DBWI: The Ottomans survive Timur?

It is well known that following the Battle of Ankara, the Italians considered ferrying the Ottoman forces out of Asia Minor and into their Balkan territory so that they could keep fighting. This was because the Italians feared the unfamiliar Timur, and trusted the Ottomans slightly more. However, in the end the Italians chose not to help the Ottomans, and Timur's forces annihilated the Ottoman armies, leading to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

What if the Italians had carried through the plan they had been considering, and helped many Ottomans escape? Could the Ottoman Empire have recovered from the chaos and survived much longer?
 
Hard to say.

But come on, at the point where they would come back, Timur's forces may be waiting. How effective would running away really be?

Plus, the later fall of Timur's Empire led to the rise of a much more stable Turkish state in Asia Minor anyways, one that didn't fall into the instability of the Ottoman Empire nor its cruelty in regards to succession rights.
 
I don't think the Italians could have ferried more than a small amount of the Ottoman forces. More critical is having some of Beyazid's sons survive to lend legitimacy to an Ottoman recovery. The annihilation of Ottoman forces was exaggerated. Some had fled at the height of the Battle of Ankara. But they needed credible leadership. Timur was more interested in removing any credible threats on his flanks while he pursued more critical areas of interest. He wasn't interested in holding onto Anatolia. So, all the Ottomans needed was to wait and quietly rebuild under their new leaders.
 
If the Ottomans rebuilt, do you think they could have been the ones to take out Constantinople, or do you think that the Bulgarians would have revolted anyways and sacked the city themselves like in OTL?
 
If the Ottomans rebuilt, do you think they could have been the ones to take out Constantinople, or do you think that the Bulgarians would have revolted anyways and sacked the city themselves like in OTL?

Of course, everyone knew the Byzantines days where numbered by that point and the ottomans surrounded them in their entirety (besides the Morea which was ultimately unimportant.
 
If the Ottomans rebuilt, do you think they could have been the ones to take out Constantinople, or do you think that the Bulgarians would have revolted anyways and sacked the city themselves like in OTL?
Well, hopefully in such a world, Emperor Hassan wouldn't have wiped out the Bulgarian armies in Konya. I mean Constantinople was practically razed. And right after being sacked.

Though can we really argue that Egyptian rule over much of the Balkans nowadays is bad? Empires fall, Empires rise, and I doubt if Ottomans had stayed, that the Abbasids could have come back as they did.
 
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