Thank you! (It gladdens me greatly to know that you ship this too. It is a good ship!)
Obvious conclusion is obvious, plus, they'r both definitely smart emough to pull it off. That sound like a great book! What is it called?
It's kind of amazing how much Scipio - and Rome - owe to Hannibal. Yes! They're kind of perfect for each other, aren't they? (I think one of the reasons I cling so tightly to the fake deaths thing is that it means they both get a happy ending that way and I'm kind of a sap like that. History was not kind to them, sadly.)
That's a fascinating thought exercise, ngl. It probably depends on a bunch of things like how/why Hannibal took Rome (did he have support from Carthage, for exemple), but let me make a stab at it anyway.
Carthage is mostly a trade empire, not a military one, and their army is mostly mercenaries. Taking Rome means they have full control of the western Mediterranean trade routes, so they don't bother conquering anything else in Europe, especially not inland. it's a sea trade empire.
As a result of the lack of Roman expansion, the Celts/Gauls/Goths/etc aren't crushed and flourish, very probably with trade relations to Carthage. Marseilles is likely one the biggest trading centers.
Around 200 years after Hannibal takes Rome, some weird Jewish sect starts up in Judea. It spreads relatively easily across the Mediterranean but has trouble making its way inland as there is considerably more infighting etc. (No centralised government, the Celts are still tribal, there are no roads.) There also no early martyrs or Council of Nicea, and the Christians remain a marginal religion with 'choose your own adventure' sacred texts.
Meanwhile, the Seleucid Empire tries to expand into Carthaginian territory. There are a few fights, possibly a minor war or two and the balance settles with Carthage in the West and Antioch in the East.
Islam either doesn't start or remains marginal as well: there's no persecution of early converts. (Iirc, the Phoenicians didn't give a hoot what gods people believed in, so long as they were good business pertners.)
In the north, the vikings are making excursions down the Volga and stuff. Allied with Germanic tribes, they take control of northern Italy, if that hasn't happened already.
Carthage falls to Genghis Khan (or Ogedei), having never gotten rid of its habit of having mercenaries on payroll instead of a standing army. However, they mave discovered a new continent in the west (or some islands) before then.
I've still got about 800 years before the modern day, shit.
Okay, so the Mongol Empire kind of deteriorates in Europe, due to resistance on the ground and infighting at the top.
The Carthaginian colonists in the Americas have limited enough contact with the mainland that this acts as a sort of quarantine and European viruses (virii?) mix with local viruses to create new diseases that act as vaccines of sorts that protects the Native American population from European germs later on.
The Carthaginian colonists eventually decide to return to the Mediterranean now that the Khanate is gone, but find that North Africa and Spain are under the control of the Zulu Empire, while the Viking states (comprising of France, England, Scandinavia and Central Europe) have forged an alliance. Eastern Europe is under Ottoman control.
The return of the Cartahginians prompts the Vikings states to go looking for Vinland. They find it! They settle a couple of towns in eastern Canada, but do not colonise it, as the arrival of the Carthaginians had prompted the Inca Empire to take control of both North and South America to find the invaders.
And at some point somebody probably invents guns.
The balance of power is something like: Inca Empire in the Americas, Mongol Empire in Asia, Ottoman Empire in Eastern Europe and Near/middle East, Viking states in central/western Europe, Zulu Empire in Africa.
Or something, I don't know. /not the greatest at history
no subject
Obvious conclusion is obvious, plus, they'r both definitely smart emough to pull it off. That sound like a great book! What is it called?
It's kind of amazing how much Scipio - and Rome - owe to Hannibal. Yes! They're kind of perfect for each other, aren't they? (I think one of the reasons I cling so tightly to the fake deaths thing is that it means they both get a happy ending that way and I'm kind of a sap like that. History was not kind to them, sadly.)
That's a fascinating thought exercise, ngl. It probably depends on a bunch of things like how/why Hannibal took Rome (did he have support from Carthage, for exemple), but let me make a stab at it anyway.
Carthage is mostly a trade empire, not a military one, and their army is mostly mercenaries. Taking Rome means they have full control of the western Mediterranean trade routes, so they don't bother conquering anything else in Europe, especially not inland. it's a sea trade empire.
As a result of the lack of Roman expansion, the Celts/Gauls/Goths/etc aren't crushed and flourish, very probably with trade relations to Carthage. Marseilles is likely one the biggest trading centers.
Around 200 years after Hannibal takes Rome, some weird Jewish sect starts up in Judea. It spreads relatively easily across the Mediterranean but has trouble making its way inland as there is considerably more infighting etc. (No centralised government, the Celts are still tribal, there are no roads.) There also no early martyrs or Council of Nicea, and the Christians remain a marginal religion with 'choose your own adventure' sacred texts.
Meanwhile, the Seleucid Empire tries to expand into Carthaginian territory. There are a few fights, possibly a minor war or two and the balance settles with Carthage in the West and Antioch in the East.
Islam either doesn't start or remains marginal as well: there's no persecution of early converts. (Iirc, the Phoenicians didn't give a hoot what gods people believed in, so long as they were good business pertners.)
In the north, the vikings are making excursions down the Volga and stuff. Allied with Germanic tribes, they take control of northern Italy, if that hasn't happened already.
Carthage falls to Genghis Khan (or Ogedei), having never gotten rid of its habit of having mercenaries on payroll instead of a standing army. However, they mave discovered a new continent in the west (or some islands) before then.
I've still got about 800 years before the modern day, shit.
Okay, so the Mongol Empire kind of deteriorates in Europe, due to resistance on the ground and infighting at the top.
The Carthaginian colonists in the Americas have limited enough contact with the mainland that this acts as a sort of quarantine and European viruses (virii?) mix with local viruses to create new diseases that act as vaccines of sorts that protects the Native American population from European germs later on.
The Carthaginian colonists eventually decide to return to the Mediterranean now that the Khanate is gone, but find that North Africa and Spain are under the control of the Zulu Empire, while the Viking states (comprising of France, England, Scandinavia and Central Europe) have forged an alliance. Eastern Europe is under Ottoman control.
The return of the Cartahginians prompts the Vikings states to go looking for Vinland. They find it! They settle a couple of towns in eastern Canada, but do not colonise it, as the arrival of the Carthaginians had prompted the Inca Empire to take control of both North and South America to find the invaders.
And at some point somebody probably invents guns.
The balance of power is something like: Inca Empire in the Americas, Mongol Empire in Asia, Ottoman Empire in Eastern Europe and Near/middle East, Viking states in central/western Europe, Zulu Empire in Africa.
Or something, I don't know. /not the greatest at history