The Kalmar Union



In this timeline there are multiple PODs:

Norway: 934 AD. The union of Norwegian lands falls apart permanently under Harald Fairhair's sons. The continued warfare speeds up emigration to Iceland, the Western Island kingdoms and Vinland.

Sweden: 970 AD. King Eric V fails to unite Svealand and Gothenland.

The Americas: 1005 AD. The Norse do not abandon Vinland. The subsequent interaction between native Leifians (OTL Native Americans) and Norse allows the natives to build up resistance to Old World diseases and eventually to have comparable military forces. The wheel, horses, wheat, iron etc spread from Vinland across the continents as far south as the Inca.

Ireland: 1014 AD. Munster does not defeat the Norse alliance. The kingdoms of Dublin, Man and Orkney and subsequently Hordaland remain powers in Ireland.

England: 1016 AD. Edmund II Ironside does not die. England remains divided between him and Cnut. Anglia retains a distinctly Scandinavian flavour whilst Wessex builds a empire in Northern France.

Denmark: 1074 AD. Sweyn II divides his possessions peacefully between his sons. Denmark henceforth avoids the destablising civil wars of OTL Denmark and eventually comes to lead the Scandinavian states in one of the world's most potent alliances : The Kalmar Union.

Low Countries: 1119 AD. Charles becomes Count of Flanders as per OTL but he is also King of Anglia and successfully holds the County despite French hostility. Burgundy never rises to power in Netherlands - the House of Luxembourg does not die out in 1443 - therefore Austria and Spain never hold the Netherlands damaging the rise of the Hapsburgs.

France: 1119 AD. Unable to hang on to Flanders the French kings are unable to secure their influence in northern France and indeed the rest of OTL France. France remains fractured under multiple sovereigns.

Balkans/Byzantine Empire: 1192 AD. Byzantium is taken over by the Bulgarian Tsars. Though they largely lose authority in the Balkans they retain power in Anatolia. The Ottomans never rise beyond a minor irritant. The Balkans are never conquered by the Ottomans. Hungary remains a separate power.

Iberia: 1213 AD. Due to the weakening of France, Aragon is never defeated during the crusades against the Cathars. Hence it retains the fealty of southern France and can oppose the growth of Castille. Leon is never united with Castille. The weakening of Castillian power plus the earlier flow of goods and gold from America allows Islamic Granada to retain its independence.

Middle East: 1258 AD. Caliph Al-Muta'sim arranges a proper defense of Baghdad against the Mongols after heeding warnings from Byzantium and the Rus'. Although Baghdad falls, he is not killed and a united Caliphate soon rises from the ashes.

Eastern Europe: 1325 AD. The growing power of Moscovy is comprehensively destroyed by Tver and Vladimir. Henceforth 'Russia' will never be united. Vladimir will eventually inherit much of the steppes and Siberia. Tver vies with Poland over the remainder of the Kievian Rus. Republican Novgorod holds a fragile balance of power in the North. Poland-Lithuania is never partitioned and can reform itself into a unitary nation without external pressure.

Holy Roman Empire: 1354 AD. Olaf III is crowned Holy Roman Emperor. He reinvigorates the Empire, securing Italy and the French border regions. He also increases the number of electors: a balance that stops it being dominated by one dynasty for too long.

The net result of all of these and their butterfly effects is to result in a world that is far more fragmented and technologically backward than the OTL. For instance; France and Germany never unite into single states, meanwhile, inventors are just about perfecting the first automobiles and film cameras.