The Magyars under Almos and his son Alpad moved into the Pannonian basin against the Bulgars and Avars as pressure from other nomads forced them to move west. They managed to conquer the region from Bulgaria, but didn't manage to completely crush them as they initially hoped, instead settling down in their Pannonian provinces and expanding west to fill the rest of the basin, forming the foundations of the modern nation of Hungary. The Bulgars, though not conquered, were weakened enough for the Byzantines to deal with more effectively.
For a few generations, the new Hungarians continued to follow the shamanistic practises of their nomad predecessors under their grand Chiefs, with some sympathy and support from the Orthodox Byzantines, to whom they resisted. However, Chief Geza welcomed in Catholic missionaries from the west, leading to his son Stephen I converting to Catholicism and forming Hungary, more than a century after the Magyars had migrated into the region, while those that remained east were subsumed by Slavs and Tartars in the modern Ukraine.
My question is what do people think would have happened if Geza or an earlier ruler (perhaps even Alpad or Almos himself) had instead looked south and converted to Orthodox Christianity? He would be hoping to reduce antagonism with the Byzantines and southern Slavs whom the Magyars competed with and may allow more secure southern borders.
What would the long term implications of this be?
For a few generations, the new Hungarians continued to follow the shamanistic practises of their nomad predecessors under their grand Chiefs, with some sympathy and support from the Orthodox Byzantines, to whom they resisted. However, Chief Geza welcomed in Catholic missionaries from the west, leading to his son Stephen I converting to Catholicism and forming Hungary, more than a century after the Magyars had migrated into the region, while those that remained east were subsumed by Slavs and Tartars in the modern Ukraine.
My question is what do people think would have happened if Geza or an earlier ruler (perhaps even Alpad or Almos himself) had instead looked south and converted to Orthodox Christianity? He would be hoping to reduce antagonism with the Byzantines and southern Slavs whom the Magyars competed with and may allow more secure southern borders.
What would the long term implications of this be?