Search results

Who said anything about 'worse'? German victory would be better for Ukrainians, Balts, Belarussians, Fins, Cossacks, and to some extent even for the Russians and the Poles. Volga German statehood, perhaps? Russia would just end up being truncated. Lots of balkanisation at the edges. It would...

You're certainly right in your estimation. The war goal of France, when it came to the Spanish succession, was to turn Spain into a Bourbon-led French ally. This would strengthen France, deny control of Spain to any given rival, and would grant France unfettered access to the vast Spanish...

Realistically, we are looking at rough equivalents of very ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, here. These guys aren't going to become continent-conquerors any time soon. Even getting a real bronze age going would be a huge step for them. The Aztec hegemony didn't have great long-term prospects...

Carew's attempts to keep MacCarthy neutral fail, which prevents Munster from being pacified effectively. Spanish troops (long-promised in OTL) arrive earlier, perhaps due to greater confidence in the Irish cause. The lack of security in Munster had tied down English forces, preventing their OTL...

If Hlond is Pope, I'm sure he's in the Vatican. He was right-wing to be sure, and he'd probably get on with the Italian fascists just fine. Certainly at first (since they were, at least, generally favourable towards Catholic tradition, and didn't support Hitlerist nonsense). So a possible effect...

I think you can track certain left-wing infiltrations that ultimately led to disaster all the way back to Rerum Novarum in 1891. Not to imply that Leo XIII was a crypto-leftie, of course, but his attempts to find a middle path while getting involved in such temporal socio-eoconomic matters would...

Wasn't John Paul II elected precisely because a compromise was needed? It seems unlikely that the conservative faction would now, just a few years later, have the majority. And if they did, surely it would be Giuseppe Siri -- at long last -- instead of Ratzinger? Siri would die in '89, though...

I'm not sure that the POD would prompt a successful counter-reformation in Scandinavia. Alternaively, there might be closer Anglo-Scandinavian ties, binding together this firmly Protestant "fringe" around the Catholic(-ruled) heart of Europe. They might form an alliance to stay strong in their...

-- Centralisation of the Empire is likely, regardless of how things play out. Although "standardisation" is probably the better term. The degree to which this really involves centralisation spcifically will vary, but a re-organisation is in the cards. In scenarios where a split occurs...

One I like, obviously; being Dutch and being also a great fan of the Holy Roman Empire. You can spin it in multiple ways, and there are realistic scenarios where things still turn out quite the same way. Different particulars, but the same general sort of outcome. Dutch notables were already...

It's not inconceivable. Egypt was essentially at the height of its power, but universal empires grow inflexible in their latter stages. Egypt's New Kingdom indeed shows all signs of the typical weaknesses, including disputed successions and even sometying quite analogous to Rome's crisis of the...

Logically, 2020 Israeli leaders will know that Stalin was a raging anti-semite. And the USSR was infamous for not letting people leave. So they won't want a bigger USSR. At the time of the ISOT, Hitler and Stalin are also still allied, and the Western powers see Stalin as an enemy, not as...

Surviving will be a lot easier than imagined. There'll be a major crunch, and various modern-day luxuries will not be able to be retained; but Israel actively tries to be decently self-reliant when it comes to its existential needs. In any case, it can easily 'compensate' any major shortfalls by...

There are good films that flopped. There are excellent films that flopped. But not all of them could have plausibly been blockbusters. I think that Blade Runner could have done spectacularly, if people had known what it was. Its enduring resonance proves as much. Completely different type of...

The Americans get good intel, by a stroke of luck, and manage to track down Bin Laden shortly after the invasion of Afghanistan. Bin Laden is killed on the spot, and the footage of the raid is released to the public. Bush looks like a capable leader who got the job done. With the mission being...

Land claims to the ager publicus are restricted to 500 iugerta (~1.2 square kilometers), most probably with an expansion of another 250 iugerta for the owner's son, that expansion being limited to two sons. In other words: a family can retain at most 1000 iugerta, or roughly 2.4 square...

Ignoring the many complications for the moment: -- Any part of a disk's surface would always receive the same amount of sunlight as any other part. Any seasonal cycle would have to be purely based on a supposed eccentricity in the disk's orbit around the Sun, and even then, all places on the...

The USSR does have about 500 nukes at that point. The USA has roughly nine times that number, but still-- 500 nukes can do very nasty things, even if you kill their whole government in a decapitation strike. I have no doubt that the relevant commanders have standing orders to throw all the...

Are you even aware that you are talking to multiple people? Or do you just yell silly names at anyone who talks to you? What in my post gives you reason for the name-calling? Have I said anything untoward? Stop behaving like a child, man.