WI/AHC: A Wanked Russian Empire

A window to the West early on and a Germany screw in the 18th century could get it done. Russia becomes a steamroller of sorts. France is probably allied with Britain sooner, so I don't think Russia can take over Europe. But they hold onto Alaska, Poland, East Prussia, Finland and perhaps Sweden, Constantinople and the Dardenelles.

Russia would have a huge ex pat community, because even with industrialization I dont think they will support high GDP per capita, at least compared to US.

Russia did not need "window to the West" because it already had 2 widely open doors: port of Archangelsk for the direct trade and Swedish-held ports on the Baltic coast through which trade and communications had been going on since the reign of Michael I.
 

Russia had wads of land already but could always use more cash, cheaper to walk away cash in hand than garrison, pacify and administer. Also would have meant the Brits would have flipped out and pushed harder on Tibet and Afghanistan. On top of that, you run the risk of spooking China so badly that it actually starts to get its act together.
 
Historically, Russia was wank in my mind. Russia from start to finish has a very bloody history and one the bloodiest I may say.

Of course, there are a lot of ways to make it stronger at any point of its history.
 

Vuu

Banned
Greatly reduced influence of the Mongols, and maybe Turks (opening a much bigger can of worms too) too - you want more "let's develop this land" at the expense of "reeeeee you fucking asiatics stop stealing my shit i need natural borders NOW", but not to delete the second completely.

If done right, then you have a Russia that is basically invincible. ESPECIALLY if Byzantium never gets rekt by the Turks - Western Europe probably never gets cultural supremacy. High possibility of Slavs diverging far less. Russia that has probably Mongolia, Manchuria, all of Central Europe and possibly all of Fennoscandia. Maybe Anatolia and Iran too, and God knows what else.

Basically, give the chance to raise the population density and develop the land, but also not take a way the goal of natural borders that fueled their expansion and still does.

Though that might have terrible effects on the ecosphere- the low density means that most of Europe's intact forest is in East Europe, particularly Russia. With this scenario, you can kiss that goodbye
 
"Wanked" as what? A greater territory (where), a faster economic development, lesser social tensions?

Probably a healthy combination of all these.

I wonder, could we have Peter the Great introduce democratic reforms and human rights early in his reign, perhaps similar to the British parliamentary system? Perhaps that'll push early industrialization, combined with Russia's overabundant natural resources, of course.
 
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Probably a healthy combination of all these.

I wonder, could we have Peter the Great introduce democratic reforms and human rights early in his reign, perhaps similar to the British parliamentary system? Perhaps that'll push early industrialization, combined with Russia's overabundant natural resources, of course.

Sorry, but the British political system of the early XVIII was not democratic and had little to do with the "human rights" in their modern meaning. Industrial Revolution in Europe started decades after Peters death but actually he was pushing "industrialization" (development of the manufactures, mining, etc.). The results tended to be terrible in a long run but this is a different story. BTW, most of the Russian "overabundant natural resources" had not been discovered until much later.
 
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