AHC: majority Russian speaking Manchuria and Hokkaido by 1850

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
What it says on the tin. have language spoken by majority of people living in Hokkaido and Manchuria be Russian by 1850. Russian political sovereignty implied but not mandatory. Russian majority Sakhalin and Kurils also implied but not mandatory.
 
The main problem with early Russian settlement of Manchuria and is that OTL Russian Eastern Siberia didn’t have enough fertile land to feed more than a hundred of thousand people so any Russian military force bigger than a few hundred people had to be supplied all the way from the Eastern Siberia. Russian exploration of the Pacific Ocean was really slow because the only port Russia had in the region was Okhotsk and that is available for ships for few month a year.


While Russia would have troubles supplying big armies in the region before the construction of Transsiberian railroad anyway the situation would be much better if Russia had a powerbase in the Amur River valley. It has the capacity of supplying several hundred thousand people (if not more) and a nice port can be constructed in the mouth of Amur(OTL Nikolayevsk-on-Amur). In OTL Russia actually tried to annex the whole left bank of Amur in 1650-1680s but in a series of border conflicts Manchu repelled Russian advance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Russian_border_conflicts ). The conflict started because Russian tried to vassalize Daur people who refused because they were already vassals of Qing. In the conflict Manchu could supply a much larger army in the region and inevitably won.



With any realistic POD Manchu would still have more power in the region in 1650-1750s but if Russia does not try to “steal” Qing vassal as it was seen by Manchu Qing may not bother to wage war over almost empty region. And by the time the region would worth something, the effort to take it would increase as well (more or less this happened to Nerchinsk region in OTL; Manchu definitely could take the region from Russia in XVII century but were not motivated enough to do it). So basically Russia simply had to vassalize tribes that lived around Amur before Manchu did. In OTL Solons and Daurs(who lived in the area north of the line modern Hailar-Qiqihar-mouth of Sungari ) were vassalized by Manchu in 1638-1643(this guy led the resistance https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombogor_(Evenk_chief) ) and Russians arrived in 1650. So if in ATL Russians arrive to Amur River several decades earlier than they did in OTL there is a good enough chance that Manchu would not try too hard to contest Russian dominance over territories over OTL Northern Manchuria. I see a realistic border as a line Hailar-Qiquiqar-mouth Sungari-Pacific Ocean(somewhere around Vanino) or if Russians get really lucky all the land north of OTL Haribin and some more territories in Primorsky Krai(Vladivostok and territories south of Sungari are IMHO too close to Manchu heartland). In either cases Russia can have a few hundred thousand people(a substantial part of which are assimilated Daurs) in Amur River valley and a decent Pacific port(worse than Vladivostok but way better than Okhotsk) by 1750.


If these conditions are met than in the next 100 years there is a decent chance to grab all Manchuria (as by that time Manchuria is an unimportant periphery of Qing empire and by this time European technological superiority can be decisive in a warfare against an Asian power) an Hokkaido (that didn’t have substantial Japanese population before mid XIX century) and settle both regions and assimilate the remaining population. The whole history of Pacific region in XVIII century and later will change dramatically if Russia will have a decent power base and a port near Pacific by XVIII century.


There is a number of PODs that lead Russians to begin their conquest of Siberia a few decades earlier(the simplest one but not the most realistic is an order by Ivan IV to conquest Siberian Khanate in 1550s after the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan). The most realistic one in my opinion is taking Kazan in 1530. In OTL Russian troops stood by the open gates of the city for several hours while two Russian commanders Glinsky and Belsky argued who should first enter until the gates were closed. If one of the commanders is ill Russia could have annexed Kazan Khanate in 1530. In this case the Russian conquest of Siberian Khanate in 1550 is much more realistic.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
In OTL Russia actually tried to annex the whole left bank of Amur in 1650-1680s but in a series of border conflicts Manchu repelled Russian advance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-R...rder_conflicts ). The conflict started because Russian tried to vassalize Daur people who refused because they were already vassals of Qing.

I wonder if Russia was odds-on favorite to keep the Amur country if China had not been ruled by anyone except the Manchus. For instance, if the Qing never triumphed or had been defeated by 1700, and China were ruled by a surviving Ming dynasty, Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty, a Wu Sangui dynasty or a revived Ming, would any or all of them have been as well positioned to push back the Russians from the Amur as the Qing were in OTL? What do you think?
 
How would it change the course of Russia? For example I could certainly see the region become a major indusrrial hub for the region and encourage Russia to increase their involvement in Russian affairs such as in Korea.
 
I wonder if Russia was odds-on favorite to keep the Amur country if China had not been ruled by anyone except the Manchus. For instance, if the Qing never triumphed or had been defeated by 1700, and China were ruled by a surviving Ming dynasty, Li Zicheng's Shun dynasty, a Wu Sangui dynasty or a revived Ming, would any or all of them have been as well positioned to push back the Russians from the Amur as the Qing were in OTL? What do you think?

It all depends on PoD. If Manchu power is somehow totally butterflied off early enough Russia can eventually (in XVIII-XIX centuries)subdue all the territories to the north of the Great Wall including Eastern Turkestan(as this territories were conquered by Qing).
But more realistic variant is that Manchu state is formed like OTL but they are unable to take large parts of China proper. In this case they would probable make an earlier attempt to conquer various Khalka Mongol states and then Dzungaria and Kashgaria . I don’t see the force in the region that can stop Manchu. If they are still unable to conquer China the Russian position in the whole Eastern Siberia becomes threatened – while Russia would have some technological advance over this Manchu-Mongol state the latter’s army would be much MUCH larger and Manchu would pay much bigger attention to their north border. So it is possible that Russia would lose all the territories East of Baikal.


The history of China would also be completely different without Qing dynasty and I can’t realistically predict its course.


So I think that Ming repelling Manchu would actually lessen Russian influence and territory in the Far East not increase it.


How would it change the course of Russia? For example I could certainly see the region become a major indusrrial hub for the region and encourage Russia to increase their involvement in Russian affairs such as in Korea.

The PoD I described above does not change much before mid XVIII century. But of course the whole late XVIII century and XIX centuries in the Pacific and East Asian regions would be completely different in case Russia has a decent power base in the Amur River valley. Without reading much on the OTL history of the region and developing a proper TL only a vague picture can be described.



For instance in case a proper industry emerges near Amur by late XVIII-early XIX centuries, Russian Far East can even try independence as it can have the necessary resources and population and is almost unlinked to Russia proper before transcontinental railroad can be built. IOTL the only place that had semi decent population was Western Siberia and even it had almost no industry (except for precious metals mining) so there was no way any part of Siberia would be a proper independent country.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
It all depends on PoD. If Manchu power is somehow totally butterflied off early enough Russia can eventually (in XVIII-XIX centuries)subdue all the territories to the north of the Great Wall including Eastern Turkestan(as this territories were conquered by Qing).

Now that would be an interesting, if perhaps unlikely, outcome. I guess we would need the Jurchen to never recover from the Mongols, stay disorganized, or get disrupted by Chinese or Koreans, or Japanese.

But more realistic variant is that Manchu state is formed like OTL but they are unable to take large parts of China proper. In this case they would probable make an earlier attempt to conquer various Khalka Mongol states

...probably so, maybe they could make a state that looks like "Mongolia" on the Risk(C) board covering Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea.

and then Dzungaria and Kashgaria . I don’t see the force in the region that can stop Manchu.

I don't think that successful conquest of Dzungaria and Kashgaria is guaranteed in a world where the Manchu fail to take China. Primarily because the Manchu will have to be weaker in some way to have not taken China, and will not have the taxable resources of conquered China to support Manchu western campaigns.

If they are still unable to conquer China the Russian position in the whole Eastern Siberia becomes threatened – while Russia would have some technological advance over this Manchu-Mongol state the latter’s army would be much MUCH larger and Manchu would pay much bigger attention to their north border. So it is possible that Russia would lose all the territories East of Baikal.

Interesting, so you think that the Manchu state would hold onto the the whole region of the early 20th century "Far East Republic" (map attached) so denying Russia that temperate zone territory and the silver-mining region around Nerchinsk and Chita? Or would the Manchu likely hold onto territories even further north, leading up to Okhotsk and Yakutsk?

While Russia would have some technological advance over this Manchu-Mongol state the latter’s army would be much MUCH larger

I'm thinking the Manchu-Mongol state, if it chose to hold on in the north against the Russians, could likely do so through the whole 18th century and early 19th century, but then in the middle and later 19th century, the Manchu-Mongol state would find the Russians unstoppable, as the Kazakh hordes, Bukhara and Khiva did, so Russia would probably still have dominion over Port Arthur by the turn of the 20th century.

Of course, if I am wrong, and a Manchu-Mongol state is more resilient about keeping Russia from the Pacific coast in the late 19th century, Japan may end up supporting it as a buffer state and find itself with a freer hand in northeast Asia.

The history of China would also be completely different without Qing dynasty and I can’t realistically predict its course.

fair enough--


So I think that Ming repelling Manchu would actually lessen Russian influence and territory in the Far East not increase it.

more likely than not, I suppose, unless the Manchu are utterly depleted by the process of Chinese resistance or Chinese counter-attack. Especially once they've taken Beijing, the Manchu will employ all their might to hold it. If they are overcome, they might not have anything left.


For instance in case a proper industry emerges near Amur by late XVIII-early XIX centuries, Russian Far East can even try independence as it can have the necessary resources and population and is almost unlinked to Russia proper before transcontinental railroad can be built.

This is a nifty little idea I had not thought of. Not guaranteed to happen, but a possibility.

Now I want to reach back to your earlier post-

With any realistic POD Manchu would still have more power in the region in 1650-1750s but if Russia does not try to “steal” Qing vassal as it was seen by Manchu Qing may not bother to wage war over almost empty region. And by the time the region would worth something, the effort to take it would increase as well

....interesting PoD idea...

(more or less this happened to Nerchinsk region in OTL; Manchu definitely could take the region from Russia in XVII century but were not motivated enough to do it).

Which brings up another interesting scenario. What might have motivated the Manchu to drive back the Russians more in the Far East and eastern Siberia in the late 17th early 18th centuries? (a) greed for Nerchinsk silver, b) more aggressive, yet still pathetic, Russian expansion attempts, c) a nostalgic desire to reconstruct the northern frontiers of Kublai Khan--which went north aways on the Yenisei river in central Siberia, or d) a TL where the Dzungars are weak or disorganized and so the Qing do not need to worry about a potential Dzungar-Russian alliance, which in OTL motivated them to neutralize the Russians)

--snip exploration of earlier Russian advance and its knock on implications----

There is a number of PODs that lead Russians to begin their conquest of Siberia a few decades earlier(the simplest one but not the most realistic is an order by Ivan IV to conquest Siberian Khanate in 1550s after the conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan). The most realistic one in my opinion is taking Kazan in 1530.

So that advances the Russian advance to the east by about 22 years?

In OTL Russian troops stood by the open gates of the city for several hours while two Russian commanders Glinsky and Belsky argued who should first enter until the gates were closed. If one of the commanders is ill Russia could have annexed Kazan Khanate in 1530. In this case the Russian conquest of Siberian Khanate in 1550 is much more realistic.

...advancing the Russian breakout across the Urals by about 30 years....and presumably east of Sibir, there are no natives really organized enough to slow their advance to the Pacific 30 years ahead of OTL's schedule---so Okhotsk founded in 1619 instead of 1649.

1922-far-eastern-republic_k.jpg
 
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raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Here's a map of Kublai Khan's Siberian frontier - interesting to contemplate if any subsequent dynasty in China had ever restored control over that much of Siberia, which is pretty much the part that has the most agricultural potential.

10498.jpg
 
Now that would be an interesting, if perhaps unlikely, outcome. I guess we would need the Jurchen to never recover from the Mongols, stay disorganized, or get disrupted by Chinese or Koreans, or Japanese.

Yeah, that would probably do it, but who know what will emerge in the power vacuum if Jurchens are crippled. Maybe Korea has the possibility to colonize large parts of Manchuria or Dayan-Khan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dayan_Khan ) and his descendants can conquer most of Manchuria. So without detailed research it is difficult to find the most plausible scenario.

probably so, maybe they could make a state that looks like "Mongolia" on the Risk(C) board covering Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea.


Would you mind sharing a link?

I don't think that successful conquest of Dzungaria and Kashgaria is guaranteed in a world where the Manchu fail to take China. Primarily because the Manchu will have to be weaker in some way to have not taken China, and will not have the taxable resources of conquered China to support Manchu western campaigns.



As I understand it the Eight Banner system allowed Manchu to have much more organized army than that of other nomadic states while still having bigger armies than any agricultural country of the same population could allow. Only the Eight banners of Manchuria were over one hundred thousand people. After the conquest of Khalka-Mongolia the numbers would almost double. While Dzungarian Khanate can probably mobilize armies of comparable size its organization would be much worse than the organization of Manchu-Mongol ones.



Moreover taking Dzhungaria is much more important for Manchu than in OTL. China is too strong to be taken (for the time being), Korea is either already taken or in Chinese sphere of influence. So rather rich and populous Dzungaria is almost the only possible direction of expansion.



Interesting, so you think that the Manchu state would hold onto the the whole region of the early 20th century "Far East Republic" (map attached) so denying Russia that temperate zone territory and the silver-mining region around Nerchinsk and Chita? Or would the Manchu likely hold onto territories even further north, leading up to Okhotsk and Yakutsk?
I don't really think that Okhotsk or Yakutsk would interest Manchu enough to field an expedition through forest 1000 km north of their power base. But if there is a serious conflict with Russia they can make an attempt to destroy both.


Nerchinsk and Chita however would definitely be taken and Irkutsk probably destroyed during winter via frozen Baikal.
I'm thinking the Manchu-Mongol state, if it chose to hold on in the north against the Russians, could likely do so through the whole 18th century and early 19th century, but then in the middle and later 19th century, the Manchu-Mongol state would find the Russians unstoppable, as the Kazakh hordes, Bukhara and Khiva did, so Russia would probably still have dominion over Port Arthur by the turn of the 20th century.

Of course, if I am wrong, and a Manchu-Mongol state is more resilient about keeping Russia from the Pacific coast in the late 19th century, Japan may end up supporting it as a buffer state and find itself with a freer hand in northeast Asia.

Bukhara, Khiva and Kokand are much much closer to Russia proper and border Western Siberia that had more than 200 thousand Russians by early XVIII century and over a million and a half by mid XIX century. And yet Russia was able to take these territories only in the second half of XIX century.



So I don’t see Russia being able(or even trying to) conquer Mongol-Manchu state before there is railroad at least to Irkutsk if there is no Russian settlements east of Baikal and South of Yakutsk. But IOTL Russia build Transsiberian in order to supply Vladivostok. Since in ATL Russia does not have a proper port on the Pacific Ocean the railroad can be built a couple of decades later than IOTL. And by that time it can be too late to conquer.

more likely than not, I suppose, unless the Manchu are utterly depleted by the process of Chinese resistance or Chinese counter-attack. Especially once they've taken Beijing, the Manchu will employ all their might to hold it. If they are overcome, they might not have anything left.
That can happen but IMHO less likely that semi-powerful Manchu-Mongol state.

....interesting PoD idea...
Thank you

Which brings up another interesting scenario. What might have motivated the Manchu to drive back the Russians more in the Far East and eastern Siberia in the late 17th early 18th centuries? (a) greed for Nerchinsk silver, b) more aggressive, yet still pathetic, Russian expansion attempts, c) a nostalgic desire to reconstruct the northern frontiers of Kublai Khan--which went north aways on the Yenisei river in central Siberia, or d) a TL where the Dzungars are weak or disorganized and so the Qing do not need to worry about a potential Dzungar-Russian alliance, which in OTL motivated them to neutralize the Russians)
a) This could happen I suppose. IOTL Nerchinsk silver was not discovered before the treaty of Nerchinsk(and the first decent amount was mined in the first decade of XVIII century) so the treaty was not influrnced by it. If it is discovered earlie...
b)I don't see Russia trying to expand more aggressively then IOTL. There are simply too few people to do so
c)I don't think it would work. Qing appear to me more pragmatic than that. Also I believe that the actual northern borders of Khubai Khan were pretty much undefined. The border on the map could be drawn anywhere(since there wer no local powers) but nothing West or North of Baikal was actually controlled.
d)I haven't heard of that. IOTL Russia had more conflicts with Dzungaria than it had with Qing. So this can be one of the reasons but I still believe that the main one is "stealing vassals".

So that advances the Russian advance to the east by about 22 years?
Around three decades. Could be even more but Russia is unlikely to conquest anything while Ivan IV is minor if the political situation in the country is similar to OTL.

...advancing the Russian breakout across the Urals by about 30 years....and presumably east of Sibir, there are no native really organized enough to slow their advance to the Pacific 30 years ahead of OTL's schedule---so Okhotsk founded in 1619 instead of 1649.
Preaty much yes. And reaching Amur river around 1620-1625(compared to OTL conquest of Albazin in 1651).
 
...probably so, maybe they [Jurchen] could make a state that looks like "Mongolia" on the Risk(C) board covering Mongolia, Manchuria and Korea.

How? Both the Jurchen (1627) and Manchu (1636-7) invasions were conducted in order to prevent Joseon from aiding the Ming. Additionally, the invading generals in the first invasion realized that stiff resistance from various guerrilla forces would tie their forces down for months, if not years, which would have eventually delayed their efforts against the Mongols and the Chinese elsewhere, which meant that negotiations remained incomplete. While the second invasion (due to Joseon's hostility during diplomacy) involved more forces, the monarch and the court ultimately decided to surrender and accept vassalage after they were pressed for resources, which the Manchus quickly accepted. This was despite the fact that Joseon was in severe turmoil after the devastation during the Imjin War, along with a successful coup in 1623 that also destabilized court politics.

For reference, it was not until 1635 that the Northern Yuan finally surrendered, while the Manchus did not cross the Great Wall until 1644, which was accomplished due to a civil war within China that had allowed the Shun to temporarily take power in Beijing in the same year. Even if the Jurchen/Manchus somehow had the patience to systematically conquer most (~50-100) of the main fortresses within Korea and suppress uprisings and guerrilla operations for decades afterward (the invaders bypassed most of the fortifications in order to attack the capital IOTL), they would have been unable to effectively sustain their campaigns against both the Khalaka and the Ming (as stated above). In any case, given that both sides were severely pressed for resources, the Manchus would have been more than willing to cease hostilities once Joseon agreed to become a vassal.

It's also worth noting that even after the second formal surrender, Hyojong (r. 1649-59) made plans to invade Manchuria by systematically training his troops for a potential mobilization (including the production of firearms), although this was eventually scrapped due to his sudden death, along with the Qing's relative stabilization in North China.
 
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