The western prong of Operation Robespierre better known as Operation Catherine was an ambitious plan designed to break through the forces raised by the Provisional Polish government to hold along their eastern border while the Poles sorted out how their new nation would run and hopefully capture Warsaw two weeks after the initial invasion. The Russian forces assigned to the invasion were given the lofty name of the Second People's Liberation Army but in reality, were little more than a Corps. The Initial invasion went well the Polish lines were cut in many places and the Russians stormed towards Warsaw decrying the warnings by the German Empire and the United Kingdom as nothing more then the prattle of the Bourgeoisie.

The British despite their support for Poland did not have the will yet to completely intervene in the invasion so instead they made use of Winston Churchill's great exploration of New Windsor and the Death Glider he had found. Over the past fourteen years the researchers at Nobel had been working on the Death Glider's engine while they had been able to develop a rudimentary version that could be used to power trains as the Cape to Cairo line had proven and the many line connecting the Dominions the British government had kept the work on developing an engine that could be used for flight heavily secret and secured large amounts of funding for the project. After twelve years of work the scientist's had been successful and the first human Death Glider flew in the skies above New Windsor while not as fast as the one found by Winston Churchill it was still the fastest human made machine up to that point. The government started to build more of them and in fact informed the German government of the development out of a desire to foster closer relationships with the Empire. When word came that the Russians had invaded Poland which the United Kingdom had recognized and sworn to protect her borders a reprisal was necessary and the British had the tools for the job.

As the Russian forces neared Warsaw the Polish forces under the command of Józef Piłsudski prepared for their last stand against the Russians once again for despite the Germans sending relief forces they were to far away to influence the battle and the overwhelming Russian forces seemed poised to destroy the reborn state. The Russian assault began on the 17th of September 1920 with a barrage of artillery aimed for the centre of the city in order to demoralise the Polish defenders. The Bombardment was aimed to last for three days then the Russians would storm the city rout the defenders and break the Poles forever though as many historians have pointed out how are you supposed to bombard a city for three days if you don't have the ammunition for one not that it mattered in the end. As the bombardment began and the Russians began to gloat over their near victory a screaming noise arose from the north and the west.

The development of the British Death Gliders had led some in the Imperial High Command to suggest the development of a Royal Airforce to wield the power of the air in the name of the United Kingdom. The suggestion was shot down at the time, but it would be revisited soon enough.

The forces of the Royal Flying Corps and the Luftstreitkräfte had been given their orders two hours after the bombardment of Warsaw had begun and they scrambled with all due to haste to the five British Death Gliders and the three German. The British swept from the south from their bases in Cyprus over the Second Byzantine Empire, the Tsardom of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Serbia, and the Austro-Hungarian empire and then they entered the airspace of the Provisional Polish state. The Germans flew from East Prussia much later then when the British left as they had the goal of meeting each other at Warsaw.

The Russians were complacent, and they had no reason not to be they had routed the Polish in every battle they had fought and to them it seemed that they were on the verge of taking Warsaw. Then their five largest artillery pieces blew up as the British entered range to use their plasma weapons. The Germans had not been equipped with plasma and instead had machine guns attached to their Death Glider's wings and so while the British dealt with the Russian's artillery the Germans ravaged their infantry. The Polish seeing that the Russian artillery had stopped firing began limited counter attacks in the few places that the Russians had managed to cross the Vistula throwing them back across the river.

When the last Russian artillery piece lay ablaze the British joined the Germans in slaughtering the Russian infantry and cavalry with bolts of plasma from the sky. The Russian morale was obliterated first their artillery had been destroyed by what seemed to be the wrath of god. Then screaming demons from the sky tore through their lines with bullets tearing from them while many historians believe that if the Germans and British had withdrawn at that time the Russians might have managed to undergo an orderly retreat with relatively low casualties. The British dashed the hopes on the rocks when they turned from the ruins of the Russian artillery and unleashed hell on the Russian infantry.

Dairies of Russian soldiers who fought in the battle of Warsaw have revealed that many thought that the British and the Germans were the wrath of god striking down at them for killing fellow Christians a thought that would prove devasting for the Russian Republic.

The second strafe by the British broke the Russians across the battlefield they routed throwing down their weapons or using them to shoot the few officers who tired to restore order. The Polish launched a massive counter-attack striking from the north and south of Warsaw as well as from the city itself. The encirclements of Polish troops at the beginning of Operation Catherine were nothing to what the Polish managed to capture at Warsaw. The Second People's Liberation Army was gutted, and 75% percent of the forces involved in Operation Marx (the northern assault of Operation Robespierre) were withdrawn to the new frontline with the Polish. When the forces loyal to Michael II led by the First Finnish division led by Mannerheim counter-attacked they secured one of the greatest victories of the Russian Civil War.

-An article on the 100-year anniversary of the 'Miracle of the Vistula'.

Prince of Wales dead in flying on New Windsor accident Duke of York to succeed His Majesty

-Headline from the 19th of September 1920

Following the miracle on the Vistula and throwing the Russians out of Poland the Poles began to hold debates on how their new state would be run many wanted a republic but the British, the Germans and the Austro-Hungarians all stepped in and explicitly told the Poles that they would be a Constitutional Monarchy. With that enforced the republicans mangled to make Poland as some political theorists have called it a crowned republic the monarch had absolutely no power beyond the ability to refuse a law once and open the Sejm. Then the new Sejm turned to deciding on whom their new monarch would be. Three options emerged Archduke Karl of Austria-Hungary was the Austrian option; Prince Ernst Heinrich was the Saxon option and the largest and most supported option was to grant the title of King of Poland to a native Polish noble.

To the north of Poland, the Baltic states all pulled a similar stunt to the Kingdom of Finland to their north in return for independence they would supply men to fight in the name of Michael II against his enemies. The their paths all diverged Estonia petitioned to be annexed by the Kingdom of Finland their ancient cultural ties between the two nations across the Gulf of Finland proved to strong to ignore and Estonia was admitted as a constituent Kingdom of the new United Kingdom of Finland and Estonia. Latvia was forced to follow the whims of the Great Powers and become a Constitutional Monarchy and they followed the Polish route of becoming a crowned Republic. The new Kingdom of Latvia elected Prince Joachim of Prussia as King Jānis I of Latvia and he accepted his new position with grace and humility apparently taking advice from Haakon VII and taking on a traditional name of his new Kingdom. The Second Grand Duchy of Lithuania decided to appoint Prince Karl of Bavaria as Mindaugas II and he commenced the reign of the House of Wittelsbach over Lithuania.

The United Kingdom of Finland and Estonia was the first state to secure independence from the Russian Empire during the Russian Civil war and were in the midst of selecting a monarch when Estonia joined the union. The addition of Estonia did not change the options for the monarch but the support for the Republican faction grew stronger. The first group to be eliminated was the Danish group the Finn's did not think that any of the princes available from the House of Glücksburg suited ruling over Finland and a majority of the Danish group joined the German or British groups. The British group slowly began to grow in popularity until there were only three groups available those supporting a Republic those who supported a king from the United Kingdom and those who supported a native Finnish or Estonian monarch. Those who supported a Finnish monarch rallied around Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim while the British group gathered around the new Prince of Wales younger brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester. The final election for the King of Finland and Estonia was fraught with tension as the fate of a nation was on the balance.

-Extract from Joakim Brodén's book The Second Spring of nations: The Second Russian civil war

(Authors note the following passage is a non-cannon passage that will happen every twenty updates)

George V King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Jamaica, the West Indies, and Emperor of India stared at the blank space he had appeared in. It seemed to last for an eternity nothing save a strange white light. Hours after he had arrived in the strange place a loud booming voice spilt the air.

"Greetings you Royal Majesty it is an absolute pleasure to meet you."

George V replied, "I would say the same if I knew whom you are sir."

The voice paused for a second and then returned with more force then George V though possible "I am the author of the world you live in. The world where the United Kingdom discovers the Stargate and the DHD in 1905."

George V was stumped for several minutes as he digested the revelation, the he countered the voices claim, "How do I know that you're telling the truth?".

The voice didn't answer directly but instead the white space cleared revealing a montage of events from the end of the Russo-Japanese war onwards. There was no Stargate no mention of New Windsor and tensions began to grow in Europe. He stared as Ferdinand VI was shot in Sarajevo and cried at the slaughter across the world. When Wilhelm II abdicated, and a republic was proclaimed in Germany he collapsed. The slaughter of the House of Romanov sent horror into his heart. Then the screen of images ended, and the voice returned. "Well this is going to be a fun next twenty updates. Right Cheerio chaps. God Save the Queen!"