Placeholder Image

字幕列表 影片播放

  • 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!

Now hold on, Putin. I know you read the title and are trying to make me not exist,

字幕與單字

單字即點即查 點擊單字可以查詢單字解釋

B1 中級 美國腔

如果俄羅斯從未存在過呢? (What If Russia Never Existed?)

  • 68 7
    kinkwanhappy 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
影片單字