Using any change of events you like get the population of the Russian Pacific Coast City, Vladivostok over 1,000,000 people. The last survey showed it was at about 605,000 people. These changes can be in the Tsarist Era, The Soviet Era, or more recently in the Post-Soviet era. They can be well grounded and thought out or crazy alien space bats territory. One of each if you'd like. Bonus points for enlarging the cities physical size too right now it's about 330 square km's (125 square miles.) Even more bonus points if you can make it a city rivaling Moscow, or St. Petersburg.
AHC: Vladivostok Population Over 1 Million?
- Thread starter brokenrobot00
- Start date
Stalin REALLY wants to make sure his arms factories are beyond the range of the Luftwaffe?
Since it's the eastern end of the Trans-Siberian railroad, maybe it can establish more commercial shipping connections with Vancouver, Seattle and the rest of the North American west coast. In a free commercial world, add Japan. Of course, you would need to change the priorities of communism, reduce/change the progress of WW2, eliminate the Cold War, or some other combination of events.
Deleted member 109224
Avoid Communism. More capitalism would mean more economic activity in general in Russia, which probably means more trade, which means more more trade going through Russia's biggest Pacific Port, which means more economic activity in that port city specifically, which means more people.
Alternatively, have the Soviets occupy a slice of Japan and the US and USSR agree to jointly leave Japan and turn it into a Switzerland/Finland style neutral state. Japan develops a relationship with the USSR as a funnel for outside technology and commercial goods to get into the country, and those goods principally come through Vladivostok. Additional economic activity in Vladivostok results in more people living in Vladivostok.
Alternatively, have the Soviets occupy a slice of Japan and the US and USSR agree to jointly leave Japan and turn it into a Switzerland/Finland style neutral state. Japan develops a relationship with the USSR as a funnel for outside technology and commercial goods to get into the country, and those goods principally come through Vladivostok. Additional economic activity in Vladivostok results in more people living in Vladivostok.
One idea: some high-profile Korean communists befriend the Soviet leadership, and thus the USSR has more pro-Korean policies. Maybe Kim Tu-bong moves his Korean independence movement's government in exile to Vladivostok following the end of the Russian Civil War, and becomes friends with the Soviet leadership. They convince the Soviet government not to stop the Korean immigration to the Far East, and even support it via the establishment of a Korean ASSR (or even Korean SSR) in Primorsky Krai, as part of the Korenizatsiya movement.. Instead of viewing the Koreans as suspicious due to their ties to the Japanese Empire, the USSR views their Korean ASSR as a step towards liberating the whole of Korea (similar to their use of the Moldavian ASSR to justify their claims to all of Moldavia).
In the interwar period, the Pimorsky Krai region (now Korean SSR) continues to take in a lot of Korean immigration opposed to Japanese rule, and these immigrants are therefore mostly pro-Soviet (as their new government in the USSR, unlike Japan, allows them to use their own language, etc)
WW2 happens much as in OTL; following WW2, the USSR lets the Korean SSR become officially independent (with its capital in Vladivostok, now renamed Sinhanchon). The USSR allows it because that region is mostly Korean at this point, and clearly very loyal to the USSR regardless, to they decide to officially make it independent (though nothing much changes de facto) in an attempt to garner more support in the upcoming Korean War.
Korean War happens; Korea is partitioned similarly to in OTL. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea (a Soviet puppet) keeps its capital in Vladivostok/Sinhanchon, because of its existing role as the capital of the Korean SSR, and because they didn't manage to gain control of Seoul. (though they officially claim Seoul as their capital)
Sinhanchon (Vladivostok) performs the same role as the North Korean capital that Pyongyang did IOTL; Pyongyang stays much smaller (less than a million people) whereas Sinhanchon, by 1990, has about 3 million people.
ITTL, North Korea doesn't end up with Juche, instead staying much closer to the Soviet system, due to the countries' strong ties. (And in fact, Kim Il-Sung never even becomes its leader- Kim Tu-Bong is the first North Korean leader). Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the 1990s, the two Koreas successfully agree to merge along the German model. One of North Korea's conditions of the merger is that while Seoul remains the ceremonial capital, the center of government is to be located in Sinhanchon. (this is because South Korea's economy is stronger, so North Korea was worried about being left behind, and wants to ensure that the country as a whole has more focus on the North).
The newly-reunited and capitalist Republic of Korea experiences rapid economic growth, and its capital of Sinhanchon in particular grows a lot. By 2020, the population of Sinhanchon (including its metropolitan area) has reached around 8 million people.
In the interwar period, the Pimorsky Krai region (now Korean SSR) continues to take in a lot of Korean immigration opposed to Japanese rule, and these immigrants are therefore mostly pro-Soviet (as their new government in the USSR, unlike Japan, allows them to use their own language, etc)
WW2 happens much as in OTL; following WW2, the USSR lets the Korean SSR become officially independent (with its capital in Vladivostok, now renamed Sinhanchon). The USSR allows it because that region is mostly Korean at this point, and clearly very loyal to the USSR regardless, to they decide to officially make it independent (though nothing much changes de facto) in an attempt to garner more support in the upcoming Korean War.
Korean War happens; Korea is partitioned similarly to in OTL. The Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea (a Soviet puppet) keeps its capital in Vladivostok/Sinhanchon, because of its existing role as the capital of the Korean SSR, and because they didn't manage to gain control of Seoul. (though they officially claim Seoul as their capital)
Sinhanchon (Vladivostok) performs the same role as the North Korean capital that Pyongyang did IOTL; Pyongyang stays much smaller (less than a million people) whereas Sinhanchon, by 1990, has about 3 million people.
ITTL, North Korea doesn't end up with Juche, instead staying much closer to the Soviet system, due to the countries' strong ties. (And in fact, Kim Il-Sung never even becomes its leader- Kim Tu-Bong is the first North Korean leader). Following the collapse of the Soviet bloc in the 1990s, the two Koreas successfully agree to merge along the German model. One of North Korea's conditions of the merger is that while Seoul remains the ceremonial capital, the center of government is to be located in Sinhanchon. (this is because South Korea's economy is stronger, so North Korea was worried about being left behind, and wants to ensure that the country as a whole has more focus on the North).
The newly-reunited and capitalist Republic of Korea experiences rapid economic growth, and its capital of Sinhanchon in particular grows a lot. By 2020, the population of Sinhanchon (including its metropolitan area) has reached around 8 million people.
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Avoid WWI, Russia remains open to trade and the world doesn't go full on protectionist. Vladivostok can become a massive exit port for grain bound for Japan.