AHC: Have Europe be one country

How do you achieve one state ruling all of Europe? You can do it from the fall of the western Roman Empire up to the year 1900.
What about Philip of Spain and Mary of England having a son that rules England, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal, in time the English Habsburg line inherits Austria and Italy, along with being elected Holy Roman Empire.

Remaining state that are easy to gain are:
- France which could be done on 2 August 1589 after the death of Henry III.
Poland, would have to be gained by election.

The problem with a large nation covering lands with religious disputes and diverse ethnicity, is that it won’t last for long.
 
GLORIOUS ROMAN CONQUEST! BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHH!

I mean - ahem - *cough*

I've always thought that a Maurice-Survives Timeline has the diplomatic position of peace with Persia to allow Westward campaigns to start up, and potentially enable a fresh new snowball. Typically i'd put this forward under a system of Exarchas that was what was happening at the time, and that flexibility could allow Roman rule to be localised and tolerable but at the same time united. Effectively a form of Federalism.

ALTERNATIVELY

Belisarius gets the resources he needs, and the Italian campaign ends swiftly, preventing the Sassanids from having an easy campaign in the east, and less devestation in Italy. Boom, massive revenue boost for the Empire and it is able to (soon) support campaigns in the West more readily, and with no "Western Coronation" fiasco, Belisarius retains Justinians trust and continues the Western Campaign after Persia is calmed/dealt with.
 
1) Roman Empire survives
2) Charlemagne's empire isn't split
3) Papacy succeeds at imposing more control over Kings and princes. All of Western Christendom is considered a single entity.
4) an effective French ruler (*Louis xiv, *Napoleon, *boulanger) leverages the power of France as the largest single state into empire. Napoleon almost achieved this.
4) as mentioned, a dynastic union (*Hapsburgs) controls two major powers (eg Spain and the HRE for the Hapsburgs, Spain and France for the Bourbons), and uses that base to swallow the rest of Europe.
5) a 20th c. Dictatorship *Hitler, *Stalin, possibly an altKaiser Wilhelm....
 
What about Philip of Spain and Mary of England having a son that rules England, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal, in time the English Habsburg line inherits Austria and Italy, along with being elected Holy Roman Empire.

Remaining state that are easy to gain are:
- France which could be done on 2 August 1589 after the death of Henry III.

I don't know about "easy". French Catholics don't like Henri de Navarre but don't like Spain either. At the limit, some would accept a candidate from Spain (the Infanta) but not the king of Spain himself.
 
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What about Philip of Spain and Mary of England having a son that rules England, Spain, Netherlands and Portugal, in time the English Habsburg line inherits Austria and Italy, along with being elected Holy Roman Empire.

Remaining state that are easy to gain are:
- France which could be done on 2 August 1589 after the death of Henry III.
Poland, would have to be gained by election.

The problem with a large nation covering lands with religious disputes and diverse ethnicity, is that it won’t last for long.

This is not one country. These are many countries united in a LOOSE personal union, since prettu much by definition if the monarch is wearing so many crowns he cant be paying enough attention to be a strong monarch in many of them.
 
Romans,Vikings or Franks are the best suited for this challenge.
Alternatively the heirs of Genghis Kahn focus on conquering Europe rather more than OTL Europe is so squashed viable independent nations post conquest are not able to be re-established.
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
Alternatively the heirs of Genghis Kahn focus on conquering Europe rather more than OTL Europe is so squashed viable independent nations post conquest are not able to be re-established.
I don't think that could happen and also these sort of things involving such mass genocides are not allowed on this forum AFAIK. I prefer to disagree and let's stop here.
 
Somehow prevent the unification and expansion of Russia. Without Russia, Northern Europe has a really good chance of getting dominated by a hegemonic power, whether it's France, Germany, Sweden, etc. This country would then be able to federate Europe by the 20th century.
 
Alternatively the heirs of Genghis Kahn focus on conquering Europe rather more than OTL Europe is so squashed viable independent nations post conquest are not able to be re-established.

One Gurps AE TL has the Mongols conquer everything but the British Isles and Norway/Sweden, but when their empire weakens, many small states at the edges crumble off. So no united Europe here.
 
1) Roman Empire survives
2) Charlemagne's empire isn't split
3) Papacy succeeds at imposing more control over Kings and princes. All of Western Christendom is considered a single entity.
4) an effective French ruler (*Louis xiv, *Napoleon, *boulanger) leverages the power of France as the largest single state into empire. Napoleon almost achieved this.
4) as mentioned, a dynastic union (*Hapsburgs) controls two major powers (eg Spain and the HRE for the Hapsburgs, Spain and France for the Bourbons), and uses that base to swallow the rest of Europe.
5) a 20th c. Dictatorship *Hitler, *Stalin, possibly an altKaiser Wilhelm....
6) EU Federalization actually happens
 

Albert.Nik

Banned
One Gurps AE TL has the Mongols conquer everything but the British Isles and Norway/Sweden, but when their empire weakens, many small states at the edges crumble off. So no united Europe here.
Truest. Mongols are a Nomadic empire. Where else do you see their distinct descendents except in Mongolia itself? They would melt in no time into the local population and hence that would crumble. Mongols in Western Europe would fall and melt in days. These are the people who defeated even the Arabs and Moors,the most transformative peoples in the ME-NA. Mongols would be decimated beyond Balkans. Even Mughals were mostly Turkic except a part Mongol for the first generation,then Persian and Afghan and then mostly Indic. How fast you conquer is how fast how you can be destroyed is true in a given time and technology. For example for today's technology,you can conquer a city in an another country by invading with 'sophisticated' weapons it but NATO would take your capital quicker and keep your jail or gallows ready. So let's drop this Mongol Europe discussions.
 
That's exactly what I mean.
Japan seems a good analogue to Britain, perhaps East Asians come to desire European amber. Perhaps a Cantonese state (mirror to OTL Portugal) gets the “Goa” analogue and eventually Japan comes later to swoop in and take the cake.


For this to happen though you need a Medieval POD or earlier, anything plausible after ~1200 is hard to come by.
 
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