Metatron | What If The Western Roman Empire Never Fell? Alternative History @metatronyt | Uploaded August 2024 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
Go to piavpn.com/Metatron to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free!
To hypothesize an alternate history where the Roman Empire maintains itself as a solid political entity and does not collapse in 476 AD as it actually did, we must necessarily seek an element and critical moments in Roman history and reimagine them. The main triggering factor that weighs on a series of other criticalities within the empire and exacerbates them, generating a succession of crises and finally a generalized collapse, is the expansionist thrust of a new people towards the west, the Huns.
A reality made up of warrior bands probably of Ural-Altaic origin, the Huns impose themselves in critical mass in the steppes of Eurasia, magnetizing Turanian and Indo-Iranian elements, and then descend upon the Germanic world, giving rise to the phenomenon remembered as the Barbarian Invasions or Migration Period. Even today we do not know for certain what pushed the Huns to move westward, whether it was the rise of a particularly charismatic leader, the conflict with the Mongolian reality of the Rouran Khaganate that expelled them from East Asia, or even being repelled following a failed attempt at invasion by the powerful Chinese Empire of the Jin dynasty.
In any case, let's remove the "Huns" factor from the equation: in our alternative timeline, the Huns could have merged with the Rouran Khaganate, or successfully overcome the Jin defenses penetrating deep into China, or simply failed to produce a dynasty of warrior chiefs powerful enough to magnetize a critical mass of nomadic tribes of the steppe. Or they could have descended southward, on the Sassanid Empire. The domino effect that affects the steppes of Eurasia in the 4th century AD and that makes the pressure along the Rhine-Danube limes unsustainable never takes place.
The massive volume of Gothic refugees who, fleeing from the Huns, will be welcomed into the empire in 376 AD and who, due to the corrupt imperial bureaucracy incapable of absorbing and integrating them, will rise up, will remain in their seats north of the Danube: the Gothic War of 376-382, and in particular the Battle of Adrianople of 378 AD, a bitter defeat for the empire, will never take place, nor will the mass crossing of the Rhine on December 31, 406 AD by Vandals, Alans, Burgundians, Suebi, Quadi, and Sarmatians. Similarly, not having to deploy a larger number of troops on the continent to try to hold the Rhine-Danube limes, Britain would never have fallen into the hands of Picts and Scots and then of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Although certainly tense, relations between Rome and the Barbaricum will not take that frantic and vertiginous turn that will materialize with the devastations and collapse of the 5th century AD.
The Relationship with the Barbaricum: A New Perspective
Lacking the disruptive and accelerating factor of the Huns, relations between Rome and the Germanic world manage to take a gentler turn. There is no shortage of moments of tension and conflict, but the Roman cultural influence, already exercised increasingly east of the Rhine and north of the Danube starting from the 2nd century AD, has a way of taking deep root in the Barbaricum: Emperor Valens, who does not die at Adrianople, begins a cautious and measured policy, aimed at intensifying relations between the empire and the Barbarians, particularly by favoring trade beyond the limes.
While the Germanic aristocracies, particularly those of the Goths and Franks, are romanizing exponentially, on the right bank of the Rhine and left bank of the Danube, barbarian settlements arise with a marked commercial nature, closely linked to the military castra on the opposite bank, which soon become multi-ethnic centers and vectors from which Roman culture radiates towards the hinterland of the Barbaricum. At the same time, contingents of Germanic mercenaries are hired to serve within the empire with a policing function to quell the motions of the Bagaudae, the rebellious peasants who regularly rise up, particularly in Gaul and Spain, as a consequence of fiscal pressure. In this timeline, the Bagaudae motions cannot take advantage of the climate of instability generated by the barbarian invasions, which have not taken place, and moreover, the increasingly normalized relations with the Germanic world lead to a more contained military mobilization of the empire's population, which therefore weighs less heavily on the agricultural sector, making revolts less frequent and virulent.
#ancientrome #alternativehistory #metatron
Go to piavpn.com/Metatron to get 83% off Private Internet Access with 4 months free!
To hypothesize an alternate history where the Roman Empire maintains itself as a solid political entity and does not collapse in 476 AD as it actually did, we must necessarily seek an element and critical moments in Roman history and reimagine them. The main triggering factor that weighs on a series of other criticalities within the empire and exacerbates them, generating a succession of crises and finally a generalized collapse, is the expansionist thrust of a new people towards the west, the Huns.
A reality made up of warrior bands probably of Ural-Altaic origin, the Huns impose themselves in critical mass in the steppes of Eurasia, magnetizing Turanian and Indo-Iranian elements, and then descend upon the Germanic world, giving rise to the phenomenon remembered as the Barbarian Invasions or Migration Period. Even today we do not know for certain what pushed the Huns to move westward, whether it was the rise of a particularly charismatic leader, the conflict with the Mongolian reality of the Rouran Khaganate that expelled them from East Asia, or even being repelled following a failed attempt at invasion by the powerful Chinese Empire of the Jin dynasty.
In any case, let's remove the "Huns" factor from the equation: in our alternative timeline, the Huns could have merged with the Rouran Khaganate, or successfully overcome the Jin defenses penetrating deep into China, or simply failed to produce a dynasty of warrior chiefs powerful enough to magnetize a critical mass of nomadic tribes of the steppe. Or they could have descended southward, on the Sassanid Empire. The domino effect that affects the steppes of Eurasia in the 4th century AD and that makes the pressure along the Rhine-Danube limes unsustainable never takes place.
The massive volume of Gothic refugees who, fleeing from the Huns, will be welcomed into the empire in 376 AD and who, due to the corrupt imperial bureaucracy incapable of absorbing and integrating them, will rise up, will remain in their seats north of the Danube: the Gothic War of 376-382, and in particular the Battle of Adrianople of 378 AD, a bitter defeat for the empire, will never take place, nor will the mass crossing of the Rhine on December 31, 406 AD by Vandals, Alans, Burgundians, Suebi, Quadi, and Sarmatians. Similarly, not having to deploy a larger number of troops on the continent to try to hold the Rhine-Danube limes, Britain would never have fallen into the hands of Picts and Scots and then of Angles, Saxons, and Jutes. Although certainly tense, relations between Rome and the Barbaricum will not take that frantic and vertiginous turn that will materialize with the devastations and collapse of the 5th century AD.
The Relationship with the Barbaricum: A New Perspective
Lacking the disruptive and accelerating factor of the Huns, relations between Rome and the Germanic world manage to take a gentler turn. There is no shortage of moments of tension and conflict, but the Roman cultural influence, already exercised increasingly east of the Rhine and north of the Danube starting from the 2nd century AD, has a way of taking deep root in the Barbaricum: Emperor Valens, who does not die at Adrianople, begins a cautious and measured policy, aimed at intensifying relations between the empire and the Barbarians, particularly by favoring trade beyond the limes.
While the Germanic aristocracies, particularly those of the Goths and Franks, are romanizing exponentially, on the right bank of the Rhine and left bank of the Danube, barbarian settlements arise with a marked commercial nature, closely linked to the military castra on the opposite bank, which soon become multi-ethnic centers and vectors from which Roman culture radiates towards the hinterland of the Barbaricum. At the same time, contingents of Germanic mercenaries are hired to serve within the empire with a policing function to quell the motions of the Bagaudae, the rebellious peasants who regularly rise up, particularly in Gaul and Spain, as a consequence of fiscal pressure. In this timeline, the Bagaudae motions cannot take advantage of the climate of instability generated by the barbarian invasions, which have not taken place, and moreover, the increasingly normalized relations with the Germanic world lead to a more contained military mobilization of the empire's population, which therefore weighs less heavily on the agricultural sector, making revolts less frequent and virulent.
#ancientrome #alternativehistory #metatron
