AHC: Have the Roman Empire become a Republic again.

  • Thread starter Deleted member 67076
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Deleted member 67076

With a POD of Augustus's death, have the Roman Empire (either side, or both, doesn't matter) become a second Roman Republic and have said state be successful for a longer period of time than the OTL Western Roman Empire did. By successful I do mean prosperous, efficient and not under severe threat of invasion or civil war.

The Govt does not have to be in any way similar to the original republic.

Bonus points if you pull this off after Dioclation's reforms or during the Byzantine period
 
IIRC there was an attempted Republican counter-revolution after the death of Caligula, but the Senators instead squabbled about making a new Emperor, the people demanded "the monarchy" be retained, and Claudius was able to use the Praetorian Guard to make the succession stick.

If Claudius is killed in the aftermath of Caligula's death, which was part of the plan, the Julio-Claudians are gone.
 
OK can we all just be honest here. There was no chance of the Republic ever being restored. If Claudius was killed, then what happened in 69 would happen in 41. The various regional commanders would declare themselves Emperor and duke it out until one emerged victories, then march on Rome. The Senate would promptly declare/recognize the General as Emperor to save face. Zero chance of a Roman Republic being created from the Empire.
 
Rome never ceased to be a republic (although in name only) until the Diocletian who swept away the last pretenses and enacted the Dominate era... However Rome could have been an actual republic by the death of Caligula or Claudius but it would have an extremely short lifespan... Another prestigious general would pop up and with the support of the army would claim absolute power... Lets face it... After Sulla, Marius, Julius Caesar etc. who showed the people what a man with the allegiance of the army can do there was no turning back...

Rome doesnt have any more Cincinnati sadly...
 
Rome never ceased to be a republic (although in name only) until the Diocletian who swept away the last pretenses and enacted the Dominate era... However Rome could have been an actual republic by the death of Caligula or Claudius but it would have an extremely short lifespan... Another prestigious general would pop up and with the support of the army would claim absolute power... Lets face it... After Sulla, Marius, Julius Caesar etc. who showed the people what a man with the allegiance of the army can do there was no turning back...

Rome doesnt have any more Cincinnati sadly...

I almost forgot that Rome was technically a republic. Sort of like North Korea in that regard. Personally I'm of the opinion that the Republic was doomed when the legions' loyalties shifted from the Central government to their Commanders. After that the Republic was on life support until Caesar and Augustus pulled the plug, so to say.
 

Alkahest

Banned
For my TL with a 271 POD, I sort of toyed with the idea of a Roman successor state becoming a republic founded by fleeing senators, but no matter how I twisted and turned the concept in my head I couldn't make it work. Within a year or two, some general would just walk in and stomp them down without effort. In my opinion, the reason the senate even existed for as long as it did is sort of like why many modern European states are still monarchies: There might not be a good reason to keep the institution running, but it's too much effort to go through the trouble of abolishing something that's relatively harmless.
 
I almost forgot that Rome was technically a republic. Sort of like North Korea in that regard. Personally I'm of the opinion that the Republic was doomed when the legions' loyalties shifted from the Central government to their Commanders. After that the Republic was on life support until Caesar and Augustus pulled the plug, so to say.

Technically Republic was on life support during the entire era of Principate... They just pretended that Rome was a Republic while in fact it was a monarchy... It was Diocletian (and to some minor extent some of his immediate predecessors) that pulled the plug when he started calling himself Dominus et Deus... He was the first to celebrate his "royal anniversary" the day he was proclaimed Emperor by the troops and not the day he was formally elected by the Senate (an election that had became a mere formality in his days)
 
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