Miscellaneous <1900 (Alternate) History Thread

[LibPrime]

Why are the archdeaconries/archdioceses of Europe fluctuate between large and small sizes? Eastern Europe is its own archdeaconry while France, Italy, Switzerland, etc are all separate individual archdeaconries. Does this relate to the population sizes of these areas during the Middle Ages?

 

[Count of Crisco]

Why are the archdeaconries/archdioceses of Europe fluctuate between large and small sizes? Eastern Europe is its own archdeaconry while France, Italy, Switzerland, etc are all separate individual archdeaconries. Does this relate to the population sizes of these areas during the Middle Ages?

I am probably wrong, but I assumed alot of the reason was national in nature, France, England, Spain, etcetera, all had the political and economic power to feel like they were better than being grouped into the same dioces as their neighbors.

 

[Codae]

Why are the archdeaconries/archdioceses of Europe fluctuate between large and small sizes? Eastern Europe is its own archdeaconry while France, Italy, Switzerland, etc are all separate individual archdeaconries. Does this relate to the population sizes of these areas during the Middle Ages?

No, the Diocese of Europe is an Anglican thing that exists in parallel to the majority churches of the areas in question.

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

So this might be a thread topic, but I wanted to check first -- so paging anyone familiar with early Islamic history (@wakobear @GoulashComrade, @John7755 يوحنا etc) -- but What if Ali had been among the casualties at the Battle of the Camel? If we assume everyone else who died in the battle OTL still dies TTL, who does that leave as the leading figure on each side? Obviously, Aisha is still the senior figure of her faction, though with both Talha and Zubayr fallen, it's not clear who she would support for Caliph.

In Ali's faction, meanwhile, you do have his sons, the oldest of who (Hasan) is about 40 at this point; however, I'm not sure if the supporters in his army would push for a leader so young, even if they were still victorious. The most senior of their factions leaders at the battle (FWIG) is Ammar ibn Yassir, who (as it happens) died shortly after the battle OTL.

Thoughts?

I had this question a while back (https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/plausibility-check-aishas-caliphate.504433/). The scenario I came up with was one where there Aisha wins at the Battle of the Camel, with a death of Ali and his sons, but al-Zubayr and Talha still die. Abd'Allah ibn al-Zubayr and other Quraysh then rally around Aisha in order to stave off total dominance from Muawiyah.

However having done more reading the problem is that Muawiyah is simply not a big enough boogeyman in order for this to work. You need a real existential threat to the Ummah in order for Caliph Aisha to become anything more than a fringe proposal. A more likely scenario is where Aisha forms a political alliance with another candidate and acts as the power behind the throne.

If you really want Aisha to be Caliph you need to get close to ASB territory. You could have the Battle of the Camel prove much more deadly to the senior leadership of the Quraysh (people who weren't even involved in the OTL battle need to die) and then Muawiyah, supremely confident in his position without any serious rivals, makes an extraordinarily large blunder by declaring himself a prophet on equal status with Muhammad. This idea is palatable amongst recent Syrian Arab converts who are used to ideas of semi-divine kingship in the Persian tradition, or palatable enough that Muawiyah isn't immediately knifed in his sleep. He begins a march down south to assert his claim to Prophethood and a panicked, leaderless Qurayshi coallition nominates Aisha as their Caliph.

 

[LibPrime]

If in a timeline where the Islamic conquests never occur, would Iberia be conquered by the Berbers sometime in the 8th-10th centuries? The Visigoths were constantly fighting each other so I could definitely see some Berber tribal confederation conquer them and maybe Byzantine North Africa.

 

[Collondi]

If a timeline where the Islamic conquests never occur, would Iberia be conquered by the Berbers sometime in the 8th-10th centuries? The Visigoths were constantly fighting each other so I could definitely see some Berber tribal confederation conquer them and maybe Byzantine North Africa.

Probably, IIRC the berbers were already raiding and being used as mercenaries across the strait. This invasion would likely happen later, and you could make the counter argument that if they were given more time, they would be able to strengthen control over Spain, especially if they get spooked by a resurgent Frankish kingdom. That would make the invasion a lot harder than OTL, especially if it doesn’t have the same convenient timing, with Roderic having been an unpopular king.

 

[Zyobot]

'AHC: Chinese Folk Religion Becomes A Major World Religion'.

Doesn't need to attain global reach or influence the "moral framework" of the world at large (like Christianity or Islam), but it should at least be a continent-wide majority religion (like Buddhism or Hinduism).

 

[Collondi]

French Revolution AHQ:
1. how plausible would it be for the coalition forces early on in the war of the first coalition to put in more effort in an offensive with France? Basically, rather than retreating at the first sign of trouble in Valmy, would they be willing to attempt to march all the way to Paris?

2. Assuming the above scenario happens, who would win? As I understand it, the French had superior numbers, but the coalition forces were more experienced, and there was significant distrust between the radical French government and the top officers. Also, how does this change the revolution? Would France become even more radical? Maybe they execute Louis without a trial out of fear of the coalition coming to Paris and freeing him?

 

[John Fredrick Parker]

Now we’ve had threads discussing Henry VIII’s third wife surviving the birth of her son, and we’ve had threads discussing his most capable servant avoiding execution and serving longer; but despite the later being a very likely result of the former, we haven’t really discussed them as much as part of the same scenario. So I figured we’d fix that.

So -- how does Cromwell serving in government longer, as a result of Jane living, change the course of English history in the 1540’s? (Let’s say he lives to 1555, which should be doable seeing as one of his successors as Privy Seal was born the same year and died in office at that time.) Does the Rough Wooing still happen; for that matter, is Prince Edward engaged to infant Queen Mary? Does Henry still invade France in 1544? After Henry’s death, can Cromwell maintain a strong position on the Regency Council; how is Edward’s minority/rule affected overall?

Thanks.

 

[HortenseMancini]

I think a good deal of this depends on Cromwell maintaining Henry’s good will through his death which is not inevitable. Cromwell may be able to prevent some of the excess spending in the last decade of Henry’s reign, which would in turn sent up his successor a bit better. Cromwell also probably is able to maintain whatever position he is given in young Edward’s regency, though again a lot of this depends on what happens later in Henry’s reign - does Dudley still rise, etc.

As for Scotland I don’t think it would be out of the question for butterflies to result in James v having a surviving son ITTL, in which case Mary (if she still exists) will be Queen of England without much issue. If the situation is as IOTL, I think Cromwell is too much of a pragmatist to ultimately support the rough wooing, but he does have religious sympathies in the Protestant direction so who knows. (Another thing to consider…how does Jane surviving affect the religious situation of young king Edward?)