Quote:
Originally Posted by Betonov
A quick Russian victory or a quick defeat would have saved the Romanovs. Revolution was inevitable but perhaps it would have been more of a sudden shift to a constitutional monarchy than a full blown rebellion and civil war.
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A constitutional monarchy in Russia would have required another Tsar.
Nicholas II appears to have been psychologically incapable of accepting any limit on his power. His belief in his divine right to rule was as strong as any medieval monarch.
His inability to compromise doomed him and his dynasty.
In the same way, proper modernisation of the Dual Monarchy would have to have waited until Franz Joseph popped his clogs. Once that happened, history being different, Franz Ferdinand's proposals may have had a chance of working, assuming Karl became monarch and had time to implement it. But that would have required a short, victorious war against Serbia. Since the KuK Wehrmacht made heavy weather of their attack in the real world, I have my doubts if that would have occurred. Getting rid of von Hötzendorf and his monumental ego may have helped, but I think the basic War Plan used was faulty.
Mike.