Timeline (A Socialist World)

Point of Difference: The POD in this timeline is broad and somewhat vague, Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin are never born, instead being replaced by two much nicer and more caring people, Catherine Lenin and Benito Stalin, both of whom grow up with no political interests and live normal lives before the Russian Revolution, after which they escape from the murderous bands of revolutionaries ruling certain parts of the country and escape to Holland, where they live out the rest of their lives in peace. Instead, Leon (I think that was his name) Trotsky goes about promoting democratically achieved Socialism, and the rest is in the timeline.

1917: Russia continues to feel the throes of the Revolution, and instead of the Bolsheviks becoming one of the vying factions, the following Russian Civil War is largely between the Tsarist Loyalists (and a large portion of the army), the Republicans, and the extremist Junta Faction, which wants to establish a dictatorship over the entire country. The Junta is soon pushed into the shadows as many view the Junta as too much or just not what seems right, and soon the Republicans and Tsarist Forces begin to battle it out in the Russian Civil War, which causes Russia to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litvosk with the Central Powers and cede a large portion of European Russia to Germany and Austria-Hungary, and even though WW1 continues as it did in OTL, the Russian Civil War continues on a much different course, although the Treaty of Brest Litvosk may have been signed a little earlier or later than OTL, which has little effect on the course of WW1.

August: With the Republicans controlling large spots of territory in what used to be the Russian Empire, and the Tsarists controlling the countryside due to strict military control of vital trade and military routes, the Tsarists leader, Tsar Nicholas II, notices one vital error in the Republicans military strategy: They have no way of transporting troops to there various territories without causing conflict with the Tsars forces, which are much more disciplined and better trained, armed, and morally strong, (or at least in the current situation), while the Republicans have to rely on Peasant Armies and what they can seize from local arsenals and the limited support coming in from the outside world. And this gives him one simple, but strategically possible and actually somewhat intelligent idea: starve the Republicans and force them to come out and fight while attacking there main means of support; the remaining portion of the Ukraine breadbasket in Russian hands, with this vital food source gone the Tsarist Armies can starve off the Republican Forces and possibly cause there lands to revolt against them, which would allow for Tsarist troops to retake those lands and bring back unity to Russia. With the main scheme completed, Tsar Nicholas II and his advisors begin putting the finishing touches n his plans for the war.

September: Tsar Nicholas II finishes his war pans, and puts Operation Ukraine into effect, he orders all trade between non-Tsarist controlled lands cut off and used for the Tsarist War Effort. It begins to have the desired effect, and armed bands of peasants begin to rise up against the Republicans, but these uprisings are crushed, and the Tsar begins to send military aid and money to these peasant groups after they swear an oath of loyalty to the Tsar, and they begin organizing plans for a massive revolt in Republican Siberia and Republican Kazakhstan.

October: Organization of the anti-Republican rebels in Republican Siberia and Kazakhstan continues, with more and more aid being funneled to the rebels by Tsarist forces. The Battle of the Volga River takes place between a Tsarist force o 35,000 men and a Republican force of 23,000 men, with the Tsarist forces sending a smaller portion of their army across the Volga and drawing the Republican Army into a bend in the river, where the rest of the Tsarist Army comes onto the battlefield and slaughters over 13,000 men after their general refuses to surrender. When he finally does, he is wounded in the leg and right arm, but not fatally, unlike the other 19,000 dead and wounded soldiers lying on the battlefield. When news of this hits Republican supporters in there areas of Russia, some begin to question which side they should follow, and soon after Republican troops begin to desert.

November: The rebels in Republican Siberia and Kazakhstan rise up against the Republicans, and force them out of Siberia and a large part of Kazakhstan, while minor revolts in the Republican held Caucasus throws the Republicans into a retreat towards more securely Republican Territory. A battle between Republican forces and an armed force of peasants soon ends in a bloodbath in which several thousand peasants are killed, turning even more supporters of the Republicans into enemies, and the Tsarists exploit this to its fullest, calling it the Caucasus Massacre, turning international support away from the Republicans and slowing it down to less than 32% of what it was prior. Tsarist troops soon move in and finish off the “Butchers”, as they are called in the lands held by Tsarist forces, and secure the Caucus Mountains area as well as Kazakhstan while troops are being sent into Siberia.

December: With the Russian Winter setting in, the war turns quiet, and will remain so until February of next year.

1918

February: The Tsarists continue Operation Ukraine, and the Republicans are now feeling the full effect of the Tsarist actions. Massive rallies are held in Republican territories by peasants and some upper classmen, and when Republican troops fire into these unarmed crowds in Moscow on February 22nd, hundreds are killed in the so called “Massacre of Innocents”, as portrayed by Kaiser William II of Germany after he hears of the event, and e begins to send limited aid to the Tsarists, saying “the Tsarists are one of two evils, and the Tsarists are the lesser”.

March: The Tsarists secure Siberia, and begin to battle with the remaining portions of the Junta Faction, which hold out in central Siberia for the next few months. Operation Ukraine continues.

April: Operation Ukraine continues.

May: On May 3rd, Operation Hichler is launched by the Tsarists, and soon after it is announced Tsarist troops cross into the remaining pockets of Republican territory, securing the rest of Kazakhstan and the Asian Steppe from their control, leaving only two pockets of Republican land left, the Ural mountains area and the Russian Heartland, both of which were not attacked in Operation Hichler, as the main targets were more sympathetic to the Republican cause.

June: On June 2nd, Operation Spearhead is launched, with the two remaining Republican pockets being massively attacked by Tsarist troops, and soon the Ural Mountains pocket is taken by the Tsarists, while the Russian Heartland proves more difficult to tackle, and full fledged battles between Republican and Tsarist troops lead to the death of over 45,000 people and the injuring of thousands more than that. When the Tsarists finally show their true colors and launch Total War against the Republicans, the world begins to become anti-Tsarist after thousands upon thousands of people begin to die in the bloody campaigns of the Tsarists Armies.

July: With international support coming back to the side of the Republicans, the Tsarists decide to launch one final assault and try to defeat the Republicans once and for all: a drive on Moscow, the Republican capital. After the attack is launched, it begins to fail from the start after mined roads and fields begin to tear out thousands of troops from the Tsars Armies, reducing the Main invasion force from 45,000 to fewer than 27,000 men. Tsar Nicholas II himself is killed in the march, and his son, who assumes the title of Tsar Otto I, and not having his eyes set on ruling a ruined, destroyed nation, offers a ceasefire to the Republicans to try and negotiate a peace settlement that will both unite Russia and keep himself on the throne.

August: One year after the Civil War began between Tsarist and Republican Forces, Tsar Otto I and Republican leader Leon Trotsky sign the Treaty of Geneva, which has the following main points:

 1.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      A Constitution shall be written for the Russian Empire, but Otto I will remain the Tsar as a Constitutional Monarch.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"> 2.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      Leon Trotsky will be named Prime Minister of the New Russian Empire after the Constitution is written up and signed by both sides.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"> 3.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      Tsarist and Republican lands shall be re-united under the banner of the Russian Empire.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 1.0in;"> 4.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      All Tsarist and Republican Armies will be disbanded.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">September: Delegate from both the Tsarist and Republican factions meet in Moscow to draft the new constitution, and several delegates begin to organize the Convention into a working body.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">October: The final draft of the Constitution of the Russian Empire is written and signed by both sides, with Otto I and Trotsky signing the document side by side, and it has the following main points:

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.25in;"> 1.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      A Duma will be elected by the people of Russia to represent them. The Duma will have the power to enforce and create legislation.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.25in;"> 2.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      The Prime Minster will take the place of the Executive branch although he is appointed by the Tsar.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.25in;"> 3.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      The Tsar will have the power to call up the Army, but not to declare war.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.25in;"> 4.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      The Duma CANNOT be disbanded by the Tsar, it may only be disbanded if the Prime Minster and Tsar agree, and only then in a national emergency.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1.25in; text-indent: -0.25in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.25in;"> 5.<span style="font: 7pt/normal "Times New Roman"; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">      The Duma may not impeach the Prime Minster, but must approve the Prime Minster by a 3/5’s majority before he may take office.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">November: The First Duma is elected by the people of Russia, and it approves Leon Trotsky as Russia’s first Prime Minster. Trotsky immediately begins to propose reforms on the faltering and war torn economy, introducing many Socialist bills to the Duma, and many of these are passed as the economy needs fixing. Tsar Otto I watches in shock the surrender of Germany to the Allied Powers and the collapse of Austria-Hungary. Wanting land and seeing that the Ottoman Empire is on the brink of collapse as well, he orders the Russian Army to secure the southern portion of the Caucuses Mountains and parts of northern Persia, OTL Turkey, and parts of Northern Iraq. The Duma agrees to annex these lands, and Trotsky sings the bill annexing them into law.

<p style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in;">December: Trotsky’s new legislation begins to take effect, and the Russian economy begins to slowly improve.