Volgans
The Volgans are a fictional 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[original research?] (or a nearly identical one) - this was most recently shown with ABC Warriors: The Volgan War Book 1 referring to a specific event (the assassination of Marshal Vashkov) in Savage Book 2.
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.[1] 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 Volgograd citizens into a fascist party named after the local river. Leading the party to a military coup in 1991 [2], 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. 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 [3]. Many Britons were sent to concentration camps throughout the 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.
A deal was made with the United States ensuring that it did not get involved with the Volgan activities.
The Volgan War/Fourth Oil War
Many decades later and with the oil finally running out, the United States started the "The Volgan War" with the sole intention of capturing much needed oil reserves (leading to its unofficial name of the Fourth Oil War). As the war got bogged down the Americans sent in their ABC Warrior "War-Droids" on various battlefields in Europe and Russia, where robots such as Hammerstein fought their Volgan counterparts. These droids were sent by human officers which were safely behind the lines and observing the battlefield via telepresence, to attack the Volgan droids in stragetically placed positions.
The Volgans themselves used 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. Despite this, they lost the war after their leader, Marshal Volgod, was assassinated by the ABC Warrior Steelhorn.
History within 2000 AD
The Volgans have featured in many 2000 AD stories created by Pat Mills, 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 retconned 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
- Marshall Vashkov - Founder and first Marshal
- Colonel Rosa Volgaska - Head of State Security
- Mr. Granville - Head of Disinformation and Psychological warfare against Terrorism
- Field Marshal Zinski - High ranking Military officer
- Captain Svetlana Jaksic
- Dr Zakaroff
War Droids
- Volkhan - Supreme commander of the Volgan Military
- 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 helicopters), infantry weapons (e.g. AK-74s, AKSU-74s, AK-103s 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 M-16A2 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.