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What if the mongol conquest of Russia never happened? What kind of POD would be necessary for this? Maybe Ogedai Khan dies early and his successor has no interest in conquering the Rus principalities? I know many historians consider the Mongol invasion to be the reason for the East-West gap, for example the lack of any analogue to the Protestant Reformation, and the lack of a middle-class and Russia's nonparticipation in the Renaissance. Might this not happen if this is the case? What would the effects be on Hungary if the Mongol invasion didn't continue west to wipe out half the population there? Would the presence of the Varangian Trade mean that the fall of Constantinople means less, as the Europeans still have a not-prohibitively-expensive route to India, reducing the need to find a way there by sea, thus delaying the discovery of the Americas? Maybe the Renaissance happens in Russia first, as Byzantine scholars flee to the lands of their co-religionists there instead of catholic Western Europe (maybe it's called the vozrozhdenie instead). Discuss
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