alternatehistory.com

So recently the "Caesar dies at Aleesia" trope has been making the rounds on this site. I'm not that interested in the ramification for Gaul or anything like that of Caesar dying since that's been pretty much covered in the previous 2 threads. What I am interested in however is what happens if Crassus survives the Carrhae campaign (for the sake of discussion, he doesn't achieve much military success, he just doesn't die), and the following year Caesar is dead on the battlefield at Alesia? What effects does this have in the Roman political climate? The triumvirate had already suffered political defeat after political defeat (well, Pompey did at least, Crassus was making off well). Given Crassus and Pompey's previous enmity and given the triumvirate has been nothing but a disaster for Pompey politically, I think it's safe to say the triumvirate collapses.


But the most interesting thing I think is how Crassus moves forward. Crassus' strategy politically basically was to form his own faction among the pedarii, the backbenchers whose loyalty was much stronger than say the fickle prominent aristocrats that dominated the senate (hence why he didn't lose much in the triumvirate since he never relied on the major players that hated the triumvirate anyway like Pompey did). His strategy was a much more long term one than probably even Caesar's. How does the political field play out from here?
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