DBWI: Constantine Wins

Changing the capital would be a bad idea. The whole reason Rome was able to conquer as much as it did was it's central location in the Mediterranean. If the capital was moved east as was proposed, then it might lead to an even deeper division between east and west.

That could lead to the east splitting off and Rome splitting into smaller states(like the Diadochi) and there could be a powerful Gallic empire or something like that.
 
That could lead to the east splitting off and Rome splitting into smaller states(like the Diadochi) and there could be a powerful Gallic empire or something like that.
exactly. So in the long run, any attempt to move the capital to the east would only speed up the decline and fall of the roman empire. If a united empire couldn't stand against the barbarian invasions, then a divided empire has even less chance.
 
exactly. So in the long run, any attempt to move the capital to the east would only speed up the decline and fall of the roman empire. If a united empire couldn't stand against the barbarian invasions, then a divided empire has even less chance.

It could be positive because a Roman remnant could survive, unlike OTL (>I don't see the Kingdom of Spain as a Roman remnant.
 
It could be positive because a Roman remnant could survive, unlike OTL (>I don't see the Kingdom of Spain as a Roman remnant.
I agree. Despite what modern Spanish nationalist sentiment would tell you, we can't ignore the fact that the Spanish royal family is, and always has been descended from the Visigoths who first conquered Spain when the empire fell. True more people in Spain speak Hibernian Latin than speak Gothic, but that alone doesn't make them a "Roman remnant". Hell, Dacia has more a of a claim to that legacy than Spain does. Over 90% of the population of Dacia today speaks Dacian Latin, compared to only 75% of the population of Spain speaking Hibernian Latin.
 
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I agree. Despite what modern Spanish nationalist sentiment would tell you, we can't ignore the fact that the Spanish royal family is, and always has been descended from the Visigoths who first conquered Spain when the empire fell. True more people in Spain speak Hibernian Latin than speak Gothic, but that alone doesn't make them a "Roman remnant". Hell, Dacia has more a of a claim to that legacy than Spain does. Over 90% of the population of Dacia today speaks Dacian Latin, compared to only 75% of the population of Spain speaking Hibernian Latin.


Which Dacia? The Kingdom in the Carpathians or the southern Dacia. Southern Dacia at least speaks Latin.
 
Changing the capital would be a bad idea. The whole reason Rome was able to conquer as much as it did was it's central location in the Mediterranean. If the capital was moved east as was proposed, then it might lead to an even deeper division between east and west.

Yes but it was the easier option, that and the more defensible one long term (hell even later emperors moved the court to Carthage in Romes greatest fit of Irony ever, they moved it around a lot in the last few years).
 
Which Dacia? The Kingdom in the Carpathians or the southern Dacia. Southern Dacia at least speaks Latin.
The Dacian Republic, better know as South Dacia is the one I was talking about. "North Dacia" or the Dacian Kingdom is actually majority Slavic, with only about 40% actually speaking "Dacian".
 
The Dacian Republic, better know as South Dacia is the one I was talking about. "North Dacia" or the Dacian Kingdom is actually majority Slavic, with only about 40% actually speaking "Dacian".

"Dacian" itself isn't one language, there is Latin and the other'Dacian'languages.
 

Dorozhand

Banned
A division between east and west might actually be good for the empire. IOTL Rome had to deal with the Barbarians in the west, and the Sassanids in the east, and collapsed under the strain. Maybe an empire whose leadership is divided between west and east could better focus its efforts on these far flung threats. If an eastern breakaway empire could deal with the Sassanids more effectively, then maybe Christianity (whose main strongholds were in the east) could have survived instead of being wiped out and replaced with Zoroastrianism.
 

birdboy2000

Banned
He probably doesn't manage to make it stick. Either his own heirs reverse it or they get overthrown (no rare event in those days) by someone who will. Rome may have been religiously divided, but Christians in power would've probably united all the other religions' followers against them. One god (or two or three - the sources are unclear - but certainly not a pantheon) one way to heaven, and an emphasis on conversion? Constantine would've been the new Elagabalus, and his reign would've ended the same way.
 
He probably doesn't manage to make it stick. Either his own heirs reverse it or they get overthrown (no rare event in those days) by someone who will. Rome may have been religiously divided, but Christians in power would've probably united all the other religions' followers against them. One god (or two or three - the sources are unclear - but certainly not a pantheon) one way to heaven, and an emphasis on conversion? Constantine would've been the new Elagabalus, and his reign would've ended the same way.

That's far from certain, after all Christianity had considerable strength at the time.
 
That's far from certain, after all Christianity had considerable strength at the time.
And depending on your definition of Christianity, it still does. For example in my town the "Church of Jesus Christ, Son of Odin" is the most successful religious institution.
 
And depending on your definition of Christianity, it still does. For example in my town the "Church of Jesus Christ, Son of Odin" is the most successful religious institution.

People forget "Jesus Christ, Son Of Jupiter". That faith has millions of adherents. Unfortunately, it has spawned much terrorism :( and I still remember the civil war between the Jupitariasts and Odineans in Gaul in 1999. I myself was stabbed in the right leg badly by an Odinean.
 
By Odin, another Britannian on this board? I thought it was mostly frequented by Vinlanders. What part of our glorious isle do you hail from brother?

I live in Luton, a town just to the southwest of London, though I was originally born in the town of Layton, not far west of Conwy, and raised from the age of 5 to adulthood in Liverpool. I also spent a few summers over in the "Colonaise Gallique" in Kanata with my aunt & uncle as well.....lovely place, and I might actually retire there, too.

@Pericles: I remember an earlier Jupiterist attack in eastern Gallia(you still call it Gaul, btw? Very interesting. Are you from Greece? It's one of the few countries that still calls it that; we haven't since the late 18th century, by their request. And we've been allies for so long, nobody wants to go back to the old way!)in 1993, that killed a bunch of Armenians not far from the border with Baden. This same group, by the way, collaborated with the Saxon Freedom Army with the bombings in Bristol and several other cities in Devonia in 1994; another uncle of mine was killed in the Torquay attack. :(
 
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