Recaps

After defeating the forces at Kazan, Grand Duke Mikhail ordered his army to advance on Moscow while planning to use captured prisoners for military service and railway construction. At Ryazan, Grand Duke Nicholas’s attacks on General Brusilov’s defenses failed disastrously, leaving his commanders to consider abandoning the siege and returning to defend Moscow.

• Major General Viktor Sakharov reported that Mikhail’s forces had captured more than 120,000 enemy soldiers at Kazan, and Mikhail ordered the army to advance west toward Moscow.
• Yakov told Mikhail that General Brusilov’s troops were holding off the enemy siege with limited pressure on their defenses.
• Mikhail planned to recruit the strongest prisoners into his army and send the rest to build railways and roads after the civil war.
• Grand Duke Nicholas and General Nikolai Obruchev watched Russian troops suffer heavy losses attacking Brusilov’s defenses, where superior artillery and machine guns routed them.
• General Nikolai Obruchev urged Grand Duke Nicholas to lift the siege and return to reinforce Moscow against Mikhail’s advancing army.

Grand Duke Nicholas and General Nikolai Obruchev decided to make Moscow the decisive battleground and ordered their forces to withdraw there while delaying General Brusilov at Ryazan. Brusilov prepared to attack the next morning and march on Moscow to join Grand Duke Mikhail.

• General Nikolai Obruchev warned Grand Duke Nicholas that the weakened Mosk Military District could not hold Moscow against Mikhail's army.
• Grand Duke Nicholas resolved to fight Mikhail at Moscow, hoping to end the civil war before foreign enemies could exploit it.
• Grand Duke Nicholas ordered the Guards Army and Petersburg Military District troops to return to Moscow, while Generals Paul Shuvalov and Alexander Dobrorozhsky held Ryazan against Brusilov.
• On May 13, the Petersburg troops and Guards Army disengaged and moved toward Moscow as Shuvalov and Dobrorozhsky's forces shifted to defense.
• General Brusilov ordered his troops to rest and attack at dawn, aiming to defeat the enemy at Ryazan within three days and march on Moscow.

General Brusilov’s forces renewed their offensive at Ryazan while Grand Duke Nicholas prepared Moscow’s defenses by sending the Guards Army to Noginsk. The Guards Army attacked the arriving 7th Cavalry Brigade, leaving it to defend against a much larger force.

• On May 14, General Brusilov’s artillery battered the Russian defenses at Ryazan, inflicting heavy casualties and shifting the battlefield advantage toward Grand Duke Mikhail.
• Grand Duke Nicholas, General Nikolai Obruchev, and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich discussed the approaching rebels, and General Nikolai Obruchev proposed attacking their vanguard at Noginsk.
• Grand Duke Nicholas ordered General Alexei to lead the Guards Army to Noginsk, where it deployed with fewer than fifty thousand troops.
• On May 17, the Guards Army bombarded the arriving 7th Cavalry Brigade, and Brigadier General Andrei withdrew his troops beyond the artillery’s range and reported the attack.
• General Alexei ordered the Guards Army’s infantry and cavalry divisions to attack, and tens of thousands of troops advanced against the 7th Cavalry Brigade’s hastily built defenses.

The Guards Army besieged the Caucasus Military District's 7th Cavalry Brigade at Noginsk and attacked it with heavy artillery, cavalry, and infantry, while the brigade's modern firepower inflicted severe losses. After Yakov reported the siege to Grand Duke Mikhail in Nizhny Novgorod, Mikhail ordered the nearest unit to reinforce the brigade.

• The Guards Army bombarded the 7th Cavalry Brigade, whose artillery returned fire but could not match the enemy's firepower.
• The Guards Army's cavalry charged from two directions and suffered heavy losses from the brigade's mortars, machine guns, and light machine guns.
• General Alexei ordered the Guards Army to continue attacking despite the heavy casualties suffered by Major General Pavel's cavalry divisions.
• Yakov told Grand Duke Mikhail that the Guards Army had surrounded the 7th Cavalry Brigade at Noginsk.
• Grand Duke Mikhail ordered the nearest unit to hurry to Noginsk as reinforcements.

Mikhail ordered the 10th Cavalry Brigade to relieve the besieged 7th Cavalry Brigade and planned a coordinated assault on the Guards Army at Noginsk. Reinforcements and heavy artillery surrounded and battered the Guards Army, leaving it trapped and facing eventual annihilation.

• Mikhail ordered the 10th Cavalry Brigade to attack the Guards Army from the flank while the 7th Cavalry Brigade held its positions, and he planned a larger counteroffensive with arriving infantry and cavalry units.
• The 10th Cavalry Brigade reached the battlefield toward evening and attacked, forcing the Guards Army to divert troops and abandon its attempt to destroy the 7th Cavalry Brigade.
• After nightfall, General Alexei halted the Guards Army's attacks and ordered defensive lines built in Noginsk.
• On May 18, the 1st Infantry Division joined the counteroffensive alongside the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th Cavalry Brigades, while artillery shelled the Guards Army's defenses.
• The 3rd Infantry Division arrived on May 19, and on May 20 seventy-two 152 mm heavy howitzers began bombarding Noginsk as Caucasus Military District cavalry cut off the Guards Army's retreat.

Mikhail’s forces crushed the Guards Army at Noginsk while Brusilov defeated the Huasha and Vilna Military Districts and advanced toward Moscow. With Moscow’s allies unwilling or unable to help, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich believed Nicholas’s side had already lost the civil war.

• Mikhail’s forces besieged the Guards Army at Noginsk, while reinforcements moved toward Moscow and the defenders there dared not intervene.
• General Alexei ordered the surrounded Guards Army to fight on despite its losses and the lack of reinforcements, but many soldiers surrendered.
• The Caucasus Military District captured Noginsk on May 23, killing Alexei and taking twenty thousand Guards Army troops prisoner.
• General Brusilov defeated the Huasha and Vilna Military Districts and two Moscow Military District divisions, then advanced rapidly toward Moscow.
• Nicholas urged his commanders to gather more troops, but General Nikolai Obruchev warned that the remaining forces and neutral districts were unlikely to help.
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich concluded that the outcome of the civil war was already decided against Nicholas.

With his forces depleted and Moscow surrounded, Grand Duke Nicholas refused to surrender and prepared for a final stand against Mikhail. As Mikhail’s artillery battered Moscow, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich secretly sent a trusted guard to negotiate his defection, leaving the city’s defenders’ loyalties uncertain.

• Grand Duke Nicholas insisted that his remaining elite troops could still defeat Mikhail at Moscow, while Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich questioned whether Mikhail had murdered Tsar Nicholas II.
• On May 29, Mikhail’s and General Brusilov’s forces closed in on Moscow ahead of the decisive battle.
• On May 31, Mikhail ordered a massive artillery bombardment that devastated Moscow and overwhelmed the defenders’ guns.
• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich secretly sent his guard captain Ivan out of the city to contact Mikhail and discuss surrendering the Mosk Military District.

Mikhail offered Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich the post of minister of war in exchange for his help in taking Moscow and ending the civil war. Sergei accepted, ordering the Mosk Military District troops to cooperate with Mikhail.

• Ivan conveyed Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich’s request to defect and remain commander of the Mosk Military District, but Mikhail rejected that condition.
• Mikhail said Moscow would become the empire’s capital and offered Sergei the post of minister of war instead.
• Mikhail explained to General Brusilov that military reforms would limit the minister of war’s power and give operational command to the General Staff.
• Ivan reported Mikhail’s offer to Sergei, who accepted and ordered the Mosk Military District troops to cooperate with Mikhail.

Grand Duke Nicholas’s forces collapsed as the Mosk Military District turned against them and troops surrendered across Moscow. Refusing to flee after his defeat, Nicholas sat on the tsar’s throne and shot himself, after which General Nikolai Obruchev ordered the remaining defenders to surrender.

• On June 1, the Caucasus Military District attacked Moscow while the Mosk Military District opened its defensive lines and turned its guns on the Petersburg Military District.
• Petersburg Military District troops surrendered in large numbers, and the rebels overwhelmed the remaining units loyal to Grand Duke Nicholas.
• General Nikolai Obruchev told Nicholas that Moscow’s defenses had collapsed and urged him to escape to Petersburg or go into exile.
• Nicholas refused to flee, sat on the tsar’s throne, and shot himself.
• General Nikolai Obruchev ordered the soldiers still resisting to lay down their weapons and surrender.

After winning the civil war, Grand Duke Mikhail took control of Moscow and prepared to become tsar while moving troops to secure the empire’s vulnerable northern and western regions. As news of his victory spread, his opponents in Petersburg began preparing to flee, while his supporters anticipated promotion.

• Grand Duke Nicholas committed suicide, General Nikolai Obruchev surrendered, and most troops in the Petersburg Military District laid down their arms.
• Grand Duke Mikhail entered Moscow, ordered the tsar’s throne replaced, and sent General Viktor Sakharov north with troops to protect Petersburg and contain the Finnish independence movement.
• General Brusilov recommended sending General Paul von Plehve west, and Mikhail ordered him to suppress resistance in Poland and along the Baltic coast and reorganize the Huasha and Vilna Military Districts.
• News of Mikhail’s victory spread across the empire, and officials who opposed him, including Sergei Witte, began preparing to flee while his supporters welcomed the outcome.

After Mikhail won the civil war, Russian ministers moved to secure their positions under his rule and arrested Sergei Witte, whose fortune was seized. On June 18, 1898, Mikhail was crowned tsar, leaving hostile powers to reconsider their plans against a Russia no longer consumed by civil war.

• Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Vyacheslav Plehve, and Lobanov-Rostovsky agreed to travel to Moscow and align themselves with Mikhail after his victory.
• Vyacheslav Plehve reported that Sergei Witte was selling his property to flee, and Konstantin Pobedonostsev urged his arrest.
• The Ministry of Internal Affairs' secret police arrested Sergei Witte on suspicion of treason and seized his family's property.
• Mikhail welcomed the news of Witte's arrest and prepared to ascend the throne despite the Ottoman Empire's invasion.
• On June 18, 1898, Vasily Bogoyavlensky presided over Mikhail's coronation, and Mikhail swore to lead the Tsarist Russian Empire to glory.
• The German Empire, Austro-Hungarian Empire, Japanese Empire, Empire on Which the Sun Never Sets, and Ottoman Empire reconsidered their plans after Russia's civil war ended.

After becoming tsar, Mikhail II began sweeping reforms, starting with moving the capital from Petersburg to Moscow and restructuring the imperial cabinet. He appointed Plehve as prime minister, while Pobedonostsev was left disappointed.

• Mikhail II summoned senior officials and declared that he would move the empire's capital from Petersburg to Moscow.
• Plehve proposed a gradual transition with both cities serving as capitals, but Mikhail II firmly rejected the suggestion.
• Mikhail II announced plans to create the posts of imperial prime minister and deputy prime minister while allowing ministers to report directly to him.
• Mikhail II appointed Plehve as imperial prime minister, and Plehve pledged to manage administrative affairs.
• Pobedonostsev showed disappointment because he had wanted the prime minister post.

Mikhail announced a reshaped imperial cabinet, placing trusted officials in key posts and creating a Ministry of Supervision to purge corruption. The chapter left Pobedonostsev tasked with cleaning up the bureaucracy while Stolypin was ordered to hunt Bolsheviks and support the purge.

• Mikhail appointed Rostovsky imperial finance minister and made Pobedonostsev deputy prime minister and minister of the newly created Ministry of Supervision.
• Pobedonostsev pledged to purge corrupt officials, whom Mikhail planned to punish by confiscating their property and sending them to forced labor.
• Mikhail appointed Stolypin imperial minister of internal affairs and ordered him to arrest Bolsheviks and assist the Ministry of Supervision.
• Mikhail appointed Muravyov foreign minister, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich army minister, and Admiral Pavel Tyrtov navy minister.
• Mikhail announced further cabinet appointments and created the ministries of Trade and Industry, Agriculture, and Health.

Mikhail II ordered a gradual campaign to root out corruption across the Tsarist Russian Empire, beginning with reforming the police and gathering evidence. He decided to put Sergei Witte on public trial and offered officials a chance to avoid punishment by confessing and returning most of their stolen funds.

• Mikhail II told Plehve, Pobedonostsev, and Stolypin that corruption had rotted the empire's officialdom and had to be rooted out.
• Stolypin proposed replacing corrupt police with former army officers and soldiers, and Mikhail approved the plan for after the war with the Ottoman Empire.
• Mikhail instructed the Ministry of Supervision to gather evidence and prepare carefully before launching a nationwide purge.
• Mikhail ordered Sergei Witte to face a public trial as a warning to other officials.
• Mikhail offered officials immunity for past offenses if they confessed to the Ministry of Supervision and returned eighty percent of their embezzled funds, while warning that future offenses would receive maximum punishment.

After Sergei Witte was executed for treason and corruption, Mikhail’s anti-corruption campaign pushed officials to surrender stolen funds while promising higher salaries. He then ordered his ministers to build a comprehensive industrial system and expand the empire’s transportation network, leaving them tasked with accelerating modernization.

• Sergei Witte was found guilty and hanged in Red Square, prompting officials across the empire to fear for their own safety.
• Pobedonostsev offered officials a chance to surrender most of their embezzled money, while Mikhail announced substantial salary increases and harsh penalties for those who concealed their crimes.
• Many officials turned themselves in, and Finance Minister Rostovsky welcomed the recovery of funds as imperial revenue rose.
• Mikhail summoned Plehve, Rostovsky, Duke Khilkov, Kokovtsov, and other ministers and ordered the government to establish a complete industrial system within ten years, with the imperial family and Ministry of Finance funding heavy industry.
• Mikhail also ordered greater investment in railways and roads to support economic growth and speed military mobilization and supply.

Mikhail persuaded the empire's senior officials that Japan could threaten the Far East while Russia lacked reliable ways to reinforce it, making rapid railway construction vital. The empire committed new funding and prisoner labor to accelerate the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Chinese Eastern Railway, and the South Manchurian Branch Line, with a five-year deadline for opening them.

• Mikhail warned that Japan's military buildup and Britain's support could lead to war in the Far East while Russia's forces and supplies could not reach the region quickly.
• Prime Minister Plehve and the other senior officials agreed that the Trans-Siberian Railway needed to be completed as soon as possible.
• Mikhail pledged increased treasury and imperial-family funding through a railway company, and Duke Khilkov noted that construction could then accelerate.
• Mikhail ordered that most of the more than three hundred thousand civil-war prisoners be assigned to railway and road work for ten years before release.
• Mikhail demanded that the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Chinese Eastern Railway, and the South Manchurian Branch Line open within five years, and Duke Khilkov promised to make every effort to meet the deadline.

Mikhail accelerated plans for railways, roads, and military preparations, then announced sweeping agricultural reforms to relieve the peasants’ burdens and redistribute surplus land. The reforms provoked opposition from landowners but won Mikhail overwhelming support among impoverished peasants, who called him their “Little Father.”

• Mikhail called for faster construction of railways and roads and ordered advance preparations to strengthen the empire’s position in the Far East and any future war.
• On June 29, Mikhail summoned Plehve, Rostovsky, Stolypin, and Plesk to discuss the empire’s agricultural situation.
• Mikhail announced lower agricultural taxes, forgiveness of peasants’ land debts, and the redistribution of surplus land, including land bought from its owners at one-tenth of market value.
• Plehve and the other ministers warned that the reforms would face fierce resistance, but Mikhail insisted on carrying them through and threatened opponents with punishment.
• Nobles, landlords, bureaucrats, and other landowners opposed the reforms, while impoverished peasants celebrated Mikhail and called him their “Little Father.”

Mikhail pushed through radical agricultural reforms that transferred land to peasants and seized property from those who resisted, while directing imperial resources toward education and healthcare. The reforms gained popular support and were intended to strengthen the empire’s economy, population, and ability to wage war.

• Mikhail distributed land to peasants, reduced agricultural taxes, and canceled their debts, while donating the imperial family's land at Tsarskoye Selo to the government.
• Stolypin supported Mikhail's agricultural reforms, and senior officials and military leaders followed the Tsar's example by surrendering land.
• Mikhail branded stubborn opponents as Bolshevik Party members, confiscated their property, and sent their families to hard labor, prompting other landowners to cooperate.
• Mikhail expected former landowners to invest their remaining wealth in industry and commerce, which could grow as peasants gained purchasing power and rural workers moved into jobs.
• Mikhail ordered increased investment in education and healthcare, setting a goal of universal primary education within ten years and seeking to reduce infant mortality.
• Mikhail pledged the imperial family's wealth to developing the country so the Tsarist Russian Empire could grow stronger.

On July 2, 1898, Mikhail began reforming the Tsarist Russian Empire Army, using his command of the strongest forces in the country to push through changes. He separated military command from the War Ministry and reorganized the empire’s eleven military districts into seven, each with defined responsibilities.

• Mikhail summoned Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and General Brusilov and announced that he would reform the imperial army.
• Mikhail assigned troop movements and operational command to the Imperial General Staff, while the War Ministry handled administration and the military districts trained their troops.
• Mikhail placed weapons research, development, and procurement under the Equipment Department and Logistics Department beneath the General Staff.
• Mikhail merged the eleven military districts into seven: Mosk, Northwestern, Western, Southwestern, Caucasus, Siberia-Central Asia, and Far East.
• Mikhail assigned each district its own regional security responsibilities and established that the General Staff would command their troops during wartime.

Mikhail reorganized the Tsarist Russian Army into seven military districts and expanded its forces to prepare for wars against the Ottoman Empire, Japan, and future enemies. He appointed loyal or neutral generals to command the districts and planned to transfer trusted troops and officers across the army, leaving him poised to secure complete control.

• Mikhail divided the army into seven military districts, assigning them to face threats in Europe, the Middle East, and the Far East.
• Mikhail proposed that each district command ten infantry divisions, four cavalry brigades, and a heavy artillery brigade, with extra mountain infantry brigades for the Caucasus and Far East.
• Mikhail ordered each district to build a mobilization system capable of doubling its forces within one month and required reservists to attend annual refresher training.
• Mikhail appointed himself commander of the Mosk Military District and named General Brusilov its chief of staff, then appointed commanders for the other districts.
• Mikhail planned to transfer trusted officers and soldiers from the Caucasus Military District to other districts and replace retiring generals with younger officers.

Mikhail ordered a sweeping overhaul of the Tsarist Russian Empire Navy, halting most warship construction so the fleet could be rebuilt around modern designs. The navy’s existing ships were revealed to be outdated, while Mikhail planned new dreadnoughts, standardized armored cruisers, and continued construction of the Rostov-class protected cruisers.

• Mikhail summoned Navy Minister Admiral Pavel Tyrtov and Chief of the General Staff Admiral Brusilov to discuss naval development.
• Mikhail ordered all warship construction stopped except for ships already half completed, and scrapped plans for ships not yet under construction.
• Admiral Pavel Tyrtov listed the navy’s battleships, ironclads, cruisers, and destroyers for Mikhail.
• Mikhail judged most of the fleet obsolete and planned to keep building the Rostov-class protected cruisers while replacing other ship designs.
• Mikhail aimed to build all-big-gun dreadnoughts, a mass-produced armored cruiser, and larger ocean-going destroyers to strengthen the navy.

Mikhail reassured the navy leadership that naval development would continue and ordered assessments of new warship designs, including an all-big-gun battleship called the Mikhail I class. He directed the empire to import technologies it lacked while accelerating domestic research and development.

• Mikhail told Admiral Pavel Tyrtov and Admiral Brusilov that a powerful navy remained essential to the empire's expansion and future wars.
• Mikhail explained that existing and planned warships were outdated, so their construction would stop and shipyards would shift to newer designs.
• Mikhail handed Admiral Pavel Tyrtov blueprints and ordered experts to assess their feasibility and pursue any necessary technology.
• Mikhail presented the Mikhail I-class dreadnought, describing its all-big-gun layout, armor, speed, and armament.
• Admiral Paval Tyrtov warned that the empire lacked the engines and optical equipment needed to build the battleship.
• Mikhail ordered the empire to import foreign technology where necessary and invest in domestic military research and development.

Mikhail planned a major expansion of the Tsarist Russian Navy, including battleships, cruisers, and destroyers, and ordered the fleets to prepare for the new ships. He also directed older warships to reinforce the Pacific Fleet before a war with Japan.

• Mikhail planned six Mikhail I-class battleships, six Moscow-class armored cruisers, and twelve A-class destroyers, while expanding Rostov-class protected cruiser construction.
• Admiral Pavel Tyrtov welcomed the navy's plans and left their implementation to the Navy Ministry after Mikhail outlined the coming years of development.
• Mikhail ordered Vice Admiral Makarov and Vice Admiral Nikolai Kopytov to intensify fleet training and prepare sailors to receive new warships.
• Mikhail ordered the Baltic Sea Fleet and Black Sea Fleet to transfer aging warships to the Far East to strengthen the Pacific Fleet and deter Japan.
• Mikhail aimed to assemble a Pacific Fleet of eleven ironclads, eight pre-dreadnoughts, six armored cruisers, nine protected cruisers, and many destroyers.

Mikhail assessed the Tsarist Russian Empire’s foreign threats and planned a decisive counterattack against the Ottoman Empire to establish his authority. The chapter left the Empire preparing to exploit its post-civil-war strength while Japan faced the prospect of a heavily reinforced Russian Pacific Fleet.

• The Japanese Empire built up its military with war indemnities but still had too few modern warships to match the Tsarist Russian Empire Navy.
• The Tsarist Russian Empire planned to transfer older warships to the Far East, which Mikhail expected would pressure Japan into further costly naval spending.
• Lieutenant General Paul von Plehwe began suppressing Polish and Baltic resisters, while agricultural reforms helped win over ordinary people.
• Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire backed away from confronting the Tsarist Russian Empire after it ended its civil war and showed its military strength.
• Mikhail planned to counterattack the Ottoman Empire and use a major victory to rally his people and deter hostile powers.

Mikhail planned to use the war with the Ottoman Empire to seize territory and secure passage through the straits, while the Caucasus Military District assembled a massive force for a counteroffensive. After repeated Ottoman attacks failed, Kör Ahmed Pasha told Abdul Hamid II that the empire had little chance of winning.

• Mikhail ordered preparations to teach the Ottoman Empire a harsh lesson and pursue territorial gains and passage rights through the Dardanelles and Bosporus.
• Lieutenant General Belyayev assembled twenty-five infantry divisions and four mountain infantry brigades in the Caucasus Military District.
• Ottoman forces remained stalled inside Tsarist Russian territory after advancing only a short distance beyond the border.
• On July 4, 1898, Abdul Hamid II summoned Kör Ahmed Pasha and demanded to know how the stalled front could be turned around.
• Kör Ahmed Pasha reported that repeated attacks had failed, Ottoman casualties were heavy, and the Russians were too strong for the Ottomans to expect victory.