Reincarnated as Nikolai II

Chapter 170 Your War and Mine (4)

In late October, as the German fleet's mood heated up, unable to endure the active naval blockade, and.

In November, as the final Somme offensive proceeded before winter.

"Phew..."

"You've arrived!"

"Yes, it's been a while. Have you all been well? I haven't been."

"...You must have suffered!"

"Being stuck in the rear made me realize. I'm truly meant for the field. The General Staff was like Sodom and Gomorrah of the human world where all sorts of scheming, political maneuvering, and what might be called fraud coexisted with good and evil. This smell, this air, this vigor. Ah, I missed it. I really missed it."

Aleksei Brusilov returned to the Southern Front.

==

A system like a nation's set format.

And ideology with logical consistency that makes everyone have unified judgment.

System and ideology.

These two things, which a ruler must never waver from, are in an inseparable relationship.

Looking at our Russian system, it's imperialism based on class, and while there's been some departure from bureaucratism recently due to the State Duma's influence, it remains authoritarian and highly vertical.

This "vertical" doesn't mean there's blue blood like in medieval times or still differences in human rights.

It just means a structure has been completed where natural innovation and reform from below are difficult to occur.

When I discover these structural defects, sometimes even I think:

"Hmm... Maybe I should have killed fewer liberals during the Great Purge."

Although they were anti-state and anti-government, they were fresh water for the stagnant empire in their own way.

It's regrettable every time I think about it, but I end up rationalizing that I had no choice then as it was early in my reign. It's also irreversible now.

The past is the past, and what I need to think about is the future ahead.

For now, the change in system is sufficient with just incorporating the State Duma into the cabinet.

Changes in bureaucracy are inherently more viscous than honey, and in severe cases become hardened resin or amber. Once it stops, it stops - it can't change rapidly.

Even the current pace of change must feel fast to the bureaucrats who were responsible for this massive empire. Your next read is at My Virtual Library Empire

If we can't touch the system right now, then we should at least touch the ideology...

Here again comes the question I've had countless times.

What is the empire's current ideology?

However, one thing must be made clear.

Governance cannot exist without ideology.

The absence of ideology divides a nation.

Unlike medieval times, it's not that one must receive loyalty because they're Tsar. One is Tsar because they receive loyalty.

One is king, führer, duce, or caudillo because they receive loyalty.

If the problem has been thoroughly chewed, savored, and clearly grasped, return to the beginning and.

Ask a slightly more progressive question.

"What ideology is needed and suitable for this country?"

Colonial imperialism at the extreme of vulgar capitalism?

Or Tsarism that binds the empire as one while reigning over it?

Neither.

Times have changed.

When the Great War ends, both will become nothing more than relics of a bygone era that should be stored away in museum warehouses.

Nevertheless, when thoughts reach exactly this point.

"Sigh, I don't know. Should I kidnap some promising dictators?"

One realizes it's not easy to cut and paste any ideology to fit this country's shape.

I still didn't have an ideology I could conclude was the 'answer.'

Perhaps as a ruler governing the empire long-term, I should gradually knead and change the system and ideology to suit the times.

After all, there's no one but me who can bring new ideology and system to this country.

"Pan-Slavism must be abandoned now. Just looking at Serbia's state, this can't be used anymore."

This too can't help but be anachronistic, having been created in the 1830s to counter the Ottoman Empire.

"Still, it's a shame to completely abandon this ideology that spread even to the Balkans over about a century, so if we modify it just right for our empire..."

Considering the era, state, race, ethnicity, post-war circumstances, international situation, and relations with other countries.

"This is indeed the only option."

The ideology that will represent Russia after the Great War is one.

"National self-determination."

This is a mutation of Pan-Slavism.