St. Petersburg Event

St. Petersburg Event: 1908

POD is that whatever hit Tunguska in 1908, instead of flattening an isolated wilderness destroys the capital of Imperial Russia. Among the tens of thousands of casualties are Tsar Alexander, his family, most of the central bureaucracy and many members of the Duma as well as the lion's share of the Baltic Fleet, stationed at Kronstadt. This has three major effects:

1: Germany is quick to take advantage, under the guise of "restoring order" and almost immediately annexes the Russian part of divided Poland then moves into Russia proper. Although protesting formally France and Britain do little because Russia is indeed in chaos largely because of effects 2 and 3.

2: None of the Big Three of the Bolshevik movement, Lenin, Stalin or Trotsky are in St. Petersburg at the time of the disaster and they also move quickly to take advantage of the turmoil, jumpstarting the Russian Revolution. However they have two major stumbling blocks they didn't have in OTL. The Germans and...

3: At the time of the Event Russia was the most deeply religious nation in Europe. Many take the Event as a Sign from God. One of those who takes the most and quickest advantage is a charismatic monk name Rasputin.