Alt-Religions for Nations PODs

Inspired of course by the King John thread ongoing what were the possible opportunities for nations and kingdoms and what not to have had a different religious development and I don't mean the BIG ones that are often enough discussed such as No Islam and Christianity and Rome.

For example, at one point during the Ottoman-Saffavid Wars there were several revolts within Ottoman and Anatolian Beylik territory that were Pro-Shia and even a few rumored Ottoman Royals that had become Shia. What if the Ottomans had become Shia? Well, certainly Shiaism would have a more prominent role but we would likely see more hard resistance from their Arab subjects.
 
Have either Henry VIII's first son Henry survive, or switch Mary Tudor to another boy, and it's possible that you avoid the whole succession/divorce trouble and keep the English crown Catholic. Even if England later turns Protestant, it'd probably get rid of the entire Anglican style of worship.
 
Have either Henry VIII's first son Henry survive, or switch Mary Tudor to another boy, and it's possible that you avoid the whole succession/divorce trouble and keep the English crown Catholic. Even if England later turns Protestant, it'd probably get rid of the entire Anglican style of worship.

A surviving Edward would also radically alter English Protestantism, as Henry was conservative and many Catholic rituals maintained; Edward's Regency headed a radical reform program quite similar to the Scottish Presbyterians. It was Elizabeth who found a middle ground between that, making the church distinctly Protestant, but in a way distinctly English, too.
 
The Reformation was pretty popular in what is now Slovenia, but it all disappeared because of the Counter-Reformation under Austria. I've been trying to figure out a way to prevent this, but if you have a Reformation, you're going to have some sort of Counter-Reformation from the Catholic states. The other option was having the Ottomans in control of Slovenia, so a Hungary-like situation could result (the part of Hungary under Ottoman control remained significantly Lutheran/Protestant). But even though there were Ottoman raids in the area, I don't really see it. They could have done it, maybe, but it's far enough from their core areas that it would have been difficult to keep. And would Austria have allowed them to keep it?

It's pretty unlikely, but still possible, I guess. If the Ottomans were able to take Vienna, Carinthia wouldn't be as much of a problem to hold.
 
The Reformation was pretty popular in what is now Slovenia, but it all disappeared because of the Counter-Reformation under Austria. I've been trying to figure out a way to prevent this, but if you have a Reformation, you're going to have some sort of Counter-Reformation from the Catholic states. The other option was having the Ottomans in control of Slovenia, so a Hungary-like situation could result (the part of Hungary under Ottoman control remained significantly Lutheran/Protestant). But even though there were Ottoman raids in the area, I don't really see it. They could have done it, maybe, but it's far enough from their core areas that it would have been difficult to keep. And would Austria have allowed them to keep it?

It's pretty unlikely, but still possible, I guess. If the Ottomans were able to take Vienna, Carinthia wouldn't be as much of a problem to hold.

That's really interesting about Slovenia, never knew that. The only downside I see if if they do hold Carinthia long enough for Protestantism to flourish, eventually the Ottomans will overeach themselves (in OTL it was definitely Hungary that did job, although they did pretty much maintain the large portion of it until the late 17th century) and the Austrians will reclaim the land. Hungary as you said had a vibrant Protestant community; you name it, they had them: Lutherans, Calvinists, and even some other small sects, with the Principality of Transylvania having a patent of tolerance that predated the Edict of Nantes. Yet Austria's reconquering of Hungary saw the country reintroduced to Catholicism, although it may of partially been because of depopulation. The constant Habsburg-Ottoman wars for two centuries occured in central Europe, so I can imagine the population devastation was pretty great, leaving empty land that the Habsburgs could grant to loyal Catholic magnates.
 
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