Map:
Official Name: Republic of Rus
Common Name: Rus/Russia
Flag:
Capital: Novgorod
Head of Government: Archbishop Boris Danilovich
Head of State: Grand Prince Feodor IV
Major Political Parties:
Boyar Duma (Council of Lords/Senate)
Religious Party 40 %
Monarchist 26 %
Reformist 34%
Demonym: Rus/Russian
Languages: Russian, Finno-Ugric languages, Khazar, Uralic languages, Caucasian languages
Ethnic Groups: 65% Russian, 10.5% Finno-Ugric, 10.5% Khazars, 5% Others
Religions: 75.6% Orthodox Christian, 8.5% Tengri, 5.1% Old Slavic Faiths, 4.0% Old Finno-Ugric faith, 4.0% Jewish 2.6% Others
Population: 29.0 million
Location: European Russia, Karelia, Ingria, Parts of OTL Belarus, Parts of OTL Ukraine, Colonial lands in Siberia
History: The defeat of Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours against the Muslims together with the survival of Byzantine Empire, mostly Constantinople and the lack of Northern Crusades and Mongol Invasion created a breeding ground for Russian state in the east.
Early history of Republic of Rus' dates back to the invasion of East Slavic tribes by the Varangians in the 9th and the creation of Kievan Rus' by Rurik's kin. Invited by some of the most prominent Slavic tribes the Varangians quickly brought order to the continuous chaos caused by the feuding tribes and were able to create a single nation. Prince Oleg is known to have been the first ruler of Kievan Rus' and established the foundation of the state around 880's after he conquered Kiev. In the late 9th century lands in the east became divided between the Varangians of Kievan Rus' and the Kingdom of Khazaria, which the Kievan Rus' constantly fought against for the control of the trade routes. With the creation of Kievan Rus' the Varangians established a series of trade routes along the rivers Dnieper, known as the "route from the Varangians to the Greeks" to the south and Volga trade route to the east. With the trade routes came several trade hubs such as Novgorod build around the old Holmgrad created by the Varangians (Controlling Baltic trade from the east) and Kiev (controlling the Germanic trade from the east) allowing the Varangians to control the flow of trade. This control allowed Kievan Rus' to subjugate the remaining Slavic tribes and win series of victories against the Khazars.
Along with the riches that the trade brought to Kievan Rus' also Orthodox Christianity came in from Byzantine, the major trading partner of Kievan Rus'. With the Byzantine Empire strengthening it's status in Balkan regions made some of the boyars to fear an Orthodox crusade against the pagan north exploiting the volatile politics between Kievan Rus' and Khazaria. Orthodox Christianity began to take hold of Kievan Rus' around 10th century when several members of the ruling class were baptized and relations with the Orthodox Church became stronger. Around 988 Vladimir the Great began a process known now as the baptism of Rus' which eventually lead to Christianization of Rus' and Orthodox Church being established as a prominent figure in the East. During the reign of Vladimir the Great the power in Kievan Rus' became to be divided between regional princes from the Rurik dynasty. Most prominent of these regional principalities were Novgorod to the far north, to the east Vladimir-Suzdal and Kiev to the west acting as the capital region of Kievan Rus'. Novgorod soon became the to colonize the north all the way to the White Sea as well as to the Barents Sea trough Karelia, mostly thanks to the rich trade hub of Novgorod the Great. While other Princes of Kievan Rus' fought for land and right to rule Novgorod stayed a firm supporter of Kiev and was over time granted numerous freedoms and a certain status of autonomy. In 1019 Novgorod played a key role in helping Yaroslav the Wise rise to the throne of Kievan Rus' by defeating his brother, Sviatopolk the Accursed who had seized the throne after the death of Vladimir. Rule of Yaroslav the Wise marked the beginning of a Golden Age for Kievan Rus'. Yaroslav promulgated the first East Slavic law code,
Russkaya Pravda, built Saint Sophia Cathedral in Kiev and Saint Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod; patronized local clergy and monasticism; and is said to have founded a school system. Yaroslav's sons developed the great Kiev Pechersk Lavra (monastery), which functioned in Kievan Rus' as an ecclesiastical academy. As well as improved relations with nations to the west and mostly Byzantine.
After the death of Yaroslav the Wise in 11th century Kievan Rus' began to see even more fragmentation when regional lords grew in power. A rota system was established where the power was transferred to the eldest member of the dynasty instead from father to son. On August 10, 1100, council known as Council of Vytechev was called .
by Vladimir II Monomakh to end the feuds between the princes of Kievan Rus'. The ruling of this council lead to the dissolution of Kievan Rus' and rise of several regional powers such as the all ready greatly independent Novgorod Republic, Principality of Kiev, Principality of Ryazan and Grand Duchy of Vladimir. From these the latter three constantly fought over the control of Kiev as well as several wars against Khazaria. Until the year 1132 Kievan Rus' remained an truly united state. But the death of Mstislav the Great and his successors Yaropolk II of Kiev inability to control the external situation and growing power of Novgorod in the north as well as continuous campaigns against Khazaria led to series of civil wars for the rule of Kiev. Even though Kievan Ru's still remained as a state most of the Princes considered themselves independent.
Novgorod Republic was mostly ruled by an local oligarchy with the princes power diminishing over the years, becoming more of an role as the military leader of Novgorod and in 1136 an elective monarchy was established that laid the foundation of the republican government in Rus' today. The same year Novgorod Republic became fully independent leaving Kievan Rus' to it's own fate. Thanks to Novgorod being a trade center for the Baltic-Volga trade route the Novgorodian princes were able to solidify their lands in the North and quickly became the largest Rus' nation in the area and thanks to the constant bickering of princes in Kievan Rus' they were also able to take control of the trade coming trough Dnieper river when Kiev was sacked by Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir. In the 12th–15th century, the Novgorodian Republic expanded further east and northeast. The success of Principality of Kiev against the Ryazan and Vladimir in the 13th century forced Novgorod back in to the politics of Kievan Rus' with Kievans trying to conquer the rich lands of Novgorod. Around this time Alexander Nevsky was elected as the Prince of Novgorod and due to his efforts as a military tactician helped Novgorod to remain independent and forced Kievan Rus' to look south. In the beginning of the 14th century the Novgorodians continued to explore the Arctic Ocean, the Barents Sea, the Kara Sea, and the West-Siberian river Ob. In 1305 Kievan Rus' defeated Khazaria in the south consolidating their power in the south and once again laid their eyes to Novgorod. With the Khazarians out of the picture Kiev was free of major enemies in the south and was able to concentrate solely fighting against Novgorod and win several victories against the Republic. The wars between Novgorod and Kievan Rus' mostly ended indecisive and with only minor gains in each side. The goal of these wars were mostly to control region of Vladimir and it's vast supply of grain. A stale mate had been created in Russia.,
The early 15th century brought change to the stale mate when the Khazars under Khagan David III rose back to power in the south and dealing major damage to the stability of Kievan Rus'. Novgorod used this situation to to take back the regions of Vladimir that it had lost earlier in the wars and it's vast supply of grain. While the Khazars expanded in the south Kievan Rus' once again became unstable only to be diminished as a small state around the cities of Kiev and Smolensk by the mid 16th century. Final attempt of Kievan Rus' to retake their lost lands was made in 1639 when Grand Prince Vasily VII launched an war against [Insert Polish State] in the West. At first the Kievans were successful but eventually they were defeated by [Insert Polish state] and began to retreat with the Polish armies advancing. Fearing that [Polish State] would expand to Russia and that Khazaria would use this to expand futher in to North, Novgorod declared war and marched to take control of Smolensk and Kiev under Prince Ivan. The war was a success and Kievan Rus' was finally defeated and brought under the rule of Novgorod Republic. Even though Prince Ivan was able to secure Smolensk and Kiev much of the former Kievan Rus' territories in the West were lost to the [Polish State]. Not wishing to bring another war to the east Prince Ivan signed a treaty with the [Polish State] recognizing their claims on the Kievan Rus' territories in the West. After the fall of Kievan Rus' Novgorod Republic became the sole Russian power.
In 1641 time of troubles fell upon Novgorod Republic when a great famine spread across the land between 1641-1644. The inability of the Prince Ivan and the Council of Lords to deal with the situation lead to an uprising by the several boyars in 1645. The boyar armies under Gregory, brother of Mikhail managed to storm the Kremlin in Novgorod and captured Prince Ivan and members of the Council of Lords. Gregory and his followers executed his brother and the Council of Lords replacing them with boyars loyal to him and declared himself a Grand Prince of Novgorod. His victory was short lived since Mikhail Fyodorovich Romanov, a man who was both loyal to Prince Ivan and had shown great skill during the war of against Kievan Rus' had gathered the Republic armies behind him in Smolensk and was now advancing towards Novgorod to restore the republic together with his son Alexis. Mikhail Romanov managed to defeat Gregory and his boyars, re-establishing the Republic. But the Council of Lords and many boyars were worried that the recent events would caused too much damage to the governing bodies that they decided to call Zemzky Sobor and establish Mikhail Romanov as the sole ruler of Novgorod. Unfortunately Mikhail passed away before his election was made official and the Lords rushed to select his son Alexis as the ruler.
Novgorod Republic was reformed into absolute monarchy and under the rule of Alexis Novgorod was renamed as the Tsardom of Rus', and he himself crowned as the Tsar. Tsar Alexis I established himself as an autocratic ruler and dissolved the Council of Lords. This was all done in hopes of creating a government that could easily make decision without great debate as the power would be controlled by one man. Unfortunately this meant that many of the boyars who had enjoyed power during the Republic were now stripped of these powers, creating anger in the boyar ranks. The reign of Alexis I saw a great deal of isolation from rest of the Europe. Around 1649 full state sanctioned serfdom was established giving landlords full power over the peasants, creating tension in the peasantry. Occasional rebellions by smaller boyar factions and peasantry occurred during the 17th century but they were easily suppressed by Tsar's armies. Between 1661-1664 Alexis I waged a war against Kingdom of Khazaria in the Rus-Khazar war, where the Tsardom emerged victorious with annexation of large parts of the Khazar lands in the east and establishing the borders that still exist to this day.
His success in the Rus-Khazar war was received well by the nobility but those longing after the Republican days were not happy, mostly since the war effort took a great toll on their lands and the peasantry, which resulted in the boyars dealing with angry mobs of peasants. To build and expand the Tsardom required the nobility to exploit the peasantry, especially in the newly acquired regions in the east. This was not well received with the population in the east, especially among the Cossack people who had enjoyed great freedom until now. This eventually lead to the uprising of the Cossacks under Stenka Razin 1670 against the "traitor boyars" who kept exploiting the peasantry. This was received as great news by the republican faction in the Tsardom and many of them begun to secretly support Razin and his cossacks. Razin's rebellion gained much support among the peasantry causing major uprisings in Novgorod, Kiev, Smolensk and Moscow. Tsar Alexis I met his end in the hands of a peasant mob who ambushed him and his escort in Bryansk. His successor Feodor III was only fifteen year old at the time of his coronation. In 1678 the republican boyars had quietly withdrew their support from Razin's cossacks because of the inability of Feodor III to lead the Tsarist armies. The same year Stenka Razin was betrayed by his own men after several losses against the Russians and delivered to the Tsarist officials in Novgorod where he was deemed a traitor to the Tsar and All of Russias and promptly executed. The Razin Cossack rebellion continued until March 1679 when the Cossacks were defeated by Prince Yevgeny Miloslavsky at Astrakhan.
Russia now scarred by the years of rebellion tried to recover as best as it could but the death of Tsar Feodor III lead to another uprising in 1682 in Novgorod. This uprising was mostly orchestrated by the wives of the late Tsar Alexis I over the power of politics in Russia. Sons of Alexis I Peter and Ivan served as the tools in this uprising and each side wanted to establish their own candidate to the throne of Russia. The republicans saw this as evidence of the corruption and failure of the Tsarist autocracy and used the situation to their benefit. The republicans supported the Patriarchs and boyars when they nominated Peter as the next Tsar. The supporters of Ivan stirred up riots in the streets of the capital. They exploited the discontent of the Novgorod regiments against their commanding officers and on 11 May 1682 the mob of the Streltsy took over the Kremlin and lynched the leading boyars and military commanders whom they suspected of corruption, Artamon Matveev, Mikhail Dolgorukov, and Grigory Romodanovsky. A few days later, on 17 May, the rebels once again stormed the royal residence but this time they were unsuccessful in their efforts to defeat Peter's supporters and accidentally caused the death of Ivan. Enraged by this Ivan's supporters turned against each others. With the arrest of the conspirators the uprising ended and peace was restored. Unfortunately for Peter and the Tsardom, Boyar Duma was now convinced that Tsardom wasn't beneficial to Russia and decided that Boyar Duma should be the highest governing organ of the Tsardom instead of the Tsar. Governing power was mostly returned to the boyars and Tsardom was abolished and Republic of Rus' was formed. By the demands of the Patriarch of Novgorod Peter was crowned as the Grand Prince of Rus and established as a figurehead for the Republic.
Even though Boyars had once again established themselves as a ruling council, the powers of the Grand Prince weren't diminished until recent years. Prince Peter was able to use his influence to start major reforms in Rus and modernize it along the lines of western nations, making Republic of Rus' major European power. He along with reformist boyars lead a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. This lead to some of the more traditional boyar factions as well as the religious factions to work together to reduce the power of the prince once again. The following decades would see reformation in culture, politics, foreign relations, arts, education and economics. These reformations were known as Russian Enlightenment. During the Russian Enlightenment much of the powers of the prince was once again transferred to the Duma, much to the liking of the factions. The Reformist Boyars manged held the power until the early 19th century when they began to draw up plans for emancipation of the serfs that met large resistance among the Religious faction as well as some of the reformist boyars which led to the decline of popularity for the reformist faction. The Religious factions was able to gain power under the Archbishop Boris Danilovich. Recent years have seen the religious factions of Rus' undoing some of the reformations done by the Reformist faction that had gone against the believes of the religious elements. The liberal style brought by the reformists was gradually replaced by more conservative policies. The decline of the Reformist faction lead to the rise of the Monarchist faction who were in favor of returning back to true monarchy. By 1830 the Monarchist have become a prominent power in the Boyar Duma.
*Dunno how crazy I went but spend most of today in creating this monster
** This is actually a toned down version since my original claim also included Finland and Baltic states in fashion of OTL Russian Empire
***Since Byzantine and Constantinople never fell and Northern Crusades didn't happen I think it is plausible that Novgorod could have easily surpassed Muscovy (Rise of Muscovy was greatly thanks to the Golden Horde)
****The lack of Golden Horde, Sweden and Teutonic Knights one Russian state feels more plausible than a divided Russia. And of course could have lead to conquest of Finland and Baltic States.
*****Also wasn't sure how much we could colonize outside Europe so even though most of Siberia was under Tsardom of Russia by the time Russian Empire was formed, I decided to just state that there are colonial lands in Siberia instead of claiming all of Siberia.
