Now, the battle was a long-term Ottoman victory, what if the Serbians had won that battle.
Any chance that with a crushing Serbian victory, Lazar is able to negotiate a mutual surrender, where the Ottomans grant a Serbian state autonomy and religious freedom, while the Serbs recognize Ottoman overlordship and offer to contribute troops to the Ottoman campaigns?
What really stopped the Serbs (or anybody else acatually) to do something after 1402 OTL anyway?If Tamerlane still invades Anatolia in 1402 and destroys Bayezid, that might gives the Serbs opportunity to expand and even drive the Ottomans out of Europe, perhaps in cooperation with other powers.
What really stopped the Serbs (or anybody else acatually) to do something after 1402 OTL anyway?
I would go even farther back and have Stefan Dusan live longer to consildate the Empire
Why would anyone offer to recognize foreign overlordship after a crushing victory?
Also, wouldn't the Ottomans just screw them over and take Serbia once the opportunity comes up? That's pretty much what they did to quite a few of their vassals.
Because they think it's a better deal than they would have gotten otherwise and that things will probably get worse again very soon.