WI:Slavic Greece?

Using any POD you can think of that will work, your challenge is to make a Slavic Greece.

The Byzantines continue to project power primarily eastward into the eleventh century, with Basil II or whoever being more concerned about consolidating conquests in Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as expanding in Armenia, than he is in destroying Bulgarian power in the Balkans. You'd probably still get Byzantine holdouts in places like Thessalonica and the Peloponese, but a large chunk of mainland Greece would never be re-absorbed into a Greek speaking world.
 
The Byzantines continue to project power primarily eastward into the eleventh century, with Basil II or whoever being more concerned about consolidating conquests in Syria and Mesopotamia, as well as expanding in Armenia, than he is in destroying Bulgarian power in the Balkans. You'd probably still get Byzantine holdouts in places like Thessalonica and the Peloponese, but a large chunk of mainland Greece would never be re-absorbed into a Greek speaking world.

Actually I am of the opinion it need's an earlier PoD with the failure of the success of Macedonian dynasty in late 9th and early 10th century.
 
Around 581 the Slavs overrun Greece. The resettlement schemes of the following centuries fail because no one wants to settle in the Greek mainland, preferring the richer areas of the Empire, in Anatolia.

Also there could be an initial missionary campaign from the Latin speaking part of the empire to convert the Slavs in Greece. So initially Latin rather than Greek is a liturgical language (as time goes by they would probably be pulled toward more toward Orthodox rather the Roman Catholic Christianity) so there is less of an incentive for them to learn Greek.

Outside of Anatolia, Greek survives as peasant language in the islands, around Thessalonika, maybe Athens and on the Peloponnese east of a line from Corinth to Cape Maleas
 
Actually I am of the opinion it need's an earlier PoD with the failure of the success of Macedonian dynasty in late 9th and early 10th century.
Hm, I might give you an even earlier POD - A.D. 626.

In OTL allied with the Avars, the Persians made a final attempt to take Constantinople in 626, but were defeated there.
In my proposed ATL the Avars took Constantinople in 626 with the help of the Persians. That's the POD.
You may read further in this thread.

Or we might get a little milder on the Greeks. Constantinople is not taken, but Heraclius is killed and disgraceful treaty signed by the Roman state - they give all their lands in Europe to the Avars (except Constantinople and some insignificant tiny anclaves)

Avars are not Slavic of course, but they've got a lot of Slavic subjects who would settle all over Greece.
 
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Hm, I might give you an even earlier POD - A.D. 626.

In OTL allied with the Avars, the Persians made a final attempt to take Constantinople in 626, but were defeated there.
In my proposed ATL the Avars took Constantinople in 626 with the help of the Persians. That's the POD.
You may read further in this thread.

Or we might get a little milder on the Greeks. Constantinople is not taken, but Heraclius is killed and disgraceful treaty signed by the Roman state - they give all their lands in Europe to the Avars (except Constantinople and some insignificant tiny aclaves)

Avars are not Slavic of course, but they've got a lot of Slavic subjects who would settle all over Greece.

And over time they'd be assimilated into the Slavic speaking population, a la the Bulgars of Asparukh.
 
No, Avars.

Slavic material culture and linguistic borders definitely expanded and are found even in the core of the Avar lands, so it's probably a very similar scenario.

Only the Hungarians managed to not get Slavicised completely, really. Everyone else did.
 
The Hungarians had the luxury of not conquering the Seven Slavic Tribes of Moesia, which were already conquered by the Bulgars four centuries before the Magyars arrived in the Pannonian Plains.
 
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