The Second Patriotic War - An Alternate Russia TL

[alexmilman]

Well OTL Russia nearly won because Japan couldn't sustain the war, a better wake up call cannot be found.

Of course, one can (I'm playing the Devil's advocate there) argue that if NII or rather NN and Witte did not freak out and kept ignoring the domestic disturbances, then Japan may ask for peace because it could not continue the fighting due to the absence of money. An important part of such an argument would be that assessment of the military situation given by NN was bogus. On one hand he acknowledged that situation at the front is stable and the noticeable Japanese success in a near future is unlikely. The "panicky part" of his argument was that with a complete freedom of the naval operations Japanese can attack any of the Russian ports on the Pacific with landing the troops. IMO, taken on its own, this argument was not a serious one. They would land where? Okhotsk or Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka? Be my guest and good luck with supplying your troops because from each of these ports you can go nowhere. Sakhalin? Russian Empire did not know what to do with it and Japan had fishing concessions on its Southern part, anyway. Vladivostok was the only place worth attacking but it is rather difficult to get to, not such a big problem to defend (as the only point of defense) and, again, it gives nothing because Russian trade on the Pacific is almost non-existent and opening a new front is stretching the limited Japanese resources even more.

Witte's part of the argument was seemingly more solid. He argued that a need of the further mobilization may cause the greater unrest and the measures needed to crush it may cause a negative PR in France and made the middle-class French more reluctant to sign to the new Russian loans. However, one could run 16 wheel truck through his logic. To start with, if NN stated that the existing forces on the Far East (which were a fraction of the existing army) are adequate for containing the Japanese, talk about the needed massive mobilization sounds not convincing: just send few more of the existing divisions (IIRC, during the talks in Portsmouth the news about arrival of two fresh Russian divisions to the front forced Japanese delegation to agree to the peace without reparations). Then, while a French rentier may be somewhat irritated with the information about suppressed revolts of the Russian peasants, I suspect that in a choice between compassion to these peasants and a well-paying secure investments the peasants are not going to be the winners.
Then, of course, it could be argued by NII (at least as a tool of a public demagoguery) that if the French will prove to be too obstinate and anti-Russian, the Franco-Russian mutual defense treaty may be easily replaced by the Russian-German one. Anyway, if the uprisings are crushed, it is just a matter of a reasonably short time when the greed is going to win over the sensibilities (what's done, is already done and we are not going to help anybody by missing a good investment opportunity).

But let's go back to your premise that Russia didn't have a good enough reason. I actually agree with you, especially you could have divided it up with the Japanese as was suggested before in this timeline by @jessicajsscjs, but this time I've quoted from Wiki (as unreliable as that is)

Dump the idiotic demand for the bufferzone and give Korea to the Japanese. No war needed.

Edit: Ps, I still think the mindset of the day makes a non ASB Nii go for the war. But if you can argue for no war (which makes sense) then I want my Manchurian resources 😉

I may be wrong but IMO "the mindset of the day" was to get rich fast and to think about the consequences later.

Russian top aristocracy, including the imperial family was getting short of money and "Bezobrazov's adventure" looked as an easy way to get money fast and effortlessly. The "monkeys" are not a danger so let's keep violating our own international agreements pissing off not just Japan and the GB and US as well. Even Witte got overly-excited with the ideas of the Chinese and Korean markets as the way to improve the Russian finances and did not bother to consider the geopolitical consequences. Or you can say that this was (besides the pure greed) a typical Russian approach: extensive rather than intensive way of doing things. Expansion into Korea (which was Japanese zone of "interests" by the existing agreements) could make sense if Russia already managed to loot all existing resources of Manchuria and fully exploited resources of the Russian Far East. But this was far from being the case. Take, for example, Sakhalin: the oil on the Northern part had been discovered in the 1880s and there were numerous geological parties and even some commercial interests but the first extraction started only in 1908 by "German Chinese company" and the first Russian company started extraction only in 1910, simultaneously with the British company, but serious extraction started only in 1921 by Japan and continued as a concession after in 1924 the Japanese troops left the island. If instead of getting into Korea there was a serious interest in the development, Russia would be able to sell Sakhalin oil to Japan (as happened later) or just keep getting concession money.

Back to the subject, it would not take ASBs to make NII more like his father in the terms of being able to keep things (and especially the court camarilla) under control and to look at a greater picture.

 

[alexmilman]

Edit3: reread your complaints against the Manchurian annexation. I disagree because I feel that it would bring high quality farmland, even more natural resources and takes away the ability for Japan (pre ww2) & China (post-Mao) to grow as big as it did. But to be fair, that's all with hindsight, the famines and the wars contributed to that PoV.

The good farmland was already taken by the Chinese and moving millions Russians all the way to Manchuria by a single RR was unrealistic, anyway: there would be a need of an adequate supply flow from Russia (at least Western Siberia), enough troops to protect the settlers from being slaughtered and, finally, where would the grain they eventually produce go? Russia could not even adequately populate the agricultural territories of the Russian Far East.

Well, all this also bypassing the fact that while Manchuria was Russian "zone of interests", it was also a Chinese territory and Russia and China had been allies for whatever this was worth. In other words, a successful war with Japan would not automatically mean that Russia annexes the territory of its own ally (the international stench would hit the fan). So, no Russian settlers there.

 

[Surge]

Well what'd'ya know, We're at the 5th Page, lets go

 

[alexmilman]

Edit: and double tracking would be great, but he needs to find a gold cheat or another fat wallet of cash somewhere to fund that. Mir mine 50 years early?

Edit2: Mmm Diamonds are cool and expensive, but don't have the bulk. We need some more funds from a different sort. Eg the other metals

As had been demonstrated by the Spanish Empire, possession of the precious metals and jewels do not make country rich if it has to buy everything from others. Russia had plenty of already discovered and exploited sources of gold in Siberia so few diamonds more would not matter too much.

Witte was carried away by the obvious and popular alternative of selling the domestically produced junk to the …er… “primitive natives” and the East China Railroad was bringing gold both from these sales and from carrying the local goods, which is why a commercial port like Dalnii was a losing enterprise: the main volume of the Russian trade in China was over land). But extended to the OTL scope it created geopolitical problem. And of course the money spent on Dalnii and PA had been a complete waste.

What else was in NIIs disposal?

Russia already was the world greatest producer of a kerosine but it was known (Mendeleev officially complained about that practice) that Branobel company was simply dumping all other byproducts into the Caspian Sea. Creating incentives (of all kinds) for a better oil utilization would produce greater revenues for the company and more state income in taxes. The same approach could be used elsewhere. I’m sure that if Witte was forced to look at tye directions other than his beloved railroads he would come with a very long list of the possibilities.

The state-/imperial family-owned lands (both agricultural and mineral rich) had been intentionally kept on low income mode to avoid criticism about using privileged position, etc. NII could without being forced to do what had been done after 1905: open these lands for commercial use and get a higher income. It would also look good: “Tsar gives his land to the peasants” (not for free, of course). Economy and extra income could be achieved pretty much everywhere. Then, the foreign investments into the Russian economy were not just introducing a modern technology but also generating state income. Look, if in the 1920s the Bolsheviks managed to attract a lot of the foreign investors for building up Soviet industry, surely Tsarist government could do the same.

Then, Russia may set up the spending structure differently from one of the OTL. After the RJW huge money had been spent on the naval program which proved to be of a very questionable value during WWI. Russian heavy industry did have problems with construction of the capital ships and while the (needed) icebreakers had been ordered in Britain, the battleships had been mostly (AFAIK) built domestically (not sure if their turbines were not imported) and when it came to the dreadnoughts Russia pretty much hit its technical ceiling. But did Russia really need a big navy if the stated goal (when Admiralty finally bothered to formulate it) was pretty much a coastal defense? The naval program ended up being comparable with the army expenses and how many heavy field guns could be produced at the cost of a single Gangut class dreadnought?

Of course, part of the functions could be shifted from government to zemstvo, which would make Russian liberals busy and happy with the blame for the local taxation and problems passed to them. AIII went somewhat too far in the opposite direction (a natural reaction to the noisy nincompoops of the reign of his father) but during the famine found that they can be reasonably useful. After all, the imperial Russia simply did not have anything comparable in its scope to the size of the Soviet bureaucracy and would be better off delegating some of its functions and related expenses (medical services, schools, local infrastructure).

 

[dunHozzie]

I may be wrong but IMO "the mindset of the day" was to get rich fast and to think about the consequences later.

So we need to basically make the bullying of Japan seem the less likely to get rich fast. Maybe feed them Opium, so they self destruct

Of course, one can (I'm playing the Devil's advocate there)
.......
(what's done, is already done and we are not going to help anybody by missing a good investment opportunity).

See, winning is easy

The good farmland was already taken by the Chinese and moving millions Russians all the way to Manchuria by a single RR was unrealistic, anyway: there would be a need of an adequate supply flow from Russia (at least Western Siberia), enough troops to protect the settlers from being slaughtered and, finally, where would the grain they eventually produce go? Russia could not even adequately populate the agricultural territories of the Russian Far East.

Why would we move them? Either leave them in the annexed area, or create a Russian Manchukuo

Russia already was the world greatest producer of a kerosine but it was known (Mendeleev officially complained about that practice) that Branobel company was simply dumping all other byproducts into the Caspian Sea. Creating incentives (of all kinds) for a better oil utilization would produce greater revenues for the company and more state income in taxes. The same approach could be used elsewhere. I’m sure that if Witte was forced to look at tye directions other than his beloved railroads he would come with a very long list of the possibilities.

Nice, that works. Or indeed make Witte fund his railroads with the budget he finds himself. If we create an early success experience, he might apply his considerable talent to that.

Very informative again Alex, cheers

 

[alexmilman]

So we need to basically make the bullying of Japan seem the less likely to get rich fast. Maybe feed them Opium, so they self destruct

Some of them already had been on drugs but I think that cocaine was the preferred one (after all, they were aristocrats, not the low born Chinese junkies😜).

Seriously, this was a systematic problem. By education an overwhelming majority of the Russian aristocracy were good for nothing in the terms of entrepreneurship or even efficient management of their estates.See memoirs of Felix Yusupov: the family summer palaces near Moscow stayed abandoned with the valuable pieces of art neglected; in his case the family still was very rich and he was too lazy but quite a few Grand Dukes and lesser members of the Romanov family had been short of the funds needed to maintain life style “suitable” to their status (aka, very wasteful). Uncle of NII, general-admiral Alexey Alexandrovich, was taking bribes (for shipbuilding contracts) right and left with the results clearly seen during the RJW. I’m not sure if Vladimir Alexandrovich and Sergei Alexandrovich had been able to maintain their life styles exclusively from their official incomes either. It is known that Empress Mother had been using her yacht to sneak expensive delicatessens (to be resold) bypassing the customs. Grand Duke Alexandr Michailovich (the rare bird really competent and productive) in his memoirs wrote that Ministry of the Court systematically had a negative budget balance even with the “narrow” imperial family since AIII was very modest in their life style.
Giving the Grand Dukes high positions in the army (inspector of artillery, cavalry, etc.) was not solving the problem because the salaries still were not big enough (see above about the bribes) and their competence usually was marginal, at best.
One notch below situation was similar: big demands, shrinking incomes and no useful skills. Nicholas Wrangel was one of the few top aristocrats who worked in business (and an employee) and provided his sons with the useful education but while Peter got engineer diploma, he kept making his career at court and in the military service (his brother became a renowned art specialist, publisher, organizer of the art exhibitions, etc.).

So, the opium would not be enough. 😢

See, winning is easy

Why would we move them? Either leave them in the annexed area, or create a Russian Manchukuo

I was talking about the Russian settlers. Even the annexed territory did not have enough of them and there were constant problems with the Chinese bandits. As for the local Chinese, by the existing treaties, they remained subjects of China and Russian government did not have enough resources to close the border and control those who were already in. As for the good farming lands, available resources of the Western Siberia and Russian Far East were far from being efficiently exploited.

The popular subject of the land shortages was recently discussed in Stolypin thread. These shortages did exist but majority of tye Russian peasants did everything in their power to resist resolution of the issue. The nobility-owned land had been shrinking since the Emancipation and even distribution of all of it would add peanuts (not to mention that it was not uniformly distributed across European Russia). In OTL addition of all lands owned by the imperial family (60M hectares) changed little. The problem was that the Russian peasants wanted (a) something for free here and now and (b) wanted prosperity within a communal model which was the main reason of their misery. They did resist Stolypin reform (becoming an independent farmer meant a personal responsibility and entrepreneurship, which was anathema even in post-Soviet Russia of the 1990s) and they were reluctant to resettle even with a considerable state sponsorship.

As for the Russian Manchkuo, why bother if China was an ally and allowed Russian military presence in Manchuria?

Nice, that works. Or indeed make Witte fund his railroads with the budget he finds himself. If we create an early success experience, he might apply his considerable talent to that.

Witte was good in raising the private capital and in general cutting the red tape tends to be good for the business (and state income).

 

[dunHozzie]

As for the Russian Manchkuo, why bother if China was an ally and allowed Russian military presence in Manchuria?

Cause I don't need to explain you allies are transient, only for mutual convenience and Japan is going to gobble it up if Russia doesn't. And frankly, China as an ally sucks for at least the next 50 to 60 years.

I was talking about the Russian settlers. Even the annexed territory did not have enough of them and there were constant problems with the Chinese bandits

I got that, but what I meant is: why would we need them. Have the Chinese work for us. However the bandits are a problem, would redeploying cossacks work? Or they probably already tried that...

They did resist Stolypin reform (becoming an independent farmer meant a personal responsibility and entrepreneurship, which was anathema even in post-Soviet Russia of the 1990s) and they were reluctant to resettle even with a considerable state sponsorship.

Good point. While I did understand the fear, I never got behind their resistance. You'd think having that chance would be worthwhile. Are the places you could leverage overpopulation at and move settlers with a carrot flavored stick?

 

[alexmilman]

Cause I don't need to explain you allies are transient, only for mutual convenience and Japan is going to gobble it up if Russia doesn't. And frankly, China as an ally sucks for at least the next 50 to 60 years.

Quite agree about the long range but in OTL Russia did sign a defense treaty with China thus alienating Japan. The short term economic benefits had been overshadowing a long- and even mid-term perspectives. Plus, even on the annexed territories Russian government tried to be a little bit pregnant by recognizing the local Chinese as the subjects of China, which kept causing numerous problems with the illegal migration, banditry and not quite clear situation with taxation.

I got that, but what I meant is: why would we need them. Have the Chinese work for us. However the bandits are a problem, would redeploying cossacks work? Or they probably already tried that...

The Cossacks hosts located East of Baikal simply were not numerous enough to deal with the situation. “The Transbaikal Cossack Host partially consisted of Siberian Cossacks, Buryats, Evenk (Tungus) military units, and included the peasant population of some of the regions. The Transbaikal Cossack Host partially consisted of Siberian Cossacks, Buryats, Evenk (Tungus) military units, and included the peasant population of some of the regions.The military component included three cavalry regiments and three unmounted brigades. In the early 20th century, the Transbaikal Cossack Host normally supplied one polusotnya (fifty men) of guards for rural policing work, four cavalry regiments, and two batteries in time of peace. During World War I, the Host expanded to one polusotnya, nine cavalry regiments, four batteries, and three reserve sotnyas (each of one hundred men). In 1916, the Cossack population of the Transbaikal Cossack Host numbered 265,000 people, out of which 14,500 men served in the military.”

However, by 1904 Russia kept well over 100,000 regular troops in the Russian Far East and Manchuria. Only fraction of these numbers was really needed for securing the East China Railroad (and as I understand there were some troops specially assigned this duty) and most of the rest kept a meaningless occupation of Chinese Manchuria and garrisoned Port Arthur (50,000 of those). If a bulk of these troops is moved back to the Russian territory and used for introducing …er… “law and order” in a most effective (aka, very cruel) way and if the Chinese living on the Russian territory are given an option of becoming the Russian citizens or to be physically kicked out, I suspect that most if the OTL issues would be gone reasonably fast. After all, we are talking early XX and at that time the “civilized” countries had a lot of freedom of action when dealing with the “natives” in Asia and Africa. Adopting a “soviet style” policy that everyone crossing the border illegally should be shot on sight and that the local peasants are going to suffer severe punishment for sheltering and supplying the honghuzi would produce tangible results. The same goes for the Chinese administrators implicated in the anti-Russian activities: with 100,000 troops there would be plenty of resources to launch the punishing expeditions without bothering about Beijing’s unhappiness.

Good point. While I did understand the fear, I never got behind their resistance. You'd think having that chance would be worthwhile. Are the places you could leverage overpopulation at and move settlers with a carrot flavored stick?

Those who could be “seduced” by some kind of a stimulus, took advantage of the Stolypin reforms (which definitely could be introduced earlier). But a majority was not interested. Any weakness of the regime was used for a meaningless looting and destruction of the estates (most of which did not have any serious land attached) but not for getting rid of the communal model causing their misery. Moving far away and starting from the scratch, even with the state’s help, required brains and individual initiative, aka, something that an average Russian peasant did not have due to the couple centuries of artificial evolution. Nicholas Wrangel provided an interesting comparison of the Russian and Ukrainian settlers in the Southern Russia in the late XIX - early XX: unlike their Ukrainian counterparts (little to no communal model there), the Russians simply did not know where to start and what to do.

So, at best, the government could switch to selling the land and giving the loans to the individuals rather than communities, introduce ahead of OTL the right to get an individual parcel of land, keep cutting functions of a rural community and, as soon as TransSib is functional, start supporting migration into the Western Siberia.

As for the carrot flavored stick, on a cynical level, the goal should be decreasing number of peasants while increasing their productivity, not (as was in OTL) trying to accommodate the increasing number of the low productivity peasants. Growing industry needed the cadres and combination of the comprehensive labor laws (even those of OTL but few years ahead of the schedule) and growing well-being of the industrial workers with the further impoverishment of the poorest peasants would provide these cadres while also freeing the land to be used more productively.

 

[trainvoi]

Those who could be “seduced” by some kind of a stimulus, took advantage of the Stolypin reforms (which definitely could be introduced earlier). But a majority was not interested. Any weakness of the regime was used for a meaningless looting and destruction of the estates (most of which did not have any serious land attached) but not for getting rid of the communal model causing their misery. Moving far away and starting from the scratch, even with the state’s help, required brains and individual initiative, aka, something that an average Russian peasant did not have due to the couple centuries of artificial evolution. Nicholas Wrangel provided an interesting comparison of the Russian and Ukrainian settlers in the Southern Russia in the late XIX - early XX: unlike their Ukrainian counterparts (little to no communal model there), the Russians simply did not know where to start and what to do.

So, at best, the government could switch to selling the land and giving the loans to the individuals rather than communities, introduce ahead of OTL the right to get an individual parcel of land, keep cutting functions of a rural community and, as soon as TransSib is functional, start supporting migration into the Western Siberia.

As for the carrot flavored stick, on a cynical level, the goal should be decreasing number of peasants while increasing their productivity, not (as was in OTL) trying to accommodate the increasing number of the low productivity peasants. Growing industry needed the cadres and combination of the comprehensive labor laws (even those of OTL but few years ahead of the schedule) and growing well-being of the industrial workers with the further impoverishment of the poorest peasants would provide these cadres while also freeing the land to be used more productively.

Is this the reason why there was a lot of [insert adjective] Ukraine in Siberia? I know that Outer Manchuria and some part of Northern Kazakhstan was primarily settled by Ukrainians.

 

[alexmilman]

Is this the reason why there was a lot of [insert adjective] Ukraine in Siberia? I know that Outer Manchuria and some part of Northern Kazakhstan was primarily settled by Ukrainians.

Did not know that but it would make sense because historically the Ukrainian peasants were not subjected to the communal model and related mentality to the same degree as the Russian ones (and as a result had more individualistic mentality and corresponding skills). Then, IIRC (but I may be mistaken), situation with land per capita on Ukraine was worse than in most of Russia proper which would create an additional stimulus. The Ukrainian peasants also had been moving in the big numbers into the area of what’s now “Eastern Ukraine” and the lands of the Don and Kuban Cossack hosts (in these areas they could not buy the land but the were renting it).

 

[Surge]

Hey, How would Y'all like an update. ​

---

Chapter 6 - The Commission
St. Petersburg, 1900

Smoke drifted into the air, continuing and continuing without stopping, at least as long as Sandro kept smoking the cigarette. It was the middle of the day, and Sandro and Nicholas were leaning over a railing, this time, looking over a garden, as opposed to Nicholas’ habit of looking over St. Petersburg in the night.

“Nicky, You know how Bismarck died about two years ago”

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Apparently, he said something to the Kaiser along the lines of, ‘As long as you have your officer corps, you can do as you please, but once they’re gone, it’ll come crashing down. And if it continues as it is now, that crash will come 20 years after my departure.’ and well, that made me think, what would cause your officer corps to abandon you?”

“I don’t know, Sandro, but clearly you’re going somewhere with this”

“Well Nicky, the reason one’s military would abandon them, is if they lead the nation into a disastrous war. And if that man is right, and this is the man who united several tiny German states into a single empire, one of the most powerful in Europe, we’re talking about here so I think he is, then War is coming. And you need to prepare for it”

Sandro stood up straight, and dug his cigarette into an ashtray nearby. And Nicholas continued to smoke, was Sandro right? Was war coming to Europe, how large would it be, would the European Order survive it?. Nicholas didn’t know, but he did know that he needed to prepare.

(Nicholas Reading the Paper in his Study)

​

Nicholas' Study
Nicholas sat down in his chair, his study was a nice, warm room, cozy, pleasant. Those were all the thoughts that went into his head, he needed them, so he could calm himself. As he would discuss the nation's foreign policy, something that very well could maintain the balance of the European Order, or destroy it, the consequences of it would be very large.

Soon, Muravyov entered the room with a map tucked under each arm. And the discussion began. The Foreign Minister, Muravyov, had shifted Russia’s attention to the far east. But Nicholas looked to change things. He was fixated on setting a viable and safe standing for which Russia could engage in the world from, and the point of this conversation and sit down would be to develop plans to place Russia in a viable position to engage in a European war, and win it. It was at this time, while the Foreign Minister laid out the map of Europe on the table, that Witte entered the room, and joined the conversation.

The First thing on Nicholas’ mind was the Army, he was worried that it was outdated, backwater, and just, to put it plainly, a fish out of water in the changing world of warfare. However, Theory that was merely based on ideas, rather than the practicalities of the world, could only do so much, theory could be anything, that was it’s point, but reality was often disappointing compared to the Theoretical. But the practicalities of the world could be found, The British were engaging in a war down in southern Africa. After a series of discussion, a decision was made, A Commission was to be formed, of Military officials and academics, including the Professor Nicholas had met at the General Staff Academy. This Commission would be sent copies of reports made by Military Attachés who were to be sent down to the Boer War.

But the Army wasn’t the only issue, The Navy was as well. It wasn’t necessary to develop a Pacific navy anymore, as Nicholas had drawn down the plans to expand in the East. But, it would be necessary to be able to use the navy at all. If Russia went to war with Germany, it would need to engage in the Baltic and North Sea. If Russia went to war with Britain, it would need to engage in the English channel as well. And if it went to war with Italy or any Mediterranean nation, it would need to get through the damned Bosporus.

As it had turned out, Russia’s Geography had given a bad hand to the nation’s navy, and so a plan was devised, the Bosporus Straits had to be controlled by someone who would let the Russians through, and if God was willing, perhaps the opportunity would present itself to do this.

The Clearest option, geographically, would be Bulgaria, if it wouldn’t be in the hands of the ottomans. But politically, relations between the two were strained. Russia’s friendship with Serbia had led to less than friendly relations with the Bulgarians. But at the very least efforts could be made to restore that relationship.

At the moment, the theoretical goal was to place the Bulgarians in control of Constantinople and Thrace. This would give a friend of Russia, at least, in the scenario, control of the straits. And would also allow Russian Trade to continue through the Black Sea and through the Suez. These foundations, for the time being, would be decent enough for Nicholas to end the discussion, but he knew more discussions would follow, as reforming the Military would take time.

As everyone left, Muravyov sent orders down to his subordinates, ordering the deployment of Military Attaches out to the Boer war. But Nicholas sighed, sat down and leaned into his chair. Was he doing Russia right, he wouldn’t know, that was until Russia was tested. “May God Grant Russia Mercy” he thought, and his body relaxed and he sat there, waiting until he found himself ready to move on to the next thing he would have to do.



The House of Alexander F. Rediger
Alexander poured himself a cup of water, and sat down, grabbing the book next to him. However, as he read the words on the page, nothing stuck in his mind, for that was focused on the memory of the Tsar’s visit to the Academy. Alexander was a Professor at the Academy and the Tsar had sent a letter about a week prior, asking for advice on a military matter. This was the first time he had done so, since he asked if he could weeks prior during his Visit to the Academy.

To Alexander, The Military hadn’t quite caught up to the Modern world in its thinking, so perhaps his correspondence could help Russia as a whole, as a backwards military would be disastrous in war. But as he thought this, a knock came at his door.

A man stood outside, handing him a letter, and a paper. “Here are your Orders, and this is a letter explaining them.”, this was all very confusing, why was he being given orders, and why a separate letter to explain them.

“Sir, you must be mistaken, this isn’t the house you’re looking for, I'm not a soldier” Alexander said, as the man pulled a paper from his pocket. “Are you not Alexander Rediger?” Alexander was surprised of course, why would this man be looking for him, perhaps the answer could’ve been reached if he opened the letters, or his supposed ‘orders’. But the shock of it all clouded his mind.

“I'm only a professor, and as I've said, I'm not a soldier either, why have i been given orders.” Alexander said, but the man accepted this as acknowledging he was Alexander Rediger, which he was, and walked away, leaving Alexander to wonder. It would only take a moment, as Alexander shut the door and walked over to his desk. As he read over the orders, he finally got an understanding of the situation.

Alexander F. Rediger, it read, You have been invited to join as a member of a commission focused on possible reforms into Military Operations, one newly formed by the Tsar. The Letter explained that the Russian government had sent Military Attaché to the Boer war, and that the commission would receive reports gathered by the Military Attaches, and that Nicholas wanted his unofficial advisor to be a part of that Commission.

Alexander thought it over for a brief moment, before deciding to accept the invitation. His orders gave him directions as to where to go, so at least he knew that. As he took a sip of his water, his throat had become quite parched unbeknownst to him as he read all of those documents and thought it over, and went to work to prepare. He didn’t know what to expect to receive, but he knew he should prepare for the commission, as despite being a professor at the General Staff academy, his nerves weren’t calming him when he thought about joining a commission that consisted of fellow academics, and high-level military officers.

 

[sakura tanaka]

good update I wish NIcholas II would reform the army and have better perform of Russo Japanese War and World war 1

 

[dunHozzie]

It's indeed not to late, adding better infantry equipment like webbing, battlefield medicine, the importance of proper logistics, encryption, real time communication, proper maps. The cult of the HMG and LMG is also good to follow for all the way until the end of the interbellum.

 

[alexmilman]

It's indeed not to late, adding better infantry equipment like webbing, battlefield medicine, the importance of proper logistics, encryption, real time communication, proper maps. The cult of the HMG and LMG is also good to follow for all the way until the end of the interbellum.

Even the seemingly obvious things like the proper types of the shells. In OTL by the time of the RJW Russian field artillery was too deep into the shrapnel at the expense of the explosive shells and in the navy situation was even worse. It should not take a war to figure out that even a hut with the clay walls used as a cover makes shrapnel pretty much useless.
The same goes for seemingly obvious idea of trying not to place artillery on the exposed positions.

There is no need in a lost war to figure out these and many other things.

 

[Surge]

Glad to see there’s still interest in this, I do apologize for lack of updates, but it hasn’t been to waste, I'm about 160 pages into The End of Tsarist Russia by Domonic Lieven. Which I thank whoever recommended it to me, and i do recommend it to others. According to reviews, it doesn't really expanding on whats already out there and glosses over some things (though i haven't noticed that yet), but it is a good introduction to the details of Russia at this point in history.