MotF 82: The Candle that Burns Twice as Bright

The Franco-Prussian War of 1871 went horribly for Prussia. It set back the cause of German reunification a good sixty years, probably. The Great War of 1913 was fought to a bloody stalemate on the fields of Hesse and Wallonia. The Russian Empire fell to a civil war, the United Russian Republic rose from the ruins. The Second Ausgleich of 1921 made Austria-Hungary a democratic union, which held together surprisingly long all things considered. Surrounded by these examples, in 1932 a conference was held in Berlin to finally unite the Germans into a single nation. The whole enterprise was doomed from the start, some say. The Constitution was inefficient, the federal government had almost no power; the Bolshevist Bavarians shouldn't have been included; they shouldn't have tried claiming Eupen and Alsace. Regardless, the result of the discussion was the United German Federation, or the German Union. Despite its misgivings, the new nation performed superbly, making up for lost time by utterly smashing France in the Second Great War of 1937, then turning south into the heart of the Danubian Federation, annexing the Germans of Austria and forcing the Hungarians into a small puppet state while liberating the minorities of the U.K. of Yugoslavia. All seemed well on the continent until the armies turned to Russia. The offensive was launched in the autumn of 1939, with a goal of reaching Petrograd by Christmas. It was not to be. The two countries, seemingly with similar ideologies, fought to a bloody standstill until a popular revolt in Bavaria in 1941 caused the entire union to come crumbling down. After only eight years of union, Germany is once again balkanized, and hopes of any reunification in the near future are dashed against the steel of Russian guns.


Apologies in advance to any Germans, this is all Google Translate.

In the midst of the Roman civil wars relating to the early 4th century AD Tetrarchy, a figure arose in the Kingdom of Aksum with both vision and the riches to execute it. Ousanas, King of Aksum, not only expanded the Aksumite holdings in Arabia but dared to expand along the Nile; first taking the ailing Kingdom of Kush and then daring an assault against Roman Egypt itself. His operation was more successful than he had dared hope, given the various distractions facing the Empire; Egypt fell to his armies, and he headed a state stretching almost the entire length of the Nile. Now he commanded the trade between the Roman world and India in its entirety in the world's first Christian Empire. He did not restrict the Egyptian supply of grain to Rome, however, preferring to instead make exorbitant demands of tribute in return. Attempts to unseat him by Constantine and Licinius were unsuccessful, and until his death Ousanas remained undefeated by a Roman army.

However, this was not a sustainable series of conquest. Though support for Ousanas among Christians was high, the Romans could not tolerate the loss of such a vital province to a foreign enemy and the control of its grain. Likewise, the barriers to communication between Aksum and Egypt were too high without additional infrastructure linking the two. After Ousanas' death, Roman invasions from Libya Inferior and Palestina recaptured Lower and Upper Egypt from the Aksumite Empire. Not long afterwards, there were revolts in the Kingdom of Kush, Aksum itself, and Arabia. The young king Ezana was faced with uphill odds. However, Ezana proved to be a talented young man and managed to secure both Aksumite Arabia and parts of the Upper Nile that were conquered by his father. Much of the Kingdom of Kush, however, was lost to a puppet of Rome who extended Roman influence as far south as Meroe. Never again would opulent Aksum control the entire Nile.

But the result of Constantine and Licinius gathering together to combat the 'Aethiopians' was the Edict of Milan, beginning true toleration towards Christians in the Empire. Though it is often speculated that Constantine converted by his death, Licinius was the first officially Christian Emperor of the Roman Empire. His reconquest of Egypt was the crown achievement of his reign, and enhanced the prestige of the Christian faith (particularly as the Aksumites had also been Christians). His son Licinius II also converted to Christianity and established the subsequent friendly relationship between the Christian kingdom of Aksum and the Roman Empire, despite the additional Roman civil wars that followed later that century.

"L'evidenzia suggestiona que els conquestes di Constantino Gothico* sono fonamentales per la ressorgimenta del Impero n'el seclo VIII."
-Aureliano Veremundin, professor emmeritus of the Imperial University of Tolossa, in an interview for the Saxonian TV History Channel.




More excerpts from the special program devoted to the figure of Ataulf Constantin:

"Ataulfus was the last of the great conquerors, the last of the people who could single-handedly create an empire manu militari. He belongs in the same cathegory as Alexander and Julius Caesar.
As with Alexander, though, the empire didn't survive him. As with Alexander, too, the legacy of his conquests shaped the modern world."

"The battle of Trieste is one of those focal points of history. What would have been our world like if the young Ataulf had been beaten by the Lombard invasion, who at the time seemed unstoppable?"

"His years in Rome, learning at the Pope's court, shaped his world view."

"Ataulf had a very precise political program: First, to unify his people with the roman italians, as his uncle Reccared had done in Espania. Second, to strengthen the Church and stablish it as the skeleton of the Western Empire, the way the urban network was the skeleton of the Eastern Empire. Third, to re-stablish the Western Empire.
He was successful in the first two points."

"While the Pope was his friend and source of elder sagely advice, Maurice was his friend at an almost brotherly level. Both Emperor helped each other, and on occasion acted like one. Lombards and the African pirates learned to their sorrow how unwise it was to antagonize them both."

"The idea reflected in Ataulf's opusculus De Novo Imperio of using only the title of Emperor and letting loyal barons to be kings under him was good on paper. It's too bad his children decided, after his passing, that they were not satisfied with being only kings, and competed all three to be Emperor.
More than two hundred years of intermitent conflict over supremacy, three kingdoms locked in war to win the Empire."

"Isolated by the Franks and the Saxons, the Britons would have disappeared if it weren't for Ataulf's insistence on Rome needing ships that were seaworthy in the Ocean."

"When you see the extent of Ataulfus Constantinus conquests, and his political foresight, you have to think 'Is such a thing even possible?'. The humanoid bat emblem** in the ring he wore in his burial makes the answer obvious: Aliens."

"The conquest of Panonia as the crown of the Ostrogothic kingdom had barely settled on his head marked him deeply. Not many children see their coming of age happen by conquering a kingdom. It made him believe in his destiny."

"Conquering Lombardia, he won the unbreakable loyalty of the Gepids, and the admiration of the Ostrogoth. Conquering Gallia he won the unbreakable loyalty of the Burgundians, and the admiration of the Visigoth. As important as his tactical prowress was his ability to make friends and isolate enemies."

"The size of Constantin the Goth's legend proved too big for his heir to bear. Or for any of his other two sons."

*Ataulf (580-637), crowned western Emperor with the name Constantinus, called "the Goth", was the eldest child of King Segismund of the Ostrogoths and Hermengilda[1], sister to King Reccared of the Visigoths. Reigned as king of the Ostrogoths since 599, as king of the Visigoths since 602, and was crowned Emperor on the year 610.
**Actually an Imperial Eagle.

1.- IOTL Hermenegild was the eldest son of Liuvigild, who led a Catholic upraising against his Arian father. The Ostrogothic Kingdom had been destroyed much earlier. ITTL they manage to hold off Langobardians and Eastern-Romans.