Byzantine---NOT

[DuQuense]

Early forth century

Emperor Constan is considering what to do about the size of his Empire. By the time a Messager gets from the Persian Border to Rome and Back to the Frontier, whatever crisis promted the message, has been solved [one way or another] and filed and forgotten.

The Emperor is concidering spliting the Empire into several smaller Administration units. He is thinking of placing the first one north of Greece, near the Black Sea.

While thinking about it a Rabbit hops out in front of his Horse. The Horse spooks. As Constan is thinking instead of paying attention, The problem is now the next Emperors, to solve.

?What happens to Rome if the Empire isn't split?, Without the shiny new Capital of Constaninople, ?can any part of the Empire survive the coming "Long Nite"?.

[wkwillis]

Build your empire based on a capital at Valetta, the magnificent harbor at Malta. Construct huge walls around the harbor, terrace the island for maximum water collection, plant orchards and table vegetables and fruits, but ban wheat, wine grapes, and olive trees. Only allow grain fed livestock and not grazing livestock to minimize deforestation. (Cicero knew and wrote about not cutting down forests to keep springs from running dry.) Keep Gozo as a hunting preserve and supply of emergency timber for ship repair and construction. Oh yeah, and keep the Navy happy.
Now divide the Empire into nine parts. You have Turkey, the Levant, Egypt, the Mahgreb, Iberia, Britain, France, Italy, and the Balkans. The islands of the Mediterranean and the defensible provincial harbors are under the central administration. This is where your food supply comes from, your wheat, wine, olive oil, butcher's meat, fish, charcoal, lime, wool, cotton, lumber, bricks, glass, metals, etc. The provincial governments control local taxes and the militia, and the provincial proconsuls control the legions.
Since the provincial governments and proconsular legions can't get at you, and since they can't depend on raising one giant army and marching on the capital city, you can appoint competent generals to lead your armies, putting an end to the tension between efficiency and loyalty. You can let them raise or lower the size of their armies depending on their perceived threats from the local barbarian hordes.
Furthermore, you have the advantage that if they do rebel, you have all their harbors under your control and can land your fleet and army any place on their shore any time you want to, or invade from the neighboring provinces, or both. If they try to build a fleet to rival yours, you are forcing them to build a road to a mountain forest (because the closer forests are already cut down for lumber and charcoal) and build their fleet someplace without a harbor. Then they have to recruit and/or train sailors to man the fleet.
If they succeed in doing that, then they have to defeat your fleet, land on Malta, supply themselves while they are there, or attempt to take your walls by storm.
If the Empire had done that, it would still be here.

[Admiral Matt]

Could Rome have been split North-South instead of East-West?

If it had happened, I think you would end up with both Empires surviving. One in Constantinople and the other in Alexandria or Carthage.

[carlton_bach]

Originally Posted by Admiral Matt

Could Rome have been split North-South instead of East-West?

If it had happened, I think you would end up with both Empires surviving. One in Constantinople and the other in Alexandria or Carthage.

North-South doesn't make sense. The cultural and linguistic divide is east-west (Latin-Greek) and the traffic connections and trade routes, too, follow this pattern overall. What might be conceivable would be a three-way split (Europe-Africa-East)

then again, the Empire was never formally split or the capital officially moved, so the question of what one e,peror might chooseto do is rather less important than the question of where the military threats are and what parts of the empire become untenable.

Not that i ain't saying a POD with Constantine dying early is neat...

[Tyr]

The east west was north south really with the east getting Africa and not much land up north and the west getting land as far north as Britain and its major bulk in France (north compared to the east)

[Admiral Matt]

I meant that Egypt and Anatolia were both likely to hold out, so it might be interesting if they were parts of different empires.