WI: Chalcedonian Empire

What would be the possible effects of Constantine choosing to found Constantinople at Chalcedon instead of at Byzantium?
 
I can think of one potentially interesting butterfly; the political capital of the ERE is now technically in Anatolia, not Europe. As a result, the capital of the Empire is now relatively secure against invaders of Greece, but also significantly more vulnerable to invaders of Anatolia. AFAIK, Constantinople was always under greater threat from the Huns and other barbarians, than it ever was against the Sassanids, so for the moment, the political capital is now relatively secure. Of course, Greece is still connected to Europe, so it's not much security for the threatened parts of the Empire, but it's a very small difference that could have relatively large consequences on Imperial policy towards foreign powers.
 

katchen

Banned
The Eastern Empire may be in dire straits when the Muslims, let alone the Turks threaten. At the very least, Chalcedon--and the Eastern Empire--will likely fall a century or so earlier than Constantinople did to the Ottomans.
 
I can think of one potentially interesting butterfly; the political capital of the ERE is now technically in Anatolia, not Europe. As a result, the capital of the Empire is now relatively secure against invaders of Greece, but also significantly more vulnerable to invaders of Anatolia. AFAIK, Constantinople was always under greater threat from the Huns and other barbarians, than it ever was against the Sassanids, so for the moment, the political capital is now relatively secure. Of course, Greece is still connected to Europe, so it's not much security for the threatened parts of the Empire, but it's a very small difference that could have relatively large consequences on Imperial policy towards foreign powers.

I disagree. After Theodosius, Constantinople itself never faced any serious threats from the west. Even Attila proved no match for the walls (the 'recently rebuilt after an earthquake in a slap-dash effort by a bunch of amateur' walls).

By controlling the bottleneck from the western half of the hellespont, Constantinople (and, to a much lesser degree, the Long Wall of Thrace) was able to block any force in Europe from invading Anatolia. Being on the other side would simply mean that there'd be no major fortifications on the west coast to block their passage (other than the fact that Byzantium would be almost impregnable anyway, instead of 99% impregnable) through into Anatolia.

Greece and Thrace would be just as ravaged as they were historically. Meanwhile, the capital would indeed be more vulnerable to the forces that could actually mount any serious sieges, the Persians and, later, Arabs.

Though, if you're looking for a capital in Anatolia, why not just go with Nicomedia?
 
I disagree. After Theodosius, Constantinople itself never faced any serious threats from the west. Even Attila proved no match for the walls (the 'recently rebuilt after an earthquake in a slap-dash effort by a bunch of amateur' walls).

By controlling the bottleneck from the western half of the hellespont, Constantinople (and, to a much lesser degree, the Long Wall of Thrace) was able to block any force in Europe from invading Anatolia. Being on the other side would simply mean that there'd be no major fortifications on the west coast to block their passage (other than the fact that Byzantium would be almost impregnable anyway, instead of 99% impregnable) through into Anatolia.

Greece and Thrace would be just as ravaged as they were historically. Meanwhile, the capital would indeed be more vulnerable to the forces that could actually mount any serious sieges, the Persians and, later, Arabs.

Though, if you're looking for a capital in Anatolia, why not just go with Nicomedia?

Hm, well, that'll teach me to talk out of my ass about classical history. Since I'm not particularly well-versed in it, and was merely extrapolating from direct consequences of the POD.
 
Constasntine took a liking to Byzantium because of its importance during the his civil war. I don't see why he'd chose Chalcedon-Nicomedia was eastern headquarters until then and it's probably better than Chalcedon.
 
If the capital is in Anatolia, then if there's still an equivalent of the Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628, it would kill the ERE outright. OTL, Chalcendon fell to the Sassanids in 617, and the main thing that saved Constantinople was that the ERE's navy was able to deny the Sassanids the ability to cross the straights in force to reinforce their Avar allies. In an equivalent war where Chalcendon was the capital, it'd likely hold out longer because the ERE would have invested far more resources fortifying it in peacetime and defending it in wartime, but it'd still fall (OTL, the Sassinids occupied it for nearly a decade) and likely take the ERE as a unified empire with it, leaving rump successor states in Greece, Sicily, and Tunis.
 
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