What if the Eastern Roman Empire collapsed?

[burgoynewulfe]

I've been working on different scenarios for how the western empire survives and one idea that really interested me was: What if the west survived but the east fell? Would it have been possible for the the Germanic tribes, such as the Goths and Franks, to cross the Danube and conquer Greece, Anatolia, Palestine, and Egypt?

How would it have been possible for the west to succeed while the east falls to the barbarians?

 

[Colonel Levnekov]

Although I doubt the barbarians could do it alone, a double whammy would be a huge Persian invasion, coupled with Constantinople falling to a tribe.

After that, you'll have a lot of successor states, the most powerful one either being in the Levant, Western Anatolia, or Egypt.

Note that I'm not accounting for the WRE here.

 

[Napoléon Caesar Augustus]

You can make the East fall, but thinking of a situation where the East falls but the West survives is quite a lot harder. The West was far less rich, powerful and stable. When things are so dire that even the East is trembling, I imagine the West will have been sent to its grave long before.

 

[Byzantion]

You can make the East fall, but thinking of a situation where the East falls but the West survives is quite a lot harder. The West was far less rich, powerful and stable. When things are so dire that even the East is trembling, I imagine the West will have been sent to its grave long before.

The West would have need its own Justinian, Belisar and Narses. General Orestes desperately tried to save the WRE but failed. After 476 there are only provincial warlords like Syagrius in 5th century Gaul and hopeless claimants like Julian . Maybe if Odoaker is not only King in Italy but also WREmperor by profession, he might eventually be accepted as legitimate emporer in the west by Konstantinopel ?