Same flag flies over Moscow, Calcutta and Istanbul

AKA the "Russian Dream Scenario". But I'd like to see if this can be worked out with any nation, any POD post-1900. I can't think of any way to do it.
 
does Istanbul have to be Istanbul, or could it be Constantinople (pre-1922)?


maybe the Russians capture Constantinople/Istanbul during the Balkan Wars, which is 2/3. then somehow Russia winds up on the opposite side during WWI (different outcome of the British naval maneuvers in the Russo-Japanese War perhaps), and during the war Russian armies advance through (or around) Afghanistan, eventually conquering India and raising the Russian flag in Calcutta.
 
does Istanbul have to be Istanbul, or could it be Constantinople (pre-1922)?.

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone, Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That's nobody's business but the Turks

Sorry. Couldn't resist :D
 
Certainly, Istanbul can be Constantinople. :)

Good song, by the way. I like RCDuggan's scenario, I forgot about the Balkan Wars.. I might TL this.
 
AKA the "Russian Dream Scenario". But I'd like to see if this can be worked out with any nation, any POD post-1900. I can't think of any way to do it.
Hmm... Calcutta and Istanbul are fairly easy (i.e. Sucessful Gallipoli campaign... there, you've got the Union Jack flying over Istanbul). Now just how to get the poms to Moscow?

Ahh... can I make use of a technicality? Get the poms to fly their flag at their embassy in Moscow.;)

There, done.
 

Thande

Donor
AKA the "Russian Dream Scenario". But I'd like to see if this can be worked out with any nation, any POD post-1900. I can't think of any way to do it.

You didn't actually specify the Russian flag in the title, so just watch Abdul show up and create an Ottowank where the Porte stretches from the City to Bengal ;)
 
Hmm... Calcutta and Istanbul are fairly easy (i.e. Sucessful Gallipoli campaign... there, you've got the Union Jack flying over Istanbul). Now just how to get the poms to Moscow?

Ahh... can I make use of a technicality? Get the poms to fly their flag at their embassy in Moscow.;)

There, done.

Make it even easier and just have all three flags be flying over embassies. If you use that, you can have pretty much any country's flag.
 
Moscow, Calcutta and Istanbul can be city-states. The rest of Russia might be the Khazar Empire or the Ukrainian Empire for example. The rest of India might be just as Balkanized as it was in the 18th century.

So one of the smarter Sultans makes some reforms. He sets down firm rules for succession so there aren't any more civil wars, and the populace is less likely to rebel.

The Ottomans set up colonial outposts in various locales around the Indian Ocean, including Calcutta.

In the same timeline Ukraine took over much of OTL Western and Central Asia, but not Moscow, perhaps. But one of the lesser Ottoman princes falls madly in love with a Moscovite and insists on marrying her and she converts. The city-state of Moscow is small and weak, they don't want to fight a war with the Ottomans and don't want to risk war with Ukraine. The city of Moscow gets deeded to the Ottomans.

Q. Why would the Ottomans *want* Moscow??
A. Um, well, at first, they don't especially want it, but this prince insists on marrying this totally hot'n'sexy princess and you know how troublesome princes are when they don't get their way. Then the Ottomans figure the Moscovites can help the Ottomans expand their territory and influence in the area, get some decent ports along the Baltic maybe and try and keep the Ukrainians from expanding too much into lands where the Ottomans want to expand to...? Does that make any sense at all? :):rolleyes:



Or the Ukrainian empire takes Constantinople, India remains Balkanized and Ukraine sets up trading posts in the Indian Ocean region...



Or industrialization starts under the Chinese Song Dynasty, the people of India get lots better guns and other stuff than what the Ottomans have.

The Ottoman empire falls, India gets unified and develops zeppellins, balloons, hang gliders, etc. So they don't have to conquer all the territory between India and the Bosporus, or between the Bosporus and Moscow, they just want isolated but useful regions which they can control via the zeppelins.

(In this timeline how soon can they get radios? That would be helpful as well. They just have to get them before the Europeans or Ottomans do.)
 
Make it even easier and just have all three flags be flying over embassies. If you use that, you can have pretty much any country's flag.

The all hail the mighty Andorran Empire, with enclaves spread across the globe from Tokyo to Washingto to Pretoria, from London to Beijing to Brasilia, from Moscow to Istambul to New Delhi, and wherever else they can convince the resident state that they are an actual nation deserving of an embassy.
 
India, Turkey, and Russia all end up with identical flags coincidentally.

Or maybe they're flags of truce!
 
If we get a voictpry at Gallipolli, could we stikoll ghave a russian revolution? Because if we do, the Britiash expeditionary force might hae to liberate Moscow from the red hordes and we all know that might require a few years of British rule, purely in the interests of the locals and only until order is reszored...
 
With a post-1900 POD, Britain's victory in the Great Game is sufficiently assured that Russia gaining Calcutta is unlikely. The Ottomans are also in decline (sorry Abdul). I think the most likely flags are the Union Jack, the Hammer and Sickle or the swastika.

Another observation is that Istanbul is easier than Moscow, as its strategic location means that whoever gets it is more likely to try and keep it!

Union Jack:
British victory at Gallipoli- British capture Istanbul
Russian Civil War results in Moscow as a British mandate, or at least being briefly captured by the BEF.
Calcutta- already there.

Swastika:
Greece enters WW1 at the beginning, and it goes very badly for the Ottomans. Treaty of Sevres is harsher than OTL, so Greece gets Istanbul. Ataturk KIA in WW1, revolution results in Inonu running small neutral Turkey with capital in Antalya. Greek army busy fighting Turkish rebels in 1940, Italian invasion successful. Barbarossa starts 3 weeks earlier, is successful- Moscow down.
With the Soviets defeated, Germany swallows the small Turkish republic to make the Med a fascist lake and link up with formerly-French Middle East. Revised German-Italian border gives Germans Istanbul/Bosphorus
With the Soviets gone, Britain is eventually forced to sue for peace. No sea-mammal-that-shall-not-be-named, but India is handed over to Germany.
Alternatively, Hindu fascists stage a coup...

Hammer and Sickle: Istanbul was a US nightmare scenario, but a plausible one. Calcutta is harder: Indian Marxists win an election, US finances a coup, Russia invades?
 
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