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Thanks for the feedback everyone, it's much appreciated. 
Sir Humphrey: No, I haven't read Montefiore's Court of the Red Tsar but I do have it, so I will get around to it soon hopefully. I've been told its an excellent read.
Gjerg Kastrioti: Yes, I am aware that Stalin was not an important figure during the Revolution. I hope I didn't over emphasise his importance in the last update as that was not my intention. I was merely introducing his character, as he will be playing a very important role in the near future.
Ptolemy IV: Thankyou sir! I appreciate your support.
Dhatori: Well it's definately a shaky start for the young Soviet Union. I've been reading a lot about the Russian Revolution of late, and I am amazed that the Bolshevik state survided those very turbulent early years to become a superpower.
Dyadya Sam: Yes, I will be covering the allied invasions of Russia in support of the White Army. However, I won't be going into too much detail, the pre-1936 part of this AAR is simply an overview and introduction to the post -1936 game based part of the AAR.
VILenin: When I first read about Trotsky's unorthodox style of diplomacy it certainly made me laugh. Thanks for support VILenin.
Regent Horthy: Thankyou, more is coming soon I promise!
Sir Humphrey: No, I haven't read Montefiore's Court of the Red Tsar but I do have it, so I will get around to it soon hopefully. I've been told its an excellent read.
Gjerg Kastrioti: Yes, I am aware that Stalin was not an important figure during the Revolution. I hope I didn't over emphasise his importance in the last update as that was not my intention. I was merely introducing his character, as he will be playing a very important role in the near future.
Ptolemy IV: Thankyou sir! I appreciate your support.
Dhatori: Well it's definately a shaky start for the young Soviet Union. I've been reading a lot about the Russian Revolution of late, and I am amazed that the Bolshevik state survided those very turbulent early years to become a superpower.
Dyadya Sam: Yes, I will be covering the allied invasions of Russia in support of the White Army. However, I won't be going into too much detail, the pre-1936 part of this AAR is simply an overview and introduction to the post -1936 game based part of the AAR.
VILenin: When I first read about Trotsky's unorthodox style of diplomacy it certainly made me laugh.
Thanks for support VILenin.Regent Horthy: Thankyou, more is coming soon I promise!
Book II: The Fate of the Revolution
Part I - Civil War
Part I - Civil War
By the autumn of 1918, the Bolsheviks (now known as the Communists) had been in power for little over a year. Lenin had ended the war and had established a single-party dictatorship claiming to be the representative of the workers and peasants of Russia. However, the Communists had failed to impose their authority over the whole country, and their grip on power was weak. The assumption which both Lenin and Trotsky had acknowledged as essential to their hopes of success, the simultaneous outbreak of revolution in Western Europe, particularly in Germany, had proved ill-founded. Instead of receiving assistance from friendly socialist governments, they were confronted with Allied intervention in support of the counter-revolutionary forces in Russia.
The Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic States, occupied by the Germans during the last year of the First World War, asserted their independence and set up their own governments towards the end of 1918. White (that is, anti-red) Russian armies had been formed under the former Tsarist generals Denikin, Yudenich, Wrangel and Admiral Kolchak. During 1918, White Forces, joined by the Czechoslovak Legion, which had been formed from prisoners of war, occupied much of Siberia, the Urals and middle Volga. In the south, General Krasnov’s Cossacks advanced northwards with the aim of joining other White forces at Kazan, cutting the rail connection between Tsaritsyn and Moscow, the capital’s last remaining link with the Caucasus grain supply. By November 1918, the bread ration for workers in Petrograd and Moscow was reduced to once ounce per day. Caucasia itself was divided between rival local regimes, fighting both Whites and Reds, and intermittently with eachother as well.
Towards the end of 1918, to Lenin’s dismay, the Allies intervened on the side of the White forces. The British seized Archangel in the north and Baku in the south. A French force occupied Odessa, and in the Far East a Japanese-American expeditionary force landed at Vladivostok. The early White Army and Allied offensives against the feeble and disorganised Red Army, a “rag tag band of unruly peasants and drunken workers,” were highly successful, and by January 1919, the area controlled by Lenin’s government was reduced to little more than the original fifteenth century Principality of Moscow. In the West, Allied leaders prematurely declared victory. The British Prime Minister, David Lloyd George proclaimed, “the Bolshevik regime is on its deathbed.”
In Western Russia, the Civil War escalated into a war against Poland. The Polish Republic had become a base for White Army operations, and several White Army leaders se up headquarters in the country‘s east, close to the Polish-Russian frontier. As the Lenin’s regime refused to recognise the independence of the fledgling Polish State, Bolshevik forces often violated Polish territory while conducting offensives and raids against the White Army bases and supply depots. Poland, and its ambitious leadership, propelled by an enthusiastic wave of Polish patriotism, declared war on Russia in early 1919. The Polish Army quickly overwhelmed Bolshevik troops and rapidly advanced through much of Byelorussia and western Ukraine. Although Poland had declared war against Russia in retaliation for the continued Bolshevik violation of her territory, it quickly became clear that the Polish government was conducting a war of expansion. Motivated by the heritage of the old Polish-Lithuanian state, once the dominant power of Eastern Europe, and the flourishing of Polish nationalism, the leadership of the Modern Polish state were determined to recover the lost glory of their people at the expense of their former overlord, Russia.
White Army soldiers on parade, Omsk, January 1919
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Lord British said:
Here is an alternative look at Stalins role during the revolution
http://militera.lib.ru/bio/radzinsky_es1/index.html
Also there is an alternative look how Stalins personal traits and childhood affected him. It's in russian so you'll have to use babel fish or something. But it's really worth it. For example, it turns out that Stalin did not take any active part in the revolution because he was in hiding with Lenin, ready to take him out of country in case the revolution fails. So, you can say that Stalin's role was the most important and he actually was one of Lenin's most trusted comrades.They became enemies only when Lenin became paralyzed and was sure to die and Stalin started taking more and more power from him.
EDIT
That move wasnt due to Trotsky being a bad diplomat, but because of the stalling tactic the bolsheviks were using. They were waiting for revolutions to start in Europe (and they did, although much later)Lord British said:
Regent Horthy said:Another splendid update LB!
I second that. Splendid writing Lord British.
Well, I figure if I am going to start reading my first HoI2 AAR, it might as well be yours, Lord British. If this is even half as good as your fascist France tale, then I will enjoy it I know. And I have a feeling it will be evern better.
This start is great in setting up many of the reasons for what I am sure will be a Soviet nation bent on recovering much of what is lost here. Should make for a fascinating read. I look forward to it. Keep it up!
This start is great in setting up many of the reasons for what I am sure will be a Soviet nation bent on recovering much of what is lost here. Should make for a fascinating read. I look forward to it. Keep it up!
Thanks for the kind words everyone.
As some of you may know, I wrote an alternate history AAR for France in the HoI AAR forum. I immensely enjoyed writing and developing that AAR, and I found that I enjoy writing alternate history more than retelling history. Therefore, I have decided to end this historical AAR. However, I would still like to write a Soviet Union AAR, therefore I have begun a new alternate history AAR for the USSR called Under the Scarlet Banner we March which begins in 1936. I hope you all enjoy it.
As some of you may know, I wrote an alternate history AAR for France in the HoI AAR forum. I immensely enjoyed writing and developing that AAR, and I found that I enjoy writing alternate history more than retelling history. Therefore, I have decided to end this historical AAR. However, I would still like to write a Soviet Union AAR, therefore I have begun a new alternate history AAR for the USSR called Under the Scarlet Banner we March which begins in 1936. I hope you all enjoy it.