Board Thread:Timeline Discussions/@comment-4923787-20130202175501/@comment-32656-20130410053752

As I said before, many times, that Byzantine first idea isn't at all plausible. Impossible for the plague to do that, the byzantine loss of Italy had little, at most, to do with the plague, and the idea of them re-locating the capital is ludicrous in any form. The idea of a propped-up state is about equivalent to the Byzantines directly ruling Italy.

Leadership in that battle is more or less irrelevant - the Sultanate caught them in a trap. A change of leader has no real effect. "Favorable terrain" doesn't help - the battle does not occur without the context.

While not impossible for the Byzantines to defeat Rum, and retake Anatolia, that doesn't solve their problems - only the one. The Crusade probably doesn't happen at all - and the Fourth is the one that was a problem, not the Second. Italy, no chance at all.

Can, stick with what you have. It's a good timeline, I assure you.