Challenge - A Europe of Three Simultaneous Empires

Okay, this is my first post, so don't be too hard on me. I have been lurking around for awhile, and have enjoyed reading the thoughts and ideas of so many of you. And now I would love to read your ideas on this challenge. I am trying to create an alternative Europe roughly existing between the mid 19th and mid 20th centuries in which all of Europe (including Russia and the British Isles) is divided into three empires (or better yet countries). Each country has a fairly identifiable culture, language, religion, and to a certain extent, ethnicity. Your challenge is to determine the boundaries of each country, and determine what language, religion, etc. exists in each country. Finally, is there any possible way starting with a POD of sometime after about 400 AD for Europe to end up like this., and how could it have happened.
 
Welcome to the board, Mr. President (of Texas, I assume?)!

The Franks:
Capital: Aix-la-chapelle (Aachen, Aaken)
Religion: Roman Catholic
Constitution: republican
Area: Everything west of a line: Finland - Odra-River - (today's Czech eastern border - today's Austrian eastern border - Slovenia until Triest and Split). In the South, everything West of Tunesia.
Short history: 843 Treaty of Verdun: Frankish Empire is not divided, instead after a little turmoil strengthend within. Turning southwards and conquering Gothic Empire of Toulouse (9th century, started by Charlemagne [instead of OTL fighting against Muslims]). The frequent attacks of Vikings lead to a stronger central power and a kind of crusade into the "heathen" areas of Scandinavia. As the Danelag is part of the "Vikings", Frankish Empire conquers British islands (10th-12th century). The pope has to move deeper into Frankish Empire as the Emperor Charles IV. wants it (14th century). Discovery of "America" (15th century). Vast colonial empire in the Americas, Western and Southern Africa, later Australia.

The Russians:
Capital: Moscow
Religion: none specific, but Russian Czar likes Orthodoxy.
Constitution: authoritarian monarchy
Area: Everything west of a line: Finland - Odra-River - (today's Czech eastern border), then everything North of a line: Carpathians - Moldavia.
Short history: 1241 Mongol victory in Silesia, part of the troops stay in Europe while most of the Mongols return to Karakorum (death of Kublai Khan). The next time, as Mongols don't like cities, most cities in Eastern Europe are destroyed. Development of local authorities. Heavy fightings during 15th to 17th century, victory for Russia. Isolationist power, turning eastwards.

The Byzantines:
Capital: Constantinople
Religion: Orthodox
Constitution: constitutional monarchy
Area: The Balkans (Hungary, Rumania, Serbia, Bulgaria, Croatia (disputed?), Albania, Greece, OTL Turkey, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Egypt, Cyrenaica, Tripols, Tunesia.
Short history: Justinian reconquers Africa (6th century), reforms in the interior leading to a better strategy against Muslim invasion (7th to 11th century), which finally turns eastwards, forming a block against Mongolian advances during the 12th and 13th century. As the Mediterranean stays Byzantine, no crusades. Building of the so-called "Western Great Wall" (Limes) from Sinai to Damascus. During 16th and 17th century, fightings on the Balkans with Frankish and (later) Russian Empire. Congress of Ragusa defining the borders (when?). Interior turmoil lead to a strenghthening of the Senate, thus turning the Empire into a constitutional monarchy.

But in this timeline, the idea of personal freedom is highly underdeveloped, as during the Middle Ages that concept could not come into being as we know it. Too strong connections to Antiquity...
 
Perhaps it would be possible to build such a Europe around the main indo-European language groupings in Europe?

For example, there could, perhaps, be a Germanic Empire, a Slavic Empire, and a Latinic Empire.

Although, this leaves out the Greeks and albanians, and ignores the non-indo-European language families present on the continent.
 
Those are good ideas.

Here's another one.

Napoleon and George III die early, and George IV isn't ready or able to rule Britain effectively. Revolutionary thoughts spread from France to England, and over the course of the next few decades there's chaos, and revolutions, and wars, the British empire starts a long, slow collapse. The Ottoman sultan also dies, and a civil war commences, and its empire starts breaking up.

So new revolutionaries become prominent, and after all the fighting dies down, they're in the right place at the right time to establish fairly sane, stable political entities.

The Balkans gets divided into one Catholic, one Moslem and one Orthodox country. The Orthodox one is able to expand into Greece and Eastern Europe, becoming more powerful than the other two.

France is ruled by a saner revolutionary government which expands its influence into at least some of the German lands.

The Poles get a leader who can unite his people and take his lands back from the Russians and Germans, and after a few decades the Poles and French agree on a common border...

So the nations are:

The United Kingdom of Greece
The Democratic Union of Poland
The Republic of France.

With so many butterflies, we can tweak it in many other ways. A hundred years after the death of Napoleon and King George, and the subsequent wars, we might have...

Greece, Albania, France

Greece, Hungary, Austria

Albania, Denmark, Italy

Albania, Greece, Italy

Albania, Greece, Serbia (In this TL, the rest of Europe is Balkanized into tiny little countries.)

In all of these, there would still be ten or so other countries in Europe. I'm not suggesting any superpowers.
 
I like what I have read, and I was thinking something along what Wendell suggested.

Northwest Europe, British Isles, North Central Europe, The Baltic area, and Scandinavia would be the boundaries of a Germanic country, speaking a common Germanic language and whose ethnicity for the most part is of Germanic stock. Religion is most probably some type of Lutheranism.

Southern Europe, including most of present day France, Iberian peninsula, Italic peninsula, much of present day Balkins (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Northern part of Serbia), and would include parts of Hungary and Romania. This would be the boundaries of a post Western Roman Empire that continues to speak Latin, is fiercely and devotedly Roman Catholic, and has a fairly uniform ethnicity of the Celtic, Italic, Gallic, and other enthnicities blended together that existed within the RE during its heyday. The Alps are an ideal border separating these two countries somewhere in present day Switzerland and Austria. With the Rhine and Danube also serving as borders as well.

Third Country is a Slavic country of the east, including Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Slovakia, Moldova, and parts of present day Poland, Czech Rep, Hungary, Romania and then everything south of southern half of present day Serbia, including Albania, Macedonia, Greece, and Bulgaria. This country has become the metamorphosis of the old Eastern Roman Empire and its Orthodox religion and the ethnic Slavs who came to dominate the areas within its borders. The language is a uniform Slavic tongue.
 
My idea would be to have a POD at the War of the Spanish Succession. Have the French fare better on the continent, and the Bourbons unite the thrones by force. However, their efforts lead to weaker fights being put up in the colonies and they lose a little more, not to mention that the British, seeing what is about to happen in Europe preemptively seize as many Caribbean islands and such as they can to weaken the French colonial position - maybe the Philippines too, to prevent the French gaining a dominating position in the Indies too early. So you have a pretty uber Franco-Spain now. Somewhere down the line Portugal is weakened and it gradually is brought into the French sphere of influence. It probably would never be annexed, but it could become a satellite. Maybe a personal union with France down the line, it's not so important. Anyway, on to the next step.

On rolls the 18th century. Britain, greatly fearing France's huge chunks of the Americas etc makes increasingly aggressive steps, while France finds that without the sugar islands their new colonial empire doesn't actually aid them at all in being able to fight in the colonies, except for having more ports and a load of gold to create inflation. Gradually the British turn the tide and after another unexpected victory such as Wolfe's Quebec City, the French are forced to cede their North American possessions. Come 1773, similar things to OTL happen but the British react faster or the Americans are less hotheaded or something, and the Americans chose to stay loyal instead of starting the ARW. Albany Plan or somesuch. England's position as the dominant trade position isn't secured yet, but with this event it's jumped the last hurdle. Thus, circumstances aren't conducive to the Revolutionary Wars - mainly 'cos it would mess up my train of thought (and because I'm not a fan of Revolutionary France), even though it might actually help this TL go on. Around 1800 you then get a marrying of the British Princess to a Swedish Prince. In one of those acts of fate, OTL Victoria is stillborn and her mother dies in labour. Edward (her father) remarries but the union proves barren. Come 1837, the now King of Sweden - still a Vasa due to the lack of Napoleonic Wars - inherits the British throne in the same way that so many others have, leading to what is later seen as the British incorporation of Sweden - though Sweden remains a very strong partner in the Union, unlike all of Britain's other accumulations through inheritance.

Skip another generation. Germany isn't like the threatening signs France is making, and a trade union in the style of the Zollverein is enacted, only this time by Austria, in order to bind the German states together. Only Prussia stays out, having dallied with a French alliance a few times, but in the end it is swayed to the Russians. Russia persuades Prussia to make a move, reckoning that France will show benevolent neutrality as it watches Austria be taken down several rungs. They completely misjudge the situation however, and the French ally with Austria, believing this their chance to turn Germany into their sphere of influence while restricting Russia, who they believe a greater threat than Austria. Denmark sides with France and Austria, having seen Prussia eye up Schleswig-Holstein for some time now. Britain, in an attempt to preserve the status quo, sides with Prussia and Russia, believing France's military power too much of a threat. The Vasa king has Swedish troops occupy Norway, which puts up little threat, and British troops occupy Iceland and Greenland, while a colonial war again rages between the UK and France. On the continent, Denmark steps too early and its army is caught away from the French and destroyed very early on. The French quickly march to save it, but in complete disarray the Danish King bottles it and signs a peace, ceding Norway, Iceland and Greenland to Sweden, a little to the concern of the British Parliament who had less aggressive ideas, and Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. France then turns and marches on Prussia and Russia. The Ottomans get dragged in somehow. The war is closer than expected, with the British causing economic havoc and the Russians scoring some important victories, but at the end of the day the French overcome the Prussian-Russian alliance. The Ottomans are forced to cede virtually all of the Balkans - they lose the rest a few decades later in another unequal fight to prevent the Russians from accessing the Mediterranean through the Bosporus. The British, seeing what is going on, purchase a number of Ottoman islands first, to protect their trade control and to prevent the Austrians or worse, the French, gaining too much. Cyprus, the Ionians and some strategically important and defensively sound Aegean Islands (to give the British a control in the Bosporus passage too) are sold. Austria manages to keep France's grubby mitts out of Germany, mostly, gaining Prussia's west German holdings. Germany is pretty much condemned to Austrian control now. A couple of decades on, Prussia attempts to catch the Austrians off guard and restore the balance, but gets smacked down and the Prussian King gets deposed. Grossdeutschland is now in play. France loses more colonies as the American colonists form their own regular armies for the first time (well...as a temporary measure but it's more than militia) and storms over French Mexico, proclaiming the Manifest Destiny of the American colonists' superiority over French colonies, France pawns them off to Britain to end the war, not really liking the Spanish colonists anyway.

As times change and alliances shift, Russia and Austria drift apart, the former now siding with France against Austria and Britain. Another war sparks between the new alliances. Things go well for France before they suffer a crushing blow in a battle and their ability to fight is reduced for several critical months. Austria then turns on Russia, having set up Poland as effectively a buffer state previously, marching through and getting the Russian invasion right for once - mainly through having restrained campaign goals, and not trying to fight over winter. This is helped by the Swedish ability to march over land through Finland to siege Saint Petersburg and Moscow relatively quickly. Russia is compelled to jettison much of its territories west and south of Moscow, simply as it has no other option. Utterly humiliated, they turn instead to their new conflicts with Japan, but these don't go so well either and Russia is clearly a fading power.

Well that almost does it. Just need to engineer some event to make Russia fall under one country's sway.

Wow...can't believe I've just typed for so long.
 
Top