Empire of Nicea

You can't really delay the reconquest of Constantinople from the Latin Empire anymore than what historically occurred due to the disfunction of the Latin state.

Buuuut having Epirus or Bulgaria take Constantinople in the ~1230s or so would give you the outcome you want. Blocked off from Europe by an actual power, Nicaea will bide its time and turn its attention to other states. (It wasn't ignorant of the Seljuq positioning growing weaker with the Mongols, or the Empire of Trebizond becoming a rump state; its just that Europe was much more tantalizing)

And yes the position would be much stronger after a few more generations in Anatolia. Anatolia had the resources, development and people after 1204. Europe did not.

Best case scenario you can Manuel's Empire in Anatolia (although probably trading Little Armenia for Cappadocia, which is much more tenable anyway) by the 1290s with a host of vassals in Eastern Anatolia as a buffer to the Ilkhans.

Well, it's pretty much the way I toked for my timeline. I had Constantinople conquered by Ivan Assan II of Bulgaria (which had more luck TTL and his is more successful, conquering Epirus too) therefore Nicaea is stuck in Asia and forced to build there.
 

trajen777

Banned
The key to being the Byz emperor was to have control of Constantinople. If you held this then your claim could be validated,... For a timeline like this you might wish to read :::
The Late Byzantine Army: Arms and Society, 1204-1453.. in there he talks about the conquest of Const. and the need to defend the provinces in Europe to the determent of Asia. The army was doing well in Asia and was at peace, in that the Nicean army could handle and defend the Turkish border. The conquest of Const. and the subsequent need to defend and fight Serbs, Bulgurs, & Europeans forced the Niceans to constantly denude the Turkish border. I think if you had had a stronger Latin state which defeats the other Byz pretenders in Greece -Albania would have focused the Niceans to expand east ward. This expansion could have encompassed the complete conquest of Anatolia plus more. From their to follow your timeline have the Latin kingdom deteriorate closer to the 1290 period and have the Niceans complete the conquest then, with stable eastern borders.
 
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