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One way to Romanize the Caliphate more thoroughly would be an earlier translation of the Gospels into Arabic. Would the Rashidun period be too soon, as in anyone doing it would be considered an apostate?

This has the marks of an empire that is unstoppable on land, but only with extreme effort can project force across a pathetic water barrier like the Pillars of Hercules. A mass migration by the Sarmatian or Xiongnu confederation while the Sassanids are locked in combat with the Byzantines could...

Smart move, but is this just a one-off or is it something that can be made into a policy for future conquests? How long can they keep the army paid without jizya?

A lot has been written about the philosophies of China (Taoism and Confucianism) but I have never seen much attention paid to the gods and goddesses of the Chinese pantheon. Were they conceived as entities to whom sacrifices or prayers were due, or were they just a cosmological backstory to...

In this forum it is often said that nationalism is a modern concept that didn't truly take shape until the 18th-19th century. Yet it does seem that certain peoples were considered "a breed apart", possessed of a special destiny even back to antiquity. One of these peoples was the Persian who, as...

Firstly, thank you for this excellent timeline. I am interested in how Islam is spread by missionaries ITTL as opposed to conversion after conquest. Does the Rashidun Caliphate of TTL have any advantage over OTL in terms of proselytizing? If the Caliphate is more Romanate than Pesianate, would...

As I understand it, Thalidomide was never approved for sale in the US because the reviewer of the petition for market, one Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, was unsatisfied with the existing safety research into the drug. At least, that's what the NY Times obituary states...

If this drug had been approved, what is the conservative estimate of the amount of birth defects it would have caused in the US? How long would it likely have taken for Thalidomide to be confirmed as the agent responsible? Politically would there be a bipartisan determination to reform drug...

Is it true that southern and northern Nigeria were unified in 1914 to cover the budget deficit of the later? If that never happens and the south remains majority Yoruba that would seem by itself to create a much better environment for STEM institutions. Instead of having to uplift the huge...

How rapid was the electrification of Nigeria and Kenya? An earlier start to such a project could justify the teaching of circuit theory to native linemen and mass flow calculations to operators of petroleum-fired power plants.

Actually the scenario that I envision is the right-wing associations occupying the physical seat of government but quickly falling to infighting, leaving Paris in chaos. This would allow a general with an ounce of initiative the time to scrape together the necessary forces outside Paris to...

Suppose that the police are overwhelmed by the rioting paramilitary groups, leading to mass police casualties and the capture of the Chamber of Deputies. If a military junta then took control to reestablish "law and order", what constitutional and economic reforms could they force to be adopted...

At least with his daughter Mary you would have the power of her marriage to the Habsburgs to protect against an invasion by Louis the XI. If he had a son after Mary then that might deprive Burgundy of the one ally that could hold Louis at least partially at bay. If Charles' son was born early...

But one could make a strong argument that Hungary failed because Matthias' innovations were rolled back by a nobility that refused to pay for them. Combined with decaying fortifications and unpaid garrisons it is no wonder that Suleiman the Magnificent took full advantage. True, but he was...

Very few from the standpoint of his subjects. What appeals to a "modern" outlook is his efforts to create a what we would recognize as a nation-state, with a standing army, a rational taxation scheme, and a bureaucracy to collect those taxes. In fact he was not the only noble personage to go...

Suppose Charles keeps secret his ambitions for Savoy and the Swiss but asks for Lorraine to be added to his holdings, in exchange for his daughter marrying the Emperor's son. If Friedrich III agrees to this, is Charles obligated to accept Lorraine's current duke as his vassal? IOTL the duke in...

As I understand it, Charles, Duke of Burgundy, was to be crowned king of his domains by the Holy Roman Emperor in 1473 at Trier, but the emperor fled in the night the day before the coronation was to have happened. If the coronation had actually occurred, what benefit would have been to Charles...

With the Allies in German territory, does the existing autobahn help or hinder further advances? More importantly, is it likely to inspire imitation in France or Britain or would they see it as a solution with no problem? I could see an Indian officer perhaps carrying back the idea as some kind...

Assuming the French and British conquer all the Reich to the Oder river, does this mean that the occupation government begins a de-prussianization of state and municipal governments, since the allies view Prussian militarism to be the root cause of both world wars? Do they staff these...

What was the market for salted salmon at this time? I ask because the new republic could definitely use a profitable export item and salmon seems the simplest to scale up. I think Mexico would be the best initial market for this product, assuming they practice "meatless Fridays" like other...