Ch.10Anastasia’s Little Ball

# The Soviet Union

The battle for Yekaterinburg had been lost.

Thoroughly and completely defeated by the White Army reactionaries.

Those damn Czechoslovak Legion bastards had finally sided with them.

According to reports from Red Army survivors, the Grand Duchess herself had fought in battle, but how could that be possible?

What mattered was that they had failed to capture Yekaterinburg, which seemed like it should have been an easy target. They couldn’t reclaim it, and it remained in the hands of the White Army reactionaries.

Even more importantly, the Grand Duchess was safe.

“Damn it. This cursed Grand Duchess, that young girl seems determined to interfere with everything we’re trying to do.”

“She’s begun various reforms for the workers. She’s implementing what can be done immediately while promising to enact everything else after the civil war, once the wartime system is lifted.”

“And you believe that?!”

Lenin, growing desperate, finally exploded in rage.

Why? Because the Grand Duchess was already implementing the reforms the Soviet Union had planned, even before the civil war had ended.

These were the very things Lenin himself had intended to do.

That slippery Grand Duchess who had somehow survived was ruining the revolution.

Things had gotten so bad that he was beginning to suspect there might have been some kind of secret deal behind the initial failure to kill the Grand Duchess.

“The Grand Duchess is personally appealing to the people, persuading them, and putting the nobles at the forefront.”

“Do you think that young Grand Duchess came up with this herself? Clearly the nobles are using her as a figurehead to prevent the people from turning against them with these temporary measures.”

“I’ve heard the Grand Duchess personally led the fight against our Red Army.”

“Comrades, let’s be reasonable. She’s just a girl who lived like a hothouse flower. What could she possibly know? The rumors must be exaggerated.”

“Regardless, with the reactionaries joining forces, Yekaterinburg has become more fortified. The Red Army in its current state has no way to break through.”

Looking at the casualties, one might think they were making progress in breaking down the Yekaterinburg wall. But while the Red Army was suffering losses and facing public criticism, more reactionaries were joining Yekaterinburg.

With South Russia now trying to connect with Anastasia, Lenin felt like his feet were on fire.

“Ugh.”

“Moreover, news that we executed the Tsar’s family has already spread throughout Europe. Rumors are circulating that we raped the Empress and Grand Duchess in front of the Tsar and even took our time doing it. Somehow, our plans for continuous revolution have been grossly exaggerated as they spread—”

“And you couldn’t stop this? What have you been doing?”

Lenin’s face turned as red as the Soviet workers’ flag.

At this rate, those imperialist powers might even set aside their war temporarily.

“The people are being seduced by the Grand Duchess’s policies.”

The Soviet Union was beside itself with rage.

The Grand Duchess was implementing the exact same policies they had planned to enact.

Having already labeled the Grand Duchess of Yekaterinburg an enemy of the revolution, they couldn’t simply copy her.

She was claiming that certain reforms were being delayed because of the Bolsheviks, shifting blame and increasing resentment toward the Soviet Union.

The situation was taking a strange turn.

Even Kolchak’s White Army was now joining forces with Yekaterinburg.

If only the Grand Duchess had fled to Vladivostok with her tail between her legs, they could have used that to their advantage. But the Grand Duchess was firmly entrenched in Yekaterinburg.

Whether by choice or force, it was enough to shake the newly established workers’ state from the beginning.

Though the Tsar’s family had been incompetent, the newly born Soviet Union was finding it difficult to topple the mighty oak that was the Romanov Dynasty.

# # #

World War I had taken a dramatically different turn from the original history.

When Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire learned that Lenin, whom they had sent to Russia, had brutally murdered the Tsar’s family, he feared the German Imperial family might suffer the same fate due to the military and Junkers (German nobility) who had botched the war.

Moreover, those Bolsheviks had declared they would turn the great powers red, and who would be first? Surely Germany, which had taken Russian territory, would be their primary target.

With his feet to the fire, Kaiser Wilhelm II even considered the possibility of exile to the Netherlands or England, and conducted secret negotiations with Britain.

“We’ll recognize Britain’s naval supremacy. We’ll never go near a fleet again. Our Kaiser has said he’s even willing to give up claims to Alsace-Lorraine. So let’s stop this terrible war and root out those Reds first.”

“Even so, we’re winning this war, hmm.”

The German envoy sent to London met with British Prime Minister David Lloyd George and conducted negotiations with the utmost humility.

“The British Empire is a monarchy, even with its parliament. Instead of arguing, we’ll hand over the Baltic states and Ukrainian interests to Britain, how about it? Our Kaiser wishes to support the Provisional Government in Yekaterinburg.”

“To convince France, you’ll need to give up colonies as well.”

“We will. Where did this all begin anyway? Wasn’t it those detestable Serbians? Should we all turn red because of them?”

“The Kaiser must be quite desperate. Very well. We don’t want a communist state just across the Channel either.”

There was much debate within Britain.

The anti-German hardliners wanted to crush the German Empire, while the moderates wanted to accept Germany’s concessions of territories and colonial interests, place appropriate restrictions on them, root out the Red plague first, and then monitor Germany’s future actions.

Having seen their former rival in the Great Game turn red, Britain was deeply concerned about the Soviet plans spread by the “reformed” Reds deployed to Europe.

Moreover, as much as there was fear about the Red plague spreading across Europe, communists in various countries who had witnessed the Russian Revolution were beginning to take action.

“No, listen. Those fellows wouldn’t dare try such things in the British Empire!”

“It’s entirely within the realm of possibility! Don’t you see the growing number of socialists in the British Isles? Now that the German Kaiser has humbled himself, we have the upper hand in peace negotiations!”

“What about France?”

“We can share some colonies with them. The urgent matter is extinguishing the revolutionary flames.”

However.

“I’m not afraid of the communists, but poor Anastasia is the only one left. As her uncle, I’d like to help her.”

King George V of the British Empire, who didn’t want to suffer the same fate as his first cousin Nicholas II, supported the moderates, and Britain made a secret agreement with Germany.

Naturally, when France heard that their ally had made a separate agreement with Germany, they were furious.

“Make peace with Germany? Are you talking sense?”

“Are you suggesting we leave those Satanic fellows alone and focus on crushing Germany first? I understand France wants revenge on Germany, but can you handle it if the Red plague spreads after we defeat Germany? And we’re not talking about peace, we’re talking about a ceasefire.”

“Ha, you take us for fools. Do you think we French don’t know that Germany has given all the interests they took from those Reds to Britain?”

It was called a ceasefire, but even now they had turned the tide thanks to America. What if Germany scraped together whatever strength they had left and attacked during the ceasefire?

France, sharing a border with Germany, wanted to crush Germany as much as possible.

Beyond revenge for the Franco-Prussian War, the German army was truly an army born for war.

They had to crush that powerful army when they had the chance.

“Ahem, this is not just about the warring nations. If even the Kaiser is killed by those fellows, the next target of those Satanic creatures might be His Majesty the King of the British Empire. Your country, having already beheaded a king, might not care about such things. But please consider our position. Frankly, without us, France would have been trampled under German boots long ago.”

“You bastards! Then what about America? What does America think?”

“Restricting their military so they can never wage aggressive war again, and setting them up as a bulwark against the Red threat wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

America, too, couldn’t tolerate these barbarians who had murdered the Tsar’s family without trial and had ambitious plans to turn their world red.

It was clear as day that if the war continued, the number of socialists sympathetic to them would grow, not just in Europe but across the Atlantic.

Originally, America had entered the war due to growing anti-German sentiment from German agent provocations, the Lusitania incident, and the Zimmermann Telegram, but President Woodrow Wilson and the American leadership had initially wanted to maintain neutrality.

Now that they had beaten Germany somewhat and established superiority, they couldn’t continue the war with the unstable seed of the Red plague inside.

Moreover, the stories of the Tsar’s family’s execution spread by “reformed” Bolsheviks through Anastasia, and the Soviet ambition to turn the great powers red, gave hope to anti-war activists and socialists, increasing their numbers.

These factors made the Anglo-American forces, who had almost defeated Germany, hesitate.

At this point, with Germany surrendering to this extent, it was right to end it.

With Britain making a separate peace with Germany, America had no reason not to accept Germany’s apology and reparations.

Of course, the opinions of Low Countries like Belgium were meaningless in this process.

“You traitors! Have you forgotten what Germany did in Belgium?”

“That doesn’t seem like something Belgium, so enthusiastic about collecting hands in the Congo, should be saying. Isn’t surviving enough?”

“Someone must take responsibility, so let’s dismantle Austria-Hungary appropriately. We can make Hungary independent and give Bosnia to Serbia. We can give South Tyrol to Italy.”

“Since those Bolsheviks are foaming at the mouth about monarchical imperialist states, even if we tear apart the Austrian Empire, we should maintain the monarchy.”

At this point, Britain’s European strategy changed.

The war was already turning in their favor, and the German Kaiser had finally submitted and recognized British supremacy.

The British Empire had always been the guardian of European balance.

And after this war, another threat—the Red plague—was lurking.

Therefore, Britain chose to maintain the monarchical and imperial titles for Germany, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire, which could be threats to the Red plague.

Of course, they would extract as many reparations as possible.

They also planned to extract as much as possible from the Ottoman Empire while preserving its national debt.

“I absolutely cannot yield on the Ottoman Empire. Absolutely not!”

However, France, foaming at the mouth, wanted to get something out of the Ottoman Empire at least.

The Ottoman Empire was set to be dismantled as in the original history, though it would be maintained as a sultanate.

Thus, the disposition of the Allied powers was concluded.

To put it simply: Germany would be shackled as much as possible; Austria-Hungary, which had caused the war, would be appropriately torn apart while preserving the empire’s national debt; and the Ottoman Empire would be completely dismembered.

“Now, let’s explore ways to support Grand Duchess Anastasia. According to our informants, the Grand Duchess seems to distrust Japan. In this case, using Germany might be a good idea.”

“When the war ends, there will be a lot of surplus materials that we can transfer. Let’s make Germany send all their weapons there so they can’t think about war again.”

Of course, Japan—which had swallowed the Korean Peninsula and was riding high on national pride after participating in the Great War on equal footing with European powers—couldn’t be unaware of these great power movements.

“The Empire of Japan, as an ally of the British Empire, is willing to dispatch troops to Siberia at any time—”

“Ah, that’s fine. We’ll leave enough compensation for Japan in the peace negotiations with Germany, so Japan can rest now.”

Of course, unlike in the original history, with Anastasia becoming the focal point of the White Army and viewing Japanese support negatively, and with Germany supporting Grand Duchess Anastasia, the situation began to flow differently from the original history.

“Ah, such a good opportunity to go to Siberia!”

“Enough with the wars! My son died in the Russo-Japanese War! We got involved in the European war, and now this again?”

“Your ideology is suspicious. Are you a Red? A true imperial subject of the Empire of Japan wouldn’t say such things! This war has brought such prosperity to Japan!”

“What nonsense!”

In Japan, while some lamented missing the opportunity to go to Siberia, Japan was also an empire ruled by an emperor.

Naturally, they had to be sensitive to news of the Tsar’s family’s execution and plans for a red revolution to overthrow empires.

They had to be wary of the Red plague that was slowly spreading internally.

That’s how World War I flowed differently from actual history.