Russian constitutional monarchy

[RogueBeaver]

What would be the required turning points, and when? My guess is Alexander II to start, and that whatever's cooked up remains closer to the German than British model unless/until there's some lucky successive rolls of the imperial and court dies producing relatively flexible and capable Tsars and would-be PMs. On the policy side, land and military reform seem obvious priorities.

[Vosem]

Delay WW1 until after Nicholas dies. Alexis becomes a puppet of an elected Duma, which probably modernizes over time. In the long run, Germany can't keep up with Russian potential, and while some sort of European conflict is probably inevitable, the further into the future it happens the stronger Russia is in positioning herself.

[RogueBeaver]

I assume Nicholas' death is by less than natural causes, given his health and fitness prewar. Such modernization would presumably require someone very capable and relatively liberal pushing it. Question is who that would be and how.

[RosettaStoned]

 Russia could have had a constitutional monarchy, during the upheavals of 1905, however Nicholas II was a reactionary, so it did not happen.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

The best bet would have been for Alexander II to have lived another 15 years, maybe twenty.

The problem is that successors of Russian leaders have generally taken the opposite approach of those who preceded them. Maybe if Alexander the II had been able to do with Nicholas, what Catherine had with Alexander I, then something would have been most plausible.