Byzantium Falls Early

Constantinople fell to the Ottomans. But what if it fell to someone else?

The Byzantine Empire has always been on the verge of collapse throughout its existence. Internal backstabbing and constant failures in external relations would lead to its decline from the almost successful reconqueror of the former Roman Empire to Constantinople...only. So what if it fell to someone else? Say....the Bulgarians.

During the Middle Ages, the Bulgarians managed to create a powerful Balkan empire which for a time was one out of the three truly unified countries (along with the Franks and the Byzantines). Their constant rivalry would ultimately weaken them both and lead to the eventual conquest of the pair of them by the Ottomans.

So what if the Bulgarians had conquered the empire and kept it?

Point of Divergence

• Simeon I of Bulgaria managed to conquer Constantinople before he died. He became the first Bulgarian to be crowned emperor in the Hagia Sophia and thus would go on to establish the true foundation of Bulgaria as an empire and successor to the Romans. He does this by striking an alliance with the Kingdom of Armenia of King Ashot II, who takes over vast swaths of Byzantine territory in the east and expand into Anatolia.

OTL vs ATL

• Bulgaria survives to the present day as an empire and so does Armenia. The two kingdoms form an alliance of mutual aid against other invaders (ostensibly the Arabs and later on, the Turks), thus keeping them out of Anatolia.
• The continuation of the trade routes between Western Europe and Asia leads to a substantial delay in the discovery of the new world The "New World" is discovered in the 17th century, allowing time for the civilizations of the Aztecs, Maya and the Inca to develop into strong enough entities to not be an easy pray for the colonizers.
• The Aztec and Inca Empire strengthen and grow, while the Maya city-states build a confederation between them and serve as an independent buffer state, which is protected by both others due to their lack of desire to share a border and inability to fight in the difficult terrain of the Maya Conglomerate.
• The Turkish people fail in their invasion of the Middle east and Anatolia and eventually remain in their land of origins - central Asia.
• More to come....

List of Nations

Name	Flag	Coat of Arms	Capital	Government Type
Bulgarian Empire			Tsarigrad	Federal parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy
Kingdom of Armenia			Ani	Unitary semi-absolute monarchy
Aztec Empire			Tenochtitlan	Unitary Divine semi-elective monarchy
Inca Empire			Cuzco	Unitary absolute divine monarchy
Maya Confederation			Tikal	Confederate divine monarchy