Poll: What if Romanov had been elected instead of Gorbachev

Would the Soviet Union be stronger or weaker under Romanov

  • Stronger

    Votes: 19 37.3%
  • Weaker

    Votes: 4 7.8%
  • Non-Existent (Collapsed, dissolved, etc.)

    Votes: 26 51.0%
  • Other (explain below)

    Votes: 2 3.9%

  • Total voters
    51
Grigory Romanov, was considered the main alternative to Gorbachev in 1985. What if he had succeeded Cherneko instead? Would the Soviet Union be in a stronger or weaker situation, economically, politically, and internationally?
 
Grigory Romanov, was considered the main alternative to Gorbachev in 1985. What if he had succeeded Cherneko instead? Would the Soviet Union be in a stronger or weaker situation, economically, politically, and internationally?

Would have been funny that the russian empire ended with a Romanov and the Soviet Union does too :)

Honeslty. .. By 85 .. The Soviet Union is on its last legs.. It's under incredible pressure to reform.. Afghanistan is in full swing.. Chernobyl around the corner..

Let's say for giggles you get someone who wants to keep the status quo ..

Okay.. The military really runs the show.. They get the budget.. They are xenophobic and fear the west at every turn.. So you get the arms race 2.0
The soviets can't afford that...

Infrastructure built in the 50's is coming due for replacement and fixing..

Stagnation was taking serious root .. Short of a much better managed Gorbachev with more support .. Things are goi to go south.. Eastern Europe is goi to jump ship faster than a crackhead at a dare convention for Western Europe .. The baltics are gone .. You might get Ukraine to stay.. Honestly the core republics didn't want the Soviet Union to dissolve .. So what you could get is a pared down ussr ..

Now there is the alternative .. Full on crackdown.. Tanks and deportations and pogroms .. This however at the time I do not think will go over well. The people were hungry .. They wanted what the west had .. Beatles and blue jeans .. Cars and houses .. The Soviet Union was just too old school to adapt and to manage a people's economy

So in short.. Romanov at the end twice .. Possibly 2 dead romanovs at the end ..
 
Stronger initially, but the writing is on the wall at that point. At some point, the pent up pressures that Gorbachev unleashed IOTL are going to get out and rupture the status quo. It may collapse in 1999 rather than 1989, but the end is coming.

By the late 1990s, the Soviet leadership will have no ideas or political will to fix the growing problems confronting the state except by reforming economically into something like the west. The old hardline argument will be much weaker than it was during OTLs collapse. However, under hardliners, there is a good chance market reform will occur without the political liberalization that accompanied Gorbachevs reforms, so the communist system won't be as thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the elite in TTL and the Soviet republics won't go flying off.

Remember that Yugoslavia is falling apart in the 1990s. It's not likely that the continued existence of the Warsaw Pact will butterfly that for long. Belgrade will obviously turn to the eastern bloc for aid, and the Soviet leadership desperately needs a distraction from problems at home. This is going to be the proxy war that shores up the communist system for a while.
 
Stronger initially, but the writing is on the wall at that point. At some point, the pent up pressures that Gorbachev unleashed IOTL are going to get out and rupture the status quo. It may collapse in 1999 rather than 1989, but the end is coming.

By the late 1990s, the Soviet leadership will have no ideas or political will to fix the growing problems confronting the state except by reforming economically into something like the west. The old hardline argument will be much weaker than it was during OTLs collapse. However, under hardliners, there is a good chance market reform will occur without the political liberalization that accompanied Gorbachevs reforms, so the communist system won't be as thoroughly discredited in the eyes of the elite in TTL and the Soviet republics won't go flying off.

Remember that Yugoslavia is falling apart in the 1990s. It's not likely that the continued existence of the Warsaw Pact will butterfly that for long. Belgrade will obviously turn to the eastern bloc for aid, and the Soviet leadership desperately needs a distraction from problems at home. This is going to be the proxy war that shores up the communist system for a while.

It's mot just that.. By the 92-95 bench mark the gap technology wide between east and west was huge..And only growing.. A closed system wasn't helping matters.. Major reforms were needed and not just governmental...
 
It's mot just that.. By the 92-95 bench mark the gap technology wide between east and west was huge..And only growing.. A closed system wasn't helping matters.. Major reforms were needed and not just governmental...

A Soviet-Western proxy war in the 1990s is still scary though, and it will be a proxy war because the US (probably having re-elected George H.W. Bush) would be eager to support the Croatians and Bosnians. It would be another Afghanistan...

teg
 
Writing on the Wall my Ass!

Yes the Economy was Slowing but it was Still Growing even though at a reduced rate.

Infrastructure Repair and Expansion is actually a Good thing for the Economy and actually is very effective when Centrally Planned.

Chernenko had drafted the Twelfth Five Year Plan to address many Economic and Development Concerns but Gorbachev essentially Scrapped it and went with the Terribly Planned Perestroika instead which was Disastrous.

The "Tensions" in Eastern Europe would have been easy to Suupress but Gorbachev allowex them and added to the mess with Glasnost and a witholding of support and pressure upon Eastern European Govts and Leaders.
 

LordKalvert

Banned
You can't just write off the Soviets. Even though they were economically backward and could no longer compete with the West, they retained many latent strengths. Above all their nuclear weapons

Depends on what Romanov finally does in power but a simple retrenchment where the Soviets gave up their worldwide pretensions, dissolved the last vestiges of independence in Eastern Europe- not hard when you already occupy the countries- and slid into a North Korea type where the elite cares only about its internal power is a distinct possibility

The country could also progress along the lines of an authoritarian country where the economy is loosened but the politics remain closed.
 
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