AIMA: A tale of Rome's third millenium, rebooted.

Seems quite sound to me. I don't know if it would "never" end in the sense it's never stable, but in the sense that there's always the potential for banditry flaring up . . . I agree completely.

My suspicion is that the eastern part of the plateau is probably better than the center, if only because - hopefully - the Armenians provide a more stable/settled element, as opposed to how the center is pretty much Turcoman and whatever's moved in to dilute them.

On the other hand, it is the borderland, and whether Khwarezm stands or falls, there will be Turcomen who aren't Byzantine citizens on that border.


http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/98/byzantineempires.jpg/ East in this context meaning Colonea and eastward - maybe even Sebastia.

Which brings up a question - not something you have to answer right away, but if you do, all the better - how far east are the Byzantines going?

Nothing much except the problems of en extended frontier stops them going all the way to Vaspurakan, given time to take Anatolia first.
 
Next update is upcoming, I'm covering 1191-1197 is one fell blow, trying to look at the legacy of the 3rd crusade with a focus on its effect on Constantinople. Thanks for reading! Let it suffice to say that Cyprus was not claimed by King Richard :)
 
Oh and I am shooting for the Empire to reorganize its military forces into combined arms Megala Allagia or Taxei. Anyone think the Komnenoi would have eventually completed the process of "professionalizing" the Roman Army that had begun during the Macedonian era?
 
Indeed, I meant an army that is comprised of a series of Tagmata, some in or near the capital, others in the field under the Dukes and Katepanos that rule the military districts that shield the rich interior of the Empire.

Such an army would be dominated by cavalry units, indeed as far as I know from my research the Varangian Guard were the only infantry Tagma present between 1000-1261 AD.

The other option (and in my opinion the most interesting) would be for a partial return to the system of themata in which more "militia" type forces defend the provinces in situ while also providing a potentially large force of levied troops for seasonal campaigns. I do not know, however, if a return to such a thematic system, even one working in tandem with a Tagmatic professional force, would be feasible though by the period I am focusing on.

Some areas of the Empire at risk from invasion on a consistent basis (such as Dyarrachion, Bulgaria, Trebizond and Anatolikan in my TL) would likely profit from a more decentralized military framework of the type provided by Themata.
 
Indeed, I meant an army that is comprised of a series of Tagmata, some in or near the capital, others in the field under the Dukes and Katepanos that rule the military districts that shield the rich interior of the Empire.

Such an army would be dominated by cavalry units, indeed as far as I know from my research the Varangian Guard were the only infantry Tagma present between 1000-1261 AD.

There seem to be some infantry units stationed in Constantinople as well (besides the Varangians), but their exact names escape me. And I think they were disbanded before the end of Alexius I's reign.

The other option (and in my opinion the most interesting) would be for a partial return to the system of themata in which more "militia" type forces defend the provinces in situ while also providing a potentially large force of levied troops for seasonal campaigns. I do not know, however, if a return to such a thematic system, even one working in tandem with a Tagmatic professional force, would be feasible though by the period I am focusing on.

Some areas of the Empire at risk from invasion on a consistent basis (such as Dyarrachion, Bulgaria, Trebizond and Anatolikan in my TL) would likely profit from a more decentralized military framework of the type provided by Themata.
I'm not sure what would be best here - I think you need some form of defense for the provinces on the borders above and beyond any standing regiments, but how exactly to organize that is more complicated. And the issue of expense for standing armies is significant - not completely impossible, but having an army sufficient to handle all the empire's potential military needs made up fully of standing regiments seems like it would be too costly.
 
Do you guys think a competent militia could be recruited from the border regions themselves by their respective Dukes? I'm thinking something like this for the whole army:


Guards Units:

Varangian Guard
Hetairea (infantry and cavalry)
Vardariotai

Tagmatic Units

Western Tagmata (Professional horse drawn from the Pronoia of the western regions of the Empire) 6,000 cavalry
Eastern Tagmata (ditto for the east) 6,000 cavalry

Frontier Units

Each Doux raises a force of urban militias from his towns and maintains a number of his own local "Akritae" Pronoiars, some as infantry (to defend castles and provide infantry to offensive campaigns in the region) and some as light cavalry to police the Doukate (Scythikon in the west and Turopoles in the east). These troops are tied to their land grants though and are militia forces, though their officers may hold Pronoia, these holdings are in the region of the Doukate, giving them a stake in the security of the territory.

As the Empire expands, more Tagmatic cavalry Allagia (rotations) will be raised. The key is for the emperors' the prevent the Pronoia from degenerating, it must be used as an institution to maintain elite cavalry units (preferably mounted archers with heavy equipment) that are used in regular campaigns.
 
and to answer an earlier question, Roman expansion in the 13th century will be directed into Armenia, N. Syria, Upper Mesopotamia and eventually Georgia and S.Italy.
 
Do you guys think a competent militia could be recruited from the border regions themselves by their respective Dukes? I'm thinking something like this for the whole army:

Depends on how much they have in the way of resources at their disposal. There's an unhappy trade off between the dukes being able to raise military forces when the state needs them and being unable to raise them to threaten the state.

And I presume that the distinction between Guards and Tagmata is that the latter are "merely" professional, full time troops vs. troops specifically under the Emperor's direct command and around Constantinople.

Also, why conquer Georgia?
 
Depends on how much they have in the way of resources at their disposal. There's an unhappy trade off between the dukes being able to raise military forces when the state needs them and being unable to raise them to threaten the state.

And I presume that the distinction between Guards and Tagmata is that the latter are "merely" professional, full time troops vs. troops specifically under the Emperor's direct command and around Constantinople.

Also, why conquer Georgia
?

Didn't Georgia or somewhere in the Caucuses Mountains have one of the ingredients for Greek Fire?
 
Sorry I meant that Georgia and the Caucasus will be a theatre of warfare in general once Anatolia is more firmly under imperial rule, Georgia will find itself less able to expand as it was OTL.

The Pronoiars of the Dukes would be far less effective than those at the disposal of the Emperor and the Megas Domestikos, but I understand your point. This is why I was considering a return to a fully professional army, if the Dukes had under their command soldiery fully loyal to the emperor (ie: their paymaster) and professional, the quality of border defense could likely increase...actually this was the case during the Komenoi in general, the army may have been multi-ethnic and multi-role, but its record in terms of defending imperial territory was far more even than that of its predecessors.

Even with an army dominated by professional tagmata , I was hoping to include a return to the institutions of the "Akritae" in this TL
 
I believe, but I wouldn't take an oath over it, that the akitrae were more tied to the central government than the dukes.
 
Yes, the Akritae would be under the Dukes, yet would owe their pay, Pronoia and position to the Emperor. As frontier troops, whether infantry or cavalry, they would be far more involved in local matters than other Tagmatic troops serving in their Doukates.

The question here is one of Provincial administration: Should be Dukes be scrapped and a system of Themes be re-established with the entire Empire split amongst competing generals? I was thinking that a Doux of Bulgaria or Antioch would be less able to revolt knowing he would have to win over the Doux of Adrianople or Cappadocia as well ;). Now these Themes would field troops who were more militia like, but would they not provide the Empire with more manpower?
 
Hmmmmmm, so it seems as though the best way to do this is to maintain the Dukes and their special military districts, but to ensure that they do not possess their "own" soldiers. This is likely why regions such as Bulgaria did not provide forces to the Komnenian Army (the emperor's wanted to have total control over all military forces following the death of the Theme system).

Okay, I will stick to the "professional" army model that I presented in detail above as no one seemed too interested in a resurrected Thematic system, but I will delete the Pronoia holders in the locality of the Doukates, would it be feasible for them to at least have militias say in places like Antioch, Melitene, Paristrion etc? I do think that the Akritae should be beholden to the emperor alone, but they must be under the Doukates and their command structure at a certain point.
 
Hmmmmmm, so it seems as though the best way to do this is to maintain the Dukes and their special military districts, but to ensure that they do not possess their "own" soldiers. This is likely why regions such as Bulgaria did not provide forces to the Komnenian Army (the emperor's wanted to have total control over all military forces following the death of the Theme system).

Okay, I will stick to the "professional" army model that I presented in detail above as no one seemed too interested in a resurrected Thematic system, but I will delete the Pronoia holders in the locality of the Doukates, would it be feasible for them to at least have militias say in places like Antioch, Melitene, Paristrion etc? I do think that the Akritae should be beholden to the emperor alone, but they must be under the Doukates and their command structure at a certain point.

Well, here's the thing, speaking for myself.

What is the biggest concern for the Scythian (Arpad emperors)?

If they want troops, they're going to focus on policies that produce that - even if it means ceding a certain amount of authority and/or military forces to the dukes.

And it's definitely feasible to have militias and all, or the akritae answering to the regional command when relevant - just that you don't want them independent from central authority. If the Dukes can raise these forces as they see fit, as opposed to merely being given authority over imperial forces, that tilts things more in their favor.

So what I'd do as the most important thing (that comes to mind) is set things up so that the pay - including any pronoia holdings - of the soldiers is dependent on Constantinople. The dukes would not be granted the authority/responsibility to handle that. It's not that you don't want them controlling soldiers - after all their role does require them to do so - it's that you don't want the military resources of the state being subject to them in the sense of earlier Roman generals having the army follow them over the government.
 
Exactly, that is why I think I'm going to cut the idea of letting the Dukes maintain Proniars of their own, that would cede too much control over not only military administration but also tax policy in rich provinces of the East. The Dukes will command border troops (the Akritae will be expanded in this TL into an army unto themselves, albeit a more static army) who are paid by Pronoia held in absentia in richer parts of the Empire. Each Duke should get, say 3,000 of these troops to serve as their regulars (say there are 4 Dukes along the eastern frontier by 1250 AD).
 
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