Alternative History
Alternative History
Grand Duchy of the Volga
Великое Герцогство Волжское
Velikoye Gertzogestvo Volzhskoye
Motto
"К солнцу, мы процветаем"
"K solntsu, my protsvetayem"
("To the Sun, We Thrive")
Anthem
"Песня волжских бурлаков"
"Pesnya volzhskikh burlakov"
("The Song of the Volga Boatmen")
CapitalTsarytsin
Official languages Russian
Recognised regional languages Russian, Kalmyk, Tatar, German
Ethnic groups  Russians, Tatars, Kalmyks
Government Local constitutional monarchy
 -  Grand Duke Oleg I Sergeyevich
 -  Chairman General Vladimir Yoder
 -  Head Minister Eduard Zakrevsky
 -  Upper House Senate
 -  Lower House Assembly
Population
 -   census 5.8 million 

Grand Duchy of the Volga (Russian: Великое Герцогство Волжское, Velikoye Gertzogestvo Volzhskoye) is one of the constituent Grand Duchies of the Russian Empire. It borders the Grand Duchy of Moscow and the Grand Principality of South Russia and Grand Duchy of the Caucasus to the south.

With the name being based on the historical and significant Volga River, where a large significance of Russian history has occurred.

The Volga-Oka region has been occupied for at least 9,000 years, and supported a bone and antler industry for producing bone arrowheads, spearheads, lanceheads, daggers, hunters knives, and awls. The makers also used local quartz, and imported flints.

The area around the Volga was inhabited by the Slavic tribes of Vyatichs and Buzhans, by Finnic, Scandinavian, Baltic, Hunnic and Turkic peoples (Tatars, Kipchaks) in the first millennium AD, replacing the Scythians. Furthermore, the river played a vital role in the commerce of the Byzantine people.

Between 2nd and 5th centuries Baltic people were very widespread in today's European Russia. Baltic people were widespread from Sozh River till today's Moscow and covered much of today's Central Russia and intermingled with the East Slavs. The Russian ethnicity in Western Russia and around the Volga river evolved to a very large extent, next to other tribes, out of the East Slavic tribe of the Buzhans and Vyatichis. The Vyatichis were originally concentrated on the Oka river. Furthermore, several localities in Russia are connected to the Slavic Buzhan tribe, like for example Sredniy Buzhan[19] in the Orenburg Oblast, Buzan and the Buzan river in the Astrakhan Oblast. Buzhan (Persian: بوژان‎, romanized: Būzhān; also known as Būzān) is also a village in Nishapur, Iran. In late 8th century the Russian state Russkiy Kaganate is recorded in different Northern and Oriental sources. The Volga was one of the main rivers of the Rus' Khaganates culture.

Subsequently, the river basin played an important role in the movements of peoples from Asia to Europe. A powerful polity of Volga Bulgaria once flourished where the Kama joins the Volga, while Khazaria controlled the lower stretches of the river. Such Volga cities as Atil, Saqsin, or Sarai were among the largest in the medieval world. The river served as an important trade route connecting Scandinavia, Finnic areas with the various Slavic tribes and Turkic, Germanic, Finnic and other people in Old Rus', and Volga Bulgaria with Khazaria, Persia and the Arab world.

Khazars were replaced by Kipchaks, Kimeks and Mongols, who founded the Golden Horde in the lower reaches of the Volga. Later their empire divided into the Khanate of Kazan and Khanate of Astrakhan, both of which were conquered by the Russians in the course of the 16th century Russo-Kazan Wars. The Russian people's deep feeling for the Volga echoes in national culture and literature, starting from the 12th-century Lay of Igor's Campaign. The Volga Boatman's Song is one of many songs devoted to the national river of Russia.

Construction of Russian-era dams often involved enforced resettlement of huge numbers of people, as well as destruction of their historical heritage. For instance, the town of Mologa was flooded for the purpose of constructing the Rybinsk Reservoir (then the largest artificial lake in the world). The construction of the Uglich Reservoir caused the flooding of several monasteries with buildings dating from the 15th and 16th centuries. In such cases the ecological and cultural damage often outbalanced any economic advantage.

During the Russian Civil War, both sides fielded warships on the Volga. In 1918, the Red Volga Flotilla participated in driving the Whites eastward, from the Middle Volga at Kazan to the Kama and eventually to Ufa on the Belaya. It was the sight of the 1919 Battle of Tsarytsin, a major White victory that planted the seeds to the downfall of the Bolsheviks.

Demographics[]

Religion[]

The main religions are Russian Orthodox (70%), Sunni Islam (17.6%), Buddhism (6%), Lutheranism (4.6%) and Others form the rest, notable Catholic, as well as a noticeable Amish and Mennonite community.

However, the Amish and Mennonites are severely dwindling in numbers, with many becoming either Russian Orthodox or Lutheran (considered a national religion among Germans). However, those ex-Amish and ex-Mennonite have preserved the memory of their origins, many retaining their rural lifestyles.

Modern History[]

Russian Civil War[]

During the Russian Civil War, the Volga region became an intense battleground between White and Bolshevik Red forces, in one of the most epic theaters of the Russian Civil War, both Whites and Reds utilized Imperial Russian vessels. However, after the Battle of Tsarytsin in 1919, which culminated in the death of Joseph Stalin, the Whites consolidated their stronghold over the Volga region.

Interwar Period[]

Modern-Day[]

Because the German invasion never occurs, the Battle of Stalingrad never happens, and the Volga region never experiences the horrors of World War II. However a considerable amount of personnel, supplies and materials came from the Volga region for the war efforts. The 1st Volga Front sent forces south, to engage the coming Turkish invasion.

However, the Great Turkish Empire had targeted the Volga region due to being the historical home of the Volga Bulgars, the current home of the Volga Tatars, and had made the goal of capturing Astrakhan, due to the Kazakh population. The attempted Turkish invasion never made it to Astrakhan, although Turkish forces had managed to make it 131 km south of Astrakhan. They were stopped by the Caspian Sea Flotilla.

The Second World War also placed a great toll on the Amish and Mennonite community residing within the Volga German Baronate, many ended up leaving their Amish and Mennonite communities, to go join the war efforts out of patriotism. Their descendants today are Orthodox, but they haven't forgotten their roots.

Thus, the Volga became home to one of the most important industrial economic centers of the Russian Empire.

Education[]

  • Royal Tsarytsin University (OTL equivalent: Volgograd State University; Russian: Королевский Царицынский университет, Korolevskiy Tsaritsynskiy universitet) - prestigious research university in Tsarytsin
  • Tsarytsin Grand Polytechnique (OTL equivalent: Volgograd Technical State University; Russian: Королевский Царицынский университет, Korolevskiy Tsaritsynskiy universitet) - technological polytechnic university
  • German Polytechnique of Tsarytsin (OTL equivalent: Volgograd State Academy of Architecture and Civil Engineering; German: Deutsche Polytechnik Tsarytsin, Russian: Немецкий Политехнический Царицын), technology and architecture university for German-speakers in the Russian Empire
  • Royal Astrakhan University (OTL equivalent: Astrakhan State Technical University; Russian: Королевский Астраханский университет, Korolevskiy Astrakhanskiy universitet) technological research university in Astrakhan
  • Grand Astrakhan University (OTL equivalent: Astrakahn State University; Russian: Большой Астраханский Университет, Bol'shoy Astrakhanskiy Universitet) - multi-topic research university, mainly in business, liberal arts, journalism and hospitality
  • Grand Medical College of Astrakhan (OTL equivalent: Astrakhan State Medical University; Russian: Большой медицинский училище Астрахани, Bol'shoy meditsinskiy uchilishche Astrakhani)
  • Kazan Grand Royal Imperial University (OTL equivalent: Kazan Federal University; Russian: Казанский Большой Королевский Императорский Университет, Kazanskiy Bol'shoy Korolevskiy Imperatorskiy Universitet; Tatar: Казан Гаять Зур Падишаһ Зиннәтле Дарелфөнүн, Kazan Gayat Zur Padishah Zinnätle Darelfänun), 2nd-oldest university in the Russian Empire
  • All-Tatar College of Kazan (Tatar: Бөтен-Татар Mәктәбе Казан-нең. Beten-Tatar Mäktäbe Kazan-neñ; Russian: Казанское общетатарское училище. Kazanskoye obshchetatarskoye uchilishche), higher-learning institution dedicated for Tatar-speaking people, courses are in Tatar
  • Islamic University of Tatarstan (Russian: Исламский Yниверситет Татарстана, Islamskiy Universitet Tatarstana; Tatar: Mөселман Дарелфөнүн Татарстан-нең, Mäselman Darelfänun Tatarstan-neñ), higher-learning institution meant to serve people of the Islamic faith, though those of non-Islamic faith can also attend