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Greece is actually doing rather well for itself, she lost, but gained a lot by being pragmatic. We have a winning loser in her and a losing winner in Austria-Hungary and the Ottomans.
 
"You can make a throne of bayonetes but you cannot sit on it for long, and the longer you sit the bloodier the result" has never seemed more appropriate for Germany's empire building. Germany's boots are on so many necks they will certanly run out of boots before they run out of enemies.
 
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"We humans are foolish in many ways: we want to conquer all as if we had all time, as if our lives did not have any end. Thus, our real time passes too quickly, and often when one believes that they are working only for themselves, they are in fact working for unworthy or ungrateful successors."
- Frederick II. of Prussia, 1739

In 1926, the Soviet State still lacked international recognition from majority of the world's countries and the Great Powers as well. First Soviet ambassador in London, Leonid Krasin, who negoatiated Cardiff Treaty with the British, was warned about possible German invasion as soon as 1923. British intelligence was not only accurate with verbally provided intel, but secured copies of so called Unternehmen Lothar, prepared in 1918. After much debate in Moscow, it was deemed a contingency plan only, in case of any mass-scale Bolshevik interference in the Eastern Europe, Caucasus or Finland. So instead of preparation for inevitable, and to spread discontent in it's satellite states as much as possible to keep them occupied, Lenin's succesors deemed safer to recall troops from the borders and give only token support for dissenting forces in the German sphere. The country had to be rebuild first, through the form of mixed economy (NEP) and somewhat tacit international support from supposedly hostile capitalist powers. Their willingness to support Moscow grew with every German step to delay any restoration of balance of power: states were shattered, divided or remade in image which did fit into designs of prosperous Kaiserreich.

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The sudden restoration of the monarchy in 1926 and 'debolshevization' campaigns were received far better than expected even by White emigrés themselves, returning to their lost properties and surviving neighbours. This was attributed to nation's fatalist mentality - and also the ineffective resistance of Red Army, which was wiped out in a mere weeks, despite it's propaganda how German workers will surely soon follow the call of the Revolution. Instead, people themselves had seen armies of Prussian prince and Bavarian king crossing Urals with considerable ease, banners high. So they rather eagerly accepted Tsar's return, seeing many more ominous options instead.

Therefore, after few years of relative stability and growth assured continuation of Soviet economy, the Bolshevik government got a lot more confidence and translated German actions in 1926 merely as a typically Teutonic kind of negotiation, at first. They expected total economic blockade or return of confiscated Romanov property. Compensations. Arms limitations. Instead, they were less than politely asked for unconditional surrender, as the another government was the very same day declared the only sole legal government of Russia. In matter of two hours, the divisions of all the armies of federal monarchy were marching East. The Prussian Army, Royal Saxon Army, Royal Bohemian Army, Army of Württemberg, Army of Austria and the Bavarian Army. And these armies were marching in brand new grey, blue and green uniforms, accompanied by thousands of armored vehicles and trucks, protected by soldiers with submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles. Twelve battleships of Kaiserliche Marine bombarded Kronstadt fortress for three days, before Marines were allowed to claim it's smoking remains. No force could stand against such onslaught, much less the young Red Army, with it's outdated weaponry and lack of morale: seeing how German units simply surrounded heavily defended areas and continued further, effectively ignoring them, with their engineers building new roads and bridges in matter of days, would demoralize any enemy in 1926.

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The devastating loss of land, industry and resources of Eastern Europe had to be replaced: the Soviet government received limited, but effective American support in that regard before 1926 already. After a pause, it was renegoatiated and enlarged by Anchorage Trade Accords (1928), after President Hughes' administration made it abundantly clear to the Congress - and to the Wall Street - that without such international endeavour, German political and economic designs will continue to grow and dominate entirety of Eurasia. Only such a large scale support of Russia - and other countries - may challenge them in years to come. The President's confidence also did stem from the intelligence gathered in Germany and it's satellite states, which showed stagnation of economy due to heavy economic burden of colonial efforts, large peace time Army and still numerically growing Navy.

Along them or behind them, in unison, tens of thousand Russian emigrés, first soldiers, then officials and finally, civilians, all of them were returning home. And the most eager ones happily took the unfortunate duties of taking care of prisoners, such as captured Communist Party officials or how to return stolen property to it's rightful owners. A mundane tasks, which were of no consequence nor source of concern for German officers, who cared only about secured supply lines. This changed a bit after abhorrent murder of August von Mackensen, but overall, matters of Russia were left to Russians themselves. They were only here to stop Soviet State's undeserved existence, which threatened stability of entire civilization, so the Red nightmares brewing in the outskirts of Europe had to be crushed under daily twice polished German boots. Whether the new Russian government will be succesful to fix all the damage left after catastrophic reign of Nicholas II., or will fall into another Civil War once again, was entirely different question.

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The first major projects were planned in the Central Asia, the region which actually never been completely subjugated, before or during reign of Nicholas II. (Khanate of Khiva still existed as a protectorate of the Russian Empire by the time of his abdication). This was accompanied by a massive influx of ethnic Russians to the area, be those determined emigrés who found their original home burned or Russian nationalists from Hetmanate, disgusted by germanophile regime. Also some noblemen and officials from Baltic Duchy could be found, simply preferring one Empire over another. Everyone seeking opportunities in liberated Russia.

Moreover, at least initially, re-established Russian monarchy heavily relied on aid from states of Customs Union (Zollverein), especially Ukrainian Hetmanate: Skoropadsky, who's family position was far from secure and viewed as a German figurehead still, intended to gain a trust of the new government, if only to gather favours for some later intention to collect. Former breadbasket of the Russian Empire, the Hetmanate alone provided enough food supplies to avert another famine in recently debolshevized country, and some daring landowners, industrialists and bankers even abandoned Hetmanate entirely for Russia, with Skoropadsky's tacit approval. Similarly, another sources of immediate aid were Baltic Duchy and Finland, while German Reichsbank provided significant loans, a part of the Non-aggression Pact between the both countries. With the mutual understanding, that these loans will be used exclusively to buy goods from the Kaiserreich itself.

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The Northern Pacific soon became a major bloodstream of Russia's economy, and very soon, entire Russia could taste American corn and canned beef, after working in factory or power plant equipped by machinery made in Chicago or Philadelphia. This geopolitical success allowed President C. E. Hughes to also initiate talks with the Japanese government in early 1930s, about possibility of rapprochement, including new Naval Treaty, favourable to the island nation and containing Non-aggression Treaty with United States. Something unthinkable few years ago. Once again, he and his closest advisors from Progressive Party correctly deduced that merely offering an alternatives and playing his strongest cards will put Germany into defensive position and restore balance of power. Even the fiercely pacifist parts of American public had to finally admit, that they can't themselves isolate from winds of changes, with Kaiserreich's battleships within range of New York and Zapata's radical socialist Mexico bordering Texas.

The Nicholas III., an elderly and bitter man, who was more humiliated by the sealed German train which brought him home exactly like they did with Lenin, was content with his symbolic role. Considering his position as a mere regency by himself, he closely observed and presided over government sessions, but remained silent of state affairs. The ideological gears in politics of new Russia were moving beyond his understanding: hardline Romanov loyalists, who wanted full return to old Autocracy, as much as liberals promoting legacy of failed Russian Republic, were soon a minority. Mladorossi movement promoted what they called 'pragmatic nationalism': a reborn Russia, which will learn from it's German and Bolshevik enemies, unite the nation and become stronger than ever. Not in principle against monarchy itself or all socialist nor democratic policies, this movement soon dominated all echelons of society, deeply shaken by horrors of past decade: not so dissimilar from Time of Troubles, ended by coronation of Michael I. of House Romanov, 1613.

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Tsar Michael II., who ascended to the throne after death of Nicholas III. in 1931, insisted on the most controversial part of new imperial constitution: that Tsar had to be chosen from within of House Romanov regardless of the bloodline. Main argument was, that ever since his first refusal to be Tsar after abdication of Nicholas II., and 'regency' of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich as Nicholas III., so called Pauline laws of succession ceased to be relevant. Advantages of new arrangement were obvious, such as ability to prevent person unfit to rule to be an Emperor of Russia. Every new sovereign will simply choose his own preferred line of succession, even his main heir who could be replaced at any time, of course. And as long as there is single person of Romanov blood, throne will never remain empty. His own survival was a small miracle, considering how many members of extended Romanov family were killed during Civil War, including women and children.
 
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So what I'm getting from this is that all Operation Lothar really bought the Kaiserreich was a right wing Russia taking in American money and preparing for war with Germany, rather than a left wing Russia taking in American loans and preparing for war with Germany.
 
It's nice to see limits on German power present so obvious. Despite victory in the Weltkrieg and being the obvious dominant power of the continent her ability to project power outside of Europe is severely limited to places where other powers have a hard time projecting it or are uninterested in projecting it. And the US again proves to be the actually more potent power, who is only limited by her traditional isolationism.

"Poor Germany, too large for Europe, too small for the world."

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I'm sure many German critical historians this timeline will object that the Kaiser launched an incredibly large invasion with thousands of armored vehicles simply to deliver Russia and Japan to America.

They'll never understand what a nascent threat was eliminated by clearing out the Bolsheviks before they rallied their strength.
 
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I'm sure many German critical historians this timeline will object that the Kaiser launched an incredibly large invasion with thousands of armored vehicles simply to deliver Russia and Japan to America.

They'll never understand what a nascent threat was eliminated by clearing out the Bolsheviks before they rallied their strength.
I don't know, the Mladorossi seem to be just as much of a threat as the Bolsheviks- I suppose that they might be less able to draw on partisan support in Eastern Europe but that might be offset by American industrialists having less qualms about propping them up.
 
I'm sure many German critical historians this timeline will object that the Kaiser launched an incredibly large invasion with thousands of armored vehicles simply to deliver Russia and Japan to America.

They'll never understand what a nascent threat was eliminated by clearing out the Bolsheviks before they rallied their strength.
In medical science, it's called the prevention paradox. The doctors get criticized for excessive preventive measures, which seem not worth the cost, just because the public does not know and cannot understand (because of the success of prevention) how bad the prevented disease is.

No one will have an understanding of what we know the USSR would one day become, all they'll know is the ramshackle not so impressive bolshevik regime that fell apart like a house of cards. They'll for sure call the invasion a total failure ;)
 
Hello anyone here? Is this AAR still alive? :D
Updates were always slow on this one. I wouldn't stress just yet.

Yeah, there are always some other bothering life issues. I still hope to make it faster, once everything will be solved, like vaccination process :)

Without major spoilers, after 50th part, next one won't be like historical blog anymore, but story about one German soldier stationed in Berlin, early 30s. Boring guard duty will change into wild dark ride...
 
Just finished reading the whole thing. Subscribed!
 
Good to know there are always new fans :) trying to get to it faster than just once per month, but a lot of work, relationships and me trying to play Stellaris again still didn't allow nice quiet afternoon to write something coherent...
 
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and me trying to play Stellaris again still didn't allow nice quiet afternoon to write something coherent...
Arrgh, forget Stellaris. It only hurts to play and get a glimpse how great a game it could be... but isn't.
Nowadays Paradox is too much profit orientated, so they heap up new content to sell DLCs but are too stingy to apply some costly programmers/enough staff to at least maintain the "AI". While HoI2/DH plus lots of love from modders is a splendid fully working game like they aren't able or willing to make anymore.
 
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Arrgh, forget Stellaris. It only hurts to play and get a glimpse how great a game it could be... but isn't.
Nowadays Paradox is too much profit orientated, so they heap up new content to sell DLCs but are too stingy to apply some costly programmers/enough staff to at least maintain the "AI". While HoI2/DH plus lots of love from modders is a splendid fully working game like they aren't able or willing to make anymore.
Hey!! I take offense to that, Stellaris is a good game... that is if you ignore the late game lag which makes it unplayable :(