The Kingdom of Georgia, especially during the rules of Tamar the Great and George the Brilliant, has always been a fascinating country that I've wanted to learn more about. Unfortunately, as an American who mostly browses American/English speaking websites, it's hard to do so with one of our states having the same name.
During the reign of King/Queen Tamar, it seemed like everything was going good for Georgia. They had numerous vassals, were respected among the wider European community, and their biggest adversary to the title of Orthodox Protector had crumbled. Then, the Mongols came and destroyed their army, then the Timurids, then the Turkmens, then the plague, and soon it fell completely.
The best I can think of is making the Georgian army defeat the Mongols at Khunan. At that point, the Mongols weren't interested in conquering the Caucuses, so perhaps having them be defeated at Khunan would cause them to not change their minds like they did OTL. Or, maybe the defeat just invigorates the Mongols. I know almost nothing about Mongol history, so I'm curious to see what people more educated on the topic then me have to say about this scenario.
Without a decimated Georgian army, the Fifth Crusade could perhaps succeed, and with the Byzantines dead Georgia could become the Christian power in the east. I've always had this idea of Georgia "reforming" the Byzantine Empire with their ally/satellite Trebizond, but I don't know how plausible this actually is.
Of course, I could always do an ASB tl where Tamar the Great is immortal.
During the reign of King/Queen Tamar, it seemed like everything was going good for Georgia. They had numerous vassals, were respected among the wider European community, and their biggest adversary to the title of Orthodox Protector had crumbled. Then, the Mongols came and destroyed their army, then the Timurids, then the Turkmens, then the plague, and soon it fell completely.
The best I can think of is making the Georgian army defeat the Mongols at Khunan. At that point, the Mongols weren't interested in conquering the Caucuses, so perhaps having them be defeated at Khunan would cause them to not change their minds like they did OTL. Or, maybe the defeat just invigorates the Mongols. I know almost nothing about Mongol history, so I'm curious to see what people more educated on the topic then me have to say about this scenario.
Without a decimated Georgian army, the Fifth Crusade could perhaps succeed, and with the Byzantines dead Georgia could become the Christian power in the east. I've always had this idea of Georgia "reforming" the Byzantine Empire with their ally/satellite Trebizond, but I don't know how plausible this actually is.
Of course, I could always do an ASB tl where Tamar the Great is immortal.