There was a thread a few weeks that asked what the effects would have been had Belisarius not been recalled from Italy and had the plague of Justinian been butterflies and/or delayed. The consensus seemed to be that this would set the Byzantine Empire up for further expansion/consolidation in Italy and Iberia, but I want to take this a bit further. What if those two PoDs, coupled with a lot of luck for the Byzantines in the West, had allowed the empire to fully reach old imperial borders in the West, with the probable exceptions of anything too far to the north like Anglo-Saxon England or Frankish territory like Austrasia, Neustria and Swabia.
So, for at least a brief period of time in the late 500s/early 600s, the Roman Empire has been fully restored. What would happen next? How long could this Empire have lasted before suffering major territorial losses in the West or East? Would the Roman Empire be once more split into a formal Eastern and Western Empire, as was suggested in the thread I linked to? How would the presence of this empire affect the development of states in central and Eastern Europe? Any other effects?
So, for at least a brief period of time in the late 500s/early 600s, the Roman Empire has been fully restored. What would happen next? How long could this Empire have lasted before suffering major territorial losses in the West or East? Would the Roman Empire be once more split into a formal Eastern and Western Empire, as was suggested in the thread I linked to? How would the presence of this empire affect the development of states in central and Eastern Europe? Any other effects?