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One of the prime reasons Russia sold Alaska to USA was to annoy and stick it to GB.
Not exactly to annoy, but yes, to "bypass" UK. At that time Russia didn't have any reasonable fleet in the Far East to protect Alaska at all. So to sell it to UK rival - USA - was the only move; if not the sale, Alaska would have been lost anyway, but this time to UK.
You know, the fact that Russia was willing to part with it says they didn't really value it much, which makes for an interesting conversation. Perhaps they would've tried to unload the territory on some other country. I doubt that Japan would've wanted it in the settlement following the Russo-Japanese War; I don't think they would've seen much value in it . . . in any event, assuming that Japan would still go no to lose in WWII, the territory would've likely reverted to Russia like other territories won by Japan from Russia did.
The Russians were in negotiations with Lichtenstein at the same time as the USA, they were looking to sell for sure. My guess is that either Lichtenstein ends up buying or another minor European power.
The Russians were in negotiations with Lichtenstein at the same time as the USA, they were looking to sell for sure. My guess is that either Lichtenstein ends up buying or another minor European power.
Perhaps Russia would've sold it to the Prussians/Germans since they were late to the colonization game?
The Russians were in negotiations with Lichtenstein at the same time as the USA, they were looking to sell for sure. My guess is that either Lichtenstein ends up buying or another minor European power.
Au contraire. It was the Monagasques who were interested. They needed a vacation spot to get away from those brutal Monaco summers, and winters, and springs and falls.
Au contraire. It was the Monagasques who were interested. They needed a vacation spot to get away from those brutal Monaco summers, and winters, and springs and falls.
The Russians were in negotiations with Lichtenstein at the same time as the USA, they were looking to sell for sure. My guess is that either Lichtenstein ends up buying or another minor European power.
Liechtensteinian North America! Boy, that changes history lol.
Can you imagine seeing that on the globe!
To be serious though, the Liechtenstein family was and is very wealthy ...the current ruling prince actually has the largest personal fortune of any currently reigning European monarch. The country was actually created to give the family, which was fantastically wealthy...they owned a third of Austrian Silesia, for instance... a principality which was required for the family to hold a seat in the Holy Roman Empire. It was actually a number of years after the creation of the principality before a member of the Liechtenstein family even set foot in it.
Given the family's close ties to the Hapsburgs and their extreme wealth and great landholdings in the Austri-Hungarian Empire it is not unreasonable to assume that Alaska under the House if Liechtenstein may have enjoyed the protection of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which while lacking the capability to command the seas around Alaska certainly had the power to do great damage to the European interests of anybody attacking Alaska as well as possessing tremendous diplomatic stature.
So they certainly would have had the financial resources to make the purchase and launch development efforts
A fun and interesting point to ponder pertaining to any of the several scenarios presented in this thread which posit Alaska becoming an independent state...or a part of Liechtenstein (or a separate independent duchy or kingdom ruled by the House of Liechtenstein)...do you feel Alaska could have developed into a prosperous and more populated sovereign nation based not only on its natural resources but also as an off shore banking/tax/regulatory/etc haven located between North America and Asia (Liechtenstein has priseperd by being an offshore haven..it literally has more businesses, at least on paper, than people)
Last edited by robertbrianbush; 08-12-2019 at 09:25 AM..
They did, however, almost go to war with us over Samoa, and possibly the Phillipines and Venezuela.
After the Spanish-American war? You are compressing a lot of time.
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