First, sorry for the crappy resolution. I am by no means a cartographer. Secondly, cool people will notice that this is more-or-less the Aberration map variant for
Diplomacy.
Anyway. The challenge is: using any, and as many, non-ASB POD's you like, make these nine nations shown here the major players in Europe and the Mediterranean by 1901 AD. The only restriction is that all POD's have to be post-476 AD, or in other words, post-fall of Rome.
Note that the rest of the map is blank, so you can feel free to create or destroy any nations you like in the process. Further, they don't have to necessarily be
superpowers. Byzantium could easily be the sick man of Europe, for example.
Some ideas:
Burgundy
The final confrontation between the civilization of the Seine and the Saone was no sure thing for the Parisian monarch. In this instance the victor was the Burgundian dynastic state, stretching from the Rhone to the North Sea.
Byzantium
This empire might have survived had the Turks failed to make a landing in Europe. The population of western Asia Minor was still basically Greek in the 1400s. Some strong emperors could have given the Greek state a new lease on life.
Hungary
She was a budding great power until the Turkish invasions. A strong Byzantium would have prevented that and Hungary, not Austria, could have become the great Danubian power.
Eire
If Irish missionary activity had been followed by political action on behalf of their fellow celts, the Anglo-Norman imperium at London might have been still-born. All the Irish needed was some real unity, which the almost achieved on occasion.
Israel
This could be a continuation of the ancient dynastic state under descendants of the Maccabees, or the Herods. More likely, however, it would be representative of the final victory of the Crusaders in the Middle East. It might therefore be called the "Kingdom of Jerusalem"
Poland
The Poles had many opportunities to overwhelm both the Russians and the eastern Germans. We must here assume that one opportunity finally worked.
Sicily
This island once had an excellent chance of gaining control of most of Italy under a powerful and aggressive Norman dynasty. These rulers died out, and Sicily became the pawn of others. Here we assume that the Norman dynasty did not die out.
Spain
The could be a Christian Spain which somehow remained powerful despite a long succession of cretinous monarchs. Perhaps they were spared the third-rate Hapsburgs and Bourbons which were thrust upon them. OR this is a Muslim Spain, which case we should refer to it as the "Caliphate of Toledo"
Ukraine
The original Russian state was centred at Kiev, and we suppose here that this southern centre remained dominant rather than losing out to the northern centres at Vladimir and Moscow. These people would, however, continue to call their land "Russia" or something like it.
If anyone feels like making the map larger and/or better, feel free.
Aaaand...
go!
