WI: Alaska never sold?

Honolulu

Banned
Like I said, they were worried that the British would take the colony as well. Possibly a negotiated settlement with the Americans around 1870. Russia keeps most of Alaska, but a small piece along the coast goes to the USA where the most American settlers are gathered. Russian fears aside it would have been far more likely for an American administration to negotiate around a colonial dispute than send a recovering country into war for a land grab. Maybe a few decades later if Hearst wanted to drum up a war with Russia as one was drummed up with Spain, but a negotiated settlement would probably come before then. And an agreement between the USA and Russia formalizing the borders would be enough to keep the British from pressing any issue of their own.

So possibly 99% or so of Russian Alaska would stay Russian until the Revolution. Then, still most likely to British Canada, but maybe it could stay with Tsarist Russia if George V feared that Britain taking land from the Soviets would also antagonize the working classes.

It would make for an interesting concept. It could be a hotbed of espionage during Stalin's tenure. He sent an assassin to Mexico City for Trotsky... certainly he'd try covert action to disrupt Tsarist Alaskan Russia. Tsarist Alaska would grow closer to the USA during the Cold War. The American piece from the negotiated settlement would likely become an important military base.

And of course its very possible that a resident of the American piece of Alaska in 2008 would be able to see Russia from her house after all. :D

Taking this all into consideration, I present a new PoD:

After the sale falls through during the American Civil War, a Russian prospector discovers gold near the OTL city of Homer. An Alaskan Gold Rush commences, and millions of rubles worth of gold soon flow into the Tsars coffers. For this reason, the Royal Government permanently takes the sale of all Russian America off the table. But, American prospectors also flooded into the coastal regions. After Reconstuction, Russia gets nervous about how many Americans there are on the coast, thoughts of an American takeover looming in the Tsars mind. So, a settlement is negotiated in Spring of 1870. The southern coast of Alaska turns into the appropriatly named state of Homer, with Juneau (as the largest city) being the capital.

Fast forward to the Revolution, and an Anglo-American joint command force based in the state of Homer seize Russian America, and set up a small naval blockade to keep it from falling to the Bolsheviks. The American Polar Bear Expedition helps Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich and his family escape to Alaska. Once there, the Americans and Canadians allow him to set up a buffer\weak puppet state in exchange for land given to Canada, and major trade deals for the Americans. :)

Here is a map:

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/9563/alasatimlinmap.gif

The blue part is Homer.
 
I wondered what other takers for Alaska there might be, but it seems only the US and Britain are possible. A German or Japanese Alaska would be quite intersting, pity it's way too early for either of them...:rolleyes:
 
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