An Alternate History: What If Russia Never Existed?
Now hold on, Putin. I know you read the title and are trying to make me not exist, But hear me out.
Russia is one of the most influential nations that has ever existed, Especially within the last century.
What If Russia Never Existed?
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Since it's such a large presence, It's difficult to imagine an alternate world without it, but it's still an interesting question.
What if Russia we know just never came to be? What if it never combined, didn't become a czardom, and didn't become an empire? What if in an alternate timeline, Russia never existed?
But first, some context. It's no surprise Russia's existence would have such a huge influence on the Earth.
Now, it's the biggest nation in the world at 17,075,200 square kilometers. It borders 14 countries, numerous of which are former Soviet states and who, even before then, were subjects of the Russian Empire.
Historically, it has always been the biggest force to be reckoned with just due to its size. Since the first days of the Czars up until the Soviet Union and today.
Thanks, Real Life Lore. I really have to stop moving that door open. Those are all good points and have a consistent theme: Size. Russia has always been a force to be considered because of this size.
What happens if it remains smaller, competing for Slavic states or princedoms?
Is this so crazy? No. In the ninth century, Eastern Slavs were largely united by a medieval state known as the Kievan Rus. The capital, Kiev, controlled the Slavic tribes informed an early sense of unity.
What would happen if Russia never existed?
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What would happen if Russia never existed?- whatifhub.com |
This reign wouldn't last. By the 11th century, it had fallen into rivalry among princes and cities. This unity, though, was reinforced by the aggression of outdoor nomads.
The Slavs had always fought the Horsemen of Central Asia. However, they were no match for a new attack from the Mongol horde.
In a surprise invasion, the Kievan Rus was entirely destroyed as the Mongols conquered the region and forced the cities to pay tribute.
For two centuries, all of Rus was subject to the Golden Horde. Rebel or refuse to pay taxes, and you get sacked. Some towns fared better than others during this occupation.
The city of Moscow became a favorite of the Mongols. They paid their taxes and weren't destroyed like the others. It became stable and rich.
More people migrated to live in it, which made it more powerful. This stability meant that once the Mongols lost their grip, Moscow could rebel, and win.
As the Mongols collapsed, Moscow was able to take land in the power vacuum and unite all of European Rus, transforming Moscow as the head of a new state, Russia.
Over the centuries, Moscow conquered new lands, ultimately becoming the large state we see now.
In this alternate timeline, all it takes is Moscow not becoming strong enough to unite the Eastern Slavs. Or even then - the czardom could have easily have collapsed into itself during the time of troubles when famine killed a third of the entire population.
The Rus society is never stable enough to flourish, and the principalities remain so devastated that even after everything... ...They only fight each other.
No matter how this occurs, what I consider is removing Russia from history. Imagine something like Germany Or Italy before they were united: a bunch of culturally similar Russian states That can't amount to anything.
By removing an empire like Russia from history, It's pointless to talk about specific events like World War One being changed. Because the centuries of events leading up to such events are changed.
Does Germany win World War One?
No, because World War One doesn't happen. Most of the history of the 18th century doesn't happen because the Russian actions affected other European empires' actions as well.
What I can predict is that the dynamic of Eastern Europe is heavily altered. Think of it as an international form of "It's a Wonderful Life"-- there are some winners and losers.
Would the world be better place if Soviet Union never existed?
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Two of which would be the Swedes and poles Centuries ago in the 18th Century, Poland and Lithuania were combined into a single empire. (Yes, there was a time that the Poles almost destroyed the Russian Tsardom.)
But over years due to stagnation and the ever-growing Russian threat, Poland collapsed and was absorbed by its neighbors around the time of the American revolution.
Second, there was a time when the Swedish empire was one of the great powers of Europe and had the potential to be a military force. That was until the Great Northern War in the 18th century, in which Sweden lost to Russia, who, from that, because of the new power of Europe instead.
Without a Russia, both of these countries would become the leaders of Eastern Europe in this alternate world and, if no unforeseen disaster occurs, prominent leaders by the 20th century.
If Russia never actually united and instead remained a series of infighting city-states, the flat geography of the region would allow for foreign armies to invade. Russia would be a continually warring region forever uncertain as cities could be attacked from both sides.
That's why in our timeline, the only way Russia was able to stay safe was to put as much distance between its people and enemies as possible.
This alternate Russia doesn't adopt most European values. The reforms of Peter the Great forced Russia to westernize and build and act and dress like the rest of Europe.
Yet this never happens without a czar. Rather, to the rest of Europe, Russia is this odd, rural and violent border region among the civilized world and Nomadic Asia, bearded and weirdly dressed Slavs who split themselves into a series of warring states.
They look European but are culturally and religiously far different. Russia and Eastern Slavs only become the outskirts of Europe.
The farthest east most Europeans would care about is Poland. Past that, it's nothing but a blend of Europe and Asia.
Russia is the wall with the tribes of Central Asia, who in this alternate scenario, never create their own countries. There's no need to.
They were nomads, and so western concepts of nation-states... weren't really a thing. Without a Russian empire to conquer this land, these regions don't form their own countries.
What If the Russian Revolution Had Never Happened?
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It's just open land... with tribes. Which is actually most of Asia. Alaska, which was formerly a Russian colony, instead is just an extension of British Canada.
This scenario is, of course, very unlikely. It would only be harmful to Russia to not be united, to constantly war and compete over resources.
But, if the situation got bad enough, it's always possible it could have happened. We'll never actually know what would happen if Russia never existed, because--surprise!-- it does.
So much of history would change it's almost impossible to predict it in detail. This is simply one alternate scenario in the countless possibilities.
What do you think would've happened?
* This article was originally published here
