Russian Alaska

[Karl the Writer]

Greetings, this is Karl the Writer, coming in from the bowels of the internet to writer a little something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I will be exploring the possibilities of a Russian Alaska, and what could potentially occur.

I was inspired by AlternatehistoryHubs video on this topic, although I will be going far more into detail than he ever did, and with the consultation of the most detailed sources on this topic (Wikipedia), I will try my hand at this. I will be posting later on today, although I am open to suggestions.

Note: I do not condone any and all racist, anti Semitic, or otherwise discriminative things portrayed in this story. If any such discrimination, of any kind, is to occur in the comment section, then banning will occur to the offender. You have been warned.

 

[stodge]

I once did a couple of mini timelines on this.

In one, Alaska becomes Japanese after 1905 and acts as a springboard for naval and air raids into western Canada and the western United States after Pearl Harbour. In time, Alaska is blockaded by American and Russian naval forces and in August 1945 a Russian force crosses the Bering Strait and invades Alaska from the west as the Canadians move in from the east.

The Japanese in Alaska surrender and are forcibly evicted by the Russians who proclaim the Autonomous Republic of Alaska in 1946. The Alaskan-Canadian frontier is one of the most fortified in the Cold War but in 1989 the Russians withdraw and new money flows in such that in 1991 Alaska opts to secede from the CIS and forms the new Republic of Alaska, a low-tax playground for those wanting to enjoy the best of hunting, fishing and skiing in the new outdoors. Large parts of the land are bought up by resort companies who market it as a "New Playground" for those wanting the outdoors life both winter and summer.

In another TL, Alaska becomes an exile White Republic after the civil war in 1922 (think Taiwan to China). Unfortunately, the Alaskan Whites back the Germans and Japanese in WW2 hoping to reclaim Siberia and perhaps other parts of the former Motherland but it all ends in tears and in 1945 the Whites offer terms to the Americans and Canadians whereby a small force enters Alaska and deposes the White Government and makes Alaska a province of Canada. Shamefully, hundreds of senior White emigres are sent to Russia where they are brutally tortured and executed but Canada has a new province and the Cold War a new front line.

You should see what I did with the Channel Islands - an Austrian Guernsey anyone?

 

[Karl the Writer]

I once did a couple of mini timelines on this.

In one, Alaska becomes Japanese after 1905 and acts as a springboard for naval and air raids into western Canada and the western United States after Pearl Harbour. In time, Alaska is blockaded by American and Russian naval forces and in August 1945 a Russian force crosses the Bering Strait and invades Alaska from the west as the Canadians move in from the east.

The Japanese in Alaska surrender and are forcibly evicted by the Russians who proclaim the Autonomous Republic of Alaska in 1946. The Alaskan-Canadian frontier is one of the most fortified in the Cold War but in 1989 the Russians withdraw and new money flows in such that in 1991 Alaska opts to secede from the CIS and forms the new Republic of Alaska, a low-tax playground for those wanting to enjoy the best of hunting, fishing and skiing in the new outdoors. Large parts of the land are bought up by resort companies who market it as a "New Playground" for those wanting the outdoors life both winter and summer.

In another TL, Alaska becomes an exile White Republic after the civil war in 1922 (think Taiwan to China). Unfortunately, the Alaskan Whites back the Germans and Japanese in WW2 hoping to reclaim Siberia and perhaps other parts of the former Motherland but it all ends in tears and in 1945 the Whites offer terms to the Americans and Canadians whereby a small force enters Alaska and deposes the White Government and makes Alaska a province of Canada. Shamefully, hundreds of senior White emigres are sent to Russia where they are brutally tortured and executed but Canada has a new province and the Cold War a new front line.

You should see what I did with the Channel Islands - an Austrian Guernsey anyone?

Well, the Russian Alaskans won’t be allied with the Axis in WW2, although some factions will be aligned with them…

 

[El_Fodedor]

Unfortunately, the Alaskan Whites back the Germans and Japanese in WW2

That would be one of the biggest acts of treason in history, supporting an invasion force that wants to genocide your own race. The senior émigrés dug their own graves in this TL.

 

[David T]

An old post of mine:

***

My own guess is that Russian Whites together with American and Canadian prospectors, etc. might after 1917 declare an independent Alaskan Republic but that it would probably seek and get annexation by the US or the British. (If the US wants it, the British will probably let the US have it--as things like the Alaska boundary dispute arbitration and the recognition of the Monroe Doctrine in the League Covenant showed, the British were eager to get along with the US on North American matters). Alaska, remember, didn't reach the 100,000 mark in population until 1950 and I doubt that this would be radically different if it had stayed Russian. Any place that unpopulated would look for a great power to protect it from the Bolsheviks, while the US would want to guarantee that there will be no Bolshevik--or Japanese!--presence on the North American continent.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ndependent-nation.480309/page-2#post-19945433

***
Also, as I once wrote in a very old alt.history.what-if post: The Bolsheviks gave up huge amounts of territory at Brest-Litovsk, in order to safeguard their control of the Russian
heartland. Surely they are in no position to fight the US for far-away Alaska.

I understand that becuse this has history changed not so very much (merely a delay in Alaska's becomng part of the US--though even this could certainly have ripple and butterfly effects) it is less popular than scenarios in which the US and UK just stand by and let the Japanese or Bolsheviks or pro-Nazis gain a foothold on the North American continent. But sometimes the boring scenario is the most plausible one. (It also has precedents in the Texas and Hawaii Republics.)

 

[Karl the Writer]

Greetings, this is Karl the Writer, coming in from the bowels of the internet to writer a little something I have been wanting to do for a long time. I will be exploring the possibilities of a Russian Alaska, and what could potentially occur.

I was inspired by AlternatehistoryHubs video on this topic, although I will be going far more into detail than he ever did, and with the consultation of the most detailed sources on this topic (Wikipedia), I will try my hand at this. I will be posting later on today, although I am open to suggestions.

Note: I do not condone any and all racist, anti Semitic, or otherwise discriminative things portrayed in this story. If any such discrimination, of any kind, is to occur in the comment section, then banning will occur to the offender. You have been warned.

An old post of mine:

***

My own guess is that Russian Whites together with American and Canadian prospectors, etc. might after 1917 declare an independent Alaskan Republic but that it would probably seek and get annexation by the US or the British. (If the US wants it, the British will probably let the US have it--as things like the Alaska boundary dispute arbitration and the recognition of the Monroe Doctrine in the League Covenant showed, the British were eager to get along with the US on North American matters). Alaska, remember, didn't reach the 100,000 mark in population until 1950 and I doubt that this would be radically different if it had stayed Russian. Any place that unpopulated would look for a great power to protect it from the Bolsheviks, while the US would want to guarantee that there will be no Bolshevik--or Japanese!--presence on the North American continent.
https://www.alternatehistory.com/fo...ndependent-nation.480309/page-2#post-19945433

***
Also, as I once wrote in a very old alt.history.what-if post: The Bolsheviks gave up huge amounts of territory at Brest-Litovsk, in order to safeguard their control of the Russian
heartland. Surely they are in no position to fight the US for far-away Alaska.

I understand that becuse this has history changed not so very much (merely a delay in Alaska's becomng part of the US--though even this could certainly have ripple and buterfly effects) it is less popular than scenarios in which the US and UK just stand by and let the Japanese or Bolsheviks or pro-Nazis gain a foothold on the North American continent. But sometimes the boring sceantio is the most plausible one.

In regards to your statement on the number of people living in Alaska, let’s just say the number blows up after the Russian Civil War.

 

[alexmilman]

In regards to your statement on the number of people living in Alaska, let’s just say the number blows up after the Russian Civil War.

By the time when it was sold, its Russian population amounted to few hundreds and there is not obvious reason why it would be over low thousands by the early XX if it remained Russian. It was not self-sustainable in the term of agriculture and there was nothing attractive that was not available in Russia.

Then, the very premise of a major increase after the RCW is a very shaky one: just getting there was problematic (the realistic ports had been controlled by the Far East Republic) and for those stuck in the Far East China was much more attractive and easier to get to than Alaska. What, in almost completely absence of a supporting infrastructure, would they be doing there? Most of the emigrants were not peasants and the big cities provided for them a better chance for survival.

 

[Merovingian]

If the Americans don’t get it, then the British do, and it becomes part of Canada. However, that’s just not that interesting. The easiest POD for this scenario is simply that gold is discovered earlier, say around 1830(it was discovered in OTL after the sale to the US). The ensuing gold rush attracts a large enough Russian population that the British don’t simply turn it into Canada’s eleventh province. Over time, the few scattered forts become larger cities and the colony begins to establish itself. Alaska would never be the most successful endeavor for the Russians, with its only real purpose being to make the already large Russian Empire look slightly larger. Once the Russian Revolution and Civil War happen, I doubt the Americans and Canadians would simply let the Bolsheviks get a foothold in North America. The last remnants of the White Army relocate to Alaska, and this once marginal colony now finds itself all that remains of the once-mighty Russian Empire. The idea of Alaska serving as a White Russian Taiwan of sorts would be a rather interesting scenario, and would certainly affect the Cold War. Alaska’s hostile relationship with the Soviets would naturally turn them towards the United States. Once oil is discovered, Alaska would become significantly wealthier and oil would likely become one of its main industries. In the twenty-first century, Alaska would be a capitalist, democratic constitutional monarchy(or maybe a republic) with close relations with the United States that forever serves as a reminder of what Russia could have been.