Prologue - An Unstable World
The Great War may have ended with the 11/11 ceasefire but its immediate aftershocks lingered on well into the 1920s. Britain, like most of the other nations, had to deal with the demobilisation of thousands of servicemen. France was staring at the shattered remains of its north-eastern lands and planning new defences to prevent Germany ever invading again. Germany itself faced a collapse of its entire economy and the Weimar Republic would not recover until well into the decade. Meanwhile in Italy the first signs of the new era appeared with the rise to power of one Benito Mussolini and his fascist party. However for many at the time the main area of interest was in the east and the Russian Civil War. Since the October Revolution Russia had been in anarchy as the rival factions fought for control. The Bolshevik ‘Reds’ were the most united of the factions but faced numerous opponents.
The Bolshevik unity might well have proved the decisive factor, had it not been for the actions of Alexander Kerensky in the weeks following the October revolution. Putting aside his dislike for man of the ‘White’ generals he used a combination of personal charisma, determination, fear of Bolshevism and political concessions to forge an alliance, albeit a tenuous one, against the Reds. With support for them coming in from other countries who worried about the Red Menace, they were able to muster a strong front. And at first it seemed to be enough…just. Over the course of 1918-1920 White forces slowly pushed back the Red armies until all of Siberia, the Ukraine and Caucasus regions were under their control, as well as scattered enclaves along the Baltic and the Barents Seas. However their the line stabilised. The industrial heartland of Russia remained in Bolshevik hands, including St. Petersburg and Moscow. After months of stalemate it soon became clear that the White alliance was fracturing. In desperation Kerensky and several other top men in the movement turned to Poland - the only nearby nation with significant military power - for help. The Agreement of Lvov, signed in December 1920, saw Russia recognise the Baltic States and Ukraine as being in the Polish sphere of influence and agreed to hand over western territories claimed by Poland from its heyday in the 16th century. In return Poland intervened militarily in the war. In September 1921 Moscow and St. Petersburg fell and the Civil War was over. On the 12th October the Russian Republic, with Kerensky as President, proclaimed itself. It was much weakened compared to Imperial Russia. Not only had the Ukraine been lost but independent states had also sprung up in the Caucasus and central plains of Asia. Within a few months the government faced a coup attempt by Admiral Kolchak. It failed but with Japanese support Kolchak was able to set up a regime in Transamur while Mongolia, led by the erratic (some would say insane) Baron Von Sternberg, seized control of the Trans-Siberian railroad.
Somehow Kerensky’s Russia managed to hold together. Slowly its economy began to rebuild. The rest of Europe was also recovering as well and a new era of peace was arriving. The mid 1920’s were viewed as a Golden Era as people celebrated the end of the turbulence that had plagued Europe for a decade. In 1923 Russia joined the League of Nations and in 1926 Germany was allowed in, both states becoming permanent members of the League’s Council. Across the Atlantic the USA too flourished in its isolation. Then came the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. Once more the world plunged into economic darkness. A common feature of the next years was the rise of nationalistic right-wing (or sometimes left-wing, such as in Georgia) movements, many of whom came to power. The most successful was Hitler and his Nazi party who came to power in Germany in 1933. In Japan the right-wing army began to assume greater and greater authority. Meanwhile in Italy Mussolini solidified his control of power and began considering an overseas war as a way to distract his people from the economic hardship at home. In Russia Kerensky faced both right and left wing opposition in the period 1929-35 but it was disunited and lacked leaders and so once more he pulled though. With the increasingly nationalistic and isolationist stances being taken increases in tensions and disputes between nations were inevitable, especially combined with a desire by many to overturn the Treaty of Versailles. In Asia Japan had conquered Manchuria in 1933 and the lukewarm response from the League of Nations only encouraged other would-be aggressors. A brief unity was shown in 1935 when Britain, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front to resist German rearmament and attempts to unite with Austria. However the unity was soon stretched when Britain and Germany signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in June. It was finally broken when Italy invaded the African state of Abyssinia without warning on October 3rd 1935. Italian forces soon established control of Abyssinia’s border regions and prepared to strike deeper in.
Europe in 1936
East Asia in 1936
The Great War may have ended with the 11/11 ceasefire but its immediate aftershocks lingered on well into the 1920s. Britain, like most of the other nations, had to deal with the demobilisation of thousands of servicemen. France was staring at the shattered remains of its north-eastern lands and planning new defences to prevent Germany ever invading again. Germany itself faced a collapse of its entire economy and the Weimar Republic would not recover until well into the decade. Meanwhile in Italy the first signs of the new era appeared with the rise to power of one Benito Mussolini and his fascist party. However for many at the time the main area of interest was in the east and the Russian Civil War. Since the October Revolution Russia had been in anarchy as the rival factions fought for control. The Bolshevik ‘Reds’ were the most united of the factions but faced numerous opponents.
The Bolshevik unity might well have proved the decisive factor, had it not been for the actions of Alexander Kerensky in the weeks following the October revolution. Putting aside his dislike for man of the ‘White’ generals he used a combination of personal charisma, determination, fear of Bolshevism and political concessions to forge an alliance, albeit a tenuous one, against the Reds. With support for them coming in from other countries who worried about the Red Menace, they were able to muster a strong front. And at first it seemed to be enough…just. Over the course of 1918-1920 White forces slowly pushed back the Red armies until all of Siberia, the Ukraine and Caucasus regions were under their control, as well as scattered enclaves along the Baltic and the Barents Seas. However their the line stabilised. The industrial heartland of Russia remained in Bolshevik hands, including St. Petersburg and Moscow. After months of stalemate it soon became clear that the White alliance was fracturing. In desperation Kerensky and several other top men in the movement turned to Poland - the only nearby nation with significant military power - for help. The Agreement of Lvov, signed in December 1920, saw Russia recognise the Baltic States and Ukraine as being in the Polish sphere of influence and agreed to hand over western territories claimed by Poland from its heyday in the 16th century. In return Poland intervened militarily in the war. In September 1921 Moscow and St. Petersburg fell and the Civil War was over. On the 12th October the Russian Republic, with Kerensky as President, proclaimed itself. It was much weakened compared to Imperial Russia. Not only had the Ukraine been lost but independent states had also sprung up in the Caucasus and central plains of Asia. Within a few months the government faced a coup attempt by Admiral Kolchak. It failed but with Japanese support Kolchak was able to set up a regime in Transamur while Mongolia, led by the erratic (some would say insane) Baron Von Sternberg, seized control of the Trans-Siberian railroad.
Somehow Kerensky’s Russia managed to hold together. Slowly its economy began to rebuild. The rest of Europe was also recovering as well and a new era of peace was arriving. The mid 1920’s were viewed as a Golden Era as people celebrated the end of the turbulence that had plagued Europe for a decade. In 1923 Russia joined the League of Nations and in 1926 Germany was allowed in, both states becoming permanent members of the League’s Council. Across the Atlantic the USA too flourished in its isolation. Then came the Wall Street Crash and the Great Depression. Once more the world plunged into economic darkness. A common feature of the next years was the rise of nationalistic right-wing (or sometimes left-wing, such as in Georgia) movements, many of whom came to power. The most successful was Hitler and his Nazi party who came to power in Germany in 1933. In Japan the right-wing army began to assume greater and greater authority. Meanwhile in Italy Mussolini solidified his control of power and began considering an overseas war as a way to distract his people from the economic hardship at home. In Russia Kerensky faced both right and left wing opposition in the period 1929-35 but it was disunited and lacked leaders and so once more he pulled though. With the increasingly nationalistic and isolationist stances being taken increases in tensions and disputes between nations were inevitable, especially combined with a desire by many to overturn the Treaty of Versailles. In Asia Japan had conquered Manchuria in 1933 and the lukewarm response from the League of Nations only encouraged other would-be aggressors. A brief unity was shown in 1935 when Britain, France and Italy formed the Stresa Front to resist German rearmament and attempts to unite with Austria. However the unity was soon stretched when Britain and Germany signed the Anglo-German Naval Agreement in June. It was finally broken when Italy invaded the African state of Abyssinia without warning on October 3rd 1935. Italian forces soon established control of Abyssinia’s border regions and prepared to strike deeper in.
Europe in 1936
East Asia in 1936
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