There are two matters I would like to discuss about Russia in EU. I will start with the longest and most important.
1) Sole Defender of the Orthodox Faith.
I think it would be very interesting if the title of "Sole Defender of the Orthodox Faith" were reviewed for EU3.
It isn't of great use for Russia to claim this title in EU2 because most of the Orthodox world is occupied by Russia herself.
Unlike what happens in the Catholic and Protestant blocks and in the Muslim world, where there is always a mosaique of relatively active medium countries that get tangled up in conflicts that give the Sole Defender of their faith juicy opportunities for war, in the case of Eastern Europe by the time Russia can be turned into a respectable sized power strong enough to support the weight of this title there are practically no other independent Orthodox nations left, as most of them have been diplo-annexed by Russia to grow into a Great Slavic Orthodox Power or gobbled up by the Ottomans and Austria/Hungary.
The Orthodox Faith has always been the soul of Russia and one of the main pillars of Russia's imperial drive, just exactly as it was with Catholicism in imperial Spain, so it isn't realistic for Russia to loose all religious drive - all practical utility from holding the title of Sole Defender of the Faith - just because there aren't any independent Orthodox nations left; (indeed, it should rather be the contrary!)
One possible way to compensate this could be to give Russia extra cassus belli against the muslim nations it has always fought, especially the Ottoman Empire.
Since the days when the small Russian principates finally started shaking the mongol occupation off, the Russians have always fought the muslims expanding their frontier further and further at their expense in Central Asia.
But it is not simply a strategic matter: it has a strong religious confrontation component. In the XV century Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantium emperor Sofia Paleolog. Sofia arrived to Moscow accompanied by Greek court, which soon became the closest surrounding of the Great duke and Moscow started being reffered to as "the third Rome". The doctrine of "the third Rome " connected the idea of an empire and the idea of the orthodox sacral mission together.
The punishment of the Turks in particular for having squashed the old center of Orthodox Christianity in Constantinople and the struggle against "the Muslim enemy" in general (like in Central Asia) became the messianic idea on the basis of which the Russian empire began to be built. Marriage of the Great duke with the Byzantine princess gave the necessary political legitimacy to this messianic idea.
The whole history of imperial Russia is a long list of Russian/Turkish wars, and the anti-Turkish impulse was part of the wider anti-Islamic drive, which defined the main vector of Russian expansion, to the south and southeast.
It isn't a coincidence that the onion-shaped domes of Russian Orthodox churches are very often topped by an orthodox cross set symbolically over the muslim half-moon.
The title of Sole Defender of the Faith reflects the Muslim-Catholic historical struggle in the game, and the religion wars in Europe due to the Protestant Reform because the Muslim, Catholic and eventually Protestant cultural blocks are big enough communities for the title to work well according to how its conditions are set in the game; but for the Orthodox world it is completely different for the reasons I have stated.
In EU2 Spain gets its imperial-religious connection done in a satisfactory way. But in the case of Russia they seem to have missed it a bit because of how the conditions leagued to the title of Sole Defender of the Faith are set, and in my opinion there should be some sort of compensation to make this title work as well for the case of Russia as it works for the case of Spain, as the religious factor was definitely as important for Russian Tsars (some of which have become saints of the Russian Orthodox Church) as it was for Spanish Kings and Emperors.
2) Russia: a multiethnic empire.
The Austrian and Ottoman Empires are two very clear examples of multiethnic empires of the time and accordingly they get several national cultures in the game. Russia has also been a clearly multiethnic empire, and yet Russia cannot easily get more national cultures as Austria and the Ottoman Empire - as far as I know, it is only possible to obtain one of the central asian cultures as another national culture, and that's all.
Of course, I am not saying - for obvious reasons - that Russia should have "lithuanian" or "polish" as national cultures even if Russia held big posessions in these lands for a long time. But I think that the "ugric" culture should definitely be one of Russia's national cultures, with no doubt, as this culture has had presence in Russia practically from the beginning of the developement of Russia.
As there is no "ukranian" culture in UE2, but "ruthenian" instead, I firmly believe that Russia should have access to "ruthenian" as a national culture; after all, the link between Russia and Ukraine is already real in the game - it's very easy to be in good terms with Ukraine and diplo-annex it - , except for this important detail.
Finally, if it is possible to get one of the small central asian cultures that were under Russian authority, why shouldn't Russia be able to eventually get the other small central asian cultures from the region in Central Asia that was part of the Russian Empire? It doesn't make sense to be able to do it with one and not the others.
I don't exactly know how the national culture issue will work in EU3, but I think that whatever such advantages that Austria and the Ottoman Empire get should be also given to Russia, as it as much of a multiethnical empire as these other two.
That's all. If you've got this far, thank you for your attention!
I would like to hear your opinions.
1) Sole Defender of the Orthodox Faith.
I think it would be very interesting if the title of "Sole Defender of the Orthodox Faith" were reviewed for EU3.
It isn't of great use for Russia to claim this title in EU2 because most of the Orthodox world is occupied by Russia herself.
Unlike what happens in the Catholic and Protestant blocks and in the Muslim world, where there is always a mosaique of relatively active medium countries that get tangled up in conflicts that give the Sole Defender of their faith juicy opportunities for war, in the case of Eastern Europe by the time Russia can be turned into a respectable sized power strong enough to support the weight of this title there are practically no other independent Orthodox nations left, as most of them have been diplo-annexed by Russia to grow into a Great Slavic Orthodox Power or gobbled up by the Ottomans and Austria/Hungary.
The Orthodox Faith has always been the soul of Russia and one of the main pillars of Russia's imperial drive, just exactly as it was with Catholicism in imperial Spain, so it isn't realistic for Russia to loose all religious drive - all practical utility from holding the title of Sole Defender of the Faith - just because there aren't any independent Orthodox nations left; (indeed, it should rather be the contrary!)
One possible way to compensate this could be to give Russia extra cassus belli against the muslim nations it has always fought, especially the Ottoman Empire.
Since the days when the small Russian principates finally started shaking the mongol occupation off, the Russians have always fought the muslims expanding their frontier further and further at their expense in Central Asia.
But it is not simply a strategic matter: it has a strong religious confrontation component. In the XV century Ivan III married the niece of the last Byzantium emperor Sofia Paleolog. Sofia arrived to Moscow accompanied by Greek court, which soon became the closest surrounding of the Great duke and Moscow started being reffered to as "the third Rome". The doctrine of "the third Rome " connected the idea of an empire and the idea of the orthodox sacral mission together.
The punishment of the Turks in particular for having squashed the old center of Orthodox Christianity in Constantinople and the struggle against "the Muslim enemy" in general (like in Central Asia) became the messianic idea on the basis of which the Russian empire began to be built. Marriage of the Great duke with the Byzantine princess gave the necessary political legitimacy to this messianic idea.
The whole history of imperial Russia is a long list of Russian/Turkish wars, and the anti-Turkish impulse was part of the wider anti-Islamic drive, which defined the main vector of Russian expansion, to the south and southeast.
It isn't a coincidence that the onion-shaped domes of Russian Orthodox churches are very often topped by an orthodox cross set symbolically over the muslim half-moon.
The title of Sole Defender of the Faith reflects the Muslim-Catholic historical struggle in the game, and the religion wars in Europe due to the Protestant Reform because the Muslim, Catholic and eventually Protestant cultural blocks are big enough communities for the title to work well according to how its conditions are set in the game; but for the Orthodox world it is completely different for the reasons I have stated.
In EU2 Spain gets its imperial-religious connection done in a satisfactory way. But in the case of Russia they seem to have missed it a bit because of how the conditions leagued to the title of Sole Defender of the Faith are set, and in my opinion there should be some sort of compensation to make this title work as well for the case of Russia as it works for the case of Spain, as the religious factor was definitely as important for Russian Tsars (some of which have become saints of the Russian Orthodox Church) as it was for Spanish Kings and Emperors.
2) Russia: a multiethnic empire.
The Austrian and Ottoman Empires are two very clear examples of multiethnic empires of the time and accordingly they get several national cultures in the game. Russia has also been a clearly multiethnic empire, and yet Russia cannot easily get more national cultures as Austria and the Ottoman Empire - as far as I know, it is only possible to obtain one of the central asian cultures as another national culture, and that's all.
Of course, I am not saying - for obvious reasons - that Russia should have "lithuanian" or "polish" as national cultures even if Russia held big posessions in these lands for a long time. But I think that the "ugric" culture should definitely be one of Russia's national cultures, with no doubt, as this culture has had presence in Russia practically from the beginning of the developement of Russia.
As there is no "ukranian" culture in UE2, but "ruthenian" instead, I firmly believe that Russia should have access to "ruthenian" as a national culture; after all, the link between Russia and Ukraine is already real in the game - it's very easy to be in good terms with Ukraine and diplo-annex it - , except for this important detail.
Finally, if it is possible to get one of the small central asian cultures that were under Russian authority, why shouldn't Russia be able to eventually get the other small central asian cultures from the region in Central Asia that was part of the Russian Empire? It doesn't make sense to be able to do it with one and not the others.
I don't exactly know how the national culture issue will work in EU3, but I think that whatever such advantages that Austria and the Ottoman Empire get should be also given to Russia, as it as much of a multiethnical empire as these other two.
That's all. If you've got this far, thank you for your attention!
I would like to hear your opinions.
