DBWI: what if Hungary never conquered Constantinople?

[ArKhan]

I know what people will say, how by the time hungary conquered them the Byzantines had been doomed for a very long time, blah blah blah. But i'm sure that another country could have taken it though, The serbs, Bulgaria, one of the many small turkish states that ruled anotolia at the time, if they managed to get their act together. So, What if the Hungarians never took Constantinople?

[Maharajah]

Well, like you said, the Serbs or Bulgars would have done it. I think that the Bulgarians were in a better position to do it, being physically closer, but they had their disadvantages.

And one point I'd like to bring up: What if the one of the Turkish states did take Constantinople? And although you brought it up in your post, I think many will dismiss it as ASB, with the Anatolian states having been vassals of the Seljuks, Mongols, or Timurids for long periods of time. Possibly it would end up with a united European reaction to get Constantinople out of Muslim hands.

[Constantius]

Well, it would almost certainly butterfly away the Great Hungarian Empire. Without the wealth and prestige of Thrace, I can't imagine that lands from the Crimea to Venice, and Crete to Bohemia would pay homage to the Nagyon Császár.

[carlton_bach]

Originally Posted by Maharajah

And one point I'd like to bring up: What if the one of the Turkish states did take Constantinople? And although you brought it up in your post, I think many will dismiss it as ASB, with the Anatolian states having been vassals of the Seljuks, Mongols, or Timurids for long periods of time. Possibly it would end up with a united European reaction to get Constantinople out of Muslim hands.

I think the problem with that is that you'd need it to happen early. The Turkish states were on a decentralising trajectory, with no end in sight. There is no way I can see that any one of them could get strong enough to be a serious threat to Constantinople after the Seljuq era.

But generally, if the Hungarians don't do it. that would ave a huge effect on interconfessional relations. Can you imagine what Eastern Europe would look like without the bitter Catholic-Orthodox split or a history of centuries of Russo-Hungarian wars? I'm not saying it'd be all sweetness and light, but I could, frex, see a solution to the Jerusalem question.

[ArKhan]

Bump, filler, ect.