Chapter 217: Massacre at Yerevan

Chapter 217: Massacre at Yerevan



Echoes of gunfire rang throughout the city of Yerevan as the screams of Ottoman soldiers accompanied them throughout the distance. At the outbreak of the Great War, and the Ottoman Empire's entry within it, the Russians had marched with full force into Ottoman Armenia.

Their goal was clear: the liberation of the ancient Christian Kingdom, which had for too long been beneath the oppressive thumb of the Ottoman Caliphate. The Russians had initiated the Caucasus Campaign at the onset of the Great War, and in doing so had marched into the Turkish lands with a fury that few, if anyone, could have anticipated.

Even Bruno would have never guessed just how far-reaching the butterfly effect truly was. In his past life, Russia had more or less always been a backwater power. One that had, for a variety of reasons, always lagged behind the most powerful European nations.

This was true even in the cold war, where the Soviet Union's sole real claim to the status of a global superpower was the fact that they had a nuclear arsenal that could easily destroy the world several times over.

Especially if exchanged with the weapons of mass destruction which the members of NATO hoarded themselves. The nuclear weapons, however, were largely the achievement of captured German scientists who the Soviet Union had seized after the downfall of Germany during the Second World War.

However, as previously mentioned, Bruno had changed things in this world in ways which he never could have understood. As a result of the Russian Civil War beginning over a decade early, and the effectiveness that the Iron Division had against the Red Army during the war. The Russian Empire was completely overhauled over the course of the next decade.

Whether it was the end of the Tsar's autocracy resulting in a constitution far more similar to the one used by the German Reich, or the massive industrialization efforts supported by Germany, Austro-Hungary and, more importantly, Bruno's financial assets.

If you asked Mikhail what he thought of the situation in Serbia, he would say that he was certain Serbia had most certainly tried to surrender the moment they realized there was no path to victory, and yet Bruno had gassed the city, regardless.

Most likely burying any evidence of the Serbian Government's attempts to surrender as he did so. And if people were not condemning Bruno for the crimes he had rather obviously committed, then how would they dare to condemn him?

Because of this, the Russian Field Marshal flicked the cigarette he had just finished before pulling out his sidearm, which after ensuring a round was properly seated he pointed the muzzle of his pistol towards the head of the Turkish General who was kneeling in front of him, crying and pissing himself in fear as he begged for mercy in his native tongue.

This only further served to aggravate the Russian General who said a statement filled with contempt and disdain not only for the Ottoman General but the Turks as a people altogether. "I'm sorry, but I don't speak the language of roaches like yourself!"

After saying this, Mikhail pulled the trigger, splattering the Ottoman General's blood and gray matter all over the earth below. After which an echo of several more gunshots, which were fired in unison, crackled throughout the sky like thunder.

The bodies of over two dozen Ottoman Officers collapsed into the same mass grave that their general's corpse had fallen into just a moment prior. The Ottoman Army, or at least those who had not broken ranks and fled the battlefield, would be thoroughly massacred to the last man and buried in a mass grave outside Yerevan.

Only those who confessed to be conscripts of a Christian minority were spared the Russian wrath. And while the Massacre at Yerevan would forever be known as a Russian War Crime committed against the surrendered forces of the Ottoman Army, it had also managed to spare over a million lives without anyone other than Bruno being the wiser.

The Russian advance into Yerevan, and in the following months the liberation of Armenia as a whole would interestingly enough to prevent the Armenian Genocide from occurring. Which in Bruno's past life had been perpetrated by the Ottoman Empire and the ruling Young Turks party beginning in the year 1915.