The Revenge of the Bear! A BeAARhug just for you!

I am not Anglophone, despite being born in an Anglophone country. I am more of a Russo-francophone.

As such, I have absolutely no idea what that Tax thinger was called when wealthy people paid and in return had the right to elect and be elected.

Russian industry grew relentlessly, its appetites growing bigger and bigger every passing month. As a bear cub, the Empire swallowed and ate all it could find, consuming astronomic amounts of raw materials to produce highly valued industrial goods. One of the sectors in rapid expansion was the textiles industry, with large fabric factories to be found in the Kingdom of Poland and the governorate of Minsk.


The production of fabric required massive amounts of cotton, something the Empire was not self-sufficient in. In fact, most of Russia’s cotton was imported from the British Empire, namely India, as they were the leading producers of this rather precious raw material. For without cotton there was no fabric, and without fabric there were no clothes, no uniforms, nothing. One can understand that for a northern, cold country like Russia, the textiles industry was of strategic importance. And dependency on the British was quite irritating for the Emperor and his most trusted advisors, who sought ways to correct the situation.


And the situation could only be addressed through expansion, namely into China where East Turkestan was famous for its cotton plantations. Russia was hungry, China had the misfortune of bordering on Russia, having cotton and being weak. The upcoming war was nothing personal. The Empire was simply starving, she had to feed.

And so, as began the year 1882, so did another war begin as the Russian Empire went to war with the Chinese Empire. There was no exquisite and high flown formulation of a casus belli. Petersburg’s intentions were blunt and straightforward: land and resources.

The war would be led by the “two Mikhails”, namely Generals Skobelev and Dragomirov, in their respective positions as General-Governors of Turkestan and the Far East. All in all, with Skobelev’s Turkestani Military District and Dragomirov’s Siberian Military District, plus divisions redeployed to the Russian east for the occasion, the forces committed against China would comprise sixty five regular infantry divisions, backed up by ten cavalry divisions. This was out of the total of one hundred and sixty three Russian regular divisions, supplemented by the capacity to call up another one hundred reserve divisions in case of need.


The invasion began in Mongolia and Manchuria, with Dragomirov’s forces quickly crushing important Chinese forces in Manchuria and dispersing the under strength “divisions” in Mongolia (Russian armies would never encounter more than a battalion worth of Chinese soldiers in Mongolia at any given time). However, an audacious formation of Chinese soldiers, numbering twenty thousand men, managed to pierce into Russian territory and even occupy a large number of disparate hamlets and villages along the border, before being completely routed and butchered by four Russian cavalry divisions dispatched to the rescue.

Skobelev’s offensive into Kashgar and East Turkestan was held up by a localized uprising of uzbek aristocrats and landlords in Bukhara, as well as the uighurs of Kashgar dispatching messengers to the Russians offering full surrender in return for mercy.


Whilst Skobelev was held up in Turkestan, awaiting instructions on what to do with the mysteriously tame and obeying uighurs of Kashgar from the Imperial Senate, Dragomirov did not waste a single week and even day and steamrolled Chinese forces all the way to Pekin, entering it on August the 5th, 1882. The capital of the Chinese Empire had fallen, yet the Emperor managed to flee.


Skobelev, on his end, finally crossed Kashgar and entered East Turkestan, capturing city after town and, willing not to fall too far behind Dragomirov, pushed into Inner Mongolia, as well as southern China, following the border with Tibet, also nominally under Chinese authority, but left out of Russian plans. Petersburg did not wish to poke the British lion by suddenly popping Russian soldiers on India’s border. Their time would come, for now Russia had China to concentrate on.


Despite the rather rapid advance of Russian armies, the utter lack of infrastructure in China, rough mountain terrain and continued local partisan groups slowed Russian divisions considerably. Dragomirov and Skobelev’s men did not properly meet before summer of the year 1883, at which point it was already clear that Russia won the war and would henceforth press on to get as much land as possible to, in the end, be able to issue very hungry demands to the Chinese.


The two Generals decided to allow their troops some well earned rest and paused for several months, allowing supplies and reinforcements to arrive. Finally, however, Dragomirov was forced to lead a portion of his men north, as Chinese partisans and rebels began to pose a problem to disparate Russian garrisons. Skobelev, in the meantime, inherited an important number of Siberian divisions, which he grouped with his Turkestani for a new wave against China, pushing further south. Despite being victorious and successful, the offensive was slowed down due to difficult terrain and absence of proper roads.


With his armies completely, utterly and undoubtedly victorious, Alexander began to ponder on the demands he would issue to the Chinese. But it was clear that Russia would see her size increased dramatically as the result of the war, gaining access to very needed resources to feed her ever growing industrial hunger.

First of all, a general reply. Here is the map representing the potential Russian borders after gobbling up northern China.



I am not entirely sure about the purple territories. Whilst the two eastern provinces have coal, the rest has grain. Now, grain is also good, because then I can happily turn my national pops busy in grain farms into craftsmen and clerks and boost industry. So… I don’t know. I am tempted to take them.

Now, I believe I shall hereby steal the answering template in use with other writAARs, because I am an entirely unoriginal thief of all the bright ideas. *nodnod* So, here come the personalized replies.


Ahura Mazda : I do not plan on annexing all of China. As far as Xinjiang is concerned, I think there is a background event or something to trigger peace if it’s attacked. Does make sense for an AI Russia, but I do admit that I was not amused to see twenty five divisions going round the area to attack China >.>

stnylan : Quite true >.>

Mango Man : Well, Sudan is part of Egypt, which has civilized. But I might grab it once I am done with my plans in Asia. As far as the Suez is concerned, it is opened. I am not sure I did that, maybe Germany did (is the event prestige related?) Or, maybe I did but somehow didn’t really register it.

robou : Quite so. China is doomed. It might take me a bit to capture all the provinces, because movement is slow, but China is doomed. I am going to land divisions by sea in the south and on the islands. I WILL have the option to annex China. As such, if I can get it all, I deem that I can get half of it, as seen in my expansion plans.

Velendesril : The Russo-Mongol Empire, from the Pacific to the Atlantic o/ Nah, just kidding. Mother Russia is Mother Russia Also, welcome aboard Bear Airlines! Lifevest under your seat, the Holy Bible in the pocket of the seat in front of you!

Herbert West : Well… the above post is Hunger Part 1 for a reason >.> <.< And welcome aboard Bear Airlines!

asd21593 : China has a population of 650 million. If I swallow all that, I’ll just implode in a huge badaboom! O.O

robou : Uhm. Yes. Well… oooh! Look! Butterfly!

Lord Cowles : Wow! Thanks a lot for the emotional rendition of the anthem! But… your expansion plans… what am I to do with all the crumpets?

asd21593 : Okay! But only because you insist! >.>