Still People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs at that point, but I appreciate it's a technical distinction only and anyone in Britain would think of him as a Minister.
And I think you mentioned there will be some presidents who will be viewed as worse than McClellan. If I didn't misremember, that's going to be a rough few years for the United States.
Apparently it does not occur to McClellan that there exist people who are not only capable of conceiving a plan, but also capable of acting on it with speed.
I am going to say that without WWI, the Russian government will have to deal with rural social disruption due to overpopulation and urban labour unrest, which will keep them too busy for much in the way of foreign adventures.
Yes, that definitely puts in a different light. Although I really dread HBO's depictions of Napoleonic warfare. I imagine masses of soldiers running at each other in lose formations to engage in acrobatic man to man combat. I know I should not expect anything approaching historical accuracy, but...
Not sure Alexander would have ever spoken like that to another sovereign, even in private and even in a moment of serious stress. Alexander was not a particularly pleasant person but his manners were always good. I think he would have phrased it differently. Maybe: "My brother (or my friend)...
That will make things very interesting, some sources indicate that as Nicholas was being actively prepared for the throne, he was much better educated than OTL AIII. And hooray for a Confederacy screw!
Maybe a typo here? Alexander II's second son who succeeded him OTL is also named Alexander. Here, AII is assassinated in 1866, so Alexander is still set to succeed his father since his older brother Nicholas died in 1865. And a really minor nitpick, the traditional title of the heir to the...
Realize that global power projection is done for the foreseeable future, so scrap or sell everything bigger than a destroyer. Keep the minimum number of ballistic submarines to maintain the nuclear triad necessary for great power status.
Seems a bit conspiratorial. Stalin in 1948 is at the height of his power, I doubt he needed to resort to complicated schemes like that to get someone killed. In the Leningrad affair, everyone was arrested, interrogated and executed, all very simple and efficient.
OTL Zhdanov died in 1948, so his comeback is likely to be brief. Although there might be an argument made that without Stalin, everyone's life is going to be a bit less stressful so maybe he hangs around longer.
I question Napoleon's wisdom in giving Ney the assignment of shadowing a superior force, or really any assignment beyond "Find the enemy and attack until you run out of troops." Too bad Massena is cooling his heels at Marseilles.
Thank you for this! As someone who only knew Purcell and then Handel and Mozart, your post has given me great list of composers I need to start listening to.