Before ethnic cleansings throughout eastern europe, especially the holodomor; ethnic ukrainians extended considerably past their modern border. With a POD around WW1 could we plausibly have a considerably larger Ukraine, encompassing almost all ethnic Ukrainians or speakers of Ukrainian as a first language?
I don't know much about this region in this period of history, so I'm mostly going off of information from wikipedia. Please correct me if I'm wrong about anything.
Rough Timeline, same as OTL in italics:
1914
One of Austria-Hungary's shells does more damage than OTL thanks to a lucky gust of wind.
1915
Britain sends an officer to Romania to attempt to bring them into the Entente. The officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Thomson, suspects that Romania will do more good as an officially neutral, entente leaning state, supplying oil and food and forcing the CPs to keep divisions guarding their borders.
The British reluctantly agree with Thomson.
1917
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates.
CPs appear on the verge of victory in the east. They foresee difficulty occupying the vast expanses of Russia they have seized, and expect to keep for some time.
The German Empire sends a delegate; a noble relative of both king Ferdinand I of Romania and Wilhelm II of Germany, to seek Romanian help. He successfully convinces the Romanians to declare war on Russia for Bessarabia. The Romanians are told that the entente is soon to collapse and won't declare on Romania. Romania is also promised that if they commit forces to other areas of the war, or in exchange for food or oil, they may receive some small Romanian majority parts of Austria-Hungary after the war.
The Entente and CPs both send feelers to minorities in Russia. Various groups in Ukraine attempt to form a legitimate independent government.
1918
Romania declares war on the Russian empire and sends troops to occupy Bessarabia.
The members of the Entente declare war on Romania.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, similar to OTL, but with larger Ukraine and Bessarabia to Romania.
CPs capitulate.
The newly formed Ukrainian and Lithuanian governments in particular successfully ingratiate themselves with the Entente. They form liberal, nationalist, capitalist, republics as favoured especially by France and the USA. They promise to assist the capitalist powers in defeating the bolsheviks in Russia.
As the Austro-Hungarian empire is dissolved it becomes clear that parts of Transylvania will end up in Romania one way or the other. The Entente is unhappy to see Romania benefit from the war after being on the 'wrong' side, and also don't want to see both banks of the mouth of the Danube part of one nation, so award all of Bessarabia to Ukraine. Ukraine also largely keeps its western borders as defined in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Europe of 1922 with changed borders in Red:
In the next few decades Ukraine annexes subcarpathian ruthenia from Czechoslovakia, the Crimean peninsula, and possibly slightly more territory elsewhere.
With roughly double OTL's land area, and no Holodomor, TTL's Ukraine might have a population exceeding 100 million, with many minority groups but ethnic ukrainians probably still the majority.
Belarusian might be considered a separate language by linguists and the Belarusians themselves, but will officially be considered a dialect of Ukrainian by the Ukrainian government, and won't be thought of much at all by outside nations. Similar to how Rusyn is treated today.
TTL's Ukraine might contain the entirety of the Dniepr and Don Watersheds, which will be kind of interesting and might make the Dniepr very similar to Russia's mother Volga
Ukraine will have considerable influence over European trade by control of the Vistula-Dnieper and Volga-Don canals, as well power in the mouth of the Danube, the black sea, and oil and gas trade with the caucasus.
I don't know much about this region in this period of history, so I'm mostly going off of information from wikipedia. Please correct me if I'm wrong about anything.
Rough Timeline, same as OTL in italics:
1914
One of Austria-Hungary's shells does more damage than OTL thanks to a lucky gust of wind.
1915
Britain sends an officer to Romania to attempt to bring them into the Entente. The officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Christopher Thomson, suspects that Romania will do more good as an officially neutral, entente leaning state, supplying oil and food and forcing the CPs to keep divisions guarding their borders.
The British reluctantly agree with Thomson.
1917
Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates.
CPs appear on the verge of victory in the east. They foresee difficulty occupying the vast expanses of Russia they have seized, and expect to keep for some time.
The German Empire sends a delegate; a noble relative of both king Ferdinand I of Romania and Wilhelm II of Germany, to seek Romanian help. He successfully convinces the Romanians to declare war on Russia for Bessarabia. The Romanians are told that the entente is soon to collapse and won't declare on Romania. Romania is also promised that if they commit forces to other areas of the war, or in exchange for food or oil, they may receive some small Romanian majority parts of Austria-Hungary after the war.
The Entente and CPs both send feelers to minorities in Russia. Various groups in Ukraine attempt to form a legitimate independent government.
1918
Romania declares war on the Russian empire and sends troops to occupy Bessarabia.
The members of the Entente declare war on Romania.
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, similar to OTL, but with larger Ukraine and Bessarabia to Romania.
CPs capitulate.
The newly formed Ukrainian and Lithuanian governments in particular successfully ingratiate themselves with the Entente. They form liberal, nationalist, capitalist, republics as favoured especially by France and the USA. They promise to assist the capitalist powers in defeating the bolsheviks in Russia.
As the Austro-Hungarian empire is dissolved it becomes clear that parts of Transylvania will end up in Romania one way or the other. The Entente is unhappy to see Romania benefit from the war after being on the 'wrong' side, and also don't want to see both banks of the mouth of the Danube part of one nation, so award all of Bessarabia to Ukraine. Ukraine also largely keeps its western borders as defined in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
Europe of 1922 with changed borders in Red:
In the next few decades Ukraine annexes subcarpathian ruthenia from Czechoslovakia, the Crimean peninsula, and possibly slightly more territory elsewhere.
With roughly double OTL's land area, and no Holodomor, TTL's Ukraine might have a population exceeding 100 million, with many minority groups but ethnic ukrainians probably still the majority.
Belarusian might be considered a separate language by linguists and the Belarusians themselves, but will officially be considered a dialect of Ukrainian by the Ukrainian government, and won't be thought of much at all by outside nations. Similar to how Rusyn is treated today.
TTL's Ukraine might contain the entirety of the Dniepr and Don Watersheds, which will be kind of interesting and might make the Dniepr very similar to Russia's mother Volga
Ukraine will have considerable influence over European trade by control of the Vistula-Dnieper and Volga-Don canals, as well power in the mouth of the Danube, the black sea, and oil and gas trade with the caucasus.