Miscellaneous <1900 (Alternate) History Thread
- Thread starter RMcD94
- Start date
I have a feeling that the Xiognu and other such nomadic conquerors would raid/invade China more frequently. I wonder if this would lead to Northern China being more militaristic.
I've had this idea kicking around for a while, is there any chance that, after the Napoleonic Wars, the Coalition Forces could have decided to send Napoleon to serve in the court of an Asian empire (like Qing China, the Konbaung Empire, or Qajar Iran)? In theory, this seems like a perfect outcome Napoleon gets more freedom than he would in Elba but would never be able to make it back to Europe, and the country he goes to could get training from perhaps the greatest artillery officer of the day. Is there any power with enough knowledge of Europe to make this offer, would the Coalition accept, what would Napoleon think of this deal?
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Britain:
You're asking us to give Napoleon Bonaparte... to the Dragon?!
Lyon & Bordeaux could've definitely become major cities if the French state invested more in them.
Any number of Persian cities had different dynasties arisen. Same for other Chinese cities. Damascus, if it remained the capital of the Caliphate, or even Baghdad.
Maybe Lima? If the Viceroyalty of Peru never broke apart after its independence.
I think Mexico City may have had the most potential, if Mexico remained the pre-eminent North American Power, though Mexico City is not insignificant IOTL.
This also applies to Russia: Moscow's a big deal not so much because of its location as because it was the seat of the Vladimirian principality that won out. There's no particular reason a Tsar couldn't have arisen from, for instance, Kostroma or Pereyaslavl-Zalesky and kept the capital there.
There are many in East Asia due to the political culture. For instance, it is noted that most of the cities of the Sengoku era in Japan and its aftermath emerged because a ruling daimyo made a certain castle his center and through either economic logic or coercion attracted all manner of people there alongside the retainers who were required to live there. In earlier times, Taira no Kiyomori tried to relocate the Imperial Court to the town of Fukuhara (in modern Kobe), and centuries before that Taira no Masakado seems to have tried creating the capital for his state somewhere near the modern city of Kashiwa a bit east of Tokyo. Since ancient/medieval Japan's urbanism was incredibly centralised, it's very possible that some settlement which today is merely a neighborhood within a suburb of some city could have become a major metropolis of millions, or even tens of millions and the largest city on the planet should different rulers have gotten into power over the centuries.
I've always liked the idea of Callao as a Spanish "Hong Kong" to the Inca "China".
The people of Liangzhu culture brought along their proto-writing (apologies, the hyphenated link is currently in Chinese) as they migrated southward.
A 'Carolingian Visigothic Empire' is actually possible as Charlemagne's ancestor was in Visigothic territory.
Or have them get chosen as monarchs of Poland by Austrians, the House of Liechtenstein seem to be ethnically related to the Piasts although the actual descendants of the Piasts are the D'Este/Welf or the House of Lorraine.
Considering both Richmond, VA, and Raleigh, NC, were built along the Fall Line between the Appalachian Piedmont and the Atlantic Coastal Plain, if Virginia extended from the Potomac to Cape Fear, would it have been plausible for Halifax, NC, to be chosen as the state capital?
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An idea I've had in the back of my head for a bit, if France won the Seven Years War (That is, they force Britain to recognise their claims to America) and America ends up having a revolution and becoming independent (Entirely possible, Britain wouldn't be in a mood to compromise as they thought an America with too much freedom could be a fifth column, and the Americans weren't afraid of challenging British authority before the Seven Years War) then how far would America realistically be able to push their border with New France? The French fortifications were quite resilient and America failed to conquer Canada twice OTL, could they be permanently boxed in on the coast?
Was Dominitan really that terrible, or was it the Senatorial/Elite bias of most of the writers that explains why he is seen so poorly? Admittedly his army favoritism was the beginning of a bad trend of "army uber alles" for Roman Emperors?
What would have become of Napoleon had a different general taken the initiative on the 18th of Brumaire? Does Napoleon serve under someone else and remain republican in inclination, possibly coming to power later? Does he have a falling out with whoever takes over like Moreau did with him historically and end up in exile? Discuss.
Fairly certain Lucien Bonaparte was the one behind the whole coup attempt, and no general was as popular and powerful as Napoleon so like your gonna have to elevate a new Napoleon to work, I would assume if that was the case it would be a power struggle/civil war if we have two incredibly popular and powerful generals in France though.