AHC: Late Antiquity Status Quo Lasts Until 800

A bit similar to what osnowyo proposed

Heraclius wins the battle of Antioch in 613.

It's a bit difficult because Heraclius is still a new commander, Sharbaraz is one of the veterans of the Persian army, apart from being a rather gifted commander and Heraclius in the 620s is very different from Heraclius in the early 610s, but not impossible.

Now, if Heraclius wins decisively enough to force the Persians to withdraw east of the Euphrates or at least force Sharbaraz to halt his advance and fall back temporarily to reorganise his army, then the Byzantines have more time to organise their defence and counterattacks. Philippicus would also benefit from this, as he might be able to exploit this temporary problem of the Persians to advance even deeper into Armenia, thus forcing Shahin to cover an even greater distance through the rugged terrain of western Armenia and more quickly, resulting in his army being even more disorganised and exhausted when they finally reach the Byzantine army. Perhaps Philippicus, with a little bit of luck, manages to crush the Persian army.

Now Khosrau II is in trouble, as his northern flank is exposed. He could get into "house cleaning" mode and demote/banish/execute Shahin for his defeat, which would deprive the Persians of one of their more competent commanders. I could also see him ordering Sharbaraz to redeploy his army to cover Armenia and Media as quickly as possible, especially if Philippicus repeats Heraclius's OTL campaigns in the area to a lesser extent and seems to be poised to strike at Mesopotamia. If Khosrau has been insisting on the speed part, perhaps Sharbaraz might resort to a forced march, which, given the longer distance involved, would most likely end up with his army in worse shape than that of Shahen's, thus allowing Philippicus to score a second victory.

Now Khosrau is in a dire spot, as he has to face two Roman armies while his own army is rather disorganised. Heraclius crosses the Euphrates and starts reconquering the cities and forts the Persians had captured between 604 and 611. Khosrau is forced to agree to a peace treaty that restores the pre-603/604 status quo.

Now, this is the best case scenario for the Byzantines; a more likely one is perhaps the following: Philippicus defeats Shahen, Sharbaraz is recalled and ordered to defend Mesopotamia, Khosrau raises another army to cover the passes from Armenia and Media. Heraclius has some trouble evicting the Persians from northern Syria and fails to cross the Euphrates. Meanwhile, Philippicus fails to do much more in Armenia and is forced to retreat westwards due to logistical troubles. In the end, the two sides conclude a peace treaty (or, more likely, a mere truce), in which the Persians make some territorial gains.

Post war: in the best-case scenario, the Romans have basically recovered their ground. They still suffer from the problems from the reign of Phocas (an empty treasury, divided populations etc) but things are slowly improving. The army's morale has been boosted by these recent victories and Heraclius can proceed with certain military reforms of his more easily. The empire's richest provinces are left unscathed by the war (except for some parts of Syria), which means that restoring the empire's financial health is easier, while trade routes that IOTL were closed by the Persian occupation are still open, meaning that it l will be easier for the general economy to recover. Some minor details of these changes;

  • Continued control of Egypt allows Heraclius to resume the distribution of free bread to the population of Constantinople (IOTL, he was forced to levy a special tax of 3 gold coins per recipient in order to import the needed grain in 618 and ultimately ended the whole practice).
  • The supply of raw materials, particularly of silk (which was either imported or produced in Syria is continues, meaning that a large part of the empire's manufacturing and trade doesn't enter into steep decline and instead manages to to recover, improving the overall state of the economy
  • The import of precious metals, particularly gold, is much easier than OTL, meaning that the emperor doesn't have to debase the silver coins and limit the issuance of solidi
  • the aristocracy, particularly the Senate, don't gain ground at the expense of the emperor's power and prestige, as it happened during the mid 610s, meaning that the emperor is in a better position to enact reforms and revitalise the Roman state.
If the Persians are busy doing some house cleaning in the late 610s and early 620s, and then have to face Khazar and Turkic raids, then Heraclius may be able to turn his attention to the Balkan peninsula and return to Maurice's policy of actively engaging the Avars. With a better and more powerful imperial army and much more money at his disposal, he may be able to create trouble for the Avars, inciting more Slavic tribes to revolt and pressing both Slavs and Avars back to the Danube. Sooner or later, the Avars would find themselves under growing pressure, as the Empire would continue to foment unrest among their vassals and undermine their influence. They might decide to try to strongarm the empire to back down, but, given the better position of the empire ITTL, such an attempt would most likely end in disaster for the Khanate. Therefore, by the mid 620s, the empire is in a rather good state for the first time in almost 20 years, with one of its two major foes neutralised and the other busy elsewhere.

In the more realistic scenario, the situation is more akin to what happened during the reigns of Justin II and Tiberius II, with constant low-level warfare between the two sides happening a few years after the truce, as both empires would have to face trouble elsewhere (the Romans in the Balkans and secondarily in Italy and North Africa, the Persians in the Caucasus and Khorasan). However, the empire is still in a much better place than IOTL.
agree with most of this i will add somethings
1) we dont know if Heraclius got better as commander in from 610s to 620s maybe he started to read more of the strategikon or it could be that he just got unlucky at antioch we do not really know.
2) i would agree that Khosrow would go angry in the otl starting from Heraclius victories in 622 to 626 was enough for him to order the execution of Shahbaraz , how ever khosrow wanted to keep figthing in the olt even after he lost the siege of constantinople , shahbaraz defected and Heraclius was close to his capital so its unlikely that Khosrow himself will sing anything and like the olt Kavad or another one of his sons would kill him to make a peace , the bad thing is as you mentioned if Khosrow goes crazy mode there migth be a civil war of course Kavad II also did a purge and Mardanshah would be on that list .

3) Heraclius would first have to deal with the slavs that have poured in balkans ( before the avars joined) by 615 its called Sklavinia Heraclius would have to subjugate or extermimate the slavs before any massive campaign on the avars since its likely with the war going well that the avars do not even join it and i think for Heraclius would not live long enough to subjugate all of the slavic tribes in the balkans especially if the avars decided to join in
 
Conquering Gaul and/or Hispania is guaranteed to be a doomed and pointless effort.

As for Italy, conquering Southern and Northeastern Italy is totally feasible, the Empire just needs enough peaceful time. Northwest Italy is harder, especially Lombardy.
yep Constans II despite not been as great general as Heraclius nearly conquered Bevento after the muslims carved his empire.
 
I thought you'd see it.

What's your thoughts?
mostly similar to tanakas but there can be other wise you can have no islam and the war still goes like that with both parties to tired , but still a byzantine victory in the war means it has an advantage but i do not think Heraclius would want to or could conquer persia the Caucasus yes as in the olt before the muslim invasion armenia and iberia became his vassals but persia proper no.. in my timeline i make something like this that the byzantines come off stronger but never conquer persia.
 
mostly similar to tanakas but there can be other wise you can have no islam and the war still goes like that with both parties to tired , but still a byzantine victory in the war means it has an advantage but i do not think Heraclius would want to or could conquer persia the Caucasus yes as in the olt before the muslim invasion armenia and iberia became his vassals but persia proper no.. in my timeline i make something like this that the byzantines come off stronger but never conquer persia.
I honestly think the Romans could make a good go at focusing on the Balkans and Italy. But yeah, not really much in Transcaucasia.

I really need to publish my Constans II timeline.
 
I honestly think the Romans could make a good go at focusing on the Balkans and Italy. But yeah, not really much in Transcaucasia.

I really need to publish my Constans II timeline.
Heraclius did he named 3 men to rule the whole armenia ( wierd that the roman emperor was choosing who goverend sassanid armenia) Adarnase I of iberia was also declared prince by Heraclius he had no intention to anenex them but have Armenia and iberia be his vassals and he also acknowledged Varaz Grigor as king of albania to be fair the sassanid empire was in no condition to stop whom ever Heraclius chose as candiates for the thrones of these places.
 
I honestly think the Romans could make a good go at focusing on the Balkans and Italy. But yeah, not really much in Transcaucasia.

I really need to publish my Constans II timeline.
as for Heraclian timelines i have though of 5 but im stuck with one so ill wait.
 
I'm interpreting this as "Keep the world as Justinian would have recognised it" until the ninth century.
  • No Islam.
  • Screw Persia ASAP.
  • Wank Byzantium.
  • Screw the Lombards ASAP.
  • Screw the Franks longer-term (Charlemagne? Who's that?).
  • Keep the Papacy under the Byzantine thumb.
 
Top