Jim Morse

The Great War (now known to us as World War I) began in August 1914 when the huge Empire of Austria-Hungary invaded the small country of Serbia and Russia jumped in to defend her fellow Slavs. As the result of some alliances, the conflict quickly spread to involve the Germans, the French, the Belgians and the British.

It was clear, however, that Russia was in real trouble from the start. Despite its extensive manpower resources, it was already broke and lacked essential military equipment. Its most serious deficiencies, however, lay in the poor quality and dishonesty of many of its higher level officials.

Ten years earlier Tsar Nikolai II had already led Russia into a disastrous war with the Japanese and now seems to have learned nothing in the meantime. He still believes himself to be divinely empowered for his role. He is firmly opposed to sharing power with any elected legislature. Actually, he has managed to hold onto his position only because of the loyalty of a large and brutal secret police force. Even Russia’s allies, however, are beginning to doubt that public morale can hold up in the face of continued hunger and battle losses.

Back in 1905 the American president, Theodore Roosevelt had helped Russia extricate itself from its war with Japan on terms which could actually have been much worse. Thinking that perhaps the president might still have some influence with the tsar, some liberal officials in the Russian embassy secretly approach the American secretary of state and beg him to send Roosevelt to try to convince the tsar to at least liberalize his government, hinting that such a step might convince at least some American people to lend more support to Russia.

Although President Wilson is not optimistic, he does convince Roosevelt to make the trip. He is accompanied by a small team of supposedly neutral military observers. Included in the team is a Boston physician who had been a sergeant under Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War. He’s available at this time only because of the recent painful break-up of an engagement.

Before returning to college from the war, George Bird had spent several months in Russia teaching English and studying Russian. Now that he has returned to Russia, he’ surprised to learn that some local physicians know of his work with hemophilia and when the tsar’s affected son suffers an accident, they call on George for advice. The boy survives, and his sister Tatiana begins to flirt with George.

George soon has other interests, however. When he visits the church in Moscow that he had attended during his earlier stay, he finds that the woman he had grown fond of back then now has a husband missing in action.

Roosevelt soon becomes frustrated as he fails to change the tsar’s attitude. He plans to return to the States in a few weeks, but first he wants to visit the Austrian front (and once more see some “real” war). The tsar unenthusiastically agrees to take him along.

What happens at the front that day will change the course of the war and send George to Murmansk to care for black soldiers who are building a railroad. He will later follow that regiment into combat.

James O. Morse

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Funeral in Petrograd: An Alternate History of the Great War

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