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On second thoughts, I suppose part of the issue may arise from the fact the TL's wording maybe makes the Roman professional civil service look a bit too closely similar to the Chinese mandarinate, when only the broad concept needs be adopted.

But ITTL Roman civil service is not a close copy of mandarinism. It is more akin to the twin of the army, and hence much more fitting the Roman mindset.

And this TL sets event chains in place which accomplish just that. Not really so. Roman civilization eventually produced the Byzantine bureaucracy, which isn't that different from the Chinese one, and certainly fits the definition. ITTL a (less lethal) 3rd century crisis sends Roman leaders...

Uhm, Ok, then you actually meant the most "appealing" option for the HRE leaders. The most "desirable" option may be misleading, and sound like the best one in an hindsight sense.

Even if not explictly stated, it is assumed that TTL China, India, and Persia are al but surely benefiting as much as Rome from reciprocal cultural exchanges, and that in all likelihood a *Rus polity is going to arise in Sarmatia from the mingling of Norse settlers and traders, Roman influence...

Roma Aeterna, v. 1.0. 1st Century CE - 9th Century CE 1st Century CE: The Roman Empire gradually conquers Germania Magna, Bohemia, Dacia, Nubia, and Britannia. In Northern Europe, only Scandinavia, Caledonia, Hibernia, and the great Sarmatian plain remain outside Rome’s control. In early...

It is going to be no mystery for regular board readers that I'm quite fond and supportive of those 'successful Rome' TLs and scenarioes where the Roman civilization-polity survives, overcomes those flaws that led to its OTL downfall, and prevents the fragmentation of Europe in a couple-dozen...

Of course, of course. When I mentioned uncertainty about butterflies actually allowing them to exist in the first place, I should have stated I meant "and being as focused on the Baltic as OTL". What you quote is part of the butterflies I had in mind. Are you actually *suggesting* here, that...

Well, I think the main issue here is whether butterflies shall make it exist or not. If they do, I see no special good reason why it would not be at least as successful as OTL, even if the Empire gives it little support. What the Knights did IOTL, they did with scarce support from the weakening...

Because the alternative, from period French PoV, is to face an enemy that is planning to ride to Paris and put the French elites to the wall. Prussian militarists at their worst would never think of doing that. Lenin and Trotski openly boasted their intention to do so. With their victory over...

Nobody is ignoring that. It's simply that the Bolsheviks apparently victorious and breaking out in Central Europe is going to change a lot in France's view. Boches shall still be hereditary enemies, but they are an established part of the normal order of things. Bolsheviks are an existential...

Nope. For France, Germany (and with it, everything east of Italy) falling to Communism is a nightmare scenario, even if they reap Rhineland as a consolation prize, If they aren't terminally stupid, they are not going to do anything that would favor that.

Ok, let's assume things go more or less as you say, except Germany does succeed to contain Communist subversion, and the Soviet-German military confrontation in Poland ends in a stalemate and a compromise peace on the 1807 or 1914 border. Let's also assume the Soviets and local Communists...

Occupation of the Ruhr with the Bolsheviks breaking out in Eastern Europe seems a overwhelmingly idiotic thing to do, even for French nationalists. If Communists would actually overrun Germany itself as well, it would of course be a wholly different matter.

So is the prevailing opnion that ITTL the Teutonic Knights' state in Prussia and the Baltic lands would exist and be just as successful as OTL (quite likely rather more so against Poland and Lithuania with HRE backing), just as vassals and proxies of the Emperor instead of an independent...

Of course, anybody that believes the hawkish Ententewank pipedream that heavy, long-term military occupation of interwar Germany was a feasible strategy to enforce ToV and even political dismemberment of the German nation needs to face the annoying reality that the Entente powers really, really...

Well potentially the rise of a top-tier European power in the middle axis of the continent may have many different butterflies in the rest of it. This specific one does not seem especially likely, though. So far, hwever, the map keeps Rus in the Mongol-dominated, screwed-up state it was in OTL...

Just for reference, I made a map of Europe in the middle of the 14th century with a united HRE. As anyone can see, it would not be *that* bigger than a united France or Iberia, much smaller than Russia and China, and if anything smaller than the Ottoman Empire. For simplicity, the map assumes...

Well, a wholly adequate answer would admittedly require a whole TL. But broadly speaking, in the right circumstances, the aftermath of a 3rd Century-style crisis could spur Rome to adopt some much-necessary reforms (or the transition period from Republic to Empire could result in providing the...