A Survival of the House of Romanov?

Is there a possibility that the Russian succession of the 18th century can be less convoluted by allowing the Romanovs to survive in the male line?
There are two situations that IMO could work:

1) Peter the Great had three sons by Catherine I who lived longer than a year: Pyotr (1704-1707), Pavel (1705-1707) and another Pyotr (1715-1719). Could one of them live longer, and succeed one of his parents as Czar?

2) Pyotr II, the grandson of Peter the Great, was placed on the throne after the death of Ekaterina I. He died shortly before his wedding. Since the marriage was to Ekaterina Alekseyevna Dolgurokova, after the proposed marriage to Maria Alexandrovna Menshikova was called off. This to me seems a reversal of Peter the Great's policy of trying to open Russia up to the rest of Europe. Can he survive smallpox and what sort of Czar would he be? Who would an appropriate foreign-born Czarina be?
 
Is there no interest? I thought a Russia with a less unstable succession in the 18th century would be interesting.

Especially if Pyotr (Alexeievich or Petrovich) were to marry Elisabeth Katharina Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, only grandchild (that I've found, anyway) of Ivan V, and thus unite the Petrovich and Ivanovich branches.
 
You might want to change the title it is kind of confusing at first. Even if the male line of the Romanovs do survive the bigger question is what direction will they take Russia in.
 
Well, the further development of Russia after the western mold would be a given. Although Pyotr II might be more conservative since at the end of his life, he favored the Dolgurokovs (who were from the old nobility). Pyotr/Pavel Petrovich might be more energetic and far-reaching, and Pyotr the Great would probably devote much time to their education given that he has a son with a woman he loves to succeed as opposed to the detested sickly Alexei.
Also Pyotr II might be a reign much like that of Anna Ivanovna - in another words government by favorites (Biron, Ostermann etc).
Either way, it would be impossible to draw shut the Byzantine Russian curtains that Pyotr the Great had so forcefully torn open.
 
Not sure why the sons of or male-line grandsons of Peter the Great surviving would make a difference in itself.

None of them lived long enough to indicate what kind of personality or preferences they would have.

And Peter did for and to Alexei much of what would be expected of any of these males, so their experiences would be similar.

But Alexei was neither interested or up to it, and the rest is a tragedy.


I'm not going to say you can't have a different course of events. Just that you need these lads to be different than Alexei in this regard, which is not a given.

And even if they are so interested, what Peter has done has put some serious strains on Russia. Pushing too vigorously might have a severe backlash.
 
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