Zapp Brannigan
Captain of the Nimbus
Here's one of mine (I will post more periodically):
Frederick Barbarossa's Death; June 10th, 1190:
Please note: I'm not lamenting or celebrating that he died when he had. Just wondering how differently history would have played out.
During the 3rd Crusade wherein the Holy Roman Emperor had grown impatient with the crowded bridge crossing the Saleph River, Frederick Barbarossa had decided to ford the river on his war horse. The current of the river was too much for even his steed, so he was swept under and had drowned under the weight of his heavy, ornate plate mail. His vast army had quickly dissolved after and the Third Crusade was an incredible failure.
I always thought that if Barbarossa had marched into Israel with his (alleged) 100,000 men (including 20,000 knights), the next 800 years would have been completely different. Europe would have been much more Germanic in the same thread that China seems to be the epicenter of power in Asia. The ways and reasons that World Wars I and II were fought would have been drastically different, and the age of colonialism may not have been fought by a group of European Nation-States, but between continents. I would imagine that the Chinese would see the hegemony from the west and it would stoke their then-dormant explorer aspirations to venture East, all the way to Hawaii and the Americas. The rivalries between the East Asian powers that were would be much more easily united to provide a strong front against the possibility of a powerful, looming enemy from the west.
Christianity would have been established even more strongly than it had in the past throughout the European world and the Middle East. Judaism would have its pockets, Islam may have its following, but the caliphate that had taken hold would not have had the lasting influence that it knows today. This may or may not have an influence on when and how the enlightenment period took place because of the share (or possibly destroyed) works of the Arabic would combined with the easy distribution of new information facilitated by the vast expanse of land united under one powerful governing ruler.
The fight over the Americas would be coming from the East Asian explorers and military settlements from California and Western Mexico, while the Europeans would settle New England and the current American south. We may not even have Mexicans or other Latin Americans as we know them today, because of the possible East Asian influence on the gene pool in those areas. If the confusion between two different advanced civilizations coming to the Aztec Empire would cancel out Montezuma's assumption that the new explorers were gods and not just technologically advanced humans, smart leadership would curb him to play the explorers against one another, eventually getting the spoils of war. This would make HUGE assumptions such as:
Anyway, I'm going on for too long, here. If I'm totally wrong or way off, please tell me why because I'm definitely not above being corrected.
Frederick Barbarossa's Death; June 10th, 1190:
Please note: I'm not lamenting or celebrating that he died when he had. Just wondering how differently history would have played out.
During the 3rd Crusade wherein the Holy Roman Emperor had grown impatient with the crowded bridge crossing the Saleph River, Frederick Barbarossa had decided to ford the river on his war horse. The current of the river was too much for even his steed, so he was swept under and had drowned under the weight of his heavy, ornate plate mail. His vast army had quickly dissolved after and the Third Crusade was an incredible failure.
I always thought that if Barbarossa had marched into Israel with his (alleged) 100,000 men (including 20,000 knights), the next 800 years would have been completely different. Europe would have been much more Germanic in the same thread that China seems to be the epicenter of power in Asia. The ways and reasons that World Wars I and II were fought would have been drastically different, and the age of colonialism may not have been fought by a group of European Nation-States, but between continents. I would imagine that the Chinese would see the hegemony from the west and it would stoke their then-dormant explorer aspirations to venture East, all the way to Hawaii and the Americas. The rivalries between the East Asian powers that were would be much more easily united to provide a strong front against the possibility of a powerful, looming enemy from the west.
Christianity would have been established even more strongly than it had in the past throughout the European world and the Middle East. Judaism would have its pockets, Islam may have its following, but the caliphate that had taken hold would not have had the lasting influence that it knows today. This may or may not have an influence on when and how the enlightenment period took place because of the share (or possibly destroyed) works of the Arabic would combined with the easy distribution of new information facilitated by the vast expanse of land united under one powerful governing ruler.
The fight over the Americas would be coming from the East Asian explorers and military settlements from California and Western Mexico, while the Europeans would settle New England and the current American south. We may not even have Mexicans or other Latin Americans as we know them today, because of the possible East Asian influence on the gene pool in those areas. If the confusion between two different advanced civilizations coming to the Aztec Empire would cancel out Montezuma's assumption that the new explorers were gods and not just technologically advanced humans, smart leadership would curb him to play the explorers against one another, eventually getting the spoils of war. This would make HUGE assumptions such as:
- The East Asians and the Europeans decided to explore the Americas at the same time.
- Montezuma would be able to have the statesmanship to pull off this stunt.
- Disease alone wouldn't have wiped out the indigenous people of the Americas, if the guns and cannons didn't.
Anyway, I'm going on for too long, here. If I'm totally wrong or way off, please tell me why because I'm definitely not above being corrected.
