How do I become part of the inner circle? We can play this one up from any number of angles but I’m going with the “trusted son-in-law” approach. I’m in my 30s now and marry the beautiful Olga (at this point around the age of 20). Good work if you can get it! This would help ensure the loyalty of at least one member of the Royal family. The Tsar, who naturally I would have had to impress to receive his blessing and the hand of his eldest daughter, holds me not only as family but a confidant…someone who challenges his perceptions while giving due respect to his rule. I quickly become to the Tsar what the deplorable Rasputin has become to the Empress.
What are the circumstances? The year is 1915 and Russia is in the midst of an unpopular World War I all the while the seeds of revolution are now in full bloom. Nicholas is distraught, confused and ineffectual. I don’t possess the clairvoyant knowledge that he will be deposed, imprisoned and murdered (along with his family) in just three years time but I do have something of a fatalist sixth sense that convinces me the Tsar will not sit long on the throne and that the lives of his family are also in jeopardy. For one reason or another, possibly attributing my knowledge to a mysticism similar to that which Alexandra believes Rasputin possesses, the Czar grants me full counsel.
What exactly would I recommend? Hard as it is for him to swallow I manager to convince the Tsar of his impending doom should he not institute swift reforms. I encourage him to look beyond his borders and see the progress of the western industrial world and how it has grown from largely autocratic monarchies to democratic republics. Here are some key recommendations that I feel the Czar would have little choice but to not take me up on…
- Using his first cousin King George V as a prime example I convince Nicholas to cede unprecedented power to the Duma he had established a decade earlier, but had expressed incredulity toward. The Duma would secure the right to elect all members of its chambers through a democratic process, instead of just half as it currently constituted, and void of Tsarist interference.
- Tsar Nicholas would accept having no power to dissolve the Duma but could call for once a year elections that would allow the citizens to elect new representation should the Tsar himself declare “no confidence” in the decision making ability in the current body.
Nicholas would reduce his control of the Orthodox Church and permit, without exception, religious freedom within Russia with the understanding that Orthodox Christianity would be the official state sponsored religion (this takes an important step towards future religious freedom in full while allowing the Tsar to save some face for the time being).
- Ceding much of his power to the Duma voluntarily would be a significant step aimed at appealing the more moderate revolutionaries of the “Constitutional Democratic Party” and systematically assisting in the ascension of their power. This would not only create an alliance between Tsar-Duma-Democrats, and against the rising tide of Bolshevik rebellion, but a strengthening trust between the Tsar himself and the common citizens.
- To pacify the conservative and proud Nicholas and those who still believed in autocratic authority the Tsar would not have to relinquish all powers nor would he be reduced to a symbolic figurehead. His role would reflect that of an American President, but one placed in an even greater position of power. For example the Tsar would remain Commander in Chief of the military and have the power to both declare and end war, yet the Duma would balance those powers by controlling whether the Tsar had an army of men to call on in the first place. It would be the Duma, not the Tsar who raises money and man power in support of the military.
- With the “Constitutional Democrats” likely in power, at least from the outset of the political realignment, a new monetary system would be established and take effect once signed into law by the Tsar. I would encourage Nicholas to appoint a special group of advisors (ie, cabinet) with the purpose of reigning in wasteful spending and get control over the horrid state of monetary inflation that was gripping Russia during this time period.
- The Tsar having acquiesced to the above changes also secures immunity, for he and his extended family, from any type of prosecution for crimes against the state and its citizens already committed. None of the Romanov’s stand trial for accused misdeeds…a tough pill to swallow for some but a necessary bargaining chip. Further the Tsar does not have to relinquish his personal wealth and the Royal Family secures a “Crown Estate” at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. No other palaces will be constructed or maintained at the burden of the Russia tax payer however.
What's the end result of my influence? The Romanov family likely survives political retribution and the powers of the Czar are greatly curbed, yet not completely dismantled. The Russian economy stabilizes and democratic values, having been instituted under political pressure and the need to stem the tide of revolution against the Bolshevik takeover, merge with traditional autocratic authority creating a nation-state not unlike that of England. The Bolshevik radicals severely outnumbered and having suddenly lost political power, as well as popular appeal from a now largely appeased citizenry, tone down their rhetoric in the ensuing years. The otherwise bloody reign of communism within the Soviet Union never takes shape and the “socialists”, composing a minority of legislative power in the Duma, push for progressive reforms in a far more peaceful manner.
Nicholas is hailed as a reformer and humble leader in his homeland and historians are left scrambling as they wrestle with a mass of contradictions between the submissive, inept, and often brutal leader of his youth, coupled with the progressive elder statesmen that brought the forces of peace and democracy to his country. Alexei crippled by his torturous hemophilia likely does not live long into adulthood, sadly passing away prior to his father and leaving no clear blood line to the reduced powers of the throne. Nicholas then names me, his son-in-law Erik, as his successor. I go on to reduce the political power of Tsar even further and by the time my reign ends in the 1960s (wife Olga and her beautiful sisters by my side of course!) Russia is a full on Democratic Republic, adhering to capitalist principles, and having elected its first President!
Saving the world is nice :-)
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