The Russian Review

[Blooded]

I hope this to become the thread of the many stories I have been working on. Due to time constraints and the quickly upcoming New Year(1915) I will try to outline recent(1914) events here. Detailing them as time permits. For a developing Who's Who and an outline of past historical events see the new posts in the Imperial russian section.



Early 1914: A Military Mission to Japan has led to purchase of many 'landships' with support apparati from our allies. These seem to be much better than our current designs.

Early to Late 1914: The Lena class cruisers leave the Far East for a long 'high speed' endurance voyage to the Baltic.

Early to Mid 1914: Discussion with Foreign Minister about the validity of Imperial Russia's current Treaties. Many of these Treaties are out of date, out of touch with current events and/or expired. Surprisingly little international contact was maintained during Xenias Rule(Her focus primarily being on internal problems). Our Foreign Ambassadors lack of recent experience seems to have left Russia out of the International Community. Few ambassadors are able to gain contact with the higher heads of state of many nations. The rebuffs are distressing.

Mid 1914: The Landships are not nearly as capable as once hoped. These will be transferred along the Trans Siberian Railway to testing grounds just outside of the capital.

Mid 1914: After a year of rule and internal governance, Emperor Andrei has a meeting with his Military Leaders to learn of Russia's War Plans. These are very out of date and will be redrawn to reflect Imperial Russia's decreased Territorial size and diminished Military Power. Assessments of past, current and future threats discussed.

Mid 1914: Lack of Rainfall causes concern and dependance on Ukrainian Harvests. Poor crop production continues although the many of the new Agricultural Reforms and Central Russian farms are finally coming online. The recently rooted peasant farmers show distress and are discouraged.

Mid 1914: Disputes continue with Khazaria over unrecognized borders and influx of Russian peasant farmers claiming land along the many very productive rivers.

Mid 1914: A mission of technical experts and businessmen from Gran Columbia have arrived in the capital after a long cross country journey from meetings they had in Japan.

Mid to Late 1914: Technical Agreements have been procured between Gran Columbia and Russia.

Late 1914: Experiments and testing over the last two years has led to much more efficiency in small high pressure boiler design and new machinery capabilities. The Gran Columbians have shown great interest in these designs.

Late 1914: Russian Landship designs based on the Japanese Landships have been tested in the field. They leave much to be desired.

Late 1914: Meeting of Military Heads. Talk is centered around the ability or lack thereof of a quick Mobilization of Russia's Military reserves. Thoughts are given to testing the support system to see if it may fail in a time of crisis.

Late 1914: Many revolutions in Artillery and Tactics are discussed. The slow progress of issuing the improved weapons and updating the field training of the Infantry leads to heated debate. Agreements are made to look into modernizing the Army to a greater extent. Perhaps additional factories could be allocated to produce modern weaponry.

Late 1914: The navy demands an update to the Baltic Defense Forces. Stating an extreme weakness due to the focus and transfer of many units to the Black Sea and possible confrontations with the ottomans. Additional Coastal Defenses and Capital Vessels required.

Late 1914: Discussions are made over continuing support and aid for the Balkan states. Continuing Atrocities in Ottoman Armenia, and the Balkans bring about heated arguments and few solutions.