The half century from circa 230 BCE to circa 180 BCE could be thought of as a turning point in ancient history, as it saw:
- the decline of the Mauruya Empire in India
- the Qin Unification of China and establishment of the Han Empire
- the rise of Rome from an Italian power to the dominant hyper-power in the Mediterranean
Now I think we all know that the rise of Rome was absolutely preventable in this timeframe, with most agreeing that Rome
losing the Second Punic War would be our best PoD; I also think that, had Jing Ke successfully killed the man who OTL went on to become the first emperor, that the subsequent state, culture, and history of China
could have been very different; and slowing down, or speeding up for that matter, the decline of the Mauruyans following the death of Ashoka the Great doesn't seem like it would be too difficult.
Which got me to thinking -- what happens when you take all these possible changes together? When China isn't China, the Roman Empire doesn't exist, and the political unity of India is likewise altered? What kind of cumulative global effect could we get -- for example, does this mean no Silk Road established in the 2nd Century BCE? Do we know enough about the OTL history of Central Asia in antiquity to know how less trade across their land would change their history? What would this mean for the history of Buddhism in the centuries following (230 BCE to circa 300 CE)? What other big changes (as opposed to, by comparison, more specific changes in the history of China, the West, etc) could we see TTL?