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In real life, the Latin Empire, established after the Fourth Crusade to supplant the Byzantine Empire, was something of a failure: dogged by a lack of resources from the start, its Emperors soon ceased to have any meaningful control outside the walls of Constantinople, and the Empire itself is remembered chiefly for screwing over the Byzantines. My question is twofold: first of all, what would have needed to be different for the Empire to become more successful and firmly established, and for the crusaders to establish a viable Latin state centred in Constantinople? Secondly, what would be the long- and short-term effects of such a state being established?

As to the first, I don't know enough about the period to comment with any authority, but as far as I know the Latins essentially tried to get rid of all the old Byzantine governing structures and build their own government from scratch, with about as much success as such attempts usually meet with; they were also troubled by the Bulgarians to the north. Would changing these factors enable the Empire to establish itself as a viable state?

As to the second, and assuming that a well-established Latin Empire would be stronger than the OTL Byzantine Empire -- at any rate, it would probably have an easier time attracting support from the West -- would it be able to stop the Turkish advance into Europe? Expand into Asia Minor and retake Anatolia? Culturally speaking, what would happen? Would the Latins be assimilated into the Greek-speaking rest of the country, or vice versa, or would a hybrid culture spring up? Would the Emperors try and reduce the potential for religious strife by working to heal the Great Schism? Come the Reformation and the Enlightenment -- assuming these things aren't butterflied away -- would the Latin Empire be receptive to new ideas? Historiographically speaking, would we think of there being a "Latin Empire" at all, or would we just view it as the Byzantine Empire with a foreign ruling class being imposed? And would the Fourth Crusade be remembered less negatively if the state it set up actually lasted and prospered?

Man, there are so many juicy butterflies here, I'm surprised we don't see TLs about this more often...
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