Following the death of Alexander IV and the coronation of Michael II as Tsar the two monarchical factions within the Russian Civil War merged under Michael II and the Duma to crush the Russian Republic. While the later half of 1921 was quiet as the Monarchist forces redeployed their forces along their new extended frontline against the Republicans with the Pripyat Salient being reinforced with several divisions. The truce held on both sides as the Republicans dealt with their expanded territory and attempted to strengthen the Ufa Salient for the Republicans had been unable to take the city and now sat at the end of an Salient extending from the Volga river to the plains outside the city.
The immediate decision was to withdraw from the Ufa offensive and re-establish a defensive position along the Volga river with the city of Tsaritsyn forming the core of their defences in order to hold the Imperial forces off. As the tense truce held through the dying months of 1921 the more militant socialists in the government of the Russian Republic led a coup against the last remaining conservatives killing them all and officially abolishing the republic. From the heart of Kiev, a new state was proclaimed the Workers Revolutionary Republic and the final phase of the Russian Civil war began.
The beginning of the 1922 offensives was as planned the First Finnish Division and the newly formed First Estonia Division broke through the Republicans lines at the Pripyat Salient and charge towards Kiev. The First and Second Revolutionary Guards Divisions held off the Monarchists long enough just out of Kiev for the government to evacuate to Baku where they would remain until the end of the war. As the Monarchists broke through the Republican lines across the frontline and the Rostov Line was hurriedly built some of the more isolationist Socialists withdrew to Crimea and declared the Free Peoples State of Crimea.
The main strike of the Monarchists final drive south was towards the Republicans Rostov line as it allowed the liberation of the majority of Ukraine and secured the vast fields of the region for the Empire allowing them to gain a large source of money from the export of Grain to the new European Union. The campaign also was the first use of the Land-Ships that had evolved from the Armoured Cars that Mannerheim had become so well regarded for. While the first three broke down often they managed to survive much more damage than the Armoured Cars and when they reached the Rostov line, they would receive a vital improvement.
-Extract from Into the Death an IBU documentary
The Japanese intervention into Russia started on a strong footing with the northern half of Sakhalin surrendering to the Imperial Japanese Army within a few days of the initial invasion with the Rising Sun being raised at Okha or as it was now officially renamed as Meiji. The assault from the Korean border proved successful and was the first major deployment of the new Imperial Koran Army. The aim was to capture Vladivostok and from there connect the landings from the now entirely Japanese Sakhalin to the Korean Border. The final front of the intervention the invasion of Kamchatka faced some difficulties as the port designated for the landing ground Petropavlovsk had recently been reinforced by scattered units loyal to the now-dead Alexander IV.
The Imperial Japanese Navy opened up for three hours destroying most of the town allowing the Imperial Japanese Army stormed the town fighting the few scattered remnants of the Absolutist forces. When the town fell the Japanese launched their conquest of the peninsula striking out across the isolated region with every major city that fell being granted a new Japanese name as the newest Imperial prefecture under Emperor Taisho. Across the Bering Strait the United States was watching with worry as they saw the Imperialists conquering land that was close to their territory of Alaska and began to increase their forces in the region.
-Extract from Billy Brag's book The Rising Sun in the east: Japan following the Stargate
As the Russian Civil War raged New Windsor and the new colony of Romanov continued to grow with the city of New Novgorod becoming the heart of the Russian community on the planet the towering Cathedral of Saint Nicholas was founded at this time. But as the population grew it was decided that new cities needed to be founded due to the number of immigrants that the war had created. The large Muscovite population struck off to the east coast of Romanov and founded the city of New Moscow on the southern stretch of Cape Alekseevich and today dominates the Caviar trade of the British Empire. But not all of the Russian migrants settled in Romanov several moved to New Salisbury and the distinctive architecture of the city was heavily influenced by the Russian population.
Speaking of New Salisbury, the lands around the New Zambezi had become known as New Rhodesia and people thought that it should live up to its name. The first attempt by the settlers of New Rhodesia to introduce native African flora and fauna in the region failed. New Rhodesia was not in the right region for the plants to flourish naturally so a small group decided to find a part of the world that was in the right climate region for African plants to region to grow well. The group charted several boats and bought the map that Winston Churchill had made of his discoveries during his great exploratory voyage across New Windsor.
-Extract from Ian Smith's book Rhodesians Never Die: A history of New Rhodesia
The British control over South Africa had only been truly entrenched following the Second Boer War that had been a disaster for the British. The British had been forced to use Concentration Camps to contain the displace civilians. When it was revealed to the British public the power of Arthur Balfour's government was shaken and many believe that it ultimately contributed to the fall of the Conservatives government. As the Russian Civil war heated up and Ireland held their first elections the Liberal Government turned to South Africa with the hope to establish yet another Commonwealth of the Empire.
The majority of the British government supported forming a single Commonwealth in the region but when a group of surveyors were sent to South Africa to explore the geographical, cultural, and political divisions of the British South African possessions. The results that they sent back showed that the colonies were to divided to form a united Dominion as many of the Boers were still bitter towards the British and believed that the Anglos would secure political control over the region and disenfranchise the Boers. The colonial governments themselves were refusing to bend on the matter and so the British decided to divide South Africa into four Dominions that would be later Integrated into the United Empire of Britannia. Thus, the South Africa act passed Parliament and the House of Lords and the Commonwealths of The Cape, Natal, Orange and the Federation of Bechuanaland and Transvaal were founded on the 1st of January 1922.
-Extract from Cliff Simon's book the Gazelle and the Lion: South Africa within the United Empire
The Treaty of Scapa Flow had established a free-trade union between the German Empire, France and if the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland voted to join, they would join. The referendum was held in late 1916 and the motion passed by 54% to 46% and the United Kingdom of Great Britain formally joined the Free trade union. Following Britain joining several smaller European states petitioned to join. Following the independence of the Baltic state, Poland and the United Kingdom of Finland and Estonia the members of the free trade union and other states of Europe all gathered in the city of Vaduz to establish a formal union between the states of Europe.
The treaty of Vaduz is the founding document of the European Union and has lasted to this day the terms laid out within have been praised across the Human Worlds. The treaty established free-trade and completely open border between the signatory states and a council of the Heads of State and Government across Europe to meet annually. The signatory states all agreed, and the first meeting of the European Council was held in 1922 in Berlin. The states that signed the Treaty of Vaduz are as follows the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the German Empire, the Kingdom of Italy, the Second Byzantine Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, the Third French Republic, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Tsardom of Bulgaria, the Kingdom of Serbia, the Kingdom of Montenegro, the Kingdom of Rumania, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Latvia, the United Kingdom of Finland and Estonia, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the Kingdom of Denmark, the Kingdom of Norway, and the Kingdom of Sweden.
-Extract from Ode to Joy: A history of European Integration