Q&A · 2:25-3:31

How might Imperial Russia survive the First World War?

A Patreon prompt asks how Imperial Russia could avoid collapse and survive the Great War, framing a counterfactual in which the February Revolution fails.

Question

How could Imperial Russia avoid collapse and survive the First World War intact?

Short answer

A successful Allied Dardanelles campaign could keep Russia supplied, preserve the monarchy through the war, and place the empire among the victorious powers shaping the peace.

Notes

The scenario narrows the divergence to the failure of the February Revolution rather than preventing the war or granting Russia an implausibly early victory. The selected change leaves the Great War's principal belligerents and pressures recognizable while asking what could keep the monarchy intact. It also preserves enough of the historical setting to examine how a surviving empire would affect postwar borders, diplomacy, and naval arms control. The exercise begins with a constrained point of divergence rather than an unrestricted rewrite of the conflict.