So why not start dealing with the Indonesians? Make it a sort of Chola Empire based out of Sri Lanka - contained, easily defendable if you have a navy, prosperous - with holdings in Indonesia and at major trading posts on the Indian shores.
If Persia held Red Sea Arabia (the Hejaz), Mohammad would never have been able to conquer Mecca from the polytheists, and Islam would indeed by butterflied.
All of the Near East to begin with. They held Anatolia up to Phrygia before they were defeated, but they would probably cede some of this...
If the Sassanids achieved an easy victory and were able to properly govern their new provinces, it's not likely that Islam would've won them.
There were about 6,000 Arab soldiers who conquered all the Byzantine provinces, not because of their military might, but because the local people were...
Didn't the Chinese get Greek fire at one point? How'd that work?
They wouldn't have a monopoly on the weapon, but if they could just use it occasionally, it could've made a huge difference. If they had it at Manzikert, the Turks could've been forced out of their ambush position into open combat.
An empty New Zealand could've also become a trading base for Europeans in the Pacific, like Taiwan was for the Dutch.
With no harassing natives, it could've been a safe haven to warehouse supplies and money or to settle for a couple months after long voyages.
You're not kidding. Can't we just behold a Christian Persia? How cool would that be? How bout a Christian Delhi Sultanate? That's up there with the best of em. And if Persia is Christian, then maybe the Ilkhanate and the Mughal Empire could be Christian.
But how does the All of Mexico movement grow from a petty wail to a major force? It never had much popular support and none at all in the halls of power.
Probably not enough time. It took the Chinese a while to go from knowing gunpowder's composition, to using it as a minor incendiary, to being able to deploy it as a battle-changing explosive, and the Ptolemies would have to actively sponsor it for all that time.
I thought most of the Byzantine libraries were destroyed when the Varangians started looting on their way out, and the Latin West had no respect for the Byzantines and I don't think they'd try to learn from them, but maybe they did.
If they could use gunpowder to fire and detonate a Greek Fire-based shell with metal shards or broken pottery, it could be an unstoppable weapon.
Imagine being a Turkish soldier as fire rains down towards your head and little pieces you can't see rip apart possibly hundreds of men if they're...
Especially if that campaign against Arabia Felix succeeded and Rome captured Yemen and Oman. They would be in a great position to take parts of India.
Why not try to take Sri Lanka so they don't have to go against the entire Indian subcontinent? It was where the spices came from
Then the Fourth Crusade wouldn't happen, maybe giving the Byzantines enough force to stop the Ottomans for a couple centuries more...
I hate the Fourth Crusade
Official state-sponsored colonization would be slower, but if news of better climate and land in New Zealand spread through the Australian colonists, they oculd've started migrating there like the Americans going west.
Maybe New Zealand would've grown faster and Australia would've lagged behind