Polish famous writer/Beast,mens and gods/ Ferdynand Ossendowski was one of his lieutnants,and sane one.If he survive and take power,we would have normal Russia ruled by dude who would wrote about all of that and made money on it.Maybe someone more competent overthrows him and replaces his tinpot dictatorship with a more competent one, though?
Alternate History Ideas and Discussion
- Thread starter AndrewJTalon
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History Learner
Well-known member
Pretty simple, but Andronikos III Palaiologos doesn't die prematurely of Malaria. This averts the Byzantine Civil War of the 1340s, enabling John Kantakouzenos to complete the reunification of Greece under the Roman auspices and stave off any Serbian adventures against the Empire until the Black Plague hits. Andronikos dies then, but instead of leaving his son as a nine year as OTL, his death now leaves him on the cusp of 16, avoiding the question of the Regency. Against the coalition of Anna of Savoy, the Patriarch John XIV Kalekas and Alexios Apokaukos, Kantakouzenos loses out in influence to the reformers and the Empire begins a new golden age of reforms, by embracing commerce and an empowering of the Imperial state structures, in effect a return to the Macedonian dynasty's policy that resulted in a quasi-meritocracy.
Although kicked out of Anatolia by this point, the Empire is able to consolidate and come to hold all the territory below the Balkan Mountains and, in a matter similar to France in the early modern area, enforce a policy of Romanization that binds these territories to it. Taking a cue from the Italian merchant republics, the Empire makes up for its lack of taxable land by translating its strategic location at the crossroads of Asia and Europe to utilize commerce as a new money maker. Using a combination of hard and soft power, the Byzantines pursue a policy of preventing any one Turkish polity of controlling Anatolia, forging alliances as needed to cripple threatening powers; the Ottomans are crushed in this manner in the 1370s. Ultimately, the Byzantines aid the rise of Russia by curtailing the slave trade in the Black Sea ran by the Tartars and using their formidable navy in conflicts against them, helping the Russians to secure control of the Steppe sooner and enforce Christianization. The crowning achieve of this new Byzantium comes in the early 1500s, when they conquer Egypt from the decaying Mamelukes.
Although kicked out of Anatolia by this point, the Empire is able to consolidate and come to hold all the territory below the Balkan Mountains and, in a matter similar to France in the early modern area, enforce a policy of Romanization that binds these territories to it. Taking a cue from the Italian merchant republics, the Empire makes up for its lack of taxable land by translating its strategic location at the crossroads of Asia and Europe to utilize commerce as a new money maker. Using a combination of hard and soft power, the Byzantines pursue a policy of preventing any one Turkish polity of controlling Anatolia, forging alliances as needed to cripple threatening powers; the Ottomans are crushed in this manner in the 1370s. Ultimately, the Byzantines aid the rise of Russia by curtailing the slave trade in the Black Sea ran by the Tartars and using their formidable navy in conflicts against them, helping the Russians to secure control of the Steppe sooner and enforce Christianization. The crowning achieve of this new Byzantium comes in the early 1500s, when they conquer Egypt from the decaying Mamelukes.
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Buba
A total creep
One of the several wee problems with the above scenario is that the slave trade is run by Italian (Genuan) Jews, ERE is incapable of affecting events in proto-Russia - it is cut off from Rus by the Golden Horde, the Rus are divided, Lithuania is still ascendant.
What formidable ERE navy? Building one requires first taking on Venice and Genua - although such a step is necessary to wrest control of trade and trade routes from the Italians.
What formidable ERE navy? Building one requires first taking on Venice and Genua - although such a step is necessary to wrest control of trade and trade routes from the Italians.
History Learner
Well-known member
By the 1340s, the Byzantines were building a Navy; the fleet reached 40 ships by the time of the Civil War, which is nothing to sneeze at given the Venetians and Genoese are averaging between 100-200 ships in their own respective fleets at this time. Given Constantinople's control of the Straits, cutting off both from the Black Sea is possible, as is using the new navy to project power and thus disrupt slave raiding efforts of the Tartars; here, without the waxing of the Ottomans, the slave markets for Rus peasants are much harder to reach and demand is lower. The Golden Horde is about to hit the first violent stage of its decline shortly after the PoD and in the long run Rus unity seems likely, particularly given the Byzantines are in a position to exercise their influence along the Black Sea coast.
Could we actually have a 19th century or even early 20th century PoD for this, though? I don't dispute that I find your scenario here interesting, though I prefer something much more recent.
History Learner
Well-known member
Honestly if I ever get around to actually writing it (and I'm going to write another post for the Bela Arpad Byzantine thing I started too, as an aside), I'm certainly going to have a strong Greece/restored Byzantium in that American Mexico TL. Beyond that, I've thought about the Greek Plan too.
Zyobot
Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
'Interesting ATL Tech Trees'.
Which is to say, what are some creative (but realistic) ways to make technological development proceed differently than IOTL, other than overly simplistic answers, like "more advanced" or "less advanced"? (e.g.: Certain tech developing "out of sequence", such as cheap personal computers happening before universal car ownership or something.)
Which is to say, what are some creative (but realistic) ways to make technological development proceed differently than IOTL, other than overly simplistic answers, like "more advanced" or "less advanced"? (e.g.: Certain tech developing "out of sequence", such as cheap personal computers happening before universal car ownership or something.)
You could have the Internet remain a government tool and avoid it having become something that's accessible to the public, no?
Doomsought
Well-known member
There are many factors that can decide whether or not certain technologies are viable during their early development, things that can make them too expensive to be used until we understand them better.
Just making a few key resources a bit more common, easier to mine, rarer or more difficult to mine could drastically change what is viable or not. Metallurgy is also in important factor, it was the main roadblock for breach-loading firearms for at least a century and the steel making processes were key to making more advanced steam engines.
So if we had some major stall in the development in steel making around the first world war, naval there would be a huge divergence in naval designs to compensate for those limits. For example there was a brief period where metallurgy did not support geared transmissions for steam turbines, so the US built turbo-electric warships.
History Learner
Well-known member
I looked into this once, and it's possible to have rocketry and "online shopping" in the late 19th Century.
Zyobot
Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
How'd you figure, if I may ask?
History Learner
Well-known member
It's been years, but basically everything was there for rocketry and a combination of 19th Century mechanical computers, telegraph and some other stuff could be combined to make an analogue to the online shopping. I'd have to sit down and research it all again, as it's been close to a decade now.
Zyobot
Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
Well, if and when you find it, I'd be happy to take a look.
Anyways, 'Weimar Civil War Breaks Out'.
Bassoe
Well-known member
- Moorish medieval alchemists accidentally stumble upon 4chan's cool crystal recipe, just in time to make the crusades even more of a catastrophic slaughter.
- The soviet union secret police and bureaucracy decide the value in these new "computer" thingies outweigh their risks.
- No ARPANET, but a couple of decades late compared to OTL, Phil Zimmermann or some other privacy and free speech advocate libertarian techie independently develops the basic idea of an interconnected network of computers, outside of goverment hands and deliberately designed from the start to be decentralized to make it difficult to spy upon and censor.
What about this scenario? :
Alternate History Challenge: Paul von Hindenburg never appoints Hitler:
In 1933, Paul von Hindenburg, after prolonged pressure from his son, from von Sleicher, from von Papen, and the other leaders of the conservative German movements finally appointed Hitler as Chancellor. But at the time the Nazi Party was very close to a complete breakup and the collapse of...
historum.com
Zyobot
Just a time-traveling robot stranded on Earth.
What about this scenario? :
Alternate History Challenge: Paul von Hindenburg never appoints Hitler:
In 1933, Paul von Hindenburg, after prolonged pressure from his son, from von Sleicher, from von Papen, and the other leaders of the conservative German movements finally appointed Hitler as Chancellor. But at the time the Nazi Party was very close to a complete breakup and the collapse of...
It’s an interesting scenario, but people seem too “conflicted” about what it’d lead to.
There’s not even agreement as to whether civil war would break out, so much as “someone else” becoming the strongman who holds Germany together, even though fleshing out a Weimar Civil War is the whole point.
The idea that the Reichwehr will agree to France getting the Saarland is beyond idiotic. The people will conduct a guerilla war first, and once the French has been removed the German people have a cause to rally around, namely the destruction of France as an entity in retaliation for their attempted conquest. And that's assuming the soldiers don't just frag the generals and the french who suggested it.