Deleted member 93645
What was the absolute latest time that the Western Roman Empire, or at least a significant part (2+ provinces), could have remained under Roman rule?
During Majorian's reign?
During Majorian's reign?
During Majorian's reign?
Absolute latest? Chararic joins Syagrius at the Battle of Soissons, handily beats Clovis' forces. Then something something morale.
The Battle of Cap Bon was pretty ridiculous considering how many Romans were there. I wonder what would have happened if Basiliscus decided not to trust Gaiseric and instead pressed the attack.Realistic latest? The sheer atrocity against honest warfare that is the Battle of Cape Bon does not happen for some reason, and Geiseric surrenders properly..
By Majorian, things already went too far : the emperor managed to play Barbarians against other Barbarians (as foederati, particularly), but it was an expedient. Ricimer already had too much control on imperium, and wouldn't accept a too powerful emperor.
What do you think the WRE would be like if it was slowly absorbed by Constantinople? Would the ERE be able to hold onto those territories more sustainably than in Justinian's wars? Would they become Greek eventually?Don't get me wrong, a more or less powerful patrician Italy could make the WRE living longer, but would wear it eventually and make it unable to undergo important reforms (as Majorian's demise points). At best the ERE would intervene to make it works again, meaning eventually a fusion of whatever remains of WRE with its eastern counterpart.
It might be what you search, tough : a general weariness of the WRE being swallowed up by the ERE, instead of being reconquered.
Even if he took back part of Africa, I'd tend to think it would be short-lived, and that it would have overstretched its political and resources possibilities at this point.
Africa, the only WRE province untouched by war, and therefore having important enough fiscal revenues, was already lost; and Barbarians were established as foederati a bit everywhere. That made a survival of WRE as an independent entity a bit perilous, as doable as with Majorian (as in not really plausible on long-term).
That said his survival, with a surviving Theodosian dynasty in the West may help things, would it be only because you'd get rid of the political instability its disappearance provoked. Would this be enough for WRE to survive? It's going to be hard, but it's IMO the latest possible PoD.
If Ricimer died/was killed, and Majorian was succeeded by a strong leader, why couldn't the Romans play off the foederati against each other to consolidate their power?
Mostly because WRE would have been either more and more reliant on foederati and Romano-Barbarian armies to the point being absorbated by these as IOTL, or either it becomes reliant on Eastern Romania's resources and at best becomes a mega-exarchate.What do you think the WRE would be like if it was slowly absorbed by Constantinople?
I think so : Justinian wars, especially in Italy, had a relatively flawed political vision of the post-Imperial west. Gothic Wars lasted for decades, and in Africa even with Vandals quickly defeated Byzantines had to fight (and loose territorialy) against Mauri.Would the ERE be able to hold onto those territories more sustainably than in Justinian's wars?
ERE wasn't much as Greek than mostly (and both) Hellenic and Latin : let's not forget that Romanisation, in the East, was made along Hellenic features since the Ist century.Would they become Greek eventually?
It was. Again, we're talking military and fiscal resources there and Vandals had both.Was the Vandal hold on Africa that strong?
How dangerous were the remnants of the Huns at this point?
Wasn't there a lot of Hunnic mercenaries in Belisarius' army?Not much : their confederation was broken after the battle of Nedao in 454, and even if Dengizich tried to partially restore a part of his father hegemony along the shores of Black Sea (not totally unsuccessful as he gathered a good part of Huns as well than some Iranian and Germanic elements) the war he waged against ERE ended pitifully in 469.
Whatever remained of the Hunnic confederacy was settled as foederati in Dobruja under Ernak's rule, and eventually disappeared into oblivion : we don't know anything more of Huns after 470*
You could technically maintain an Hunnic (understanding largely Sarmatized mix of Hunnic, Germanic and Iranian peoples) north of Danube tough, along the Black Sea. Sort of an eastern equivalent to Gepids. It might have interesting consequences on the ethnical and political development of the region (less because of immediate changes, but what it could imply on Kurtigurs or Avar presence).
*Ethnically, Hunnic confederacy was composed of a lot of people on which Huns proper weren't that dominant, it's possible they mixed up with Goths and went in Italy with Theodoric. But that's just a personal hypothesis.
Wasn't there a lot of Hunnic mercenaries in Belisarius' army?
At least some Saxons were already there (and had been for some time), and the reason for importing Saxons was because the Romano-Britons were already losing to the various invaders already in Britain.Vortigern is able to keep out the barbarians .This might not be a proper empire but Roman society will continue until either the Irish or Picts get ambitious .
Define Roman Rule, because in some ways Rome wasn't under Roman rule even when the Western Empire is still recorded in the history books. When you look at it, 475 and 476 were not special years. Nothing really happened during it to make the fall of Rome a necessity. Had it not been for Romulus Augustulus being put forward, the Empire could have conceivably lasted for years, if not decades longer. Having the Emperor around was a useful tool. Orestes complicated the issue, so that when Nepos died later on it was more trouble than it was worth and Rome itself nominally was reunited under Eastern Roman suzerainty and a cultural-political blending of Roman and Barbarian institutions and identities that would only truly break a century or two later, and would never completely die out depending on how one looks at it.What was the absolute latest time that the Western Roman Empire, or at least a significant part (2+ provinces), could have remained under Roman rule?
During Majorian's reign?
Majorian's position with the elites in Italy is roughly similar to that of Stilicho. There wasn't much good will between them, but as long as Majorian was successful, they wouldn't move against him. IOTL of course the moment he slipped up, they took their chance. Everyone plays Ricimer out as the villain in this, and no doubt there's some truth to it, but more likely is Ricimer didn't have much of a choice if he wanted to keep power himself-He was the one who had to deal with the elites in Italy daily, and he probably calculated after Majorian's failure that either he was going to join in taking Majorian out or go down with him.