What is the worst possible timeline that European civilisation could have had, with a POD during the final decades of the Roman Empire? How could Europe have had a worse fate through just bad luck? This is what I thought
1 - More dramatic Roman collapse, or the Huns do better. Huns could conquer Gaul and Italy, burning down cities, massacring thousands, destroying records and equipment, essentially causing so much damage to these areas over a few decades that all remnants of an advanced civilisation are lost, and the population is reduced to poor peasants in small villages and towns, ruled by Hunnic lords and warriors with an iron fist.
2 - The Hunnic Empire then leaves or collapses in the 600s, causing more disruption, and those in Western Europe are left to fend for themselves. The Byzantines see no reason to conquer the former Roman land as it has lay an empty, impoverished backwater for two centuries. The Europeans are left to themselves for a short while, a number of small kingdoms arise, while some revert back to the Gallic or Italic tribal system of the pre-Roman days.
3 - The weakened state of Western Europe then falls to the Umayyads a few decades later, who steamroll all of Gaul and Italy, establishing puppet kingdoms and converting the population to Islam. This corrodes the Christian unity of the Europeans and makes them culturally, politically and economically dominated by the Arab/Muslim world. Western Europe as a separate identity and civilisation ceases to exist in the coming years as it merges with Islamic civilisation. Eastern Europe could remain pagan or could be converted to Islam by missionaries
4 - The Mongols still arise and conquer the open steppes of Russia and Ukraine, bringing their murderous campaigns and bubonic plague with them, further weakening Europe.
5 - The poorer, more isolated European states of this timeline see no reason to conquer new lands or explore new trade routes, neither do the Muslim states as they already control trade over the Mediterranean and Atlantic coast and have plenty of land for resources as they can exploit their European puppets. The Scientific Revolution begins its early days in Arabia or North Africa, and the Chinese, Indians, Japanese and Malays also have their own scientific revolution The discovery of the Americas is delayed, and thus Europe never comes to dominate global trade or gain the military edge against other civilisations. The Aztec and Inca are given more time to develop and flourish.
6 - As global population increases, industrialisation begins in Asia and in the Middle East, with Europe lagging behind and remaining poorer.
1 - More dramatic Roman collapse, or the Huns do better. Huns could conquer Gaul and Italy, burning down cities, massacring thousands, destroying records and equipment, essentially causing so much damage to these areas over a few decades that all remnants of an advanced civilisation are lost, and the population is reduced to poor peasants in small villages and towns, ruled by Hunnic lords and warriors with an iron fist.
2 - The Hunnic Empire then leaves or collapses in the 600s, causing more disruption, and those in Western Europe are left to fend for themselves. The Byzantines see no reason to conquer the former Roman land as it has lay an empty, impoverished backwater for two centuries. The Europeans are left to themselves for a short while, a number of small kingdoms arise, while some revert back to the Gallic or Italic tribal system of the pre-Roman days.
3 - The weakened state of Western Europe then falls to the Umayyads a few decades later, who steamroll all of Gaul and Italy, establishing puppet kingdoms and converting the population to Islam. This corrodes the Christian unity of the Europeans and makes them culturally, politically and economically dominated by the Arab/Muslim world. Western Europe as a separate identity and civilisation ceases to exist in the coming years as it merges with Islamic civilisation. Eastern Europe could remain pagan or could be converted to Islam by missionaries
4 - The Mongols still arise and conquer the open steppes of Russia and Ukraine, bringing their murderous campaigns and bubonic plague with them, further weakening Europe.
5 - The poorer, more isolated European states of this timeline see no reason to conquer new lands or explore new trade routes, neither do the Muslim states as they already control trade over the Mediterranean and Atlantic coast and have plenty of land for resources as they can exploit their European puppets. The Scientific Revolution begins its early days in Arabia or North Africa, and the Chinese, Indians, Japanese and Malays also have their own scientific revolution The discovery of the Americas is delayed, and thus Europe never comes to dominate global trade or gain the military edge against other civilisations. The Aztec and Inca are given more time to develop and flourish.
6 - As global population increases, industrialisation begins in Asia and in the Middle East, with Europe lagging behind and remaining poorer.
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