Interesting, thank you for the answer!
Out of interest do you think there’s any POD for Egypt to remain Muslim but adopt the Coptic language? Maybe writing it in Arabic script
Miscellaneous <1900 (Alternate) History Thread
- Thread starter RMcD94
- Start date
Out of interest do you think there’s any POD for Egypt to remain Muslim but adopt the Coptic language? Maybe writing it in Arabic script
What if the children of Louis VII, Duke of Bavaria and Catherine d'Alençon had survived, they had
Johann (1414 -.)
Anna (1416-.)
Louis' son from his first marriage to Anne de Bourbon-la-Marche had no children, so I am that Johann would be the eventual successor, but how would things change with them remaining and who could each one of them marry?
Johann (1414 -.)
Anna (1416-.)
Louis' son from his first marriage to Anne de Bourbon-la-Marche had no children, so I am that Johann would be the eventual successor, but how would things change with them remaining and who could each one of them marry?
Isn’t social stratification, the rise of proto feudalism, and excessive taxes some of the reasons for the collapse of the empire?
Also, but I mean that are just some of the many reasons. It was a perfect storm of many troubles rising at the same time.
Are there any interesting TLs with an earlier or different invention of printing?
- Roman printing is probably wishful thinking (and they didn’t have paper), but maybe a crude woodblock approach would be possible, followed by later refinements?
- Would something like a High Medieval invention (maybe in Venice or Genoa?) be plausible?
- East Asia did of course have early printing long before Gutenberg, but AIUI it never had the transformative effect it did in the West due to a combination of technical limitations as well as logographic writing being much harder to use moveable type for. But maybe you could wank Hangul to the point of getting significant printing advances in Korea? Or maybe have a country on the periphery of the Sinosphere with an alphabetic system develop it - Tibet? Burma? It could then spread to India (which had fairly advanced metallurgy, I think) for further refinements.
If Sweden joined the Seven Years War on the Prussian side instead of the Franco-Austrian side, Sweden would aim to gain Russian Finland, Baltic Russia and the rest of the Baltics instead of Pomerania. It would likely be defeated by Russia, but the extra Prussian troops without the need to fight Sweden and Russia would allow Prussia to win the Seven Years War as in otl, but with Prussia using extra troops to allow it to seize otl 1764's Saxony's and Austria's territories. The Second Miracle of the House of Brandenburg would benefit Prussia and Sweden to the otl extent in otl and in this timeline.
If Prussia didn't invade Saxony in the Seven Years War, Saxony might be neutral or Austrian-aligned and the Seven Years War would proceed as in otl. The best case for Prussia would be Saxony supporting Prussia without or even with the otl Prussian invasion of Saxony and Prussia being able to recapture the pre-war status quo ante bellum and the rest of Austrian Silesia with better defensive and offensive positions to the Prussians and ending the Seven Years War with the Prussian victory as in otl by defending its status quo ante bellum pre-war and not having to exchange Saxony for the rest of Austrian Silesia and Austrian captured ex-Prussian territories. Prussia might make its victory even more tangible by taking territories (including Silesia) which were Austrian as of 1755 and 1764.
Sweden also regained its share of Swedish Pomerania as captured by Denmark-Norway in the Great Northern War. If Sweden lost that part of Pomerania, Sweden would still try and fail to to recapture Pomerania from Prussia in the Seven Years War as in otl, but with a failed naval invasion and retreat from Stettin instead of an unopposed reinforcement of Stralsund before a Prussian opposed invasion of ex-Swedish Prussian Pomerania. The long term effect would be Sweden gaining Norway in the Napoleonic Wars and Denmark retaining Pomerania in exchange. Since Denmark would have ruled Pomerania for more than 90 years, Denmark would insist on holding Pomerania and would keep it. In exchange, Saxe-Lauenburg and Schleswig-Holstein would become Prussian in 1815 instead of 1865 and Danish (ex-Swedish) Pomerania would become Prussian in 1865 instead of 1815.
If Prussia didn't invade Saxony in the Seven Years War, Saxony might be neutral or Austrian-aligned and the Seven Years War would proceed as in otl. The best case for Prussia would be Saxony supporting Prussia without or even with the otl Prussian invasion of Saxony and Prussia being able to recapture the pre-war status quo ante bellum and the rest of Austrian Silesia with better defensive and offensive positions to the Prussians and ending the Seven Years War with the Prussian victory as in otl by defending its status quo ante bellum pre-war and not having to exchange Saxony for the rest of Austrian Silesia and Austrian captured ex-Prussian territories. Prussia might make its victory even more tangible by taking territories (including Silesia) which were Austrian as of 1755 and 1764.
Sweden also regained its share of Swedish Pomerania as captured by Denmark-Norway in the Great Northern War. If Sweden lost that part of Pomerania, Sweden would still try and fail to to recapture Pomerania from Prussia in the Seven Years War as in otl, but with a failed naval invasion and retreat from Stettin instead of an unopposed reinforcement of Stralsund before a Prussian opposed invasion of ex-Swedish Prussian Pomerania. The long term effect would be Sweden gaining Norway in the Napoleonic Wars and Denmark retaining Pomerania in exchange. Since Denmark would have ruled Pomerania for more than 90 years, Denmark would insist on holding Pomerania and would keep it. In exchange, Saxe-Lauenburg and Schleswig-Holstein would become Prussian in 1815 instead of 1865 and Danish (ex-Swedish) Pomerania would become Prussian in 1865 instead of 1815.
Last edited:
13th - 15th century China and Korea devised a lot of ingenious designs for solving that problem. The biggest problem was the lack of prestige printing had. It was deemed inferior to hand-copied books.
India had no printing at all, but had the block printing technology which was mostly used by women to apply dyes and patterns to clothing.
One interesting potential is the Mongol Empire's attempt at a unified alphabet devised by the Tibetan ruler Phagspa. It was supposed to be used for languages, but was mostly used to write Tibetan (a descendent script still is) and Mongolian. IIRC it may have influenced Hangul. That would be very useful for printing, and Buddhists in East Asia were early enthusiasts of printing since while they prized hand-copied sutras the most, they loved being able to print copy after copy of a sutra and spread it about. This sort of thing could have huge religious impact in India and no doubt also Southeast Asia, but probably not much in East Asia since Tibetan monks were not liked (some of their Tantric practices were considered improper and they had special privileges which were detested) and their script too foreign. I think with East Asia you probably just need to accelerate the development and popularization of printing given 17th-18th century Japan and China had a huge number of books, popular prints, etc. in regular distribution.
Hard to imagine another Cuiavian Piast with such amount of luck. Maybe Premyslids would keep Poland or Henry of Głogów would rule it, hard to say.
If Wenceslaus III still dies either Henry of Głogów rules or Luxembourgs take Poland as well.
I see two possibilities:
- One of the Christian states to the south of Egypt somehow succeeds in conquering Egypt from the Muslims, and (eventually?) its rulers move the capital north and go native.
- The Crusaders conquer Egypt and decide to arm the Copts and use them as collaborators because 'at least they are not Muslims'. After the Crusades still fail as in OTL ever more of the regimes administration and military ends up existing out of Copts because the influx of new Crusaders stopped eventually allowing a Coptic coup to succeed.
There is also a third option somebody else had suggested on this forum. The Mongols conquer Egypt and the Mongol breakaway state in Egypt ends up becoming Coptic; however, this scenario was being criticised for being very unlikely.
Interesting ideas! Thank you
Idea one sounds very interesting, maybe the Makurians could pull it off? I’m also very low knowledge on this era (only just gotten curious lol) so who knows.
When is the earliest a Chinese Republican (As in General Republican/Anti-Monarchist, not KMT or Sun-Yat Sen/Three Principles) Revolution could have occured?
316 BC technically if you count King Kuai of Yan willing his throne to his chancellor with the aim of making the king the foremost scholar within the kingdom and thus a "scholars republic." It brought disaster on Yan and most of this school of thought (which was present throughout the Warring States era) was purged by Qin Shi Huang.
If you mean the Qing, then I don't think it could until the late 19th century when republicans became a powerful current in Chinese nationalist thought.
Sorry to post twice within a few hours (please don't ban or kick me): What would a russia regaining actual Russian rule after about a century of Vasa rule (say, Wadyslaw IV and his heirs securing the throne in 1610 and then overthrowing the Vasa in Russia in the mid to late 1700s) be like in terms of society, demographics, Government and territory?
I’m always fascinated by how the United States looked in TL-191, but really dislike the CSA existing as a polity (even if I’m from Texas, I’m still a Unionist…) so I’ve actually been wondering what the steps the United States could take in order to go down the path of aping the German Empire but with Yankee flair?
I know this might sound like a weird request but can someone suggest me some timelines about some obscure (or rather underutilised) British politician from the 19th century becoming the PM?