The Reign of Romulus Augustus

[molave]

The possibility of a Slavic Mesopotamia. Once they settle in an area its hard to take them out. Would it ring true as well in Mesopotamia?

And what of the Balkans? Given the Slavic exodus from that part of the world, would future nations there be Pannonia, Illyria and Moesia? Could they be as established as Spain and France? Would we be able to see Balkan Romance language flourishing there?

 

[Romulus Augustus]

Hard to see where the solution is here about avoiding military coups. Under the emperors of Rome east and west it was the army supporting a usurper. In medieval times a noble who thought he should be king. In the last 100 years its been back to a military putting an officer or demagogue in charge. The countries in our age that seem to work the best against that is democracies that have a large enough base of population that have a stake in the status quo to make sure the military follows the will of the majority and a tradition to do so. The problem Romulus has is there is never been system before him, that has solved that issue. He does seem to have some ideas that way, will see how it goes.

It's true that usurpers, rebellions, and other examples of destabilization have played large parts in destroying empires from within, but it's not the whole picture. Throughout history there have been countries that went through civil wars, uprisings, and so on without being utterly destroyed in the process. In the case of the Roman Empire, it ultimately survived numerous domestic conflicts throughout much of its own history; its western half being gradually torn apart after decades of civil wars, economic depression, political destabilization, and etc. At this point I think the WRE (compared to where it was in AD 475) has a stronger chance of surviving after Romulus Augustus' reign, at least in the immediate future, while the potential for civil war threatens the Pannonian dynasty more than the Empire itself. In some cases the conflict of civil war represents a violent change in government, which is less severe than the fragmentation or destruction of the entire polity. If it's a matter of the WRE's survival, I'd say they're in the clear, at least for the time being (again, compared to where they stood at the beginning of Romulus Augustus' reign). The Pannonian dynasty's fate is not as secure, however, because of the virtually unceasing threat of coups and civil wars, but even their possible downfall in the future is not necessarily interconnected with the fate of the western Empire.

The possibility of a Slavic Mesopotamia. Once they settle in an area its hard to take them out. Would it ring true as well in Mesopotamia?

Slavic, Germanic, Sarmatian... If the Empire prevails and implants its foreign allied armies into Mesopotamia/western Persia, I imagine that the region will initially start out as a mix of ethnically diverse petty kingdoms as opposed to being dominated by any single ethnic group from the start. Once they've permanently settled into their new homelands over the course of a few generations, I don't think they'll be easily moved. There are exceptions of course, like the compulsion to seek a new homeland, forced expulsion by a greater adversary, and so on. Anyway, once settled they'll gradually work their way up to things like consolidation or expansion, making alliances and enemies, integrating with the locals to greater or lesser extents--aside from some differences here and there, I think the overall process could reflect the settlement of the Germanic peoples in the former WRE to some extent.

And what of the Balkans? Given the Slavic exodus from that part of the world, would future nations there be Pannonia, Illyria and Moesia? Could they be as established as Spain and France? Would we be able to see Balkan Romance language flourishing there?

At this time, the Slavs hadn't poured into the Balkans like they did IOTL; the ERE still retains dominance over the European lands south of the lower Danube River, where some of the southern Slavic tribes are concentrated. The Slavs as a whole are not a united people, but rather various tribes that the Romans identify by a blanket term (similar to "Germanic" for example). So while there could be Slavs settled in Mesopotamia, it won't be all of them. There will still be Slavs in northeastern Europe, some or many of which could still end up migrating into other territories or even Roman lands. Pannonia is currently dominated by the Lombards ITTL. Most of Illyria remains under WRE control as the province of Dalmatia, and Moesia is still within the ERE--albeit with some degree of a barbarian presence (most likely foederati, which the ERE did have but not to the same extent as the WRE).

As for the future of these three regions, I'm really not sure yet but it will depend on how the future plays out after Romulus Augustus' death--a future which will be illuminated in TTL's epilogue part. Whatever languages emerge in the Balkans and other Roman territories as a result of this alternate timeline, I think they would be influenced to some extent by the current (as in "current" in this time period/6th century AD) versions of Latin and Greek, the two main languages of the Roman Empire. In the case of the Balkans, I would think that Greek would have a stronger linguistic influence, given that it is the primary language of the ERE, although Latin still remains the official language of the Imperial Court, administration, and military for now.

 

[lucaswillen05]

The Romans can hang on in the west for now. But will the next Emperor be as good as Romulus Augustus is? What happens when you get a blood soaked maniac like Commodus or a rank incompeten? What about ambitious generals hungry for the throne at the expense of a mediocre incumbent. Sure theEmpire is stronger than when Augustus Romulus came to the throne but all his good work could so easily be undone under his successors.

 

[Donald Reaver]

One thing we know is that the next Emperor will not be as good as Romulus Augustus. The odds of any Empire getting two such leaders is a row is very low especially when coming back from such a low point. He has given the W.R.E. it's chance to survive and make a come back and would say they have a fair chance of surviving unless they get a real dog of an Emperor in the next few reigns.

Was not expecting him to get one last shot at changing things by arranging Germanic groups to invade the Mesopotamia region. While I did advocate client kingdoms in that area, that is a great twist.

As much as i like Romulus at this point, I would think this is his last Hurrah, he can not have much time left to do anything other than completing this last action at best. Though glad to be proved wrong again.

 

[Donald Reaver]

Looks like he is about 73 now, while old if you make it that long in those days, no reason he can not make a number of more years yet. It annoys me that people take the fact of infant mortality skews the average life span lower. Once past the first 5 years at least if you survive that at least in the higher income levels you have a better chance to come closer to more modern time line life spans. Well not nearly as many, not such a big chance all that much younger.

 

[Grouchio]

It also depends how much alcohol you drink, if you're naturally healthy or not, etc. Cause if you don't drink, you won't get any related cancer/health problems down the road, and you'll live more modern a lifespan, especially in more high income places...

 

[Romulus Augustus]

[FONT=&quot]Lucaswillen05:[FONT=&quot] Too true, but there is no permanent fix against incompetent governance or unstable leaders. IMO, one of the best remedies is resilience--in the WRE’s case, its resilience against the factors that could undermine Imperial authority and destabilize the State. As far as emperors go, the Empire had more than its fair share of the mediocre, the incompetent, the vicious, and the megalomaniac, and yet still managed to hold itself together for well over a thousand years. All countries can’t exist without there being some probability of their downfall in the future; the Empire is no exception. But I will say this, the purpose of TTL was to create an alternate version of Romulus Augustus’ reign, which in turn ultimately leads to the survival of the WRE--what exactly survival means in this case depends on a lot of things. It could retain many aspects of its present identity (TTL’s sixth century AD) or it could be almost completely unrecognizable politically, socially, culturally, etc.[/FONT]

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Donald Reaver, Grouchio:[FONT=&quot] Romulus Augustus will die soon. Regarding his health, he is a “true Roman” in the sense that he is a wine drinker. In fact, his taste in wine is one of the few things he has in common with his son Olybrius II, although he is not an alcoholic like the latter.[/FONT]

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[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]AD 533 (Part III)

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]For several months Sassanid Persia and the Hephthalite Khanate were unmatched on all fronts, constantly forcing the Romans and their allies to retreat. While the western Roman Empire facilitated the gradual migration of various Germanic, Sarmatian, and Slavic units to the Near East, the eastern Roman Empire could do little more than offer ineffective resistance against the momentum of the Hephthalite-Sassanid offensive. The utter failure of the Imperial Army at Hierapolis was one of several major engagements on Roman soil that ended in a resounding success for the Khanate. With much of the Euphratensis province overrun, the Hephthalites were within striking distance of Syria I, including its provincial capital in Antioch. To the North, the Hephthalites invaded the Dioecesis Pontica. Most of the skirmishes and other small-scale engagements were won by the skilled cavalry units of Hephthalites and Sassanids, although the Khanate suffered greater losses than anticipated during the Siege of Martyropolis, where the Roman garrison—true to their city’s name—valiantly held their position for three months before ultimately dying as martyrs for the Empire and the Church, despite the Hephthalites’ offer to spare the remaining defenders’ lives prior to their final and most devastating assault.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]After the fall of Martyropolis and Arsamosata, the Satrapiae province was claimed by the dominion of the Hephthalite Khanate. Afterward, the Hephthalites and Sassanids turned their attention to the Armenian provinces by conducting sortie missions along the borders of Armenia II and Armenia Maior in order to test the Roman defenses in those provinces. With a significant portion of reserve field army and allied units mobilizing in the Dioecesis Asiana, many provinces in the Dioecesis Pontica were largely undefended and exposed to invasion. Khosrau, however, was unwilling to push his troops deeper into western Anatolia while the Roman army of the general Heraclius remained entrenched in Armenia Maior. Fearing the possibility of being cut off from additional support and reinforcements if their supply lines were stretched too far, the Shahanshah convinced his Hephthalite allies that the defeat of Heraclius’ army was the key to fully occupying the eastern provinces of Pontica and Orientis dioceses without further complications; and yet, there were those within his inner circle who suspected that Khosrau was more motivated by the desire for revenge than military strategy. After all, it was Heraclius who defeated and humiliated Khosrau at the Battle of Dara, which in turn compelled the Sassanid prince to essentially sell his country’s sovereignty to the Hephthalite Khanate in return for their assistance against the Romans. Nevertheless, the Hephthalites agreed to concentrate on subduing the eastern Empire’s military forces in Armenia Maior, the majority of which were based around Heraclius’ headquarters in Theodosiopolis,

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]By this time the momentum of the Hephthalite-Sassanid counteroffensive had begun to slow down. In the beginning it had been relatively easy to catch the Empire by surprise when thousands upon thousands of the combined Hephthalite and Sassanid forces took the occupied parts of western Persia by storm, pushing the Romans out of the Tigris-Euphrates Valley and eliminating the less organized Mazdakite rebels in Padishkhwargar. Restoring the Persian western border back to its pre-war state also siphoned troops from the Hephthalite-Sassanid alliance, however, as many of the recovered satrapies required additional units for security reasons—not the least because of the devastation and lawlessness that ensued as a result of the scorched earth tactics that the Romans used during their forced withdrawal. More warriors were in the process of being deployed from Hephthalite and eastern Sassanid lands, but it would take time for them to reach the western front. Meanwhile, Khosrau’s discovered through his spies that a large movement of barbarians from the northeastern regions of Europe were on the move, heading eastward in the direction of the Roman-Sassanian War. The conflict for domination in the Near East region had been transformed into a race to see whose reinforcements would arrive first. The Empire gained a slight advantage with the arrival of the new armies’ vanguard force; having crossed through the Caucasus region from the north, several cavalry regiments of Hunnic, Sarmatian, and Alan mercenaries were seen fighting alongside Heraclius’ Roman cavalrymen in Armenia Maior. Their experience as combatants on horseback complemented the eastern Empire’s heavy cavalry variants with mounted archers and light cavalry—the combination of which created a cohesive Roman-barbarian tactical response force that was capable of confronting the Hephthalite-Sassanid horsemen on near equal footing.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Despite managing to slow down the Hephthalite Khanate’s aggressive advance, the Romans were still on the defensive with Heraclius almost completely cut off from the eastern Empire. A significant advantage for the Hephthalite forces on Roman soil—mainly Mesopotamia and Osrhoene, as well as parts of Euphratensis and Syria Salutaris—was that much of the indigenous population cooperated with the occupation force, ironically because many of them bore resentment against Justinian’s excessive taxation and conscription policies. The Roman Army, on the other hand, remained faithful to the eastern Emperor for the most part, but were especially loyal to Heraclius, having gained the trust and respect of the soldiers who served under him. Khosrau made several attempts to turn Heraclius against the Emperor, promising him wealth, power, and other gifts beyond his wildest dreams, although Khosrau had no intention of honoring any promise to his greatest adversary whom he also hated the most. But the Emperor’s chief henchman never wavered in his allegiance to Justinian and the eastern Empire; his personal devotion to duty and the sense of extreme Roman patriotism made him virtually incorruptible to foreign influence. Khosrau’s efforts to subdue the Romans in Armenia Maior were further undermined by the diversion of a large contingent of Hephthalite-Sassanid troops to the invasion of Syria I where the Hephthalites intended to attack Antioch—the conquest of which would provide the Khanate with a well fortified commercial center and a strong entry point to the eastern Mediterranean while also effectively cutting off the rest of the Dioecesis Orientis from the core of the eastern Empire. Khosrau objected to this strategy, but the objections of a vassal king were duly noted and ignored in just one of many examples that fueled the Sassanids’ animosity of the Hephthalites.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Khosrau forged the union between Sassanid Persia and the Hephthalite Khanate because he believed it would make the former a great power once again. His gambit paid off, at least in the beginning when the Hephthalites augmented the Sassanids with their own forces and drove the Romans out of western Persia. But by then the Hephthalites began to use their contribution to the war as an excuse to take advantage of the Sassanids’ dependence on “White Hun” support, as well as their obligation to accept the subservient role of a vassal state within the Khanate. Aside from providing military assistance to Khosrau’s armies, for the most part the Hephthalites remained in an advisory position, which was nothing more than a courtesy on their part, and thus fooling the Sassanids into believing that they still retained control over most of their affairs, including the direction of the war effort. The façade began to fade, however, when Khosrau made the controversial decision to reward the Hephthalites by appointing several of their own warlords with satrapies in the reclaimed regions of western Persia. The new satraps were only the first sign that the “alliance” was actually an occupation. A significant portion of revenue, including slaves and other valuable commodities, were gifted to the Hephthalite Khanate as tributary compensation for their assistance in the conflict against the eastern Empire. The nobility of Sassanid society, much of which never fully accepted the union with the Khanate, became increasingly outraged by the rising general belief that their dominion had become an occupied land. Their disillusionment was enhanced even more by the irony of how they successfully resisted the rebels who supported the radical views of the Mazdakite movement, only to lose many of their privileges and sources of wealth to the Hephthalites. Khosrau was not a fool for he knew of his people’s growing discontent as vassal subjects of the Hephthalite Khanate. From the start of the whole arrangement, his intention had been to gain Hephthalite support for his coup to seize the Sassanid throne and restore Persia as a powerful force to be reckoned with. He had achieved both goals, but still required the Hephthalites to achieve his desire of conquering the Praefectura Praetorio Orientis. He had objected to their demands on several occasions, especially when they claimed the right to govern the western Persian regions as satraps, but ultimately relented when the Hephthalites threatened to withdraw their support unless their expectations were fulfilled by the vassal King of Kings.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Khosrau’s great fear was that the Hephthalites’ domination of Sassanid Persia would be his undoing. He had given up his country’s sovereignty and gained the opportunity to forge a new Persian empire with the potential of becoming as great and vast as the Achaemenid Empire. Yet his relations with the Hephthalites, strained as they were under the present circumstances, would only grow worse if another rebellion were to rise in the fallen Mazdakites’ place—an insurrection that would be aimed not at the Zoroastrian majority as before, but rather the Hephthalites for making a point of taking everything for themselves while leaving nothing to the Sassanids except the “scraps” on the proverbial table. Despite the increasingly fragile relationship between Sassanid Persia and the Hephthalite Khanate, Khosrau was still convinced that in this case the ends justified the means. He needed to keep both sides concentrated on their mutual goal of defeating the eastern Empire, but that task was becoming more difficult as the “alliance” deteriorated into mutual loathing. Many Hephthalites made little effort to conceal how much they regarded the Sassanids as a collection of inferior races. Likewise, the Sassanids had detested the Hephthalites for decades given how this was not the first time that the latter humbled and humiliated Persia. Even so, Khosrau justified to himself that he was only using the Hephthalites to rebuild the Sassanid dominion by securing the eastern border and neutralizing the Romans on the western front. Above all else, the Sassanids needed time to make themselves great again. A wounded pride was a small price to pay from his viewpoint; for when all of his primary objectives were achieved, Khosrau believed that he would finally have the power to reverse the situation by turning the Hephthalites into vassals of Sassanid Persia.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]For obvious reasons Khosrau could not reveal the true purpose of his alliance with the Hephthalite Khanate to the members of his government or the ruling class of Sassanid society, therefore leading a growing number of secret malcontents to believe that the King of Kings was a treacherous figurehead who chose to sell his own empire to a former enemy of Persia. But as long as the tide of war remained in the Sassanids’ favor, the majority of leading members in the government and society chose to continue following Khosrau’s leadership with cautious enthusiasm for the final victory in the conflict. The larger divisive issues notwithstanding, various incidents of controversy did not improve their disposition on the state of Hephthalite-Sassanid relations, however. On one occasion, Khosrau was forced to execute one of his own warriors for getting into a drunken brawl with a Hephthalite which resulted in the latter’s death. A far more damaging incident occurred when a Hephthalite warlord was accused of forcing himself on the daughter of a nobleman from the House of Varazes, a Persian aristocratic family that held positions of great honor in the Sassanid regime. Examples such as these and then some continued to undermine the Sassanids’ confidence in their monarch’s rule, which in turn began to undermine the central government’s ability to control a large heterogeneous population of diverse cultures, the old Parthian clans, the Persian satrapies, and numerous subjugated peoples.

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[FONT=&quot]Petronas[FONT=&quot], the dux (“duke”) of the legions in the Dioecesis Orientis, surrendered to Khosrau I following the latter’s victory at the Siege of Hierapolis in AD 533. His surrender was one of several examples of Sassanid Persia’s renewed success against the eastern Roman Empire, the cost of which was the loss of their sovereignty to the Hephthalite Khanate.[/FONT][/FONT]
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[Deleted member 67076]

The clash between the Sassanid/Hepthalite and the Roman/Barbarian will be exciting! I can only imagine what the scribes of the era will think when they record the clash of two major power and their various allies. This war could be the basis of a many an epic poem somewhere, or the basis of many myths. Might lead to an alternate Utendi wa Tambuka.

 

[Superwes]

Guys, I'm pretty sure that by now, the WRE isn't going to completely fall because of one or two bad leaders.

 

[Donald Reaver]

Would like to say the same, and a far better chance that Romulus has given but history does not give good odds. Still I would go with a continuing W.R.E.

 

[Romulus Augustus]

[FONT=&quot]AD 533 (Part IV)

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]In the months that followed the Ελευθερία Revolt the eastern Roman Empire was prepared to at last reclaim its fallen capital from the insurrection that erupted in the streets of Constantinople in late AD 532 during the absence of Emperor Justinian I. For over several months containment had been the eastern Empire’s absolute priority with regard to the rebellion; fearing the potentially high casualties that the Imperial Army would sustain in a direct assault on the great Theodosian Walls, the Emperor instead ordered Roman forces to establish a blockade on all access ways—roads and sea routes—to the city, effectively isolating Constantinople from the outside world. Even so, it was a long operation that both sides were forced to endure due to the fact that the capital was specifically designed to be the most fortified city in the whole of the Empire.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Both sides—loyalists and insurrectionists—attempted to strengthen and consolidate their positions during the long Siege of Constantinople. The usurper Anthemius and his co-conspirators, the senatorial nobles of the eastern Roman aristocracy conducted a campaign of propaganda within the capital in order to further fuel the population’s discontent with the Emperor. They decried his unpopular policies of high taxation and conscription levies, both of which critically influenced the rioters’ collective view of Justinian, whom they saw as a tyrant, and the throne a symbol of oppression. Taxes were subsequently lowered, debts were paid by the city’s treasury, and races were held in the Hippodrome—all in an attempt by the treacherous members of the Senate and Imperial Council to further court the people’s support.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Their influence, however, failed to exceed the city walls of Constantinople. For all intents and purposes Justinian was no longer emperor in his own capital, but much of the rest of the eastern Empire remained loyal after he grudgingly softened his policies on taxation and conscription. Romulus Augustus, Justinian’s senior colleague in the West, maintained a position of solidarity with his grandson-in-law and publicly condemned the insurrectionists as traitors to the Empire. Justinian took it further by dispatching messengers throughout his half of the Roman world, revealing to the wider Roman community the furious indignation that he felt towards his own common and inferior subjects for rebelling against Imperial authority. The insurrection was, as he argued a gross and unforgivable violation against the rule of law, man and divine alike.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Despite Justinian’s attempt to salvage his reputation as a benevolent sovereign, he nonetheless warned the population against following in the insurrectionists’ example, declaring that all true subjects were duty bound to obey their Augustus—the Emperor—both by God’s commandments and the law of Rome. Publicly, he insinuated his willingness to spare the lives of those who atoned for their sinful disobedience by renouncing all ties to the rebellion in Constantinople. In private, however he swore that all who still defied him would be destroyed; the traitors and their families would be made to pay a terrible price for the sin of treason. He wanted to punish them all by making the ultimate example of what could happen to anyone who betrayed him. Therefore the people had to be shown the error of their ways through a blood-soaked massacre.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]In spite of how the fall of the capital tarnished Justinian’s reputation as an emperor, the conspirators’ failure to secure significant recognition of their government from beyond Constantinople’s city limits was ultimately their undoing. In addition to the senatorial nobles who long despised the Emperor’s humble background and blatant disregard for their role in the governance of the East, Justinian had indeed antagonized a large segment of the population, particularly the urban poor and rural farming community that bore the brunt of his taxation and conscription policies. The treachery of the Excubitores (“Sentinels”) and Scholae Palatinae (“Palatine Schools”, “Scholarians”) further undermined Justinian’s authority and strengthened the conspirators’ hold over Constantinople. Yet support for his reign remained strong in the West, the Church, and the eastern Roman Military.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Supporting the rule of Justinian was necessary because he was a valuable asset to them: he was married to Honoria, a western Roman princess and the granddaughter of Romulus Augustus; he was a staunch adherent to the Chalcedonian orthodoxy of the Catholic Church, and therefore a fierce opponent of heresy and paganism in all of their forms; and he commanded the loyalty of the rank-and-file troops through several means, including a cadre of reliable commanders, increased wages and other benefits, and the right to retain a significant percentage of the overall war booty that the Empire amassed in western Persia and the Roman territories that had been punished for rebelling against the State. Ironically, Justinian was still largely viewed as a force for stability compared to the anarchy and chaos that resulted from local uprisings.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]This view was reinforced by the Hephthalite-Sassanid counteroffensive and invasion of the eastern Empire, a major turn in the tide of war that occurred shortly after the Ελευθερία Revolt in Constantinople. In another ironic twist of fate, the invasion proved to be the sort of distraction that Justinian needed to direct the population’s attention away from his more controversial decisions as emperor and towards the threat of domination under the Hephthalite Khanate. Using political manipulation to the extreme, Justinian succeeded in rallying much of the Empire against the threat of the “White Huns” and their Persian “slaves” in spite of the rebellion that festered in Constantinople itself. Some generals began to advocate a direct assault at this point but Justinian refused; he wanted the rioters to suffer the agonizing death of starvation.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Justinian’s refusal to waste a potentially large amount of military assets on the reconquest of Constantinople ultimately influenced his decision to isolate the eastern capital with months of a siege-enforced quarantine. The eastern capital was the largest city of its time and thus required a considerable amount of resources to sustain its population. Unable to be resupplied due to the military bases, regular troop patrols, and naval warships that encircled its perimeter as a virtually impenetrable barrier, the people of Constantinople were faced with the grim possibility of starvation, a scenario which gradually shifted into reality when their food reserves began to thin. Feeding the local population of the capital was an arduous task alone, but the thousands of rural refugees greatly undermined the usurper regime’s ability to endure the effects of siege warfare.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The rioters who initially supported the coup grew increasingly agitated by the stress of the overall situation; malnourished and desperate, they began to turn against the conspirators as soon as their ration supplies were bled dry not only by the quarantine, but also by the fact that a large amount of food reserves had been saved for use by the senatorial nobles and their enforcers in the Scholae and Excubitores. The growing scarcity of food ultimately drove the people into a frenzied state of rage, fear, desperation, and hunger. They protested in the forums, rioted in the streets, fought with soldiers, and turned against each other in a mad rush to survive. The regime that had seized the capital was itself endangered by the same rioters whom they originally used as pawns against Justinian’s rule.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The carnage that ensued on the streets of Constantinople was more unrestrained and animalistic than the Ελευθερία Revolt. Social order began to collapse as thousands upon thousands of desperate and malnourished civilians scrambled for anything that could be used as sustenance. Their decline from civilization to absolute barbarism was a process of looting warehouses and reserve silos, and storming the homes of the nobles who horded food supplies for themselves, to feasting on every animal that they could find in the city. When they exhausted Constantinople of its dogs, cats, horses, rats, and many other sorts of animals, the situation took a dramatic turn for the worst: the people—particularly the majority poor, still driven by starvation, which in turn galvanized their desperation—began to eat each other.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Even the combined manpower of Scholae and Excubitores could not effectively garrison the city walls, as well as the Imperial Palace and other points of interest in the capital, and maintain order among the population. The unity of the conspirators and the morale of their soldiers were negatively impacted by the city’s deterioration into a virtual nest of thieves, rapists, murders, and cannibalistic savages. The insurgents were caught between two fires: externally by Justinian’s army and naval units that surrounded the city, and internally by the famine that drove the population of Constantinople into mayhem and cannibalism. By then over several critical areas of the Theodosian Walls had been drained of their garrison units in a futile attempt to prevent the capital’s complete fall into utter lawlessness and savagery.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]When it became clear that some of the most critical sections on the walls were no longer adequately defended, including several gatehouses and fortified harbors, the Imperial Army commenced a direct assault on the Golden Gate while their naval counterparts attempted to take control of the Harbor of Theodosius. Over the next several weeks Imperial forces fought to regain control of Constantinople. The insurgent government, confronted by the complete breakdown of social order and mass abandonment, ceased to exist as many conspirators unsuccessfully attempted to flee for their lives. With the remaining insurgents unable to form a sufficient and orderly resistance, Justinian’s troops were free to begin the massacre that their Emperor had waited months to unleash.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]In certain sections of the city, including the forums and Augusteum, the Empire’s forces encountered large groups of Constantinople’s populace, many of which were armed but also hindered by the inability to move in dense throngs. By contrast their opponents were units of disciplined soldiers. By then it was a no contest situation. The mob was cut to pieces without mercy, both by Roman troops and barbarian mercenaries, the latter proving especially efficient and excessively ruthless. They did not stop even when most of the crowds gave way and dispersed in panic; Justinian had specifically ordered his commanders to execute at least ten percent of the population in a deliberate attempt to purge the capital via genocide. It was an extreme order, to say the least, but one that the generals complied with nonetheless.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The recapture of Constantinople, though ultimately successful, was far from smooth. Falling into their own frenzied state due to the rush of an operation that transitioned into a virtual sack of the capital, many soldiers—Roman and barbarian alike—began to break rank by looting, terrorizing, and vandalizing much of the city to the shock of their officers, many of whom failed to restrain their own men. So many precious works of immeasurable value were either stolen or damaged beyond recognition. Both secular and ecclesiastical buildings were thoroughly devastated by wanton destruction, adding to the unprecedented scale of structural damage in the history of Constantinople. The Imperial Army raped thousands of women, including female members of the religious community, which was further victimized by the sacking of numerous churches.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]However, a few commanders were able to exercise far more control over their units, enough to accomplish the task of capturing Anthemius and Justina, both of whom had fled into hiding in the great Palace when the insurgent government collapsed. Justinian wanted them alive in spite of his Court’s insistence that the usurper should be executed as a warning against other potential traitors. As things began to simmer down, the officers were able to gradually restore order and discipline over their soldiers, many of whom were tasked with the responsibility of occupying a blood-stained ruin that had up until recently been the pride of the East. With the first and second hills secured, Justinian himself finally entered the city for the first time since his accession to the eastern Imperial throne.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The Emperor’s wrath made clear by the punishments that followed the genocidal execution of over ten percent of the capital’s population. First, Anthemius was publicly tortured and then executed in the Augusteum before a group of high-ranking administrative officials and generals as an apparent example of what could happen to any one of them if they chose to abuse their positions of power and influence by making a treasonous bid for the throne. Shortly afterward, he gathered the surviving heads of the aristocratic families in Constantinople—the elite members of the political, social, and economic structures of the eastern Empire. A few of the richest and most influential individuals were executed and their estates confiscated by the State, but the Emperor had a different idea in mind for the rest of their confederates.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Justinian promised that their great houses would be spared and permitted to retain their wealth, minus a hefty penalty for the Empire’s use in the war against the Hephthalite-Sassanid alliance, but only after proving their renewed sense of allegiance to the Emperor, whose pardon came at the cost of the lives of each and every one of the noble patriarchs who supported the insurgent government. The executioners were to be their own sons or who ever else was next in line to lead the respective aristocratic houses. The clan heads were shocked into disbelief and resisted at first, pleading for Justinian to listen to reason, but the Emperor responded by ordering his guards to randomly execute an aristocrat and his son, at which point it was obvious that the same order would be repeated unless they cleansed their houses with the blood of traitors.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Overwhelmed by the fear of death, the heirs turned against the heads of their households and viciously slaughtered them in an act of mass parricide. Justinian kept his word and acknowledged them as the new heads of their families, but in addition to the collective fortune that he extracted from the heavily chastised senatorial aristocracy, he also stated his intentions to hold their closest family members as his hostages for an indefinite period of time. The prisoners included their wives, daughters, brothers, sisters, and any other closely-related kin that could be used as leverage in the event of another potential uprising. With the nobility emasculated and essentially bound to the will of the Emperor, whose throne now rested on firmer foundations, Justinian had finally succeeded in breaking down the aristocracy’s resistance to his autocracy.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]The fate of the surviving Scholae and Excubitores was far less merciful by comparison; none of their lives were spared, but whereas the former were given quick deaths via beheading the latter had their entrails cut out and burned. Justinian was especially resentful of the Excubitors, the Imperial guards who supported his uncle’s accession but betrayed him in favor of the aristocratic insurgents. Out of everyone who participated in the insurgency or was associated with it in any way, only Justina was spared from the harsh measures of her uncle—notwithstanding the execution of her husband Anthemius. Much like his own uncle, Justinian was especially fond of his young and beautiful niece. Too fond, he realized. Well aware of his own secret lust for Justina, the Emperor instructed his guards to place her under house arrest, hoping that proximity would diminish the temptations that she made him feel.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]With the fall of Constantinople and the elimination of the treacherous insurgent regime, Justinian’s consolidation of power was at last complete. In recognition of their service and loyalty to the Emperor during the final phase of the siege, a group of Roman and barbarian cavalry vexillationes were transferred to the Protectores Domestici (“Domestic Guard”). Originally a small cadre of bodyguards and staff members to the Emperor, the Domestici were[/FONT][FONT=&quot] reorganized into Justinian’s primary protection detail due to the disbandment of the Scholae and Excubitores. As such, the new Domestici was expanded to include roughly four thousand infantry and two thousand cavalry from the incorporated vexillationes. Additionally the corps continued to function as a training school for military officers. Furthermore, the Emperor also recognized the role of the new Domestici in the victory at Constantinople by bestowing several new titles on the guard unit, including Liberatores (“Liberators”) and Pia Fidelis (“Pious and Faithful”)—the former being influenced by Justinian’s humorous sense of irony given that the original Senate unsuccessfully portrayed themselves as liberators after assassinating Julius Caesar well over six centuries ago—hence further distinguishing the Domestici from the disloyal Scholae and Excubitores.

[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]Justinian ordered numerous messengers to spread the news of Constantinople’s deliverance from the traitors to the various major urban centers throughout the eastern Empire—along with the heads of hundreds of traitors, all of which were to be divided and displayed among the forums of Roman cities as warnings against further acts of treason. The news, however, was accompanied by some rather traumatic reports from the eastern front: The forces of the Hephthalite Khanate launched a successful invasion of Antioch which ended around the same time as the Liberation of Constantinople. Justinian and his generals were genuinely surprised because they did not believe the Hephthalites would risk stretching their supply lines too far by occupying Antioch. Moreover the Shahanshah Khosrau I was leading an army of Hephthalites and Sassanids on Heraclius’ command center at Theodosiopolis.

[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot] [FONT=&quot]
The Liberation of Constantinople[/FONT][FONT=&quot], by Bartolomaios Ionnikios Tzamplakon.

[/FONT][/FONT]​

 

[Silver]

Oh wow!!!! - Silver.

The lower classes of Constantinople being reduced to cannibalism (I hope Justinian executes the cannibals for committing such a heinous crime against God and Man ), the Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian forcing the heirs of Eastern Roman noble houses to execute their fathers/head of their families , mass executions of the entire Execubitors and Scholae , one tenth of the population of the city just summarily put to the sword , mass rapine, pillaging, and looting of the Queen of Cities (i.e. Byzantium/Constantinople) including the desecration of holy sites/churches and raping of nuns - Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian does not seem to go for half-measures. I wonder how history/future historians would view him, especially for what he has done to the people of Constantinople. Also, I hope that he is just as ruthless towards the Sassanid Persians and their Hepthalite Hun buddies as he was towards his domestic enemies. Please keep up the good work. Thank you.

 

[Mixxer5]

Nice update, but siege... sorry- liberation- of Constantinople makes me wonder- weren't there any people loyal to Justinian? Of course I don't mean individual citizens, but instead some kind of paramilitary forces as well as some kind of espionage. After all Emperors had their spies (http://www.historynet.com/espionage-in-ancient-rome.htm), which were more or less effective (of course in WRE we can safely assume that decline put an end to all its internal (independent) affairs. Although RA surely could restart it And considering his character it'd suit him well). Considering how big city was, one would think that certain parts of it could be more loyal (or "loyal" when it became clear that insurrection will fail) than others.

BTW- Riots in Constantinople as well as "new" Justinian character, gave me an idea. This new regime could invent... secret police. Of course not like in XIX/XX centuries (in some countries even today), but it'd be quite logical after such big uprising, provoked mainly by aristocracy, rather than mob.

And one question- why not simply massacre aristocracy like in WRE? Justinian have even better reasons than RA, ERE aristocracy is immensely rich, while keeping them alive doesn't seem to give any immediate benefits (and... questionable method of dealing with revolters make some kind of retaliation almost inevitable).

 

[DDJR]

Well, Justinian is becoming a Eastern version of our old, dear Romulus Augustus.

I liked, i'm proud of you, Petrus Sabbatius!

 

[Donald Reaver]

Would have to say I think Romulus Augustus has a much more subtle touch, I think that Justinian is building up future trouble for himself. Having sons committing patricide seems a very big no no in Roman society. You should be wanting survivors to have a reason to support you in the future, not building up reasons to do a do or die assassination attempt.
Again from my reading patricide is about as bad as crime you could do in Roman eyes.

 

[GodEmperorG]

Would have to say I think Romulus Augustus has a much more subtle touch, I think that Justinian is building up future trouble for himself. Having sons committing patricide seems a very big no no in Roman society. You should be wanting survivors to have a reason to support you in the future, not building up reasons to do a do or die assassination attempt.
Again from my reading patricide is about as bad as crime you could do in Roman eyes.

I think that's the point. With all these heirs to the major aristocratic families now kinslaying patricides, they'll /NEVER/ be supported by the church or people in gaining the throne. Basically Justinian destroyed any hope of any of these families ever being able to take the throne now that they're all either led or descended from kinslayers. A very devious way of punishing them if I do say so myself!

 

[Dalradia]

GOOD LORD ALMIGHTY!!!!!!!!!!! i have a lot of catching up to do

 

[Berat2beti]

Nice update, but siege... sorry- liberation- of Constantinople makes me wonder- weren't there any people loyal to Justinian? Of course I don't mean individual citizens, but instead some kind of paramilitary forces as well as some kind of espionage. After all Emperors had their spies (http://www.historynet.com/espionage-in-ancient-rome.htm), which were more or less effective (of course in WRE we can safely assume that decline put an end to all its internal (independent) affairs. Although RA surely could restart it And considering his character it'd suit him well). Considering how big city was, one would think that certain parts of it could be more loyal (or "loyal" when it became clear that insurrection will fail) than others.

BTW- Riots in Constantinople as well as "new" Justinian character, gave me an idea. This new regime could invent... secret police. Of course not like in XIX/XX centuries (in some countries even today), but it'd be quite logical after such big uprising, provoked mainly by aristocracy, rather than mob.

And one question- why not simply massacre aristocracy like in WRE? Justinian have even better reasons than RA, ERE aristocracy is immensely rich, while keeping them alive doesn't seem to give any immediate benefits (and... questionable method of dealing with revolters make some kind of retaliation almost inevitable).

There already is a secret police, or well agents of the emperor that did stuff like an ancient version of Stalin's, or Hitlers Gestapo. Emperor Tiberius secluded himself on an Island, and had actual files on everyone in Rome, due to his paranoia. Claudius the emperor after him burned them in a public display, but had an entire back up made. So yah the secret police aren't gonna be invented cause they already exsist in a pretty good version. Romulus had that one Barbarian be his right hand man, and used him to kill the Ostrogoth king, and eliminate traitors. So the only new thing about them is they effected a whole war on a very significant level not seen since Arminius led 3 legions into the tuetenborg forest.

Killing all the aristocracy of WRE was easier due to the fact, it was just Italy, and Dalmatia. And the surrounding countries are friendly to the emperor Franks, and hateful to Rome Burgundians, and Vandals, Goths etc... ERE aristocracy can flee to Egypt, Armenia, Greece, or even Persia. So yah unless Justinian can gather them all up doing a Romulus only leads to trying to herd cats.

 

[Romulus Augustus]

Silver: Thanks!! Yeah, I guess they really did go all out on Constantinople. “Soldiers will be soldiers.” That’s not to say that all soldiers behave like that, but a lot certainly have throughout recorded history. On the bright side, however, this gives Justinian a chance to rebuild the city into an even more impressive Imperial capital of the Roman world; and with the money he just extracted from a severely chastised and emasculated aristocracy, I think he’s got enough spending cash for a few grand projects, maybe even more if a lot of it didn’t have to go into supporting the war effort against the Hephthalites and Sassanids.

Djacir: Thank you! I like the irony that in both timelines (OTL & TTL) Justinian was forced to confront the aristocracy’s grudge against him, mainly because of his humble beginnings and a few unpopular policies - and both times he made them pay dearly for their rebellious actions. Different in style and execution, but the end result is pretty much the same: the Emperor consolidates even more power at the expense of the Imperial Council and the Senate.

Donald Reaver & GodEmperorG: “Family killing” is a controversial thing in the eyes of Roman society, but Justinian does have a bit of a defense in his case, or at least from his viewpoint: the conspirators among the senatorial aristocracy committed high treason by plotting against him in addition to usurping control of Constantinople and supporting a usurper (i.e. Anthemius). Given the lengths that Justinian has gone to take back his city and preserve his rule, I think the aristocracy will behave themselves for awhile, if for no other reason because the consequences of further defiance would be death, banishment, the confiscation of their estates, the destitution of their families, etc.

He certainly didn’t leave the new heads of the aristocratic houses with too many options - it was either kill or be killed; kill their predecessors and replace them, or die along with them. But while he did put them in that position, they were the ones who actually did the deed of committing parricide. The blood, as well as the controversy of the act is on their hands and I think GodEmperorG is right that many of them will find it difficult to raise support if society views them as a bunch of “kinslayers.”

Dalradia: Enjoy! A lot has happened and there’s still a bit more to come before Romulus Augustus’ death and the epilogue section.

Mixxer5 & Berat2beti: At this point in time, the “secret police” of the Roman Empire would be the agentes in rebus (general agents), an intelligence community that was founded by the emperor Diocletian as a replacement for the frumentarii, a special branch of the Praetorian Guard. Aside from a few key differences, the agentes are virtually identical to the frumentarii in the way they function (e.g. information gathering/espionage, counterintelligence, and other security-related tasks).

Also, according to Mixxer5’s source (thanks, by the way) there are other intelligence assets such as the notarii (Imperial secretaries). Like the agentes, the notarii answer to the magister officiorum (master of offices). While these groups do not classify as a formal intelligence service, especially by modern standards, they could be the precursors of a more structuralized and advanced secret police organization in the future of this alternate timeline.

Just to clarify something, Romulus Augustus did not exterminate the entire senatorial aristocracy during the Purge of the Roman Senate. The aristocracy as a whole encompasses more individuals besides the members of the Senate. The Purge basically wiped out many leading members in the nobility, which allowed Romulus to confiscate their wealth and estates. More deaths followed, others were imprisoned, and some were forced into exile, but the aristocracy as a whole remains part of Roman society.

One of the reasons why the aristocratic community - the ones who weren’t targeted for death - went along with the Purge (the Emperor’s “justifications” and supreme authority over the military notwithstanding) was that it allowed a lot of “lower level” noblemen (ex: Liberius) to move up in the senatorial ranks. As far as people like Liberius were concerned, the loss of their more established peers is a gain for the nobles who are looking to move up the proverbial ladder.

Of course, there is no longer a Senate for them; by order of the Emperor, the ancient legislature will remain inactive for the duration of state emergency, which basically lasts as long as the Emperor says it will. It’s nothing more than a political stunt. Romulus saves face by not actually stating that the Senate has been permanently disbanded, but it has become so irrelevant - at least in terms of practical significance - by his time that no one really cares to bring it back anymore than they did IOTL. “They” - as in the western Roman senatorial aristocracy - know where the power lies, and it is not in the last remnant of a bygone age that was reduced to a local municipal body in Rome.

By this point in time, the western senatorial aristocracy can be found in positions of actual power (that they derive directly from the Emperor) within certain temporal and ecclesiastical organizations - e.g. the Emperor’s Council/Inner Circle, the Imperial Court, the Civic Administration, and the Catholic Church - all of which wield enough power and influence to sate the political and financial desires of the typical, run of the mill senatorial nobleman (but of course, there would still be those who secretly aspire to sit on the throne, or influence the emperor from behind the throne).

 

[Donald Reaver]

The fact that the sons where compelled to kill their fathers in order to preserve their houses will bite Justinian in the long run I believe. It is a unprecedented action to take that step in Roman history, there have been many coups against Emperors but nothing like that in response. Yes, those houses will not have much ability or reason to act for or against Justinian, but they will never forget what they where made to do and fear is not going to work for all of them. It is not a case if Justinian had the right or power to do that, he did.

This action will be the big blight on his realm, not that he has had many successes so far. it sounds like he is going to be bailed out of the Persian war by Romulus, and other than that he has a bloody taking back of Constantinople as his main success. If not in his life time in the future I believe this action will what his reign is judged.

His only hope at this point is doing a far better job of the rest of his reign, but I do not have much hope of that from what I have seen of him so far.