Russia

Russia is a large country in Eastern Europe and northern Asia. Territorially, it is the largest country on the planet.

Russia in Curious Notions
Russia and its allies Britain and France were defeated by Germany in the brief war of 1914. France and Britain went to war with Germany in the late 1930s, but were again defeated, which cleared the way for Germany to take full control of Europe. Russia, which had been in a perpetual state of civil war since 1914, did not join in that war.

Russia in Southern Victory
Russia was a member of the Entente. Tsar Nicholas II entered the Great War by pledging to protect Serbia when that country refused Austria-Hungary's ultimata relating to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

However, Russia proved poorly prepared for such a war militarily. Although the country did not lack for manpower, it did lack for adequate supplies. Consequently, when Russia clashed with Germany, Russian troops suffered horrendous casualties. The lack of support for the war in Russia combined with German gains forced Russia to lead to the Russian Revolution and the country's withdrawal from the War in 1917. The Kingdoms of Poland and Ukraine were carved out of former Russian territory. Russia's withdrawal presaged the eventual collapse of the Entente war effort.

For the next ten or so years, Russia was embroiled in a bitter civil war between communists and Tsarists. Nicholas was killed early in the revolution. However, the Tsarists won and installed Nicholas's brother Mikhail II on the throne. Mikhail's revanchism was a good match for his Entente allies, as Britain slid towards absolutism, France itself restored its monarchy under Charles XI, and the Confederate States elected Jake Featherston president-for-life. Mikail rejoined the Entente upon consolidating his own power, which included renewed persecution of the Jews. When German Kaiser Wilhelm II died in 1941, Russia joined the Entente in pressing Germany for the return of their lost territory. When the new kaiser, Wilhelm III, refused, Russia followed its allies into the Second Great War.

Despite some initial gains in Poland and Ukraine, where the populations were split in support of Germany and Russia, in 1943 the Germans defeated Russian in the Ukraine. Russian factories and railroads in Petrograd, Minsk, and Smolensk were heavily damaged by German bombers. The remaining Reds from the Russian Civil war adopted the Mormon people bombing tactic against the Tsar's government by 1943.

After the Second Great War, Russia started up a superbomb project, along with her ally, Japan. Germany was unable to stop it. In the United States, Americans viewed Russia with the bomb a huge threat.

It is somewhat ironic that Russia became an ally of the Confederacy. During the War of Secession, Russia was the only major European power to favor the United States. After the war, the United States attempted to buy Alaska from Russia, but the price of $7 million was too high for the U.S.'s depressed economy.

Russian in The Two Georges
The Russian Empire, along with the British Empire and the Franco-Spanish Holy Alliance were the three major powers in the mid-1990s. The Russian Empire bordered on the German States and Austria to the east and spread across Eastern Eruope and Asia north of the Ottoman Empire, India and China to the Pacific Ocean (exluding the Empire of Japan) and included Alaska on the North American continent.

Russia in "Uncle Alf"
Russia made brief territorial gains against Germany in late 1914, but once Germany defeated France, Russia was quickly beaten. In 1916, Germany helped Russia put down a communist revolt.

Note
See Soviet Union for Russia's role in Worldwar, in In the Presence of Mine Enemies and in A World of Difference.