usertron2020
Donor
Storm of the century (or millenium
) wipes out the Persian fleet, leaving only stranded remnants and Xerxes to face the Spartans?
That would be a quite ASB PoD
That would be a quite ASB PoD
A butterfly flaps his winds in Byzantion, a month earlier, changing the weather patterns, leading to the massive storm. .
They are such for me, unless it involves an earlier more important human-related climatic change. As in more industry make climate change as a consequence.If you consider weather change to be ASB, rather than straight alternate history. Lots of WWII ALTs go by "What if its an easy winter in 1939-1940? 1941-42? 1944-45?
Something to consider: even if the Greek forces do better at Thermopylae and no one discovers the passes, the Persians are still going to outflank them within the week when --almost inevitably-- the Persian fleet either smashes through what's left of Themistocles' fleet after the third day, or finally manages to outflank them by sending another contingent of ships around the island (and presumably not be banged up by storms this time).
Though, if the Persians manage to destroy the Greek fleet at Artemisium because they held out longer, you can pretty much kiss Salamis good-bye. Athens (the people, not just the city) are toast, and the isthmus of Corinth becomes the new front line. ...Er, until the Persian fleet simply sidesteps that as well and lands troops just south of Sparta.
...Hrn. That ended up way worse for the Greeks than I expected.
ASB, at least for me, is basically everything not due to human intervention : aliens, space, geography, wheater, etc.
They are such for me, unless it involves an earlier more important human-related climatic change. As in more industry make climate change as a consequence.
Then you have a very narrow definition of what constitutes AH. Maybe "Alternate History of Human Effected Events" would be your preference?![]()
ASB, at least for me, is basically everything not due to human intervention : aliens, space, geography, wheater, etc.
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Good enough?
I don't think a local wildfire would be enough to provoke the "Storm of the century (or millenium)"
I'm not a specialist about meterology but I think that is at least really, really, really, really unlikely. If every time someone provoked a storm because he burnt the wild grass, you won't have a mindkind eventually.It's a possibility-which is all that matters-
You don't need particularly implausible event to do so.now can we just move on with the assumption that the Persian fleet is destroyed or severely crippled in some kind of storm or incident and talk about the implications?
Outflank the Greek fleet by sailing south along the coast?well the captain who sailed Cavo D'Oro with the contrary wings that dominate the area in August-September then must have been a rare kind of sea-woolf.Even today the coast guard stations and the ministry issue prohibitive bulletins if the winds reach power of nine or higher the Bauford scale-a frequent phenomenon...
Read what I wrote carefully please and think practically:the weather in that period will be getting worse every day and the operational period normally closes at the end of September in the Aegean.*shrug* They tried in OTL, it's not too much of a stretch to assume they'd try again, especially with being unfamiliar with the area. And it's not impossible to assume that a second contingent could beat the odds just by being in the right place at the right time.
But even if they don't outflank them, Themistocles is doomed unless he retreats. The straits are too wide and after day three he's suffered too many casualties to hold the gap much longer (and realistically, I don't think Themistocles is going to sacrifice his ace just to buy the land forces another day or two). Xerxes will outflank Leonidas, one way or another. If it's by sea, the question merely becomes one of how badly the Greek fleet will be mauled in the process.