Surviving "lost" European Nations

Stephen

Banned
A still born Roman Empire could lead to the survival of a large number of kingdoms and tribes wiped out OTL such as Dacia etc.
 
The problem with a lot of potential surviving states is there's no reason not to assume the age of nationalism would still arise. Burgundy and Byzantium might make it to the modern era, but they'd then probably be just as doomed as Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire. Of course, Switzerland and Belgium survived, but the former carefully balanced local autonomy, while the latter has come close many times to being torn apart.

It's easy to see a historical accident allowing an area which today is a separate nationality to retain a separate state (Scotland, Brittany, Catalonia, Sardinia, etc.) It's much, much harder to imagine a new nationality arising in Europe without a POD before 1500. Savoy probably had the best shot - if they held on, they could have developed an artificial national standard which bridged the French and Italian dialects and made sure the nation kept a separate identity.
 
I like Venice, the East Romans/Byzantines and the Ottomans but it's always seemed like there's no way they could all coexist. The Eastern Mediterranean isn't big enough for all. :(
 
Countries I'd like to see exist still? A Celtic nation in Iberia somewhere (Galicia?), Breizh would be neat to see too. A Free City of Danzig would be interesting, although I don't know how feasible it would be to survive without any sort of invasion from either Germany, Poland or the Soviet Union/Russia. A Republic of Ragusa, where the Dalmatian language survives to modern day would. Or how about Rhaetia? (A sort of Romanasch-dominated Switzerland :D) This of course added to the frequently mentioned Burgundy, Navarre, Novgorod, Cornwall, etc.

Although its not entirely in Europe, I would like to see a surviving Ottoman Empire
 
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