A Theory Of History And An Alternative History

In The George And Dragon, I focused on the George and Dragon so I skipped past the alternative history which, however, had been discussed in several previous post. See here. The idea that the ecclesiastical conciliar movement might have prevented the Reformation is part of the Hordian theory of history which is a strong link to Poul Anderson's Technic History.

Christian and Laurinda attend Mass in York Minster. See image. (When Sheila and I attended Evensong there once, God was thanked for the lives of the founders of the Salvation Army and of the Missionaries of Charity.)

This Alternative History
Bishops regained powers lost to the Papacy;
the Church was reconciled with the Hussites;
there were no wars of religion;
the Church counterbalanced the state;
thus, absolute monarchies were prevented (link to the Time Patrol);
there was no Thirty Years' War to devastate Germany;
nor was Germany divided into principalities;
instead, it was unified in the 17th century;
soon it became the dominant European power;
it colonized and conquered to the east;
it had irreconcilable religious and cultural differences with the Slavs;
the harsh imperium provoked rebellion;
it also decayed and disintegrated;
thus, in 1900, the Russians advance on Berlin;
science and technology have developed more slowly;
there is a fossil fuel industry and a Lagrangian level of theory;
parliaments are more powerful than kings, emperors or popes;
beyond 1900, scientific and technological progress accelerate;
there is a long turbulent period...;
Christian says, "'Never mind!'" (Genesis, PART TWO, VII, 7, p. 188)