Surviving Alans

8Deer

How can we get an Alan nation in western Europe, probably France or Spain? The Alans are so interesting (an Eastern Iranian tribe in Western Europe) and they played a large part in the migration period, so I'm surprised they don't come up more in AH. A POD I was considering is that when the Alans crossed the Rhine, their king Goar doesn't join the Romans and instead continues the invasion with the other barbarians.

Any thoughts?
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

8Deer said:
How can we get an Alan nation in western Europe, probably France or Spain? The Alans are so interesting (an Eastern Iranian tribe in Western Europe) and they played a large part in the migration period, so I'm surprised they don't come up more in AH. A POD I was considering is that when the Alans crossed the Rhine, their king Goar doesn't join the Romans and instead continues the invasion with the other barbarians.

Any thoughts?
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At a wild guess, they give their name to a country and otherwise disappear, like the Bulgars did. I don't THINK they were numerous enough to survive culturally like the Hungarians did...
 

Valdemar II

Banned
Dathi THorfinnsson said:
At a wild guess, they give their name to a country and otherwise disappear, like the Bulgars did. I don't THINK they were numerous enough to survive culturally like the Hungarians did...
Click to expand...

If I remember correctly the Alans was part of the Scyts and as such they were rather populous, through it doubtful that a single migrating tribe avoid being assimilated in the densely populated west. So their best case is to end up in Pannovia and Dacia and getting lucky enough that a small group of them survive in either Romania or Slovakia.
 

Dathi THorfinnsson

Strategos' Risk said:
Bulgar and Bulgarian are different?

Mind. Blown.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgar_language said:
Bulgar (also Bolğar, Bulghar and Proto-Bulgarian) was the language of the Bulgars. Very few records exist of the language and little of them is understood. Considered by most linguists to have been a Turkic language[1][2][3],
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vs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_language said:
Not to be confused with Bulgar language.

Bulgarian (български език, pronounced [ˈbəlɡarski ɛˈzik]) is an Indo-European language, a member of the Slavic linguistic group.
Bulgarian demonstrates several linguistic innovations that set it apart from all other Slavic languages except the Macedonian language, such as the elimination of case declension, the development of a suffixed definite article (see Balkan linguistic union), the lack of a verb infinitive, and the retention and further development of the proto-Slavic verb system. Various verb forms exist to express unwitnessed, retold, and doubtful action. Estimates of the number of people around the world who speak Bulgarian fluently range from about 9 million[1] to 12 million[2].
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filler, filler
 

8Deer

Bumping this up, since I'm working on a POD that involves the Crossing of the Rhine in 406. Basically, the invasion is much more devastating and Rome never recovers.

The Alans were the dominant barbarian group amongst the tribes who crossed the Rhine in 406, but they were so heavily defeated by the Romans that the survivors were forced to join the Vandals.

ITL, the Alans are never defeated and go on to settle in southern Spain. Eventually, I plan on having them dominate most of the Iberian peninsula. One thing I'm interested in is language. Obviously, the Alans would become assimilated by their Roman subject population, like the Franks or Visigoths. My question is: what would a Romance language with Eastern Iranian influence be like?:eek:
 

IndigoYeti

I find the Alans interesting as well. I had a thought a long time ago that since Britain got invaded during the 5th century, why not Ireland? So the Alans go to Ireland and conquer it and forge it into a strong kingdom. Very silly, I know(why would they go to Ireland in the first place?).
 

Korporal Nooij

IndigoYeti said:
I find the Alans interesting as well. I had a thought a long time ago that since Britain got invaded during the 5th century, why not Ireland? So the Alans go to Ireland and conquer it and forge it into a strong kingdom. Very silly, I know(why would they go to Ireland in the first place?).
Click to expand...

I guess that isn't too plausible. The reason for the Germanic tribes to go to Britain instead of Ireland was because it was easier for them to reach. ;)

You've made a good point though. I think it's a very interesting POD to have the Alans, together with the Germanic tribes, invade Britain. :D

Even though their culture will most likely eventually go extinct, i'm not sure what kind of butterflies are brought with this POD. Maybe a bit of the East Iranian culture and vocabulary will remain on the island. :cool:

-Korporal Nooij.
 

Redbeard

Banned
Hmm - I think they are all over the place. I had one in my school class, one in the family, and several of my colleagues/business partners are called Alan. And if I go west across the North Sea I’ll meet them in bundles of five!

Sorry, I’m aware that wasn’t quite what you asked for, but I just couldn’t resist. But at least according to Wiki the popular NW European male name Alan MIGHT have its origin in the tribe/nation of the same name. So, in some way they are already here and have left their mark.

Regards

Steffen Redbeard
 
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