What If the Crusader States Had Survived? (war, colonies, European)

[setterrex]

What do you think our world would be like if the Crusader States in the Levent had survived? Could they have survived? If Saladin had never come to power and they had full support from Europe. Do you think they would have expanded? Would the Byzantines still be around today? What are your theorys?

I think Byzantium would still be around but it would look like Greece and the Crusader states would be a lot like Lebanon.

[Grandstander]

"Full support from Europe" suggests some unity of action and that seems quite unlikely. As the European kingdoms evolved into nations with recognizable borders, the same sorts of colonial rivalries over the new world in the west, would have developed over the colonies in the Levant.

There would have been a war, or a series of wars, until one nation established hegemony over the region. Such a war would of course have included attempts at recruiting/exploiting local groups as allies, as well some sort of regional liberation movement which was trying to capitalize on the European powers slugging it out with one another.

What ultimately would have emerged from such bloody chaos ...who can say?

[Mikestone8]

You'd have to butterfly away the Ottoman Empire. Even if the Europeans were reasonably united, it's not certain they could have defeated it at its peak - and certainly not in a theatre where lines of communication would be so much in its favour.