Russian Pacific

Russian Pacific 1954-Present

Russian Pacific is an alternate timeline for the Russian Empire if it had kept its colonies in (OTL) Alaska and Hawaii, and the potential consequences of keeping their footholds in North America and the Pacific.

History prior to the Point of Divergence

The history of the Russian Empire's eastward expansion spans between 1552 and 1816, which corresponds to history in our timeline (OTL). 1552 was the year that the Russo-Kazan Wars, fought between the Khanate of Kazan and the Grand Duchy of Moscow (Tsardom of Russia after 1547), came to an end with the fall of Kazan and the Russian victory. Over a period of 87 years, they expanded their Tsardom eastward until they came upon the Pacific Ocean. In 1725, four years after the establishment of the Russian Empire, successor to the Tsardom of Russia, Emperor Peter the Great ordered navigator Vitus Bering to explore the North Pacific for potential colonization. Vitus Bering's first voyage was foiled by thick fog and ice, but in 1741, a second voyage by Vitus Bering and Aleksei Chirikov made sight of the North American mainland. The Russians over time extended their claims eastward from the Commander Islands to the shores of (OTL) Alaska. In 1784, with encouragement from Empress Catherine the Great, explorer Grigory Shelekhov founded Russia's first permanent settlement in (OTL) Alaska at Three Saints Bay. Ten years later, the first group of Orthodox Christian missionaries began to arrive, evangelizing thousands of natives, many of whose descendents continue to maintain the religion. In 1808, New Archangel (OTL Sitka) became the capital of Russian America. In 1814, Russian forts Fort Elizabeth, Fort Alexander, and Fort Barclay-de-Tolly were established on the Hawaiian Island of Kaua'i.

Point of Divergence 1817 Kauai

In OTL, the forts built by the Russians in Hawaii were deserted after the Russians left Kaua'i in response to when German physician Georg Anton Schaffer, an agent of the Russian-American Company (RAC) learned that he did not have the backing of Tsar Alexander I of Russia for the construction of the forts. In the Russian Pacific timeline, Georg Anton Schaffer instead receives information that the Tsar would be sending an entire fleet of warships to assist in the take over of the Hawaiian Archeipelago and that the fleet would be arriving in six months. In March of 1818, the fleet of Russian warships had arrived and from Kaua'i southward, they took over the entire Hawaiian Archipelago, and in April of that year, enforced the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands into Russian America.

History after the Point of Divergence

After the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands into Russian America, in 1842, the Russian Empire gave Fort Ross in California to the United states. Seven years later, in 1849, they made an agreement with Britain and the USA that the Russian-American Company would hold a sphere of influence over lands North of the 49th parallel North. In 1867, when the US attempted to buy Russian America from the Russian Empire, the Russian people flatly refused all their offers, and from 1867 onward, Russian America has still been a part of the Russian Empire. In 1878, the Russian Empire established a sphere of influence in Wallachia and 10 years later, made the region a part of the empire. 12 years later, in 1900, the northern half of China was turned into a Russian sphere influence along with Northern Persia seven years later. In 1914, a potential world war was averted in Southern Europe while the Russian Empire incorporates the sphere of influence in Northern China into the borders of the empire. Seven years later, in 1917, a communist revolution is squelched by the Russian Army under orders from Czar Nicholas II. Then in 1921, the Russian sphere of influence in Northern Persia is incorporated into the empire. In 1934, France and the Russian Empire signed the Franco-Russian Alliance in response to the Triple Alliance 12 years earlier that was signed between the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Italian Empires. The Triple Alliance was formed by Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy in response to the growing strength of the Russian Empire. In 1939, another potential world war was prevented. Britain meanwhile, had still been practicing its policy of "Splendid Isolation." But by 1940, even the great British Empire, was growing very alarmed at the Russian Empire's powerful strength. Then in 1947, the British Empire became an ally of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, in order to be better prepared for the Russian Empire and its ally, France. In 1949, the land near the Alaskan Panhandle that was claimed by the Russians extending down to the northern border of the United States, became a part of Russian America's southern borders, resulting the Russian Empire's present day borders. This resulted in localised skirmishes and disputes between the remaining Pacific Northwest Native Americans and the Russian Empire, and due to its proximity with Russian America, the United States of America was caught in the middle of the dispute and the Americans sought to make an alliance with the British Empire. Between 1952 and 1953, there was a series of two major wars between the Pacific Northwest Natives and the Russian Empire in what became known as the Pacific Northwest Wars. The First Pacific Northwest War in 1952, was a Native American victory in reclaiming only but a small portion of land which the Russian Empire regained with its victory in the Second Pacific Northwest War in 1953. The Pacific Northwest region of North America was becoming a powder keg and all it would take to ignite it was just one small spark. Then on June 28th, 1954, in the city of New Archangel, capital of Russian America, a rogue Aluet Native commited an assassination attempt on the heir to the throne of the Russian Empire. The heir and his wife managed to survive, but the Russian Empire was outraged by the attempted assassination. The empire felt that the center of all the nationalist agitation amongst all the natives, was in the United States. As the USA hurried to defend it's country, the British Empire pledged to support its American cousins against the Russian Empire. France promised to aid the Russian Empire, if the British Empire intervened, while the Germans, Austro-Hungarians, and the Italians prepared to back up their British ally. As the system of alliances came into play, mobilisation orders went out all across Europe and North America. Finally, on July 28th, 1954, the Russian Empire declared war against the United States of America. One by one, the nations of North America and Eurasia, picked up their weapons. Four years later, on November 11th, 1958, The Great World War ended in status quo ante bellum with no boundary changes. Ever since the end of the war, the world has seen more global peace but the nations of the world are always prepared for possible future global conflict.