February 1919, while the influenza epidemic still mildly ravaged the world, the situation in Russia finally exploded, one step ahead of Germany, like a barrel of explosives.
Naturally, there is no need to elaborate on the disputes among the three major powers in Russia, and the direct cause of the explosion of this barrel of explosives was the military equipnt that Nicholas II had exchanged from Australasia.
The Russian capitalist governnt is the real power holder in Russia, the Worker’s Alliance controlled the Moscow region as the local authorities, and Tsar Nicholas II represented the noble forces.
These three major forces have all controlled a considerable part of the military, and in warti, the assets in the governnt-controlled military even reach more than 7 million people.
Of course, the INFLUENZA statistics for the number of soldiers in the Tsarist governnt are also quite exaggerated. According to the actual count of the assets governnt, there are only more than 5 million Russian troops at the front, but this is definitely not a small number.
After the truce, the Russian governnt had reduced the military troops of more than 5 million people drastically.
Frankly speaking, the Russian governnt could not support such a large number of military forces, even with the compensation from Germany.
After a considerable reduction, the military forces controlled by the Russian governnt had only a headcount of more than 1 million, which could also be considered a resumption of the size of the pre-war Tsarist military.
However, this has also led to a problem, that is, the Russian governnt has not properly resettled the soldiers who have been laid off for this part.
War had caused imnse devastation to Russia and had inflicted imnse damage to Russia’s economy.
As a result, the Russian governnt does not have enough jobs for these demobilized soldiers; demobilized soldiers had to return to their old war-field and beco farrs again.
Moreover, a considerable part of these demobilized soldiers lives in Eastern Europe. Their hos have suffered a great deal of destruction, but they have no corresponding compensation.
The Russian governnt only pays a small pension for the disabled and deceased, and the amount of this pension is not even as high as that of soldier salaries.
That’s not the point, the important thing is that a considerable proportion of the soldiers who had participated in World War I for the Russian governnt had not received sufficient salaries and were disbanded by the governnt.
This has resulted in a large number of Russian soldiers being dissatisfied with such treatnt and even a lot of soldiers taking to the streets to explode protests, demanding the governnt provide them with sufficient salaries and compensations.
The contradiction between the governnt and the soldiers had given Nicholas II and the Workers’ Alliance an opportunity.
The two major forces began to crazily absorb these dissatisfied soldiers and waited for the weakest mont in the Russian capitalist governnt to deliver a decisive blow. Stay connected with empire
Soon, the opportunity awaited by Nicholas II and the Worker’s Alliance arrived.
With the outbreak of the influenza epidemic, the Russian governnt was obviously unprepared and hundreds of thousands of deaths occurred within a few months.
However, this is not the most serious issue, as the influenza epidemic had caused a large number of supplies to fail to be transported to the urban areas.
Workers and civilians in the cities were plagued by severe famine and turmoil because of the lack of supplies.
The famine and chaos also further affected the urban order, making it harder for supplies from other regions to enter the cities.
Under the influence of this, the order of Russia was on the verge of collapse.
Although the official Russian statistics show that the number of deaths due to influenza is less than 1 million, the number of starved people has long exceeded 1 million.
Even though the Russian governnt had imported a large amount of grain from Britain, France, and Australasia, it had failed to provide enough manpower to transport it to major cities, placing it in the hands of the starving people.
Unable to obtain food and ergency supplies, the people beca even angrier with the governnt, and more people began to take to the streets to protest, further exacerbating the outbreak of influenza.
Although Nicholas II and the Workers’ Alliance had keenly sensed the arrival of the opportunity, it is clear that they dared not launch any action during the outbreak of influenza.
No matter the success or failure of the action, the influenza epidemic would have caused massive casualties to the people, which could even bring their actions to naught directly.
After all, the reason why the Russian people were dissatisfied with the capitalist governnt was that the capitalist governnt had not guaranteed the rights of soldiers and civilians and was neglectful, causing a large number of casualties to the people.
If Nicholas II and the Workers’ Alliance could not prevent this, they would be no different from the capitalist governnt, and naturally, they would not win the support of the people.
The two major forces were waiting for a more appropriate opportunity, one when the influenza epidemic was not so severe.
By 1919, the influenza outbreak had indeed eased. Although it cannot be said that the second wave of influenza is entirely over, the number of infections in Europe has dropped to less than 1 million, and the number of infections in Russia has not added up to more than 500,000.
Moreover, the majority of the infections at this ti were mild symptoms, indicating that the influenza now was not as deadly.
After careful consideration, Nicholas II decided to take action first and regain power from the capitalist governnt before annihilating the Workers’ Alliance in the Moscow region and rebuilding Russia into the great Tsarist Russia.
Before the action, Nicholas II contacted several generals loyal to royalty and controlled hundreds of thousands of Russian troops through these generals.
These forces would be the guarantee for Nicholas II to regain power, and after regaining power, he planned to rely on the weapons and equipnt from Australasia to quickly expand his army to over 1 million and maintain an absolute suppression of the capitalist governnt and the Workers’ Alliance.
Nicholas II’s fantasy was attractive since the capitalist governnt was no longer popular among the people. He believed that with a wave of his arm, he could win the loyalty of many Russian people.
With hundreds of thousands of Russian troops and a large number of weapons and equipnt, it wouldn’t be too difficult to seize power from the capitalist governnt and successfully eliminate the Workers’ Alliance.
On February 15, 1919, a Russian army made a surprise attack on Saint Petersburg and quickly took control of the governnt headquarters and the Winter Palace.
The people of Saint Petersburg, seeing a repeat of the sa events from two years ago, panicked and returned to their hos, locking their doors and windows in silence.
The Russian capitalist governnt naturally kept this thod of seizing power in mind, always guarding against similar attempts to take their power.
However, the problem was that the governnt’s attitude towards pensions cooled the soldiers’ morale, and the inevitable impact of the influenza epidemic on so soldiers’ families led to a significant decrease in the loyalty of the army stationed outside Saint Petersburg to the capitalist governnt.
Additionally, this attacking army caught the capitalist governnt off guard, and they quickly took control of the governnt and the Winter Palace. Nicholas II regained power.
The news of Nicholas II’s actions soon reached Moscow. The Workers’ Alliance quickly made a decision to expand its territory to Ukraine and the Caucasus, creating a situation of northern and southern divisions with Saint Petersburg.
This was also an inevitable choice, as Saint Petersburg, the political center of Russia, was now under the control of Nicholas II. The difficulty of the Workers’ Alliance seizing Saint Petersburg was no less than occupying the whole of Russia at this mont.
Compared to the heavily guarded Poland and Saint Petersburg in the north, the southern regions of Ukraine and the Caucasus were more suitable for the Workers’ Alliance to grasp.
On February 17th, the Workers’ Alliance launched its action. The Bolshevik Party publicly criticized the governnt for withholding soldiers’ salaries and pensions and accused the governnt of inaction during the influenza outbreak.
To avoid seeming rebellious, the Workers’ Alliance officially declared that it would break away from the rule of the Russian Provisional Governnt, establish Soviet Russia, and set Moscow as its capital.
The Workers’ Alliance announced to all of Russia that it would establish a genuinely fair and just country, bring democratic thoughts to all Russian people, and protect Russians from oppression by all classes.
In addition to its propaganda, the new Soviet state touted the actions of the Workers’ Alliance during the flu outbreak.
It must be praised that the Workers’ Alliance’s control over the Moscow region was quite good.
This led to the establishnt of a reasonably efficient supply distribution system shortly after the outbreak of influenza.
Although it couldn’t prevent a significant number of Moscow residents from being infected with the flu, the centralized distribution system ensured that almost all residents in the Moscow region had enough food, avoiding a severe famine in the area.
Although this couldn’t compare to the fully adequate and free food supply in Australasia, it was still quite excellent compared to the chaos of the Russian governnt’s managent during the flu outbreak.
The achievents of the Workers’ Alliance externally were also widely publicized, becoming a benchmark for the absolute fairness and justice of the new Soviet Russia.
After all, during the flu outbreak, the distribution of supplies among all factions and higher-ups in the Workers’ Alliance was the sa, with no distinction between governnt higher-ups and the ordinary people.
Compared to the luxurious banquets of the Russian governnt’s higher-ups during the flu outbreak, the Workers’ Alliance had indeed achieved fairness and justice.
Although there were still cases of favoritism and exceptions, it generally provided enough food for the people.
Thanks to these relative achievents, the Workers’ Alliance was quite popular in the Moscow area.
Although the Ukrainian region was not so welcoming to the Workers’ Alliance, compared to the larger army of the Workers’ Alliance, the strength of Ukraine didn’t allow them to resist for too long.
By the ti European nations and Arthur received the news, the Workers’ Alliance and Nicholas II had successfully completed the north-south divide, and Russia had changed from a tripartite balance of power to a bipolar confrontation.
As for the Tsarist Russia’s sphere of control, it included the entire Polish region and the Baltic coast, as well as the areas of Eastern Europe north of the Volga River.
The Soviet Russia controlled by the Workers’ Alliance encompassed the southern part of Eastern Europe, including most of Ukraine, south of the Volga River.
Although the Workers’ Alliance’s influence hadn’t reached the west bank of the Dniester River, it was an inevitable developnt.
The Siberian territories outside Eastern Europe were temporarily unaffected by the impact of the bipolar division.
After all, the Russian regions outside Eastern Europe were too desolate to have a decisive effect on the Russian civil war.
Nicholas II and the Workers’ Alliance were both keen to compete against each other. Whoever could control the whole of Eastern Europe would also represent the initiative to rule all of Russia.
Nicholas II, who had experienced a significant setback, also realized the importance of winning the hearts of the people.
As the Workers’ Alliance extensively wooed the civilian class, Nicholas II announced that he would pay compensation to all soldiers who had contributed to World War I. This move imdiately won the favor of many soldiers, who openly hailed "Long live Nicholas II!" in the army.
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