Alternate Russian Capital

After learning that Novgorod had little chance of unifying Russia (the hard way) I want to know what city could have become the capital of Russia, such as Tver, Nizhy Novgorod or Yaroslavl?

I am talking about the unification of Russia here, so no "St. Petersburg".
 
Matthias Corvinus: :cool::D:cool:

In my long-forgotten "Unholy Roman Empire" timeline, the city that more or less unified Russia was Tver, which overcame Moscow as one of the butterflies from the POD (successful Third Crusade). Novgorod, on the other hand, drifted more towards the Baltic trade, to where it was far less "Russian" and probably more Scandinavian/German-oriented. Of course, another side effect was that this eventual Tverian "Russia" was smaller, and that an alternate "Kievan Rus" emerged in OTL Ukraine territories, but Tver was still playing the role similar to Moscow of OTL...
 
Yaroslavl', Vladimir or Suzdal or perhaps Ryazan and Pereslavl' in addition to T'ver are probably the best bets depending on Mongol invasions and what follows in their aftermath. Btw, thats probably the order I would put them in as well.

I assume we are ignoring St. Petersburg for the moment.
 
Assuming Mongols (who more or less set the border between Russia nad Ukraine/Belarus), it should definitely be some city in Volga basin, as rivers were THE roads of Russia then and anything on Dnepr can't control Volga basin. So, beside OTL pretenders Tver and Nizhni Novgorod, what do we have? Yaroslavl (unlikely, too far North and no obvious advantages over Moscow), Ryazan (OTL pretender, but too close to The Steppe to be serious contender, alway under threat of Mongol attack), Vladimir (most likely, as it was fluke of dynastic struggle among Northern Rurikids what diminished it's role). May be Suzdal, but I'm really pushing here.
 
Finally, how about Kiev? Let's presume some different dynastic squabbles amongst the Rurikids, resulting in Kievan branch of the dynasty managing to either hold off or buy off the Mongols (more likely the latter), while the Mongols rampage in the north? Of course, this would lead to "Russia" most different from OTL, but also with less of a need for Kiev to prove its primacy, as it was already technically the capital of the Rus (which was more of a HRE-like entity due to its peculiar dynastic structure).

(and also the fact that it is my home city :) )
 
Finally, how about Kiev? Let's presume some different dynastic squabbles amongst the Rurikids, resulting in Kievan branch of the dynasty managing to either hold off or buy off the Mongols (more likely the latter), while the Mongols rampage in the north?
Once you butterfly Mongols away everything is possible (I suspect we should plan for two Orthodox Russias of comparable strength, one centered around Volga basin and one around Dnepr and everything West of it, not current "Senior Brother Russia and Junior Brother Ukraine" business), but I was under the impression that OP meant post-Mongol consolidation. So POD is sometimes post-1250 AD and Kiev can act as good prop for "World after Nuclear War" movie :(
 
Once you butterfly Mongols away everything is possible (I suspect we should plan for two Orthodox Russias of comparable strength, one centered around Volga basin and one around Dnepr and everything West of it, not current "Senior Brother Russia and Junior Brother Ukraine" business), but I was under the impression that OP meant post-Mongol consolidation. So POD is sometimes post-1250 AD and Kiev can act as good prop for "World after Nuclear War" movie :(

Well, I was thinking not butterflying away the Mongols, but perhaps redirecting them a bit, and putting someone more... sensible in charge in Kiev, who would be willing to deal with the Mongols shortly after the Kalka disaster (1237). Even then, Danilo of Halych-Volhyn managed to capture Kiev shortly after the Mongols did their thing (1250s-1260s, if I recall correctly), and with a few things turning out differently, could have possibly considered Kiev to be a symbolic capital and restored it to a semblance of prominence, if not Danilo himself, then one of his immediate successors. If one lets Moscow suffer a few more disasters than in OTL, the restored Kievan Rus may yet take place of "Russia", although it will be much more influenced by Poland and Lithuania at the time, given Halych-Volhyn's historical focus on the Western relations. It will, of course, be a wildly different state in character and geopolitical orientation from OTL Russia...
 
Of course, this would lead to "Russia" most different from OTL, but also with less of a need for Kiev to prove its primacy, as it was already technically the capital of the Rus (which was more of a HRE-like entity due to its peculiar dynastic structure).

Didn't Kiev lost the status as "capital" of Old Russia several decades prior to the Mongol-Invasion?
 
If one lets Moscow suffer a few more disasters than in OTL, the restored Kievan Rus may yet take place of "Russia", although it will be much more influenced by Poland and Lithuania at the time, given Halych-Volhyn's historical focus on the Western relations.
OK, how about that: let Mongols to mop up ALL Kievan Rus under the Golden Horde banner, not leaving scraps for Lithuanian Dukes to pick up. That makes Kiev (restored by Daniil/Danilo/Daniel, who becomes Horde's client ITTL) "Second Capital of Horde", one controlling trade with Black Sea and Mediterranean. Due to Sarai's closeness to Horde's steppe heartland it remains "Nomad Capital", with Kiev assuming leadership over Slavic lands by leaps and bounds. Sometimes in 14th century this situation leads to open rift (much as it happened IOTL between Moscow and New Sarai). There may even be some renegade offspring of Genghis on the throne of New Kievan Czardom, although I think Rurikid is more likely.

Didn't Kiev lost the status as "capital" of Old Russia several decades prior to the Mongol-Invasion?
Importance yes, status no. Much like in HRE, Kievan Prince has no real authority over other domains but was considered "Senior".
 
Even if it was ruled by the junior brother of an another mightier prince?
It could not. There was very complicated system of transfer of princedoms between family members (Rus was considered something of collective property of the family, princes "sat on the throne" of the certain principality, not "owned" it; every death of important prince was reason of complicated movement of his cousins, brothers, sons and nephews). Kievan principality became domain of most powerful member of the family every time (at least it was supposed to, several times really mighty princes refused Kievan throne, leaving situation uncertain).
 
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