Since everyone loves the ERE on here, I thought I'd compile this, as a large list of potential PODs for people to take. I'll highlight those that I think have already been done. So, let's begin...
1. Julian the Apostate survives past 363. Longer lasting Roman paganism, or violent Christian reaction? Who knows!
2. Victory at Adrianople in 378: no Goths rampaging around the Roman Empire makes the fifth century much nicer, perhaps. Already done by me, ish.
3. Attila sacks Constantinople 446: what if the Huns had been able to take advantage of the collapse of the Theodosian Land Walls?
4. Carthage is recovered in 468: about the last chance to restore the Western Empire. Think this one has been done.
5. Zeno is overthrown by Basiliscus or Marcian: the sixth century tradition of civilian Emperors and Roman prosperity never comes about
6. The Nika revolt succeeds: Justinian is overthrown in 532. Potential for an Emperor Belisarius here.
7. The Persians stay loyal to their peace treaty in 540: Belisarius is able to complete the Gothic war.
8. No Justinianic Plague in 542: the ship carrying bubonic plague towards Egypt sinks en-route, and the age of Mediterranean prosperity doesn't end.
9. Germanus Justin survives past 550: as heir to both the Roman Empire and the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths, Germanus could well have brought Italy to peace several years before it was actually achieved.
10. No Lombard invasions in 568: Italy remains united, and gets time to recover. The Pope remains a puppet of the Emperor and the Senate of Rome continues to exist.
11. Maurice is more reasonable in 601: he brings his troops back, and they never revolt against him. He continues in power, and is able to bequeath to his sons a strengthened East, and a restored Western Empire made up of the Exarchates. Has been done.
12. Heraclius' revolt fails in 610: Phocas remains in power, and the Roman Empire goes under?
13. Constantinople falls in 626: an almost certain end to the Eastern Roman Empire, and a Persian dominated Eastern Mediterranean
14. The Arabs are routed at Yarmouk in 636: no Islamic conquests of the Levant, but possible religious problems with continuing Byzantine rule over the area. Has been done.
15. Constantine IV lives beyond 685: Constantine was a decent Emperor who was the first to inflict serious defeats upon the Arabs, but he died at the age of thirty three- he could easily have lived for another twenty or thirty years.
16. Justinian II is never overthrown in 695: he continues the moderate and succesful policies of his first reign, and the Empire prospers. Has sort of been done.
17. The Isaurian dynasty never takes power in 717: Constantinople could fall to the Ummayads, but even if it does not, Iconoclasm is butterflied.
18. Leo IV doesn't die young in 780: a moderate and legitimate Emperor, with good relations with the Papacy, stays in power. Irene's rule is butterflied, removing Charlemagne's justification for claiming the Roman Imperial title.
19. Nikephoros I wins the Battle of Pliska in 814- Bulgaria is conquered two hundred years before OTL.
20. Thomas the Slav's revolt succeeds in 821- the Empire avoids the chaos of the early 820s, and is able to hold Crete and Sicily, as well as establishing an alliance with the Abbasids.
This is part 1. Part 2 I'll post later if people show interest!
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PART 2
21. Theophilos of Amorion has a longer reign, and his wife Theodora is never able to gain ascendency: Iconoclasm continues beyond 843, and the Macedonian dynasty may be butterflied
22. The mission of Cyril and Methodius to the Khazars succeeds in 861: the steppe peoples convert to Christianity
23. The favoured son of Basil I, Constantine, doesn't die in 879: his father lives longer, and Constantine becomes Emperor instead of Leo VI.
24. The useless Emperor Alexander III reigns past 913: civil war could well break out, and Simeon of Bulgaria could sieze his chance.
25. The marriage alliance between Constantine VII and the daughter of Simeon of Bulgaria never falls through in the 910s: Simeon becomes Caesar, and is able to rule a hugely enlarged Byzantine/Bulgarian Empire.
26. John I Tzimiskes sacks Baghdad in 975: huge collapse of Arab morale, paving the way to further Byzantine conquests deep into Mesopotamia and Palestine. Perhaps John's illness is butterflied too.
27. No revolts against Basil II in the 980s: Basil remains idle and pleasure loving. Perhaps he takes a wife, though. No conversion of the Rus.
28. Otto III never dies young in 1002, and marries Zoe Makedonios: Further Hellenisation of what will become the HRE, and a close alliance between Constantinople and the Saxon Emperors. Possibility of a Saxon becoming
Basileus.
29. Basil II marries and leaves a son to continue his work- no rapid turnover of eleventh century Emperors
30. Zoe Makedonios is sidelined in the 1030s: the Paphlagonians are able to form a new dynasty, led by the competent John the Orphanotrophos.
31. Isaac Komnenos mans up: the Komnenoi come to power fifteen years earlier, Manzikert is butterflied, and glorious things happen
32. Romanos Diogenes accepts a ceasefire in 1071: the Great Seljuks conquer Fatimid Egypt, and Diogenes stays in control.
33. Romanos Diogenes wins at Manzikert: the Great Seljuks suffer a terrible setback and revolts, and Diogenes is able to found a new dynasty.
34. Alexios Komnenos fails to take control: the Empire continues to splinter, and the Normans may very well intervene.
Part 3 to follow.