AHC: Iranic Europe?

How can it be, with a POD between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, that Europe, or at least OTL Eastern Europe Minus the Balkans Plus Germany and Poland, is, at this present day, speaking an Iranian tongue, and is culturally Iranian, at least for the majority of the population, so there can be other lower classes. If you can get them to be Zoroastrian, thats a bonus. By Iranian, I dont mean the Farsi language (although if you can do it with that, go ahead), but Iranian languages as in Sarmatian, Ossetian, and Alanian.
 
Perhaps a Sarmatian or Alan *Atilla-equivalent unites the tribes and establishes something resembling the Hunnic Empire ahead of schedule? This will likely push the Germanic tribes into Europe earlier - France could end up Germanic-speaking and we could see Goths in the Balkans. When and if the Huns show up, if the Iranic peoples are well-established then they will assimilate the newcomers (this was happening the Avars - they were assimilating into Slavic culture - when the Magyars arrived).
 
Except the Hunnish empire saw the Huns adopting the local culture, not the other way around. There's no reason to believe the same wouldn't hold true.
 
How can it be, with a POD between 1000 BC and 1000 AD, that Europe, or at least OTL Eastern Europe Minus the Balkans Plus Germany and Poland, is, at this present day, speaking an Iranian tongue, and is culturally Iranian, at least for the majority of the population, so there can be other lower classes. If you can get them to be Zoroastrian, thats a bonus. By Iranian, I dont mean the Farsi language (although if you can do it with that, go ahead), but Iranian languages as in Sarmatian, Ossetian, and Alanian.
I was surprised to see the modern archaeological evidence of how far deep into Europe the Scythians raided. And how many are their remains in France and Germany.
So make it a Scythian-wank and here we go!
Give them some equivalent to Attila or Chengiz Khan.
By the way in Iran the ancient Arians/Iranians enforced their language on the local population. But genetically the locals stayed. The Iranian spread is compared with a spread of a wave over the pond - the water did not changed; there were only changes on the surface, mainly the language.
The same might have happened in Europe with the spread of the Scythians and their Iranian language over the vast population of Europe.
 
You'll need eastern germanic migrations being less important/successful. At best, make them stay in Poland or going more westwards and not have the part they had in Chernakov culture.

The goal is to prevent Sarmatians to be taken over by Goths, and you'll need in the same order of idea to butterfly Hunnic expansion (but not Alans or Bulgars).

You could have, eventually, a slavo-iranian group of people susceptible to forge culture and states in Eastern Europe. It would be of course very different from Persia whatever culturally (slavized with germanic influences), religiously (Zoroastrianism is a no-go) or structurally, so I don't know if it's matching the OP.
 

sdrucker

Banned
How about a successful Sassanid capture of Constantinople in the first decades of seventh century AD? They took Jerusalem in 614, captured Egypt, and tried to assault Constantinople with the aid of the Avars in 626 before Heraclius took the fight to the heart of the Persian Empire and forced a withdrawal. The brutal fighting exhausted both sides and indirectly led to the dramatic expansion of Islam in the next decade to follow.

if Shahr Boraz did better, and Heraclius was killed, you might wind up with a Persian Empire expanded into the Balkans, Zoroastrian Slavs, and lots of butterflies (including a stunted or short-lived Islam). Not to mention that Carthage and Roman North Africa might wind up the center of Christianity, considering that Rome of the seventh century was a wreck following the Gothic war and invasion of the Lombards.
 
How about a successful Sassanid capture of Constantinople in the first decades of seventh century AD? They took Jerusalem in 614, captured Egypt, and tried to assault Constantinople with the aid of the Avars in 626 before Heraclius took the fight to the heart of the Persian Empire and forced a withdrawal. The brutal fighting exhausted both sides and indirectly led to the dramatic expansion of Islam in the next decade to follow.

if Shahr Boraz did better, and Heraclius was killed, you might wind up with a Persian Empire expanded into the Balkans, Zoroastrian Slavs, and lots of butterflies (including a stunted or short-lived Islam). Not to mention that Carthage and Roman North Africa might wind up the center of Christianity, considering that Rome of the seventh century was a wreck following the Gothic war and invasion of the Lombards.

... Yeah, if Khusrau tried to do that his empire would fall to the Arabs even more quickly that it did IOTL. (And if the Arabs are butterflied away, it would go to the Parthians and Turks, which might be even more of an Iranoscrew).

I think your best bet is a displacement of the Germanic tribes by the Scythians and the Avars.
 
I think you can get an Iranic-speaking Eastern Europe, but not Western Europe. It probably wont be Zoroastrian though.
 

katchen

Banned
How about the Yuezhi, escaping the Zhongnu are NOT permitted to transit Sogdiana and Fergana as they did IOTL. So they do not ride south and ultimately conquer Greco-Bactria and finally North India as Kushans. But ride west, conquering and unifying first the Massagetae then the Alans then the Sarmatians before a) defeating Sulla in Greece and b) conquering Rome and taking over the Roman Empire along with Gaul and Germania.
 
Hellenic and Roman culture was very strong and geographically perfectly blocked Iranian influence.
So IMO best bet will be Iranian culture through Caucusus, 1st penetrating into Pontic steppe, were Iranic Empire based in Pontic expanding into North Europe subduing Germanic tribes and making them more Iranic. So when Germanic tribes destroy Roman Empire, Iranic culture will be more dominant in Europe.
 
You can get OTL Romania, the Baltic, European Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia to be Scythian just by having more successful invasions that have similar results to OTL Slavic migrations.

Zoroastrianism would have to spread separately, perhaps have the Persians have successful missionaries or something? It would be unrelated, either way.
 
Another idea... The OTL migrations of the Alans seem to match up nicely with those of the Vandals... What would it take for the former to assimilate the later, possibly leading to an Alan kingdom in North Africa?
 
Another idea... The OTL migrations of the Alans seem to match up nicely with those of the Vandals... What would it take for the former to assimilate the later, possibly leading to an Alan kingdom in North Africa?

Much : Vandals were themselves agglomeration of germanic peoples and these leagues never really bothered about ethnic or cultural homogenity.
Admitting they do (and it would probably mean Alans would be heavily germanized), they would still have to deal with africano-roman population that, would more likely assimilate them than the contrary.
 
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