How would Russia have looked like in a late German WWI victory scenario? I would presume that Germany would not be able to indefinitely sustain its desired goal of imposing a puppet regime in Russia after winning in the West since by that point in time, the German workers would have already been fed by with years of non-stop warfare and would have thus wanted a quick end to the war either way. Plus, the German workers probably wouldn't have been very fond of Germany pursuing imperialist warfare and policies against other Europeans. Unless the German government can quickly win any new war in Russia that it will start, its troops will still likely have to head back home in order to prevent revolution back at home.
But what would happen to Russia afterwards? It would be severely destroyed by its civil war, though a plus side would be that the Germans would overthrow the Bolsheviks before they would leave Russia, so it won't be the Bolsheviks filling the subsequent Russian power vacuum but rather some other Russian force(s). Any idea of who might rise to power in Russia in this scenario? And Russia would still have a huge advantage in having a rapidly growing population with a lot of human capital potential; but on the flip side, it will still need to make the rest of its population (around one-third among the younger Russian age cohorts, I think) literate and also to develop its industries, manufacturing, et cetera without anywhere near as much French foreign investment as it had in the pre-WWI years. One could say that Russia in this scenario might to some extent resemble late 20th century China; as in, a country with a lot of potential but one that still needs decades of economic growth to fully realize its potential.
Anyway, any ideas? @Skallagrim @stevep @sillygoose @History Learner @Zyobot @raharris1973 @Chiron @Ricardolindo
But what would happen to Russia afterwards? It would be severely destroyed by its civil war, though a plus side would be that the Germans would overthrow the Bolsheviks before they would leave Russia, so it won't be the Bolsheviks filling the subsequent Russian power vacuum but rather some other Russian force(s). Any idea of who might rise to power in Russia in this scenario? And Russia would still have a huge advantage in having a rapidly growing population with a lot of human capital potential; but on the flip side, it will still need to make the rest of its population (around one-third among the younger Russian age cohorts, I think) literate and also to develop its industries, manufacturing, et cetera without anywhere near as much French foreign investment as it had in the pre-WWI years. One could say that Russia in this scenario might to some extent resemble late 20th century China; as in, a country with a lot of potential but one that still needs decades of economic growth to fully realize its potential.
Anyway, any ideas? @Skallagrim @stevep @sillygoose @History Learner @Zyobot @raharris1973 @Chiron @Ricardolindo