I can't see anyone going that far. If there's help I would expect it to come from the Orthodox world. Russia clearly has an interest in seeing the general crisis end. I could see Georgia wanting to see Rome stabilize as the Ottomans keep poking around near their border.
Are there any lingering effects of the brutal treatment of civilians around Smyrna? I know it caused issues last campaign season, but didn't see it mentioned this time around.
With the Army of Suffering moving on, does this give Theosteriktos an opportunity to move into the Anatolikon theme, or even to march west to aid Smyrna? Sounds like a great hammer and anvil opportunity, though not sure what kind of numbers he has. He'd clearly need to leave some behind as well...
I meant that it sounds good because it's distinctly not racism. It doesn't matter what your ethnic background is, but how you act, dress, talk, and eat certainly does. On the surface there's a positive in that anyone can be accepted within Rhoman society, but it's at the cost of cultural...
It sounds good until you realize the result is going to be shaming people's cultural history. "Your food is trash. Your clothes are ridiculous. And that mongrel tongue sounds horrid. But it's ok. You can be civilized just leave everything your ancestors passed to you behind and be like us."
That seems to be the direction this is heading. In a somewhat inverted version of OTL colonialism I can see Rhomanian nationalism being bolstered by their overseas holdings through a process of inclusion rather than exclusion. The idea that "we are all Romans" has seeds in the inclusion of...
I think generally there are a lot of Armenians in administrative positions throughout the empire, so they are fairly widespread, but I think most of the population is still in greater armenia by OTL definition of that region. I wouldn't imagine much of an international diaspora since Rhomania...
I'm not an expert, but I would see the election of a peace Democrat leading to escalation on both sides. The new president can't offer a treaty without the Senate, but he doesn't need one. He only needs to order the army to leave the south. Lincoln and the Union commanders may scramble to make...
This would be great to have. It's been a long time since we caught up on the visualization. The details are always very explicit, but the hard part about such a comprehensive alternate history is that there's so much to keep track of. Honestly I'm not sure how Basileus does it.
All this talk about Vlachia makes me wonder if some Roman reformer in the future is going to dig into their Greek past and advocate for changes in the relationship with Vlachia by comparing them to the ancient Helots. I can see the political cartoons already, a modern dressed Constantinople...