Which TL should I do, if/when I finish "The Silver Knight"?

Which TL sounds the most interesting to you?

  • To Us, the Survivors!

    Votes: 15 17.4%
  • Litwo, ojczyzno nasza

    Votes: 34 39.5%
  • Großlitauisches Reich

    Votes: 37 43.0%

  • Total voters
    86
NOTE: This does NOT mean that The Silver Knight is ending anytime soon. I plan to at least continue it into the 21st century, and there's plenty of events to go through before that, it may take us a long time before we reach it's end. This is for the future.

I've got a few timeline ideas mulling over in my head and I can't really pick between them, so I decided to turn to the people here to give their thoughts on the matter. Thoughts, opinions and comments are appreciated.

You would notice that all of the ideas are about one specific country - but much like The Silver Knight expanded to cover events across the planet, to the point where countries like Germania and Visegrad ended up arguably more interesting than the focus of the TL itself, you can expect similar developments in any of these three timelines.

Option #1 - To Us, the Survivors!

Simply put, it would be putting the ideas in this thread into a TL.

The Mongols have ravaged Europe and plundered up to the Atlantic Ocean, but while some regions have been set back for many decades, others were left untouched. Such is the case with the poor, sparsely inhabited, but fiercely independent and militaristic nation ruled by Grand Duke Mindaugas. In this vastly different Europe, where the Mongols rule supreme and look after tributaries from the Rhine to the Urals, it finds itself in a precarious position - and the TL would follow Lithuania's struggling, bloody, long rise to domination in Central and Eastern Europe, taking over the vacuum left by Ogedei's conquests.

And yes, I know that Empty America exists, don't even ask...

Option #2 - Litwo, ojczyzno nasza

This TL would follow one of the most well-known and interesting points of divergence in Lithuanian history - Michal Oginski's 1811 proposal to Tsar Alexander to recreate Lithuania as an autonomous Grand Duchy, ruled by the Polonized Lithuanian gentry, within the Russian Empire, in a similar vein to Finland. In OTL, the proposal was an inch away from getting approved, and in this TL, the proposal passes.

No Lithuanian National Revival here - with Polish education and government, Lithuania is set to become the Polish version of Scotland, abandoning their old language, but still sticking to their guts and keeping their national identity.

I've already got some ideas floating around on how this POD can result in some interesting changes in 19th century Europe... and if it goes well, we might even see a restored Commonwealth, and I know some people like that.

Option #3 - Großlitauisches Reich

1934 in Lithuania saw a coup attempt by the fascist Iron Wolf Organization against Antanas Smetona's government. The attempt started out well, but due to miscommunication, it ended up dispersed by the forces loyal to the government. In this TL, the coup succeeds, and Lithuania becomes a German-aligned fascist state. Major changes in pre-war Nazi foreign policy in the East follow, and the butterflies quickly build up for a very interesting Eastern Front once World War II starts...
 
Option #3 - Großlitauisches Reich

1934 in Lithuania saw a coup attempt by the fascist Iron Wolf Organization against Antanas Smetona's government. The attempt started out well, but due to miscommunication, it ended up dispersed by the forces loyal to the government. In this TL, the coup succeeds, and Lithuania becomes a German-aligned fascist state. Major changes in pre-war Nazi foreign policy in the East follow, and the butterflies quickly build up for a very interesting Eastern Front once World War II starts...

This may be because of my love of "Twilight of the Red Tsar" but I will be fascinated to see if a axis aligned Lithuania will alter, amplify, or even butterfly conflicts that occurred IOTL. With examples being the Spanish Civil War, Anti cominterm pact, Munich Crisis, Soviet Japanese Border Wars, and Winter War especially.
 
Number 3 for sure.

It'll be interesting. 1934 is early enough that Mussolini isn't all aboard the Hitler train, and an early ally could effect how he views Hitler's Austrian advances.
 
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I'm worried that the ever-contentious Mongol Europe issue would distract heavily from the focus on Lithuania. At the very least, I feel you;d have to explain your position on Mongol goals and abilities. Did they even want to conquer Hungary or was it just meant to be raid and punishment? Why didn't they leave behind even a small force like Hulegu did in Syria when he had to go back to the Kurultai? And so on.

The fascist Lithuania timeline sounds interesting but TBH, even crappier worlds don't sound too appealing to explore right now given current events.

Option 2 interests me the most for being focused and just generally interesting. I'm curious to know why this idea was even proposed.
 

Deleted member 97083

I'm worried that the ever-contentious Mongol Europe issue would distract heavily from the focus on Lithuania. At the very least, I feel you;d have to explain your position on Mongol goals and abilities. Did they even want to conquer Hungary or was it just meant to be raid and punishment? Why didn't they leave behind even a small force like Hulegu did in Syria when he had to go back to the Kurultai? And so on.
AH.com--where arguing for, or against, Mongol invasion of Europe that happened 800 years ago and affected no one alive today, is somehow more contentious than Axis victories. Haha
 
In option 2 is Congress Poland still created or 1795 borders are restored (thus GDL is separated from central Poland, that would be less risky, because with both Congress Poland and GDL under tsar's rule November Uprising would spread to Lithuania and autonomy would be abolished like IOTL)?
 
In option 2 is Congress Poland still created or 1795 borders are restored (thus GDL is separated from central Poland, that would be less risky, because with both Congress Poland and GDL under tsar's rule November Uprising would spread to Lithuania and autonomy would be abolished like IOTL)?
The idea I had was that Congress Poland is still created, and both Poland and Lithuania are separate autonomous monarchies within the Russian Empire.

And, well, the November Uprising spread to Lithuania IOTL, so it'd be really hard to prevent it touching an autonomous GDL in this scenario. ;)
 
The idea I had was that Congress Poland is still created, and both Poland and Lithuania are separate autonomous monarchies within the Russian Empire.

And, well, the November Uprising spread to Lithuania IOTL, so it'd be really hard to prevent it touching an autonomous GDL in this scenario. ;)
Only option to avoid it is to avoid uprisingn at all, or crush it very early.
 
Interesting how nobody's voting for Option 1.

I personally found his original thread on the topic fascinating but as I said above, the problem is how contentious and unclear the Mongol-Europe issue is. If that could be cleared up and supported by strong sources and arguments, I'd pick Option 1 since it's so interesting.
 
Interesting how nobody's voting for Option 1.
AH.com--where arguing for, or against, Mongol invasion of Europe that happened 800 years ago and affected no one alive today, is somehow more contentious than Axis victories. Haha

I wanted to vote for option 1, because it might be fascinating.
But this ATL will most definitely turn out to be a savage disgusting battle over the issue "Could the Mongols conquer Europe".
 
I can't decide between 2 and 3. I love the idea of a fascist Lithuania in the 30s. I also love a semi-autonomous Lithuania in the Russian Empire.

By the way, I'd like to thank you for introducing me to Lithuanian history. It's proven to be much more interesting than I thought.
 
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