AHC:Largest Possible Poland-Lithuania

Possible personal union between PLC and Russia during the Time of Troubles? I recall that Sigismund III Wasa's son, Wladyslaw, had supporters for him being the next ruler of Russia.
 
I wonder, if the Russian states never unified, if Poland-Lithuania might replace Russia as a trans-Siberian empire.
This.

However, without the Russian threat, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania would have likely stayed in personal union with the Kingdom of Poland for much longer (they were forced to transform the personal union into a loose federation under Polish leadership in 1569 after Ivan the Terrible's armies took large bits out of the Grand Duchy). With Russian provinces of the GDL growing relatively fast, it would be likely to grow stronger than its Polish partner at some point in the 17th century, and then probably try to enact an alt-Lublin Union, creating a Lithuania-Poland (probably with its capital in Vilnius) instead of OTL's Poland-Lithuania.
 
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I wonder, if the Russian states never unified, if Poland-Lithuania might replace Russia as a trans-Siberian empire.

It might have, but you'd still have the mix of ethnic Russians and Ukrainians colonising Siberia. Probably way more Poles in the Ukrainian steppe, and more Polonised Ukraine (we'll just assume that anything like Chmielnicki's rebellion is either butterflied or quickly crushed if we want maximum Poland-Lithuania).

I bet at some point this Poland might go west, too--a Poland-Lithuania with modern-day Poland's western border seems like a natural ambition, of course ignoring the fact that in many of those places Poles (or any Slavs) hadn't been present in any noteworthy amount since the Middle Ages.

This.

However, without the Russian threat, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania would have likely stayed in personal union with the Kingdom of Poland for much longer (they were forced to transform the personal union into a loose federation under Polish leadership in 1569 after Ivan the Terrible's armies took large bits out of the Grand Duchy). With Russian provinces of the GDL growing relatively fast, it would be likely to grow stronger than its Polish partner at some point in the 17th century, and then probably try to enact an alt-Lublin Union, creating a Lithuania-Poland (probably with its capital in Vilnius) instead of OTL's Poland-Lithuania.

Since this Lithuania would be dominated by Russians and other Slavs, wouldn't the capital be in Kiev or Moscow or Minsk or any other major Slavic city? Of course, Vilnius was pretty Slavicised, since well into the 19th century Lithuanians were a small minority there (and even outside the city it had very large amounts of Poles).
 
Since this Lithuania would be dominated by Russians and other Slavs, wouldn't the capital be in Kiev or Moscow or Minsk or any other major Slavic city? Of course, Vilnius was pretty Slavicised, since well into the 19th century Lithuanians were a small minority there (and even outside the city it had very large amounts of Poles).
Vilnius (or rather Vilna in Ruthenian) was the ancestral capital of the Lithuanian dynasty, and thus politically much more important than any other city in the GDL. It would likely stay that way in the Greater Lithuania envisioned here as well. Also, political power often attracts population and wealth to otherwise unattractive locations (for instance, Warsaw was a backwater town before the 17th century, but become a great city by the late 18th century; Moscow was economically less important than Novgorod, Vladimir and likely a few other Russian cities in the early 14th century, but the ascent of the Grand Duchy of Moscow allowed its capital to overtake all competitors by the end of the 16th century; Calcutta was a minor city before the British turned it into the capital of their Indian empire).
 
Have Duke Charles fail his rebellion so Poland and Sweden are in a union as well (least for the short term). Possibly get them to be able to put someone on the Russian throng or at least Novgorod.
 
The only thing would be to convince the Russian nobles to have a Catholic on the throne. Wladyslaw was not successful because his father would not allow him to convert to Orthodoxy.
 

PhilippeO

Banned
Isn't it easier to have Bohemia, Silesia, Moravia and Hungary rather than Russia ? Russia already orthodox at the time of PLC, while Bohemia and Hungary is Catholic. depend on when Bohemia absorbed into PLC, Huss could even be butterfly-ed.
 
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