An earlier rise of the Russian Empire

The earlier you go, the harder it is to achieve. Start in the 1400s and Russia isn't even fully united yet. Start in the 1200s and what would become the nucleus of Russia is is just a periphery of the Kievan Rus. And so on and so forth.

I personally believe that Russia arose more or less at the earliest point in time it could. The Empire itself was only founded in 1701, yes, but what would become that Empire had started to take shape in the early 1500s. The early 1500s was roughly the point in time when the collective Russian population began to numerically overpower their primary adversary at the time, Lithuania (later Poland-Lithuania), and by then, it was only a matter of time before the Russians establish themselves as a giant (barring some extremely poor luck in the 1600s, of course). A few lucky strokes - weaker Lithuanian expansion, softer Mongol yoke, maybe an Orthodox Lithuania - could bump that time of ascension a few decades earlier, but for the most part, economic and population factors are not easy to sway.
 
They colonize a good bit of the North American west coast. Could end up bumping into the Spanish in California.

Since the eastern part of Russia will likely be on maps, we'll establish the size of the Earth earlier, based on the meeting of Spain from the east and Russia from the west.

ETA: No Columbus - Russia has shown that there is land east of Japan so Columbus will know not to sail in that direction to try to reach India. Others might set out in hopes of seeing what's east of those huge mountains.
 
Fall of Lithuania during 16th century-Russia unites and fully assimilates Eastern Slavs, get access to the Baltic (thus to Western trade and ideas), uses Baltic Germans in administration, starts to modernize at least century earlier than IOTL.
 
A luckier reign for the late Rurikids could fit your criteria.
-Maximilian II of Austria lives beyond 1576 and mounts an army to contest his defeat against Stephen Báthory in the election to the Polish throne, starting a brief civil war. This could give the russians some precious time to better up their defenses in Livonia, which increases their chances of winning the Livonian War and acquiring the Baltic states a century before IOTL.
-Ivan IV does not kill his favorite son, Ivan Ivanovich, in a fit of rage in 1581. As a result, the succession crisis that culminated into the Time of Troubles is averted, even if the Russians will still have to deal with the 1601-03 famine.
ITTL, Russia is much better poised to deal with Sweden and the Commonwealth.
 
Last edited:
The earlier you go, the harder it is to achieve. Start in the 1400s and Russia isn't even fully united yet. Start in the 1200s and what would become the nucleus of Russia is is just a periphery of the Kievan Rus. And so on and so forth.

I personally believe that Russia arose more or less at the earliest point in time it could. The Empire itself was only founded in 1701, yes, but what would become that Empire had started to take shape in the early 1500s. The early 1500s was roughly the point in time when the collective Russian population began to numerically overpower their primary adversary at the time, Lithuania (later Poland-Lithuania), and by then, it was only a matter of time before the Russians establish themselves as a giant (barring some extremely poor luck in the 1600s, of course). A few lucky strokes - weaker Lithuanian expansion, softer Mongol yoke, maybe an Orthodox Lithuania - could bump that time of ascension a few decades earlier, but for the most part, economic and population factors are not easy to sway.
I think I will have to agree, at least when we want it to be done by the Duchy of Moscow or any successor state of it.
 
Maybe Kievan Rus conquering Cobstantinople and merge the two realms under a East Slavic crown ? An Orthodox Empire from the Volga to the Bosphorus.
That's not gonna happen as long as the Byzantines remain strong, which means it would probably need a post 1204 pod, which doesn't give much time to establish such an empire before the Mongols come knocking.
 

Deleted member 97083

An analogue to Cossacks seems like they could exist pre-gunpowder; after all, horse archers were known and used in various places in Europe like the Byzantine Empire and Spain. Maybe if the Byzantines keep Anatolia or never lose Bulgaria, a Byzantine mercenary group or Byzantine captives settle on the steppe, adopting the cavalry based warfare of the steppe confederacies, but political circumstances cause them to ally with the Rus or whoever occupies that region in the ATL. It's also possible that peoples like the Alans, or Christianized Khazars, could be recruited as part of this process, or in a separate scenario where the Byzantines focus heavily on forming buffer states on the Black Sea Coast.
 
An early union between Lithuania and Suzdal/Vladimir could start a resurgence of Rus in the 1300s.
However I fail to see why they would look east earlier than they did, everything they thought important was west and south.
 
That's not gonna happen as long as the Byzantines remain strong, which means it would probably need a post 1204 pod, which doesn't give much time to establish such an empire before the Mongols come knocking.
Actually, it almost happened in the late tenth century, during Sviatoslav's reign. He and his Pecheneg allies planned to besiege Constantinople during the 960's-970's as the Byzantines were preoccupied in Anatolia, but suffered defeat at the Battle of Arcadiopolis (970).
 
Top