Best and or most underused pods pre 1900?

Harold Godwinson King of England beats William the Bastard at Hastings. (William had a couple of horses shot out from under him and his men thought he'd been killed otl. Here he is actually killed) He is however wounded and dies, probably of an infection later. Now all the serious contenders for the crown are dead leaving an untested boy as the last man standing. A boy who'd already been rejected by the King's Council as a potential King. There's still the fact that the Pope backed the Normans to cope with, and he was not keen on the English clergy in general, or the Archbishop of Canterbury in particular.
 
On the death of her brother William, Matilda is able to successfully claim the crown of England per her father's will and doesn't proceed to alienate the barons, instead compromising to finally be crowned officially. Though her reign is still marked with plenty of opposition in court and frequent quarrelling, it sets the precedence of female inheritance in England.
 
China isn't unified under the Qin Dynasty and stays as a collection of separate states OR China is united by someone less tyrannical than Qin Shi Huangdi and the Hundred Schools of Thought dont get purged.

Buddhism spreads to the Mediterranean during late antiquity and becomes the major faith of the region.

Continental Gauls dont get conquered by Romans and Germanics.

The Riograndense Republican wins the Ragamuffin War.
 
Russo-Mongolian PoDs
- Islamic Tatar Khan rules as Emperor over all the Russians and Tatars (Basically Russia but Islamic) and terrorizes anything between Manchuria to the Baltics
- Altan Khan and the Mongols convert to Islam (preferably Twelver Shiism, Sunnism is also acceptable...)
- Koshut Khanate survives the Dzungar invasion
- Russia moves their Southern Siberian border towards the Chinese wall, thus incorporating Dzungaria, Mongolia and Manchuria

South East Asia PoDs
- Unified Indonesian Archipelago
- Philippines as the Caribbean variant of Piracy, being the base of Pirates (giving shares of their wealth to the Rajas and rulers...)

Mediterranean PoDs
- West Roman Empire survives at least in Italy and starts a reconquest spree
- Italian Kingdom anytime after 850s between the Alps and the Northern borders of the Duchy of Benevento
- Charles V facing Suleiman I in Hungary or Italy or whatever. Successful or unsuccessful does not matter much... He gets "Best Christian leader after Charlemagne", fighting unbelievers and stuff... Victorious makes him a hero, defeat makes him a martyr for the Catholics
- Lombard Trade League investing in a Suez Canal to surpass the Portuguese (A TL I'm considering...)
- Italian Kingdom forming in the late 17th century and ready by 1715...
- Greek Revolution delayed until 1848
- Greece remains a Republic after achieving independence...

Ottoman PoDs
- Mustafa inherits the throne from Suleiman in the 1550s (Suleiman making place or dying...)
- Prince Mahmud succeeding Mehmed III for the throne in 1603 (after Mustafa, no prince was as popular as him among the military and populace, hardly known by the people...)
- Koprulu Mustafa Pasha beats Louis of Baden in Slankamen (it was very close until that one lucky bullet hit him in his head F for Grand Vizier Koprulu Mustafa...)
- Mustafa II not deposed in the Edirne event (1703)
- Silahdar Ali Pasha defeats Eugene of Savoy (Preferably Eugene dies with one lucky bullet...) in Petrovaradin
- No Patrona Halil Rebellion, Ibrahim Pasha uses this to create a new Army on French Model
- Selim III invades Azerbaijan as he was asked to
- Mahmud II kills the Janissaries in 1808 rather than 1826
- No Ottoman Participation in WW1

Dutch PoDs
- William of Orange survives his assassination
- East Frisia given to Netherlands
- NO WILLEM II, MAKE HIM DIE EARLIER OR NOT ANYWHERE CLOSE TO BELGIUM
- Belgium or just Flanders remains Dutch

French PoDs
- French Canada
- France keeps more of the Windward Islands and some Leeward Islands
- Louis XVII survives
- Charles X beat the 1830 revolution
- Henry becomes King of France

African PoDs
- Ethiopian Meji
- Egyptian Meji
- A Large Malian State in West Africa by 1830
 

Anawrahta

Banned
The bengalis invade Myanmar after the Arakanese incident.
The middle kingdoms of India wank: Lots of opportunities.
Any good Jordan Peterson wank
The caliphate survives as a nation-state.
The kushites invade Uganda
 
A POD with the US doing anything different during either of the Barbary Wars is criminally underused imo.
It seems like such a defining moment for how the US would conduct itself for the rest of its history.
 
A POD with the US doing anything different during either of the Barbary Wars is criminally underused imo.
It seems like such a defining moment for how the US would conduct itself for the rest of its history.
Definitely. I wonder how both the US and North Africa would develop if the Berbers were able to somehow to gain victory. Maybe this would prevent a French colonization of Algeria which would prevent the fall of North Africa to Europe with them instead being like Persia. Meanwhile, the USN is entirely discredited.
 
Peter II of Russia does not die of smallpox in 1730 and instead has a long life and reign. During his short reign he seemed to have had little interest in modernizing Russia or increasing its links with the west. Had he survived for decades after 1730 with the same attitude, then Russia might have remained a backwards state on the edge of Europe for much longer and might never have become the superpower it became in the original TL.
 

Anawrahta

Banned
WI parthians convert to mahayana buddhism
The chola empire colonizes southeast asian kingdoms
Malays conquer sri lanka
The Kamboja kingdom pulls a parthia and conquers the seleucid empire
The anatolians overthrow the greeks after alexander the great
 
Definitely. I wonder how both the US and North Africa would develop if the Berbers were able to somehow to gain victory. Maybe this would prevent a French colonization of Algeria which would prevent the fall of North Africa to Europe with them instead being like Persia. Meanwhile, the USN is entirely discredited.

The Barbary States were heading for a confrontation with the West, and the longer it takes to happen the more brutal the punishment will be.
 
Football in its original state (the sport that went on to spawn association, rugby, Australian, Canadian and American Football) is never developed.
 
Am I the only person who wants to see an Iroquois timeline?

When? The 1100s founding or the 16-1700s colonial period. I've heard of one very old tl where the early Iroquois deal with Vinland.

Similarly, I once considered an alternate 1680 Pueblo revolt and think it could be a good PoD. The modern American West was in general and the Southwest in particular have their origin there.
 
Simon bar Kokhba is more successful. Resulting in a vastly different Christianity down the line.

Far more than even the destruction of the Temple, the revolt and its aftereffects had massive effects on Christianity.

I mean, they already made the revolt one that killed so many Romans Hadrian's official report to the Senate left out the traditional phrase, "If you and your children are in health, it is well; I and the legions are in health.". Simply due to how massive and violent and bloody it was.
 
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