Deleted member 92195
Thus lies my problem. It was not a matter of there being a will, or the ability, but of the situation being favorable to such a project. Let us take a good equivalent to your trifecta of excellent Emperors; the Ottomans between 1451 and 1566. They did grow exceptionally, but they were on the cusp of growth, their starting position strong and with plenty of conquerable territory in every direction; they had no real internal threats either, better technology and a more cohesive distance/communication between their core territories, especially at the start (but even at the tail end: losing Algeri or parts of Persia didn't have a major impact).
Unless you add more exceptional individuals and manage to prevent multiple children, the situation you outlined amounts to:
- Germany who is both big and strong/united enough (even if by sole dislike of the Emperor), ripe for rebellion. It will be the first to go.
- Italy is cowed and loyal enough, especially if the Capital is brought back to Rome. Not too much trouble there (though the urban middle class will not be overjoyed). Some threat may come from Africa.
- Latin Empire: it's in huge need of reorganization, probably dislikes the 'frankish pretenders', and their élites will Be happy to offer the Imperial Crown to any Orthodox ruler - Bulgarian, Georgian, Serbian, even Russian, you name it - so long as they kick out the occupiers. An hotbed of trouble and a net drain.
- Jerusalem (+Egypt): even if wank-Frederic wipes the floor with Saladin, there will be some attempt at Jihad (Saladin and Egypt merely being the difference between minor and major challenges). And the Mongols are coming, to test the strength of HRE-Outremer resilience.
Now, any new Emperor would be horribly hard-pressed to keep all of this together - I think fhe first challenge would come from the Latin Empire, only to be followed by unrest in Germany and the arrival of the Mongols from two different ways.
I'm also somewhat skeptic strong emphasis of the Roman-ness would prevent revolts - they'd change the flashpoint and the wording used, but not the underlying causes.
That is the reason why all this did not happen. This scenario is within the realm of possibility but the chance of it happening was really low. (I would like to know it’s mathematical probability) Then again the chances of Napoleon becoming Emperor were impossible without the French Revolution.
In relation to its future challenges. Wow but awesome. I thought the challenge of getting it where the scenario is, was difficult. Those are equally as ‘explosive’, I’ll look into this.
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