Earlier Russian Expansion...Gives Catherine the Great a head start:

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
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Original idea credited to Alex Milman on soc.history.what-if

"In OTL during the Russian - Ottoman War of 1735 - 39, Russian troops under
fieldmarshals Munnich and Lacy conquered the Crimean peninsula and captured
fortresses Ochakov, Khotin and Iasi (Eastern Romania). However, all these
successes ended up with nothing thanks to a bad logistics and the Austrian
allies. Crimean Khanate was annexed only in 1783 and Ochakov during the war
of 1788 - 92 (which also involved taking of Khotin and Iasi and giving them
back to the Ottomans) when the border on Dniester had been established.

What if the war of 1735 - 39 ended up with Russia retaining most of the
territories it conquered and the border of 1792? If we assume that Catherine II
will still want to expand at the Ottoman's expense, there is no need to
re-conquer the Black Sea Northern coast: the campaigns will start on Dniester
and can easily end up with the Ottoman loss of Moldavia, Romania and perhaps
even Bulgaria."

Supposing this happens, perhaps the map of southeast Europe could look like this by Catherine's death in 1796?

Alex's Early Russian Expansion map alternate borders at death of Catherine the Great.jpg


Your thoughts on plausibility?
 
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