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What I ,3 is you get zombii voroshilov/tukachevsky/budiennij if you go to SOV

i'm not sure if they're zombies. the great purge hasn't happened in kaiserreich so far (is there a purge vent for the soviets anyway?). and it's not so clear what happened with all these people in the civil war. but too many bolshevik leaders and major politicians surviving it seems unplausible.
 
Baron Wrangel looked out of the window of his Moscow based office. Outside he saw the usual panorama. Businessmen rushing to their companies, young streeturchins being chased by a shopkeeper, probably after stealing some of his stock. In short, the usual sights. Not for long, he thought by himself. With the support of a Councilman, what could go wrong?
He had persuaded some of the older officers to side with him. First to join was General Lavr Kornilov, infamous for his putch against Kerensky in 1918. Only interference from himself saved him from a meeting with the hangman. Kornilov owned him one. Old man Alexeyev joined him to, although his support was mostly symbolical. The old counterrevolutionary was suffering from frail health ever after a near-fatal heartattack in 1918. More substantial was the support of the ironfisted Baltic German Evgeny Miller, who had openly attacked the government for not planning to regain the Baltics. Wrangel knew that more support wouldn’t hurt his cause. Perhaps the monarchists of Marshall Sherbatchev could be asked or forced to join him…


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Minister Markov and General Denikin just left their meeting with Councilman ‘FlyingDutchie’. The mere fact that he chose to reveal himself to them showed that the situation was critical indeed. He had told him that several more Councilmen would support democracy. Including them foreign policy advisor ‘ColonelIronboot’, naval advisor ‘Yourworstnightmare’ and special advisor Zackonov, although their political views differed.
But both men knew they needed more support from the rest of the generals. Young Semyon Timoshenko could be one of those men, once serving in the Red Army, but now a supporter of the SR. Vladimir Dragomirov, son of the famed military writer Mikhail Dragomirov, could gain them the support of the conservative officers in the Army. Markov and Denikin where both man of the centre, wishing to keep Russia stable and democratic. But some more support wouldn’t hurt. Perhaps the monarchists centered around Marshall Sherbatchev could be asked to join them, or even the menchevist officers following general Blücher. They both knew one thing for sure, Russia must be saved from a new civil war…


#######################

General Blücher had rounded up his supporters. There was Ieronim Uborevich, a Lithuanian once serving in the Red Army with him, The Latvian Fabricius, a hero after saving several people from a crashed airplane. Oka Gorodovikov, a Kalmyk and a damned good cavalryofficer. His old friend Nikolai Kashirin had joined him too. Five generals, joined together by their Red past and their desire to build a better Russia. Menchevist leader Bukhanin had given them their silent support and the leaders of minorities within the nation where offered autonomy in exchange for support. But Blücher was no fool, he knew he needed the support of one of these fabled Councilmen to make his bid for power. One thing was certain, neither the Czar or Wrangel should ever rule Russia…

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Marshall Sherbatchev paced up and down in his estate, not since the days of the Brusilov-offensive did he feel so alive. General Grigory Semyonov had joined him in his attempts to assist in the return of the Czar. The tough Cossack blamed the government of the current war with his kinsmen. Hadn’t the Cossacks proven their loyalty to the Czar in the past? But Sherbatchev knew that he needed to bide his time. Even with the support of several councilmen, such as ‘Shepard’ and ‘Milites’ he needed more support to furfill his dream. But the old fox had one more ace up his sleeve, both Wrangel and Denikin where vying for his support…

#######################

Somewhere in Russia, the advisor known as 'FlyingDutchie' could only smile as the petty plots of his generals. Wrangel, Markov, Denikin, Blücher, Sherbatchev: all of them behaved as he had expected, when given knowledge on the council. All of them behaved and plotted as he expected too. None of them realising that all of them where just puppets working towards the same goal. Soon, very soon would the advisor reveal his plans for them...
 
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It was a stormy night in Moscow when the Amazing Adviser finally arrived. The train ride had been a nightmare. Admiral Fakov had thrown up several times and the wagon had begun to stink. The service on the train had been terrible, and when it had been known he was working for the government the conductor had tried to throw the Adviser of the train. The Amazing Adviser with a still train sick Admiral Fakov approached the Kreml.
The Amazing Adviser: "The naval adviser here to see the president, I have a scheduled appointment."
Guard 1; What's a navy?
Guard 2; "What's an appointment?"
Fakov: "I would want to know that too."
The Amazing Adviser; "Let me through, I have urgent information for the president."
Guard 1: "The president has no time for urgent information, he has a far more important appointment."
Guard 2; "He is hosting a dinner for Spartak Moskva since they won the local Football league this season."
The Amazing Adviser: "Spartak Moskva, isn't that the team that dimwit Bolshevik Bukharin coach?"
Fakov; "What's a Bulsherik"?
Guard 1; "Yes, a fine proletarian is he, finally the worker's club has won the league title".
Guard 2; "The president is such a goodhearted man to aknowledge the hardworking football players".
Guard 1; "Football players could really help this country to ride out the current crisis."
"The Amazing Adviser; "This is serious, Fakov we have to find a way in, do you remember tha last time the football players were armed, that did not end well."
Fakov; "I have always prefered mudwrestling to football anyway".
 
Aleksandr Kubarev sat at his desk and rang STAVKA. When the orderly picked up on the other end he said the codeword 'The State is Convicted.' The phoneline buzzed a moment as he was routed through to Blucher's desk.

"Hello? Who is this?"
"During the next three weeks, Baron Wrangel will have an unfortunate accident. You would be advised to be ready to move by then."
"What? Who is this?!"


Kubarev mused for a moment...

"A whisper on the wind."

He hung up, and opened his desk drawer, looking at the TT-33 that was there for awhile. Then he made another call...
 
And so it began. The Duma sit again for another session, where they would keep talking nonesense about the Cossacks. Politicians, always talking, never doing aything. Democracy wasn't that good after all. Still, Maikov was going to talk today. Today, he was a Politician, like those who he disliked. He stood up, and started his Speech:
.
"Brothers of the Motherland. Again we see the Face of war upon our country. Yes, they DoW'ed us first. But is war still. And what do we do? Our Soldiers are dying on the front, while we are talking about what should we do about the Garden. What about the Land we Lost? What about it? Does anyone remember of our Soldiers of the past? Why do sit, happy because we still exist? We forgot what the Germans did to us, tossing us in a Civil War, friends killing friends! Russia was weak then, But now we are not! We can once again achieve greatness! The Chaos has ended, and a New Era for the Motherland stand in front o us. Should we open this door to our Future, or should we be happy talking about the cossacks, while we could be discussing the invasion of Spain! Yes, we can do it! Not Only that, but we can do this AFTER conquering Mitteleuropa. Lets open our eyes for the Future, and open the Door to Greatness! For the Motherland, we shall regain its Honor!"
.
Maikov sit, quietly ater this, and for a brief moment, the Duma was silent. Was he right, was he wrond? Was he to Naive, or we were ignorant to ourselves?
 
Sergey Markov (August 1938 – January 1939)

180px-Markov_sl1917.jpg


Sergey Markov, born 1878, was a career officer in the Russian Army. He fought bravely in the Russo-Japanese War and was a highly decorated officer heading into the Waltkreig where he fought under General Denikin. He supported General Kornilov’s coup attempt in 1917, was arrested, and later fled to southern Russia to join with Denikin in organizing the Volunteer Army.

Following the Civil War he continued to serve in the Army rising to the rank of General in 1934. He had a falling out with Denikin over their disagreements regarding the organization in the Army and in 1937 Markov replaced Denikin as Chief of Staff and Chief of Army and given the task to modernize Russia’s army. A gifted administrator he organized a large and efficient operation to resupply and re-equip the army and by August of 1938 the Russian Army was a capable fighting force.

When the war against Don-Kuban started Markov and his officers were in Novosibirsk on the border with Kazakhstan preparing for a war against Mongolia. He quickly ordered redeployment of all available troops to Volgograd and taking over control of the military operations there. By September 3rd the Russian military was ready to begin operations against the Cossacks.

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Markov’s second in command at the front was Marshall Wrangel with whom Markov had an uneasy relationship. Wrangel was assigned to Volgograd following the January Crisis in 1936 and was rumored to be planning action against the Government. Nevertheless, Wrangel was a brilliant strategist and he designed a plan to cross into Kotelnikovo with Markov’s support and then to quickly strike towards Krasnodar using Wrandel’s cavalry army while Markov advanced towards Grozny. The attacks begun on September 5th.

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Wrangel advanced with incredible speed, overrunning Cossack forces in the first weeks of the war. His and Markov’s advance was slowed down by the arrival of snow in early October, but regardless, their plan went perfectly. By the beginning of October Wrangel was in control of Novorossiysk and Markov was advancing on Grozny. The Cossacks appeared to be in disarray.

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Wrangel arrived in Krasnodar on October 18th, and took the city without resistance. He was riding down one of the streets when he and some of his officers were ambushed by a group of men, presumably Cossacks. Wrangel was severely injured in the ensuing firefight and was taken by train to Moscow two days later. His command was transferred over to Marshal Voronets.

Just a few weeks before Markov arrived in Grozny the Georgian socialists crossed the border into Cossack-held lands and occupied Stavropol. Tensions with them were high but there was no open combat. Grozny surrendered to Markov on October 30th and most of the Cossack leadership surrendered. The remainder of them was hunted down by Russian forces in the countryside.

While Markov was away at the front there were some disturbances in Moscow. Pavel Milyukov passed away in mid-October and the Government was thrown into disarray. There were constant rumors of a military coup by Wrangel or some of his supporters, and it was not clear who would succeed Milyukov as Chairman of the Government. Milyukov’s preferred candidate was Smirnov, but he had serious disagreements with President Chernov. As a result a number of opportunists, both in Russia and abroad, decided to capitalize on the perceived Russian weakness.

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Grigory Gershuni was still fostering his Faith and Nation movement. After the fiasco in Don-Kuban he was hoping for a better outcome in Georgia. He organized an Orthodox movement there that demanded a creation of a Georgian Monarchy in the country. Unfortunately the movement was weak and did not really pose a threat to the Georgian Government, which promptly ignored it. Unhappy, Gershuni had his operatives loot and burn a collective farm near Tbilisi, to which Georgia promptly responded with a declaration of war against Russia. The Georgians thought that the chaos in Russia’s Government would make this an ideal time to secure their foothold in the Caucuses.

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Unfortunately for the Georgians, even if the Russian Government was in disarray the Russian Army was not. Markov and Voronets quickly organized the forces already present in the Caucuses and begun an offensive into Georgia in mid-December. Using some newly created Special Forces and simple overwhelming numbers Voronets advanced into Maikop while Markov slowly but surely fought his way towards Tbilisi.

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The war was fought in the mountains over winter, so it lasted a very long time. Markov’s progress especially was very slow on his way to Tbilisi, as he had to fight off numerous Georgian counter attacks. It was not until January 14th that he arrived in the city. Georgian Socialists realized that their cause was lost and begun escaping the country after the fall of the city. After securing the city Markov installed a new Government in Georgia and begun withdrawing forces from the country.

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Unfortunately in neighboring Azerbaijan the events did not favor Russia as they did in Georgia. There, the Azeri Government rebuffed offers by Russian businessmen to invest in Azerbaijan and protect the Azeri Government and instead the Azeri begun a military buildup to attempt a resistance against Russia. Whatever oil Russia bought from Azerbaijan beforehand stopped flowing and Russia suddenly found itself with a shortage. The situation would have to be resolved soon, but the Government crisis in Moscow prevented a solution just yet.

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Finally, Admiral Kolchak in Transamur was the last person to try to take advantage of the crisis in Russia. He has been under pressure from the Transamur business community to find a way to bring his breakaway state closer to Russia. He approached Wrangel and a number of other Russian officers with an offer to bring Transamur into Russia, as long as the officers supported a coup and installed him as Russia’s leader. Thankfully Markov found out about the request quickly and cut off all ties with Transamur and ordered two Russian infantry armies to march into Vladivostok and arrest Kolchak. The city and the Admiral were seized a few days later.

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The Japanese response was mixed. On one hand Japan did not want to see Transamur lost, but on the other hand it appeared to be too late – Vladivostok was already Russian. A war appeared to be counter-productive, and perhaps the resourcefulness that the Russian Army displayed in the Caucuses made the Japanese think twice about it. Instead they approached Markov about a possible alliance against China, but being a veteran of the Russo-Japanese War Markov refused outright. Still, Vladivostok remained Russian and the Japanese could only grumble.

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Markov returned to Moscow in mid-January and found the city in a state of disarray. He moved quickly to sit down with Chernov and Smirnov and to help them (some say force them) to make an agreement. Chernov agreed to remove Gershuni from his post as Intelligence Minister and Smirnov agreed to keep the SR-Kadet Coalition together. The deal was announced a few days later and order restored soon thereafter. Now Chernov, Smirnov, and Markov could focus on what was next for the country.

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Current Members of the Administration:

Chief of the Presidential Administration: Alexander Kubarev (KaiserMuffin)

Domestic and Economic Policy Adviser to the President: Vincent (TRP)
Foreign Policy Adviser to the President: Colonel Ironboot

Public Affairs Adviser to the President: Milites

Army Affairs Adviser to the President: FlyingDutchie
Navy Affairs Adviser to the President: yourworstnightmare
Air Force Affairs Adviser to the President: rule_them_all

Adviser to the President: Gregory Zackonov (mad general)
Adviser to the President: CarbrBard
Adviser to the President: trekaddict
Adviser to the President: Kolin Shephard
Adviser to the President: geek_knight


Issues Facing the Administration:

1. Priority of Further Military Action
Russia continues to face threats and obstacles to its re-unification and the Administration must prioritize in which order these are to be addressed. The Mongol-Turkmen alliance has almost overrun Kazakhstan and is by far the largest direct threat to Russia, but the conquest of Central Asia offers little rewards. The Azeri Government has defied Russia and Azerbaijan would be an easy target that would bring much needed oil, but the Azeris have an alliance with Persia and Afghanistan and could be more trouble than they are worth. Finally Ukraine is no longer under German protection and could bring additional IC to Russia, but it would not be an easy fight and Ukrainian democratic government has not given Russia any reason to attack it. The President needs the Administration to provide the order in which the issues with these countries are to be addressed and what time frame would be reasonable to resolve all of these issues.

2. Composition of the Army
Currently the Army has 113 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, 3 armored divisions, 3 mountaineer divisions, and 1 HQ division. IC is now available for construction of additional military units and the Administration should define what sort of composition it would like the Army to have.

3. Construction of Navy and Air Force
The Air Force currently has 2 Tactical Bomber squadrons and the Navy has 2 destroyer groups, 2 light cruisers, and 2 heavy cruisers (Pacific Fleet from Vladivostok). Since some IC is now available the Administration should define what composition it would like to see for the Air Force and the Navy and what size these two branches of military should be.

Total IC available : 177/145

The President requires a report on these issues by end of day TOMORROW.
 
I say we seize all the ships in the Harbour.
 
As I have no expertise on the areas of naval and aerial warfare, I feel I should not decide on these issues. On the other two issues though:

Priority of further military action

We should make sure that we can't be attacked on multiple fronts all at once. That is why I think we should pacify Central Asia and install some puppets there. Only then should we think about Ukraine and Azerbaijan, as they will not attack us without some provoking from our side.

Composition of the Army

It is clear we have far too few mobile units, so we should invest in motorized and mechanised divisions, as these will help us overwhelm the enemy quickly.
 
Issues Facing the Administration:

1. Priority of Further Military Action
As I said before, for me there is no compromise with the nations within our direct territorial claims. Attack and destroy the Turkmen and Mongols, and annex them all. THey shall be subdued under the Republic's banner!

2. Composition of the Army
I suggest increasing the size of our infantry forces to 150, backed up with 30 armoured divisions, and preparing the army to accept Motorised and Mechanized divisions later on

3. Construction of Navy and Air Force
A navy and air-force is still negligible at this point. Keep up the research, but let's not waste any IC in building new capital ships. I suggest seizing the Transamur ships and organising it into an effective transport fleet with +-15 TP divisions. This should allow us amphibious landing capability, but that should be about it
 
Foreign Advisor's Report
by Colonel Ironboot

1. Priority of Further Military Action

The Steppe Alliance posesses lands that hold little value, however, they can be used as a bridge for further expansion of Russian influence. We could pull out of this question, seal the border and reinforce it with regular troops, but that is a temporary measure, sooner or later the Steppe barbarians will get mad enough to challenge the Bear. That's why, we should take action on destroying the Alliance via military force.

As a Foreign advisor, I barely have any idea on the size of their armies and capabilities of Russian Armed Forces, however, I assure the President that taking Mad Baron's capital of Urga will be enough to topple his reign over the Mongolian nation, and my Department will do its best to install a pro-Russian regime in Mongolia. Mongolian nation could become a great protector of Russian interests in Asia, as I already said before.

As for Azerbaijan and Persian Alliance, I believe a limited military operation would do us well. Luckily, we do not have a land border with Afghanistan and Persia, and that means both countries will first have to move their forces to Azerbaijan to face us. By the time they get in the trains, Baku will be under Russian control.

In addition, my sources state that both Persia and Afghanistan have puny industry. We could take Azerbaijan, establish a new border and hold it until we can devote some forces to equip an expedition to Persia.

2. The Ukraine question

Mister President, I have a plan! Now that we carried a successful plebiscite in Primorye, we can use the same scheme in eastern Ukraine and Crimea. The population over there is strongly pro-Russian, and we can encourage them to secede and join the Holy Russia. If the Ukrainian leadership lets them go, we still get half the Ukraine and Sevastopol, which is a goddamn Russian city, why the hell did we let Ukraine have it back then, this was completely stu...uh, sorry, mister President. Uh, so, if the Ukrainian leaders refuse plebiscite or will try to preserve their horrid territorial unity, we will get a clear casus belli - Russian people wanted to secede, Ukrainians will be jerks for not letting them.


3. Composition of the Army
I suggest we create motorised and armoured divisions, Mr. President.

4. Construction of Navy and Air Force

Hard to say, but if you ask me, I suggest building tactical bombers. Our current enemies, Persian and Steppe alliances barely have any industry, and strategic bombing of their territory will not give us any major advantage, while tactical bombing campaign and especially interdiction will be a good factor in the upcoming war.

Navy...well...Mr. President, don't forget the failed October Revolution, sailors did a major contribution to the revolters and proved to be a political force. Their interests should be pleased too, to a certain extent, of course.

Long Live Russia, alone and indivisible!
 
Presidiential Eyes Only.

Topic 1 War Targets
Mongolia and Turkmenistan must be neutered. The Azeri's could be threatened, or alternativelywe could wait until the Turkic Horde goes for their historic lands to the south and jump on both then. The issue is that this will likely involve a long war due to the shockingly poor infrastructure in Central Asia.

Topics 2 and 3 Armed Forces Composition
Kubarev approves Minister Vincent's choices.
 
1. Priority for further military action;
There are many Russians in the Kazach lands, and the Kazachs are much better than the crazies of Bukhara and the mad baron. We must intervene in Central Asia to create order, and replace the hostile governments of Ulan Baator and Bukhara.
Azeri oil must be ours at some point too. And we need to deal with the Ukraine when possibility arrive.

2. Composition of the army;
We might need some motorized divisions.

3. Navy and airforce.
It's time to sail on the seven seas. let's build those battleships and smell that salty breeze again. The sailors and the officers of the navy has for too long been confined to the clubs of Petrograd. The longing for the waves is unbearable.
Airforce?? Who need an airforce?? If humans were meant to fly, the Creator would have given us wings.
 
This is what happened when the Amazing Adviser and Fakov went to inspect the new Pacific fleet;
The Amazing Adviser; "That's what I call a fleet".
Fakov; "That's 6 ugly piles of iron, where are the sails??"
The Amazing Adviser; "A little nostalgic, aren't you?? This is the marvels of the modern industrial era. These are the real stuff, my good admiral."
Fakov; "How do you even operate those ungodly beasts?"
The Amazing Adviser; "You don't know?? You're an admiral??"
Fakov; "Oh, that's just a title I won on a nice game of Russian roulette with a beardy fellow back in Petrograd. For some reason he shot his head of. Have you met our crew??"
Yuri: "I Yuri, of the Nenets!"
The Amazing Adviser; "What are those creatures!!"
Fakov; It's only Yuri and his Nenets warriors".
The Amazing Adviser; "Those are our crew??"
Fakov; "Yes".
The Amazing Adviser; "What about Kolchak's men, or those drunkards from Petrograd?"
Fakov; "All Kolchak's sailors he borrowed from Japan, so they already went home, while those drunkards back in Petrograd would never survive a day at sea."
The Amazing Adviser; "But they are all sailos in the Russian fleet".
Yuri; "They Russians, they can't sail".
The Amazing Adviser; "How did we manage to have a functioning fleet before the Civil War??"
Fakov; "We recruited the Finns, Balts and Poles and had them doing all the work, while we sat home and played Russian roulette."
The Amazing Adviser; "Figures."

And that conclude the report from the Pacific fleet.
 
1)Extend russia to all of her claims, of course, but in due time.
2)Increase the motorization of the army, and expand infrastructure, trans-Siberian RR especially.
3)Seize & convert all ships, of course! as for the air force, Tactical Bombers should do the job.
 
Alright, by the sound of it we are doing the following:

1. First take Central Asia, then Azerbaijan, then when the opportunity presents itself Ukraine.

2. Build to 150 infantry, then build about 30 armored, then build a mix of mot and mech.

3. Only transports for now for the navy, and possibly 4 strategic bomber squadrons. (Sorry all of those who wanted TAC, we took a vote earlier on what to research and STRAT won)
 
1. Priority of Further Military Action
I say we go for Mongolia and Turkmenistan first. that will be a hard fight because of the mongol blitzkrieg doctrine. then, we will have a nice base from which to attack persia, afhganistan and azerbaijan. and then, we should prepare cautiously to the war with Ukraine. These three operations should take 3 years. 3 years to restore the glory of Russia.
2. Composition of the Army
Armored spearheads would be good as a fast way to cross the vast central-asian wastelands.
3. Construction of Navy and Air Force
strategic bombers, as always, are my top priority. AFTER we conquered persia, we could use a persian gulf fleet.
 
OOC: What's Markov's stance on the return of a constitutional Tsardom?