"
L'evidenzia suggestiona que els conquestes di Constantino Gothico* sono fonamentales per la ressorgimenta del Impero n'el seclo VIII."
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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.