An Age of Miracles: The Revival of Rhomanion

[Arrix85]

Originally Posted by ed_montague

The Milanese can still beg forgiveness on account of how they were sort of dominated by the Hungarians and thus were compelled under duress or something. I can picture some smooth-talking diplomat managing to weasel his way out of all that.

Good for them if they manage to get out of this scot-free. Sounds unlikely, many officers in the roman army (among them Doukas) supported Leo thanks to his mad plan to conquer all of Italy (and to have a mare nostrum again), for them the attack on Romagna (a special place in roman minds thanks to Ravenna) would be a slight difficult to pass on and it could give them a boost when it comes to convince Herakleios to punish them.

If such smooth-talker exists the duke may want to give him a huge raise.

[Basileus444]

One advantage Rhomania would hold over the OTL Kaiserreich is significantly more time to work the bugs out of the system. Obviously there will be differences between the two, but the Kaiserreich is likely going to be the closest OTL equivalent to modern Roman government.

I hope it's okay, but based on responses to the 1907 foray, I'm not going to make any 'far-future' forays save for cryptic hints (because those are fun ), and I'm declaring any made thus far to be non-canon. They represent a possible, but not definite future.

Regarding Milan, they were stuck in a bit of a hard place. If they waited to attack, and Stephen won, then the Milanese would have to deal with a very annoyed Hungary. In retrospect, staying out was the best thing to do, but hindsight is 20/20.

Milan does not fear the Florentines, but it was nervous about taking on Florence and the Romans at the same time.

However Milan is not entirely without resources. While the Romagnan invasion failed, the duchy itself was completely untouched by war and its army not too badly damaged. Right now Milan has a breathing space, with the d'Estes badly mauled and the Venetians occupied in Dalmatia. So Milan's best bet is to swallow its pride, offer reparations, and hope Herakleios is feeling generous. His answer will be one of the first things covered in the next update.

[Mathalamus]

Originally Posted by Basileus444

I hope it's okay, but based on responses to the 1907 foray, I'm not going to make any 'far-future' forays save for cryptic hints (because those are fun ), and I'm declaring any made thus far to be non-canon. They represent a possible, but not definite future..

so the ghost of theodoros badly breaking the temporal prime directive is possible future history?

[Arrix85]

Originally Posted by Mathalamus

so the ghost of theodoros badly breaking the temporal prime directive is possible future history?

That was deemed as a funny take on the colonization of SAfrica a long time ago. I apologize if you were not serious, but sometimes my radar is down.

I fully support the decision on future forays, even if I did like them as they were teasers and not spoilers.

*note to self: don't mention them again EVER*

[Dragos Cel Mare]

Okay, I need help for a Nation Game, where I'm playing as a Byzantine Empire that survived until the 1800s. Anyway, in said game, I'm taking a lot of inspiration from AAoM in its backstory (how it survived). Can anyone give me some speculation as to how the Military in this TL would have evolved by then?

[Basileus444]

The Theodoros ghost update wasn't meant to be taken seriously.

I like writing the 'far future' updates, but at the same time I don't like limiting myself to having certain events happen in a certain way.

@Dragos: Maybe this update will help.

"A wall has many places to hide a spider."-Unknown origin

1517: Herakleios’ first order of business is the war with Hungary and Milan. With the arrival of spring, large offensive operations are possible and many in the European tagmata are eager to get underway. However the Emperor has different thoughts. First, Andreas’ last instructions to him were ‘to give the Empire peace’. And second, Herakleios has no desire for a war that would serve to strengthen many of those who had sided against him in favor of Leo.

Thus Herakleios elects to pursue peace come April. His position is stronger than it was a few months earlier. With the arrival of spring, he is no longer losing weight (although he is still alarmingly thin), and now large-scale maneuvers of the Anatolian tagmata are possible. With Demetrios of Kyzikos as his Megas Domestikos, the Anatolian tagmata are significantly warmer both to Herakleios and the idea of peace. The eastern strategoi view the Ottoman Empire as the chief danger to Imperial security, and see an European war of conquest as pointless at best, reckless at worst.

Herakleios (or more properly Venera, who in actuality conducts most of the Emperor’s business) is also helped by prompt peace proposals from both Buda and Milan, so he can truthfully say he did not go begging for peace. Milan pays a large cash settlement as reparations, but is otherwise untouched. Hungary too makes a large payment in bullion, plus a pledge of 51,000 hyperpyra for the next eight years. At the same time the city of Ragusa is ceded to the Roman Empire, although to avoid enlarging the Epirote theme (whose strategos is Stefanos Doukas) it is granted vassal status.

Stephen’s position back in Buda is shaky at best. Manfred immediately capitalizes on Hungarian weakness, launching a bold drive to reclaim his ancestral Bavarian lands. But even after the Iron Gates, Hungary will not go down easily. The main army is too weak to challenge Manfred in the field, but the wave of hussar raids triple in tempo. Fast and light, they are difficult to engage and exceedingly thorough in their work of destruction. Their scorched earth tactics are what brings Manfred’s offensive to a crawl before it can make much headway.

Yet indirectly the Hungarian hussars benefit Manfred’s cause. Their devastation convinces the German princes to contribute on a consistent, quarterly basis to a common war chest, the outlays of which are controlled by Manfred. When several raiding parties are destroyed and their booty recaptured, a common court under Manfred’s directive is established to arrange speedy and proper return of the goods. Also for the first time the phrase ‘the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’ is used in official documents.

Despite the strengthening foundations of Manfred’s German state, the hussars’ military success temporarily stabilize Stephen’s position. That is until August, when Milan repudiates its ties of vassalage.

Despite the fact that its only major operation was a failure, the Duchy of Milan has done rather well out of the War of the Iron Gates. Its new, young Duke Tommaso Laskaris-Visconti (named after his paternal ancestor Emperor Thomas I Laskaris) has used the intervening time to weed out several incompetent officers and promote more promising leaders from their ranks. While the peace settlement with the Empire strained the Duchy’s finances, its manpower losses are rather minor.

Tommaso’s first move is to overrun Modena and Mantua, both granted to Stephen’s bastard brothers by Emperor Andrew when he vassalized Milan. Both operations take place on the same day and quickly overrun their targets with little opposition due to careful maintenance of surprise and well-coordinated angles of attack that rapidly overwhelm the defenses.

Milan is capable of performing such a feat because after Rhomania and the Papacies its bureaucracy is the most advanced in Europe. It was the Milanese who first invented double-entry bookkeeping, and under Tommaso’s influence the widespread Roman practice of the printing press and standardized forms is being imitated.

Modena and Mantua are not the sole extent of Tommaso’s ambitions. Although his repudiation of the vassalage arrangement is an act of war, the Duke does not strike against Hungary. Instead four thousand men are directed to hold the Piave River against Magyar raids while the main Milanese army invades Piedmont.

The Duchy of Savoy is not a formal ally of Hungary, but Tommaso has no desire to leave his back exposed. The well armored Milanese, splendidly equipped with handguns and cannons, defeat the Savoyards in three sharp engagements, and Tommaso celebrates Christmas in Turin, the Count of Montferrat’s wife and daughter serving some of the dishes.

Constantinople is not idle either. Although Herakleios lacks the strength to do much governing, he is able to make a momentous decision in the history of the Roman army. The War Room had been instituted by Andreas, but its staff had been rather arbitrarily selected from amongst the regular officers. Herakleios does not trust said officers, and it is his desire to gain supporters amongst the army that spur his reforms, rather than questions of military efficiency.

First, the official ‘War Room’ and the reason for its name is established, a large chamber in the White Palace (the original ‘War Room’ had been a country villa) where it remains to this day. The War Room is staffed by full-time specialists, who are not officers taking a break from regular command but dedicated staff officers, whose sole job is the creation and fine-tuning of the multitude of war plans.

Since the work in the War Room is an academic exercise conducted indoors, Herakleios is able to participate. He personally drafts two war plans against the Ottoman Empire, one of which draws very heavily on the campaigns of Herakleios I, and quickly wins the loyalty of the War Room officers. Herakleios then institutes his second reform in December, where an officer is sent to each tagma to brief the strategoi on their place in the war plans. They also serve as Herakleios’ eyes amongst the tagmata.

Herakleios needs them, as his second foreign policy move is exceedingly unpopular. Reports from the Office of Barbarians have been flooding in that Malik Said of Al-Andalus is contemplating repudiating his vassalage. The Andalusi have been growing discontent over the lackluster Roman response to the Barbary pirates, with Andreas’ abortive African campaign only serving to heighten tension because of the lack of any follow-up to the sack of Bizerte.

Herakleios’ decision shocks everybody. He confronts the Malik’s representative with what he knows, and offers to release Al-Andalus for a price. The Emperor reckons that holding Al-Andalus against its will would be prohibitively expensive, with the Andalusi tribute not worth enough to justify the cost. On November three Andalusi carracks sail into the Golden Horn with the price. It is 11 million hyperpyra, more than eleven times than Mary of Antwerp’s dowry worth (including the attached loans). Herakleios publicly burns the vassalage treaty, and welcomes Said’s envoy as the new ambassador of Al-Andalus.

Many though are disgusted by the action, with the almost casual abandonment of a province won by Andreas. Venera counters that Andreas had won Al-Andalus with a few drops of ink and no blood, and that eleven million hyperpyra is a rather high profit margin considering that kind of investment.

Venera is the one that puts the money to good use, as she is the one truly running the Empire. Herakleios has strength for his War Room activities, but little else. She commissions the upgrading of several eastern border fortresses, as well as the construction of several more along the Ottoman border. At the same time the defenses of Constantinople are given an absolutely massive upgrade.

A new set of walls is planned, stretching from the village of Kyklobion (OTL Zeytinburnu) to the Imperial arsenal, whose defenses are incorporated into the design. The walls, which are known as the Herakleian Walls, are a far larger version of the Maltese star forts. With squat, sloping walls studded with bastions, plus a network of nine redoubts set before them, the Herakleian Walls once completed will be to the early modern era what the Theodosian Walls were to the medieval period. At the same time those ancient fortifications are upgraded, with several towers reinforced to support heavy artillery, with others rebuilt in triangular form to eliminate blind spots.

The sheer scale of the construction project quickly eats through the Andalusi payment, and taxes have to be raised. Despite that, Venera’s project is surprisingly well supported. The Hungarian invasion has once again exposed the vulnerability of Constantinople to attack, and the Roman people are feeling insecure now that Andreas ‘The Vanquisher of all Rhomania’s foes’ is no longer with them.

Ethiopia too suffers the loss of a great war hero. In July an Ethiopian delegation arrives in Constantinople to sign what is known to history simply as The Accord, a mutual defense alliance between the Roman Empire and Ethiopia. Although in its initial form it is directed solely towards their joint competitors in the Indian Ocean, it is, despite certain intermissions and misunderstandings, one of the most enduring political agreements in the history of the world.

One of the signatories is Brihan of Merawi. However it is the last thing that she does. The long voyage had been very hard on her health, and on August 7 she dies in Constantinople. At her request she is buried there, where her simple mausoleum remains to this day, an enduring reminder that the long lonely night of Ethiopia has ended. It is just down the street from where the body of Andreas Niketes rests.

However there are many who would dispute that. Many of the lower class believe that Andreas actually returned from the dead to fight the Hungarians and that his story of faking his demise was just a ruse. Inevitably the story goes that just as Andreas returns once from the grave to fight the enemies of Rhomania, so shall he return when the Roman people need him most. Even many merchants believe the tale, and they spread it on their travels.

Many of them spread it in the east, but a new development appears that year. Thus far Ethiopian expansion has largely been on riding the coattails of Romans, but in July the Ethiopians forge ahead. They are the first westerners to sail into Malacca on their own vessels, setting up a trading post. At the same time, encouraged by the gold and ivory trade with the Omani Wilayah of Mogadishu, Ethiopian traders begin working their way down the east African coast, an area untouched by Roman ships.

There are also some Ethiopian merchants who are interested in further fields. Some of the more ambitious kaffos merchants would like to expand their operations into the rest of Europe, but they would like to cut out the Roman middlemen, preferably by sailing around them.

[Derekc2]

Once the Heraklean Wall is done I want to see a picture of it. It'll look so badass

Also can we see a map for only France to see who occupies what at the momment.

[Grouchio]

In today's news: Emperor Heracles gets shit done, figuratively and literally.

[ed_montague]

A bit of administrative reform never hurt anyone.

Glad to see that Brihan died old, rather than getting herself martyred. Ethiopia's really blasting away. At this rate, Ethiopian ships will rival the Rhoman fleet.

I can't help but laugh at the idea of people trying to get around Africa from the other side. Stomping all over history as we know it is loads of fun.

Unless the butterflies have really been in effect, the Americas should be almost the same as OTL (excepting chaos theory stuff which is silly). I can imagine that this timeline's Cortez and Pizarro will approach the New World from the opposite direction.

[Dragos Cel Mare]

Thanks, B444. The Laskarids still rule in my Nation Game, so I'll change the name of the 'Herakliean' Walls. Also, the 'War Room' idea is great, thanks.

[eliphas8]

The war room seems like a fairly vital aspect of finally leashing the provisional strategoi when this all done.

[Elfwine]

Originally Posted by eliphas8

The war room seems like a fairly vital aspect of finally leashing the provisional strategoi when this all done.

Maybe not perfectly, but it at least strengthens the hand of the Emperor.

And well, perfect doesn't happen. Having something where the Emperor can keep an eye on things without depending on the very men he's assigned the watchers to being the watchers is a good thing.

Something like the Prussian General Staff - in regards to it's adjusting things as war shows areas of the army that need improvement or more attention - would be another good step, although I suspect the War Room will handle that in practice.

[The Sandman]

Originally Posted by ed_montague

Unless the butterflies have really been in effect, the Americas should be almost the same as OTL (excepting chaos theory stuff which is silly). I can imagine that this timeline's Cortez and Pizarro will approach the New World from the opposite direction.

Well, for starters, the political situation is going to be different everywhere in the Americas with complex enough societies to have a political situation. A few extra decades before European diseases start killing people by the millions can't hurt.

In particular, the Inca are unlikely to go down anywhere near as easily as they did IOTL, since the set of circumstances that let Pizarro conquer the Empire was fantastically unlikely. The Mexica, on the other hand, might not even be there by the time Europeans or Ethiopians show up; IIRC, there was a decent chance that there would have been massive revolts by their vassal states (the ones Cortes relied upon for manpower IOTL) had European conquest not intervened.

[Mathalamus]

they built another set of walls defending Constantinople?

uh, where are the walls? i found the suburb. it seems quite a distance away from Constantinople. do the walls begin at the coast around there, and end on the cost of the marmara sea?

what's next? a massive set of fortifications to counter a modern army, like the Maginot line, only smaller?

Originally Posted by Dragos Cel Mare

Thanks, B444. The Laskarids still rule in my Nation Game, so I'll change the name of the 'Herakliean' Walls. Also, the 'War Room' idea is great, thanks.

what game is that?

[Dragos Cel Mare]

Originally Posted by Mathalamus

what game is that?

You're interested? Here.

[Elfwine]

Originally Posted by Mathalamus

they built another set of walls defending Constantinople?

uh, where are the walls? i found the suburb. it seems quite a distance away from Constantinople. do the walls begin at the coast around there, and end on the cost of the marmara sea?

what's next? a massive set of fortifications to counter a modern army, like the Maginot line, only smaller?

You say that as if that's a bad thing.

[eliphas8]

Originally Posted by Dragos Cel Mare

You're interested? Here.

Hmm, mind sending me a PM on how a nation game works? I've never played but that looks like fun. Also who isnt claimed, would definately prefer to play a secondary country for the first time.

[Dragos Cel Mare]

Originally Posted by eliphas8

Hmm, mind sending me a PM on how a nation game works? I've never played but that looks like fun. Also who isnt claimed, would definately prefer to play a secondary country for the first time.

You can just ask someone; there are many who would want to help a newbie as long as they don't do stuff like try to colonize Africa as Serbia (which fails badly).

[Mathalamus]

Originally Posted by Elfwine

You say that as if that's a bad thing.

you misunderstand. its a good thing they are making Constantinople downright impossible to take. i just never through that they would build another set of walls, which i thought was obsolete already.

i do hope the Romans learn that.

[Mathalamus]

Originally Posted by Dragos Cel Mare

You're interested? Here.

interesting. but sadly, i got used to another forum nations game. i could introduce the concept, but i don't have the energy to moderate it.