What Nation, or Empire do you think makes the best Alternate timelines?

Which Nation and Empire do you guys think just has the most interesting, and best timelines on this site, and in general. In my Opinion, Japan, and the Ottoman empire make the best timelines for me. So which do you guys think is the best alternate history material? It can be a currently existing country, or a faded empire.

Discuss
 
Depend on the timeframe, I find Qing WIs more interesting than the "lol Chinese industrial revolution world conquest xddd" that shows up every time you mention the Song.

My personal favorites are High Middle Ages (1000-1200) HRE, Tanzimat era Ottoman Empire and the Sasanian Empire in general.
 

ar-pharazon

Banned
I think the ancient near east is interesting-Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Late Egypt, Israel, the various smaller countries mentioned in the bible that surrounded Israel, the Hittites, early Arabs(who first appeared in recorded history in the 9th century BC), etc...

What I like about this period is how dynamic it is-empire's rise and fall, smaller states struggle to maintain their independence, old empires decline and new powers flex their claws.
 
I like timelines about a late Spanish empire 1830-1870 slowly regaining its strength and once again becoming a player on the world stage.

Empire bounce backs are always the best, like a Neo-Byzantium in 1922, or the Qing coming back in the Boxer rebellion. A Spanish comeback sounds fantastic.
 
Which Nation and Empire do you guys think just has the most interesting, and best timelines on this site, and in general. In my Opinion, Japan, and the Ottoman empire make the best timelines for me. So which do you guys think is the best alternate history material? It can be a currently existing country, or a faded empire.

Discuss
I'm a bit weird in that I like to see more smaller maybe obscure countries rise to prominence, I think that those circumstances lend themselves to more intimate tales early on some of the most unexpected butterflies in the long run and I kinda like the idea of actually having to read a TL in order to understand what some of the colours on that TL's most recent map represent*.

*provided it's a long form TL that covers many centuries for change to take place
 
I quite like late antique/early Middle Ages stuff in general, in particular if it involve Sassanian Persia, the Eastern Romans, or the Slavic peoples in some capacity. Bonus points for any extra focus on religious, economic, and linguistic history on top of the usual "x kingdom defeated y empire and annexed z territory, causing palace coup to install emperor Generikos" stuff, which gets kind of repetitive after a while.

Basically what I'm saying is that the White Huns series (first part, second part) is the best timeline on this site.
 
For Antiquity and Medieval periods I'm a fan of stuff involving Persians, Muslims, Jews and Christian-screws.

For late 18th Century stuff onwards I like to see indigenous peoples do better at adapting to and resisting European colonialism.
 

Grimbald

Monthly Donor
There are so many "What if's" about Germany and England that I think they are the best ground for AH time lines.
 
The Cold War is an old favorite of mine. Everything was on the line as two massive countries struggle for world domination only balanced by total nuclear war. What makes it kind of weird is that it was that it was powered by economic thought. It's so recent too which makes it even weirder. Also ancient history is fascinating for me even if I know very little about it. The cultures of Rome and Israel are quite strange to modern eyes and are rich material.
 

raharris1973

Gone Fishin'
Donor
Monthly Donor
I like timelines about a late Spanish empire 1830-1870 slowly regaining its strength and once again becoming a player on the world stage.

Can you name any such existing timelines? I would give them a close look.

I think the ancient near east is interesting-Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Late Egypt, Israel, the various smaller countries mentioned in the bible that surrounded Israel, the Hittites, early Arabs(who first appeared in recorded history in the 9th century BC), etc...

What I like about this period is how dynamic it is-empire's rise and fall, smaller states struggle to maintain their independence, old empires decline and new powers flex their claws.

While the ancient pre-classical Near East is not my go-to period, I do think it is fertile field and underrepresented era.
 
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