Dices and Rivers: A Different 20th Century

Winter Palace, St. Petersburg, 13 March 1881


Noble Frank Jackowski: Is his Imperial Majesty ready?

Cossack 1: Sir, His Majesty said that he would be ready in just a few minutes.

Jackowski:
He is a bit late today. Well, a few minutes is alright.

Cossack 2 (Coming out of the Palace' s main entrance) : Sir, unfortunately, His Majesty cannot go today. His doctors said that he has developed a flu, and would be bedridden for the next three days.

Jackowski: I see. Who will substitute him?

Cossack 2: An aide would take his Majesty's place, sir.

(A few minutes later....)

Aide (in a happy voice): His Majesty is not available today due to a flu. Oh well, the show must go on!


20 March 1881, in a forest near Luga

Tsar Alexander II wanted to stab them himself. Oh well, at least he was able to shoot a whole group at Tsaritsyn, after the arrest of the majority of Narodnaya Volya members. He watches as these idiots are being tied up to the gallows.


Alexander: What a bunch of impatient cretins.

Count Loris-Melikov: That is why reform is important. Look at Finland. Ever since giving them some sort of freedom they stopped throwing bombs at us. We should do the same to other nationalities.

Alexander: Are you sure about the plan?

Melikov: This is the only to make them shut up.

Alexander: Oh well, fine. Don't fail me. Another problem is my son. His ideas are a far differ from ours. What shall we do about him?

Melikov: We can only hope that your reforms are enough for him to be unable to undo them when he sits on the throne. And that time is coming fast.
 
Hm, a TL of a more liberal and less autocratic Tsarist Russia under Alexander II. I'm certainly looking forward to more, and certainly want to see what happens next.
 
I have yet to read all the way through. But it is interesting. So even as Russia grants autonomy the 'mainstream' Russian population migrates within the empire's borders increasing the hold?
 
I just read this, and I liked it... save for the last update. The British were not stupid, they knew USW was a terrible idea, and their sheer naval size meant that there was no need for it. Even if the Germans had started doing so, the British would probably tell them to back down, since the British were one of the first to recognize the power that the US was becoming in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and did not want to risk provoking them. On top of that, in OTL, the British are the ones that presented the Zimmerman telegram in the first place, which basically means that the British went completely against their whole seas rhetoric, acted like complete derps toward a power that they KNEW was emerging fast and didn't tell the Germans to back down even when it would have been what they most likely would have done. And also, the British agreed not to mess with American ships anymore after The War of 1812 AFAIK. And why would it be called the Zimmerman telegram TTL? It was called that because Zimmerman was either the foreign minister of Germany or the diplomat in Mexico for Germany at this time, so it needs a new name if you are truly going with that route.

Also, switching topics here, you said that the French and Italians have firm control of the med. But you never mentioned the French building defenses in Provence, and with the Alliance firmly in control of the straights of Gibraltar, and the Dardanelles, there is no way that mass famines and starvation isn't breaking out from blockades. Since the Japanese have control of Sakhalin, Vladivostok is rendered useless in that regard, Sevastopol is useless since the Alliance has control of the Bosporus, Dardanelle, and the Straits of Gibraltar, and any Baltic ports would be blocked by the Germans. So what is the whole deal with what is going on in the Entente countries?
 
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You just took Kenya from the British:eek:. They are NOT, I repeat, NOT going to enjoy that. Northern Ireland would not become part of a United Ireland. If you force them to then it will become Sudetenland 2.0, with the Northern Irish desperately wanting to join the British, unless you expect ethnic cleansing to do the work for you there... Though, they do keep the Suez Canal, and with it, guaranteed control over Egypt. And the Greek public in OTL WWI was mainly pro-british, so if they joined the war they would join on whatever side Britain is on. They don't really care about fighting alongside the Ottomans, as the Second Balkan War showed us. I really should stop being pessimistic here, so I will just stop lurking and mozzy on out of here. Good luck on your TL.
 
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