A Tale of Division and Unity - A Roman Empire TL

After being part of the forum for a long time (this is my second account since i lost the e-mail of my original account i i can't remember the password :p), i have decided to make my time line, that begins in the 6th year of Diocletian rule.

I will try to submit an update every week, at least, but since i start my school vacations next week on the 1th of July i think i will be able to make two updates per week, but we will see.
 
Prologue

Prologue


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Iovius-Diocletian with Herculius-Maximian


Roman Empire, Imperial Palace at Mediolanum, 20th of December, one thousand and forty-three years after the founding of Rome.

Every person in the room was apprehensive. After all it isn’t every day that they two most powerful men in the Empire meat, and even in the best circumstances those meetings could be dangerous to the men serving Empire. And every god knew that the meeting wouldn’t be in the best circumstances

Emperor Diocletian had been forced to stop is tour of the Eastern provinces, after learning that is co-emperor had lost the imperial fleet of the Rhine. Even through Emperor Maximian had blame the loss of the imperial forces to a storm, every men in the Empire knew that the truth about the loss had an entirely different story.

Four years ago the commander of the channel fleet had declare himself emperor of Britain and northern Gaul, after having discovered that Maximian had order his death. Three years later, in one thousand and forty-one AUC, the western emperor had concentrated the Rhine fleet and other vessels, in the city of Port in Belgica. The usurper Carausius knowing that is land forces couldn’t face the army of the west, decided to attack the fleet while they were still on their base. So during a foggy day the naval forces of the Western Empire, in the north, were destroyed, and the Emperor of Britain forced Maximian, that blame a storm for the loss of is fleet, to sign a peace treaty. Needless to say Diocletian had been less than happy when he learn the truth of what happened.

So now in the city of Mediolanum the two most powerful men of the empire meet, and it was on this day that the history of the Roman Empire changed for ever.

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I decided to use the dates after the founding of Rome (AUC), since the roman historian counted the years after the foundation of the city. So this way the year 1043 after the foundation is calculated this way, foundation was in 753 BC and the story begins in 290 AD, so all you need to do is 753+290=1043. The days I used the Gregorian calendar, so the only difference is the year.
The loss of the imperial fleet occurred in either late 289 or early 290, in this TL I chose to use the year of 289, since if Diocletian only arrived at Emesa in May of 290 AD, it means that he probably was touring in the Syrian region, so the message could only get to him in late April, and this makes sense if you consider that Maximian would delay the message and if the defeat happened in December 289, the news would only reach the other emperor in 4 months if, Maximian used is agents to stop is co-emperor to know about is defeat.
About the loss of the feet, there are two version. Maximian claimed that the loss was due to a storm, yet Carausian claimed a military victory. I preferred the point of view of Carausian, for two reason. First most people think that the western emperor tried to conceal an embarrassment defeat with is claim of the storm. Second the lost by military force will be one of the foundations of the story, so in this TL, Diocletian will have a very different reaction to the loss of the fleet.
 
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Chapter I - The Rise of New Order

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The destruction of the Imperial Fleet, by the naval forces of Emperor Carausius.

"The vital change in the Roman Empire, happened in 290 AD, when the two Roman Emperors, Diocletian and Maximian, clashed against each other. Diocletian had found out about Maximians plan to murder him, so that he could claim the Empire for himself and is son. Had Maximian plan work out, and the Empire would be kept in a spiral of Emperors that would be more interested in saving their own skins that the Empire." quot from "The Second life of the Roman Empire" from, Otto von Adler, professor of Ancient History in the University of Hamburg.



-YOU LOST THE ALL FUCKING FLEET?

Diocletian was livid, his spies in the western court had told him that the fleet had suffered a humiliating lost, but none of them had told him that the complete naval forces of the west had either deserted or sunk.

-It’s not my fault, had you given me…
-IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT? – The eastern emperor shouted – Then whose fault is it Maximian? Will you blame Neptune, again?
-DON’T YOU DARE TO SPEAK – screamed Diocletian the moment the western emperor tried to defend himself – Tell me how, will we now, defend the Rhine without the fucking ships that you lost? How will we stop, we raids? Tell me Maximian, please tell me how will we stop the Frisians, the Franks and the Angles from raiding my lands?

Maximian had never been a patient or calm person, in fact is temper was much known across the empire. So it wasn’t a surprise that he lost his temper, when confronted by the Senior Augustus.

-YOUR LANDS? MY I REMIND YOU THAT WE ARE EQUALS?
-DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT WE ARE EQUALS – shouted Diocletian – LEARN YOUR PLACE, DOG. I HAVE SLAVES THAT WOULD MAKE BETTER EMPERORS THAN YOU.

That had been the final straw to Maximian. Now all he could think was to kill the men that had made him is co-emperor, so he grabbed is knife and tried to kill the Emperor of the East. Unfortunate for him Diocletian had planned it all.
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Diocletian didn’t really care about what happened to the fleet, the navy had, after all, been in a constant decline since the first emperor had taken the reins of power from the hands of the Senate.

This had been all planned, to remove the Western Emperor from the throne.
The reason for this act, was simple, Maximian had usurped the title of Augustus, and Diocletian had never forgiven him for that. His hate had grown ,especially after reading the letter Maximian had sent him four years ago.

"Either you confirm me had your brother and equal, or i will plunge the Empire, into a war that will only end, when one of our heads is on a spike."

Had it not been the fear of what a civil war would do to the empire, Diocletian would had happily march against the West, to put the head of the usurper on a pike.

And now, the rightful Emperor was ready to have is revenge.

Thanks to the frumentarii he had found out about Maximians plan to murder him and divide the Empire between himself and his son.
He also found out that the concentration of the fleet, and the invasion of Britain was only an excuse, to give the Western Emperor an alibi to his murder. He would claim that the usurper of Britannia, had send agents to murder , is co-emperor.

Diocletian had to admit that it was a good plan, for who would suspect the men that had, in the eyes of the Empire, been following the orders of is co-emperor. He would show himself has a loyal brother of the deceased Emperor.

But the Eastern Emperor, hadn't rise himself to the Imperial Purple, by been outwitted. The moment he found out about the plans, he begun to make is own plans to destroy Maximian.

He knew that he needed an excuse to go to the West, and what better excuse than the lost of the Imperial Fleet, to an usurper.

So Diocletian stroke a deal with em Emperor of Britannia.

The Britannic fleet would destroy the Imperial Fleet, while the ships were on the base of Port.

And in exchange for his help, Carausius would be confirm has Imperator Britanicus, Emperor of Britannia.

It had been a great gamble, but one that had pay off.

Using the information the Eastern spies had gathered, Carausius found out that the naval base used by the Imperial fleet wasn't well guarded. Maximian wasn't expecting an attack, and he thought that the concentration of the fleet would be enough to stop the Britannic fleet.

Needless to say, the all affair had ended, has an embarrassment defeat to Maximian.

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And now Diocletians plan was paying of for in the moment that Maximian was getting ready to deliver the blow that would kill the other Augustus, Diocletians personal guard, the Equites singulares Augusti, that had disguised themselves has household slaves, charged against the usurper.

-What’s the meaning of this!
-It means that your plan failed, Maximian – answer Diocletian - or do you honestly expected that i wouldn't find out about your plans to kill me?

Without waiting for and answer he turned towards the commander of is personal guard, Gaius Aurelius, and order him to take the former emperor to the forum so that the all the people of Mediolanum could watch what would happen to those that defied the Emperor.

-Mai I ask sire, what we are supposed to do to the traitor?
-Nail him to a cross.

Then while the men form his personal guard were dragging the deposed emperor, he gave one final command.

-And make sure that bastard suffers until the end, if I dream that he got some comfort during his last moments on earth, you will follow him to Hades is that clear?
-We will do what is ordered, and at every command we will be ready. – responded Gaius to his emperor.

Diocletian knew that Gaius wouldn’t fail him.

And if he ever did, he would deeply regretted it.


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Notes:

In this time line i chose to use Otto Karl Seeck suggestion that Maximian had usurped the tittle of Augustus, and that only the desire to avoid a civil war had stooped Diocletian from going to war with him. I know that Seeck suggestion is dismissed by most historians but i needed a reason for Diocletians desire to kill Maximian

The Equites singulares Augusti, were the personal cavalry guard of an emperor and the successors of the Imperial German Bodyguard. Unlike the foot regiment of guard, the Praetorian Guard, their record of loyalty to the Emperors was unblemished.

Frumentarii, originally wheat collectors they were turned into the imperial secret service and police, by Emperor Hadrian. Officially attached to the armies and legions for arrange the supplies, their true objective was to discover, and eliminate if needed, if the commander of the roman forces had started to have plans to bid for the Imperial Purple.
 
I do have a question though:shouldn't the name Hamburg be butterflies?

Germany will still exist in this time line. Rome won't go juggernaut and conquer the all of Europe.
But i admit i didn't considered the butterflies on the names so i think i will keep the pos-roman cities with their names.
I still don't know if Charlemagne will found the castle that that will give the city is name but any other german could built a burg in the area and that will allow the city to keep is name :D
 
This update is a little late because i had exams but now i'm free and best of all VACATIONS, so hope i can make more updates from now on.

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CHAPTER TWO - BATTLE FOR THRACE

Roman Empire, near the Danubian border, 22th of June 1044 AUC

Lucius Cornelius Posthumulus, Dux Ripae, knew that there was nothing he could do to stop the barbarian horde to pillage the border region.

In theory he should had been able to gathered a force between eighteen to twenty thousand strong, but that was the paper strength.

In reality, his forces were a mere ten thousand men from the border legions and cohorts.

The Romans were outnumbered almost three to one and, to add insult to injury, most of them were ill-equipped. But each one of them was an hardener veteran. They would, and must, compensate their lack of numbers with discipline and courage.

The Emperor not knowing of the weakness of the border legions, had ordered the Dux to gather his men and to face the gothic forces on the field.

But Lucius knew that there was little chance that the romans could face and defeat the Vandals.

Knowing that he had sent a rider to the Imperial court in Mediolanum to explain to the Emperor the real situation of the Danubian forces.

Now all he could do was to pray to the gods that the Emperor would sent him reinforcements.

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Thracian Plain near Marcianopolis, 5th of August 1044 AUC

“It’s all lost” thought Lucius “The Emperor didn't sent a single cohort, and now we have to face those barbarians alone”

For the last two months he had avoided battle, he had allow the Vandals to pillage the countryside, but when the barbarians threatened to sack Marcianopolis, the Dux knew he had to make a choice.

So when the Vandals moved to sack the city, they had found the path blocked by the border legions.

And now the two forces were about to meet in the field of battle.

He had chosen his field carefully. His troops were stationed in a small hill, with a forest protecting his left flank. The right flank, however, was a totally different story.

The right was a complete open field, from were the Vandals could easily send their cavalry for a flanking attack.

To counter that possibility, he had stationed all his auxiliary cohorts there, hoping that their spears could hold the enemy. But we wasn't leaving the defense of his right flank to the auxiliary alone. So the auxiliary had covered the ground in front of them with caltrops.

Now if the Vandals tried to flank him they would get a really bad surprise.

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The Middle Roman Army photage from the History Channel program "The Roman Empire". Notice the use of the chi-rho in the roman shield and standard, it would still be almost two centuries before the conversion of the Empire, but the History Channel isn't exactly known for historical accuracy.

-Tribunus, order the legions to form a battle line, three men deep. The slingers and archers are to form a skirmish line in front of the legions, and the cavalry is to form a mobile reserve behind the legionnaires.

-We will do what is ordered and at every command we will be ready. – Replied the Tribunus, while saluting.

Lucius knew he had done everything in his power, he had chosen a good ground to face the barbarians, he had spent the last months reequipping the roman forces and know all he could do was to face the Vandals and hope that the legions could bloodied them so much that they would be force to retreat from roman territory.

But he knew that his men could held the line. They weren't normal soldiers.

They were the men of the border legions.

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For each ten recruits that went to the legions, two might survive their first year in the border. The legionaries in those units were all hard, veteran soldiers, that knew that if they held the line then, they had ONE chance the bleed the barbarians.

Each one of them was willing to die there, not to protect the Empire that had betray them so many times.

They were willing to die, for the pettiest reason a men can have.

They would fight and die for their pride.

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Gunderic and his solders about to charge against the roman line

The Vandals were the first to make a move.
Their leader, Gunderic, couldn’t stand idled in front of the enemy.
It had been war that had allowed him to acquire his fortune and position, and it was war that allowed him to keep it.

And he was confident in a victory.

All the Vandals were confident.

Why shouldn’t they be? They outnumbered their roman foes, almost three to one, and they had spent the last two months pillaging their territory.

They felt confident and invincible.

But the gods like to play tricks on men. They enjoy to make men fail when they are so close to achieve their goals.

Maybe Woden felt that they hadn't honored him enough.

Maybe Donar had remove his protection from them.

Or maybe Luka, the trickster, had decided to have some fun at their cost.

Who knows? Maybe they had no reason at all for abandoning the Vandals that day.

After all, sometimes, even the gods can be real assholes.

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The Roman line refuses to break against the Barbarians. In this image the Romans are wrongly depicted. The use of the spear has the primary weapon would still be one century away

The line held.

The Vandals had advanced in a Svinfylking formation hopping to break the roman line in one devastating strike.

That could had worked, if they were facing normal legions, but these weren’t normal legions.

They were the border legions.

For them retreat wasn't an option. And soon the Vandals found that the legions still had enough steel in them to stand and fight to the death.

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Lucius was tired.

He had spent all the morning in the front ranks, helping his men to stop the Vandal invaders.

Like he had thought the Vandals, had sent their cavalry to the right, were it had been destroyed by the caltrops and the auxiliary cohorts.

The battle had been hard, but they had manage to stand their ground.

But not without a price.

A price they had paid in blood.

Of the ten thousand roman soldiers that started the battle, near fifteen hundred had died. Another twenty-five hundred had been wounded and would not be able to stand their ground in the battle line in the afternoon.

They had payed a heavy price but the barbarians had paid a even heavier one.

The Vandal horde had suffered some four thousand deaths, and some eight thousand had been wounded.

But Postumus knew they wouldn't be able to hold the ground, in the afternoon, unless the gods intervened in their favor.

Now his forces were down to a mere six thousand men, and the Vandals still had some fourteen thousand men.

And they were preparing to avenge their fallen comrades.

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The Vandals marching against the roman position.

This time they would attack with a shield wall, having learn their lesson.

They would sacrifice momentum, for discipline.

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A roman soldier is always ready for war

The germans might scream battle-cries before a charge to frighten their enemies, but Lucius always thought the roman way was more terrifying.

-ARE YOU READY FOR WAR? - He asked his men.

-READY! READY! READY! - They answered.

-ARE YOU READY FOR WAR?

-READY! READY! READY!

-ARE YOU READY FOR WAR?

-READY! READY! READY!

"This" he thought "is the only battle cry a true roman soldier needs."

Then he proceeded to advance to the front line, ignoring the calls of his staff, for him to stay in the rear.

-If i am to die, then i will die has a true roman officer. - Was the only answer the Dux would give them.

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Lucius Cornelius Posthumulus, Dux Ripae of the Danube, photage from the documentary "Roman Generals"

The shields clashed against each other.

The Vandals, using their superior numbers, were forcing the romans to give up their ground, but their line was still holding.

Lucius was fighting with his men in the front line, when a Vandal warlord came into his sight.

The barbarian was wearing a finely forged mail shirt, and was armed with a battle axe.

And he was coming against him.

The axe smashed against his shield, with so much strength that for a moment he thought his arm would break, but a men doesn't rise from legionary to Dux Ripae for wavering in front of danger.

So he did what the drill centurion had thought him so many years ago.

Ignoring the pain and exhaustion, he stabbed the vandal leader. For a second he feared that the his stroke had been to weak, but then came the sweat reward, when his sword smashed through mail and leather to find the flesh beneath.

Lucius never knew what happened to the Vandal warlord, for right after he recovered his sword, he was pushed back by a centurion, with a scar in his face.

-Centurion what's the meaning of this. - He demanded.

-Sir, Tribunus Fabius Rufius asked for you to go to the rear.

-Did he told you why?

-A large force of cavalry was spotted some 2 miles behind us.

Postumus wasted no time, the moment the centurion said the word cavalry, he was already running to the rear to find out, what was happening.

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-Sir have spotted enemy cavalry in the rear. - Answered Fabius, when his commanding officer demanded to know what was happening.

-Do we have any reserves left.

-Every men we had here is already engaging the enemy in the front line. - Then he got an idea and continued. - He still have the injured men sir.

-What?

-Our best chance, sir, his to get any men that can still stand, and try to form a spear wall.

-Do it. -Lucius cursed himself for having to do it, but they needed every second they could get to bring some men from the main line to the rear.

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Praetorian Prefect Gaius Aurelis, photage from the TV Series "The Rebirth of the Roman Empire"

-May i ask why am i being greeted by wounded men. - The leader of the cavalry asked in latin.

-I'm sorry, sir - said Rufus while approaching the rider - we thought you were a column of enemy cavalry.

-Well that explains it, next time i will try to not forget the standards. - The rider said with a smile. - Would you mind to call you senior officer to come here?

-Dux Postumus, was forced to go to the front, sir. The enemy is about to break the line. May i ask sir who sent you?

-The Emperor, sent me Tribunus. And i have two thousand cavalry with me, with an extra three thousand infantry some five miles away.

I stopped to reorganize his thoughts and then continued.

-Tell the Dux to allow the the Vandals to pass through his line after i form behind the legions. We allow them to charge forward to met our cataphractarii.

Seeing the face of surprise in the Tribunus face, the rider told him to tell the Dux to be ready for his signal.

Rufus run as fast as he could to the front ranks, to find Lucius.

The Dux was in the rear of the line, trying to incite his men, when a very tired Rufus approached him.

-What are you doing here Tribunus? Why did you deserted your place?

-The cavalry... isn't enemy...

-What are you saying men, speak louder.

Rufus stop for a minute to recover is breathe and proceed to tell Lucius that the cavalry in the rear were actually a relief column sent by the Emperor and that the commander of the column had a plan to break the Vandals.

-What did he told you, about his plan.

-He said that he would send a signal for the legions to open ranks and allow the Vandals to pass through them so that hey could face the imperial cataphractarii.

-Cataphractarii? The Emperor sent cataphractarii?

-Apparently yes, sir.

-Then lets waist no time. - Then he turned to the nearest centurion and told him to inform the rest of the men to be ready to open gaps in the line, to allow the Vandals to enter.

-What would be the signal, sir?

-I don't know, but i'm dammed sure we will know when we see it. Now go.

The following minutes, felt like hours to the men in the line.

Then the signal came.

And Lucius had been right.

The moment the Cornicen blew the cornum, every men knew what they had to do.

In one moment the legions were formed in a disciplined line, in the next, the vandals felt the pressure to disappear, and thinking the romans had been broken, they charged forward.

Only to find death at the hands of the cataphractarii and the Alan mercenaries the Emperor had sent.

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A roman cataphractarii in full battle armor

The cavalry had crushed the Vandal horde.

And the roman forces had achieved a great victory.

But at a terrible cost.

The danubian army, had lost more than half of his initial numbers. And even with the relief infantry sent by the Emperor, the number of battle-ready men wasn't enough to form a full legion.

Lucius was trying to rest, when the commander of the relief column approached him.

-I thanks for your assistance, where today.

-Not a problem, Dux Ripae. I'm sorry to trouble you but would you mind if i had a word with you?

-No problem at all.

-The Emperor sent me here for two reasons. -He paused, like if he wasn't sure of what to say next.

-I believe one of them was to help. So you can skip to the second one.

-The second reason, he to escort you to the Imperial court.

Postumus, stand silent when he heard that. To be called to the Imperial court, could either mean a promotion or the death sentence.

-Am i to be executed?

-I can assure you, that you won't. -The commander actually sounded shocked, that the Emperor would sent him to execute a Dux.

-Who are you, to assure me that i won't be executed.

The other men grimed, and the answered.

-How rude of me. I forgot to present myself. I'm Praetorian Prefect Gaius Aurelius, commander of the Equites Singulares Augusti.

For some unknown reason, Lucius, started to laugh.

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Notes:

Dux Ripae - literally means commander of the river bank, usually a subordinate of the frontier commander, he would only command the border army if the commander wasn't available. It's never directly refereed in the text but is oblivious that the rank of Comes rei militaris was vacant so that Lucius could take control of the border army.

Equites cataphractarii - the name comes from the Greek kataphraktos, meaning completely covered. The units were created to face their Parthian and Sarmatian counterparts. I saw records of Constantine defeating large numbers of cataphractarii during the battle of Turin and apparently there are records that claimed that it was Trajan that created the first unites, so i think is safe to assume Diocletian had this type of troops in his armies. In the Notitia Dignitatum there are four regiments of these kind in the west, so a total of two thousand men. I forgot to mention but Gaius brought only one regiment to the battle the rest of the cavalry force were Alan mercenaries.

Alans - A people from the northern Caucasus known to be excellent cavalry. They made a raid in Anatolia in 135 AD so its possible for Diocletian to have mercenary Alans in auxiliary regiments.

Vandals - A East Germanic tribe, or group original from southern Scandinavia. They were divided in two groups the Hasdingi and the Silingi.

Caltrops - Is a antipersonnel weapon made of three sharp nails or spines arranged in such a manner that one of them always points upward from a stable base. The name comes from the Latin calcitrapa.

Cornicen - Junior officer in the roman army that sounded the orders to the legions.

Cornum - Was an ancient Roman instrument, in the shape of a letter 'G'. It was used by the Roman army for communicating orders to troops in battle.

Svinfylking - was a version of wedge formation used by the Vikings and earlier Germanic peoples. The formation consisted of heavily armed, presumably hand-to-hand warriors and less-armored archers grouped in a triangle formation with the warriors in the front lines protecting the archers in center or rear.

P.S. I didn't had time to find every grammatical mistake or contradiction so if you find any of them please tell me so i can correct them.
P.P.S. The text is still a first version that will probably be modify.
 
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It's likely that Domitian would have had cataphracts, Aurelian no doubt faced them in his campaign against the Palmyrans. If they weren't explicitly Roman they could have easily been nomadic mercenaries, Sarmatians or the like.
 
It's likely that Domitian would have had cataphracts, Aurelian no doubt faced them in his campaign against the Palmyrans. If they weren't explicitly Roman they could have easily been nomadic mercenaries, Sarmatians or the like.

I thought the same but i wrote this in a bit of a hurry (i'm still looking for mistakes in the text and making improvements) and i didn't had time to confirm.

For the Cataphracts i used the data from the Notitia Dignitatum:

-the East had 15 cohorts/alae of Cataphracts
-the West had 4

So i thought that had least two regiment in the West and four/six in the East already existed before Diocletian, and if we accept the theory of the Large Late Army, 389704 men in 285 and 581000 men in 312, he can safely assume that during Diocletians reign the size of the army even if i dough the increase was over 50%.
 
This is a small update to make a summary of the events that happened in the year 1044 AUC.

This will also serve to show the Map of the Roman World in that year.

I'm planning to make the big update tomorrow afternoon.

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Chapter 3 Winds of Change - Part 1

Sirmium, Capital of the Pannonian Dioceses, 20th of December, 1045 AUC

It had been a good year for the Empire.

In the East, the Armenian Prince Tiridates had manage to destroy a Persian army, forcing the Sassanian Empire to surrender the lands of eastern Armenia.

In Egypt, the Emperor had signed peace treaties with the Ethiopian kingdom of Aksum and the Nubian tribes.

And in the Thracian border the Vandal tribes had been forced to pay a heavy tribute after losing the battle of Marcianopolis.

In the West, the Britannic Emperor Carausius had manage to destroy a Anglo-Saxon raiding fleet. After his victory he allowed the warlords to return to their Nordic halls, on the condition that they would leave their sons behind as a guaranty of their fathers good behavior.

On the Germanic border, General Constantius had manage to destroy an Alamanni invasion.

Now, after one year of Roman successes, Emperor Diocletian was ready to put his plan into action. For that purpose he had summoned the ten most powerful men of the Empire, so that they would join him in the Illyrian city of Sirmium.

On the evening of the 20th of December 1044 Ab urbe condita, these men would make a choice that would change the Empire forever.

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Map

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Yellow - Armenia
Blue - Sassanian Empire
Brown - Iberia
Purple - Albania
Green - Lazica

P.S. if someone could get me a map that showed the area of this map plus the full arabic peninsula, plus the african east cost until Ethiopia and finaly with the area of the current iran included.

P.P.S. in this map the area controlled by Carausius is included in the empire, the map with the divisions will appear in the next update

P.P.P.S Armenia is a puppet state of rome so king Tiridates is one of the ten men called to Sirmium. This might be obvious but i didn't want people to think will this tomorrow "What the hell is Tiridates doing in Sirmium?"
 
Sorry for the hiatus, but first my laptop got a virus and i lost all my work and i was forced to rewrite everything from memory and then i got some new books about the roman empire, this ones were about the social-economic changes that spanned through roman history, and that made me realize that my idea for this timeline would had to be completely rewritten.

So because of these reasons i'm creating a new version, called "[thread=360827]An Age of Iron and Rust - WRE TL[/thread]".

Like the name says it will focus on the Western Empire, i will make updates about the Eastern Empire and other areas but it will be mainly focus on the West.
Instead of starting, at the end of the Crisis of the Third Century, it will start immediately after the death of Imperator Flavius Claudius Iulianus Augustus, so 363 AD.
Some characters from this timeline will be passed to that timeline (Gaius and Lucius will be there plus some characters that were going to appear here but didn't).

Sorry about this, but for the idea to survive i need to span forward, because no Roman Emperor would implement my plan in this Era.
 
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