Search results

How about the Balearic islands? They were a more-or-less independent kingdom in the Middle Ages, although briefly. James I of Aragon set it up for one of his sons, and eventually it got absorbed back into the Catalan realm. It could have lasted longer with some luck. There's another path...

I was browsing around on Wikipedia, and I stumbled upon one of the princesses on that list (at least according to her Wiki page): Enrichetta d'Este. She's Catholic, but she might be willing to convert. This would work if Frederick is willing to marry much earlier (Enrichetta got married in...

A fascinating scenario, no doubt, but it looks like Maria Theresa married in 1736, when Victor Amadeus was 10, and that marriage had been postponed for some time already. I'm not sure the Habsburg would wait that long to marry off their heir. On the other side, if Francis of Lorraine dies...

I have sometimes wondered if it was possible to have the Habsburg create a functioning, autonomous Kingdom of Italy, with one of their collateral lines picked to run. It should be possible, I guess, from the 1700s, when so many of the minor states in Italy came under their sway. I guess the...

Or more likely both. I could see minor contributions and support coming from Corsica for Italian nationalists, both for ideological reasons and to support the creation of a potential ally; I can also see an alt-Italy considering the annexation of Corsica and not going ahead, both because of...

I could give you a realistic candidate: this part more or less happened in OTL. Titus had a relationship with Berenice, daughter of Herod Agrippa. Titus broke up with her in OTL because she was disliked. If they met earlier, she could bear him children. Not sure if the Roman aristocracy would...

If Henry sees his son and heir predecease him, he might place Mary back in the succession.

And saddle his realm with a huge debt, which is clearly politically driven? It doesn't sound like Theodore.

I was expecting Theodore to negotiate, quibble and drag his feet on the amount of the payment. Let's say, try and catch Bonifacio but trade it back to Genoa for a discount; or threaten to go to the British and give them a port.

Are Theodore and Walpole closer in this TL? Does Walpole like him more? On one side he showed up in London with more successes, on the other he still was a would-be king on the run.

Is d'Ornano getting to big for his boots? That could be a thorn in Thedore's (and his successors') side.

I think you need an earlier POD, with a faster and less destructive reconquest of Italy, for the Byzantines to hold on to Italy. Maybe Belisarius accepts the first offer the Goths made - to let them keep Italy north of the Po river as foederati, where they were more concentrated anyway - and...

Good point. Germany could move in completely different directions, and while I think some form of unification is going to happen, it might not be the Prussia-led German Empire of OTL. If the POD is early enough, rather than it being strictly a different child being born to Victoria's parents...

First and foremost, the gene for haemophilia does not spread among the royal houses of Europe as far as it did OTL. The main beneficiary: the Romanovs. A healthier heir for the Czars could make the difference between OTL's Red Revolution and a shift to a constitutional monarchy. There will be...

The bigger San Marino get, the more attention it attracts. I feel that part of the reason for their successful continued independence is that its territory is marginal when it comes to fertility, trade routes and in general potential for economic growth. And yet quite a few times they were...

You probably need to make Belgium have more German people. Maybe make it larger. Maybe Luxembourg is merged into Belgium at some point and its inhabitants are categorized by Belgian authorities as Germans with a different dialect? But that would need French support, I think.

There have been threads about a POD where Eleanor of Aquitaine's marriage with Louis VII does not fall apart, but I have been thinking about having her decide to marry a different candidate. There must have been a few, with the size of her domains! And we know she's fertile, so there are good...

This is arguably the most important reason why Italy would not be interested in Congo. When it comes to colonial strategy, it looks like their first objective was not to get completely surrounded in the Mediterranean, hence Lybia, the attempt on Tunisia, and the interest in Malta during WWII...

Sure. You will notice I never used the C-word. Or the M-word. I didn't know about Nick Mason's position on Rog's behaviour, and I'd appreciate some links if you have any. Still, it could be depression or stress or the effect of continued drug binges - did he give them up in this time line? Does...

Happy to read this timeline, but let's be honest, as much as I admire Syd Barrett, and I do, the man had issues. If it's not excessive drug usage that triggers them, it's going to be something else. The pressure and stress from being a star, maybe?