DBWI: What of Venice ferried the 4th Crusade instead of Genoa?
- Thread starter SwordLord
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As we know, Genoa did put harsh constraints on the Byzantine Empire, including fleet basing rights, but I think Venice might have even tried to conquer the Byzantine Empire! If that true, then it would have made it much harder for the Ottomans to later expand out, since the Byzantines were near collapse in 1420 when they fell, anyway.
If Venice had managed to conquer Constantinople, and convert it to a Catholic State, this might have been enough to completely butterfly the Ottoman conquests, or at least push them back to about 1500. By that time, maybe Austria could have expanded into the Balkans?
If Venice had managed to conquer Constantinople, and convert it to a Catholic State, this might have been enough to completely butterfly the Ottoman conquests, or at least push them back to about 1500. By that time, maybe Austria could have expanded into the Balkans?
That depends on whether you consider the Borjin dynasty "Byzantine". I mean, sure, they had assimilated into Anatolian Greek Christians by the time they conquered Tzargrad in the 1350s but still.
If anything I wonder if the Mongols might take the city earlier- it would be a very different Purple Khanate, to be sure. .maybe they manage to convert and assimilate the Turks rather than being conquered by them.
Also Austria? In a way thats OTL. Ottokar the great if Bihemia conquered the place after all.
OoC- I doubt you'd have the Ottomans under these circumstances. Some other turkish dynasty maybe.
If anything I wonder if the Mongols might take the city earlier- it would be a very different Purple Khanate, to be sure. .maybe they manage to convert and assimilate the Turks rather than being conquered by them.
Also Austria? In a way thats OTL. Ottokar the great if Bihemia conquered the place after all.
OoC- I doubt you'd have the Ottomans under these circumstances. Some other turkish dynasty maybe.
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One thing to remember is that the Genoese didn't ferry the Crusaders out of the kindness of their hearts. They had been promised control of several cities in the Levant and exclusive rights to trade in Alexanderia. Granted, the latter never happened because of the Crusaders' failure to actually defeat the Ayyubids in Egypt, but they held on to the colonies in Lebanon for a considerable time. The loot the Genoese brought back both from the Constantinople and the Holy Land, the fee from the naval passage and the control over the trade routes that the crusade led to meant that the Genoa was poised to become a major player in the Mediterranea. Genoa used this position to fill the power vacuum left by the Holy Roman Empire's collapsing authority in Italy. They also got a taste for colonies from the adventure, and ended up setting up trade cities in Iberia soon after. A few centuries later, when the Oghuzids of Aq Qoyunlu pushed the Europeans out of the Middle East, the Genoese would turn their attention west from their Spanish colonies. It's pretty hard to imagine what the discovery of Terranovum would have been like if it hadn't been found by Genoa.
I doubt Venice would Conquer the whole Empire, it is just too big for a city-state to conquer. They may take parts of Greece, but once the Crusaders start going home, I doubt they will be able to hold their gains. Though I don't know how a surviving Rhomanoi state would affect the later establishment of the Hellenic Empire in the Crusade of 1423. If that crusade never happens, then Greece would probably remain under the Turks instead of becoming a major player in the Renaissance.