Part 14: Deterioration
In late 1939, governments and civilian populations the world over were glued to their newspapers, radios, and local newsreels, anxiously awaiting news out of Europe about the Second Weltkrieg. Wrangel's court in St. Petersburg was no exception to this trend. Indeed, the entire European arm foreign intelligence apparatus of the Russian Empire was directed to obtain more information on said conflict. However, some did more than just wait:
Ten days after the beginning of the war, the British government-in-exile declared war on the Union of Britain and the Internationale as a whole. Another naval force chipping away at the British Republican Navy was to be a welcome addition in the minds of German military planners. But the French, unwilling to be locked into a long war on the Franco-German border, had one other trick up their sleeves:
On the evening of September 29th, 1939, the French Army stormed the Swiss border crossings, engaging the border guards around Geneva. Even in the face of international condemnation for the invasion of a famously neutral state, Paris pressed on, intent on using the area as a staging ground for incursions into southern Germany.
In the face of the French invasion of Switzerland, most states simply issued a formal condemnation of Paris. However, some took the incursion better than others:
In accordance with their treaty with the Swiss, Austria declared war on the Internationale. However, after several skirmishes which Vienna was on the losing side of, the Austrian Kaiser, recognizing French strength, signed a ceasefire with Paris. The Commune, having styled itself as a "liberator of the proletariat" thus unwilling to accrue (much) more infamy, agreed.
By late October, the German situation in the Low Countries was a mixed bag of sorts: While the Imperial German Army had successfully overrun much of the Dutch People's Republic, the plucky Dutch were still hanging on in the far west with extensive French air and artillery support. Furthermore, the French offensive into the German protectorate of Flanders-Wallonia was nearly complete.
Nonetheless, the reports out of Africa had bought some heartening news:
Mittleafrika, the German puppet state consisting of the bulk of former Anglo-German colonies in Africa, had succeeded in overrunning the Internationale-aligned state of South Africa. By that time, word was already getting around that the Kaiser was to order the former South Africa integrated into Mittleafrika.
Meanwhile, on the home front, the Tsar, as a gesture of reconciliation, saw fit to give Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Azerbaijan a great deal of autonomy within the empire. While the official purpose was as a gesture of goodwill and to increase government efficiency, later interviews and memoirs by various cabinet members would confirm that Wrangel had already ordered the vast majority of the Imperial Russian Army west in preparation for war with Ukraine, as well as to keep a Poland increasingly close to France from getting any ideas.
By the first few months of 1940, the French saw a considerable gains in their war:
The defeat and annexation of Switzerland:
And the defeat and partition of Flanders-Wallonia with the Netherlands. While the German High Command assured the German people that these defeats were only temporary setbacks, a series of telegrams sent back and forth between Brassov and the German Foreign Ministry began to display an increasing sense of desperation.
The French, in a bid to improve their international image, released a red government in Wallonia, perhaps in a bid to cover for the annexation and integration of Flanders by its Dutch ally.
Increasingly concerned by these developments, the Vozhd called a secret cabinet meeting: Having heard chatter among scientists regarding the potential use of nuclear fission in weapons, Wrangel inquired with Armaments Minister Nikolai Krasnov about the topic. Krasnov replied that it would be theoretically possible, albeit very expensive and time-consuming. Eager to achieve a so-called "ultimate weapon" in order to make up for the relative numerical weakness of the army, the Tsar ordered a program (codenamed the Zelenograd Project) towards the development of such a weapon: