Eurofed
Banned
Let's assume that ITTL the Roman Empire suffers no collapse and expands early on to conquer Mesopotamia, all of Germania, Cimbria, Arabia, Nubia, Caledonia, Hibernia, (through the means discussed here, here, here, and here), up to the Vistula-Dniester and Zagros borders, and bonds Persia into vassal status. The 3rd century crisis is made much lesser in severity and permanent consequences by the lack of Germanic and Persian invasions to multiply its effects. So Rome never enters a death spiral with regression to manorialism. Roman economy and society continue the gradual transition to proto-capitalist market economy with decline and marginalization of slavery that had started in the early Roman Empire.
Germanic and Arab invasions of course do not occur because those peoples have long since being absorbed by Rome, and Islam is butterflied away. The Hunnic invasion and migrations by Slavic peoples and residual unassimilated Germanic (Gothic) peoples from Scandinavia are withstood and eventually absorbed into the empire or repulsed into Sarmatia. Likewise it happens for later Avar and Magyar invasions and Norse incursions.
However, at some point the Roman Empire suffers a permanent division into a *WRE and an *ERE when an emerging East-West religious split entrenches a dynastic crisis and the latent Latin-Greek linguistic divide into political and cultural antagonism. The split causes Persia to break vassalage.
The settlement of Norse peoples is largely diverted by *WRE strength to the Baltic lands and in western Sarmatia, alongside the Dniepr and Volga trade routes. Their mingling with Baltic, Slavic, and Gothic peoples causes a third empire, a partially-Romanized Norse-Slavic-Gothic *Rus, to emerge. Norse kingdoms eventually take shape in Scandinavia and Iceland as well.
Germanic and Arab invasions of course do not occur because those peoples have long since being absorbed by Rome, and Islam is butterflied away. The Hunnic invasion and migrations by Slavic peoples and residual unassimilated Germanic (Gothic) peoples from Scandinavia are withstood and eventually absorbed into the empire or repulsed into Sarmatia. Likewise it happens for later Avar and Magyar invasions and Norse incursions.
However, at some point the Roman Empire suffers a permanent division into a *WRE and an *ERE when an emerging East-West religious split entrenches a dynastic crisis and the latent Latin-Greek linguistic divide into political and cultural antagonism. The split causes Persia to break vassalage.
The settlement of Norse peoples is largely diverted by *WRE strength to the Baltic lands and in western Sarmatia, alongside the Dniepr and Volga trade routes. Their mingling with Baltic, Slavic, and Gothic peoples causes a third empire, a partially-Romanized Norse-Slavic-Gothic *Rus, to emerge. Norse kingdoms eventually take shape in Scandinavia and Iceland as well.
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