Volgans
Encyclopedia
The Volgans are a fiction
al fascist
Russian
government appearing in 2000 AD in the stories of Bill Savage
and the ABC Warriors
. The Volgans in both series are in the same fictional universe (or a nearly identical one) - this was explicitly shown shown with ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Book 1 referring to a specific event (the assassination of Marshal Vashkov) in Savage Book 2, and with Savage Book 5 featuring Ro-Busters
and ending with the Mk.1 Warriors being deployed.
The creators of Invasion! were originally going to use the Soviet Union and the Red Army
as the main villains who invaded the United Kingdom but had to change the name of the villains to the "Volgans" to avoid antagonizing the officials at the Soviet Embassy in London due to Britain and the Western world being engaged in détente
with the Soviet Union during the mid/late 1970s. In 2004, it was made explicitly clear the Volgans were Russians.
citizens into a fascist party named after the local river
. Leading the party
to a military coup in 1991, he declared himself the sole leader of a unified Russia which was renamed the Volgan Republic.
After new reserves of North Sea oil was discovered near Britain, he sought the help of a fifth column
to invade the country and much of Western Europe along with it. A deal was made with the United States ensuring that it did not get involved with the Volgan activities.
The result was the Eight Hour War of 1999, so named because it took that long for the Volgans to conquer the United Kingdom. The Midlands were hit by nuclear weaponry, diehard politicians and generals were executed, and defiant British army units were massacred at Stonehenge. Many Briton
s were sent to concentration camps
throughout the Volgan empire, and escapist literature such as bodice rippers and space opera
were used as a means of keeping the population pacified.
The invasion immediately led to a protracted occupation and an organised underground uprising by figures like the Free European Army, Traitor's Gate, former MI5 & military elements, and the notorious Bill Savage
who assassinated Vashkov. Collaborators were nicknamed "Double Yellows" after the twin yellow stripe on the uniform of British State Security officers. Those suspected of terrorism were sent to "Camp Sunshine" in Siberia
.
In 2004, a massive uprising led to the Volgans being pushed out of a large part of Britain. In 2006, however, there was a reoccupation under unknown circumstances, and by 2007 the Volgans (partially via a propaganda campaign) were becoming more accepted, and a Reconciliation Month was held as a goodwill gesture. At the same time, the United States fell out with the Volgans, and began both landing special forces in the Republic of Ireland
and arming the British resistance.
To force Savage and the resistance to cease operations, the Volgans framed them for civilian massacres and attempted to frame them for a rocket attack at St Paul's Cathedral
during Reconciliation Day festivities in order to make America cease their support for this resistance. Bill Savage's intervention meant the rocket was accidentally fired at a spy blimp instead, and when the Volgans executed a hundred civilians in retaliation - a known response to any attack on the blimp - America instead moved further to open hostilities.
In 2009, the US Air Force had "e-bombed" - meaning electromagnetic pulse
weapons - the occupied London, reducing technology to the level of 1984, and were using local guerillas to identify and bomb key targets in advance of an invasion. The Volgans ramped up fortications under the "Fortress Britannia" initiative, and tried to manipiulate the Allied landings into taking place at Holyhead
where defences were strongest. This failed, and the Americans deployed waves of robots
in a beach landing as an advance guard.
(leading to its unofficial name of the Fourth Oil War). As the war got bogged down, the Americans began replacing human soldiers with their ABC Warrior "War-Droids" on various battlefields in Europe and Russia, starting with the original Hammerstein
.
The Volgans themselves began using a vast horde of robots led by the patriotic Volkhan, with their armies including the titanic Stalin war-mechas and the jungle guerilla Straw Dogs under General Blackblood. Their robots were known to be of better quality than the Western ones (almost all designed by Howard Quartz
and, whereas the Western troops had human officers actively controlling the Warriors, the Volgans allowed Volkhan and Blackblood both autonomy and high rank. They could take direct action, command humans, and in Blackblood's case even carry out interrogation of humans. Volkhan himself was hideously powerful and proclaimed by the robots as "Ikon of Ikons", while he whipped them up in a frenzy to make the "ABC Criminals" "pay... the price for oil!".
Despite this, they lost the war after their leader, Marshal Volgod, was assassinated by the ABC Warrior Steelhorn.
Many former Volgan robots would be shipped to Mars as labour, while their commanders were incarcerated.
, and he has linked them into the Judge Dredd
universe. However they are conspicuously absent from the Judge Dredd stories created by other writers, most notably John Wagner
. ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Book 1 has retcon
ned them out of Dredd's universe by showing the war continuing into the 2080s, a decade after the rise of the Judges to power.
), infantry weapons (e.g. AK-74
s, AKSU-74s, AK-103
s etc.), and armoured vehicles (with the exception of the American-made Humvee 4WD truck which the Volgans use alongside their Soviet/Russian vehicles) in their brutal occupation of Great Britain and Western Europe.
The British Resistance/Free European Army forces are equipped with NATO small arms like the American-made M16A2
rifle and the German-made Heckler & Koch MP5
submachine gun. The use of NATO and American small arms by the British Resistance and the Free European Army is a sign that the United States and Canada are providing weapons to the resistance fighters in Britain and Europe.
Although often given fascist overtones, the Volgans are given a Soviet theme in The Volgan War, decorating themselves with hammer and sickle
s and Red star
s.
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
Russian
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
government appearing in 2000 AD in the stories of Bill Savage
Invasion! (2000 AD)
Invasion! was a series created by Pat Mills and mostly written by Gerry Finley-Day that appeared in the first 51 editions of the weekly comic 2000 AD....
and the ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors is a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in prog 119 in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of...
. The Volgans in both series are in the same fictional universe (or a nearly identical one) - this was explicitly shown shown with ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Book 1 referring to a specific event (the assassination of Marshal Vashkov) in Savage Book 2, and with Savage Book 5 featuring Ro-Busters
Ro-Busters
Ro-Busters is a British comic story that formed part of the original line-up of Starlord. Similar in premise to that of the Thunderbirds television series, it was created by writer Pat Mills and was drawn by Carlos Pino and Ian Kennedy initially, before Starlord's merger with 2000 AD...
and ending with the Mk.1 Warriors being deployed.
The creators of Invasion! were originally going to use the Soviet Union and the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
as the main villains who invaded the United Kingdom but had to change the name of the villains to the "Volgans" to avoid antagonizing the officials at the Soviet Embassy in London due to Britain and the Western world being engaged in détente
Détente
Détente is the easing of strained relations, especially in a political situation. The term is often used in reference to the general easing of relations between the Soviet Union and the United States in the 1970s, a thawing at a period roughly in the middle of the Cold War...
with the Soviet Union during the mid/late 1970s. In 2004, it was made explicitly clear the Volgans were Russians.
Volgan history
The Volgan Republic of Asia was founded when an individual called Vashkov united the VolgogradVolgograd
Volgograd , formerly called Tsaritsyn and Stalingrad is an important industrial city and the administrative center of Volgograd Oblast, Russia. It is long, north to south, situated on the western bank of the Volga River...
citizens into a fascist party named after the local river
Volga River
The Volga is the largest river in Europe in terms of length, discharge, and watershed. It flows through central Russia, and is widely viewed as the national river of Russia. Out of the twenty largest cities of Russia, eleven, including the capital Moscow, are situated in the Volga's drainage...
. Leading the party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
to a military coup in 1991, he declared himself the sole leader of a unified Russia which was renamed the Volgan Republic.
After new reserves of North Sea oil was discovered near Britain, he sought the help of a fifth column
Fifth column
A fifth column is a group of people who clandestinely undermine a larger group such as a nation from within.-Origin:The term originated with a 1936 radio address by Emilio Mola, a Nationalist General during the 1936–39 Spanish Civil War...
to invade the country and much of Western Europe along with it. A deal was made with the United States ensuring that it did not get involved with the Volgan activities.
The result was the Eight Hour War of 1999, so named because it took that long for the Volgans to conquer the United Kingdom. The Midlands were hit by nuclear weaponry, diehard politicians and generals were executed, and defiant British army units were massacred at Stonehenge. Many Briton
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
s were sent to concentration camps
Internment
Internment is the imprisonment or confinement of people, commonly in large groups, without trial. The Oxford English Dictionary gives the meaning as: "The action of 'interning'; confinement within the limits of a country or place." Most modern usage is about individuals, and there is a distinction...
throughout the Volgan empire, and escapist literature such as bodice rippers and space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
were used as a means of keeping the population pacified.
The invasion immediately led to a protracted occupation and an organised underground uprising by figures like the Free European Army, Traitor's Gate, former MI5 & military elements, and the notorious Bill Savage
Bill Savage
Bill Savage is a fictional character in 2000 AD. He first appeared in the story Invasion! in progs 1-51. He is a resistance fighter in the Free European Army against the Volgans, who invaded and conquered Britain in 1999 during the Eight Hour War...
who assassinated Vashkov. Collaborators were nicknamed "Double Yellows" after the twin yellow stripe on the uniform of British State Security officers. Those suspected of terrorism were sent to "Camp Sunshine" in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
.
In 2004, a massive uprising led to the Volgans being pushed out of a large part of Britain. In 2006, however, there was a reoccupation under unknown circumstances, and by 2007 the Volgans (partially via a propaganda campaign) were becoming more accepted, and a Reconciliation Month was held as a goodwill gesture. At the same time, the United States fell out with the Volgans, and began both landing special forces in the Republic of Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and arming the British resistance.
To force Savage and the resistance to cease operations, the Volgans framed them for civilian massacres and attempted to frame them for a rocket attack at St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, London, is a Church of England cathedral and seat of the Bishop of London. Its dedication to Paul the Apostle dates back to the original church on this site, founded in AD 604. St Paul's sits at the top of Ludgate Hill, the highest point in the City of London, and is the mother...
during Reconciliation Day festivities in order to make America cease their support for this resistance. Bill Savage's intervention meant the rocket was accidentally fired at a spy blimp instead, and when the Volgans executed a hundred civilians in retaliation - a known response to any attack on the blimp - America instead moved further to open hostilities.
In 2009, the US Air Force had "e-bombed" - meaning electromagnetic pulse
Electromagnetic pulse
An electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
weapons - the occupied London, reducing technology to the level of 1984, and were using local guerillas to identify and bomb key targets in advance of an invasion. The Volgans ramped up fortications under the "Fortress Britannia" initiative, and tried to manipiulate the Allied landings into taking place at Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
where defences were strongest. This failed, and the Americans deployed waves of robots
ABC Warriors
ABC Warriors is a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in prog 119 in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of...
in a beach landing as an advance guard.
The Volgan War/Fourth Oil War
With the world's oil reserves finally running out, the United States started the "The Volgan War" under the guise of liberation but with the sole intention of capturing much needed oil reservesOil reserves
The total estimated amount of oil in an oil reservoir, including both producible and non-producible oil, is called oil in place. However, because of reservoir characteristics and limitations in petroleum extraction technologies, only a fraction of this oil can be brought to the surface, and it is...
(leading to its unofficial name of the Fourth Oil War). As the war got bogged down, the Americans began replacing human soldiers with their ABC Warrior "War-Droids" on various battlefields in Europe and Russia, starting with the original Hammerstein
Hammerstein (robot)
Hammerstein is a fictional robot created by Pat Mills who first appeared in 1978 as a member of Ro-Busters in the British comic Starlord but is best known as the leader of the ABC Warriors in 2000AD.-Physical description:...
.
The Volgans themselves began using a vast horde of robots led by the patriotic Volkhan, with their armies including the titanic Stalin war-mechas and the jungle guerilla Straw Dogs under General Blackblood. Their robots were known to be of better quality than the Western ones (almost all designed by Howard Quartz
Ro-Busters
Ro-Busters is a British comic story that formed part of the original line-up of Starlord. Similar in premise to that of the Thunderbirds television series, it was created by writer Pat Mills and was drawn by Carlos Pino and Ian Kennedy initially, before Starlord's merger with 2000 AD...
and, whereas the Western troops had human officers actively controlling the Warriors, the Volgans allowed Volkhan and Blackblood both autonomy and high rank. They could take direct action, command humans, and in Blackblood's case even carry out interrogation of humans. Volkhan himself was hideously powerful and proclaimed by the robots as "Ikon of Ikons", while he whipped them up in a frenzy to make the "ABC Criminals" "pay... the price for oil!".
Despite this, they lost the war after their leader, Marshal Volgod, was assassinated by the ABC Warrior Steelhorn.
Many former Volgan robots would be shipped to Mars as labour, while their commanders were incarcerated.
History within 2000 AD
The Volgans have featured in many 2000 AD stories created by Pat MillsPat Mills
Pat Mills, nicknamed 'the godfather of British comics', is a comics writer and editor who, along with John Wagner, revitalised British boys comics in the 1970s, and has remained a leading light in British comics ever since....
, and he has linked them into the Judge Dredd
Judge Dredd
Judge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
universe. However they are conspicuously absent from the Judge Dredd stories created by other writers, most notably John Wagner
John Wagner
John Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
. ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Book 1 has retcon
Retcon
Retroactive continuity is the alteration of previously established facts in a fictional work. Retcons are done for many reasons, including the accommodation of sequels or further derivative works in a series, wherein newer authors or creators want to revise the in-story history to allow a course...
ned them out of Dredd's universe by showing the war continuing into the 2080s, a decade after the rise of the Judges to power.
Notable Volgans
- Marshal Vashkov - Founder and first Marshal Killed by Savage in 2004
- ColonelColonelColonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Rosa Volgaska - Head of State Security - Mr. Granville - Head of DisinformationDisinformationDisinformation is intentionally false or inaccurate information that is spread deliberately. For this reason, it is synonymous with and sometimes called black propaganda. It is an act of deception and false statements to convince someone of untruth...
and Psychological warfarePsychological warfarePsychological warfare , or the basic aspects of modern psychological operations , have been known by many other names or terms, including Psy Ops, Political Warfare, “Hearts and Minds,” and Propaganda...
against TerrorismTerrorismTerrorism is the systematic use of terror, especially as a means of coercion. In the international community, however, terrorism has no universally agreed, legally binding, criminal law definition... - Field MarshalField MarshalField Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...
Zinski - High ranking Military officer - Captain Svetlana Jaksic
- Dr Zakaroff
War Droids
- Volkhan - Supreme commanderCommander-in-ChiefA commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of the Volgan MilitaryMilitaryA military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g... - Old Horny - First War-Droid built
- General Blackblood - Leader of the Straw Dogs
Appearance and real-world parallels
The appearance of the Volgan soldiers is similar to the uniforms and weapons of the Red Army. In 2004 when Savage: Taking Liberties was published, the uniforms and the body armour of the Volgan soldiers began to resemble the combat uniforms of American soldiers (possibly as a reference to the US/Allied invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 by the writers of the Savage comic series). Despite the change in the appearance of the uniforms and body armour, the Volgans still used Soviet/Russian weaponry and vehicles like helicopters (e.g. the Mil Mi-24 "Hind" attack helicoptersMil Mi-24
The Mil Mi-24 is a large helicopter gunship and attack helicopter and low-capacity troop transport with room for 8 passengers. It is produced by Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant and operated since 1972 by the Soviet Air Force, its successors, and by over thirty other nations.In NATO circles the export...
), infantry weapons (e.g. AK-74
AK-74
The AK-74 is an assault rifle developed in the early 1970s in the Soviet Union as the replacement for the earlier AKM...
s, AKSU-74s, AK-103
AK-103
The AK-103 is a modern, Russian-designed version of the famous AKM assault rifle, chambered for the 7.62×39mm M43 round. It combines the AKM design with developments from the AK-74 and AK-74M, with the use of plastics to replace metal or wooden components wherever possible to reduce overall weight...
s etc.), and armoured vehicles (with the exception of the American-made Humvee 4WD truck which the Volgans use alongside their Soviet/Russian vehicles) in their brutal occupation of Great Britain and Western Europe.
The British Resistance/Free European Army forces are equipped with NATO small arms like the American-made M16A2
M16 rifle
The M16 is the United States military designation for the AR-15 rifle adapted for both semi-automatic and full-automatic fire. Colt purchased the rights to the AR-15 from ArmaLite, and currently uses that designation only for semi-automatic versions of the rifle. The M16 fires the 5.56×45mm NATO...
rifle and the German-made Heckler & Koch MP5
Heckler & Koch MP5
The Heckler & Koch MP5 is a 9mm submachine gun of German design, developed in the 1960s by a team of engineers from the German small arms manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH of Oberndorf am Neckar....
submachine gun. The use of NATO and American small arms by the British Resistance and the Free European Army is a sign that the United States and Canada are providing weapons to the resistance fighters in Britain and Europe.
Although often given fascist overtones, the Volgans are given a Soviet theme in The Volgan War, decorating themselves with hammer and sickle
Hammer and sickle
The hammer and sickle is a part of communist symbolism and its usage indicates an association with Communism, a Communist party, or a Communist state. It features a hammer and a sickle overlapping each other. The two tools are symbols of the industrial proletariat and the peasantry; placing them...
s and Red star
Red star
A red star, five-pointed and filled, is an important ideological and religious symbol which has been used for various purposes, such as: state emblems, flags, monuments, ornaments, and logos.- Symbol of communism :...
s.