CaliGuy
Banned
Is this scenario plausible? :
Russian Tsar Nicholas II dies of typhoid fever in 1900 (as he apparently came close to doing in our TL). Thus, this younger brother Michael becomes the new Russian Tsar. Due to better leadership, Russia completely avoids the Russo-Japanese War and also fights somewhat better in WWI and prevents a revolution at home during WWI by being more attentive to the needs of its people. Either during or after WWI, Tsar Michael (II) creates a figurehead Duma but also listens to it a lot during the peaceful 1920s. After the end of this TL's WWI, Russia acquires the Memelland, Galicia, maybe Subarpathian Ruthenia, and the Armenian parts/territories of the Ottoman Empire. Also, Russia creates an independent Poland (allied to Russia) out of the Polish-majority territories (minor Vilnius and Lvov) in the Russian Empire and also adds Polish-majority southern East Prussia, the Polish Corridor, Posen Province, and Upper Silesia to this newly created independent Poland. After the end of WWI, Russia abolishes all anti-Semitic discrimination--including the Pale of Settlement--and also, as a victorious power in WWI, gets large-scale reparations from Germany. (FTR, both Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire still collapse after the end of WWI in this TL.)
After the Great Depression hits Russia in the early 1930s and French investment to Russia dries up, radical socialists (similar to our TL's Bolsheviks) win a lot of seats in the Russian Duma and are able to force Tsar Michael's hand in regards to implementing things such as radical land confiscation, et cetera. These measures make the radical socialists in the Russian Duma extremely popular among the Russian masses and allow them to retain their popularity in Russia even after the Great Depression subsides a bit in Russia.
In response to the rise of radical socialists, Tsar Michael reluctantly begins flexing Russia's muscles abroad and also engages in a large-scale military build-up. Eventually, Russia's sponsorship of various groups (Kurdish separatists in Iraq and Persia, et cetera) causes tensions between Russia and Britain + France to significantly escalate (in spite of their WWI alliance 15-20 years earlier). However, when Tsar Michael attempts to de-escalate the situation, he is assassinated by a group of radicalized Russian conservative military officers who are afraid of radical socialism and who believe that going to war (a topic on which the radical socialists are divided among themselves) is the only way to fracture and significantly weaken Russia's radical socialists and thus to strengthen the Russian autocracy.
After Michael's assassination, his son George becomes the new Russian Tsar. Seeing his father's fate and not wishing to share it, George becomes a staunch militarist and thus supports a continuation of Russia's military build-up and of Russia's sponsorship of various separatist activities in its "backyard" (such as Iraqi and Persian Kurdish separatism).
Anyway, in either the late 1930s or early 1940s, a Russian-sponsored Kurdish separatist rebellion breaks out in northern Iraq. Using the spurious excuse that it needs to prevent genocide, Russia militarily intervenes in Iraqi Kurdistan in order to protect the Iraqi Kurdish separatists. In response to this, both Britain and France declare war on Russia. Meanwhile, Japan begins engaging in its own expansionism in China in order to satisfy its need for more natural resources in order to deal with the effects of the Great Depression back at home in Japan. Thus, we end up seeing a war between Britain + France + China and Russia + Japan--in other words, this TL's World War II.
Anyway, is this scenario realistic?
Also, what exactly do Germany, Italy, and the U.S. do in response to this TL's World War II? (For the record, you decide who governs Germany in this TL.)
Indeed, any thoughts on all of this?
Russian Tsar Nicholas II dies of typhoid fever in 1900 (as he apparently came close to doing in our TL). Thus, this younger brother Michael becomes the new Russian Tsar. Due to better leadership, Russia completely avoids the Russo-Japanese War and also fights somewhat better in WWI and prevents a revolution at home during WWI by being more attentive to the needs of its people. Either during or after WWI, Tsar Michael (II) creates a figurehead Duma but also listens to it a lot during the peaceful 1920s. After the end of this TL's WWI, Russia acquires the Memelland, Galicia, maybe Subarpathian Ruthenia, and the Armenian parts/territories of the Ottoman Empire. Also, Russia creates an independent Poland (allied to Russia) out of the Polish-majority territories (minor Vilnius and Lvov) in the Russian Empire and also adds Polish-majority southern East Prussia, the Polish Corridor, Posen Province, and Upper Silesia to this newly created independent Poland. After the end of WWI, Russia abolishes all anti-Semitic discrimination--including the Pale of Settlement--and also, as a victorious power in WWI, gets large-scale reparations from Germany. (FTR, both Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire still collapse after the end of WWI in this TL.)
After the Great Depression hits Russia in the early 1930s and French investment to Russia dries up, radical socialists (similar to our TL's Bolsheviks) win a lot of seats in the Russian Duma and are able to force Tsar Michael's hand in regards to implementing things such as radical land confiscation, et cetera. These measures make the radical socialists in the Russian Duma extremely popular among the Russian masses and allow them to retain their popularity in Russia even after the Great Depression subsides a bit in Russia.
In response to the rise of radical socialists, Tsar Michael reluctantly begins flexing Russia's muscles abroad and also engages in a large-scale military build-up. Eventually, Russia's sponsorship of various groups (Kurdish separatists in Iraq and Persia, et cetera) causes tensions between Russia and Britain + France to significantly escalate (in spite of their WWI alliance 15-20 years earlier). However, when Tsar Michael attempts to de-escalate the situation, he is assassinated by a group of radicalized Russian conservative military officers who are afraid of radical socialism and who believe that going to war (a topic on which the radical socialists are divided among themselves) is the only way to fracture and significantly weaken Russia's radical socialists and thus to strengthen the Russian autocracy.
After Michael's assassination, his son George becomes the new Russian Tsar. Seeing his father's fate and not wishing to share it, George becomes a staunch militarist and thus supports a continuation of Russia's military build-up and of Russia's sponsorship of various separatist activities in its "backyard" (such as Iraqi and Persian Kurdish separatism).
Anyway, in either the late 1930s or early 1940s, a Russian-sponsored Kurdish separatist rebellion breaks out in northern Iraq. Using the spurious excuse that it needs to prevent genocide, Russia militarily intervenes in Iraqi Kurdistan in order to protect the Iraqi Kurdish separatists. In response to this, both Britain and France declare war on Russia. Meanwhile, Japan begins engaging in its own expansionism in China in order to satisfy its need for more natural resources in order to deal with the effects of the Great Depression back at home in Japan. Thus, we end up seeing a war between Britain + France + China and Russia + Japan--in other words, this TL's World War II.
Anyway, is this scenario realistic?
Also, what exactly do Germany, Italy, and the U.S. do in response to this TL's World War II? (For the record, you decide who governs Germany in this TL.)
Indeed, any thoughts on all of this?