Catilinarian Success Discussion

So I've been thinking of doing a TL (the Naples one is pretty abandoned due to lack of knowledge of the period, lack of willingness to research the period, and lack of motivation to draw about twenty thousand family trees) about the Late Republic; I feel that TL's featuring Caesar the Dictator, or Pompey the Leader, or even Antony and Caesarion and Augustus, are a bit overdone (plus, I don't think I can top slydessertfox and Velasco in that area), and anything to do with Marius and Sulla, or before, has too few sources/I don't know much about that time period (plus, I KNOW I can't top tuareg109).

So, I was thinking of one in which Catilina succeeds in his attempted revolution; a major POD would be Caesar joining him (though Caesar wasn't fond of such drastic moves as generally cancelling all debt, I'm sure he can pull some political move out of his ass; he was fond of doing that). With both having popularity (Catilina with Sulla's veterans and Caesar with Rome's common people), the Senate could easily be swept away, right?

More efficient governance of the provinces and more devolution/rights for the Italians to come? Yes? No?
 
So I've been thinking of doing a TL (the Naples one is pretty abandoned due to lack of knowledge of the period, lack of willingness to research the period, and lack of motivation to draw about twenty thousand family trees) about the Late Republic; I feel that TL's featuring Caesar the Dictator, or Pompey the Leader, or even Antony and Caesarion and Augustus, are a bit overdone (plus, I don't think I can top slydessertfox and Velasco in that area), and anything to do with Marius and Sulla, or before, has too few sources/I don't know much about that time period (plus, I KNOW I can't top tuareg109).

So, I was thinking of one in which Catilina succeeds in his attempted revolution; a major POD would be Caesar joining him (though Caesar wasn't fond of such drastic moves as generally cancelling all debt, I'm sure he can pull some political move out of his ass; he was fond of doing that). With both having popularity (Catilina with Sulla's veterans and Caesar with Rome's common people), the Senate could easily be swept away, right?

More efficient governance of the provinces and more devolution/rights for the Italians to come? Yes? No?

The Senate includes the Consuls and is key to controlling Rome. Sweeping it away would not be a good idea. And Catilina was not a very stable man from all accounts.
 
The Senate includes the Consuls and is key to controlling Rome. Sweeping it away would not be a good idea. And Catilina was not a very stable man from all accounts.

Of course Catilina would replace the current Senate with his own, new Senate. He doesn't have any lack of supporters high or low, due to his promise to cancel debts (many, many equestrians, senators, and common folk were in debt to a powerful few--like Crassus and Pompey, for example). He has those of Sulla's veterans who support him, and more might join in after initial successes. The only other army in Italy is Pompey's.

Don't be so sure of all the accounts; they're all written by men who were Catilina's enemies, or stood to lose were he to succeed. Cicero, for example, is a terrible example of an unbiased source, and there's nobody else who is less biased anyway.

The hardest thing I'm dealing with is finding an adequate POD for this.
 
So, I was thinking of one in which Catilina succeeds in his attempted revolution; a major POD would be Caesar joining him
Catilina was good, very good. But I cannot find a POD for him to succeed long term.
The republic was doomed, that's right. But the high power would be seized by a famous general and/or his dynasty.
The base of this system would be loyalty of the legions to the general who lead them in victorious battles (or to his successors).
Catilina did not have military glory, too bad for a would-be dictator.
 
Catilina did not have military glory, too bad for a would-be dictator.

Wikipedia said:
An able commander, Catiline had a distinguished military career. He served in the Social War with Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Cicero, under Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo in 89 BC. During Gaius Marius, Lucius Cornelius Cinna and Gnaeus Papirius Carbo's regime, Catiline played no major role, but he remained politically secure. He later supported Lucius Cornelius Sulla in the civil war of 84 BC–81 BC.

He didn't quite have military glory (and nothing on the same level as Pompey), but he was popular with Sulla's veterans, and they remembered him from the Civil War. At this time, I think that Pompey's in the East, so maybe his legions aren't even in Italy. I'm sure that if he gained control and cancelled all debts, he'd have 90% of the population loyal to him, especially hard-pressed farmers.
 
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