Yeah honestly I expected the Brits to be a lot more pragmatic than this, like, Ironically I see Mosley and the British Republicans in India embodying that pragmatic, keep calm and carry on spirit of the British empire a lot better than Churchill and the windsors are
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Can you really call it a new leadership? It seems to me that it's the same old Bulldog lobbying for the same old King of the Land Down Under. Also, despite the embarrassment the British did get much that they wanted in regards to South Africa. Yes, it's smaller and needed an intervention by the party actually wearing the pants in this situation, but it was brought back under British heel... More or less. I don't think that would dissuade them, it wouldn't necessarily egg them on either but it would still feed those delusions of a fading imperial power.
Now, if Delhi fell and Russia did, practically, nothing then that is the point that I would expect to see sentiment tossed by the wayside and some pragmatism rise.
With Russia at their side, Britain (or rather, her elites) can count on the restoration of a lot of the old empire. They could face off Germany and Japan over southeast Asia and come out ahead, which would give them a pretty solid comeback into the big boys club and give them leverage to take the dutch under their wings. India could be held up as a solidly capitalist run neo-colonial enterprise carried by the Indian princes and their British trained militaries, Indian capitalists and their British negotiated terms of trade within the imperial world, and British domination of finance, trade and shipping into and out of India. Human and political rights and social welfare would be kept at a nice, comfy (for the princes/entrepreneurs) minimum. Farmers cooperatives, labor unions, and left wing parties would be busted by police, so that unduly demands by the great throng of humanity toiling on Indian farms and in Indian sweatshops don't endanger the profits that are necessary to keep the whole edifice of aristocracy and military fed and happy.
(Some caveats apply about the assertion that only British elites would profit. Given the dependence of Britain on a world order defended by Russia, Russian financial interests would leverage their overwhelming dominance of world finance into buying majority shares in most of the controlling enterprises, and the Russian shipping industry would no doubt clamor for the empire to push free trade on the British and Indians so that they, too, can skim off from the sweat and toil of the Indians)
However, Britain as premier power in southeast Asia in the new world order is really only viable if they preserve our egged extend their current position in India. If the Indians decide they want to throw the toffs and the foreign capitalists out, and send the princes and the local capitalists into gilded retirement homes in order to nationalize the British affiliated businesses, that kind of puts the whole position in southeast Asia into question. There isn't enough economic substance there that a neocolonial enterprise could skim profits off and still pay the cost of upkeep of empire - all the aircraft carriers, the nuclear program they would have to run independently of the Russians, the maintenance of sizeable overseas forces, and the financial "slosh" to be able to afford generous and unreciprocated bribes, whenever needed, to princes, presidents, and whole nations whenever those question whether being a British underling really is better for them than the alternatives.
In our present time of 2021, southeast Asia is a very rich and very populous region of the world, but as of the 1940s this is still a mostly undeveloped, underpopulated region, agricultural and illiterate societies that can offer a few extractive resources to the world market but otherwise only trinkets. Economic/imperialist domination of this region alone isn't enough to fund a military-industrial enterprise centered on an island of 45 or so million people and its little antipodal annex of 8 million colonial settlers and their kangaroos.
(Some caveats apply about the assertion that only British elites would profit. Given the dependence of Britain on a world order defended by Russia, Russian financial interests would leverage their overwhelming dominance of world finance into buying majority shares in most of the controlling enterprises, and the Russian shipping industry would no doubt clamor for the empire to push free trade on the British and Indians so that they, too, can skim off from the sweat and toil of the Indians)
However, Britain as premier power in southeast Asia in the new world order is really only viable if they preserve our egged extend their current position in India. If the Indians decide they want to throw the toffs and the foreign capitalists out, and send the princes and the local capitalists into gilded retirement homes in order to nationalize the British affiliated businesses, that kind of puts the whole position in southeast Asia into question. There isn't enough economic substance there that a neocolonial enterprise could skim profits off and still pay the cost of upkeep of empire - all the aircraft carriers, the nuclear program they would have to run independently of the Russians, the maintenance of sizeable overseas forces, and the financial "slosh" to be able to afford generous and unreciprocated bribes, whenever needed, to princes, presidents, and whole nations whenever those question whether being a British underling really is better for them than the alternatives.
In our present time of 2021, southeast Asia is a very rich and very populous region of the world, but as of the 1940s this is still a mostly undeveloped, underpopulated region, agricultural and illiterate societies that can offer a few extractive resources to the world market but otherwise only trinkets. Economic/imperialist domination of this region alone isn't enough to fund a military-industrial enterprise centered on an island of 45 or so million people and its little antipodal annex of 8 million colonial settlers and their kangaroos.
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Is Russia on their side tho ? Or is the Bear tired of holding their hands and coddling them all this time with nary a simple “thank you” in return ?
How long till members of the inner cabinet or even worse the Duma start wondering why the Tsar is throwing away Russian money and lives for the sake of his boyhood love ?
Certainly some in the Duma will ask such questions. They are always at people's minds when times change: "Why don't we focus on our own affairs, why do our taxes need to be spent on all those foreign affairs, what do we even need allies for, we are strong enough on our own"
But at this point the imperial reconstruction fund and the imperial military are giant economic enterprises. The empire's banks are already deep into Britain via credit and direct investment. Russian foreign trade enterprises have fanned out all across the non syndicalist world, in search of profitable ventures that can be expected to thrive under the Russian led imperial world order. This is not the Russia you know from our history. This is more like the post 1945 USA that you know from our history.
So, plenty of Duma delegates will argue that there are innumerable benefits to the empire from propping up the friendliest of the fellow empires. As will pro business newspapers, and the spokesmen of many chambers of commerce.
Their arguments? Economic benefit to the nation.
Their motivation? Benefit to plenty of elites (lots of Duma members to be found on the boards of all the new public and private enterprises), benefit to the imperial house (which isn't just Vladimir but also his extended family, most of whom are by now influential power brokers with gigantic private fortunes), benefit to the crown (which includes the military and the imperial investment fund, both of which are accountable only to the emperor himself i.e. mostly unaccountable in practice)
The position may not win elections on itself (most people aren't directly profiting from trade and other dealings with the British empire) but that's what you have representatives for, to do what's good for the state (as those see it) and not what the people say.
Let no one think Russia is a democracy, ew! Remember, democracy is a disgusting and failed concept. The Duma is an advisory body and a legislative on those matters the the czar allows it to legislate on. So, really, who cares what the people mumble. Those who were born or educated to make decisions will surely make those for the best of the nation.
And there's actually a decent position that even without the corruption inherent to the military-industrial complex of a superpower or world spanning financial enterprises, there's good strategic sense in propping up the British overseas activities and the overseas activities of the other empires. Not just is Britain as a naval power the westernmost shield of Europe against the formidable might of the Americans. Anti-syndicalism is still the bedrock of the Russian led international order, isn't it? With two thirds of India on the wrong side of history, and the remaining third of India leaning on Britain, Britain is also the shield that keeps syndicalism at bay on the other continents. Remember good Czar Kirill! The martyred czar. Martyred by the syndicalists. God hates the syndicalists. God loves those who fight syndicalism, anywhere, any time. God loves Russia, and God loves Britain.
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I just re read that part to figure out when and where Vladimir gave the signal to have Litvin bail him out. Was it when he reached for the bench top? Liz hadn't even switched the topic to private matters at that point. I think Vlad must be really fed up with her if that's that case.“But still”she smiled, silhouetted against the artificially illuminated night beyond the glass,“do you ever find yourself wishing you could eventually walk away from all this, leave the duty to someone else?”
He flashed a smile as he brought the tea over. “Why” he offered “would I ever want to walk away from this?” as he handed over a cup which she took, shaking her head.
“You’re troublesome, you know that?” she rebuked, taking the tea.
“Well some of the finest minds at the University of Ottawa would certainly agree with you there, but then again, so would the likes of Valois or Mosley, so certainly mixed company on that point.” He found his accent establishing itself heavily when in her presence, flipping back to that Aristocratic British timbre without a thought.
She gave him a side eyed glare then sunk back into her seat, eyes fixed on the city. “So, will you be travelling back to Saint Petersburg tomorrow?”
He sank into his own chair, complete with royal monogram at its head which only seemed to shrink the slightly built twenty nine year old ruler of the greatest Empire on the planet. “Indeed, as will a great many others here I imagine. Despite this insane provocation by Mosley, the Americans are making all the right noises, it may soon be peace in our time, or, at least, peace for a time.”
He caught the flick of a scowl before that smile he adored was back as she pretended to think for a moment. “Have you perhaps thought it might all be a mistake? Is there any danger we are letting war fatigue blind us at a critical moment?”
He sipped his tea, mood dropping. He’d been riding high on this beautiful night and had hoped, well he had hoped for something other than what he knew was about to begin. “To the contrary, I think it’s the American fatigue that’s showing. They’ve drawn back on so many points just to avoid the Colombian matter starting off another war. They’ve been at war for a decade, their infrastructure, their people may never be the same again. I fail to understand why else they would allow for the ongoing militarisation of Cuba. I do not wish to see the moment of opportunity missed.”
He could feel her hesitate. He wanted to believe that wasn’t her trying to strategize, but instead some conflict between her desire to preserve the feeling of the night, and her duty to her Uncle, and Government. But it was Elizabeth, he knew exactly which way she would go.
“But surely there are matters that could be better settled? Our Home, the very place you and I grew up, this proposed peace leaves it all under occupation. I am no military expert, but leaving ones territory and people in the hand of the enemy feels awfully like a surrender to me.”
He sipped again, then began wandering over the bar again, feeling her eyes following him. “There are perhaps ten million Americans under arms in North America, I do not see how we could prevail in Canada with the ability land only a hundredth of that. We rescued those we could, that will have to be enough.”
“Then what of India? What’s being proposed leaves…”
“I had hoped.” he said, reaching the bar area and clamping his hands around the benchtop “that we might avoid politics, at least for a night. Sir Winston is more than capable of representing your Uncle, and Britain at the talks.”
He’d offended her, he could tell. Gone too far with the rebuff. She turned to face him from across the room, a warmly lit figure against a black sky. “Well, if you would rather me limit myself to personal matters then perhaps you’d indulge me a more personal request.”
“Anything” he said, maintaining the pressure on the benchtop.
“I understand your diplomatic obligations, but some are openly speculating over the number of times you have been seen with the youngest Hapsburg girl.”
Chyort.
Vladimir felt himself shrink under her gaze. His mind raced, and pleaded for a rescue. It came, finally, with a beat of a fist against the door, and a team of Guardsmen led by Litvin.
“Apolgies your Majesty, your Highness, but we’ve just received word of a major security threat, we’re going to have to relocate the ship.”
Vladimir turned to Elizabeth who was straightening up her dress and going for her belongings. “Litvin, have your team evacuate the Princess Elizabeth first, that’s your top priority, then get us moving.”
“Of course Majesty!”
As the Guardsman moved in and guided Elizabeth out in a protective cordon, Litvin remained behind as the door closed. “Apologies for the delay Majesty.”
Vladimir finally relaxed his grip on the silent alarm built in under the bar. “I’d say that was about fifteen seconds, not bad, but we’ll see if we need to relocate your rooms closer in the future.”
Litvin didn’t ask his sovereign want had prompted the pre-arranged signal. Vladimir didn’t tell. The British princess was rapidly ferried over to the Britannia while the Romanov’s engines lit and she made for the bulk of the Pyotr Velikiy and the larger naval squadron. To keep up appearances, they’d have to make for home immediately.
And that would have the added bonus of putting fourteen navy vessels, tens of thousands of sailors, and hundreds of kilometres of ocean between the Emperor and more unwelcome questions.
He had to talk to Anastasia
Or was it only later, when she asked him about Sophie? But then how did he give the signal?
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I think a more apt question would be, "Does she have actual feelings about anything?"
Going by the OTL personality she's at best 1% feelings and 99% rationality. And in any case 100% service to the realm, and to the crown she will one day wear.
I'd think that as she matures she might end up realizing that the realm is best served by moving into the future rather than wasting resources pursuing a past that's never coming back.
351: Rota - 2
The Winter Palace
The Winter Palace
“Do you have intentions towards her, or are you just planning on staring longingly at her until the end of time?”
Of all Nicholas’ progeny, Vladimir had always found Anastasia had the greatest talent for sliding a dagger right into the heart of a problem. He’d valued that before, but now that he was face to face with a middle-aged woman who had faced down a Cheka executioner and lived, he doubted the wisdom of willingly walking into the room.
“I, well that is the question isn’t it. It’s a strategic question. On one hand, we chose to pour our focus into Britain’s reconstruction and reconstitution. That would likely commit us to a particularly aggressive overseas policy if we are to make the most of Britain’s remaining Imperial potential, but it could push Vienna closer to Berlin and suddenly it’s all a lot of deja vu. Alternatively, aligning with Vienna would make us unassailable on the continent, but Britain’s potential would…”
“Really?” she raised an eyebrow. “You’ve actually thought this through?”
He ignored the interruption and maintained his seat, trying to match eyes with Nastya as she did her best questioning mother impression. “I have obsessed over it.”
“Well then perhaps you should go back to STAVKA sessions, they suit you better.”
“The things you get away with saying.”
“There’s no one here to hear a thing. The sacred authority of your office is intact, don’t worry.”
The cheek
“Explain your point then.”
Anastasia pointed at him, as if accusing him of some crime in jest “You are a man, and like so many men you’re fixed seeing everything through the lens of maps, guns, force ratios and other such nonsense. You can’t see the obvious right in front of your face.”
“Perhaps you’d be willing to stop scolding me and explain?”
“The Woman! This isn’t the tenth century and you are not just taking an interest in some overseas property. The woman you are bringing in matters…”
Vladimir raised a hand “She is a woman defined by duty, utterly selfless in that regard. She has a knowledge of statecraft well beyond her years, a passion for the welfare of her people and an appropriately hard view towards Syndicalism. I am sure Russia would be well served by someone like her leading it.”
“But she wouldn’t be leading Russia would she? Her destiny is to lead Britain, and if she’s as much a copy of you as you describe, that raises problems.”
“Such as?”
Anastasia threw her hands up in the air in exasperation “WOULD SHE EVEN SAY YES?!”
Silence ruled for a moment. Vladimir had to gather up a response. “We have been incredibly close for years, and she has always sought me out at events and responded frequently to my letters.”
“And never has she laid so much as a less than innocent hand on you. Teased, prodded, implied perhaps, but never more than required to get your agreement on some point or another I suspect. From where I sit, and knowing the Windsors and Sir Winston as I do, I expect she has done everything she has, and would yet do more, because you hold the simplest, and perhaps only key to a quick and undeserved salvation for that entire Nation.”
“Natsya” he said, swapping to a nickname in the hope that it would rob her of some of her power “I understand that I asked you here to speak plainly, but I do not wish to disparage Elizabeth any…”
“Would she convert?”
“What?”
“She would be Empress of the Russo-Roman Empire. She would be expected to convert, surely? But how could you ask her to do so if her destiny is to be the leader of the Anglican church?”
“And let us just say for a moment you lean on the church and ignore the murmurs of discontent; endangering the crown’s position might I add, what of your sons? Will Britain have an Orthodox King, or will Russia have an Anglican Tsar?”
Vladimir tried to get a word in “That is a very medieval way of…” but the verballing continued.
“Where will she live? Here, away from the realm she is meant to rule? Or will she be an absentee Tsarina?”
Vladimir held up both hands, palms outstretched, pleading for a moment. She stared at him and raised a questioning eyebrow, as if daring him to continue. “I concede that, were I to pursue such a union, there would be immense details and difficulties to work out. But if the underlying strategic case is sound, as it may be, then I am simply saying it should be considered, that it is a hard choice”
“It may feel like one, but dig further and it’s just one big trap. The difficulties wouldn’t end for you just because you manage to make it to the altar. God may bless your union but there will be no obligation on others to do the same. When you favour Britain the Press here will whisper she’s bewitched you, if she adopts Russian interests then her own position at home will become untenable. What will you do when she is asked to abdicate for favouring her Husband’s view once too often?”
“Perhaps she could…”
“There is no middle option for her. Would she ever in a thousand ages step away from the throne is slated to hold? And once she ascends, do you expect her to take your direction? Can you make your wife a vassal? If you do, she will be finished, if you do not, then it will be you who are done, because that is what Britain is now, and your children and Empires will be the casualties of your recalcitrance.”
Vladimir’s hands were shaking as he set the tea cup down as his mind ticked over, processing the forced revelations. “Lunch it may be but I’m starting to wish I’d asked for something a little stronger than tea. When I invited you to be brutally honest I did not expect quite so vicious a verbal incision into my soul.”
Anastasia smiled. She got up from her armchair, walked around the coffee table, and took the seat to his immediate left, close enough to reach out and put a comforting arm on his shoulder. “I’m not trying to berate you Volodya, she is a formidable young woman. What I am saying is that this option you obsess over is no option at all. Forget your maps and ships; religion and the press will destroy you both if you attempt this. Because whatever you feel, or she feels, the church is the church, the press are the press, and the people are the people. At best, this fancy will leave you two cold and estranged, at worst, you’ll do more damage to the Empire than all the European Totalists combined.”
Vladimir tried to force a chuckle “one more sacrifice for the motherland then?”
“Sacrifices? Don’t be so dramatic, I’m hardly advising you to jump on barbed wire. I’m just asking you to apply some of that cold rationality you direct at military affairs towards one of the most important decisions you must make in your role."
Vladimir's palms were open, extending an offer. " I am well aware that I have both spoken to extent on the damage that selfishness and foolish decisions by rulers has served the Empire poorly in the past. I am likewise aware that I have asked hundreds of thousands to take bullets or shells in the name of my decisions. I am prepared to do the right thing, always, I am simply trying to discern what that is."
“Well it’s obvious isn’t it?”
“Humour me, please.”
“The Hapsburg girl looks at you like the sun shines out of your eyes. She is healthy, attractive, and speaks Russian, she has no path to a throne of her own, and by all accounts you’re rather smitten.”
Vladimir felt his face flush and he tried to turn away and return to the safety of a gripped teacup, giving his hands something to anchor on “It’s different, I have known her for a much shorter period, and she is far more…direct.”
Anastasia nodded approvingly, “Your children might learn German, but they will be Orthodox, healthy, and, based on the record of that family, they will be many in number, provided you’re willing to do your part.” she gave him a pointed stare that elicited a small, nervous chuckle.
“So you favour Sophie?”
“Favour? She is the only option. The Austrians know that Otto has been parading his sisters. Select one and you’ll have their hearts and minds for a generation, snub them, and how do you think they’ll see it? You must see the softer side of things, not every struggle is a matter of bullets and shells.”
“If that were truly the case then I would be counselled to marry a dancer or actress.”
Anastasia burst out laughing. “Ok, point made. Find me a ballet dancer who can help secure a permanent peace on the European continent and whose Brother can call up five million men when he’s annoyed, and I shall give them consideration. If you can’t, well, you have my counsel. And before you complain about marrying the brilliant, pretty young woman, give some thought to the matches Royal daughters have been exhorted to make over the generations for the sake of House and Country.”
“Sophie then?”
“Sophie, your Majesty, in this woman’s humble opinion.”
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Big thumbs up for the imperial princess Anastasia!
She would make an excellent czarina as well, but that's rather unlikely now that Nikolai II's line more or less abdicated the succession.
Is the Russian imperial succession still male-only? Do princess Kira's male children, who are heirs to the German and Prussian crowns, as well as grand children of Czar Cyrill, feature the Russian order of succession?
Or is the Russo-Roman order of succession still a blank piece of paper, undefined, and wholly Vladimir's to regulate by decree? That would make Russia's current position quite an, um, high rope dance. One plane accident away from chaos, palace coups, and foreign meddling.
I don't think we were introduced yet to how the line of succession works at the present point of the story! (But I remember we did briefly hear of a young prince Mikhail sitting at some event with Vladimir, making a bored face... is he the current heir?)
She would make an excellent czarina as well, but that's rather unlikely now that Nikolai II's line more or less abdicated the succession.
Is the Russian imperial succession still male-only? Do princess Kira's male children, who are heirs to the German and Prussian crowns, as well as grand children of Czar Cyrill, feature the Russian order of succession?
Or is the Russo-Roman order of succession still a blank piece of paper, undefined, and wholly Vladimir's to regulate by decree? That would make Russia's current position quite an, um, high rope dance. One plane accident away from chaos, palace coups, and foreign meddling.
I don't think we were introduced yet to how the line of succession works at the present point of the story!
(But I remember we did briefly hear of a young prince Mikhail sitting at some event with Vladimir, making a bored face... is he the current heir?)- 1
Wow, so much for Anastasia the Disney Princess She is shrewd, that is for sure.
She is shrewd, that is for sure.- 1
Anastasia is absolutely right; most princesses would be overjoyed to have to marry someone who's attractive, intelligent and fun to be around- and most princesses also don't get to be the overlord of the better part of Eurasia. I do hope that in Vladimir's new Europe the days of very young aristocratic women being married off are past.
Edit: Also, am I to assume Sophie is fictional, resulting from butterflies from Karl not being overthrown? I can't find her on Wikipedia.
Edit: Also, am I to assume Sophie is fictional, resulting from butterflies from Karl not being overthrown? I can't find her on Wikipedia.
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(Real Life) Year In Review!
Hey All, just a quick note tonight (as we in Aus tick over to the new calendar year ahead of most of you).
I said this a few pages back, but resurrecting this AAR was a long term project, but one I never actually thought I'd get around to. I've been genuinely surprised that people have come forward to engage with an old DH AAR using an ancient KR install that started a decade ago, but it's been at the heart of what has encouraged me to keep going and to map out a story that (while moving much, much faster than it used to) does stretch well into the cold war.
I wanted to put the question to the regular comenters, but also any Lurkers out there: What keeps you reading this AAR, and what would you like to see more or less of as we move into the Cold War era?
I am never going to fundamentally change my approach to the project, but If there is ever time to gather feedback, it's at the end of a bloody complicated calendar year.
Thanks in advance for any feedback, and we'll be back with the next chapter soon, when we use the question of Vladimir, Otto, Sophie, and all of that to segue into 1947, the year of the Ausgleich, Europe, and the first real birth of the institutions that will frame the early cold war era!
And finally, a separate thanks to those of you who have been so engaged, supportive, and come out with passion during the Duma votes. It's been a real fun part of this process, and I hope we maintain that life going forward.
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To answer that sort of question I have to put on my editor's glasses a bit as otherwise, I do not think my critique can be either as close to objective as possible or entirely honest. The main thing that has kept me reading the AAR is its ability to move forward from event to event and always produce more intrigue, more complications, and more drama even from unlikely scenarios (I mean, mate, you managed to make logistics sound dramatic, that's an achievement. I have met military logistics officers and while they certainly know their craft they aren't exactly very... thrilling to talk to, which is a pity as that field could use more publicity.)
That point applies not only as a positive to the AAR's strengths but also its weaknesses. For example, after constructing the Commune as the big bogeyman of the AAR, its rapid collapse (even if inevitable in a competent playthrough) did reduce the stakes of the AAR both in immediate terms and in the long term viability of a Cold War scenario. The liberation of Britain didn't help matters on that front, and yet before long, you were able to establish Austria as a competitor via its nuclear interests and Italian expansion, reconstruct Germany as an Imperial power, and take the CSA from a position of apparent isolation to a credible ideological antagonist (and perhaps sometime... associate superpower in the future) Gameplay may have produced some of these results, but you did give them flavour.
In short, it's the ability of the AAR to move on and take seemingly simple scenarios and expand them into an intricate web of interests and players which keeps it interesting. So far, I am happy with the present structure of the AAR. Perhaps there is more room for Duma comitties to deal with more Role-Play rather than game-play focused questions as I am at a loss as to how to proceed as an occasional contributor on that front, but I can't think of anything else I'd like more or less of. If I had to say what I found most interesting it would be the history book sections and the political leader's narrative parts (be it Vladimir, Bowder, or their underlings) That's not to say I don't enjoy the boots on the ground angle of things, but it is those sections that I tend to read more slowly and look forward to.
Oh, come to think of it, I do miss the intelligence portion of the AAR that seems to have lessened somewhat since Beria died.
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simply put, what keeps me coming here is that I really like the world you built, I enjoy the more narrative side a lot more than the battle part to be honest, but that’s not your problems, I just don’t really care much about like battle plans and stuff like that, tbh I haven’t even plaid HOI4 in ages.
So if it’s up to me I would like to see more of the narrative side, more scheming and planning, assassinations and political play...etc. But at the same time, you got a winning formula here with how you write the AAR, so by all means, don’t ruin it on our account lol.
There is a weakness with how quick things are going, like Russian economy getting transformed in a couple months instead of a decade, but that’s more the fault of the game not your fault, after all I could take Egypt from an illiterate backwater to an advanced world power in little less than 2 years in the game, so don’t worry too much about that.
So if it’s up to me I would like to see more of the narrative side, more scheming and planning, assassinations and political play...etc. But at the same time, you got a winning formula here with how you write the AAR, so by all means, don’t ruin it on our account lol.
There is a weakness with how quick things are going, like Russian economy getting transformed in a couple months instead of a decade, but that’s more the fault of the game not your fault, after all I could take Egypt from an illiterate backwater to an advanced world power in little less than 2 years in the game, so don’t worry too much about that.
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I stumbled into this AAR ages ago, at a point where it was already a pretty big story. I think it was around the point where the Hohenzollerns evac'd from Berlin and got into that nasty little ambush. At that point I had already registered earlier that there was a big story telling / history book style AAR ongoing, but I had only read the first chapters that took place in Arkhangelsk, and had thought, ah well, it's another one of those AAR "projects" where a writer writes a great introduction and preamble to the actual in-game story, but takes eons to do so and never actually reaches Jan. 1 1936. Which can be fun but wasn't that interesting to me, at the time. I had not actually read the AAR past the first two or three story posts, so I had mostly missed that you had already built a gigantic story about the Romanov resurrection set in the Kaiserreich world as it existed back then. So this story about the Hohenzollern flight from Berlin, I remember that as a "whoah" moment, where I noticed that there was a huge, and very well told story, set in this fascinating alternate history world, and thought, I have to get into this. The writing caught on and the depth and cohesion of the world sucked me in.
Your story telling is really something unique, on one hand one can tell that you have a pretty stringent vision of certain aspects of the story - that there should be positive protagonists, that there should be clearly recognizable villains (well until recently, villain Browder and the American syndies came a bit around lately), and that you'll never walk back from or retcon any part of the story that was told. But on the other hand you engage with us readers, and let us chip in on where the story should go, which is really cool and not necessarily something I expected given that some things in the story are non negotiable. (Like, you're not going to make the heroes compromise with the villains just because a reader played devil's advocate and argued that Russia should seek understanding with the triumphant internationale, not attack them, and instead throw Austria to the wolves) You really strike a very cool balance between openness for input and staying in creative control over the story. I admire this greatly!! And of course it's enormous fun to be allowed to interact with a creator in such a way.
(And I do wonder where the limits are, for you... Like, had all the readers pleaded for attempting peaceful understanding with the triumphant internationale in 1941 like the pacifist delegate Y. Y. Diplomov, would you have let the story go that way?)
And then there's the depth of your knowledge of WW2 and the era around it. You have an uncommon knowledge of this era, you really know not just facts but also can relate what much of it must have felt like and can translate this into the alt-hist world in which the story is set. This shines so much and makes the story so fun and fascinating to read! The logistics operations have already been mentioned as a fine example of really uncommonly superb presentation of a niche topic that both grognards and amateurs can appreciate very much. But it's really something one can notice through and throughout. Like, I didn't even know VIPs used battleships to travel overseas in this era, and learned that from your AAR. I also didn't know all that much about naval aviation and battleship fighting techniques, and learned much from the chapters about the invasion of Britain. Which were another really, really fine example of superb writing where technical detail and knowledge paired with magnificent sense of drama and a mesmerizing take on an oft discussed but never so well told scenario of WW2 invasion of Britain. (The whole story about the preparation, runup, execution and aftermath blew my mind, it was to me hands down the most thrilling and exciting reading so far. Soooo good!! Teenagers and office workers in black uniforms sent to die as a last Huzzah, that actually sent a tear down my cheek as I read it. And the fate of that burning British battleship that beached itself and still kept firing, oh man that was the pinnacle of naval WW2 fiction to me. Marvelous.)
Yeah so... Happy new year to you! I hope you are still enjoying your writing as much as I am enjoying reading it.
And happy new year to my fellow Duma delegates. May the committee work be ever fruitful and the nation ever prosper!
Your story telling is really something unique, on one hand one can tell that you have a pretty stringent vision of certain aspects of the story - that there should be positive protagonists, that there should be clearly recognizable villains (well until recently, villain Browder and the American syndies came a bit around lately), and that you'll never walk back from or retcon any part of the story that was told. But on the other hand you engage with us readers, and let us chip in on where the story should go, which is really cool and not necessarily something I expected given that some things in the story are non negotiable. (Like, you're not going to make the heroes compromise with the villains just because a reader played devil's advocate and argued that Russia should seek understanding with the triumphant internationale, not attack them, and instead throw Austria to the wolves
) You really strike a very cool balance between openness for input and staying in creative control over the story. I admire this greatly!! And of course it's enormous fun to be allowed to interact with a creator in such a way. (And I do wonder where the limits are, for you... Like, had all the readers pleaded for attempting peaceful understanding with the triumphant internationale in 1941 like the pacifist delegate Y. Y. Diplomov, would you have let the story go that way?)
And then there's the depth of your knowledge of WW2 and the era around it. You have an uncommon knowledge of this era, you really know not just facts but also can relate what much of it must have felt like and can translate this into the alt-hist world in which the story is set. This shines so much and makes the story so fun and fascinating to read! The logistics operations have already been mentioned as a fine example of really uncommonly superb presentation of a niche topic that both grognards and amateurs can appreciate very much. But it's really something one can notice through and throughout. Like, I didn't even know VIPs used battleships to travel overseas in this era, and learned that from your AAR. I also didn't know all that much about naval aviation and battleship fighting techniques, and learned much from the chapters about the invasion of Britain. Which were another really, really fine example of superb writing where technical detail and knowledge paired with magnificent sense of drama and a mesmerizing take on an oft discussed but never so well told scenario of WW2 invasion of Britain. (The whole story about the preparation, runup, execution and aftermath blew my mind, it was to me hands down the most thrilling and exciting reading so far. Soooo good!! Teenagers and office workers in black uniforms sent to die as a last Huzzah, that actually sent a tear down my cheek as I read it. And the fate of that burning British battleship that beached itself and still kept firing, oh man that was the pinnacle of naval WW2 fiction to me. Marvelous.)
Yeah so... Happy new year to you!
I hope you are still enjoying your writing as much as I am enjoying reading it. And happy new year to my fellow Duma delegates. May the committee work be ever fruitful and the nation ever prosper!
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What’s Alexie up to ? And would he ever get his own branch of the dynasty ? Maybe as prince of Constantinople or something like that ? I think he earned it.
If this were the 16th century, it would be better for Russia if Alexei stayed a bachelor (or did like most Romanov males in the 19th century and marry morganatically). Alexei's line used to be the senior line, and under traditional aristocratic thinking his children would be obligated to re-raise their claim and fight against Vladimir's future children for the throne until Alexei's line is entirely exiled or dead. Like the Jacobites of British history, they'd be under expectation from their surroundings to either keep up the struggle of pretenders or resign from the aristocracy via debasement of the lineage (marrying commoners) or retirement into clerical celibacy. Traditional aristocratic honor does not allow for a "let's be friends" relationship between a humiliated senior lineage like Alexei's and a junior line that stumbled onto the throne via accidents of history like Vladimir's.
The Germans (well, the ones who don't like Princess Kira) would probably love to win Alexei over, marry him to a German noble woman of high birth, and encourage his progeny to consider themselves the real Czar's. Dreaming of some day in the future when they can make their Kaiser set the hated Kira aside, and support a return of the senior Romanov line to Russia (via German soldiers and bribed Russians)
Realistically? It's the 20th century. One doesn't have to raise his kids as aristocrats in order to have them maintain the standards of living oneself if used to. There are so many rich commoner women to marry. Millionaire heiresses. Alexei can (if he hasn't yet) marry any of them, keep serving his cousin as a loyal and trusted advisor, and have a large and happy family, knowing that them being born to a commoner wife, and raised to bourgeois life styles, none of them will ever be a danger to Vladimir's children in the future.
(If there are children from a marriage of Vladimir..........)
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As for the future of the monarchy - some musing that came to me while writing the above post, but not connected to the question of Alexei so I'll put them into a separate post if you don't mind.
As I wrote "It's the 20th century" I thought of the future of the imperial monarchy. And how much of its presently good fortune is due to circumstances that aren't going to return (Romanov restoration on top of 15 years of unsuccessful-but-actually-super-effective-at-modernizing Kerensky rule), and an energetic and determined personality on the throne (Vladimir) that might not be followed by heirs with similar character traits.
It's important to keep in mind that Vladimir is very, very, very much an unusual monarch in terms of personality. He grew up with only very little of the supervision and straight jacketed education that heirs to important thrones usually grow up with. As an exiled prince living in Canada, his family being largely without means during the time of exile, no one cared much about risk minimization in the choice of his tutors. No imperial mother, grandmother and court marshals fighting over who gets to best groom the young prince into a pliant tool for their wishes, and drum any independent thinking out of him. Instead he could develop his own mind, engage in lively debate with teachers and professors who weren't afraid of being fired and disgraced for daring to scold the prince for foolish ideas and point out where he's wrong. This sharpened his mind, and likely made him appreciate free debate, to a much greater extent than if he had been raised at the imperial court and the teachers were bootlickers and sycophants picked by some imperious matriarch or wannabe wire puller at court.
Now let's think ten years into the future and ask ourselves, what kind of upbringing can Vladimir's children realistically expect. The imperial court is the apex of power of the world's premier superpower nation. The word of a czar is law. The advisors who counsel the czar are more powerful than any elected politician. They have agendas, and are sought out by all the major interest factions in society - the army, the strategic air force, the ministry of industry, the directorate of internal security. And now there's a tsarevich to educate. And the Tsar himself, a man in his late 30s, still looks forward to many more decades on the throne, fully expecting his heir to sit still, wait patiently, and not disturb daddy's very! very! important! state businesses, for, like, the next 30 years. This is almost guaranteed to produce at best, a phlegmatic dullard, at worst a pleasure seeking idiot or an impatient hothead on 180° against everything his father says or does, heading for an early suicide, prince Rudolf style.
It may even be worth a thought, to think about what kind of personality Vladimir himself would have been, had his own father not met an untimely end. Cyrill wasn't a young man, he was 62 at the time of his death (and in OTL he died at that age from natural causes) but could reasonably have lived another 10-15 years as Tsar of the Russian empire, during which Vladimir would remain in the role of Tsarevich. If Cyrill died at the end of such a life span, in the year 1948 or 1953, the whole of the syndicalist wars, and the establishment of the new world order, Vladimir would have had a far smaller role in all that happened. Also, far less space to grow, as a decision maker. Advisors and politicians would have focused their attention on his father. Vladimir would still have had some freedom to make his own decisions, with his guards regiment at least, but when decisions about war and peace are up, would his father's inner circle have listened to him as r deciding voice? The system of autocracy demands that the czar himself plays the role of a final arbiter on all important decisions, so it may be doubtful whether a czarevich assuming the role of "he who speaks last" would have been accepted by his father and his father's advisors. Vladimir might not be listened to, sidelined even as generals and politicians try to keep the impatient young man out of the loop. Few decisions would be his. By the time he inherited the throne, what would that make of him? If the war went as it did, he would inherit a world that was already ordered. He'd be already married to a woman he maybe didn't even get to choose. Would he then be a confident ruler on the throne?
As I wrote "It's the 20th century" I thought of the future of the imperial monarchy. And how much of its presently good fortune is due to circumstances that aren't going to return (Romanov restoration on top of 15 years of unsuccessful-but-actually-super-effective-at-modernizing Kerensky rule), and an energetic and determined personality on the throne (Vladimir) that might not be followed by heirs with similar character traits.
It's important to keep in mind that Vladimir is very, very, very much an unusual monarch in terms of personality. He grew up with only very little of the supervision and straight jacketed education that heirs to important thrones usually grow up with. As an exiled prince living in Canada, his family being largely without means during the time of exile, no one cared much about risk minimization in the choice of his tutors. No imperial mother, grandmother and court marshals fighting over who gets to best groom the young prince into a pliant tool for their wishes, and drum any independent thinking out of him. Instead he could develop his own mind, engage in lively debate with teachers and professors who weren't afraid of being fired and disgraced for daring to scold the prince for foolish ideas and point out where he's wrong. This sharpened his mind, and likely made him appreciate free debate, to a much greater extent than if he had been raised at the imperial court and the teachers were bootlickers and sycophants picked by some imperious matriarch or wannabe wire puller at court.
Now let's think ten years into the future and ask ourselves, what kind of upbringing can Vladimir's children realistically expect. The imperial court is the apex of power of the world's premier superpower nation. The word of a czar is law. The advisors who counsel the czar are more powerful than any elected politician. They have agendas, and are sought out by all the major interest factions in society - the army, the strategic air force, the ministry of industry, the directorate of internal security. And now there's a tsarevich to educate. And the Tsar himself, a man in his late 30s, still looks forward to many more decades on the throne, fully expecting his heir to sit still, wait patiently, and not disturb daddy's very! very! important! state businesses, for, like, the next 30 years. This is almost guaranteed to produce at best, a phlegmatic dullard, at worst a pleasure seeking idiot or an impatient hothead on 180° against everything his father says or does, heading for an early suicide, prince Rudolf style.
It may even be worth a thought, to think about what kind of personality Vladimir himself would have been, had his own father not met an untimely end. Cyrill wasn't a young man, he was 62 at the time of his death (and in OTL he died at that age from natural causes) but could reasonably have lived another 10-15 years as Tsar of the Russian empire, during which Vladimir would remain in the role of Tsarevich. If Cyrill died at the end of such a life span, in the year 1948 or 1953, the whole of the syndicalist wars, and the establishment of the new world order, Vladimir would have had a far smaller role in all that happened. Also, far less space to grow, as a decision maker. Advisors and politicians would have focused their attention on his father. Vladimir would still have had some freedom to make his own decisions, with his guards regiment at least, but when decisions about war and peace are up, would his father's inner circle have listened to him as r deciding voice? The system of autocracy demands that the czar himself plays the role of a final arbiter on all important decisions, so it may be doubtful whether a czarevich assuming the role of "he who speaks last" would have been accepted by his father and his father's advisors. Vladimir might not be listened to, sidelined even as generals and politicians try to keep the impatient young man out of the loop. Few decisions would be his. By the time he inherited the throne, what would that make of him? If the war went as it did, he would inherit a world that was already ordered. He'd be already married to a woman he maybe didn't even get to choose. Would he then be a confident ruler on the throne?
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