The sudden collapse of the Romanov dynasty, which had ruled Russia for 304 years, naturally shocked the whole world. You must know that Tsarist Russia is different from the Manchu Dynasty in China, firstly, the influence of the Manchu Qing is not as great as that of Russia, and secondly, the Manchu Qing are a minority in China, not to mention that there is a Han nationality that occupies the vast majority. In addition, for many years, the Manchu Qing Dynasty lost power and humiliated the country, and there was nothing worthy of praise from the world, saying that the Manchus would perish twenty years ahead of schedule, and it was already a miracle that it could survive until 1911.

However, even if Russia's influence is great, the most important thing at the moment is the European war.

Especially after the Germans quietly transferred a group of troops from the Eastern Front to the Western Front and the Italian Front, the world's attention was taken back from Russia.

In the same way, Britain and France and other Entente countries began to exert pressure on the Russian provisional political axe, demanding that Russia launch a new offensive on the Eastern Front, and had fulfilled the responsibilities of Tsarist Russia.

The Russian Provisional Governor was under pressure from Britain and France, and although there was still chaos everywhere, they appointed Alexander on May 16. Kerensky was the Minister of the Army. An attempt was made to launch an offensive on the Galician front, and this operation was commanded by the Chief of Staff of the Russian Army, Brusilov.

On July 1, 1917, Kerensky and Brusilov commanded a small number of Russian troops that were still capable of fighting to attack Lemberg. The 11th and 7th Russian armies broke through the defenses of the mixed Southern Corps (consisting of 4 German, 3 Austrian and 1 Turkish divisions) commanded by the German Count F von Botmer, advancing about 48 kilometers on a 160-kilometer-wide front. At the northern end of the Russian army, the Austrian 2nd Army came under heavy attack. At the southern end of the Russian army, the Russian Eighth Army Corps, commanded by General L. Kornilov, shook the defenses of the Austrian Third Army and, on June 5, threatened the oil-producing Drogobech. However, with the strengthening of German resistance and the suspension of the Russian army's logistical supply, the fighting enthusiasm and discipline of the Russian army declined sharply.

On July 19, 1917, the Germans began a counterattack, and General M Hoffmann, who was in command of the Eastern Front, soon received reinforcements from the Western Front. After extremely heavy artillery preparations, the Germans attacked. The Germans first attacked the northern flank of the Russian army, and then at great speed, they successively attacked the Russian army, which had lost its fighting spirit and was already in disarray. The Russian army was completely disintegrated. In the area south of the Pripet (Polesye) swamp, the Russian army no longer exists. The Germans halted their advance on the Galician border, as they lacked sufficient reserves and logistical supplies to occupy a larger area.

On September 1, 1917, General O. von Hutier's Riga offensive commanded the German Eighth Army to attack the northern end of the Russian front. He threatened Riga with a diversionary attack on the west bank of the Dvina. At the same time, 3 German divisions crossed the river by pontoon bridges and surrounded the fortress, while at the same time, the troops developing the offensive advanced rapidly to the east.

In fact, this resounding attack was nothing more than a dress rehearsal for the new German offensive tactics - which were applied again in Caporetto six weeks later. The long pre-artillery preparation had been omitted in favor of short, intense concentrated fire, followed by an immediate attack by the infantry. Artillery and troops entered the offensive positions at the last moment as far as possible to ensure that the sudden surname was reached.

Dense gas and smoke bombs are applied to known enemy defense points to achieve shielding, while infiltration forces consisting of infantry and light artillery overtake the enemy at the point defenses. This was the first application of what came to be known as the "Huthiel tactic" (i.e., assault group tactic). The Russian Twentieth Army fell into a panic and fled eastward. The Germans captured only 9,000 prisoners, with minimal casualties on both sides. At the same time, a small amphibious expeditionary force occupied the islands of Auxer and in the Gulf of Riga and landed on the Russian mainland.

By this time, because of the successive fiascos on the front, it was clear that there was not much left of the life of the temporary political axe, and it was true.

After a crushing defeat on the battlefield, Kerensky fled from Petrograd to Moscow after becoming the leader of the Provisional Axe on 20 July, and the Bolsheviks began to take power. On September 9 and 14, Kornilov unleashed a storm of counter-revolution, but it quickly subsided.

At 9 p.m. on October 25, the Julian calendar (November 7 in the Gregorian calendar), Lenin, despite the opposition of the Bolshevik moderates, led the Red Guards, soldiers, and the populace to surround the Winter Palace, the site of the Provisional Political Axe, and occupied it at 2 a.m. the following day.

According to later official Soviet propaganda, the soldiers who had successfully revolted on the cruiser Aurora shelled the Winter Palace with artillery that night, and a fierce armed clash broke out in the Winter Palace. However, according to the intelligence of the Military Intelligence Service and research data after the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was no armed clash in the vicinity of the Winter Palace that night, and only one women's battalion and one non-commissioned officer battalion guarded the Winter Palace, which quickly surrendered under the onslaught of the crowd.

And it was the head of the defense of the Winter Palace at that time, Parichinsky, who himself opened the gates of the Winter Palace and took them to the place where the Provisional Ministers of Political Axes were meeting. And the cruiser Aurora is undergoing overhauls, without loading and without personnel. Beryshev, the commissar of the Aurora, who was temporarily appointed, fired only a few empty rounds (without warheads) at the Hermitage. On the night of the uprising, the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee issued a "Circular on the Overthrow of the Provisional Political Axe", stating that the uprising "was victorious without shedding a single drop of blood." ”

When the Bolsheviks came to power, they proclaimed the formation of the "Workers' and Peasants' Provisional Political Axe". It calls for the immediate holding of elections for the Constituent Assembly, and calls for the elimination of the liberal minority constitutional party and the establishment of an all-socialist political axe. Despite the resentment of the parties at the Bolsheviks' forcible seizure of power, most leftist parties, such as the Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Mensheviks, chose to accept the demand for immediate elections to the Constituent Assembly because of their long-standing quest for constitutional rules. The liberal-leaning Constitutionalism was suppressed by the Bolsheviks.

And these are the most famous "October Revolutions" in history...―――――――――― if the collapse of the Romanov dynasty and the establishment of the new provisional political axe are still under the permission of Britain, France, the United States and Germany, then a complete [***] country is absolutely intolerable to them―――――― although the new political axe is actually a socialist country, and the Soviet Union will have to wait a while to be established, but in the eyes of Britain and France this is a [***] country.

As Churchill once said, "the Bolsheviks must be strangled in the cradle." ”

Of course, until this time, Britain and France still did not make much of a move, because the most important thing for Britain and France at the moment was the European war, and what happened in Russia was not the most anxious. In the eyes of Britain and France, it is enough to wait until the end of the European war to settle accounts after the autumn.

In the eyes of Britain and France, although until now, no major country in the world has recognized the legitimate surname of the Russian New Deal, but the Russian New Deal Axe obviously did not dare to defy the world's condemnation and the armistice with Germany.

It's just that what people didn't expect is... After the victory of the October Revolution in Russia, because Russia was at war with the Allies because it was originally on the side of the Entente, in order to withdraw from the war, the newly established Soviet Russian political axe entered into peace negotiations with the Allied Germany after the peace proposal put forward by the Allied Powers was rejected by the Allied Powers.

On December 3, 1917, negotiations began, and Germany put forward the harsh conditions of ceding all parts of Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, and parts of Latvia and Belarus to Germany and paying reparations of 3 billion rubles, which caused serious divisions within the Bolshevik Party.

Lenin advocated accepting Germany's conditions and signing a peace treaty to gain a respite for the nascent regime, Zinoviev, Sokolnikoff, Stalin, Artem, Stasova, and Sverdlov supported Lenin, and the "leftists" represented by Bukharin opposed the signing of the peace treaty and advocated the continuation of the world war against imperialism, and the Central Committee members Bubnov, Uritzky, and Lomov supported Bukharin. Trotsky, on the other hand, advocated an armistice and demobilization of the army, but did not sign a contract with Germany (i.e., no war or peace), and the Central Committee members Krestinsky, Dzerzhinsky, and Viet Fei supported Trotsky.

On January 2, 1918, the Soviet Russian government held a meeting of the central and local leaders. Of the 60 people present, 32 were in favor of Bukharin's ideas, 16 were in favor of Trotsky's ideas, and only 15 were in favor of Lenin's ideas. In the end, Lenin's proposition was not adopted because it was in the minority.

On January 24, 1918, the Soviet Russian government held a meeting of the Central Committee to re-vote on the issue of signing the agreement. Trotsky's proposition was adopted by a majority of 9 votes to 7, and Lenin's proposition remained unaccepted by the majority.

On January 30, the Brest negotiations resumed. As People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs (i.e. Minister of Foreign Affairs) and head of the negotiating delegation, Trotsky agreed with Lenin before his departure that if Germany gave an ultimatum, he would make concessions and sign a contract. As a result, Germany really issued an ultimatum to Soviet Russia, and Trotsky sent a telegram to Lenin asking for countermeasures, and Lenin immediately replied and insisted: "Accept Germany's conditions and sign the agreement immediately." But Trotsky did not accept Lenin's suggestion, but issued a statement refusing to sign the contract, leading a delegation to leave Brest. As a result, Germany began a major offensive against Soviet Russia.

On February 18, an emergency meeting of the Central Committee of Soviet Russia was held under a very urgent situation. At the meeting, Lenin's proposal was again rejected by a vote of 6:7. Subsequently, the Central Committee held a meeting overnight, and after a fierce debate, Trotsky switched to Lenin's support, and Lenin's proposal was adopted by a vote of 7 in favor, 5 against and 1 abstention. The Soviet Russian political axe informed the German side overnight that it agreed to sign the agreement.

However, the Germans did not stop the offensive after being notified, and on 23 February they put forward even harsher conditions. The Central Committee of the Russian Party convened an emergency meeting attended by 15 members. At the meeting, the majority of the members expressed their disapproval of Lenin's ideas. Lenin had to suggest that if this talk continued, he would resign and quit the political axe and the Central Committee. Bukharin did not care about this, and Stalin did not waver.

Trotsky did not agree with Lenin, but in order to prevent Lenin's resignation and the split of the party, his attitude changed. Under his influence, there were 4 abstentions. As a result, Lenin's proposal was adopted by 7 votes in favor, 4 abstentions, and 4 against. It was again adopted by a majority of 116:85 (26 abstentions) at the Central Executive Committee of the Soviets. Trotsky was dismissed from his post as People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs and replaced by Georgi? Chicherin took over.

On February 24, the Soviet Russian government re-sent a negotiating delegation to negotiate with Germany.

It was not until March 3 that the newly established Soviet Russian political axe finally signed an armistice agreement with Germany, that is, the "Brest-Litovsk Treaty".

―――――――――― the matter of negotiations between the Russians and the Germans was generally a relatively secret matter, after all, at least so far Russia was a member of the Entente, and the most important task of being a member of the Entente was to declare war on Germany.

If Britain and France had known that Russia had secretly ceased war with Russia, then British and French retaliation would follow.

What's more, in April 17, the United States had just declared war on Germany, and if Russia was exposed at this time, then Britain, France, China, the United States and other countries would definitely not give up.

You know, it is precisely because of the existence of Russia that Germany has always had an extremely large number of troops to be pinned down on the Eastern Front. If Russia strikes suddenly, and Germany throws all its forces on the Eastern Front, then it will be Britain and France who will suffer... It's just that although the actions of the Russians and Germans are quite secretive, this is not a trivial matter after all, and Yan Guang's military intelligence has been operating in Russia for many years. Especially in the past few years, when the Russian Bolsheviks were funded, there were also many internal lines, so the Russians had just negotiated with Germany, and Yan Guang already knew about it.

However, after knowing about this matter, Yan Guang did not deliberately make a statement, but after sharing the secret with several core people within the political axe, he sealed the secret.

Of course, at the same time as the sealing, a series of orders were also issued by Yanjing.

And throughout the country, new mobilization orders have been issued, according to which at least 200,000 troops, that is, the strength of two group armies, will be mobilized in the southwest and south China. In the Northeast, Northwest, Central China and East China, each region will mobilize at least 30,000 troops, that is, an army... At the same time, the Shenyang Military Region in the northeast and the Yanjing Military Region in North China have each entered a state of combat readiness, and a group army in the northwest is ready to enter Central Asia at any time.

At the same time as these forces, there is also the already relatively powerful Chinese Navy.

During the period of the European War, because the Chinese Navy has never encountered any major wars, or has not participated in any naval battles at all, the strength of the Navy has always grown rapidly.

Especially some time ago, after three Baxia-class battleships and three Jianwei-class battlecruisers were launched into service one after another, although the Chinese Navy was criticized by many people as the new "Beiyang Naval Division" because it did not have any actual combat achievements.

However, the three Baxia-class battleships with 12 380mml50 naval guns, and the Jianwei-class battlecruisers with 8 356mml45 naval guns, are still not something anyone can underestimate.

In particular, although the two classes of battleships and cruisers of the two classes are still superior to any of the existing first-class battleships in the book, although they are still stable in terms of naval strength, and the three new warships of the lower class and the three Jairbour-class ships in China's new service have not yet experienced actual combat.

Especially in terms of the caliber of the main gun, the 380mm main gun is definitely better than the maximum caliber of 356mm of the current warship. Therefore, although he did not say anything about it, he was extremely jealous of the Chinese Navy in his heart, and he had been looking forward to the commissioning of the Nagato-class battleships.

It's a pity that because of the failure of the Shandong Campaign, the current financial situation is quite miserable. Although the Nagato-class battleships have always been the top financial priority, according to the estimates of the Admiralty and the Military Intelligence Bureau, if the Nagato-class battleships that have just started construction want to be launched, it will definitely not be earlier than 1919... Therefore, at least in East Asia, the most advanced battleships at present are still China's hegemonic class.

In this regard, even those British who had visited the naval base had to nod their heads and admit it. Moreover, after a practical investigation of the three battleships, the British even had the idea of instigating the Chinese navy to go to Europe, but this idea was rejected by Yan Guang as soon as it arose.

It's not that Yan Guang is reluctant, after all, the chicks also have to go through wind and rain, and now the Chinese Navy ships have it, but they have always lacked actual combat experience.

The question is... Yan Guang kept these capital ships that had just been in service for a short time, but they were very useful... And this "great use" definitely involves China's national fortunes in the next few decades... This "great use" is that after the signing of the "Brest-Litovsk Treaty" between the Soviet Union and Germany, there were three battleships and three battle cruisers, plus more than a dozen cruisers of the first and second ranks, escorting a huge landing force to carry out offensive operations against Russia's Vladivostok... Vladivostok, that's Yan Guang's dream place... In fact, as early as when the naval strength had not yet grown, Yan Guang also thought that with the help of the navies of Britain, France, the United States, and other countries, he would carry out a landing battle against Vladivostok and take Vladivostok, Russia's largest port in the Far East, in one fell swoop.

However, Britain, France and the United States don't mention it for the time being, it is really not reassuring to say that my participation is really a reassuring thing, not to mention this kind of thing of seeking skin with the tiger―――――― to say that I have no idea about Vladivostok, I really don't believe it when I kill Yan Guang.

And now, since its own navy has become a little climatic, it is natural to use its own navy.

Anyway, the current Vladivostok is already riddled with a lot of troubles because of the collapse of the Romanov Dynasty, even if Vladivostok is built by the Russians, Yan Guang is sure to take it... The only thing that remains to wait now is the day when the "Brest-Litovsk Treaty" is published ...

(To be continued)