finally, nervous and sweating, he dropped to the ground and began to eat from his friend’s corpse like an animal. He didn’t even care about being shot - he was just so mad with hunger. I was too horrified to shoot at him, so I watched him sate himself with the flesh and blood of the man that minutes ago he called ‘comrade’.”
The resistance had given the citizens of the FER time to disseminate their message across the world. Even they could hardly believe the levels their plea had reached. Aksyuchits’s speech had been replayed on America’s Christian Broadcasting Network TV station and had captured the hearts and minds of the Bible Belt. Aksyuchits’s history in the NSF was brushed aside as ‘Saul before he became Paul’, and the luminaries of Evangelical Christianity came rushing to his support. Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell and many more called upon all politicians in Washinton to help Aksyuchits and the Far Eastern Republic survive the North Korean attack. This put the Clinton Administration in a gigantic muddle because they did not want to abandon Gaidar and endorse the independence of not only a piece of Russia but one that wasn’t even an ethnic republic that one could construct a right of secession for. Furthermore, it was right on China’s doorstep, and no one wanted to anger China when their help on dealing with rogue nuclear weapons was beyond needed. Others continued the praise from abroad, with Lech Wałęsa calling Aksyuchits ‘The best hope of the Russians as a nation’. But most famously was Pope John Paul II, who would announce his prayers for Vladivostok and called upon ‘All Christians and all other believers in the religions of the world’, to save the city from its doom. In South Korea, members of the Unification Church clashed with the police, with founder Sun Myung Moon calling for President Kim Young-sam (himself a Christian) to send the air force and navy to relieve the city. Aksyuchits became a household name in Iquitos in the middle of Amazon Peru to East Timor, a hero (deserving or not) of all Christian denominations.
Despite the roused feelings of the world, it did little but draw eyes to watch a city that was slowly being murdered. Almost as indifferent to his own soldiers’ lives as those of his citizens’, Kim diverted his planes to bomb to strike the most sadistic of targets, with some 90% of Vladivostok’s primary/elementary schools being directly and repeatedly hit, which only slowed the advance of his own troops down. But quantity indeed had a quality of its own, and slowly the North Koreans crawled through the city at a sure but agonizing pace, building after building being reduced to rubble. Yet still, through all this, from speakers littered throughout the city, the recordings of bells would greet the defenders every morning. Like the march of time itself, a wave of disintegration would slowly roll towards the city centre, despite the valiance of the defenders. One FER veteran recalled seeing, “One of our guys with both his legs blown to pieces, his right arm mangled at his side. He weaky asked me for the pistol just out of his left arm’s reach. I gave it to him, thinking he’d finish himself and spare being captured by the Norks. Instead, with a trembling that said this wasn’t his shooting hand, he raised his trembling pistol and got ready to shoot at the advancing Koreans. I came back an hour later after we’d pushed them back a little and went back to that room. I saw three Norks on the floor, the man I helped dead, and three cartridges laying beside him on the ground.”
[...]
Kim’s relentlessness could not be stopped. He had been humiliated by the time it was taking to seize the city and was certain that the Americans and the South would launch an attack on him if his armies looked weak enough in Vladivostok. By the beginning of April, the North Koreans had entered the city proper, with the defenders increasingly left with nowhere to go. Aksyuchits had traditionally be reluctant to allow women soldiers but now the demand was too high, as women were certain of horrendous fates if handed over to Kim’s armies. Almost every building was damaged in the city, with urban warfare not seen since the Second World War making every street bloodier than the last. Still outraged by how the citizens of Vladivostok fought back, Kim devised another strategy with which to hurt the morale of the defenders. Kim declared that by Easter Day on April 17th - this was in fact the Catholic Easter, the Orthodox Easter was April 23rd but no one was going to even begin to correct Kim given his mood - that they would seize a certain territory in the centre of the city to ‘break morale’.
This was no ordinary location. It was the remains of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, built at the turn of the century and destroyed by explosion in the 1930s by Stalin. A statue of Lenin was built on its remains like the Romans would do to announce their superiority of their Gods over others. The Lenin statue was gone but nothing yet stood in its place. Aksyuchits had declared they would rebuild it but obviously there was no time. The North Koreans sent out a press release declaring they would build a statue of Kim Jong-Il in it’s place, ‘The Saviour of Vladivostok’. To that end, North Korea’s already horrific casualty figures, which were well into the thousands every day, somehow degraded even more, in service of a propaganda victory everyone had been too scared to tell the Dear Leader was madness. He had almost forgot about the attempt to find nuclear weapons, now obsessed with destroying the city that humiliated him. To that end, he brought out his worst weapons yet - mustard gas, nerve agents, and sarin. This would be the first use of WMDs in the Second Russian Civil War, but certainly not the last.
Kim refused to provide his own troops the suitable clothing to protect them for fear that it would tip the defenders off that something would happen. On April 10th, the North Korean air force dropped their toxic brew down on the city, mostly but not entirely on the defenders. The international outrage was deafening, with North Korea officially expelled from the United Nations as a result (with Chinese abstention), and the US and ROK armies but on regional DEFCON 1. Almost all countries that weren’t China placed a trade embargo on the country and cancelled all humanitarian aid, somehow further worsening the famine in the country, which was significantly worse than even Russia. But it did indeed break the front open, with North Korean troops pouring into the city centre with the last of their reserves. On the morning of April 12th, the Russians were only a single block away from the church’s remains. They sent their planes into the sky for what they hoped would be one last bombing run. But as the planes flew north to deliver what many thought would be the final hammer blow, they were stunned to see approaching missiles on their radars. Caught flatfooted, the entire advancing squadron was anihilated in the air, their flaming wrecks plummeting into the Pacific waters. Defender and attacker alike turned their gaze east. With the rising sun behind them, they came like a divine visitation. The attackers trembled, the defenders wept with joy, for they had been saved. Inside the Valley of the Shadow of Death, they feared no evil, because the Pacific Fleet had returned.
Extract from ‘The Unstoppable Tragedy: The Second Russian Civil War’ by Peter Hodges
The abandonment of Vladivostok was considered such a disgraceful act that even the Anpilov regime (ostensibly friendly to Kim’s ‘brotherly’ intervention) would condemn Ugryumov for ‘failing to negotiate the city’s surrender’. Nevzorov used it as proof the Communists sold out Russia, and Lebed called it ‘The most shameful act in the history of the Russian armed forces’. Ugryumov, one of the most hack appointees in the competitive history of Russian corruption, likely cared more about next day’s breakfast than cared about what any of these people thought, beyond the potential of losing buyers. But unlike him, his sailors had higher values in their hearts than money. On April 7th, 1995, the crew of the Slava-Class Varyag (flagship of the Pacific Fleet) while just off the shore of their Kamchatka base held a vote and concluded that they wanted to return to Vladivostok to save the city. Outraged at this insubordination, Ugryumov struck one of the sailors in the face, expecting, as was tradition in the armed forces, that such a move would make him crumple and submit. Instead, he was mortified that the sailor, the lowest rank on the ship, looked back at him, as one witness said, ‘With eyes that said not even God himself could intimidate this man’. Ugryumov was restrained before he could reach his pistol, calling out to the commisars who would not help him because they were Nevzorov-sympathisers who wanted North Korea to lose more than anything on Earth. Ugryumov continued to fight until he was thrown overboard into the Pacific headfirst. Escalatingly absurd numbers have been given for the amount of men needed to lift Ugryumov up to throw him overboard, but it seems that whether through cold shock or landing on his neck, the fall alone was enough to kill him. The mutineers took over the ship, calling upon all other sailors to do the same. Given that all the sailors were in the same mind about it, most commanders quickly complied in fear, with resistors thrown overboard to be devoured by the fishes of the Pacific. With minimal resistance, the sailors of the Pacific Fleet roared their ships back to life and charged into the Pacific to save the city.
While rushing to save Vladivostok, the sailors got in contact with the Japanese and Americans, telling them the situation and asking the Americans and Japanese to explain the situation in the city to them. They pleaded with the West to keep quiet about their arrival so as to catch the North Koreans with their trousers around their ankles, even at the cost of falling hope among the defenders. But their thunderous arrival on April 12th could have given September 12th 1683 and all the Winged Hussars a run for their money. First they took out North Korea’s latest chemical weapon attack by blasting their planes out of the sky. Russian warships may have lacked the aircraft capabilities of the Western navies, but they had more than enough firepower to make up for the deficit. Swinging into the bay, the ships shredded North Korea’s already decrepit supply line to pieces. Up and down the coast, the Varyag’s shells ravaged every truck and depot that moved. The Americans had given them all the intel they could get on the critical locations of North Korea’s supply line, taking each spot out with methodical accuracy. Within hours of their arrival, they had changed the tide of history.
With understandable outrage, Kim ordered the entire Sea of Japan segment of the North Korean navy to rush to Vladivostok to ‘blast them from the Pacific like the Japanese did at Tsushima’. Indeed, the resulting battle was quite like Tsushima, but not in the way Kim wanted. The Battle of Peter the Great Gulf on April 15th was a biblical slaughter, with the entire active North Korean navy on their northern coast reduced to one torpedo boat and one submarine due to a combination of Russian firepower and American/Japanese/Korean reconnaissance information. In the city itself, the defenders now found themselves, only moments before extinction, barely facing resistance as they walked back north through the charred remains of the city. The North Koreans had retreated so chaotically that they hadn’t even left the multitude of booby traps that Kim wanted left behind to hopefully kill as many of the survivors as possible. The ‘Jesus-Face’ Flag was raised over the suburbs again on April 21st, Good Friday on the Orthodox Calendar in 1995. This concluded the Battle of Vladivostok, and the only major battle with relation to the Korean intervention into the Second Russian Civil War. The reason was the same reason America and South Korea had not started shooting the moment Kim started using chemical weapons.
On May 1st, 1995, bombs began to fall on Pyongyang. Kim was stunned and demanded an immediate counterbattery on Seoul, to which he was told to his horror that the planes were not coming from the south, but the north: China had had enough. They had enough of trying to deal with Kim, had enough of taking the fall for him on the international stage, and had enough of his idiocy costing the PRC a zone of influence along its border. The Politburo hated Kim more than Washington, Seoul or even Vladivostok put together. Taking Sinuiju on the same day, the Chinese began to push south towards Pyongyang. Officers old enough to remember the Great Leap Forward recalled seeing a level of famine that horrified even them. One veteran would recall, “I remember seeing an old, bearded man crouching at the side of the road, capable of seeing and counting every single one of his ribcage, holding and eating the headless body of a child identically to the painting of Saturn devouring his child. He turned to look at us without any shame as to what he was doing, as if it was accepted practice in that hellhole of a country.” Those old enough to remember the madness of the Cultural Revolution were mortified by the level of indoctrination some of the locals believed. One captured girl fearing that Kim was literally capable of reading her mind even in Chinese captivity in the same way as a literal God. Veterans of the Tiananmen Square Massacre felt no brotherhood, be it racial, ideological or whatever to this almost alien country. While resistance was utterly fanatical, and regularly involving child soldiers with the youngest being recorded as six years old, China would have no problem mopping up what little elements of the North Korean army still existed. On June 6th, they were at the gates of Pyongyang.
Ultimately, though Kim would call for a ‘Battle that will shake the foundations of the world’, his ultimate fate was to be unceremoniously riddled by machine gun fire on June 9th 1995 in a palace coup led by Jang Song-Thaek, his brother-in-law. Jang was Pro-China and knew Kim’s policies were cataclysmic for an already devastated North Korea. He had welcomed a Chinese invasion, knowing that the entire elite was doomed to be hanged from lampposts in the event of a US/ROK invasion. With Kim gone, Chinese troops moved throughout the city unhindered, replacing the DPRK’s own troops along the DMZ on June 20th. With that, the diabolical reign of Kim Jong Il came to its sordid end, though a handful of terror attacks against Chinese troops would continue in the coming years. Though North Korea would remain a dictatorship, it would be saved from the cult of personality that had ultimately destroyed itself, albeit now one entirely subservient to China as East Germany was to Moscow in the Cold War.
But in Vladivostok, despite the appalling casualties received by the defenders, there was jubilation. Almost entirely by Russian hand, the city had saved itself from occupation at the hands of a ruthless foreign invader. To this day, in the country’s textbooks, you will not read about ‘The Battle of Vladivostok’ but ‘The Miracle of Vladivostok’. The battle has taken on a similar significance to elements of Christianity as the Siege of Szigetvár in 1566, the Battle of Vienna in 1683 or the Battle of Warsaw in 1920. After China’s intervention in the short-lived Sino-Korean War, the threat from the south would vanish and the new state had forged its own identity, lore and purpose. To a large extent, they had developed an identity separate from Russia as a whole, solidifying the division of the old country. Despite the economic challenges, the need to begin the northward expansion and the still ever-present danger of thermonuclear exchange due to events west of the Urals, the country looked forward to these challenges as one, united people. A people that had discovered as part of their identity a focus on religiosity that made them unique among nations. It was the beginning of the ‘Israel on the Pacific’ ideal with an emphasis on the religious over the ethnic, a land where the Orthodox people would always have a home.
As one final act of contrition after their victory, Aksyuchits would not only announce the immediate reconstruction of the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Mother of God, but also announce that the young state would change its name. It would now be the ‘Far Eastern Kingdom’, but not because they were bringing back the Tsar, or that he was making himself a king, indeed all the daily offices of state would remain essentially democratic. However, Aksyuchits announced that the ‘Eternal King’ of this young country would be the ‘King of All’ himself. The saviour of Vladivostok, and the saviour of the world, Jesus Christ.
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With the Battle of Vladivostok wrapped up, I assume we'll soon be heading back to the clash between Reds and Ultranationalists in the West?
"In the grim darkness of 1990s Russia, there is only war."
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I was reading this while listening to the music posted above and oh boy, I felt every single word in this chapter. The unexpected team-ups in this chapter are surprising! Ugryumov deserved his fate and HELL YES BURN DOWN THE KIM REGIME!
Not even vodka? 🥺 Or did the Communazis destroy it all too?
Kinda but not in the way you're joking. A lot of the distilleries would be in European Russia and while a number of vodka companies are likely still around in some form like the state owned Soyuzplodoimport, what vodka is available is probably used for either molotovs or medical disinfectant in the face of supply shortages rather than for drinking.
Okay well I have to know how large the Vladivostok Decontamination Zone is in area and how much it is fucking with the cities functionality >_>'