Scandinavian Siberia

TruthfulPanda

Gone Fishin'
After Alexandr Nevski have Novgorod elect Swedish dukes as the head of their military, following a "bribing them is cheaper then fighting" policy copied from Byzantium?
 
Rather unlikely. The Hanseatic League had a kontor is Novgorod, and was very prominent as middlemen in trading the goods of Novgorod to north Germany and even further past Denmark. Novgorod survived on trade, so it was a natural cooperation since I don't think Novgorod ever really had a particularly strong Baltic navy or trade fleet by this point. Sweden by contrast is a kingdom that can pose a threat to the Novgorod Republic. The Hanseatic League just wants trading privileges. The Hanseatic League grew and became so powerful during this time of expanding trade because its policy of collective security and bargaining power allowed trade to flourish and the princes and kings weren't too strong at the time. The Hanseatic League declined when those rulers grew stronger, and finally had the power to not allow merchants to demand trade and political privileges from them, rich cities in their territories to be all but autonomous, and national navies and armies surpassed the forces the rich Hanseatic cities could field.

While Sweden and Novgorod were competitors in their trade with Hanseatic league - both ruled big chunks of northern forests and exported through Hanse - that would also give them a grounds for alliance. Collective bargaining power as a cartel against their trading partner the Hanse.
 
After Alexandr Nevski have Novgorod elect Swedish dukes as the head of their military, following a "bribing them is cheaper then fighting" policy copied from Byzantium?
That's actually an interesting idea. Lithuania shows that its possible to cross the Catholic-Orthodox barrier, although I will note that Novgorod is a republic, and thus subject to the whims and desires of its populace. There'd probably need to be more to it to keep the relationship going for longer periods of time.
While Sweden and Novgorod were competitors in their trade with Hanseatic league - both ruled big chunks of northern forests and exported through Hanse - that would also give them a grounds for alliance. Collective bargaining power as a cartel against their trading partner the Hanse.
Guess that might be possible, although both Sweden and Novgorod supplying similar goods for the same demand means they'd more likely come into conflict with each other over who exports more of those goods.
 
scandinavians had better oportunities than subdugating, exacting tribute from, and colonising siberia in the fashion it did the fenno half of fenno-scandinavia. for the russians, the hordes were an existential threat, and eastern expansion into the woods a time honored tradition, the eastern slavs having a cultural package that better exploited the land and thus outcompeting and absorbing the uralics west of the urals
 
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