A Different OTL: A Divergant OTL (Camaro's First)

in 1450, Isabella met in secret with a long lost childhood friend of hers, Augusto. they were married the next day. the Kingdoms of Castile, Aragon, and Portugal had met in Madrid to lay their plans for defeating the last Muslim Kingdom in Iberia, Granada. the three kingdoms pooled their resources together and had decided that the lands would be split amongst themselves.

in 1455, Portugal began its blockade of Granada and bombarded their cities and shipping lanes. Aragon and Castile invaded full force. within months, the Emirate had collapsed. Granada ceased to exist as a nation of its own. Isabella an Ferdinand had met privately to split the territory amongst themselves... angered, Alfonso delcared War on their old ally.

by 1458, the Castilian-Portugese War had ended. Portugal ceded their claims in Granada to Castile whilst Castile ceded the territory of Galacia. Hispania was finally at peace. in 1459, Isabella, Ferdinand, and Alfonso met once again in Madrid to discuss the future of Hispania, and the world. collectively, they decided that the old trade routes with India were too long, cumbersome, expensive, and unprotected. they looked for a quicker route to reach the Indies and gain access to trade.

in 1460, they signed the Iberian Colonial Treaty. which stated that they would colonized the "uncivilized" world from the rest of the barbarians and muslims. they agreed that they would do everything in their power to protect their shipping lanes. and the best way to do so was to establish outposts and colonies throughout the rest of Africa and Asia.
 
BTW, the POD is around 750

By 1462, Alfonso of Portugal, the Conqueror of Africa, had established the first European colony in Africa. Portuguese Guinea started as a small outpost to prevent African pirates from raiding the Portuguese ships. but after some time, they Colony expanded. Gold, Forestry, and Slaves were traded from the Colony back to Portugal, and Iberia. Portugal became used its expansive experience in its naval and exploration to grow its empire quickly. by 1470, Portugal was one of the wealthiest nations in the world.

Back on Mainland Europe, France was completely lost in its ability to defeat the British and force them off the continent. meanwhile, Britain had successfully beaten back all French attacks in Brittany. and Southern France remained fractured. King Louis XI of France was unable to unify all of France through diplomacy, and began to seek another option.

in Central Europe, Poland-Lithuania was losing power, and the Austrians gaining. the Duchy of Prussia, now fully independent, was looking west to the Germanic Plains. their new leader, known only from the records as "The Grand Duke of Prussia" laid the foundations for the Prussian Military tradition. as they looked to begin expanding to the west, the Duke knew he needed to make allies. starting with the weaker Germanic states.. Mecklenberg and Brandenburg were the best choices to make allies, but the Duke had little to hold sway with..

in the east, Moscovy was beginning to gain strength. after the Eastern Slavic states threw their entire military, economy, and their lives, at the Mongol Invaders nearly 200 years ago, they were beginning to notice that the wounds had healed and the scars, although large, were not unbearable. Moscovy was quite possibly the strongest, militarily and economically, of all the Russian States. and they knew it...
 
In Southern Europe, the Renaissance in Italy was gaining steam. artistry and music were becoming very popular... The Papacy was still the strongest of the Italian nations. but Milan, Naples, Venice, and Sicily were growing stronger by the day. Money was being poured into Italian treasuries and massive military and public works projects were being constructed. a sense of unity was beginning to become of the Italian people.

The Ottoman Empire had been forestalled. their expansions into the Crimea had lead to massive invasions in the Balkans. Hungary had managed to put up a fight long enough for Austria and the Byzantine Empire to regroup and push the Ottoman's from Europe. however, the Byzantine Empire was slowly beginning to fall apart. their expanses in Europe were being lost to the Ottomans. in response, the Byzantines fortified their positions in the Holy land, Cyprus, and all of Ancient Greece. they liberated the Bulgarian and Serbian peoples, and had began the process of modernizing their Albanian puppet. however. the Byzantine Empire was becoming much more like the Papacy. they only had real control of Eastern Rumelia and Constantinople/Byzantium/Byzantion. by 1465, all of the Greek City-States from ancient times were seen as separate powers. Greece itself, had become very similar to the Italian Peninsula, and was going through its own version of the Italian Renissance...
 
Northern Europe

in 750 AD, the Norse peoples had began to expand rapidly. their fierce tactics and lust for both power and wealth drove them to the extremes, and allowed them to conquer much of the "Unknown North" as the Roman Emperor Trajan once referred to it. the Vikings were the most dominant of these peoples. they grew from a small tribe in the area around present day Trondheim. moving down the coast, the small tribe grew to become one of the largest militaristic and trading powers in Europe. their empire stretched from their Capital, down through Norway, down through Skaneland and into Sweden.

By 850 AD, the Viking People, now the most dominant power in North Europe and possibly the strongest in Europe behind the Byzantine Empire, the Viking Empire expanded northward. Lapland and the Finish Coast had fallen into the sphere of Viking colonization. however, if the Vikings had an eye to the East and South, then they definitely had 2 to the west. Viking raids onto the European Mainland, the British Islands, and they had been exploring the islands in the frigid Norwegian Sea. as the ages progressed. the Vikings had moved their Capital from Trondheim to Stockholm. Finland and Karelia were slowly colonized and ingested into the Viking Empire. the Danish Islands and Jutland were colonized and they slowly drove the Barbarian Germanic tribes from the lands that they had controlled.

By 1000 AD, the Viking people had lost their settlements in Western Europe and the British Islands. but colonies had arisen in Iceland, the Faeroe Islands, and Greenland. rumors spread throughout Europe that the Vikings were the strongest of all European Powers. stronger even than the Byzantine Empire. the modern lands of Finland, Karelia, Estonia, Livonia, Latvia, and Ingria were all standing as a part of the Viking Empire. Scandinavia had been unified under a tribe of fisherman and had grown to a dominant power in less than 300 years.

however, the world was to take its toll on the Vikings as well. their traditional mythos was looked upon as pagan and evil. slowly, Christian Missionaries had spread Christianity throughout Viking cities and towns. by 1050 AD, the sway of Christianity had too much power for the Viking Kings to ignore. The Viking Empire converted to Christianity in 1057 AD.

The rise of Russia in the east had threatened the strength of the Scandinavian peoples for nearly 100 years. Russian people had attacked Scandinavian settlements in the Baltic States region and had gained strength. Latvia was slowly being invaded and conquered. in 1092, the Viking Kings had elected a single ruler of all of Scandinavia. Emperor Johan the Great ordered a large army of the elite Berserker squadrons to defeat the Russians. however, the Berserkers were unable to break out and crush the Russians like the Emperor had hoped. instead, the Vikings granted the independence of all their Baltic Duchies. Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and Latvia (occupied by the Russians as Courland) were granted soverignty of their own lands. the duchies quickly set about to eliminate the threats posed by the Russians. the Kingdom of Baltica emassed an army comprised of mercenaries and conscripts. the Kingdom fought long and hard. in 1153 AD, the Kingdom of Baltica defeated the Russians, and declared out right rebellion against the Scandinavian Empire.

by 1200 AD, the Baltic Kingdom had lost what liberties they had. Russia and Scandinavia looked towards each other with content. the Elector of Moscovy and the Emperor of Scandinavia signed the Stockholm Peace Agreement of 1202 AD. Latvia and Livonia were turned over to Moscovy and Estonia and Ingria remained a part of the Scandinavian Empire.

for over 200 years, Northern Europe enjoyed relative peace. however, the events that lead to the independence of Prussia from Poland lead to another series of wars. in 1460, Moscovy had encroached into Estonia and Ingria. the Scandinavian Empire was unable to hold the Russian armies out of these territories. but when the Russians advanced farther into Finland and Karelia. the Berserkers, now equiped with primitive ballistic weaponry, had out-manouvered the Russians at Helsinki. defeated. the Russians entrenched outside of Finland and Karelia. but the Scandinavian armies had won.
 
Interesting... seems very general, though; a lot of "X lost power" and "Y was on the rise" without real details. Going into those a bit more would help flesh it out a lot.

My two bits, anyways.
 
nice timeline, though I find it strange how every single European power went from being super powerful to super weak and vice versa in only 20 years.
 
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