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Karl Peters

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May 25, 2009
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Trial by Fire

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Flag of the Russian Empire

As I walked into my chambers, my state advisor bursted into the room. I looked up at the man with a sense of fear with him. No one has ever bursted into the chambers of the emperor without approval from the emperor, or a set meeting unless it was of the utmost of importance. I looked at my advisor, and awaited the reason for this intrudence. It took the man a fair amount of time to collect his thoughts, and take a breath of air.

“WHAT?!”, I demanded of the man.
“My emperor, a brigade of rebels are assembling to storm the senate building. They are armed with basic muskets with no cavalry or artillery support.”, my advisor finally got his message out.
“WHAT?! Assemble the Imperial Russian Guard for immediate deployment to the senate! If one rebel touches that building, it will be mine, and your heads on the blocks,” I commanded my advisor out the door as I prepped for battle.

My advisor entered the my chambers ten minutes later to see me in full battle dress, and preparing for the surrounding cavalry companies to fallback in support of the 9,000 Imperial Guard already in the city. Having already sent out runners to the companies, I began walking out to my horse in order to meet my soldiers in front of the senate building. I motioned for my advisor to follow me, and begin speaking.

“My emperor, the local guards are being organized in front of the senate building as we speak, and the remaining 6,000 men are being brought in from Vyborg. You currently have three artillery pieces set up across from the Narva River with another twelve being brought in,”
my advisor rambled off as we marched through the halls.
“Tell all reinforcements to hold north of the river with the artillery, including the cavalry. I’m going to try to force the rebels onto the frozen river then shell them. The few that escape into the city will be hunted down by the 9,000 local guards. I will command this personally, if I do not make it pull the guards across the river, and await the reinforcements. Hand control of the division to the highest ranking officer then assume your duties as minister. Do you understand,” as I gave my final orders with intention I waved my advisor off.


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Nicholas the First, current Russian Emperor at the beginning of the AAR

I rode hard, and fast to the senate building. I wanted to make sure that I beat the rebels to the building, and was able to set up a strong defensive line on the entrance to the building leaving the rebels the only option, but to cross my open killing zone. As I entered the square, a couple rebel marksman opened up on me. The few loyal guards, roughly 100, ran into the square, and opened fire on the 3,000 rebels. The loyal men waited for me to safely reach the building before they fell back onto the entrance themselves. These brave men saved my life!

I looked among the ranks, and saw not a single officer. Only a handful of NCOs were in the mix, but they were of no importance. We held the stairs for a couple hours, as the remaining 9,000 guards assembled on the stairs, in the senate building, and in front of the building. The artillery finished setting up across the river, and awaited my orders. As the noon sun rose high into the sky, I looked to the hill overlooking the river, and noticed I had roughly 1,000 cavalry set up. I looked to my flags, and gave the nod for a cavalry strike across the river, and a small detachment of guards to advance. After a couple minutes, 250 guards began marching across the square. They were only to keep the rebels occupied while the cavalry struck into the left flank, and crippling the rebels into surrender.

The cavalry began their charge, at first it was a very promising one. They built up speed, and managed to stay concealed due to the 250 guards advancing on the rebels, with a couple marksman supporting the advance. Everything went to hell when the cavalry reached the river. The ice caused most of the horses to slip, a couple fell through the ice, and most stopped running. The cavalry charge became useless, and the 250 guards began to take a devastating barrage of fire. I ordered the men back to their former positions. The rebels saw what happened, and strengthened the left flank, and began gloating. I failed!

In order to stop the gloating, I ordered three artillery pieces to open with cannonballs on the left flank. I ordered another three to be filled with grapeshot incase the rebels attacked the artillery. The initial barrage stopped the gloating, demolished a house, and partially broke the left flank. The artillery continued to pound the rebels for five minutes before they broke rank. Roughly 1,400 attacked the artillery while the remaining 1,600 ran into the city. I ordered the 9,000 guards to give chase to the 1,600 rebels, and allowed the artillery to focus fire on the frozen river with cannonballs, and use the grapeshot against the rebels. The six artillery pieces destroyed the ice, and slaughtered the 1,400 rebels. The 1,600 rebels were eventually hunted down, and either killed on the spot or brought back for trial.

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Artist depiction of Nicholas' battle in front of the Senate building

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Decembrist Revolt nearly threw the Russian Empire into anarchy. Nicholas, the new Russian emperor, proved to the entire country that he was going to rule them, and that they were going to accept it or die like the 3,000 rebels who tried to take his senate. Nicholas would go on to set up the Russian Empire for further revolts, and eventually boil into the Russian Revolution of 1917.

This AAR will be my playthrough as Nicholas, Alexander, and hopefully the remaining heirs that Nicholas, and Alexander fathered. If I cannot hold back the communists throughout the entire gameplay then I will have to change to the USSR, and begin my playthrough as them. Basically, I’m going to attempt to make Russia the greatest country in the world, and keep the communists from taking over. I hope you enjoy, and thanks for following along.
 
That picture is not Nicholas I. That is the more famous Nicholas II (the last).
 
Calm before the Storm

Historically, Nicholas I was a very weak ruler. Only expanding the Russian Empire into inhospitable lands, and keeping the economy stagnant until his late years in office. Throughout his tenure as emperor, his lack of advancement angered the serfs, and middle class to the point of revolt. Only in his late years did his son, Alexander II, and himself attempt to end the discontent by outlawing serfdom in Russia, and building a railroad from Moscow to St. Petersburg. These last attempts to save the Russian Empire from revolts were useless. By 1881, the year Alexander took office, most of Russia was in complete turmoil, and waiting for a leader to take control of the populace. Nicholas I failed the Russian people, and his family by not living up to his potential!

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By 1836, the Russian Empire had the most land under her control, the 2nd highest population, and the most potential for rapid growth. She was positioned in the perfect position to seize control of the Balkans, and the crossroads of the world, the Middle East. Along with the potential to seize control of a major economic powerhouse, the Russian steppes themselves held major economic potential. Willing investors, and workers were missing to take the Russian steppes from farmlands to industrial powerhouse. With 92% of the country either working with their hands, and another 94% of the population being conservative, the Russian steppes were only a mere couple investors away from starting the explosive industrial boom.

The 1.3% of our population that are soldiers will need to be ready for an aggressive expansion policy. Our weak neighbors need to be exploited, and it needs to happen quickly so no one can come to their aid. These brave men will also need to gain comrades. Our increased recruitment drives will need to take that percentage, and raise it to at least 2% so that we can effectively field a military, and reinforce it in case of losses. We are lucky that 97% of the soldiers are conservative. The 0.8% of soldiers that are liberal will need to be watched over to make sure they do not incite any disloyalty within the armed forces.

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Blue is the main objective of expansion. Green is my secondary expansion policy with red supporting the other two objectives.

With the economic potential overwhelmingly clear, the foreign affairs of Russia would need to be set down in stone, and prepared. If the boom occurred, and there were not enough markets for all the Russian goods, then the economy would tumble back onto itself. With the economy about to expand beyond the current capacity of the Russian homelands, Russian markets would have to expand, and so would the actual territory of the Russian people.

The weak Ottomans are a great first target. Being expanded beyond their defensive capability, fighting on a distant front, and no willing allies the Ottomans are an easy target to take control of a state, and severely weaken them. Fighting the Ottomans now can also allow the Russians to free Moldavia, and Wallachia from the likes of the Ottomans as well. Taking a chunk of the Balkans from the Ottomans will allow more of the Orthodox Christians to come under the rule of the true Christian country.

Once the Ottomans are dealt with, an invasion of Persia would allow the Russian people to cut Asia off from Europe, and Africa by land while bringing in several ports, and a new massive market. With Persia dealt with the final push to India can take place. By taking control of these lands, more markets are added, and we are able to hem the increasingly dangerous British from taking a bigger, and stronger foothold in India, and central Asia.

Conquering the entire world is not the ideal solution to our economic troubles. The Russian crown must expand diplomatically as well. The Ottoman possessions in the Balkans will become ours, the fates of Moldavia, and Wallachia have not been decided quite yet. What has been decided is the diplomatic take over of Greece, Montenegro, and Serbia. These countries will remain “free”, but allow our government to do with them whatever we want. Flood their countries with Russian goods? Done! More tax income? Done! Prepare for an invasion of Italy? That’s actually disclosed information!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
 
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The Bear’s Teeth​

After the battle at the senate building, I was a tad cautious when it came to fights. I nearly gave my life for my country in less than a month in office! I didn’t lose my life, but three brave guards did give theirs for Russia. After giving the men an outstanding funeral, taking their children under the Russian claw, and I began to educate them in the finest universities around all of Russia. These young children of these brave men have served their country flawlessly, and I am not going to let these children go unnoticed.

The years leading up to the War of Moldavian Freedom, I increased the armed forces by 5 brigades, and reassigned the Northern fleet to the Black Sea. These additional measures were made to help defend the Caucasus region, and the Black Sea from any Ottoman counterattack. When the Russian military swept through Moldavia, and secured Dorbudja we would continue our advance from two approaches. The main thrust, in the Balkans, would continue to sweep down crushing anyone who would stand in the way. The distraction thrust, from the Caucasus region, would secure Kars, and begin to push towards Ankara. Once Ankara was secure the Ottomans would bend to our will.

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Our invasion of the Balkans begins

The first skirmishes broke out on February 13th, 1836 near Kilia. Kilia is a small fishing village on the Russian-Ottoman Balkan border. An advanced cavalry brigade ran into a Moldavian regiment attempting to push across the border, and keep the Russian main thrust away from the Ottomans just long enough so the Ottomans can wheel back around, and deal with the severe trouble of Russians securing the Balkans. As the cavalry rode into town, a Moldavian artillery piece opened up. The first couple of salvos missed everyone, until finally on the fifth salvo, a cannonball killed 2 Russian cavalrymen. The cavalry wheeled around, and flanked the artillery piece, killing the crew, and destroying the artillery piece. The first shots of the War of Moldavian Freedom were done by the Moldavian army.

Two weeks later, the main Russian force had taken control of Moldavia, and began pushing into Wallachia, and was finishing securing Varna. At this time, the distractionary force made the strike into Kars. By the end of March, Moldavia was secured, Dorbudja, and Kars was secured, Wallachia made peace with us, and the Ottomans were in chaos. I was given a note from the Balkans front at the very end of March asking to send an emissary to the Ottomans. I quickly burnt the note, and wrote back in bold, capital letters, NO!

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The Distractionary force makes its move into Eastern Anatolia

The war became a stalemate. A couple maneuvers allowed the Balkans front to move farther south, and secure Bulgaria from the Ottomans. The distractionary force began to bog down in the hilly terrain of Eastern Anatolia. The experienced Ottoman military was able to defend the mountain passes, and hills with near perfection causing slow movement. With these setbacks, I looked to start peace talks with the Ottomans. I already had lost 5,076 soldiers, 901 cavalry, and 432 artillery while the Ottomans lost 16,381 soldiers, 5,921 cavalry, and 1,639 artillery. I clearly won the war! Now if only the Ottomans would give into my terms. To show good faith I pulled all units back to already occupied areas, and stopped all offensive operations, and began to send diplomats.

For two months, talks were effective. We managed to agree that Moldavia would be free from the Ottoman oppression, but what we were stuck on was the land I was going to get. I demanded that I was going to get Dorbudja, and Kars. The Ottomans wanted to keep all their lands. When the talks broke down in September, I pushed towards Istanbul, and Ankara. By October, the Ottomans sent diplomats to my palace to finish talks. On October 24th, 1836 the Ottomans agreed to give Dorbudja, and free Moldavia from Ottoman rule. I wasn’t given Kars, but I figured out how to effectively push through Eastern Anatolia. I learned how to completely secure Ankara, and Istanbul. Now I must wait for the correct time to strike, and take my precious Balkans, and most of Anatolia.

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The Ottomans finally bend to our will
Having secured our first state from the Ottomans, and freed Moldavia from the tyrannical Ottomans, I re-assigned all the soldiers. The units that could no longer be maintained were disbanded, and sent home. They had served their country heroically, and deserved to be sent home. With over half of the military being sent home to become functional members of society, a massive recruitment drive began. On January 1st, 1837, I signed the Императорский приводу набор (Imperial Recruitment Drive) into law. This law established that fifty new brigades were going to be raised with five new divisions being established, two near the capital, one near the new Ottoman border, one in the Caucasus region, and one in the far east. These new divisions were going to help defend our new lands, and be prepared for any further assaults. My empire was finally going to be one to be reckoned with, and it has begun!
 
they are not cool they are sick

Sick as in...? Unstable in the 19th Century? Unsavory people?

You have to explain these things, I don't know your meanings boy.