Novogorod Russia

How can we get Novogorod to unify Russia? Could it really become capital of Russia with new cities such as Moscow increasing in power?
 
Mongols hold all of the steppe east of Novgorod and exterminate the population, in time the areas controlled by Novgorod are the only areas with significant Rus populations, so Novgorod=Russia, and Turko-Mongol 'stans fill the rest.
 
How can we get Novogorod to unify Russia? Could it really become capital of Russia with new cities such as Moscow increasing in power?
It had been discussed here to death. Use search. Quick answer - it is impossible as Novgorod does not control much of trade routes within Russia and could not feed itself without regular grain shipment from the Central Russia. Several other cities who fought Dukes of Moscow for supremacy had a chance (Tver and Nizhny Novgorod, for example), but not Novgorod.
 
When exactly are we talking about? If we're talking about Pre-Mongol, not the slightest chance, only with an enormous power vacuum opening up in Eastern Europe that all the remaining powers are too far away from to access. Mongol and/or Post-Mongol are more likely, if still barely possible. Maybe it goes the Constantius route, or the Golden Horde somehow defeats Moscow and all the other rebelling cities, or the original Mongols decide to raze all the important cities when they first invade, etc.

Something a little more likely is that Novgorodian trade ends up far more successful than in OTL, leading them to fully dominate the Baltic, leading them to eclipse Moscow after it rises, leading them to eventually defeat it.
 
It had been discussed here to death. Use search. Quick answer - it is impossible as Novgorod does not control much of trade routes within Russia and could not feed itself without regular grain shipment from the Central Russia. Several other cities who fought Dukes of Moscow for supremacy had a chance (Tver and Nizhny Novgorod, for example), but not Novgorod.

When could Tver have dominated Moscow?
 
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