How Tsar Alexander ALMOST Started a World War (And if He Did)

After decades of war in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, Europe had finally defeated Napoleon, and peace was restored. But, the big question that still remained was what to do next, and, Tsar Alexander of Russia only had one thing on his mind. He wanted all of Poland. But, during the Congress of Vienna, the rest of the Great Powers refused to let Alexander take so much. And, after heated discussions, Alexander refused to back down, and it seemed that Europe was on the brink of yet another war. Eventually, though, Alexander backed down, and peace was restored. But, what if that changed? What if Alexander went to war with all of Europe? Enjoy!

MUSIC:

Video Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:02 Background
5:42 Scenario

[dominicadrean]

What if the Russians never helped the austrians with the Hungarian Rebellion

[InfernosReaper]

It seems kinda odd that in this timeline Austria would sit that war out then later bend the knee to those 2 powers. With victory basically assured, Austria would likely join in Crimea to get a cut of the action out of fear of what would happen if the Prussian/Russian forces won.

[christopherlaurie]

Wow quite an interesting timeline. It’s like Russia goes from keep losing to ultimate domination. Great work

[arthurbriand]

If Austria loses Germany to Prussia and the Balkans to Russia, basically being threatened on all sides, would they really ally with this Prussia and Russia? They have nothing to win and everything to lose. Wouldn't they make an alliance with the West to preserve their influence ? Then a WW1 scenario with Austria getting attacked on all sides and having the longest front ever would be disastrous for the Entente to preserve.

[oliversherman]

Tsar Alexander was the personification of mood swings 😂

[alexzero]

Actually, Tsar Alexander wasn't a ruler of Poland, he put there his younger brother - Constantine.

[HappyBazinga]

I think its questionable that prussia would have united germany without the highly industrialized rhineland

[ebanydwayne]

There's a few things to take into consideration, the United Kingdom had Naval Supremacy, The Crimean War was not won (solely by land battles) but because the United Kingdom blockaded and openly threatened the bombardment of St.Petersburg.

I'd say that it would be likely that Austria would remain Neutral and the Allied Powers would still have logistical and other main issues on the Crimean Frontline, but the situation would eventually be detoured by the Naval Power the British would exercise towards the Russians and Prussians, in fact Prussia and the United Kingdom, were very closely bonded mainly because of political marriages and alliances planned during the timeline, the UK was rather fond of Prussia and vice-versa back them

(Edit: Another worthy consideration is that Prussia didn't gain the Rhineland and/or the Ruhr, the Industrial heartland of Germany, so they wouldn't really be as powerful economically and technologically in this timeline as they were back in our timeline.)

[derrickstorm]

Always a pleasure to find a new video from Josh!

[theausteregentleman]

Definitely would like a pt. 2 of this scenario. Great videos.

[somemeansfish]

The Crimean war part is where this gets a bit unrealistic
1:Even if Russia would win it still couldn't carve up the Balkans as it pleases unless it wants to be the target of an even larger coalition
2:Alexander only pushed through reforms with the support of the aristocracy BECAUSE of the bitter defeat, so in this timeline they wouldn't be so eager

[Daniel_Z]

I would say that Prussia annexing all that land wouldn't happen, maybe more that in OTL closer to the nazis in ww2, but not that much. That land includes Warsaw, which wouldn't make a lot of sense for Poland not to own.

[alberto]

Note, Prussia (specially its King) was #TeamRussia as they were promised all of Saxony

[Kiddo]

I personally would like to see a part 2 expanding on this topic

[frostnova]

Man, the amount of times WW1 could’ve started before 1914 is insane

[miketacos]

It’s been a while since I’ve seen some good old fashioned alternate history. This one’s quite compelling!

[danielsantiagourtado]

Love your videos josh! You're awesome!🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤

[oliversherman]

I love your channel keep up the great stuff

[ethanfranzen]

I would love it if you tried to continue the scenario.

[GeneralGrievousCIS]

How would this effect the return of Napoleon. Might a Russia being isolated by the other major powers (and firmly opposed by the new Bourbon regime) feel inclined to humor Napoleon when he returned from Elba and took his post as Emperor again? In that case, Prussia may be a bit too distracted to help at Waterloo, what with the Russians pushing in to their east.