AHC: Hyper-Soissons

With a POD of 461, have the Gallo-Romans overcome the Barbarians and, if possible, have them conquer their way to the Côte d'Azur before 550. Replacing Aegidius/Syagrius with a slightly more capable commander is acceptable, but not encouraged.
 
So perhaps a north Gaullish Roman splinter state?

If they can hold together and wait for the Franks to self destruct into internecine violence they could possibly reconquer large parts of Gaul.

They'd need a stable border though and the loyalty of the population.

I could ideally see such a state stretching from the OTL French-Swiss Border to around Belgium and to the Rhine with outposts on the bay of Biscay.

It would be foolish if they overstretched themselves too much and any campaigns to retake Rome would be stretch them greatly.

Would be an interesting TL.
 
If they can hold together for the next hundred years as the barbarian kingdoms fragment and struggle against themselves they would be placed for quite realistic reconquests of the west by 600 AD.
 
Perhaps, I'd say if they were smart they could bite off the French Pyrenees region get a border on the Rhine(the migrations will have stabilized) and look outward towards northwestern Italy, Corsica and Southern Britain.
 
Results:A France not called France with no Germanic influences, no Louis names for French kings, maybe less influence for Paris.
Germany on the other hand would be disunited, no HRE, implying ztem duchies remain.
We will have an independent Saxony, Swabia, Bavaria, Thuringia and Hesse. Even Frisia.
 
I've always wondered why Syagrius made Soissons/Noviodunum his capital. After all, Paris was larger, and probably easier to defend, considering how at that point it was centered on the Île de la Cité.
 
IOTL Chararic stood back and remained neutral in the conflict between Syagrius and Clovis so he could pick the winner despite Clovis' pleas for his support. Have Chararic make a quick decision and support Syagrius instead - the Gallo-Romans and Chararic's Franks split up Clovis' territories. And then Sygarius can work on turning the Franks against one another, slowly incorporating them into his kingdom until it has most of northern Gaul and Belgica.
 
So would a roman successor state in the west be able to link up with the Byzantines given the best next 200 years say-700 AD?

Assuming things went good for the Domain of Soissons, yes that would be likely. I'm curious as to how Sygarius' successors would view themselves and their relationship with the Emperor in Constantinople.
 
They might view them as equals, or Lords or rivals depending on their position if they have reconquered Gaul, North Italy, and presumably Northern Iberia with a stable Rhine border they would most definitely see the east as rivals.
 
They might view them as equals, or Lords or rivals depending on their position if they have reconquered Gaul, North Italy, and presumably Northern Iberia with a stable Rhine border they would most definitely see the east as rivals.

I would say Soissons at its peak would have Belgica, most of northern and western Gaul (including Aquitaine) and southern Britain.
 
Surely they would at least want to move in the direction of Italy? Would also prevent the Lombards from getting any ideas, same with a border on the Pyrenees.
 
Surely they would at least want to move in the direction of Italy? Would also prevent the Lombards from getting any ideas, same with a border on the Pyrenees.
Even if one leader manages to struggle on top of the heap in Northern Gaul, that doesn`t mean he`s not going to get overthrown, or his successor is a total failure, etc. Continuous success isn`t what the political entities of that time were up to.
Isn't there some evidence that Syagrius was actually pretty weak, and we exaggerate his import?
There`s very little evidence of any sort, if I´m not much mistaken, but it was my impression, too, that Syagrius wasn`t exactly Julius Caesar.
 
Something tells me that @LSCatilina will be able to answer this.He's the guru of Gallic/French history.He seems to have disappeared though.From what I understand of his past posts,his take on it seems to be that Soissons' chances of survival was extremely dim even without the Franks.
 
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