Toward the end of the 18th Century, Catherine the Great issued a call inviting Christian Europeans to settle and farm in the lands around the Volga River as a buffer against the Mongols and Tatars. The Europeans who accepted the invitation would be allowed to maintain their language and customs. This is the origin of the Volga Germans, as the overwhelming majority of those who took up the offer were ethnic Germans from Central Europe. Other Europeans were more inclined to head west to the American colonies.
What if other European nationals took the offer and migrated to Europe in large numbers? French, English, Irish, Italians? Which are the most feasible and what might become of their communities in later Russian history? Obviously this butterflies away Karl Marx and communism, but...
What if other European nationals took the offer and migrated to Europe in large numbers? French, English, Irish, Italians? Which are the most feasible and what might become of their communities in later Russian history? Obviously this butterflies away Karl Marx and communism, but...