Béla III becomes Emperor after Manuel I

So I was playing a bit of CK2 and was looking for an interesting Byzantine playthrough when I noticed Bela was the heir to Hungary and betrothed to Manuel’s daughter. If alexios is never born then Bela could inherit after Manuel. From what I can see Bela was an effective ruler, which as history has shown is a the Roman state needs to pull some OP recovery out of its ass.

Could Bela still inherit hungry as well? Could he bring aid to Manuel and retake the rest of Anatolia? Could all of the disasters that befell the eastern Romans (fourth crusade, rebirth of Bulgarian empire, massacre of the Latins) be avoided?
 
If Alexios is never born and Bela succeeds him, Andronikos will find it difficult to gain power, as he can't manipulate Bela as he did Alexios. The Massacre of the Latins will probably never happened. If Bela's policy isn't too pro-Latin, there may not be revolts, and so the Angeloi will most likely not ascend the throne. Without the Angeloi, the Fourth Crusade isn't diverted to Constantinople. And without Andronikos I and Isaac II Angelos, the Bulgarian empire may not be reestablished at once.

I don't know if Bela would succeed as King of Hungary but if he doesn't, his younger brother Geza could become king in his place.
 
most likely the kommenos resturation continues since bela was a good king in the OTL , he could go to war with geza to install a weaker family member to the throne of hungary
 
most likely the kommenos resturation continues since bela was a good king in the OTL , he could go to war with geza to install a weaker family member to the throne of hungary
Why not just rule it himself? Or put a loyal man in the role of regent or governor while he’s in Constantinople.
 
If Alexios is never born and Bela succeeds him, Andronikos will find it difficult to gain power, as he can't manipulate Bela as he did Alexios. The Massacre of the Latins will probably never happened. If Bela's policy isn't too pro-Latin, there may not be revolts, and so the Angeloi will most likely not ascend the throne. Without the Angeloi, the Fourth Crusade isn't diverted to Constantinople. And without Andronikos I and Isaac II Angelos, the Bulgarian empire may not be reestablished at once.

I don't know if Bela would succeed as King of Hungary but if he doesn't, his younger brother Geza could become king in his place.
I’d like to think he could rule Hungary as well, but at the very least some Hungarian mercenaries and border soldiers no longer needed along the Danube would make taking Anatolia much easier.
 
Why not just rule it himself? Or put a loyal man in the role of regent or governor while he’s in Constantinople.

he could in theory be king of both nations , but that would spark rebelion since he cant rule both the ERE and hunagary at the same time , so yes puting a regent is a good option or installing his sister

or better yet get a loyal man to be regant and mary her sister to him that way he can avoid many backlashes
 
he could in theory be king of both nations , but that would spark rebelion since he cant rule both the ERE and hunagary at the same time , so yes puting a regent is a good option or installing his sister

or better yet get a loyal man to be regant and mary her sister to him that way he can avoid many backlashes
From what little I know of Hungarian history the nobility had little it any power at this time and a significant amount of land was owned by them. So Hungary should be safe, but i guess many in the empire would grumble at being ruled by a foreigner.

As for a regent marrying his sister this could probably work so long as the regent is someone of lower but respected stature. Like a knight, someone who doesn’t have a base of power to base himself upon. This way he can’t rebel against bela.
 
From what little I know of Hungarian history the nobility had little it any power at this time and a significant amount of land was owned by them. So Hungary should be safe, but i guess many in the empire would grumble at being ruled by a foreigner.

As for a regent marrying his sister this could probably work so long as the regent is someone of lower but respected stature. Like a knight, someone who doesn’t have a base of power to base himself upon. This way he can’t rebel against bela.
yeah i agree
 
I’d like to think he could rule Hungary as well, but at the very least some Hungarian mercenaries and border soldiers no longer needed along the Danube would make taking Anatolia much easier.

The problem with 1180 ERE isnt much of lack of troops, both manpower/finances but management of resources. ERE under Manuel was estimated to be richer in annual revenue than Basil 2's peak with roughly the same population with a smaller land area(kommerkion at Constantinople alone under Manuel is around 20,000 hyperpyra per day/around 7M+ per annum according J.Harris) vs Basil 2 whole empire of 5.9M nomisma per annum. This is the same Basil 2 who could fund 40k tagma, 100k thema and 300 warships. Manuel over indulges his family too much that same amount he spends for his family can actually feed and maintain a 100k army(according to George Finley) to the point that he can only field 20-30k troops(150 galleys/egyptian invasion).

If Bela 3 can manage empire's resources frugally, Bela 3 can be the most powerful monarch in the Roman side of the world.
 
The problem with 1180 ERE isnt much of lack of troops, both manpower/finances but management of resources. ERE under Manuel was estimated to be richer in annual revenue than Basil 2's peak with roughly the same population with a smaller land area(kommerkion at Constantinople alone under Manuel is around 20,000 hyperpyra per day/around 7M+ per annum according J.Harris) vs Basil 2 whole empire of 5.9M nomisma per annum. This is the same Basil 2 who could fund 40k tagma, 100k thema and 300 warships. Manuel over indulges his family too much that same amount he spends for his family can actually feed and maintain a 100k army(according to George Finley) to the point that he can only field 20-30k troops(150 galleys/egyptian invasion).

If Bela 3 can manage empire's resources frugally, Bela 3 can be the most powerful monarch in the Roman side of the world.
Bela was known to be a capable ruler so I imagine that he would take care of that.
 
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