AHC/WI: A Bedouin "Great Man"?

I know that it was a hard nut to crack even otl. I was hoping a fictionalized Arabian superman at the head of some unstoppable horde would view Central Europe as a prize and overcome (or assimilate) the native opposition, gaining valuable manpower as well as invaluable lumber and mineral assets for his middle eastern capital...

Ideally the point is to Arabize everything from Germania to the Balkans while forcing the Romans to focus on Western Europe, Great Britain, and Ireland.

If Rome eventually counters and drive the Conqueror's territory back to middle Asia, at least I have a partially Arabized Central Europe that Rome now has to partially Romanize, as well as a fully Romanized Britannia and Hibernia.

This also makes the Arab world easier to unite, and the conquest of Parthia opens lots of doors to earlier useful contact between China and Europe/the Middle East.

As I said, it doesn't necessarily have to last to have pasting effects: Germanic tribes with darker skin and curved swords, the European camel, Roman Britain and Ireland, and direct contact between China and the west are enough for me.

Also, if close enough to the time of Jesus not to butterfly him (if you are of the school that believes he was butterflyable) the development of Christianity in both the Arabian Empire and ttl's Rome is fascinating. Lots of potential, I think.

Edit: An idea has come to me... What if after a partial or complete conquest of Arabia by a slightly longer lived Alexander the Great, he has an heir by an Arabian Bedouin chieftain's daughter? Could Alexander's Arab son or grandson achieve what I have envisioned?

Personally? Nah, he would do for the lands of the Roman Empire and nothing else. Ther is, literally, nothing in Germany worth conquering to the mind of a late-antiquities conquer; no cities, no great resources. Nothing. if this *Great Man explodes into the scene, he is going to take the East (hence why the Empire will be Hellenized quickly) and stumble into Italy. Maybe, if he's lucky, he will take Italy, but there is literal no need to take Germany of the Slab lands. There is too little to gain compared to too great an exertion of resources.
 
Personally? Nah, he would do for the lands of the Roman Empire and nothing else. Ther is, literally, nothing in Germany worth conquering to the mind of a late-antiquities conquer; no cities, no great resources. Nothing. if this *Great Man explodes into the scene, he is going to take the East (hence why the Empire will be Hellenized quickly) and stumble into Italy. Maybe, if he's lucky, he will take Italy, but there is literal no need to take Germany of the Slab lands. There is too little to gain compared to too great an exertion of resources.

I'm seeing the region of Germania has abundant iron, silver, copper, gold, zinc, and salt, not to mention abundant Germanic slaves to bring down south and enough lumber to build quite the navy.

I'm not sure it's guaranteed he would not want central and/or Eastern Europe, but since you know more than I, if you insist, I'll take your word for it...

Another possibility is that Germany is to this conqueror what Arabia was to Alexander - potentially holdable and usable, but more a matter of ego than anything else. Eh?
 
Why should this Bedouin Genghis go northwest? Why not across the oceans, into east Africa, southern Persia, India, and beyond? I am not sure of the Arabian navel tech of the period you are looking for, but I could be possible.
 
I'm seeing the region of Germania has abundant iron, silver, copper, gold, zinc, and salt, not to mention abundant Germanic slaves to bring down south and enough lumber to build quite the navy.

I'm not sure it's guaranteed he would not want central and/or Eastern Europe, but since you know more than I, if you insist, I'll take your word for it...

Another possibility is that Germany is to this conqueror what Arabia was to Alexander - potentially holdable and usable, but more a matter of ego than anything else. Eh?

Really, a Classical Antiquity 'Mohammed' would probably try and go for the Achaemids, simply because its closer. Also, Egypt would be a particularly tempting prize for the Arabs, given its rich history, culture not to mention its wealth. One very likely outcome is that these Bedouins overthrow the Roman administration and that he declares himself the new 'Pharoah', or that they could become TTL's version of the Sassanians.

As for getting to Germania in the first place, that in itself would be a huge challenge. Going after the Balkans means that they'd have to cross through the rugged terrain of Anatolia, then have to go through Roman Greece. This isn't the exhausted Byzantines you're dealing with, but Augustus Caesar's Roman Empire, the most powerful and professional military in the world of Antiquity. Again, why go up against the powerful Romans at the heart of their territory when you can take easier and potentially just as rich prizes like Egypt, Persia or East Africa?
 
Perhaps there's an opportunity with Palmyra.

Odaenathus and Zenobia would make a good bet. I mean at it's height the Palmyrene Empire had all of Anatolia as well as Roman and parts of Sassanid Middle East. Though I don't think they would expand really into Europe, using the bosporous as the dividing line. It would be much easier to defend against the Romans that way.

EDit: Well they DID have Byzantium at their height, which is technically in Europe.
 
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