What If The Ottomans Were Destroyed At Varna?

Thank you for watching! My voice is not entirely as it should be thanks to a slight illness, but I hope you enjoyed the video nontheless. As always, to support the content consider leaving a like and a comment to help the video against the algorithm, and subscribe for at least 1 (alternate) history video every single week.

Habsburgs. You missed the Habsburgs. Jagiellons were competing with Habsburgs for a dynastic influence over Central Europe. They even had an agreement that Władysław can be king of Hungary, but if he dies without an heir, a Habsburg will replace him. And that's exactly what happened. Władysław III doesn't need to create a Polish-Hungarian-Lithuanian kingdom. That wasn't even the strategy of the dynasty at that point. By surviving he ensured the Hungarian throne for his heirs. Keeping the Polish and Hungarian crowns separate would be part of the reason the Hungarian nobility would cooperate with the Jagiellons. They weren't Polish and it was very important to them not to become part of a Polish kingdom. There's a difference between having a foreign king and being part of a foreign kingdom and they were acutely aware of it. With this strategy proving successful, the Jagiellons would continue to position their family members in influentian positions in Central Europe and in the Balkans. Possibly later into Bohemia and maybe into the Holy Roman Empire as well. Even just gaining Bohemia could allow them to crown one of their own as Holy Roman Emperor, seeing as one already came from there. Don't tell me the Jagiellons had no interest in gaining influence in the West, because even gaining Hungary for Władysław was a move to the West. I imagine there could be a possibility that the dynasty would gain both a Holy Roman Emperor and a regular Roman (byzantine) Emperor. At that point it would probably spark an European war comparable to the War of the Spanish Succession.

With the reunification of the church with the west (Rome), it's possible the Nicean Church could make a comeback and prevent protestantism. This could also be problematic to the Russians, as after Byzantium's fall it led to Russia being declared as the protector of Orthodox Christianity.

I believe that the Jagellions would also inherit the Kingdom of Bohemia as well, because at one point Bohemia fell into interregnum and a Jagellion heir was chosen, expanding PLC influence in Central Europe.

The biggest change would be people complaining on forums about "Ottoboos" due to everyone posting their "unrealistic and ahistorical" big green blobs since the Ottomans would be the underdog in the 1444 Europa Universalis start date.

Greetings from Bulgaria! Fruzhin from the House of Shishman would have probably been a candidate for the Bulgarian crown as he was an heir to the last tsars of the divided bulgarian tsardoms and he also participated in the crusade of Varna. After he had escaped the conquered bulgarian lands, he went to the western royal courts to petition help against the Ottomans. Great video overall, but Fruzhin shouldnot be left out in a video about this topic.

Regarding Bulgaria, Fruzhin Shisman, the son of the last Tzar and successor for the crown was an Hungarian noble who fought in the campaign. He had to become Tzar under Vladislav influence of course.

One of the biggest side effects of byzantine survival / delayed fall would be diminished push for colonialism since ottoman trade restrictions were one of the big reasons for that.

Idk if the Balkans would truly be safe so long as Mehmed II was still alive. He just does not come off as the kind of guy who would meekly watch as his father's empire crumbles into ruin, even in the most dire circumstances (such as the one he potentially faced during his siege of constantinople). Obviously the success of an empire depends on more complex factors than just the rulership of one guy. But considering the monumental feats he was able to accomplish in our timeline and undeterred by his father's shortcomings, a defeat of this scale for the empire would only strengthen Mehmed II's conviction that he was destined by god to turn it all around.

I’m an ubereats driver and was ubering to your videos all night into the morning (american here) and it made my day to finish my shift and see that you uploaded. Keep going bro

Yes! Kind of alt histories are my favorite! thank you!

It’s an extreme understatement to say that the balkans were important to the ottomans, the territories not only were about as rich and taxable as england but also were the main source of the Ottoman elite force the Jannissaries and their main source of bureaucrats, if they don’t regain their losses within a few decades, their influence would’ve been negligible at best given just how poor the interior anatolian countryside was at this point in time, with only the thin coastline providing decent tax source and with the anatolian nobles becoming far more powerful compared to our timeline, the ottomans likely would get rid of the smaller beyliks and then stop once it reaches the eastern mountains or tries to invade Syria, same for the west, where the absence of a weak ruler would be quite enough to prevent another incursion into the balkans

The emperor of the Byzantine Empire was willing to rejoin the Orthodox, and Catholic churches in order for aid. But the people of the Byzantine empire, and those outside of it, were heavily opposed to the reunification. There would have been much infighting about this, to the point of rebellion in the Balkans against reunification.

Something I'd point out is that around the time of the crusade of Varna the future Constantine XI launched incursions into Attica and Thessaly, potentially providing more help for the crusaders alongside your idea of an expanded crusade. Thus a greater degree of communication might have helped a little too. Alongside that Ibrahim Bey of the Karamanids in Anatolia was launching attacks on the Ottomans, even destroying Ankara and Kütahya.

I have waited years for this, thank you

Love how far your videos have come. Keep up the good work 👍

pls make a second part, this timeline is sooooo interesting

THANK YOU THANK YOU I have been wanting to see this scenario for ages

Very nice video. You earned a new fan!

Very nice vid man ! Also, speaking of the Ottomans, even if they became an Anatolian regional power, I believe they would fall to the Safavids. You see, during the first Safavid emperor's reign (Ismail I) , many revolts against the Ottoman Empire were funded by the Safavids in order to conquer Anatolia. This was because Ismail I allegedly had more legitimacy to rule Anatolia than his Ottoman counterparts (Bayezid II and Selim I) . If the Ottomans were weaker and only in charge of Anatolia, I doubt they would manage to fend off all of the revolts, meaning that eventually it would fall to the Safavids, therefore drastically re-shaping Islamic history. If I said something horribly wrong, though, don't hesitate to correct me.