It had been nearly a year and a half since the revolution began, ultimately scaling into a full-blown civil war, before miserably ending in a failed guerilla campaign. The leaders of the Russian revolution, every last one of them, except for Lenin, of course, had been found and executed in the streets.
Not a single trial had been held for them. Meanwhile, the million or so members of the Bolshevik Party and the Red Army had been thoroughly rooted out and destroyed. Those who took up arms against the Tsar and the Russian Empire had miserable ends.
Those who betrayed their comrades and denounced Marxism as a whole had been granted some form of clemency. Though they would never fully be accepted by those who knew they once followed the teachings of Karl Marx.
Speaking of Marxism and all of its derivatives were thoroughly outlawed in the Russian Empire and deemed a form of heresy by the Orthodox Church. Anything related to the subject that did not wholly denounce it was burned in the streets by the Black Hundred and the other loyalists who supported the Tsar.
Any Party which declared any sympathy towards the Marxists was outlawed and disbanded, its members arrested for political extremism and support of the Bolshevik revolution. A similar sentiment began to stir in the German Reich. With the Kaiser being convinced by the German Conservative Party, who were the party of Monarchists, social conservatives, and nobleman to enact similar policies.
And while Germany didn’t go to the same extent as the Russians did following the victory of the Tsar in the civil war, they did outlaw the teaching of Karl Marx’s theories, and any line of thinking derived from his work. They also outlawed any political parties expressing support for socialism, communism, and any other form of political thought, disbanding any that already existed.
Marxism became a form of political extremism that was outlawed throughout Russia, Germany, and Austro-Hungary. Each of which took different approaches to deal with them. As for Russia, the Tsar began to westernize his empire. Forming a proper constitution, that while protecting the rights of the Tsar, allowed for some form of representation of the people, as it became abundantly clear that absolute monarchies were a thing of the past.
The State Duma was enacted, much like it had been in Bruno’s previous life. And suffrage was granted to some degree to all men who were Russian citizens and were over the age of the majority. Much like it existed in the German Reich.
In many ways, the new Constitution of the Russian Empire resembled that of the German Reich, and for the first time in a year and a half, some form of stability spread across the Russian Empire. The Tsar’s power, while limited compared to his previous autocracy, had been retained.
And the result of the Civil War was a new wave of Pro-Tsarist sentiment. But Bruno was not done, one of the names on his list had eluded him. And it was not until the spring of 1906 where he was personally alerted by German Military Intelligence of where this little rat was hiding.
Geneva, of course it was Geneva. The man responsible for the creation of the Soviet Union, and the death of the 61 million plus people that it had killed during its existence, had run back to where he was hiding prior to starting the revolution.
And because of this, Bruno had one last trip to take before officially disbanding the Iron Division and returning to the Fatherland. Or so he thought. Interestingly enough, the Tsar had one last detour for Bruno before he could go back to his family, but Bruno was not yet aware of that. Thus, he took the first train to Geneva while dressed in civilian clothes.
—
News of the changes being held across the world’s foremost imperial powers had reached across the civilized world. With Lenin enjoying a peaceful existence in exile within the nation of Switzerland, currently reading about it while enjoying a nice cup of tea at his favorite local tea shop.
His revolution had failed, his comrades were murdered by the Tsar, or more specifically, his greatest Blood Hound. A man Lenin most hated, a man known by the Marxists of the world by the title of the “Red Scourge.”
If Lenin could meet the man in person, he would personally disembowel him in the most brutal way he could think of! Or so he thought, but as he sat there and enjoyed his tea while reading the news of the Russia’s first constitution being enacted, he could never guess that very man who he hated with every fiber of his being was nearby.
Lenin couldn’t help but scoff at the news of the Tsar, finally decided to share some of his power with the people and make his thoughts aloud for anyone to hear them.
“The bastard finally has been forced to concede some of his power. But it’s not enough. I will not rest until I have personally seen the House of Romanov defeated, and its members buried in the snow of Siberia!”
A slight chuckle emerged from the table behind Lenin. It was brief, but its tone was eerie, as were the words the man spoke. So much so that the hairs on Lenin’s neck stood up, instinctively alerting him to the danger that was very near to him.
“I knew it… I knew you wouldn’t give up… No, you will wait, and watch, and plot until the opportunity arrives for you to start a war once again… Tsk…Tsk…Tsk… You communists, you really will never give up until all of humanity is forced to suffer and die at the hands of your endless utopianism, won’t you?”
The words were spoken to Lenin in perfect Russian. When he spoke his thoughts aloud, he did not think that anyone here in Geneva understood him. He was just about to ask which one of his countrymen had come here to find him when he turned around and looked at the smug face of death, which was staring at him.
Bruno was as recognizable to Lenin as he was to Bruno. After all, his face had been plastered all over the Russian Media and its Tsarist Propaganda. But the man was in civilian clothing. It was far less luxurious than Lenin expected it to be. In fact, if Bruno’s face hadn’t been seared into his memory, Lenin would have been sure he was a local member of the working class.
The look on Lenin’s face as he saw Bruno staring smugly at him while sipping on a cup of tea was so priceless it made Bruno choke on his drink as he broke out into laughter. It was sinister laughter, but laughter, nonetheless. His face became almost sadistically excited as he pointed out why.
“There it is! There’s the look I have been waiting so long to see from you! It’s the look of a rat who has realized it has been caught in my trap and knows its death is very near! It is truly fitting for someone like yourself.
Oh… How I will remember this expression of yours until the day I die! But unlike you, that is not this day! So, Lenin… Do you have anything to say to me before I send you to meet your beloved comrades in hell?”
There were a million questions Lenin wanted from Bruno about why he had gone to such lengths to root him out and destroy him. But only one escaped from his lips, as he was absolutely stupefied by the fact that Bruno was sitting right in front of him, all by his lonesome.
“Why?”
Bruno chuckled and shook his head. He stood up from his seat and left some money on the table to pay for his bill. It was an excessive amount, almost as if he were paying for the mess he was about to make. He then stared at Lenin with a deeply sinister expression, like one would expect when they gazed upon the devil before outright refusing to answer the man’s question.
“That is a question you should ask your comrade Stalin after I send you to meet him in hell!”
After saying this, Bruno pulled his luger out from his coat pocket and fired a round directly into Lenin’s skull. Ending his life then and there in some insignificant tea shop in Geneva. The few patrons who witnessed the murder broke out into panic as Bruno walked out of that tea shop with an emotionless expression on his face.
He had finished his job by killing Lenin. The leaders of the Bolshevik Revolution had all been put to death. Their followers were either jailed, executed, or killed in battle. Marxism was now thoroughly discredited within the Imperial Powers of Europe. And its adherents were effectively recognized as enemies of the crown to be arrested on the spot should they ever reveal their loyalties in public.
The Russian Empire, and the House of Romanov, would live on as the rulers of the Russian people, their authority bestowed unto them by God and God alone. Meanwhile, the Russian Empire had begun to westernize. Not only would its society continue to undergo the process of industrialization, and at a rate far greater than in its past.
But the Tsar’s authority was now limited by Parliament, and the people were represented in a satisfactory way. Bruno’s effects on the Empire were lasting, and his contributions to the Russian Civil War were recognized one last time, as the Tsar presented him with the greatest honor that could be given to a Military Commander.
The Order of Saint George 1st class, and thus it was recognized that Bruno’s contributions to the war effort were significant enough that he was one of the few Russian Field Marshals recognized as having won the war for the House of Romanov.
He would return one last time to Saint Petersburg where he would be granted this most significant of honors, before ultimately disbanding the Iron Division and returning to the German Reich as an active duty Generalleutnant in service of the Kaiser once more.
