What Was Lost, and What Was Found Along the Way: A Timeline of Russia Since 1917

To start, this is the first time I have posted a timeline here. This is not going to be a conventional posting, and will go back on forth on a number of topics. Many of the writings are done in universe and so they may have certain biases attached to them. Depending on how people respond, I may address certain aspects of the world in more detail. While I have a pretty solid outline of the timeline up until about 2000, things can change depending on other posters' observations. A project like this needs input from others to keep it balanced.

Also, it does include an original character. I know they are not prohibited in these sorts of thread, but I figured that it is better to state it upfront. That said, there are many, many historical figures as well. I came across a lot of interesting fellows in my research for this. May they get the recognition they deserve for the sacrifices (or mistakes) they made in RL.

Let's start with a brief teaser:


It was a critical moment in Russian History. Nearly three months after the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II, the Provisional Government of Prince Lvov was blundering closer towards collapse with each passing day. Then came the bombshell of April 20th, 1917 when the so-called Milyukov note was leaked to the Bolsheviks by a sympathizer within the government. The note, a declaration by Foreign Minister (and head of the powerful Centre-Left Kadet Party) Pavel Milyukov that the Provisional Government intended to carry on the war against the Central Powers until it was won, utterly against the wishes of the vast majority of the Russian people, started a crisis that would lead to one of the great watershed moments of 20th century history: the coup of May 25th.

The rapid seizure of Petrograd and Moscow by a number of elite units of the Russian army under the authority of General Aleksei Brusilov with the support of Petrograd Military District Commander Lavr Kornilov and the tentative approval of ex-Army Commander in Chief Mikhail Alekseyev saw the dawn of the Russian Unionist Government of 1917-20, the exit of Russia from the First World War, and the start of a nearly three year period of Civil War that raged across many regions of Russia’s vast domains. The regime that would emerge from that trial by fire would manage to survive one war with Poland, another with the Grand Axis, but its greatest challenge would be to find its way towards democracy, economic development, and political acceptance in a world where greatness always seemed to lie around the corner, but remained frustratingly elusive.

In light of developments coming from the government of Prime Minister Yakovlev in the past year, it seems a good time as any to publish a new history concerning the rise of the Unionists. Research in the past fifteen years has considerably changed the Western scholar’s perspective of what transpired in those tense days before and after the coup, especially the mindset of the men who pushed for it. One of the most critical discoveries was related to the full origins of the “evil genius” of the movement: Mikhail Stenin, on whose interference the whole conspiracy was almost certainly hatched…

From the introduction of John Griffith-Downs, “Rallying Around the Blue Banner: The All-Russian Military Union’s Leadership and Ideology: 1917-1942” St.Martin’s Press, 1982.


More to come...
 
Interstibg Yes,. But what do you mean "Universe".? If it is going to contain something supernatural it Will get moved to ASB.
 
Interstibg Yes,. But what do you mean "Universe".? If it is going to contain something supernatural it Will get moved to ASB.
"In universe" means that the text is written as if it was created by a person from the world in the literary work.
 
Continuing our story...


Nikolai Vasilievich Yevchenko (1947- ) was one of many historical novelists who bloomed in the ‘Chrome Renaissance’ of the late 1970’s. Following in the footsteps of Valentin Pikul (1928-1996), Yevchenko published a number of historical novels focusing on major events in Russian history. His most famous work is Under the Blue Banner (Pod sinyuyu znamyu) (1982), which focuses on the pivotal events of May 1917 and the Civil War. It was followed by a further two novels which cover political struggles in the 1920’s and 30’s, tailing off in 1937. The protagonist in these novels is Mikhail Timofeyvich Stenin, the man who in real-life may or may not have swayed General Aleksei Brusilov to enact his coup, and the major ideologist of the Unionist Movement.

Much controversy surrounds Yevchenko’s novels. While they helped reignite interest in the Russian Civil War among the Union’s citizens during a period of renewed patriotism, they are marked by major ideological biases, and take certain liberties with historical record. However, for many Russian citizens in the 21st century, Under the Blue Banner shapes their viewpoint of how their nation was birthed, and therefore a translation of it into English has long been in order. While the merits of Yevchenko’s work is still hotly debated both in Russia and abroad, it may help Western audiences gain insight into Russian culture that is often lacking. I have where possible kept certain linguistic eccentricities of Yevchenko’s style intact, and hope that the intended audience will not find it too dry. With that, please enjoy.



Mark Konrader, Pittsburg University, 2017


Chapter I

May 1st, 1917

It was unbearably hot in the room. The man shuffled out from under his covers, grabbed his glasses off the nightstand, and checked his pocket watch on the night table.

5 o’clock in the morning. It was as good a time as any to start the day; especially if he wished to stay on schedule. From Fastov to Berdichev was not that far by rail, but these were uncertain times. Missing a train could mean ending up stranded in Fastov for another few days at the least, and this glorified railway station was not rich in charms.

“Happy May Day.” Stenin whispered harshly to no one in particular as the particular date dawned on him. What a despicable holiday it was. As if the average working man was in a position to enjoy his supposed veneration. How typical of socialists to take something ancient and folksy and corrupt it for their cynical ends.

Taking his glasses off of the nightstand, Stenin wiped the lenses with corner of his pajama’s sleeve before putting them on. As the world came into focus he took a deep breath, the thoughts plaguing him the previous night starting to creep back in. The painful choices laying ahead back in full detail.

He stood up and looked around the hotel room. It was a tiny, dirty little space whose main commendation was its low cost. Stenin was a stingy man, one who deplored waste, but his bosses had not given him much in the way of funds for this trip anyway. He was fortunate they had not made him pay for his own transport or he might have had to sleep in even humbler accommodations.

He spent the better part of the next hour sprucing himself up, meticulously checking his hair and clothing in the small mirror he carried in his travel bag. There were many in the vast land that was Russia who might claim such behavior as belonging to that of a dandy, but in the case of Stenin they would be wrong. He primed himself because he felt people would take his words more seriously. If people taking him more seriously had meant dumping a pail of mud on his head, Stenin would have done that instead.

As he dressed in his favorite suit, Stenin’s heart began to beat a little faster. This was it, he was putting his best face forward to the world. How seriously would it be taken? Thoughts swirled in his head of how he was to conduct himself down to the slightest detail. Soon finished, he checked his bags to make sure that everything was in order.

Walking down to main lobby of the hotel (if it could be called that, for it was even less tidy than the rooms), Stenin went to the old lady at the front desk and inquired if he could receive a newspaper.

“For twenty kopeks we can find you some breakfast as well.” The proprietress hummed. “In these conditions finding good food for such a price is a bargain!”

If she was trying to come off as matronly, she was doing a poor job of it. Stenin however was hungry, and he knew that it would be difficult to fit in a meal any other way. He placed a silver coin in her hand and told her to do as she saw fit.

‘That babushka… a real clever one she is!’ he thought, ‘I bet she pockets half of the kopeks outright!’ However, it was hard to fault the hotel owner too harshly. These were lean times, and even in Kiev Governorate the ongoing hardships of the most ferocious war the Russian Empire had ever been drawn into could be acutely felt.

Except it was no longer the Russian Empire. Less than two months earlier, over one thousand years of monarchial rule had been swept away in the February Revolution. What a bitter pill that had been for Stenin to swallow! While in appearance and speech many of his countrymen would have pegged him for some liberal type, perhaps even a revolutionary, he had in fact nearly worshiped the monarchy. He could concede that reform was needed, but the Imperial government had been fully capable of doing just that. Now look at what had happened. Opportunists, criminals, and atheists ran Petrograd! The ‘Provisional Government’ of Prince Lvov dithered on every issue except for one. Obsessed with continuing the war that had undone the legacy of Peter the Great, they nevertheless allowed the Petrograd Soviet to undermine their control over the military and let the vile Bolsheviks agitate on every street corner for peace. But for Stenin what was most galling was how the French and the British governments, perfidious vipers that they were, had recognized the clowns of Tauride Palace so readily. One could expect the Germans to do that, they were the enemy, but these ‘allies’, they welcomed Russia’s debasement and weakness with glee.

‘Do they think the Russian army exists to be their sinkhole to keep the Germans in place?’ he pondered. He would have spat on the ground in rage if he did not feel it would reduce his dignity.

How could Nicholas II, for all of his many flaws, be any worse than what Russia was facing now? But more significantly, what was to be done to reverse the crisis?

That was why Stenin had volunteered for the mission to deliver political papers to the commander of the South-Western Front, General Alexei Brusilov. The papers were by themselves meaningless, some drivel cooked up by a chinovik in a Petrograd office trying to justify the continued existence of his position in the post-Imperial environment. But Stenin, a proud former member of the Union of October 17 (former because the party had been banned even though its leader Guchkov was now War Minister under Lvov), was happy to deliver them if it meant a chance to get out into the field and meet with a commander like Brusilov. Of course, Stenin heard the general had backed the ouster of the Emperor, but it was supposedly done out of concern that the war would be lost if Nicholas was not removed. Brusilov had supposedly wanted Grand Duke Michael to ascend to the throne, but the politicians had convinced that noble man to step aside until such time a new constitution had been written. But the actions of the Provisional Government had revealed little interest in organizing an election of the Constituent Assembly. Rather they acted like thieving boyars while allowing the countryside to fall into panic and anarchy. Having done nothing to improve the army, and in many ways seeming to be hell-bent on weakening it, the new government left its soldiers to the mercies of the well-organized German battalions.

How did Brusilov feel about the sustainability of the war now?

In the haze of his thoughts, Stenin did not realize the bellboy (the old woman’s nephew) had returned with his paper and a half-loaf of good white bread. So bewildered was Stenin that he handed the boy another kopek even though no tip was expected.

What greeted Stenin on the front page made him gasp.

Minister of War Guchkov Resigns! Protests Call for Foreign Minister Milyukov to Join Him.

“Betrayed?” he shouted, no longer able to contain his disgust.

His outburst alarmed the old woman, who had seen enough disturbing things in the past few years so that her threshold for the odd had been greatly compromised. She began making the Sign of the Cross. Stenin, realizing that he had transgressed, awkwardly offered an apology and stammered a request to have his bags taken down to the train depot before saying goodbye. Quickly he exited the hotel, grabbing his overcoat and the bread from the bellboy and began pacing down Fastov’s muddy main street.

He needed to get to the train station as soon as possible, and he doubted there would be any carriage to expedite his travel. Unceremoniously, he began to stuff the bread in his mouth and take large bites of it as he continued to pace briskly down the street.

‘What are they doing?’ he asked himself, reading more of the article as he continued towards his destination. ‘This is utter madness! They overthrow the Emperor, but they wanted to continue his war aims. They should have kept him on the throne if that was what all the fuss was about! And now any pretense of Conservatives having a place in the government is being done away with! The Socialists and the Freemasons (are they not the same?) now show their true colors!

‘And what do they think they will get out of it anyway? Constantinople? Galicia? What a farce! One hundred million Russians could die in this war and the British would not allow our borders to advance one verst! And the French, they want us to attack to cover up their weakness. That new offensive launched in Chemin des Dames was an unmitigated failure. If it had succeeded we would be able to hear the gloating from Paris even in this distant hamlet.’

What was to be done? And then a little voice entered the back of Stenin’s head.

‘What is to be done? It is very simple! Go to Berdichev and meet with Brusilov!’

Yes, Brusilov was in Berdichev, and with him perhaps the last hope for Russia…
 
Top