this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2026
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History Memes

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German Chancellor Bismarck once noted, "There is a special providence that watches over fools, drunkards, and the United States of America." (media.piefed.social)
submitted 1 month ago by PugJesus@piefed.social to c/historymemes@piefed.social
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[–] robocall@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago (2 children)

IIRC Russia was super weakened by a war, and didn't have the soldiers to protect Alaska, so anyone could have decided to take it, and Russia wouldn't have been able to fight back. So why not make a quick buck off it instead of having it embarrassingly taken from you?

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Also the other buyer would have been England and they hated them more.

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 1 month ago

Sure, the UK would have been the other "buyer".

It made sense for Russia to sell Alaska to the USA. The USA was likely the only country who could keep the land if the UK decided to challenge the claim. And, while remote, Alaska was next to Russia and having a friendly maritime neighbor would be beneficial for the country.

Meanwhile, Russia and the UK were in the middle of playing the Great Game in central Asia and had recently fought a war against each other. It is likely that the next war would include Alaska and the UK could likely use local Canadian forces to take the land, making it easy to lose and hard to defend should another was break out.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (3 children)

International community would object and stop the illegal takeover.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 8 points 1 month ago (1 children)

lol you jokester

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2 points 1 month ago

You're the only one that got it. Congrats!

[–] teft@piefed.social 7 points 1 month ago (1 children)

In 1867? Not likely. There weren't any of the international organizations like the UN rallying for people's defense.

[–] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

And today they would? :D

That, my fried, was the joke.

[–] robocall@lemmy.world 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I'm not your fried, pal!

[–] Mika@piefed.ca 2 points 1 month ago

Just like they do now

[–] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 6 points 1 month ago

Now do Florida