Is it possible to have not only Alaska, but also Oregon and California, be settled and/or conquered by Russia?
If by some chance Spain doesn't drive them out and they manage to settle the land in any serious numbers, they will have to contend with the USA. Going on actual history, the US was cleary willing to start wars over territory in its early years and people were calling for an invasion of Canada over the Pacific Northwest. With a remote and most likely weakly defended outpost in the way of the pacific, it would be impossible to resist. Various justifications could be made, from preventing British encroachment to plain old manifest destiny. Russia would lose their territory and the US could have a region with a distinctly Russian character.Is it possible to have not only Alaska, but also Oregon and California, be settled and/or conquered by Russia?
Is it possible to have not only Alaska, but also Oregon and California, be settled and/or conquered by Russia?
Alaska was not settled by Russia, their was a very small settler population living in a single place, but Alaska was'nt settled until it became American Territory.
If by some chance Spain doesn't drive them out and they manage to settle the land in any serious numbers, they will have to contend with the USA. Going on actual history, the US was cleary willing to start wars over territory in its early years and people were calling for an invasion of Canada over the Pacific Northwest. With a remote and most likely weakly defended outpost in the way of the pacific, it would be impossible to resist. Various justifications could be made, from preventing British encroachment to plain old manifest destiny. Russia would lose their territory and the US could have a region with a distinctly Russian character.
If by some chance Spain doesn't drive them out and they manage to settle the land in any serious numbers, they will have to contend with the USA. Going on actual history, the US was cleary willing to start wars over territory in its early years and people were calling for an invasion of Canada over the Pacific Northwest. With a remote and most likely weakly defended outpost in the way of the pacific, it would be impossible to resist. Various justifications could be made, from preventing British encroachment to plain old manifest destiny. Russia would lose their territory and the US could have a region with a distinctly Russian character.
Its most likely fate is something similar to Texas's, especially if gold is discovered. There's no way the Russians will be able to pump settlers in at the same rate the US can, and eventually these US settlers will demand independence/annexation to the US.
To get this, you'd have to somehow speed up the Russian conquest and settlement of Siberia. Alaska, and any Russian colonies in California, were mostly supplied from the Russian Pacific, IIRC, across the Pacific Ocean, which is in turn thousands of miles overland away from the main centers of the Russian state. If the Pacific is conquered earlier, then the Russians have more time to expand their presence in North America until the Spanish can't dislodge them. Assuming that this doesn't butterfly away the US, the Russians are still likely to lose it once the Americans begin moving west in serious numbers. A gold rush would probably acelerate this process, as far more Americans are going to go to California than Russians.
Russia in the 17-1800's has little to no real infrastructure in its Siberian territories. Without railways stretching across its Asian territories to the Pacific, the Russians would have a very hard task in transporting so many troops and supplies to their Pacific ports. The most practical assembly and mobilization regions would in Europe, either from their Baltic or Black Sea ports, but even then, the Russians would have many long months to ship their armies all the south through the Atlantic, past Cape Horn, and weeks voyaging up the Pacific coasts of South and North America. Even if Russia can claim and settle California, there is no way they could properly defend it from the Americans or Mexicans if they wanted to.
If by some chance Spain doesn't drive them out and they manage to settle the land in any serious numbers, they will have to contend with the USA. Going on actual history, the US was cleary willing to start wars over territory in its early years and people were calling for an invasion of Canada over the Pacific Northwest. With a remote and most likely weakly defended outpost in the way of the pacific, it would be impossible to resist. Various justifications could be made, from preventing British encroachment to plain old manifest destiny. Russia would lose their territory and the US could have a region with a distinctly Russian character.
I remember reading somewhere that some Czar actually wanted to send alot of Cossacks and whatnot to california/alaska. But, like what others have said, he just couldnt get them there.
Interesting. It even isn't even ASB with the correct POD and doesn't change much outside of Russia until the 19th century. Sweet.
The effects are cool as well - part-Russian US (and a British Columbia that's Russian/US. Really interesting. It'd make a good timeline.