What if the Romans Won the Siege of Constantinople 1453?

What if the Eastern Roman Empire survived the siege of Constantinople in 1453? What challenges and circumstances might Constantine XI have to content with in the next chapter of fifteenth century Eastern Roman History.

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Music Credit:
'Battle' by Ed Lima and Steven Maitland from Empire Earth by Stainless Steel Studios.
'Western Greek Theme' by Nick Wylie from Europa Barbarorum: A Mod of Rome Total War.
'Spreading Hope' by Bill Brown and Jamie Christopherson from The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth by EA Los Angeles.

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If for some reason you believe I have made a parody or in some way imitated another YouTube creator then I can assure you I was certainly not making a reference to the somewhat popular YouTuber Alternate History Hub. I have neither recieved funding, conspired with, been in personnal communication, accepted any collaborations or otherwise engaged in any corrupt and dodggy dealings with this particular man.

[EasternRomanHistory]

What other what ifs from Eastern Roman History would be interesting to ask?

[Armorius]

What if the Romans won the Battle of Yarmouk? Now this would be a close to perfect timeline.

[marvelfannumber]

The thing is, we already have a historical example of what may have happened if 1453 was a Roman victory. That being the 1422 Siege of Constantinople by the Ottomans. The gist of it being; the Ottomans tried to take the city, they failed, and went on to fight a brief civil war, aswell as dealing with Timur successors.
The Crusade of Varna was also launched shortly after this.
So here we have a scenario only 20 years before where seemingly everything went right for the Romans.
However the Crusade of Varna still failed, the Ottomans were able to crush what was left of Timur's Empire. It only gave the Romans an extra 21 years.


I think this shows that it was simply too late for the Empire to be sustainable. I can see them lasting until the year 1500 or so at the latest.


One interesting sidenote by the way, that was not mentioned in the video, is that if the Empire didn't fall to the Ottomans in 1453, it would actually have become Catholic. During the siege the two churches formally mended the schism (and Constantine XI himself was actually a Catholic, not Orthodox).

[AdriatheBwitch]

Well, i dont think the empire would have survived if they had repeled the ottomans because the empire was already too much in the grave already at that point. I think the real deal would be to do a what if the sack of constantinople did not happenend or had been avoided

[OttomanHistoryHub]

Interesting video! Just discovered the channel. In my opinion the turning points for the Byzantines were the Catalan revolt and the civil wars of the 1320s. I just did a video about them and during my research I was baffled on how the Byzantines ripped each other apart while Serbia, Bulgaria and the Ottomans all took advantage of the chaos. Imo after these events it was only a matter of time for the city to fall.

I’ve always been a fan of Roman and Ottoman history but I’ve never had a opportunity to dive deep into Byzantine history, so I’m very glad that I can do so with your lovely videos. Again great video! :)

[giannisgiannopoulos]

The sack of 1204 made clear that the schism of 1054 was very deep.Even if internal rivalries were to be soothened i can't see how Costantinople and eventually ERE would have survived.They were still thinking big living inside their glorious times of the past, but very few left το defend all these.The alternative scenarios are all well explained in your video.Thanks..

[theoldcavalier]

What do you think are the 5 most underrated emperors here’s mine (in no order)
1.Constans II (641-668)
2. Anastatius I (491-518)
3 Justin I (518-527)
4 Constantine IV (668-685)
5 Constantius II (337-361)

[Jaunyus]

That gag at the beginning was classic 😂.

[Ganonmustdie]

A very difficult situation for Eastern Rome to come back from, a shame they never let their emperor get possessed by an omniscient Europa Universalis 4 player to help them out of their crisis.

[fuferito]

By 1453 the Eastern Roman "Empire" (the Byzantine Empire) had been reduced to a walled ghost town whose defenses were manned by a smattering of European ( _Latin_ ) mercenaries.
The Ottomans were a rising power who, had they failed to take the city in 1453, would have tried again and again, and would have inevitably taken it.

[Theophan]

Probably the least talked about alternate history topic among Byzaboos is what if Manuel Komnenos won at Myriokephalon or avoided the Seljuk ambush there. The Komnenian Restoration would have kept up its momentum steadily reclaiming the rest of Anatolia from the Turks, and this might butterfly away the sack of Constantinople

[johnrevo]

This is an accurate account of the dire situation of the Empire during its last moments. Nice video once again!

[casanovaluis]

I believe the true turning point in byzantine history was the revolt against Emperor Maurice in 602. He managed to conquer the Balkans and actually made peace with the Persians after helping King Kashrow II gain the throne. But he pissed of the army and got killed along with his entire family. The death of Maurice directly led to the Persians declaring war, begining a 26 year long war that left both empires in ruin.

With both empires very alives and as allies, the muslim conquest would have been avoided, the romans would have remained in control of Egypt and Africa, hence controling the Eastern Medierranean. The Persians would become allies (most likely just temporarily), so the Empire could finally consolidate its power in the West. They could (eventually) defeat the Lombards on Italy just as Charlemagne did in our timeline. The Roman Empire would maintain a size kinda similar to AD 555 for a long time.

Anyways, any empire falls eventually. I imagine the byzantines losing all of Africa to Great Britain and France (like the Ottoman Empire), and its possible that the Empire just declines at the start of the Modern Era. But its true that, if the Empire remains as a superpower in Europe, all of history would be completly different. No Papal States, no Holy Roman Empire, no Napoleon, no Spain as we know it. Also, the Empire wouldn't have replaced Latin with Greek, and its likely that the term "Byzantine Empire" never appears, so it would be just called Roman Empire. In short: the best possible timeline.

What do you think?

[georgegkagka]

In my opinion if the Romans were the victors they would've joined forces with Morea and Georgios Kastriotis. That could mean that they would most likely kick the Ottomans out

[paulanderson]

What if romans won the Battle of manikert

[malicant]

Another factor is that many on the Ottoman side believed that Mehmed was making a mistake in attacking Constantinople. He was at that point just 21 years old and unproven as a leader. If he had failed to take the city and expended an enormous amount of resources, he likely would be very unstable on his throne.

[Solon]

If the Romans survived in 1453, they would've fallen a decade or so later whenever the Ottomans decide to try again.

[sergiogutzalenko]

If they had survived they’re best bet would to have fortified the crap out of the Greek holdings. if they had modernized the fortifications and probably would of been smarter to have another secondary capital set in Greece that had up to date cannon ready walls. Something to fall back on in Greece and they could of remained more like vassals and had a similar set up to the Romanian principalities. That in my opinion been there most likely way to survive.

[rockstar]

I think a better question would be what if the Fourth Crusaders hadn’t diverted from Egypt and successfully reached it, thus leaving Eastern Rome in tact

[AdrionYT]

What if the rebellious general George Maniakes was victorious in his final battle against the emperor's troops? Would he perhaps join the list of great Eastern Roman soldier-emperors?
Regarded as the best general of his generation, under his leadership part of Sicily was reconquered before being relieved of his command, and he had been able to resist the Normans and drive them out of Apulia before being recalled once more. Furious, he rallied every soldier from Italy to Thrace to his cause, and would win every engagement he fought in until he got stabbed near Thessalonika.