Any plans to correct the eastern boundaries of Estonia and Latvia to
what they were historically when they were independent? I have Petseri in mind in particular. It kind of looks like Latvia's border is already fixed, but there's a strange gap there that wasn't there before the USSR shifted the Latvian SSR's borders in 1944.
Starting with Estonia, we have two starting focuses: Rally the Nation or the Era of Silence. Historically, the Era of Silence was a time in Estonian history where Konstantin Päts suspended all elections in Estonia out of fear of the fascist Vaps Movement.
Historically when the Russians took over Estonia in June 1940, as a desperate, but doomed, last ditch effort to save the country, Konstantin Päts proposed a union with Finland to the Finnish government. Is there nothing on this?
While going down this path, the Vaps will gradually grow more and more agitated, and the player must use a series of focuses and decisions to prevent the nation from fracturing into a civil war. Once the Vaps are dealt with, Päts stands ready to prepare the nation for the inevitable wars to come.
Are crackdowns of this extent historical, or are they exaggerated to make the game more exciting? My understanding is it's a case of the latter (similar to how the anarchists are greatly exaggerated in the Spanish Civil War, for example, or how Edward VIII's abdication was turned into a minigame to farm stability and political power before abdicating), and I'm not really a fan of that. I believe each country should have a fully historical path as an option, and that option should be the default on historical mode.
Rally the Nation has the player take control of the Vaps in a series of decisions much similar to Britain’s fascist marches, whereby the Vaps must rally public support for their movement and overthrow the government. This culminates in a march on Tallinn and taking over in a civil war.
From here, it’s a race against time to bolster the military and ready the nation for war. As a movement made mostly of veteran’s societies, the Vaps have access to some powerful military bonuses and free units.
On top of that, the Vaps held close connections to the far-right veterans in Finland and as such, once they have taken over Estonia, they stand ready to give official support to the Finns to do the same in their own country by organizing marches through Finland.
Can the USSR intervene to stop Estonia from going fascist, or do they have to sit idly by and watch as their frontiers are consumed by likely new enemies? Same question about Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. Realistically such dangerous political instability, particularly if it resulted in a civil war, would have resulted in a Russian invasion and propping up of communist puppet governments, and subsequent annexation into the USSR.
I think a border to the Urals, rather than over it, would have been more natural. It was seen as the natural eastern border of such a Pan-Finnic state by the dreamers who theorised about it (although you could also make the case that it's so fantastical that might as well go beyond into Siberia where there were native peoples that spoke certain Ugric tongues). Also the lands of the Veps, Tver Karelians, possibly the Livonians and a few other Finnic nations still around at the time should be included.
This is one idea of the boundaries of such a state (notice it too crosses the Urals a bit), the image is actually from a book cover:
The Baltics may also choose to do as they did historically: granting basing rights to either the Soviets or Germany, and eventually submitting to their occupation. Should the Baltics submit to Soviet occupation, they will switch to their shared communist branch.
The Baltic States agreed to Russian demands for Red Army bases and troops on their soil, which culminated in a coup d'état in all three countries which saw them become puppets of the USSR and subsequently annexed into it. Is this modelled accurately in historical mode if the Baltic States are AI?
Furthermore, the Russians used their bases in Estonia and Latvia to bomb Finland during the Winter War (and indeed the Finnish Air Force retaliated by bombing said bases in Estonia - plans for bombing equivalent bases in Latvia existed but the war ended before they could be carried out). This usage of said bases was against the agreements signed with the Baltic States, but they were powerless to do anything about it (the bases were supposedly meant for defensive purposes only). Is this modelled in the game?
EDIT: From Carl-Fredrik Geust's
Red Wings in the Winter War 1939-40, p. 327:
