Re: Blood and Iron

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.

Field Marshal Mikhail Alekseyev stood among the scorched ruins of the Ottoman position which his troops had just effortlessly over run. Turkish soldiers were being rounded up and shot in the streets with little regard to the rules of war.

Russia, after all, had always been a nation that had a reputation for disregarding the rules of war, and when fighting against the Turks, they simply pretended as if they were ignorant of such notions. Hague Conventions? Geneva Conventions? How compelling, now line against the wall!

Then again, Field Marshal Mikhail Alekseyev believed he wasn't the only one who disregarded the rules of war when it suited him. Bruno had earned himself a reputation for massacring enemy armies, and the civilians who were caught in the explosion of his fury.

Hence why he had earned himself the nickname "the Red Scourge" during the Russian Civil War, or more recently, "the Butcher of Belgrade." Discover untold stories at m_vl_em_p_yr

If you asked Mikhail what he thought of the situation in Serbia, he would say that he was certain Serbia had most certainly tried to surrender the moment they realized there was no path to victory, and yet Bruno had gassed the city, regardless.

Most likely burying any evidence of the Serbian Government's attempts to surrender as he did so. And if people were not condemning Bruno for the crimes he had rather obviously committed, then how would they dare to condemn him?

Because of this, the Russian Field Marshal flicked the cigarette he had just finished before pulling out his sidearm, which after ensuring a round was properly seated he pointed the muzzle of his pistol towards the head of the Turkish General who was kneeling in front of him, crying and pissing himself in fear as he begged for mercy in his native tongue.

This only further served to aggravate the Russian General who said a statement filled with contempt and disdain not only for the Ottoman General but the Turks as a people altogether.

"I'm sorry, but I don't speak the language of roaches like yourself!"

After saying this, Mikhail pulled the trigger, splattering the Ottoman General's blood and gray matter all over the earth below. After which an echo of several more gunshots, which were fired in unison, crackled throughout the sky like thunder.

The bodies of over two dozen Ottoman Officers collapsed into the same mass grave that their general's corpse had fallen into just a moment prior. The Ottoman Army, or at least those who had not broken ranks and fled the battlefield, would be thoroughly massacred to the last man and buried in a mass grave outside Yerevan.

Only those who confessed to be conscripts of a Christian minority were spared the Russian wrath. And while the Massacre at Yerevan would forever be known as a Russian War Crime committed against the surrendered forces of the Ottoman Army, it had also managed to spare over a million lives without anyone other than Bruno being the wiser.

The Russian advance into Yerevan, and in the following months the liberation of Armenia as a whole would interestingly be enough to prevent the Armenian Genocide from occurring. Which in Bruno's past life had been perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and the ruling Young Turks party beginning in the year 1915.