Russia wins "the great game" how feasible is this?

Warsie

Banned
As you know, Russia engaged in intrigue and political dick-waving with Britain with Central Asia. How could you change history that Russia manages to outright annex Iran as well (possible given how Iran was chopped off at the edges by Russia appealing to disenfranchised Satraps) as exhibit considerable influence in Afghanistan and Baluchistan ? How would Russia in World War I behave in this alternate timeline?
 
The chances of WWI being butterflied is very high. And when is the POD that you are looking at ? Anything after 1880 is ASB IMO , short of a Super Russia Wank that results in Russia well on the path of conquering all of the Eurisian landmass. Anything after a Russian defeat in the Crimean War is border line ASB, if not before the Crimean War.

In any case , define win . If win means that British India becomes Russian by 1920 , with a POD of the Congress of Vienna , then this is Russian Wank. But by then , any major WWI analogue in this time-line would be utterly unrecognizable from our WWI, with differing sides, technologies , front-lines etc... and the bear would be well on the path of hegemony across Eurasia.
 

Warsie

Banned
British India is not annexed to Russia, I would prefer the POD to be during the beginning of the great game but it could be as late as WWI (soviet successes in setting up Iranisn and Kurdish states?)

'win' as in 'Afghanistan, Balochistan and Iran are added to Russia'. The Russians are not looking to invade India.
 
To annex any of those 'states' would be largely impossible and would present a serious problem for the British if the Russians did.

It would be easier to have the Russians install pliant leaders on the Persian and Afghan thrones rather than direct annexation and does the Russian leadership compromise somewhere else to placate the British or do they just sit back, give them a giant middle finger and wait for the inevitable response (sponsored uprising with opposing tribes/royal factions)?

This also then seriously changes the power dynamic in international relations, and world war 1 would be not be recognisable as it was.
 

Warsie

Banned
Where can the Russians Compromise with the UK? I think they could promise to Britain not to interfere with India, and to compromise in Crimea. I'd say that really the main difference would be a larger Russian Empire in Eurasia with a larger front against the Ottoman Empire, it doesnt mean it wont be as fragile as it was OTL - due to the internal ethnic divisions and whatnot. Russia might collapse even earlier due to not being able to stabilize those ethnic problems.
 
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