White Russia

The **State of Russia** is a large and powerful nation, stretching from Europe to Asia. It is the biggest and leading national populist nation in the world.

## The Tsarist Monarchy and the start of the Great War

For 300 years, the monarchist Tsars had been ruling the Russian state. With its ups and downs, the Empire had vastly expanded into Eastern Europe, down into the Caucasus and Central Asia and even east into Siberia and gaining a foothold in the Pacific Ocean. By the 1800s however, the Russians would begin to see big societial and political changes which would have a profound impact on the country throughout the 20th century. One such example was the humiliating defeat of the Russians in the Crimean War. In the aftermath of the war it left Russia severely wounded and forced to demilitarize the Black Sea, something which would stick with the Russians for decades onward.

The Russians would find another war to rectify their loss with the Sasun Rebellion, which would transform into the Ottoman Partition. From the very onset of the Sasun Rebellion in Eastern Anatolia, the Russians, hoping to weaken the Ottomans secretly supplied Armenian and Pontic Greek rebels through small ports ans through border towns, but as time went on and as the Russo-Ottoman border was captured by rebel forces, the Russians just directly aided the rebel cause. In 1895, the new Tsar of the Russian Empire, Tsar Nicolas II made the infamous decision to declare war on the crumbling Empire. For another year the Russians would engage in battle after battle with the Ottomans, but found it quite easy to win as the Ottomans were too dire to fight in any intense battle. In 1896, the Ottoman Empire surrendered, and the Treaty of Baku was signed in Russian Azerbaijan. The treaty however, took months and months of negotiations due to almost every country and rebellion having overlapping land claims. The Russians wanted Constantinople for themselves but the Greek delegation was unwilling to recognize Russian claims. Armenians claimed Van, but so did the Kurds. Assyrians claimed the Nineveh Plains but the Kurds regarded it as their ancestral homeland, and many other examples. The Russians were the most influential of the delegation, because of this much of their demands from the war came to fruition. Eastern Anatolia came directly under Russian control, while Assyria and Kurdistan were given independence as autonomous state of the Empire. Although the Russians wouldn't directly take over the Constantinople Straits, the territory of the Marmara Sea would be a new independent and demilitarized state, with Russian and Greek economic and political influence.

The Russian Empire would see a mini golden age from 1894-1905, as the Russian economy became the fastest growing economy in all of Europe. However, the year of 1905 would see an abrupt end to this flourishment. In a surprising move by the Japanese, they attacked the Russians in the Far East, resulting in the First Russo-Japanese War. Russian war prestige would be shattered by the end of the war as the Japanese were able to defeat the Russians. The Japanese were seen as a weak, foreign nation, and so Russia's defeat by the emerging Japanese Empire left a scar on the Russian people, similarly to the Crimean War. With the end of the Russo-Japanese War, support for the Russian regime was at its lowest in decades. Many were also fed up with the current status quo. Any effective reforms had not been seen since the reign of Tsar Alexander II which angered much of the lower peasant Russian population. The same year, riots and strikes broke out across the country side, completely destabilizing the economy. With Nicolas failing to assert control over the Russian population, the violence amped up. This violence became the root cause of 1905 Russian Revolution. After the Revolution, it had become clear something was in need of change, or else Russia might as well collapse. With mounting pressure, Nicolas signed the October Manifesto, giving partial power away from the monarchy to a newly created parliament body known as the Duma.

The Duma was a welcome surprise for the majority of the Russian population, but Nicolas never really let the balance of power shift to what was truly needed for a change in the status quo. The Russian state from then on slugged onward. 1905 was a pivotal yet stressful year for the entire nation, but it was clear that the upper class and the monarchy in general had not learned the lessons of the 1905 Revolution and the strikes, anger, mobs and riots that preceded it.

In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist at the hands of Gavrilo Princip set the course for the Great War. Once Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia had declared partial mobilization in support for the Serbians on July 25th, and on the 30th they declared general countrywide mobilization. After the German Empire gave the Russians an ultimatum to stand down with its support for the Serbians, the Russians refused the ultimatum, leading to the German declaration of war against the Russians.

## The Great War

Just like every state in the Great War, Russia had thought of the war to be a quick military campaign to subdue the growing German Empire and its influence. However, history would prove this to be false. The war would drag on throughout 1914 all the way to 1917. The Russians would suffer defeat after defeat and blow after blow. The most infamous example was when the Russian army was annihilated at the Battle of Tannenberg, and the German army kept pushing the Russians back. In September the Russians retreated from Warsaw, and the takeover of Polish Russia would be the most land the Germans would receive. After the Ottoman Turks were forced into capitulation in 1914, with the Greeks in the war, it left a unified front for the Entente forces who would and could easily supply themselves. The most land the Germans were able to take from the Russians, included all of Poland and small parts of White Ruthenia, the Baltics and Russian Ukraine. The British blockade severely depleted the resources of the Central Powers, and the German Empire seemed to be living on borrowed time.

## First Russian Republic

In 1917, due to great backlash and fear of a Russian collapse in the war, Tsar Nicolas II abdicated, and the aftermath would see the first Russian republic declared in Moscow, becoming its new capital. Although the sudden shift had made the Germans hope the republicans would give up fighting, it didn’t. The republicans knew they had a lot to gain if they defeated Germany, and German time was running out. They began to push the Germans back as Austria collapsed, knowing the failures of Nicolas II with his military command, and several months later, German ultimately surrendered after the Russians were able to capture Danzig in the ferocious Battle of Danzig. This victory caused celebration in Russia, but it was short lived. Russia becoming a republic would only delay, not stop the inevitable collapse of greater Russia. In the following treaties, parts of Germany, including eastern Prussia and Danzig were annexed into the Russian state as well as small parts of Anatolia, while Northern Anatolia became a subject state. This annexation caused displacement of the German peoples, but as a result polish people began to move into the regions that the Germans left. In the years after the war, stability returned for a limited time only.

Exhausted by war, Mustafa Kemal Pasha, rallied the Turks of Anatolia together in a war for independence, fulling overthrowing the regime brought in place by the Entente, and quickly annexing the North Anatolian puppet state of the Russians, beginning a grueling war, known as the War for Anatolia. The Russians and Greeks proved unable to counter Mustafa Kemal, even as Italy joined in the fight against the Turks, leading into all sides signing a new peace treaty in the summer of 1920 in Samsun. Unfortunately for the Russians, they were forced to acquiesce all gains in the Great War, but peace finally came to the region.

Although Russia had successfully won the Great War, even making a somewhat smooth transition from the rule of the Tsars to the Russians Republic. However, Russia was nonetheless severely battered, even though they emerged as a winner of the war. Hundreds of thousands of Russian men, soldiers and civilians alike perished on the front lines. That, combined with the lingering question: "What do we do now?" was prevalent all throughout the country. Russia was obviously still not industrialized, not by any means. Russia's population was also quite inequal, with the vast amounts of the population being poor peasants, while a few people at the top of the Russian class were able to live in luxury. The Republic from the end of the Great War saw its support decrease. Their failure to change the status quo for the better for the majority of the Russian people, as well as failing to implement long lasting policies for Russia's minority population made them quite unpopular, especially in Eastern European lands populated by non-Russians. As it would later show, the stubbornness of the Russian government to appease their agitated population would be their downfall in the mid 1920s.

## 1920s: Russian Communism and Radicalism

It didn’t help that suddenly in 1922 Russia saw the rapid spread of Marxism. Many considered the newly established syndicalist Germany to be the culprit, but it was never proven by Russian diplomats nor government officials. From August to December, pamphlets, writings, and articles were printed in Petrograd pushing the people to rebel, for a new Russian revolution, and for a class war. For those 4 months, Russian authorities slowly tracked down the person responsible for these writings, and traced them to one man: Dmitri Turgenev. On the night of December 12th, his small apartment was raided by police. The man would later be recognized by the authorities days later as Vladimir Lenin, who spent the last 20 years in exile from Russia. After he was identified as Vladimir Lenin, word from the policemen quickly spread across the Empire. The stakes were higher than ever, as Vladimir's trial could result in an uproar from the general population. In Petrograd, protests filled the streets, demanding the release of Vladimir. They knew anything they did would only draw more people to his cause. But on December 16th, a mere 4 days after Lenin’s arrest, his prisoner guard Maxim Ivanov, a staunch anti-communist and supporter of the monarchy assassinated Lenin, as he was the only guard watching him at the moment. While Lenin was sleeping, Maxim drew his personal pistol and shot him cleanly in the head. The shot was heard outside with dozens of protestors outside. Maxim was arrested on the spot by authorities who entered the room where Lenin was being kept, but for the people outside, they heard the gunshot and assumed the worst. They broke into the prison, knowing well what could have happened. The guards controlled the crowd, but inside the prison from a distance Lenin's dead corpse was seen by the protestors, who were now rioters. After seeing his corpse, a deep anger set in on the people who brutally assaulted the guards and police and infiltrated the police station. Backup was called, but it was too late. By the time more units were called into the prison, the rioters fled the seen. From that point onward, the Russian authorities no longer had control over the situation. The following day, Lenin's assassination was the talk of the city, and rumors that the Russian government had any involvement radicalized much of the population, who joined the rioters. As the news broke across the Empire, many leftists and outraged individuals took to the streets from late December of 1922-April of 1923.

For the next 4 months, Russia was plagued with uncontrollable riots across every major Russian city, even as far away as Vladivostok. As these riots were largely disorganized however, Russian units and in some cases even parts of the military who were called in were able to disperse the crowds. Finally, on April 26th, the head of the Russian government Aleksandr Konovalov declared that the last of the riots had been maintained. But the Russian people knew this was only the beginning. Lenin's assassination made him a martyr, and communism cemented its place within the Russian state, unlike across the world as communism had begun fading.

However, communism was not the only radical ideology being tested by the Russian populace. In Ukraine, for example another radical ideology was growing: anarchism. Unlike communism which had become dominant in Russian leftist spaces, leftists in Ukraine became more interested in syndicalism which grew into anarchism. Prominent Ukrainian anarchists such as Mykhailo Drahomanov became popularized, especially an increasingly known yet mysterious man, known as Nestor Makhno. Nestor had for much of his life been a revolutionary activist, and after multiple charges was arrested and sentenced to be hanged in 1910, but it was later reduced to a life sentence in the Butyrskaya prison in Moscow. In February of 1917, as the Russian Revolution went underway Nestor was released from prison where he then left for Ukraine. Wanting to stay away from Russian authorities, he remained secretive, yet also began printing illegal pamphlets and papers, similarly to Lenin encouraging and rallying the Ukrainian population to anarchism. Whether they liked it or not, the Russian Republic was seeing a steady decline. No amount of new policies or reforms could ever change that.

## The Russian Civil War

In June of 1925, Ignacy Daszyński, who was a very prominent Polish nationalist and politician, and had always advocated for Polish independence. He was in Warsaw, scheduled to speak at a large rally by Polish nationalists. Upon arriving, he was greeted by thousands of adoring people, many of which had looked up to him as he gained popularity from around 1918 and onward. 30 minutes later he had been called up to make a speech to the people. Mid-speech however, he was shot 3 times by an unknown assailant, and collapsed on the floor. Fear and panic set upon the crowd, but almost immediately, the man who assassinated Ignacy was spotted, trying to flee. The crowd set upon him and soon caught up and captured him, torturing him for a few minutes before realizing he already died, later revealed to have taken a suicide pill. Many eye witnesses claimed they saw him fire with a Nagant M1895 pistol which was mass produced within the Republic and very popular in Russia. This, coupled with the fact that many other witnesses also claimed he shouted "Love live the Tsar! Down with Poland!" before he was taken by the crowd had most in the crowd convinced this was Russia's doing, ignited a massive riot within Warsaw in the following days, as the adoring crowd soon transformed into a riot across the city. Polish media was quick to blame the Republican government for the assassination, which many had believed, drawing even more Poles to the side of an independent Poland. Incidentally, none of the accusations that the assassin came from the Russian government that were made were true. German spies who infiltrated the Republic were informed of the rally, and knowing the fragile state of the Republic, knew Russia could topple at any small event. The German spy who got wind of the event was specifically given a Russian pistol and, shall he be caught utter the words "Love live the Republic! Down with Poland!" in Russian to even further arouse suspicion, which would work. Without anyone knowing it, the Germans would be the cause of the Russian Civil War of 1925.

As misinformation spread like wildfire, and the riot in Warsaw grew larger, and more and more uprisings spread throughout Russian Poland, the government in Moscow, not wanting to see a new revolution and possible civil war, declared martial law in all provinces within Russian Poland and deployed the military to crush any rioting. Little did the Russians know, in Warsaw a new plan was underway for a proclamation of the independence of Poland. Józef Klemens Piłsudski, similarly to Ignacy was a well known advocate for Polish independence arrived in Warsaw 4 days after the first riots occurred. As the Russian military began to be bogged down by sporadic fighting in the Polish countryside, Józef seized at the opportunity and, perhaps symbolically, delivered the proclamation of the independence of Poland right at the same place Ignacy was assassinated in. Soon, thousands in Warsaw began arming themselves to prepare for the Russian army's incursion. However, the army was already fighting Polish freedom fighters in many other small towns and villages, so few soldiers actually made it to Warsaw. Even if they did, they were too exhausted and undersupplied to fight, and most surrendered in the city. With this in mind, Józef and his militias took the rest of the city within 2 days. Józef, wanting to meet up with the fighters in other areas of Poland, soon instructed his armies to spread out of Warsaw and fight to hopefully link with any pockets of Polish fighters. With the sheer determination of the Polish fighters being so much stronger than the Russian soldiers, many soldiers deserted Poland. Within 1 month, much of Poland was now unified, leading to a unified front of Polish fighters. The Germans across the border lent any military supplies they could sacrifice to strengthen the Polish uprising.

Capitalizing on Russia's humiliating defeats in Polish land, Estonian separatists collectively took control of their country in September, forcing any presence of Russian troops out of their land. As the government scrambled for a solution, knowing full well a collapse might be inevitable, Ukrainian separatists, after fighting a long battle against pro-government forces seized Sevastopol, which was a major Russian port at the time, and is still quite influential in Black Sea Trade. As Russia was still unwilling to grant its minorities independence, violence spread and it couldn't or wouldn't stop. Within the same month, the worst news came to light: communists had taken control of Petrograd. The fragile Russian government, for many years was unable to deal with the spread of communism, and a huge issue and political debate was how Petrograd had become a city most influenced by communist beliefs. The Reds, as they would later be known took up the opportunity to finally ignite the Second Russian Revolution, sometimes still collectively labeled an event of the Civil War, or a separate event on its own.

Regardless, communists had taken control of one of the biggest cities in all of Russia, and they were not about to just stop there. Hearing the sudden news, many communists rose up across the country, mostly in Eastern Russia, similarly to Poland. Throughout all of September and October, the Reds were able to spread itself out across Russian land, alarmingly quickly. On the 2nd of October Moscow fell to communist guerrillas, while on the 29th Tsaritsyn had also fallen into Red hands. With the remaining Russian government, an emergency meeting was declared in Ufa, as White forces were able to recently rebel off Red guerrillas, the first victory of the Whites. In the Congress of Ufa, all Russian generals and the government came together to collectively figure out a strategy at winning this war. Much would have to be sacrificed in the process however. After 1 week of proposals, 2 options came out on top, but only one could be accepted. The first option was known as Operation Kornilov, named after the Russian general Lavr Kornilov. His plan was to strike the communist forces first, then fight against anti-Russian forces. He argued that, shall Russia prioritize fighting anti-Russian separatism, the communists might seize the entire country, leading to the end of the Russian Republic. The second plan was known as Operation Boldyrev, named after the Russian general Vasily Boldyrev who came up with it, who's plan involved striking against insurgents first, then attacking the communists. He felt this was needed, as Ukraine, Poland, White Ruthenia and many other lands were vital to the Russian economy and if they shall be lost, it would be decimating for the country. In the end, with the remaining Russian government and military, they collectively thought of the communists as a bigger threat and because of this, Operation Kornilov was chosen over Operation Boldyrev.

Just 1 month later, Lavr would find his moment to prove that his plan would be a success. After the Ufa Congress, the front along the communist-white Russian border had devolved into a stalemate, and through this stalemate, news had been circulating that the Reds had overstretched and their supply lines couldn't support them so deep into White Russian territory. Kornilov took this moment and capitalized on this weakness. Although Russia was splintering, it was not yet defeated. After the Battle of Tsaritsyn, communist and Kazakh forces successfully sealed off the North Caucasus from the rest of Russia, but Kornilov had a plan. With the remaining forces in the North Caucasus and with Kornilov's forces would punch through enemy lines at the Volga River, reuniting the armies of the North Caucasus with Kornilov's forces. In mid November, his plan went into action, and was surprisingly effective. In a few days, the Battle of Kharabali occurred with a Russian victory, reuniting both the North Caucasus with the rest of the Russian mainland. Kornilov's forces with the remaining forces of the North Caucasus over the next 2 days began capturing land along the Volga River, eventually meeting Red forces in Tsaritsyn for the Second Battle of Tsaritsyn. After 1 week of intense fighting, White forces blocked off the Reds within the city from the rest of their country, starving much of the forces out before surrendering, letting the city fall back into White hands. This would mark the turning point of the communist war on the Republic as the Red army would be forced to retreat as time went on.

In the rest of Russia, the government, generals, and field marshals alike could only watch as the rest of their territory fell into separatist hands. The North Caucasus became a warzone with numerous rebellions from Cossack and Caucasian separatists alike, while Central Asia became a fighting group with Russia quickly forced to retreat from their territory, with similar situations occurring all across the Republic. Only with White Ruthenia did Russia land a victory, after Boldyrev decided to take advantage of a crumbling White Ruthenia and crushed the country with help from the Poles in September of 1926.

In April of 1926 as the Reds had been on the run for the last 5 months, the Whites had managed to chase the Reds all the way to Moscow, beginning the Second Battle of Moscow. From April 19th-20th of May the Second Battle of Moscow raged on. Red forces were given instructions to never law down arms, to fight to the last man. Alas, this method of warfare could not compete with a more proper and well equipped army, and on the 20th of May the Reds either surrendered or fled Moscow, a massive defeat for the revolution.

One reason the Reds were having a lot of trouble was dealing with the Finnish. The Reds in the first days of their revolution quickly captured Finnish territory, including Helsinki without much of a fight. The actual fighting would be pacifying and maintaining the land. The Red army was split into two and was overstretched constantly battling Finnish separatists with the Whites. From May to August the Reds slowly lost land to both sides, and in Petrozavodsk a council was called, similarly to the Congress of Ufa. After 2 days of arguments and discussions, it had been decided that the Reds would need to strike peace with the Finnish in order to make their revolution survive. In secret negotiations with Finland, the Treaty of Joensuu had been signed. Importantly, it gave Finland Murmansk, Karelia and Salla. In exchange a 20 year non-aggression pact had been signed between both sides while Finland would handover any and all prisoners of war, likewise with the Reds. This had forced the Reds to give up a huge fraction of their land, but as a result, they only had to focus on one battle front. And in late August, the Battle for Petrograd had begun.

The Whites had not known about the new reinforcements from the Socialist side and thought the capture of the city would be an easy victory. They new that if Petrograd falls the revolution falls apart. While the first hours of the battle begun, the Red general Ivan Konev, who defected to the socialist side decided to evacuate Petrograd, making the Whites think that the battle had been won. While the socialist forces, combined with the new might of the reinforcements would cut off the army in the city, law siege and eventually retake Petrograd. On August 24th, Petrograd was taken, but Ivan's forces secretly encircled the Whites within Petrograd before White reinforcements came into the city. By that point however it was too late, and the Whites were cut off from any and all supplies. For 1 week, the men in Petrograd slowly starved and on September 1st, Ivan's forces reinvaded Petrograd and quickly retook control of the city. With the city now in total control by the socialists, the encirclement drained some of the White's best remaining forces, and this allowed the Reds to further attack the Whites, even managing to retake Luga. By that point, the White Russian men began to defect and mutiny, refusing to fight any longer. And when multiple generals refused to take their men into battle after the demoralizing Battle for Petrograd, Aleksandr Konovalov had reached out to the leader of the Socialist Republic of Russia, Alexander Bogdanov for peace. Incidently both sides were utterly exhausted and unable to fight another battle, leading to the Ceasefire of Petrograd in October and the Treaty of Petrograd a few months later in 1927. With the Treaty of Petrograd, the exhausting and excruciating Russian Civil War, was finally over.

## An Unsteady Republic, 1927-1930

At the end of the Russian Civil War, elections had been suspended for another term until elections would reopen to the public in 1931 for obvious reasons. The republic had been utterly devastated. The deep water ports of Petrograd, Rostov and Sevastopol were all gone, the fertile Ukrainian lands as well as parts of the Far East had been taken by Japan in 1925 when Japan decided to attack Russia, leading to their defeat in the Second Russo-Japanese War. Much of their food, materials, population and resources were now owned by foreign powers who wanted nothing too with Russia. However, problems would only increase drastically further on. Not even 1 year after the civil war ended, the Great Crash occurred, catapulting Russia's economy into the biggest collapse of the century, as if the civil war did not do enough damage. With the economic collapse, land reforms stalled and some of the most vital economic and agricultural zones of the late Russian Republic, a famine occurred starting in November of 1927 and lasting 4 years. As Russia deteriorated rapidly, much of the world had looked on in dismay. France, Britain, Italy, Persia, Norway, Sweden and even Brazil sent emergency supplies into Russian territory to ease the hunger and famine taking place across the country.

Aleksandr Konovalov who was in charge of Russia for the better part of half a decade enforced new and sudden laws in the republic to help alleviate the food shortage. Much of the countries that sent food also sent men at the behest of Aleksandr who needed working and strong men for rebuilding his country. 1928 was the worst year of the food shortage, but as 1929 approached much of the railways that had been destroyed were now operating again and Konovalov shortly afterward created a new policy known as Khozya Law, which prohibited hoarding of food grown by farmers as well as excessive privatization within Russia's agricultural community. Throughout all of 1929, the famine slowed down as farmers were only allowed to keep as much as they needed, and send the remaining supplies across the country. Konovalov also spent copious amounts of money on Russia's agricultural industry, hoping to increase their yield and efficiency with the rest of the country. By May of 1930, Konovalov in Moscow declared the famine to have officially ended as the famine had died down, almost to the point of it not existing. While the famine had ended, it left over 6 million people dead, depopulating many areas, urban and rural alike. With the end of the famine Russia had become more stable, especially with the emergency fixations on the railways of the country. Despite this, Russia still had a plethora of problems. Many cities were piling up with garbage, the country's industrial output was embarrassing to say the least, and the forced Khozya Law created a rift between Russia peasants and farmers against the remaining Russian population.

Within Russia's population, many had begun to flock to the alt-right and their politics. With the socialist revolution failing to take over all of the motherland, socialism as an ideology failed considerably and after 1927 holds no real power within Russia. Instead, many had begun looking to the past and desiring a more autocratic rule, as many had seen autocratism in Russia as a symbol of the country's once great past. Several parties were formed, but none were as popular as Lavr Kornilov's "Military Party of Russia". Kornilov after 1927 was famous for denouncing the republic and the Duma, and his fiery temper, electric personality and beliefs allowed him to rise to the top and challenge the Republican Party that had been in place since 1921. Lavr knew of the power he held, and used it to his potential, as he secretly held the aspiration of ruling all of Russia by himself.

## The Moscow Coup and the era of Russian National Populism

In 1931, alarming news stunned the world as in February Lavr stormed Moscow in an attempted coup, wanting the Duma and parliament to step down and allow the general to rule Russia alone. Aleksandr Konovalov initially refused to step down, but Lavr saw support almost immediatly. Mounting pressure was put on the government to resign in every major Russian city, and 4 days later Aleksandr decided to agree with Kornilov's demands, forcing the Republican Party and any party opposition to flee the country, while Kornilov was sworn in as the new leader of the motherland.

Kornilov's beliefs were not just that he should rule Russia with an iron fist, but was the textbook definition of National Populist beliefs, believing in Russian racial superiority, anti-semetism, militarism, the supposed "danger" of leftism, and the goal of reuniting the old territories of the Russian Republic before 1925. Since 1931, Kornilov stripped away the Khozya Law and many other laws prohibiting business monopolies, and made many reversals in social political progress. Women, who were given the right to vote in 1922 were stripped from that right, and homosexuality, which was decriminalized the same year had been recriminalized. Education became mandatory for every Russian citizen, while Kornilov created and enforced policies of quick industrialization. Thousands of young men were conscripted en masse to different "camps" across Russia. The conditions of these camps were atrocious to say the least, but thanks to intensive care by Kornilov's government, the true nature of these camps have not seen the light of day. For the past 4 years, Russia has been quickly industrializing thanks to the effectiveness of the men and the camps in general. And yet they still lack behind some major countries in Europe. Needless to say, Russia has a lot of work that needs to be done. With 1936 quickly approaching the country, a new era has befallen the land. For better or for worse, Kornilov's regime has irreparably changed the state of Russia, in some cases for the better. For the first time Russia is industrializing and recently has been rearming themselves. But they must be careful. In the southwest, they have constantly engaged in border wars with the anarchist Makhnovia, and almost all of the time they have lost those wars. The Reds to the northwest are also a threat as they become stronger by the day. And there is always secret opposition forming. If the pieces fall into the right place, what is stopping Kornilov's opposition from seizing back the country, reversing everything he has done?

## Politics

After the Moscow Coup, the political sphere of Russia was dominated by the National Union Party, formed in the aftermath of the Russian Civil War by Kornilov himself. The NUP is a interesting blend of National Syndicalism and National Populism, being inspired by class struggles while enforcing the state to subdue anti-Russian activities.

## Economy

The economy of White Russia has largely adapted to the political situation of the Whites with Kornilov’s successful takeover. Privatized companies were liquidated, with Kornilov believing the best route for the Russian economy included partly nationalizing privately-owned assets, owing to the National Populist principle of “controlled capitalism”. In their place came government-sponsored monopolies, though for the sake of preserving the economy privatized assets belonging to foreign companies or countries weren’t touched. The economy stayed stagnant for a few years, a welcome site in place for the constant drop of the economy, until actual progress was seen as early as 1934 alongside skyrocketing reports of industrialization in various cities.

With the loss of Vladivostok in 1925, Siberian lands have seen a drastic deterioration of overall living conditions without the large city, while the Trans-Siberian railroad is, to Kornilov, the only important thing about current day Siberia, though he hopes to expand the amount of factories, infrastructure and railroads in the foreseeable future.