Themes that are supposed to REFERENCE otl, not stay the same. there is a big difference between keeping events the same as otl and making references to otl. That Henry would be a different person, all that would stay the same would be the king name. You could make him a similar person in his personality or actions, but then you would have to write a (could be brief) history of his life and actions to justify that. If you want to justify a huge Romania wank, you have to start from the ground up, and by that far back it would be easy enough to find a legit way for a huge Romanian kingdom, and SOME more assimilation. If you don't explain why we will automatically assume you meant stuff went otl because you did not give us a legit reason not to.
Unfortunately there are many alt history BOOKS that are completely and totally asb, and probably should be considered fiction. Watch out when reading books of alt history, unless they are from the man turtledove himself or somebody that you know writes well.
