trajen777
Banned
I think as stated above the success of the Ottomans , repeatable by the Byzantines. The pressure points that need to be addressed for success would be :
1. The initial conquest of Constantinople - the cost of rehabbing it and the automatic response form the west. Perhaps you deflect this by a win at a battle like at Prinitza and the Battle of Settepozzi. In this way you minimize Latin holdings. Anyway you still need to figure your distribution of forces in the East and the West. A massive problem that need to be overcome is you probably do not have the resources to do both. Michael felt the west was more of a threat so he denuded the east (when the Turks were very weak and could have been exploited).
2. Have Manfred of Sicily become aligned with John (and not have Charles win at Benevetto). This would allow a turn to the east.
3. To make for a successful Byz you need to get defensible borders in the East. Nicaea did well against the weakened Turks and if more resources could have been allocated to the east then a slow steady expansion could have been achieved.
4. I think a reconquest of Anatolia could have happened but somehow you would have needed a combination of an early victory at a battle like Prinitza, and a naval victory over the Venetians.
1. The initial conquest of Constantinople - the cost of rehabbing it and the automatic response form the west. Perhaps you deflect this by a win at a battle like at Prinitza and the Battle of Settepozzi. In this way you minimize Latin holdings. Anyway you still need to figure your distribution of forces in the East and the West. A massive problem that need to be overcome is you probably do not have the resources to do both. Michael felt the west was more of a threat so he denuded the east (when the Turks were very weak and could have been exploited).
2. Have Manfred of Sicily become aligned with John (and not have Charles win at Benevetto). This would allow a turn to the east.
3. To make for a successful Byz you need to get defensible borders in the East. Nicaea did well against the weakened Turks and if more resources could have been allocated to the east then a slow steady expansion could have been achieved.
4. I think a reconquest of Anatolia could have happened but somehow you would have needed a combination of an early victory at a battle like Prinitza, and a naval victory over the Venetians.