What if Eastern Rome Survived? - How Byzantine Resilience Could Endure | Alternate History

[@Neatling]

Happy new year everyone! Hope you enjoy this revamped version of an old classic on this channel. Next big project is going to be episode 3 in the "Future of the World" series! I also want to do more community interaction, so if anyone signs up for channel membership this coming month, there will be members-only updates on the development of the "Future of the World", and second-tier (Hersir) members are going to be mentioned at the end of the video. kzbin.info/door/tNzqmaT1iEzZBooZ4ThupQjoin It's going to be a big project, so apart from trying to make membership more worthwhile, I could also use input throughout the development process. Thanks for all your support!

[@Waitermelonyoutube]

Yay something I actually care about

[@soroushtorabi98]

What if Sassanians defeated Romans in the wars of 602-627 AD? What if their empire survived? Many things would've not happened, with that powerful state, turks would've never conquer Iran, Muslim expansion would've never had happened, america would've been discovered sooner due to Iranian naval powers across the Indian ocean ( they had trade camps in Malaysia and even sea relations with Japan ) and many other things. I can help you with references btw

[@benimtelefoncaliyor1dk]

The Battle of Manzikert ignited the Crusades and paved way for the Turkification of Anatolia which laid the seeds of the Ottoman empire that conquered Constantinople ending Rome and triggering the Age of Discovery which shaped much of the modern world,... A battle can only be this impactful

[@n00b5lay3r]

I think the age of discovery would've still happened even if Rome (Byzantium) had survived. Remember it was the CATHOLIC Spanish and Portuguese that "discovered" the Americas. They're relations would be far better with the ORTHODOX Byzantines considering the fact they're still both Christian, but still the age of discovery would've happened regardless perhaps a little later than otl.

[@alexor081]

​​​@@n00b5lay3rIt wouldn't delay it, not exactly. Many scholars fled Constantinople and Mystras after the fall in 1453 and brought to Italy translated versions of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle from Hellenic to Roman which is a reason on its own for the whole enlightenment. The painting by Rafael if you have seen it with Plato and Aristotle represent the two philosophical factions at the time. If the city didn't fell, the same discussions would have probably started in Constantinople.

[@hexapodc.1973]

@@n00b5lay3resp because one of the primary reasons the Spanish and Portuguese explored alternate routes east wasn’t actually that they didn’t want to trade with the ottomans (they didn’t don’t get me wrong) but rather because they didn’t want to trade with Venice and Genoa and other Italian merchant republics because they were the only Catholic powers willing to trade with Muslims and as a result marked up their products by a shitton. Even if eastern Rome was still around the merchant republics would still dominate the Roman economy as they did irl in the actual eastern roman Empire through treaty ports and trade concessions and other means

[@Ovijit001]

I learnt this from aoe2 when grandpa was still alive

[@imperator7828]

The battle of manzikert was far from the main catalyst for the fall. The empire had rebounded in a far more than survivable state by the 12th

[@justagreekhistorian]

This video is so based and I am all here for it

[@masxalis6978]

You are the guy from youtube!

[@AlexiosTheSixth]

tbh I don't think everyone else would just sit quietly if the Romans conquered Papal Rome, there would have been massive shockwaves across Europe and possible coalitions

[@maxopaladinos]

It depends when. If it happened in the 11th century, WESTERN Europe would try and backlash. If it happened in the 13th century, Western Europe would just let the Papal State be eaten up by the Byzantines and later make a deal to have Patriarchy divisions in each of their respective kingdoms. The Pope started to be seen as a threat after he basically destroyed the sovereignty of the HRE in the 12th century

[@onix5491]

Ah Manzikert, it's a good Age of Empires 2 Scenario U should give it a try guys

[@Myprobable952]

Another Certified Neatling Classic.

[@epiccrusadr8583]

One of the best possible timelines

[@andreaconti777]

I really like your style of videos

[@planetarystargazer]

What If the hypothetical moon of Venus (Neith) existed today

[@amehak1922]

It wouldn't affect us except another place to send probes to.

[@kumpelcreepf7766]

@@amehak1922Thats the joke tho

[@bigtex4864]

YOU READ MY MIND! I HAD THE EXACT SAME THOUGHT TODAY!

[@paulvmarks]

The battle of 1176 (more than a century later) was the last chance to reverse the defeat.

[@chazkorkosz1032]

A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one.

[@Aureus_]

Excellent video! This has been a scenario I've wondered about for a while.

[@Khneefer]

Nice scenario. I think Romania would prefer the reconquest of Egypt instead of Hungarym, becouse of history and technical advantage. The absence of the Ottoman Empire would have strengthened Poland - Crimea would have been easier to conquer, so it wouldn't have been sparsely populated in the long run. Lack of Teutonic Order would alse made easier life for Poland.

[@georgios_5342]

Wow awesome! Thanks man! Also happy new year!

[@TheHatersarebad]

Nice video

[@or_gluzman561Peace_IL_PS]

is this a remake of the old What if Eastern Rome Survived series?

[@Caliscus]

Even if they won The Crusaders will saw them as Threat and Launch Many Attacks and weakening the empire

[@anonimosu7425]

It’s was a hard choice choosing between having the balkan countries or byzantium in this timeline

[@lordoshman6258]

I'm now interested in that Big Egypt you created at the end of the video.

[@Giga-cat-c6b]

The term Greek was actually used in the Rhomania, but it was a regional identity. So there were Greek Romans just like there were Cappadocian Romans, Macedonian Romans and Ionian Romans.

[@Flavius2001]

Yes, though a more fitting term would be "Grecian Romans" or "Helladic Romans," Romans of Greece, rather than Greek. The medieval Romans actually did use that term, "Helladikoi," to refer to the Romans of the province of Hellas (Greece).

[@gilpaubelid3780]

It was used, but it wasn't used as a regional identity. Medieval Greeks/Byzantines identified as Greeks and used the terms Graikoi (Greeks), Raikoi (Greeks), Hellenes (Greeks), Helladikoi (Greeks) , Rhomellenes (Roman Greeks) for themselves . Helladikos had two definitions and was used both as a regional identity and as a term that meant Greek. I assume that's what you had in mind. That being said at some point during the medieval period the term Romaios (Roman) itself obtained the definition of the ethnically Greek (probably due to the fact that, among the people with Roman citizenship, Greeks were the ones that had become the new core and the new representative ethnic group of the empire during the byzantine period) . So the term Roman didn't only indicate the political identity of the medieval Greeks but also became a Greek ethnonym during the medieval period. With this definition ( "ethnically Greek" ) we (Greeks) use the term Roman till this day when we use it for ourselves.

[@vanmars5718]

It was not a regional identity...who told you that? The term Hellene (the archaic ancient term) could be used mostly by educated Byzantines while the term Graikoi (Greeks) could be applied to all native Greek speakers everywhere...despite that the Rhomaios was the primary ethnonym...we can found both after the 11th century. Not regional though, broadly...so please correct your statement cause its extremely inaccurate and via such statements usually false narratives spread and its not you that you have to deal with them.

[@vanmars5718]

​@@Flavius2001Nobody in the Byzantine Empire used such "regional identities". Provinces as Macedonia, Epirus, Cappadocia or Hellas (Achaea) didn't make up any regional identity neither ever had such names by the Byzantines... that's a very weird thing to say in public when its actually false. Byzantines, while native greek speakers all used common ethnonyms and nuances as a whole not bound by the names of the provinces... They used ethnonyms for themselves and for the other non greek speaking inhabitants of the empire. Non greek speakers as Armenians, Bulgarians, Albanians were referred as such not as per their province... likewise Byzantines used for themselves the ethnonym Rhomaioi (Romans) while the terms Hellene and Graikoi were two other terms that could be used under the right context and after a specific period...and that was broadly, either from Cyprus, Crete, Pontus, Macedonia or Constantinople or the province of Hellas...that was a common thing all native greek speakers could use. I seriously wonder from where y'all got such info and you literally spread it.

[@paytonturner1421]

Another Well Done video in my opinion. Can you do a video on if the sahara desert never existed.

[@AmachiEligwe]

I think we can just avoid all of this either by Basil choosing a successor from the military elite or Isaac giving power straight to the Kommnenoi who make peace with the Doukai by marriage and then later on destroy them whenever they finally decide to rebel. Also, Issac should have found a way to take power earlier, letting the last Macedonian sisters live lavishly in exchange for controlling matters of state.

[@ronp5293]

These have to be my favorite alt history videos.

[@Ra-ss5pn]

Why haven't the Rhomanians reclaimed its breadbasket in Egypt?, they wouldn't be focussed in expanding in hungary before hand. And if the sultanates of the mediterranean are that weak and corrupt, then I think that Rhomania would focus on a Mare Nostrum strategy and conquer, atleast, the eastern mediteranean up until Tunis, to get full control on the tunis-sicilian plateau.

[@melkormorgothbauglir.4848]

The opportunity to take Hungary showed they didn't just take it by themselves; they had the help of Austria and Poland, then picked at the other two unstable pieces. They needed a situation like that to take Egypt. It was too large and stable.

[@Ra-ss5pn]

@@melkormorgothbauglir.4848 yeah, but in 5:20, the sultanate was weak, so why not push the advantage?

[@melkormorgothbauglir.4848]

@Ra-ss5pn Overextending in an opportune circumstance. People think of how the Ottomans took all of Egypt in a year that screwed them because the highly autonomous land was now integrated into their empire. And as soon as they became weak, Egypt broke away. It's like having a separate Kingdom in your Empire. But by only taking Syria, it could be properly integrated and slowly made into one with the Empire. Rather than taking so large an area, it had been given a level of freedom that would bite you in the ass later. The only way to conquer Egypt would be slowly to properly integrate the territories with the Empire.

[@Ra-ss5pn]

@@melkormorgothbauglir.4848 huh... Forgot about that... Thank you. Maybe my next idea is really dumb and I don't really know if it can actually happen but what if the Romans supplied a coptic uprising during this period of instability?

[@MyVanir]

Victory at Manzikert would not do much to preserve the Empire, since it was brought down by internal issues and it would not prevent the Seljuks from returning 10-20 years later with a similar attempt. Even if they settled another turkic tribe on the frontier to deter raids and fortified the border like during the days of the wars with Persia, it would not be able to reconquer much from the muslims and picking fights with the normans of Sicily and south Italy is a surefire way to get counter-invaded after failing - and even if they did take it, it would be a constant drain on their resources, since it would be the target of norman reconquest attempts, german conquest attempts to kick them off their back door and incessant raids from the Maghreb. Consider that over the decades following Manzikert, the Komnenoi reconquered a big chunk of the lost lands in Anatolia and the empire was not doing too badly off - and then they got thrown into several decades of abject misery by the plans of a wily blind Venetian.

[@SuperheroMovieMusic]

I think the main point with using AI in videos is that it makes the whole video feel artificially generated, the script as well. It takes away from the actual work you have done in writing and researching for the video and instead my main focus is on whether the video was actually written and created by a human or not.

[@MrLlama-sz3br]

can you do a video what if the sassanids survived the arab invasion but the byzantine lost to the arabs

[@seto_kaiba_]

Oooh I like that!

[@TheHatersarebad]

What if the Hundred Years War never happened? What if the Wars of the Roses never happened?

[@frederri2968]

HIS BACK!!!!

[@seraphim6245]

11:14 Islamic Intellectuals: We’re back baby!

[@ViazardCaptain]

Just letting you know, it looks like Servia is missing from the list of "Thema of Rhomania" at 9:54

[@Neatling]

I always have to miss something lol. I even have it in my data document, it should be included in the total population for Rhomania. Servia was supposed to be right between Pamphylia and Kappadokia, with a population of 4,560,936

[@ViazardCaptain]

@@Neatling np, still enjoyed the video. TBH, I have no idea how I noticed it in the first place lol.

[@natheriver8910]

Very fascinant

[@peterdarker3863]

Now do what if Eastern Rome DIDNT survive.

[@dr.peanutsheesh6176]

Trying to say that if 'Eastern Rome Empire' didn't survive but 'Western' could?

[@Retotion]

Disagree that the Reformation would have been successful in a timeline where the Byzantines survived-- the protestants would have been put down quickly and fiercely by Hapsburgs without the existential threat the Ottomans took in our timeline. An economic historian whose name I can't remember actually attributes the Ottoman threat and the subsequent emergence of Protestantism as the reason modernity, The Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolutions happened. Significantly more scientists were recorded in Protestant regions in Europe than in Catholic ones, where scientific repression persisted. Without the Ottomans, we may very well still be living in a pre-industrial society to this day EDIT: Found the paper, it's "The Counter-Reformation, Science, and Long-Term Growth: A Black Legend?" By Matias Cabello

[@xcris07VE]

As Italian I prefer this timeline to our. Glory to Rome, the Eternal State!

[@Xcyiterr]

neatling alt hist videos my beloved

[@AndreaMoletta-s3c]

We are saluting this year with a new byzantium alt history.

[@P1kaSans]

happy early new year neatling! is there any chances that you could make a "what if lithuania had united all baltic pagans before the teuton's arrived?" video? thank you!

[@matthiuskoenig3378]

If the rhomans are still strong it's possible the Lithuanians turn orthodox and link with the moscovites instead of Catholic and the Polish (something that almost happened irl despite the weakness of orthodox, so stronger orthodox civ means it becomes a no brainier. Thus the rus are more united earlier)

[@Lukdnuke_Narson]

Hello

[@petermills3814]

I never left watching over your channel... I've always been waiting for you to come back to Eastern Rome... one of my best & most favourite civilizations & empires second only to the main Roman empire when united. How often do I think about the Roman & Eastern Roman Empire? The Answer is... Yes! Everyone else: To what? Me: About 2.7 incidences per day at least... give or take another dozen or two. Part 2 prequel & sequel ideas for 2025: 👇 How would Eastern Rome reform during the age of discovery & enlightenment before, during and after the French Revolution & Napoleonic wars... culturally, economically, politically, militarily and diplomatically? Would Eastern Rome be way better off than the Ottoman empire really in military & technology with its legacy still intact? In the modern world now... how would Eastern Rome cope during the cold war between the West & Russia? = and would Eastern Rome be more neutral during the Ukraine war now or as a mediator between the other sides in between? Cultural close to Russia yes, since Russia got many cultural influences from Eastern Rome, yet Eastern Rome isn't communist and has good relations with the West as a developed or developing wealthy country yet doesn't take sides... staying mostly defensive protecting their own borders in security... and not allowing either one in & out of its borders = no missile crises in Cuba then. How would Eastern Rome's position be before and after 9/11 in the changing world? And how would the climate of the lands be for Greece throughout as Eastern Rome today compared to our own world? Your thoughts on future vids about this? = would love to talk more about it with you on your channel & elsewhere with helping out a little? = along with uploaded pics of your worldbuilding to borrow for copying & preserving in inspirations loved by fans all over? Hashtag/#: Eastern Roman Empire... Forever!!! 💜= Not Byzantine Empire!!! 😅💢

[@legogamesguy9623]

Can you please make a video about how you make your maps

[@ladahieno2382]

WHAT IF... Umayyads conquered Byzantium but not the Iranians

[@SimonBrill-vs9yx]

Ottomans but Arab and centuries earlier

[@ladahieno2382]

@SimonBrill-vs9yx I wouldn't say so, Ottomans had immense issue converting people in the Balkans, I could see how Arabs would have the same issue in Anatolia and Greece proper but then in the Balkans the Slavs would gladly take in the new faith and spread it further

[@dragonborn7562]

The turks would've been fully assimilated by Persians just like OTL (there were large migration waves to Iran as well). No major, region-wide cultural and political shifts there.

[@wiel5908]

one can only dream....

[@jrl5535]

I love this timeline ! The roman empire is still there, and my country (France) is bigger ! What is not to like ?

[@JoeSmith-sl9bq]

Dont… dont make me cry for What should had been..

[@Da-Greekofficial]

You need to do: What if the Catholics or Protestants won the 30 years war. I can be a 2 part video. If you want of course.

[@NickAndriadze]

As a Georgian, seeing our nation get trampled time and time again by those nomadic invasions is really painful to see... But at least we have our ol' timeless pal Byzantium to aid us along the way like it always has, instead of the powerhungry Ottomans ;)

[@ronp5293]

I assume this is now the preferred alt history of the Byzantine Empire and not the other ones you've done?

[@Uazz129]

Cool

[@eternal_riftz8801]

nice am surprising they have not taken all of north africa and mesopotamia

[@im_theodore]

What if you stopped posting about rome and scandinavia

[@Randoom1836]

He can't, he's completing his quest to find the portal to Hyperborea

[@Carpediem357]

Cry

[@SimonBrill-vs9yx]

Rhomanoia Kingdom Capital: Constantinope 14.5 million Other major cities: Athens Smyrna Iconium Samsun Adana Bursa Nicea Sofia Thessaloniki Constana Tirana Novi Sad Pristina Skopje Nicosia Edessa Diyirbakir Mus Sinope Varna Sevastopol Batumi Population: 129 million Major ethnic groups: Rhomanoi(Greeks) 47 million Kurds 44 million Turkomens 17 million Bulgarians 10 million Armenians 6 million Albanians 4 million Arabs 4 million Serbs 4 million Macedonians 2 million Religions: 51% Eastern Orthodox 35% Sunni Islam 11% Roman Catholicism 10% Atheist 1% other

[@Random7303]

Hi bro

[@Ivarevich]

What if Venus was a habitable and earth-like planet?

[@Neatling]

I'm definitely going to revisit the whole other habitable places in the solar system concept! But it will be some time, next video is more of my future of the world series.

[@TheHunterOfYharnam]

this is interesting both for venus and mars. But it has 2 different scenarios. Is is colonizable by humans but doesn't have any intelligent life yet? or is there intelligent life there? either way, even if there is life i would assume that Earth's better position in the solar system gives it an advandage so propably its older, more plentyful and more advanced than the one found in either venus or mars

[@RobitGalaxy]

I woud literally make anything to make this real.

[@SimonBrill-vs9yx]

10:57 apparently syria is much more stable instead of a civil war in this timeline

[@the3zoooz1]

There's like million videos of these

[@ilijas3041]

Cute, and a little goofy. It must be wonderful feeling when you can have such streamlined understanding of politics. It was green, something happened, boom!, Byzantines conquered it and now its purple. 😂 Byzies Byzzies Roman Bois Paint map purple make some noiz!!! Gooooo RomByz!!! They won again, Basil, get me some of that paint here...

[@NickAndriadze]

Honestly I'd love to live in this world. I'd much rather have Georgia be taken over by the Eastern Romans, which would allow a lot of religious freedom and culture, as it's not too far from Byzantine/Greek Orthodox itself, than be a massive playground between Persians and Ottomans. A much better fate for sure, and much less of our culture would be destroyed or shunned.

[@haroldchase4120]

Plot twist Spain and her colonial empire side with Rome to curb stomp other powers in Europe.

[@AleksaShule]

Why would it be called Yugoslav when only the Serbs are in the Empire from the south slavs in this timeline? Bulgarians speak their own language that is not Yugoslav in any way.

[@DzabulaNkosi]

Hello

[@Fenixgame10]

Damn Neatling, stop seducing me with knowledge and content🧐

[@FaeKingYT]

space time ????

[@Respecteddude666]

Bro disappears a month and returns with the same exact idea, "what if byzantuim/rome survived" bro, please make something other than Scandinavian and Roman

[@Neatling]

I'm in too deep. At this point, it would be weird if I didn't make more Rome and Scandinavia videos

[@Numba003]

Thank you for another fantastic video! I think they would've lasted much longer if they could've just been more politically stable overall, lol. God be with you out there, everybody. ✝️ :)

[@quikoucat]

🤘🤘

[@MAXIMUSLOK]

If the roman's destroyed the crusaders in 1203 (1 year before the real siege of Constantinople) instead of spare their lives. Renascence will never happened and industrial revolution will probably be Roman. That means today Roman empire China Russia India. MAX.

[@MasterOfCydonia]

No Zoroastrianism? I cri.

[@Randoom1836]

I don't quite like the AI-generated videos

[@andrewmorehead3704]

How is this AI generated? Because he used a couple pieces of art to improve the video where there would otherwise be just a boring map?

[@gitte8676]

I like the AI-generated videos, you luddite

[@Neatling]

Just for clarity, this was not an AI-generated video. Only some of the art and clips are AI generated, everything else like maps, the script, and voiceover were done manually. I understand why some dislike the AI artwork. I'm of course going to gauge the overall reception and adjust accordingly, as this video includes more than usual. I personally think they add a lot of flavor, which would otherwise be impossible without more time or more people. I don't think they should replace regular content, but I think they can be a useful tool when used right. I did try to strike a balance, incorporating a mix of AI videos/images, and real art. Some of the images I also animated manually when editing.

[@ГеннадийШахназаров-п5е]

​​@@NeatlingHow about alternate world where Byzantine, Sassanids, Polish Commonwealth, Aztecs, Incas, CSA, Christian China with India and no Islam, all excited together?

[@Easternromanfan]

This isn't AI tho

[@Bexchoklad]

Why the colony-style borders? It doesn't take that much effort to make actual borders outside of Europe, this was disappointing, especially with the AI stuff added in throughout the video.

[@maxwalker1159]

!

[@schneejacques3502]

Eve after manzikert there were too many turkish dynastie that would threaten byzantine. Thr mongols, timurids, safavid and the aq qoyunlu. If it wasnt the ottomans that destroyed the romana it would have been timurids.

[@bossy1496]

Thing is all of those other dynasties you mention either wont exist or collapse soon after, which would allow for Rome to rebound back maybe a decade or 2 later, barely altering the region. Timurids fell into a quick decline after the death of Tamerlame, which would give Rome room to mount a quick regain of their territory. Aq Qoyunlu probably wouldn't even exist or become some small state in Iran, not allowing it to expand Ironically, the Mongols would be the best thing for the Romans, with them obliterating their neighbors, while leaving Rome mostly unaffected, with them being both vastly stronger and richer, and much more defensive, although still losing territory, but not being absolutely obliterated, allowing them to rebound relatively quickly upon the collapse of the empire. Safavids wouldn't begin to emerge until the 16th century, which by then, Rome while not at its former peak, would still be very much formidable, probably seeing a war from time to time as is usual for the region, but the borders remaining much the same.

[@suckadoesstuff7095]

if the romans win at manzikert I don't see the crusades happenin leavin a lack of crusader states unlike what you show but if they do pop up the crusaders act more like mercenaries for the romans and return all cities captured back to the romans and I also see the first crusade bein far far more successful if they're even called at all due to bein supplied and reinforced more effectively by the romans thus allowin the crusades to either push east across the jordan or more likely south into egypt with the romans supportin their advance the whole way if not pushin into armenia where they would more than likely be seen as liberators and supported by the armenian people and possibly the georgians too givin them a solid base in the south caucasus region and after the success I could easily see them holdin off the mongols when they invade leavin the russians to seek a tighter bond with the romans then I see the romans focusin on the balkans whilst payin the mongols and persians to fight each other and launchin more crusades through north africa and based on the level of success might even help with the reconquista but I also see them potentially strikin a deal with the mongols to split the middle east where rome gets all west of the the tigris and the mongols get the east and I see much cooperation and conversions leavin much of the islamic world christian though arabia probably wouldn't be conquered until the 1500s due to aforementioned dealings in north africa and iberia there's also a strong argument to be made that they will conquer all of italy and that might cause a retaliation from france and the HRE and could possibly unite the Frankish empires leavin 2 unified roman states a catholic one from the pyrenees mountains to lombardy and venetia to the carpathians and the other orthodox from the carpathians and the danube to the caucasusses to the tigris and possibly into arabia and all the way to the pillars of hercules with iberia bein united but independant same with the british isles with central italy constantly shiftin sides like what we saw in the italian wars eventually one of 2 outcomes happens either the schism is mended with a more protestant leanin view with a reformation of some kind happenin in central europe again and there's a chance that either through a succession war or marriage alliance the 2 empires could merge and present a unified continental europe outside of spain and britain with the swedes or danes assumin the danes aren't absorbed by the HRE creatin a baltic empire eventually leadin to a partician of poland between a kiev or novgorod based russia the scandinavian empire and the HRE similar to how it happened in our world just in the 15 or 1600s the english will ultimately try and find more land to compete with the 2 (or 1) european empire(s) thus leadin to the new world bein conquered from the north probably in the 1600s instead of mesoamerica in the 1500s where the brits and spanish would partition the new world similar how spain and portugal did in our world but splitin the new world at panama between north and south russia would enact revenge on the mongols leadin still to modern russia in probably a similar time frame and are more likely to invade china than in our time the romans would probably have pushed now into arabia fully and might possibly stretch to india by 1800 the USA might be a country might not it depends on what wars the english get into in modern mexico but the map by 1800 would look like the scandinavians ownin the baltic sea the russians ownin modern russia plus some more turkic states they won't own until the end of the tsardom with more land in east and central asia the romans ownin what looks like a combination of the ottoman and alexander empires the HRE owns from the pyrenees to modern day poland and splits italy with the romans between northern states and southern states all constantly at war with each other similar to 14th century italy an independant spanish empire ownin all of iberia the southern caribbean and all of south america with tradin hub all around the roman HRE and english areas with the english ownin the rest of the caribbean and all of north america from panama north with japan bein an independent island nation that on a map will look more like what it did in 1942 with possible bases in china and beginnin of colonization of australia and china bein confined to south of the great wall and east of tibet but ownin from burma to vietnam and splittin much of the islands of the south china sea with japan with tibet bein a buffer between china and rome by 1900 though I see spain and the brits combinin through a marital alliance similar to the HRE and spain in our world and scandinavia bein divided between the HRE and russia italy will unify durin this time as well and we might never see a scramble for africa but if we do it'll be in the late 1800s with the romans gettin much of africa from modern mauritania to sudan and kenya the HRE gettin from senegal to the congo the russians would probably get from tanzania to mozambique to madagascar (though could also be conquered by the japanese) with the english gettin from angola to south africa this will either lead to a much more grand scale WWI or a cold war (or late bronze age) esque era where 4 (or 5 dependin on what japan does) great nations are locked waitin for 1 to collapse to absorb the other or to unify into a single world government before colonizin space. if I knew how to I would totally make a video on this

[@ΑνίκητοςΧριστοφορίδης]

Eastern Rome survived by becoming muslim. Same people became muslims and the empire sustained under christian yoke.