A surviving smaller Rome?

  • Thread starter Deleted member 1487
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Deleted member 1487

It seems to my, given my cursory knowledge of the history of the empire, was that once Rome became all conquering hand had to focus holding down a massive empire, it fell apart slowly. While it was still expanding/fighting with equal powers, it was still a vibrant and vital entity. When it became all there was, then it became the power to beat and they went on the defensive.

So what if Rome was not as successful and had to compete against a number of powers? Say if Carthage, Gaul, an independent Egypt (still a trading partner of course), and the Persian empire were all competition for influence throughout the mediterranean. Rome would still have Greece and the Balkans, and perhaps Asia minor, but North Africa, parts of the Middle East and Gaul/Spain were outside their influence. The border in the north was the Alps, keeping them in and their enemies out.

Would such a balance be sustainable and allow for the ancient world to survive for longer?
 
Whilst it's a nice, well thought-out idea, the Empire simply couldn't survive with just those territories.
At the time of Attilla the Hun, most of the Roman army came from regions outside the ones you have given the empire. Due to the areas of the Empire given, tactics and technologies such as barbarian lancers and the Frankish shield wall which the Romans mastered wouldn't be available to them. I'd expect the downfall of the Empire at the mid 400's due to the Huns and a massive alliance of barbarians. Carthage, Egypt and Parthia (not Persia) would all fall to the Barbarians, much like Carthage and Egypt fell to Rome.
 
Not quite, you're very much oversimplifying. For a start, the Empire effectively stopped expanding after Augustus, but experienced over two centuries of relative stability and "vibrance" after him (14-235). The fourth century Empire was also reasonably stable and prosperous, as both Heather and Wickham describe in their recent works. Decline, if it can be called that, only really set in when the Empire really did have to go on the defensive against a rival power, firstly Sassanid Persia, and then from the fifth century, various Germanic and Turkic groups.
 
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