Wow thanks for all discussion guys...! This is really helpful (since I might be going to write a TL on this).
Wow thanks for all discussion guys...! This is really helpful (since I might be going to write a TL on this).
The russians avoided the Swedish army for a long time 1708-09, rebuilding, and it was not until 1709 that the Russians felt strong enough to take on the Swedish army at Poltava. And the Swedes neary won that one, too.
He did follow his father's policies of non-alliance and neglect of the Russian threat, so that need not change anything.what if our PoD is that Charles XI lives a few more years? Does anyone think that might have affected things? If XII watched dad for a few more years and took the throne at 17 or 18 instead 15?
The marriage is what I was thinking about. although, if he ended the war in 1708, he might have taken the next couple years hunting for a wife and making an heir. I imagine that coalition would've convinced him that he needed to make allies. As he did by bringing the Ottomans against the Russians.He did follow his father's policies of non-alliance and neglect of the Russian threat, so that need not change anything.
He might have been married, but I already mentioned that above, and whether it would change anything is uncertain, but he might have had a new heir in that case, and perhaps a foreign alliance.
His personality might be more known before his accession to the throne, but even this is hard to tell, since he changed from doing pranks in Stockholm to leading an army in war.
Would the Reduction of the nobles' holdings have gone any further in the Baltics in these two years? It might change something, but what?
what if our PoD is that Charles XI lives a few more years? Does anyone think that might have affected things? If XII watched dad for a few more years and took the throne at 17 or 18 instead 15?
Depends on whether the belligerents from the Great Northern War enter the War of the Spanish Succession and when. As I said, OTL Sweden was courted in 1707 to attack Austria. He declined this in part because he didn't like the French Bourbon kings and because he had his hands full with Russia. But Charles also at least claimed to be someone who would only fight just wars, so it becomes a little more difficult to see how he ends up invading Austria simply for territorial gains and glory (though certainly not impossible).And what effects will a Swedish victory of the Great Northern War have on the War of the Spanish Succession?
This is possible if Charles delivers a crushing defeat, but causing a dramatic reshuffling of Europe like this might prompt surrounding countries to think Charles has gotten too big for his britches leading to yet another anti-Swedish dogpile.Lastly, there are a few ideas I have that I'd like to get into this timeline (if I ever get around writing it), if possible. How could I make them possible?
- The Habsburg Empire splits, Austria and Hungary become separate states.
- The Habsburgs lose control of the Netherlands. The Southern Netherlands unite with the United Provinces.
Even integrating the Southern Netherlands into the United Provinces probably is not going to usher in renewed colonial activities by the Dutch and certainly not in South America. The best time for a Dutch South America would've been in the 1600's when they control Northeast Brazil.- More Dutch colonisation in South America.
Don't see any way for these to happen from this POD.- Portugal colonises Patagonia and less of the Brazilian inlands.
- Aragon and Naples split off Spain and form the United Kingdom of Aragon and Naples.
- Morocco, except for the very north, remains uncolonised and grows southwards.
Not outside the realm of possibility if events in Europe butterfly away the Seven Years' War. British restrictions on westward expansion into the territories taken from the French was part of the motivation for the Revolution. However, we would need to have some motivation for France aggressively colonizing North America because otherwise they'll eventually lose the territory to Britain.- The English colonies in America become the Dominion of America and never fight for independence. France does better at colonising Canada and North America. Acadia and Newfoundland remain French, and France colonises big parts of Canada and the northern *United States.
If a longstanding enmity between Britain and Spain develops in subsequent European wars, you could see more territorial gains by the British against Spain in the Americas.- Except for New England, which will become a separate Dominion, the English colonies are mainly in the south: Virginia, Chesapeake, the Carolinas, Delaware, New York, Florida, later (bought from Spain/Mexico) Texas, California, Sonora etc.
I don't know about grows, but it will probably survive longer since butterflying away the Ottomans victory in the Russo-Turkish War of 1710 and having Russia not preoccupied with fighting Sweden in the following decade could mean no Ottoman-Venetian War in 1714. This will be further reinforced if Austria falls apart following a defeat at the hands of Sweden.- The Republic of Venice grows and survives.
It's possible the sequence of events could lead to North Africa being colonized by another European power. Maybe Egypt becomes a French protectorate.- The Ottomans lose control of northern Africa: Egypt becomes independent, the Barbary Coast gets colonised by Savoy/Sardinia and Aragon/Naples.
I can't see India not being colonized, but I can see the Indians playing the European powers more effectively against each other if power is a bit more evenly balanced between Britain, France and to a lesser extent the Dutch. This might give local Indian rulers more autonomy, but they'll still be little more than protectorates of European powers.- India is never colonised.
I have a really hard time seeing that happen. For Portugal to work on expanding Angola and Mozambique, it would have to lose Brazil. But without Brazil, it wouldn't be able to afford to focus on Africa.- Portugal's colonisation focus is Southern Africa.
Surprisingly, I think you could maybe get somewhere with all of these in spite of being so far removed from Sweden...- The Dutch colonise parts of Australia.
- Korea expands and Manchuria splits off China.
- Japan colonises the *Russian Far East.
- Russia expands into Central Asia.