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. 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 the Russia
we know simply never came to be? What if it never united, 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 large influence on the world.
Today, it's the largest nation in the world at 17,075,200 square kilometres.
It borders 14 nations, many of which are former Soviet states and who, even before then, were subjects of the Russian Empire.
Historically, it has always been the largest force to be reckoned with simply 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 leaving that door open. Those are all good points and have a consistent theme:
Size. Russia has always been a force to be reckoned with because of this size. What happens if it remains smaller,
competing 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. 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 invasion of outside 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 cities fared better than others during this occupation.
The city of Moscow became a favourite 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, eventually becoming the large state we see today.
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 a 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 happens, what I care about 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 like an international form of "It's a Wonderful Life"-- there are some winners and losers.
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 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, becase 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 constantly warring region
forever unstable 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.
Instead, to the rest of Europe, Russia is this odd, rural and violent border region
between the civilized world and Nomadic Asia,
bearded and weirdly dressed Slavs who divided 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. 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 for 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 truly 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 is Cody of AlternateHistoryHub
So this can lead us to an interesting question: what would happen if all of the former countries that once made up the soviet union...
all of a sudden got back together again today in 2017?
What would a modern-day U.S.S.R. look like in our modern age,
and would it still even be considered a superpower?
Click here to find out next!