AHC: Make Southern Europe less Southern European (my take on the recent AHC threads)

So, your challenge is to get Southern Europe (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece) more advanced than OTL. This means that these countries, in ATL, are on the level of the Continental and Northern European countries and not the "most undeveloped countries of the developed world" like they are often believed to be. POD can be in any year since the Protestant Reformation, but the aforementioned countries need to exist in a similar way than OTL (for example, no balkanized Spain or Megali Greek-Wank, but a Spain without, say, Galicia or a Greece that includes Cyprus would work).
 

archaeogeek

Banned
I'll preempt because it's inevitable: They need to convert to protestantism. And to not be latin (except Greece, which like Turkey is hopeless except for an ancient culture to look at in awe while patronizingly looking down at the decay of its civilization in its modern people). That would whiten them enough.

:p

(taking the thread semi-seriously: end Britain - also I'm pretty sure it still won't have preempted things and the thread will elicit "British empah forevah" comments)
 
They need to speak English and German. None of that fluffy Romance language garbage and the Pope needs to be axed.

Seriously northern Europe is going to get the better end of the deal.
 
I'll preempt because it's inevitable: They need to convert to protestantism. And to not be latin (except Greece, which like Turkey is hopeless except for an ancient culture to look at in awe while patronizingly looking down at the decay of its civilization in its modern people). That would whiten them enough.

:p

(taking the thread semi-seriously: end Britain - also I'm pretty sure it still won't have preempted things and the thread will elicit "British empah forevah" comments)

Better yet, ruin England by giving them Spanish America (not give them mind, let them fund Columbus and let further people knock into Mesoamerica).

The influx of gold utterly ruined the Spanish economy in the long run as it caused rampant inflation and let the Spanish monarchy get the final upper hand over the Cortes and establish absolutism.

Or, here is the other option, prevent someone like Charles V from inheriting all of his ancestors inheritance. Both Charles and Phillip wasted Spain away on useless wars trying to reinstall Catholicism in the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands. While the Spaniards are always going to contest France to the north and the Ottomans in the Med, this would at least allow them to be a little more focused and a littles less spread out.

An odd consequence of keeping Charles V out of the picture is that it might have severe knock on effects on the Lutheran reformers. A contributer to their success is that one of their greatest enemies during their infant stages (Charles V) couldn't properly persecute them since he was away so often fighting his continuous wars.
 
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