The Bear in Winter: An All the Russias AAR

[RossN]

The Bear in
Winter: An All
the Russias AAR

Prologue

It was cold, even for a Moscow January. Several times Stepan had had to draw back from the window and sit on his hands to keep them warm. Imagine if his were to numb to pull the trigger at the right moment!

Kerensky was late coming back from the ballet. Stepan did not know whether the President went because he liked it, because he had to be seen to be going, or simply because it was one of the few things that worked in Russia these days and it gave him a few hours peace. Then again Stepan did not know a lot of things: Yegov probably knew, he knew everything. Or at least more than Stepan; he only knew how to shoot well. Better to leave the plans and the thinking to Yegov.

Movement. Gripping his rifle he glanced out of the small third floor window at the car that had just drawn up across the street. The driver got out to open the door and... yes, Stepan could clearly see the prematurely aged features of Alexander Fyodorovitch Kerensky, Presidnt of Russia. Muttering a prayer to Saint Basil - as much subconcious as anything - he took aim and pulled the trigger...

Nothing!

The venerable rifle had jammed! Swearing Stepan drew his pistol, the one Yegov had given him just in case the police might take him and ran down the stairs. Yegov would be angry, but surely he would understand?

He made it into the street just as the car was starting up. No time to aim properly, Stepan simply fired three times into the side of the car. The first two went wide; the last struck Kerensky in the neck. Not that Stepan saw that. A police bullet hit him in the shoulder, followed a moment later by one in the chest. He dropped to cold snow, his vision already dimming. The pain was bad, but somehow not as bad as he had thought. He'd never been shot before, not even the war so he didn't know how it should feel.

He was slipping away now. He could hear footsteps running towards him but he would be long dead by then. At last he heard it, some voice in the far distance: "The President is dead!"

Stepan smiled, his last thought before he died that perhaps Yegov would understand after all.

[GeneralHannibal]

Yay!

A RossN AAR!

Hopefully this AAR will finish till the end. I eagerly await to see what path ends up taken, but no matter which path it is, Russia will be pretty unstable. I'm guessing that Wrangel won't take over, but beyond that I have no clue.

[RossN]

Hey guys. This is my new AAR, using the All the Russias mod created by Sarmatia1871.

I will be playing Russia (obviously), starting in 1936 and using Doomsday with the most recent patch.

Well watch this space as they say!

[Patrick O'Harte]

Great! Another adventure!

[RGB]

Bears normally sleep in winter.

I love bears. They're very sensible animals.

[RossN]

European Russia

Asiatic Russia

Part 1

January 1936 saw the Republic of Russia in poor shape. Though officially at peace since 1922 the scars of the Civil War (and the Great War before it) had scarcely healed. President Kerensky had done his best, and to be fair had managed to keep most of the country together in the face of great odds. Russia had remained a democracy (something at which Poland and Germany had conspicuously failed), the rouble had been stabilised and if Moscow had few close friends abroad, they had almost no close enemies. At the beginning of the year the Government had taken to a more interventionist line in foreign affairs and had set up a deal exchaning Russian coal for American oil.

The largest single party in the Duma was the Right Socialist-Revolutionary Party who controlled 96 deputies. Together with the 84 deputies of the Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets) they made up the Government - but only just, as even combined they fell far short of a majority. Pavel Milyukov of the Kadets was Prime Minister. There was little love lost between the President and his premier but, fortunately for Russia, each recognised the need for the other and managed to present a united front.

The assassination of Kerensky on 4 January 1936 brought this facade of stability tumbling down at once. As soon as the news was out fingers were pointed, old hatreds rekindled. Some blamed the workers; Kerensky having taken a strict line on the continuing Muscovite strike recently. Others claimed it had been some Monarchist diehard wishing to avenge the Tsar on his agent of destruction. And so on. It was the Bolsheviks, the Army, the Ukranians, the Orthodox Church... It was anyone and everyone.

Without Kerensky the Government collapsed in chaos within hours. It had never been a union of hearts to begin with and Milyukov, unable to gain control of the Duma resigned. Seeing their chance the Mensheviks and the Left Socialist-Revolutionary Party, the day before the vilest of enemies, put aside their mutual dislike and began discussing a coalition, which together with the support of a handful of indepents could gain a majority in the Duma.

They were not alone in realising the importance of the moment. The Senate, that bastion of conservatism and Tsarist sentiment had the theoretical power to elect a new President, and one name cropped up almost at once: Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. Dimitri was the cousin of of the old Tsar and the prospect of a Romanov in power, even as President, stirred many hearts and minds. It also stirred much opposition: several Senators could not quite bring themselves to pass over the 'rightful' heir Grand Duke Kirill. Then there was Dimitri's scandalous behaviour with Prince Felix Yusupov and his association with the murder of Rasputin to think of. Could such a man be trusted with Russia?

In the event the plans of the Duma and the Senate never reached fruition. The Chief of Staff, Marshall Anton Ivanovich Denikin had been in Moscow at the time of the assassination and kept a cool head while others panicked and dithered. Sending out soldiers to prevent mobs and rioteers taking the streets and nipping potential revolution in the bud he marched to the Senate and obtained a decree of Martial Law over Moscow. He was officially confirmed as acting President five hours later at which point his first two acts were to extend martial law to the whole country - and to dissolve the still squabbling Duma. Suddenly, almost before anyone had realised it, Marshall Denikin had taken control of Russia.

Denikin expressly claimed, in a radio address to the Russian people, that he had acted solely to "preserve the Republic and the rule of law." While most of his listeners woud have taken this to mean either Bolsheviks and/or the quite genuinely formidable strikes paralysing the major cities Denikin may also have been acting to pre-empt a millitary coup d'état by Baron Wrangel and other officers. While Denikin's seizure of power had been constitutionally dubious Wrangel's actions would have been outright treasonous. The Baron, whatever his plans, quietly burned his papers and Denikin, conserving his strength took no formal action. Civil war had been averted, for the moment at least.

With soldiers and armed police out in force in the streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novonikolayevsk and other major cities some measure of stability began to return to the country as Russians everywhere looked wth uncertainty at the strongman who now held the reins of power.

[RossN]

GeneralHannibal: Glad to have an old hand aboard! The only direction I've (pretty much) ruled out at the moment is hard-core leftism, at least intentionally. If I wanted to play the USSR I could have played Vanilla!

Patrick O'Harte: Yep.

RGB: It was one of those fiendishly clever 'literary allusion' type things - only not so clever.

[SeanB]

Taking the same path I was gonna huh? I was thinking about reviving my old ATR AAR and giving it another shot, but I don't think I'll bother if you're doing a very similar one.

[Nikolai]

Another RossN AAR! I'm subscribed.

[J. Passepartout]

Sir-
I await with pleasure news of the results of Marshall Denikin's apparant coup.

[Simon-1979]

Nice there - you have a *hitload of work ahead of you - its all good fun right? - good luck and keep up the good work ill be followin

[rcduggan]

cool, an AAR for one of my favorite MODS. good luck!

[Dr. Gonzo]

Yay, RossN = Fun. *Claps and nods*.

Now get on with it. I have a short attention span.

[RossN]

Marshall Anton Ivanovich Denikin, the new ruler of Russia

Part 2

Over the following two weeks the new President set about forming his Government. Some of the old cabinet were retained, others found themselves unceremoniously kicked out. Marshall Denikin was, as he was only to happy to explain a soldier, and if some political toes got trodden on - well such was life. He had larger concerns.

Marshall Denikin's Cabinet, 6th January 1936

Still eyebrows were raised when Felix Romanovsky, a man with similar politics to Denikin was replaced as Chief of Staff after only a day in office by non other than Fyodor Trikhin. Trikhin, a hard line right-winger (National Socialist, indeed) was a strange figure in the conservative, constitutionalist Denikin's government. More however he was known to be one of Baron Wrangel's men, raising suspicions that Denikin had given him a place to placate his old Civil War comrade. Denikin, who considered such scurrilous talk beneath the dignity of a Russian Officer declined to answer such rumours but it brought angry retorts from his associates and friends - including the ousted General
Romanovsky:

"The President and I disagreed on the issue of conscription; Trikhin agrees with him. That is all there is too it; any talk of backroom deals and corruption are nothing more than Bolshevist lies and proganda."
-Felix Romanovsky

Undoubtedly there were many in Moscow out to blacken Marshall Denikin's, and equally many out to seek favour with the new regime. Obviously Denikin was not President and seemingly unasailable in that position. He still would have to appoint a Prime Minister and, so the logic went, a real politician in the post would be able to run rings around a mere general.

Many looked to the obvious candidate - the old premier Pavel Milyukov, a wily an experienced politician and certainly the Kadets were not all that far from Denikin's conservative patriotism. Yet Milyukov was a holdover from the Kerensky years and Denikin had doubts those had been good years for Russia. He was, personally at least, more inclined to the Patriarch Mikhail Pol'skii. Denikin was no anti-clericalist and the Orthodox Church would be a powerful ally. Still he was loath to appoint someone - even someone he admired and liked - with such a strong independent powerbase; the good Patriarch might prove uncontrollable in the event of some political rupture and at the moment such political strife was the very last thing Russia needed.

Then there was Vladimir Purishkevich. A Black Hundredist and thunderous monarchist from the pre-Revolutionary era he spoke for the old landed class, the Tsarists who still held a lot of wealth and some power. Denikin, a Tsarist officer himself was obstentiously a republican but there was enough of the old officer in him to respect the likes of Purishkevich. Would Russia accept such a man however? Or had his day already past.

In the end Marshall Denikin decided to appoint the one man he felt he could count on to serve Russia first: himself. In a speech on the 18th January he announced that for the duration of the emergency he, as President, would retain the responsibilities and powers of the Prime Minister until the Duma was re-opened.

The announcement was greeted by large street riots in Saint Petersburg and Moscow that had to be forcibly subdued by millitary police and soldiers.

January ended with a climate of uncertainy. Many conservatives and some moderates welcomed Russia's new strong man, with the conservative Moskovskie Vedomosti (Moscow News) writing editorials in support of Denikin. On the Left opinion was harsher and the Menshevik paper Novaya Zhizn (New Life) openly called for the Marshall to resign and the Duma to be reopened. And in the streets martial law remained in affect.

[RossN]

SeanB: Oh I'm sorry I didn't realise you had already written an ATR AAR. I hope you find my own effort acceptable.

Nikolai: Heh, welcome aboard.

J. Passepartout: Better a (semi) legal coup than an ilegal one no?

Simon-1979: Thanks. I'm looking forwars to this!

rcduggan: Thank and welcome aboard.

Dr. Gonzo: Heh, will do!

[SeanB]

Eh, no worries. It was a good few months ago so I can hardly blame you.

[VILenin]

ATR is a great mod so it's always nice to see AARs about it. Denikin as the sole leader is interesting; I hope for varieties sake you don't take the Orthodox route but that is, of course, up to you.

[MIG-15]

Let's hope bear cavalry is never discovered...

[Dr. Gonzo]

"I have decided that in this, Russia's time of crisis, we need a premier of strong will, intelligence, and ravashing good looks. Myself".

I'm sure thats how it happened

Nice update. I only know the ATR mod vaguely through Kaisereich and I havent played Russia yet so I await with bated breath

[GeneralHannibal]

Interesting route. IIRC, there will be another time that you can add a PM, perhaps Russia will be stable enough then?