The northern strike of Operation Robespierre better known as Operation Marx started on a strong foot the First People's Liberation Army captured Minsk after a two-day battle and continued to push north nearing the Baltic States and passing German East Prussia. It seemed that the Russian Republic had secured a vital victory against the forces of Michael II possibly defeating the parliamentary faction of the war in a single blow. Then the Miracle on the Vistula broke their forces invading Poland. The disaster that Operation Catherine was for the Russian Republic only grew with time as their forces routed from Poland, they were forced to strip 75% percent of the forces involved in Operation Marx to hold the line against the Polish. The frontline against the Parliamentarians became about as thin as paper and Mannerheim saw the opportunity.
On Christmas day 1920 the First Royal Finnish Division attacked the Third Kiev Division using skies to maneuverer around the Russian positions and striking them from the rear. As the Third Kiev Division fought off attackers from their rear, they were assaulted from the Parliamentarians lines breaking the defensive line decisively as across the frontline the Russian Republic was sent reeling by attack after attack. Mannerheim's plan had worked perfectly and the initial advance after the breaking of the defensive line was swift led by small groups of Armoured Cars that were able to deal with small areas of resistance from the Republicans. Minsk fell on the 29th of December with Mannerheim himself leading the parade through the city with the flags of the United Kingdom of Finland and Estonia and the Free Russian Empire flying side by side. Michael II would grant Mannerheim the non-hereditary title of Prince of Minsk for his deeds during the war.
Yet the Free Russian Empire's counter-attack continued on throwing the Republicans out of Belorussia completely and the First Lithuanian Division reaching the Pripyat river within a few Kilometres of Kiev striking terror into the heart of the Republican government. But despite the stunning defeat the Russian Republic was not yet out of the war their southern offensive Operation Ypsilantis proved a vital success capturing the entirety of the Russian Caucasus throwing the Persians who had been edging across the border out of Russia. Although with the fall of the Caucasus men were freed to fight along the northern front of the Russian Republic the region was heavily conservative and the attempts by the increasingly powerful Mensheviks to abandon the traditions of the past alienated the people of the Caucasus. The Caucasus war had begun.
-Extract from a Horrible Histories episode on the Russian Civil War
The Russian Empire under Alexander IV during the Russian Civil war was a collapsing mess the majority of the vital bureaucracy had been located in Saint Petersburg and thus fallen under the command of Michael II. The Reactionary regime that acted as Alexander IV's regency were in the midst of collapse as the military, nobles and Duma all butted heads over who the war should be run, how Russia would look once the crushed the rebels and whether or not they could convince the Great Powers to allow them to reconquer the states that had broken away from their collapsing Empire. This all translated into a complete inability to run the war well as the Generals were more focused on securing personal power then commanding their forces.
This surprisingly early in the war resulted in the Free Russian Empire and the Russian Republic focusing on dealing with each-other rather than focusing on the Russian Empire. Allowing the Moscow government to make several 'reforms' that proved worse off for the Empire in the long run then if the reforms had not been passed. Most notably it gave military officers the right to shoot any solider under their command who they felt was obstructing their ability to run their commands. In reality this manifested in officers shooting any solider they dislike and claiming it was to maintain their command and so began the great mutiny. Across the entire front with the Russian Republic and large parts of the Free Russian Empire the Imperial forces shoot their officers and defected to the opposition and the Bagration Offensives began.
-Extract from Augustus Roosevelt's book Bagration: The End of an Empire
As the Russian Empire collapsed into civil war the people of Ireland nearly did as well. The long goal of Home Rule on the Emerald Isle had always been contentious as those in Ulster saw it as an attempt by the Catholic Irish to dominate them and leave the United Kingdom. The Liberal government under David Lloyd-George didn't touch the issue until well into their second term and in early 1921 the Irish Parliamentary Party introduced a bill to make the isle of Ireland a Commonwealth of the United Kingdom with the same rights and abilities as the other Commonwealths. The Conservatives threw everything they had to stop the bill from passing. Though they failed in their primary goal they managed to force several changes to the planned Constitution of the Commonwealth.
The original bill had proposed establishing single government in Dublin with complete control over the entire island answerable only to Westminster. The Conservatives managed to secure that the Commonwealth of Ireland would be a Federal state divided into five provinces. The capital of Dublin would act as its own state the Capital Territory. The remaining four provinces are made up of Ulster with a capital in Belfast the state would in the early decades of its existence be under the political control of the Ulster Scots and Unionists. The second province of Leinster has a capital in Dundalk and to this day remains the heart of Irish Nationalism. The third provicne of Ormond with a capital in Cork has become one of the most peaceful provinces in Ireland compared to their neighbours. The final province of Connaught with their capital of Galway became the frontline in the troubles that define Ireland.
When the Irish Commonwealth bill of 1921 passed the House of Lords and was granted Royal Assent all of Ireland was ablaze with happiness save for Ulster. The people of Ulster nearly rose up in violence against the granting of Home Rule and it took the British Army being deployed to quell a direct revolt. The first federal Irish election gave rise to three major parties the Irish Labour Party, the Irish Conservative Party, and the Democratic Unionist Party. The Labour party managed to secure a victory, but the DUP refused to work with them and so the Great Game of Irish Politics began. Ulster was the only province to have a DUP government with Dublin having a Labour government, Leinster and Ormond gave out Conservative governments and Connaught held a Labour government.
-Extract from John Fitzgerald Kennedy's book The Green Banner: Éire post Home Rule
The mutinies that defined the of beginning the Bagration Offensives was an absolute surprise to the opponents of Alexander IV the failure of Operation Marx and Catherine had led many to believe that the Russian Republic was closer to collapse then the Russian Empire. As massive gaps in the Imperial frontlines opened up the governments of the two revolting governments opened up negotiations to from a temporary truce to crush the Empire that they had jointly rose up against. The Russian Republic seized on the opportunity to rebuild and expand their forces after their two catastrophic defeats against the Polish and the Free Russian Empire.
The Free Russian Empires attack was led by the First Ducal Lithuanian Division from Tver aiming towards Moscow to finally end the oppression of the Tsar and cement the power of the Duma over Russia. The Russian Republic attacked over the Volga river with the general aim of their Grand Revolutionary offensive to capture Ufa and perhaps invade Kazakhstan and Central Asia if the conditions were right. The Imperial forces were divided and weakened the en masse defections had crippled their ability to lead effective counter attacks or defensives and the forces of the Free Russian Empire and the Russian Republic were well motivated and willing to fight against what they saw as traitorous reactionaries. As the forces of the Free Russian Empire drew near Moscow and Alexander IV and his government were carted off to the train station the fate of Russia stood on an edge.
-Extract from Lithuanian documentary The Fight for freedom.