What if Rome had never fallen to the Barbarians ?

This AH is the translation of an AH I'm currently writing in French. The first French version was published on my website www.bryaxis.be before it was put online at www.changingthetimes.net

The first English translation was made for The Nitpick Club ( http://z11.invisionfree.com/The_Nitpick_Club ) before being sent to Changingthetimes and finally coming here.

It takes as POD the edict of Caracala which gave in 212 the roman citizenship to all free men living inside the Empire.

Chapter I : A throne in peril

Chapter I, section 1 : Two centuries and a half of Empire

When Emperor Augustus died in 14 AD he left behind to his successor Tiberius a powerfull empire with strong natural borders and a powerfull army some 20 legions strong ready to repulse any barbarian invasion. For some 200 years the Empire knew peace and prosperity despite the murder of numerous emperors. Barbarians, while a constant threat, were ignored by most peoples as a distant and negligible threat. Emperors like Marcus Aurelius had beaten them repeatedly on the borders, some more adventurous like Trajanus going as far as taking their lands in Dacia in 106 AD and Parthia in 116 AD.

Even if some emperors had been really awfull like the mad Nero, the cruel Commodius and the demented Caracalla their actions had no real consequences on the life of the Empire and the economy kept growing.

But then came a period of troubles : from 215 onwards emperors only ruled for a few month before being killed by rebelious generals taking with them the border armies to battle the armies of the legitimate emperor. They were exceptions, like the rule of Severus Alexander ( 222-235 AD ) but the situation worsened to the point that in 238 no less than 6 emperors ruled on various parts of the empire, leading to widespread destructions in northern Africa and northern Italy at a time when barbarian armies attack in both Germania and Dacia.

Finally came Gordianus III who managed to restore order in Italy before going to Syria where the Parthians are getting restless, restoring the peace in Dacia while going there. For five years he ruled, mainly fighting in the east, before he died from a battle wound that left his prefect of the praetorium in charge of the Empire.
This man was called Phillipus and later generations would remember him for his birthplace by calling him Philippus the Arab.

Chapter I, section 2 : From Phillipus the Arab to Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus

In 244 AD Phillipus had become Emperor of a nation in trouble. He who was not of the senatorial elite had been appointed by the army without support from the Senate was also at war with the Parthians. His priorities were thus to make an honourable peace with Shapur I and then get back to Rome before a rival arose.

So after an agreement where he paid 500 000 gold coins to the Parthians for his prisoners, kept the newly conquered lands and gave a free hand to the Parthians in Armenia Philipus retreated to Antiochos where he received the news that the Senate agreed to his accession to the throne. There he re-organised the eastern armies before going back to Rome, crushing the Carpes in the danubian area while passing by.

But soon his power began to dissolve as rebellion sprang in various parts of the Empire, mostly in the east due to the heavy taxes his brother imposed on the locals. To quell the unrest Phillipus sent Gaius Messius Quintus Trajanus Decius, his Prefect of the Praetorium, with an army. But as soon as Decius ended his mission his troops revolted and put him as the new emperor. Immediately Phillipus began to raise new troops but was unable to train them well enough in time and thus, less than 5 years after getting on the throne he was defeated at Veronnes. Yet Decius had not time to celebrate since new troubles on the Danube called for his immediate attention, gothic tribes having invaded the area.

While on the way he published a number of edicts in order to restore the moral integrity of the Empire after his christian liking predecessor. In those edicts he ordered to all the citizens of the Empire to pray the Gods for the well being of the Empire, with the death penalty for all those who would'nt, thus causing a jew and christians hunt in all the Empire.

But in 251 the Goth killed Decius and for two years the succession was uncertain until 253 when Publius Licinius Valerianus and his son Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus took power, dividing the empire between themselve in order to stabilise the borders. In 259 a renewed Parthian agression forced Valerianus to go fight them while his son had to face barbarian invasions on both the Rhine and the Danube. He faced them when news came of his father capture and later death in 260, making him sole emperor 7 years after gaining power.

Chapter II : The warriors emperors ( 261 AD - 284 AD )

Chapter II, section I : Gallienus' reign

Following the news of Valerianus' capture by the parthians and his subsequent death revolts errupted in various parts of the Empire, the worst being Ingenuus' revolt. Unable to operate on all fronts Gallienus decided to let Postumus, the so called "gallic emperor", defend the rhine border and send Odenaethus as Dux to restore order in the east. Himself would stay in the center of the Empire in order to re-organise the country in order to strengthen it and professionalise the army's officers corp. One of his main decision was to transfer all the army commands from the senators to the equites whom he hoped would revolt less often against the Emperor.

Yet in 265 Postumus tried to invade Italy from his holdings in Gaul and was repulsed, thus begining a 3 years long war which ended in a pitched battle near Augustodunum ( Autun ) where Gallienus victory was total. In order not to weaken the border too much the Emperor spared the life of Postumus' soldiers for he knew that the Germans had attacked in 262 and remained a real threat.

But while he was in Gaul another crisis erupted in northern Italy for an alemanic invasion force had crossed the border. Too occupied by his operations in Gaul Gallienus sent Marcus Aurelius Claudius to restaure the situation. After a hard fought battle near the Lago di Garda* Claudius was able to repulse the Alamans but had no time to rejoice for another and far more dangerous invasion was taking place in the Balkans. Indeed gothic tribes had crossed the Danubius and had gone as far south as Athens which they had taken and pillaged like they had pillaged many other cities and sanctuaries on their ways. The barbarian had gone as far as building a fleet with which they had also attacked coastal cities of Asia Minor.

After a great battle on the Nestus river and a serie of other minor engagements Claudius was able to get back all the stolen treasuaries and repulse the fleeing barbarians outside of the realm, thus gaining the surname of "Gothicus".

During this time in Italy a cavalery officer of Mediolanum ( Milano ) called Aureolus thought the time good to revolt. Yet he had acted on bad informations since he thought that Gallienus was still in the north when the Emperor was in fact coming home after having re-organised the Rhine defense. In late 268 Aureolus was defeated in battle and then killed by the Emperor who had little respite since another barbarian invasion happened then, Juthunges and Vandales tribes having crossed the border. It was not until 271 and a battle near Paduvium ( Padua ) that the threat was eliminated.

Yet peace was not to last for long since Zenobia, the queen of Palmyra, decided to declare war on the Empire in order to control all of Syria and Judea. Gallienus, feeling too old, decided to send Claudius Gothicus, promoted to the rank of Master of the Horses, to this new eastern war, where it took 2 years to capture Zenobia and bring peace to the area.

Impressed Gallienus decided to adopt Claudius as his heir to the throne. The next year Gallienus finally died after 21 years of rule, almost a miracle after years of instability.


* I don't know the english or latin name of this lake

Chapter II, section II : Claudius II the Gothic

Claudius' accession to the throne happened rather well, without any major insurrection for his efficiency in the recent campaigns against the Goth and Zenobia he had led in the name of Gallienus had shown to everyone he was an efficient soldier able to defeat anyone on the field. Also the reforms of the army made by Gallienus had deeply changed the composition of the officer corp, also leading to a greater stability in the Empire.

Immediately Claudius thought about his succession and associated Claudius Quintillus, his brother, to the throne, and gave him the command of the danubian border with the title of Dux Danubii. He also promoted in 275 AD the general Probus, whom he had met during the campaign against Zenobia, Dux Orientalis with order to secure the eastern borders including Armenia, which had seen a return of parthian influence.

Claudius himself dealt with the Gallic border where a large invasion by thousands of Alamans and Franks had occurred. Cutting their way outside of the country the Emperor forced them to battle and after defeating them he crossed the Rhine and lay waste to all territories east of the river. Some writers of the time spoke of as much as 400 000 barbarians killed or captured, and a huge drop in slaves price occurred on the markets of the western half of the Empire. Also a lot of the loot was given back to the ravaged towns of the area.

Thanks to this swift reaction the border would be safe for years to come, but the Emperor took no chances as he ordered a massive fortification program with many communities getting sturdy walls able to resist any barbarian siege.

While Claudius was thus occupied Probus had to deal with an invasion of Egypt by the Blemmyes, those desert warriors living far in the south along the Nile. At the same time Claudius Quintillus had to face two different barbarian invasions on the Danube. After defeating the Vandals and the Burgundies in Rhetia he had to run for Thracia where sarmatians troops ravaged the area. During the fight against the enemy's heavy cavalry the Dux Danubii was wounded and died shortly after, to the great despair of the Emperor who then named in 279 AD Probus as his successor and Marcus Aurelius Carus Dux Danubii.

The wars had depleted the ranks of the Gallic and Danubian armies. Claudius thus decided to revive an old practice dating back to the days of the republic : the military colonies. Poor citizens from the city of Rome were given lands in the border area and had an obligation to serve in the army.

Gallienus' reforms and Claudius' peace had given the economy a new strength, with exchanges coming back between the provinces. This gave the treasury a boost in taxes incomes which in turn allowed those taxes to be lowered by the Emperor, in a successful attempt to help the economy.

He strengthened the economic recovery by introducing a monetary reform combined with a program of retiring old coins from circulation. Another measure he took was to allow large scale wine production outside Italy, to which it had been long restricted, a decision who allowed the Gallic provinces to recover more quickly than would have been possible otherwise.

Thus when Claudius II the Gothic died in 282 he left behind a stronger Empire to his designed successor, Probus.

Chapter II, section III : Probus Parthicus

Marcus Aurelius Probus, the new Emperor, was born in Sirmium in Pannonia, one of the key places of the Danubian Limes. Since he was a child the soldiers had been all around him and his whole career had been in the military. Having been made Dux Orientalis from 275 until his recall in Rome by Claudius II in 279 he had been sent back in the East in 280 in order to forge a peace treaty with Varham II, the Parthia's Emperor, something he achieved in 281. He was thus on the way home when he learned of the death of Claudius and sped on to Rome in order to receive the purple of the Imperial office from the Senate.

He hoped the treaty with Parthia and the police actions led against the barbarians during Claudius' reign would give him some peace but he soon learned that the oriental empire had betrayed the pact between Rome and Ctesiphon and that armies were on the way toward Apamea.

Immediately he took the elite imperial forces with him and set forth toward the East by land, reviewing the danubian defenses on the way. As he was near his birth town of Sirmium he met a party of soldiers doing some reparation work on the road. Seeing those soldiers lacked discipline he ordered some harsh punishments on them but they revolted and attacked the numerii ( barbarian imperial bodyguard, 200 men strong ) escorting the Emperor. A fierce fight erupted, quickly ended when the Praetorian Guard intervened to protect the Emperor. Yet they couldn't prevent the wounding of the emperor by one of the rebels. Luckily the wound proved harmless but shacked Probus who realized he had not named any successor yet. He thus named his Prefect of the Praetorian Guard Marcus Aurelius Carus, another veteran of the eastern wars, his heir and tasked him with the defense of the west of the Empire while he was in the East.

He then continued his road, taking with him 3 danubian legions which he joined with the forces he had ordered to prepare for action, including half of the Egyptian legion and all of the oriental legions, for a total of 14 legions and numerous auxiliary units ranging from plain infantry to archers to clibanarii and cataphracti heavy cavalry units in order to fight off the powerful parthian heavy cavalry.

Quickly he was able to pocket the parthian invasion army in Syria, destroying them swiftly before invading the enemy's lands. Soon he had taken control of most of Mesopotamia and Probus decided that those lands would be kept by the romans. He thus re-created the old provinces created by Trajanus in 117. He decided to embark on a grand scheme that would see roman control of all the lands from the Caspian sea and the Caucasus chain in the north to the Persian gulf to the south, only the Arabian peninsula staying free from roman rule. But this required him to crush the minor kingdom of Armenia, client state of the romans and the parthians depending on the time. Currently it was under parthian control and thus Probus embarked on it's conquest, a task that took him most of the spring and summer of 283 when he annexed Armenia as a direct roman province. He was still at Tigranocerta when a parthian embassy came and asked for peace terms. Crushed as their armies were they had no hopes left of ever wining against the romans in this war.

They thus recognized their defeat in the treaty and left all lands west of the iranian mountains to the Romans. They then relocated their capital to the old Persian imperial capital of Persepolis and would never be a threat to Rome any more for internal troubles and foreign invasions would lead them in a long period of decay.

After this extraordinary victory the Emperor Probus went back to Rome but caught a disease and died suddenly in Athens, to the great sadeness of the whole Empire.

Chapter II, section IV : An hard fought succession

The news of the Emperor's death came as a thunder out of a blue sky in the Empire. In Rome a saddened Senate named M. Aurelius Carus as the new Emperor, following the succession arrangements made by Probus. But in Athens C. Aurelius Diocles Diocletianus was also named Emperor by it's troops while a third contender named Julianus appeared in Illyria.

Immediately Carus called a legion from Gaul and raised two new legions in Italy, training them until the spring when he left for Illyria. There he won an hard battle against Julianus who had only one legion but this only unit was made of veteran soldiers who inflicted massive casualties on the legions of Carus. As he rested after the battle he was struck by the three legions under Diocletianus, veterans of the recent campaign in Parthia. Crushing the Gaulish legion they force the two other units to surrender while Carus dies leading an ultimate charge against Diocletianus who is then the only master of the Empire.

These are the first two of 6 chapters currently written, I'd be pleased to hear your thoughts.

It looks great so far. There aren't too many Roman TLs for the Mid-Empire Period. My only question is what exactly is your POD? Your first post says that the divergence is Caracalla giving away the citizenship, but that happened in OTL. Does he not give it away in this TL?

Yes I should have been more clear. Indeed Caracalla does not publish his edict ( which was mainly concerned with taxes historically, and administrative simplification ) thus letting the Augustean system of citizenship acquisition stand : only imperial grant of citizenship or birth in a city of roman citizenship statut or accession to high municipal responsibilities or freedom given to a slave by a roman citizen or 20 years service in the army gives the citizenship.

The last kind of citizenship is the most important one since it means that recruitment in the army has still a lot of appeal, something which is important mainly later ( 4th century ).

Chapter III : The consolidation of the Empire ( 284-305 )


Chapter III, section I : Diocletian facing the Empire


After the end of the second battle of Sirmium the whole Empire was once more united under a single Emperor even if Diocletian's legates had to crush some minor local revolts in the following months. Yet Diocletian found this Empire too big for a single man to rule alone, for all of the really successful emperors had needed talented and loyal generals under their command to act on various fronts simultaneously. The trouble being that event the most loyal generals sometimes revolted under pressure from their men.

The priority for Diocletian was thus to organize a system allowing the runing of an empire going from the Atlantic to the Euphrate, from Scotland to the Nile.

Taking Probus Parthicus's reforms of the Mesopotamian lands as model, re-uniting small provinces which at been bigger in the earlier Empire, to be under the orders of senators of preatorian rank with only civilian powers and without a single army troop under their orders, using vigiles made of freed slaves to keep order in the cities of their provinces.


Those provinces would be put in 12 areas under Praefects : Britannia, Belgica, Gallia, Hispania, Dalmatia, Dacia, Graecia, Asia Minor, Syria, Aegypta, Africa et Mesopotamia. Those would be held by former Consuls who would have a legion and some auxiliary troops under their command for internal peacekeeping, the exact number varying with the proximity of the border.

As for the borders themselves they would be put under the responsability of the 4 Duces Limitanei, the Dux Africae, Dux Mesopotamiae, Dux Danubii et Dux Rhenanii. Named by the Emperor, professional soldiers coming from the equestrian career, they would have 3 legions and auxiliary forces under their command. The Emperor himself would keep a strategic reserve of 3 legions in Italy, as well as the imperial fleet at Misena for rapid deployment.

In total it was 30 legions, 180 000 men, plus 120 000 auxiliary troops, 300 000 fighters for an empire of some 10 to 12 millions.

This system made sure no one was able to raise more troops than the Emperor and that their would be forces left to guard the provinces even if a Dux tried to revolt. Also this made sure the state had men to proceed to many public works outside of the camps, be it building an aqueduct or a road for example. The army would also stay in charge of the exploitation of the gold mines of the Empire.

This system would stay the same during the 20 years that Diocletian ruled over the Empire, leading to a renewed era of peace and prosperity during which no barbarian raid breached the borders and no important revolt took place.

10 to 12 millions? AFAIK Augustus had the people of his empire counted and had 50 millions (half of them in Europe). I read sometimes that the empire's population shrunk, but that much?

Chapter III, section 2 : the war of the 3 Duces

By the end of Diocletian's reign four great generals assured the defense of the borders of the Empire : M. Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, Dux Africae, C. Galerius Valerius Maximianus, Dux Mesopotamiae, C. Flavius Valerius Constantius, Dux Danubii and Flavius Valerius Severus, Dux Galliae. Each had won great reputation serving the Empire, but it was Marcus Aurelius Valerius Maximianus, also know as Maximianus Hercule, that had been designated as Emperor by the dying Diocletian. For this reason he had been assigned to Africa because Carthage was very close to Rome and Diocletian hoped it would lead to a peaceful succession. Also making the rank of Dux Africae the natural rank of the heir to the throne was natural since the province of Africa had always been the top of any career during the earlier Empire since the time of Augustus, given only to the most brilliant ex consuls.

But the Duces Galliae and Danubii were not happy with the new situation and when Diocletian died in 305 they immediately crowned themselves Emperor. Maximianus Hercule took his three African legions and the legion of the Praefect and went to Neapolis ( Napoli ) from where he went to Rome where a fearful Senate gave him the scepter of power. Taking his legions, the three imperial legions and the praetorian guard ( which had been bought with the gold of African senators hopping to get good positions after the civil war ) Maximianus went north. Opposing him were Gaius Flavius Valerius Constantius, also known as Constantius Chlorus, coming with one of his three Danubian legions and the legions of the Praefect of Dalmatia and Dacia and Flavius Valerius Severus coming from Gaul with one of his legions and the legion of the Praefect of Gaul. Knowing well that he would'nt be able to get the crown for himself Severus decided to ally with Constantius.

But while the rebels were less numerous than the army of Maximianus they were more experimented thanks to more frequent warfare on the border, battles that sometimes put as much as 15 or even 20 000 fighters on the field, something the African units almost never did for warfare in that area was more a skirmish war. Also the African legions had come without their cavalry, left in Carthage to provide security in the area, while the Danubian army had come with some units of fearsome Cataphractii and Clibanarii heavy armored cavalry.

The two armies faced each other for two days, during which Constantius was able to persuade the commanders of the three italian legions not to fight. Thus when Maximianus deployed his forces the following day he had the bad surprise to see that the three Italian legions which camped in a separate camp did not get out. Still he was intent to fight due to some troubles in his logistical chain. Knowing of his disadvantage in cavalry he had had his men dig trenches on both sides of his legions, with big pikes in order to prevent any cavalry charge.

His four legions were deployed in two lines, with the praetorian guard kept as a reserve while the enemy had deployed the two best legions in the front with the three praefectorian legions were put in the second line while all of the cavalry was under Severus' command and kept as reserve.

The battle began with a barrage of artillery coming from the rebels lines, the excellent artillery units of the Danubian army using to the maximum extent it's special charriot mounted carroballistae. Since Trajan two century earlier the danubian artillery units were considered as elite forces and proved it on that day. Maximianus was unable to answer because in his haste he had left his own artillery in Africa, hoping to use the Italian legions' artillery but their defection had left him without any unit. His men began to retreat under the fire, each bolt going through shields and bodies, many at a time.

As this barrage of bolts and amphorae filled with burning oil stopped the gallic and danubian legions charged against the disorganized lines of the african legions. The men, unable to flee on the sides due to the ditches, had retreated into the second line disorganizing hit and making everyone in danger. The two attaquing legions were able to cut through the first line and began to push the enemy legionaries into the ditches. Seeing this Maximianus took the direct command of the praetorian guard, the most elite force of the whole empire, made of the best soldiers of every roman legion.

Yet he could not order his men to throw their pila on the enemy because they would hit has much of his men as they would hit enemies, and this allowed the gallic and danubian forces to stay organized. Thus when their trumpeters ordered them to retreat they did so correctly, leaving the battle while recovering their harmed ones and letting the three praefectorial legions of Gaul, Dacia and Danube take their place. These troops, less experimented but with a better morale, attacked in force the african's second line, breaching it.

While all this took place the cavalry of Severus had made a large detour in order to strike Maximianus' forces from behind. Seeing this the Emperor ordered a full retreat of his forces and went on foot at the head of the praetorian guard. Severus then ordered his heavy cavalry to charge the praetorians, hoping to break their formation with fear and the long kontos lance of the cavalry in order to let his clibanarii attack with their swords. Leading his men he was killed by a pilum launched by a centurion of the praetorian guard. But his men came mostly from the Danubian units of Constantius and knew they had a second general and that the battle was not lost. They kept trying to dissolve the enemy formation and a man was able to hit Maximianus. This finally broke the moral of the africans and praetorians who began to flee but the cavalry was too heavily equipped to pursue them and most got to their camp. 5000 had been killed while Constantius had lost about 300 men but more importantly was now the only contender to the throne.

On the evening the commanders of the defeated units came to offer their unconditional surrender to the new emperor who was crowned by a much more joyous Senate two days later.

Max Sinister said:

10 to 12 millions? AFAIK Augustus had the people of his empire counted and had 50 millions (half of them in Europe). I read sometimes that the empire's population shrunk, but that much?

Click to expand...

Well here the population counts more the roman citizens, those with the roman citizenship, which is not the same as the resident in the empire since in this ATL the 212 decree giving roman citizenship to every free resident of the Empire was not taken. But it is true that the figure might be too small, maybe I should raise it to 20 millions...

I'm not sure the POD works as written, but by Jove and all the Gods, I like it!

Hecatee said:

Well here the population counts more the roman citizens, those with the roman citizenship, which is not the same as the resident in the empire since in this ATL the 212 decree giving roman citizenship to every free resident of the Empire was not taken. But it is true that the figure might be too small, maybe I should raise it to 20 millions...

Click to expand...

I made some more research on the number of roman citizens with the POD of 212 and now think that with the global evolution of the roman population during the period, the greater stability, and the acquisition of new lands the citizen population of the empire is higher than the 10 to 12 millions I had previously estimated, raising to some 16 millions citizens and a total population inside the empire somewhere near 60 millions ( which is 15 millions more than the estimated OTL population of 170 and 5 millions more than the estimated numbers by Constantine's time )