The Volgan Conquering

The Volgan Conquering was a series of invasions that lasted from August 1948 to May 1950, which had followed the wave of destruction the Great Regional War left in its wake. One side was fought by Vologda Sosnogorsk, and the other side was fought by Karath'golug, Blackburn, the Guang Hei Empire and Kerajaan Persati. Or in short the Offensive and the Defensive belligerents.

Underdog
Vologda had remained practically neutral throughout the entire Great Regional War, spending it's time alone building up a large military while the entire world exploded around them. They had been largely ignored on the world stage, as not many outside of Vologda took notice of the angry Communist upstart known as Volga. Led by the newly appointed High Marshal Friedrüch Kuznetsov Volga, the military underwent renewal and rrenovation like never before. As the Great Regional War drew to a close, morally, economically and industrially exhausted nations emerged from the chaos. None of them were in a good position to try and stop Vologda Sosnogorsk. The Red Dragon had been awoken from it's slumber.

The Red Dragon Awakens
In August 1948, Volga took office in place of his deceased brother Igor. With the support of his two Army Generals Boris Vlasikov and Dieter Horst Sieghart, Volga unleashed his newly trained army upon his series of unfortunate victims.

First Contact: Karath'golug
Operatsiya Taran (August 1948 - November 1948) "'First contact come not by hand of man, but metal of machine.' - Dieter Horst Sieghart"Karath'golug was just on the borders of Vologda; perfect target practice. Volga officially declared war on Karath'golug, with the leaders following suit within a few days. Volga sent the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Armies under the command of Dieter to ram through the Karathi borders, which were quickly decimated in a few hours. This opened way for larger armies to push through and capture even more land.

By September, the Volgan army had plowed through around half of Karathi land, and the winter was starting to set in. Fortunately, the Volgans were well-prepared for this, and thus progressed with no hamper to their progress.

However, there was heavy resistance in the Northern regions of Karath'golug, and the divisions there were putting up a heavy fight against the 2nd Army. Dieter Horst directed the 3rd Army around the divisions located in the region, and cut off any supplies coming towards them. Eventually, the Karathi divisions were exhausted of morale, ammunition, and food. They surrendered to the approaching Volgans within 3 days.

Come October and by then the Volgans were only 5 kilometers away from the capital. The situation got progressively worse for the Karathians. The winter began killing off their soldiers, raw materials and food were becoming scarce, morale was at an all-time low, and their leading general, Ögendei Bandi had been killed-in-action. The Volgans kept pushing foward towards the capital with ferocious speed and strength, almost literally crushing everything in their wake. A couple of weeks later, at 1000 meters from the palace, they gathered 1 final push towards the palace with a full force of all the 4 Armies.

When they reached the palace, the king, Toroi Khan, had committed suicide using a bullet to the head at least 10 minutes before the Volgans kicked the palace doors open according to a later autopsy. The nation of Karath'golug surrendered itself to the will of Volga, and so Volga annexed Karath'golug and merged it as one with Vologda.

Christmas Leftovers: Blackburn
Operatsiya Bunzen (February 1949 - May 1949) "'One can resist the invasion of an army, but one cannot resist the invasion of ideas.' - Boris Vlasikov"A while after the snow had melted away and spring was blooming, most of former Karath'golug's neighboring nations had declared war following the annexation of Karath'golug.

End of a Dynasty: Guang Hei Empire
Operatsiya Imperiya (June 1949 - September 1949) "'You don't win a war with compassion and harmony. You win it with guts and guns.' - Tank commander of the 31st Armored Platoon"

Back to Prehistory: Kerajaan Persati
Operatsiya Sanskrit (October 1949 - January 1950) "'The goal of war is not to die for your country, but to make the other *sshole die for his.' - Friedrüch Kuznetsov Volga"

Other Minor Battles
Further invasions of smaller countries occurred from February 1950 to May 1950, with the Volgan army steamrolling them with ease, leading to further land expansion, and the further spread of the Communist ideology.

Outcome
The invasions and further spread of Communism established Vologda's status as a rising star quickly, and with it, the fear of Communism.

Due to the ever-growing spread of the Communist ideology, neighboring countries and eventually nearly the entire world started to fear the escalating power of Vologda, particularly those to the North-West of Vologda Sosnogorsk (i.e. Bearstin, Rannoria, Kaitani, Afrikaanza) preaching about the "Red Plague" to the remaining nations, sowing fear of Communism into the hearts of everyone and encouraging resistance to the socialist movement and sabotaging Communist uprisings. In retaliation, many pro-Communist militia groups situated in nearly every country skirmished with the ruling authorities and sabotaged their systems (e.g.: First Bearstinian Civil War and Second Bearstinian Civil War).

The Second Aydinirian Empire and Rannoria, and some time later Justenia, eventually heard about the spread of Communism, and being the only three capable of stalling the Red Dragon's progress, was praised by other nations and was presented as the only forces powerful enough to do so. Tensions between Vologda against the Aydinirians, Rannorians and Justenians began to rise to a boiling point a while after, with the Justenian-Volgan tensions lasting until the present day, though not as intense.