Chapter 59: Entering the Russian Civil War
Tsar Nicholas the II stood in his palace gazing out the windows which displayed a vision of his palace gardens, and the city of Saint Petersburg below. The Winter Palace was the official residence of the house of Romanov and had been since 1732. It was a large and luxurious estate, the type that only the wealth of an entire empire could afford to build.
You see the thing was, the Great European monarchs of the early modern era had built multiple palaces for themselves, each one of which was so grand in size, scale, and opulence that the world's wealthy merchant elite of the 21st century could only gaze upon them with envy as their meager fortunes could not possibly construct such an abode for themselves. And from Bruno's perspective, or at least during that of his past life, when he went by the name of Karl. The world would never see such a grand display of architectural achievement ever again. But the year was 1904, and winter was vastly approaching. It was because of the era that the house of Romanov thought nothing of how grand their estates were.
It was perhaps because the Tsar took his wealth for granted, while his people lived in a state of relative destitution that things had progressed as far as they had with the ongoing Bolshevik revolution. One which was starting to spiral into a full scale civil war.
A month had passed since the Kaiser first announced the formation of the German volunteer force knowns as the Iron Brigade. And according to the most recent reports from the Tsar's generals, the so called "Red Army" had nearly tripled in size. Previously being 100,000 men strong, they now had more than a quarter of a million forces at their disposal.
Defections from the Tsar's army had not helped the matter. And these ragtag Marxists were now gaining valuable training from the veterans of the Russo-Japanese War, which had only concluded a few months prior.
With all of this in mind, the Tsar was starting to consider the idea of abandoning his family's home, the estate which had housed them for multiple generations. And instead of fleeing further east to a city where Bolshevik activity was less intense.
Meanwhile, one of the Tsar's generals approached him, the man went by the name of Anatoly Mikhaylovich Stessel, and he was the man now in charge of the Russian Army, after the previous General in charge had been removed from his post, what with being held responsible for Russia's defeat in Manchuria.
Anatoly Stessel was a man of German descent. And it was perhaps because of this that he was slightly more sympathetic to the German Reich than other Russian Military Leaders. But at the moment, he had a rather ugly expression on his face as he announced the latest news to the Tsar.
"Your Majesty, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. But the Red Army has amassed 50,000 men who are marching to Saint Petersburg as we speak. They plan to encircle the city and besiege
it.