The Rise of the Third Reich

In early January 1918, calm seemed to have returned to Petersburg. Different from the long-delayed Brest-Litovsk peace talks in history, with Hirschmann's butterfly wings desperately waving, Comrade Trotsky signed his name on the "degrading and humiliating" treaty at the end of December 1917. .

Russia lost Poland, Lithuania, Courland, Livland, Estonia, and Livonia, and ceded almost 260,000 square kilometers! At the same time, Ukraine also achieved “extensive national territorial autonomy” and more or less “approximate national independence.”

The situation of the Ukrainian People's Republic (composed of nine former Russian provinces and the Kuban region, proclaimed on December 27, 1917, but is not an independent country, nor does it mean to break away from Russia), at first glance looks similar to the August Revolution Former Russia - there were two governments, the Central Rada, which was similar to the Provisional Government, and the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

The Central Rada is run by the Ukrainian Social Democratic Labor Party and the Ukrainian Social Revolutionary Party - these two parties are not branches of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (the party before the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks split) and the Russian Social Revolutionary Party. Their political views are almost identical to those of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (Mensheviks) and the Russian Socialist Revolutionary Party, but they have obvious differences on the Ukrainian issue.

The Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies in Ukraine was controlled by the Bolsheviks, but the Soviet in Ukraine was not as powerful as the Soviet in Russia. The Central Rada has the support of the vast majority of Ukrainian farmers and some workers, and also has the loyalty of many former Tsarist Russian troops (mainly Ukrainian Cossacks).

The power of the Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies in Ukraine was limited to a few industrial cities. Before the August Revolution, they established a certain number of Red Guards. But when the Bolsheviks captured Petersburg, they suffered a defeat in Ukraine - the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government in Ukraine, and then the Central Rada defeated the Bolshevik troops.

However, Ukraine's Central Rada has no intention of making Ukraine independent - the Ukrainians have a strange idea, not to break away from Russia but to transform Russia. The Central Rada wanted to transform Russia into a federation of equality and freedom for all nationalities. Therefore, negotiations were launched with Petersburg, but Lenin did not dare to use force for the time being because of Germany and Austria-Hungary's support for the Ukrainian Central Rada. Therefore, the Ukrainian region still maintains tense peace.

As for the situation in Finland, it was the opposite of Ukraine, and certainly beyond the expectations of Hersmann and other Germans.

Although under the influence of Hersmann, Germany did not entangle with the Bolsheviks on the Finnish issue. However, Finland still achieved independence. Finland was not a province of Tsarist Russia (this is obviously different from Ukraine), but a country with the Tsar as its monarch. After Nicholas II was overthrown, the Finnish Parliament assumed the power to govern the country. After the August Revolution, the Finnish Parliament declared independence (by adopting the Constitution of an Independent Republic). The Bolshevik government led by Lenin recognized Finland's independence 25 days after Finland declared its independence. Subsequently, Germany, Sweden, France, Norway, Denmark and other countries also recognized Finland's independence.

But the matter did not end there. While Lenin recognized Finland's independence, he also supported a Finnish Central Revolutionary Committee that aimed to overthrow the government and replace it with a Marxist "new order"! By the end of 1917, signs of civil war had appeared in the newly born Republic of Finland! The Red Guards controlled by the Central Revolutionary Committee and the government troops organized by General Mannerheim have both sharpened their knives.

However, the tense peace in Ukraine and the eve of civil war in Finland did not affect Russia. After the successful conclusion of the Brest-Litovsk negotiations, the demobilization of the army and the upcoming Constituent Assembly seemed to have become the entirety of Russian political life.

…

The Europa Hotel on Nevsky Prospekt is the Russian headquarters of the Russian-German Economic Promotion Company. The entire fourth floor of the hotel was bought by this company with a very large business at a very low price, making it a place where no one can disturb them. There was even a telegraph antenna set up on the roof of the hotel - used to keep in touch with the "head office" in Germany!

The Europa Hotel is probably the best hotel in Petrograd. The decoration of the front lobby is more exquisite than the most upscale luxury hotels in Berlin. The wide brown and white marble stairs extend all the way to the entrance, and you can see gold-plated or gold-filled decorations everywhere.

Ms. Chloe von Heinsberg, the accountant of the Russian-German Economic Promotion Company, got out of a Mercedes-Benz car, carrying a beautifully crafted handbag and wearing a mink coat that shone like satin. , quickly walked towards the hotel door. The doorman who had been waiting there for a long time opened the large glass door for her and said in fluent German: "Madam, please come in."

Ms. Heinsberg, who had always been generous in the past, seemed to be preoccupied today for some unknown reason. She neither responded with a charming smile nor took out a ten-kopeck silver coin as a tip. Instead, he frowned and trotted all the way into the elevator that went straight to the fourth floor.

The elevator quickly took her to a dimly lit corridor with soft carpets on the floor and expensive wood on the walls. This is the fourth floor of the Europa Hotel. There are a total of thirty rooms, arranged in a zigzag shape - the second to fourth floors of the Europa Hotel are in a zigzag shape with a hollow layout - Hersman, Chloe, Ettel, Stockhausen and others have their own rooms here. Most of the remaining rooms are used as offices, and a few are used by "company employees" who come to Petrograd temporarily to work. Coming to Petersburg from Berlin during this time was Hersmann's friend Major Kesselring, who was the company's deputy manager in charge of arms trade. Now he was in Manager Herschmann's office, smoking his pipe and talking to Herschmann.

"As of the end of December, we have provided more than 800 artillery pieces to Petersburg, including 1 mountain gun, 1 mountain gun, 1 cannon and 1 field gun, as well as some older models of artillery. They are all models captured from the Russian army over the years. , each cannon comes with at least 200 shells... These artillery can equip at least 20 artillery regiments and can provide fire support for hundreds of thousands of troops. Ludwig, I wonder if this means that the Bolsheviks plan to arm. An army of hundreds of thousands?"

"There must be more," Hessman, who looked like a millionaire in a well-made suit, shook his head and said with a smile, "They have demobilized hundreds of divisions in the past few months... They have done a great job. Beautiful! While conducting the election of the Constituent Assembly, they kept delaying the meeting; at the same time, they demobilized all the troops left by the tsar (there were also some troops who refused to carry out the order, and they would become the backbone of the White Army) in order to obtain their weapons and ammunition. , soldiers and officers to build their own army. At the same time, they also used food and coal collected from Ukraine and other parts of Russia to exchange for heavy weapons. The Russian Civil War has not yet started, and they are already invincible. "

Kesselring hesitated for a moment and then asked: "So, can you be 100% sure that the Bolsheviks will definitely launch a civil war? If they don't, those who want to fight with us will come back."

He had a basis for saying this because the Bolsheviks lost an election. Although they produced far better results in peace negotiations with Germany than in history. However, the results of the Constituent Assembly election were still unfavorable to the Bolsheviks - in fact, it cannot be said that the Bolsheviks lost. The Bolsheviks won 195 of the total 707 seats (20 more seats than in history). The left-wing social revolution on the side of the Bolsheviks The party won 40 seats. The combined total of the two is 215 seats. The Socialist Revolutionary Party (excluding Left Yi) won 354 seats, more than half! However, considering that the Bolsheviks had only a few thousand party members a few months ago and only held 10% of the seats in the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies, this election was not considered a failure for the Bolsheviks.

But in the Constituent Assembly, the Bolsheviks were still a minority! Theoretically, after the official opening of the Constituent Assembly tomorrow, they will lose power...

When Hersman was about to speak, there was a knock on the office door, and Chloe's voice came from outside: "Ludwig, it's me."

"Please come in."

The door was pushed open, and Chloe, who was panting slightly, came in. She walked quickly to Hessmann, and without even greeting Kesselin, she said quickly and urgently: "Ludwig, Something seems to have happened...The streets are full of soldiers, and Petrograd seems to be under martial law!"

——

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