The discussion of countries that potentially could exist, but in our own timeline did not for whatever reason - whether different forms of countries that exist today, or nations for ethnic or regional groups that never received statehood OTL - is a common enough topic, but one I find of similar gravity is the opposite: countries that exist, but easily could have never come to be, particularly within the modern era. Granted there is a lot of wiggle room regarding empires that OTL collapsed simply not doing so, but nonetheless I find them interesting ideas to consider with regard to how sovereignty impacts national identity.
The purpose of this thread is, therefore, to discuss that - countries that in other timelines easily could not exist at all, and how that would impact the viewpoints of their would-be peoples and the state of the world itself.
Probably the most striking example to me is Armenia. If you avoid the collapse of the Russian Empire and have the Ottoman Empire go down a similar-to-OTL path regarding its non-Turkish minorities, then it's unlikely that Armenia would come to exist as anything more than an autonomous ethnic region of a reformed Russian state. Moreover, without an independent Armenia it seems unlikely that recognition of the Armenian Genocide would be nearly as widespread - comparisons with the Circassian Genocide seem more apt in such a scenario.
The purpose of this thread is, therefore, to discuss that - countries that in other timelines easily could not exist at all, and how that would impact the viewpoints of their would-be peoples and the state of the world itself.
Probably the most striking example to me is Armenia. If you avoid the collapse of the Russian Empire and have the Ottoman Empire go down a similar-to-OTL path regarding its non-Turkish minorities, then it's unlikely that Armenia would come to exist as anything more than an autonomous ethnic region of a reformed Russian state. Moreover, without an independent Armenia it seems unlikely that recognition of the Armenian Genocide would be nearly as widespread - comparisons with the Circassian Genocide seem more apt in such a scenario.