There’s a fair point in that Bulgaria and the other Balkan states were Russia’s primary objective in the 1877 war. The Balkan theater was the primary theater of combat and what the fighting was all about. Additionally, the war was very costly to Russia in both lives and materiel. Bulgaria was a...
I think this is a case where the “how” of Alexander’s empire remaining united really dwarfs the rest of the scenario. We can imagine a lot of different scenarios for how Alexander’s empire remains intact after his death (and indeed on how Alexander dying at a different date would impact that)...
Personally, I doubt Caesar would immediately look to Parthia, but it’s certainly possible.
It probably matters how exactly the civil war is avoided. Is one of the various compromise proposals accepted? If so then I definitely don’t think Caesar will be heading east to campaign against Parthia...
Exactly. Tordesillas set the line where it did because Spain and Portugal’s interests in the newly explored territories had already begun to clearly diverge. Spain was interested in Columbus’ discoveries in the Americas and the potential east-west route to India. Portugal had reached the top of...
Definitely yes, these could absolutely have been more widely developed/adopted. Russia and North Korea have 300mm rocket systems, and North Korea recently developed a 600mm system that basically blends an MLRS with a short range ballistic missile.
If more countries saw a need for that kind of...
Basically no chance of the US letting the Soviets send support to Iceland. IOTL Iceland asked for a surplus US warship to strengthen their coast guard, but the US demurred because it wanted to stay neutral in a dispute between NATO members. Iceland was able to get US diplomatic intervention in...
Agreed. There have been 3-4 near misses that could have escalated.
The trouble a second Mexican-American war is constructing a scenario where Mexico could actually believe it might get a positive outcome. The imbalance between the countries is just too big by the 20th century. I don’t think...
By the time of the July Crisis I don’t believe there was any serious expectation that Italy could be induced into joining the war on the side of the Central Powers. Certainly not for a price that Austria would pay. And all three governments knew it.
The Triple Alliance had very much worn thin...
Sure, although if you’re caught laying those mines you’ll probably find that “transition” happens a lot faster. In fact, some modern mines can already do this. You can set delays so the mine lays inactive for a period (which can be months) before turning itself on. Some also have various low...
Navies would definitely love this. The issue, as I see it, is how do you communicate with the mine? Modern mines can already have a dormant mode, but all modern command mines are physically linked back to the command station by cable. Not sure how you get around that problem.
That said...
There could easily be a a sustained population of feral cameos in the American southwest. It’s really just chance that we don’t have them today.
IOTL the US created an experimental camel corps just before the Civil War, but it was disbanded due to the outbreak of the war. The camels were...
They definitely weren’t. I don’t think there are any strong attestations of coffee cultivation and consumption before fifteenth century Yemen. We know the plant itself originated in Ethiopia so presumably there was some level of coffee trade to spread it across the Red Sea, but it doesn’t seem...