Chapter 217: Massacre at Yerevan
Echoes of gunfire rang throughout the city of Yerevan as the screams of Ottoman soldiers accompanied them throughout the distance. At the outbreak of the Great War, and the Ottoman Empire's entry within it, the Russians had marched with full force into Ottoman Armenia.
Their goal was clear: the liberation of the ancient Christian Kingdom, which had for too long been beneath the oppressive thumb of the Ottoman Caliphate. The Russians had initiated the Caucasus Campaign at the onset of the Great War, and in doing so had marched into the Turkish lands with a fury that few, if anyone, could have anticipated.
Even Bruno would have never guessed just how far-reaching the butterfly effect truly was. In his past life, Russia had more or less always been a backwater power. One that had, for a variety of reasons, always lagged behind the most powerful European nations.
This was true even in the cold war, where the Soviet Union's sole real claim to the status of a global superpower was the fact that they had a nuclear arsenal that could easily destroy the world several times over.
Especially if exchanged with the weapons of mass destruction which the members of NATO hoarded themselves. The nuclear weapons, however, were largely the achievement of captured German scientists who the Soviet Union had seized after the downfall of Germany during the Second World War.
However, as previously mentioned, Bruno had changed things in this world in ways which he never could have understood. As a result of the Russian Civil War beginning over a decade early, and the effectiveness that the Iron Division had against the Red Army during the war. The Russian Empire was completely overhauled over the course of the next decade.
Whether it was the end of the Tsar's autocracy resulting in a constitution far more similar to the one used by the German Reich, or the massive industrialization efforts supported by Germany, Austro-Hungary and, more importantly, Bruno's financial assets.
Or simply the fact that the Field Marshal in charge of Russia's army had learned many lessons from his close friendship with Bruno. The Russian Army had entered the Great War not as some sniveling backwater force, riddled with corruption, incompetency, and lack of proper funding.
Rather, they marched into the Balkans and the Caucasus as the Second greatest Army in the world. Whether it was the individual equipment they utilized, which included a larger number of heavy machine guns, modernized artillery, armored cars, armored trains, and combat aircraft than their rivals on the global stage.
Or just simply the efficiency, and competency of their leadership, from the levels of non- commissioned officers to the highest Staff Officers, to put it simply, Russia had begun to live up to its full potential, which was something it had never truly achieved throughout human history.
This in itself would be a truly terrifying thought to anyone who had provoked the wrath of the bear under such circumstances. And the Ottomans had done just that. Because of this, the Turks were paying the price, centuries long grudges held between them and the Russians were finally being settled, and the consequences of previous hostilities were now being paid in full with blood.