The Tsar's Iron Curtain

I was thinking of August Wilhelm, who was Kaiser Bill's fourth son, and actually joined the Nazi Party and the SA, possibly hoping that Hitler would place him on the throne.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_August_Wilhelm_of_Prussia
He's certainly an eligible candidate for Petrograd's purposes as well here. The wikipedia entries for Kaiser Wilhelm's children are so depressing, one committed suicide before age 30 and the others appear to have either been apolitical or involved in fascist politics. No wonder Germany became a republic OTL, this dynasty utterly failed to look out for its subjects' best interests or leave a worthwhile legacy for their kingdom.
The Habsburgs weren't perfect but they did a much better job, Charles I' peace feelers and Otto von Habsburg's role in European integration will be remembered more positively than anything the Hohenzollerns did.

Also, why is almost every Hohenzollern named Wilhelm? It's almost as confusing as the Danish monarchs' decision to name every one their son Christian or Frederick.
 
Well, Britain starts the ringing the alarm bells at such a massive growth in Russian influence now that the German threat is gone, so I fully expect them to start helping pull up Constantinople (Given you didn't mention that greatest of Russian desires, I assume the Ottomans were neutral) and attempt to split France off from her by any means possible. Romania,,in all likelihood, has to Finlandize (in the Cold War sense) to Russia given their hopeless position, which puts Bulgaria into the anti-Russian camp (Biggest beefs and with Yugoslavia* and Romania, while Ottomans were the first nation they tried to reconcile with)

Errrrr... Romania was Russian ally in WWI so why "Finlandization"? And Bulgaria already was in anti-Russian camp during WWI. Not sure what you meant by "pull up Constantinople" (not that city with such name existed at the time or would exist on the proposed map) :winkytongue:
 
I've always toyed with the idea of Russia winning the Great War in my head (only thing that gets me is how to get to this point without drastically changing WWI as we know it.) And while I have my regards as to why those borders probably wouldn't happen (especially with regards to a quicker WWI) I will suspend my disbelief here.

He's certainly an eligible candidate for Petrograd's purposes as well here. The wikipedia entries for Kaiser Wilhelm's children are so depressing, one committed suicide before age 30 and the others appear to have either been apolitical or involved in fascist politics. No wonder Germany became a republic OTL, this dynasty utterly failed to look out for its subjects' best interests or leave a worthwhile legacy for their kingdom.
The Habsburgs weren't perfect but they did a much better job, Charles I' peace feelers and Otto von Habsburg's role in European integration will be remembered more positively than anything the Hohenzollerns did.

Also, why is almost every Hohenzollern named Wilhelm? It's almost as confusing as the Danish monarchs' decision to name every one their son Christian or Frederick.

You got me, traditionally, Hohenzollern monarchs (at least from the formation of the Kingdom of Prussia to the fall of the German Empire) were traditionally named Frederick (Friedrich), William (Wilhelm) or Frederick William (Friedrich Wilhelm). While this has largely changed after the death of the Crown Prince (mostly because the actual next in line predeceased him) that's generally the rule of thumb. The Danish decision I think was only because it just became tradition.

But if Russia were to establish a German client state (which East Prussia, or rather what it would probably be called, the Duchy of Prussia, or Grand Duchy of Prussia, Royal Prussia was largely defined as West Prussia, which in this scenario is under direct Russian control) I can see August Wilhelm taking up that throne, even though it would make him the Louis Philippe to the German Hohenzollern Legitimists, assuming the Hohenzollerns manage to keep their throne.

Will Russia end up promoting monarchism around the world instead of communism? It would be an interesting reversal to see Russia backing the Arab monarchies instead of siding with republican Arab nationalists OTL.

Without fascism and communism, the world could have way more monarchies around in the 21st century. Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania might all remain monarchies ITTL. This is the current Romanov heir btw, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna.

With Russia still around, I can see monarchism still being a fairly prominent political force. Even though its unlikely that it will be the style of absolute monarchism of old, more like the Kaiserreich-styled Authoritarian Democracy at best. I wouldn't count out fascism though, if only because the ideology is still there with Mussolini and he could still rise to power ITTL, even if it won't in Germany (since the prominent reason for it rising in Germany, a large and powerful communist state close to the border is replaced with a monarchist one.)

But with communism not gaining prominence due to no Soviet Union (assuming Germany doesn't fall to communist revolution first) then yeah, I can see the countries that made it out of WWI as monarchies remaining as such (except maybe Greece, but that's a story for another day.)

By the by, Maria Vladimirovna is the current heir (or rather the most widely supported current heir) in OTL, ITTL, it's not exactly as clear cut, and with no Russian Revolution, you can make the argument for many other potential claimants.
 
Errrrr... Romania was Russian ally in WWI so why "Finlandization"? And Bulgaria already was in anti-Russian camp during WWI. Not sure what you meant by "pull up Constantinople" (not that city with such name existed at the time or would exist on the proposed map) :winkytongue:

Please read in the context of the OP, where the poster asks/wonders about where Bulgaria and Romania would stand compared to Russia and which those statements were answers to. Romania's relations with Russia were tense Pre-War,but given isolation from other powers and power differental compared to Russian Budapest has no choice but to align with Russia whatever their inclinations (Hense Finlandization). As for Constantinople, Konstantinyye if you insist; I was just using the more commonly used name for the city at the time especially on these boards, since the city was not renamed Istanbul in the 1910's.
 
This all assume you don't have a Franco-Russian fallout, which I'd argue is a rather distinct possability. Not guranteed, certainly, but its not as though there isen't good justification for considering that possability. After all, the Franco-Russian Entente was somewhat controversial domestically even when the German threat was looming large over the Third Republic and British commitment to the Continent being lukewarm at best, while neither side's security/economic interests were bumping up against one another and thus making them natural allies. With the removal of the Teutonic sphere in Centeral Europe and the surging in of Russia to fill the vacuem, now RUSSIA is the demographically dominaitng, encroaching autocratic threat on the continent, and Britain is firmly interested to courting France. I suppose alot depends on just how delicately Czar Nicholase plays his forgien policy... but given Russia was using aggressive action to build national unity and stifle dissent while the hardships of early economic modernization policies were playing out and with her growing industrial output will be trying to muscle into new markets I can't imagine they'll be very subtle or soft. Especially if Russia drops the ball on the China; likely the next big international issue on the doccet in the event of a short Great War, especially since the African and European pie has already been carved up a Russia looking for captive markets and resource sources will want that giant plumb as her "India", a Britain who plays her cards right could woo France onto her side against the disruptive influence of a rising Russia
That's probably going to be what happens in this scenario. France will drop Russia once it becomes too powerful, egged on by the communities of French Jews and Polish exiles.
Also one of the butterflies is going to be the implementation of Irish Home Rule. Britain went into the war to protect Belgium and similar small nations. And based on the TL presented, this might be before the Easter Rising IOTL effectively trashed the plan. Though the Irish-Americans still hate the English, the political pressures are somewhat alleviated. What happens in Ulster will be another story, though.
 
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