Barbatus's successor would be his son Appius Cornelius Lentulus who was called Lentulus (Slow) by his brothers. Which I stand out as Governor of the Province of California, whose government was marked by economic growth and massive industrialization in California and the centralization of legal policies along with dealing with a growing wave of forest fires that devastated most of Northern California. Although he was implicated in several cases where several women publicly accused Lentulus of sexual misconduct with Roman women, including sexual harassment and assault. Although this was hidden by the Imperial House apparatus that censored any company that disclosed related information. Yet Lentulus would stand out for his personal charisma and campaign oriented public perception which were a major factor in his high public approval ratings among the Patricians and Equites. Yet Lentulus' sexual life was scrutinized more than his career achievements early in his Imperial reign.
Lentulus began his rule on a Monday that would be called lunae obscurum when an economic crisis would hit the country as hard as the worst of slave masters against a disobedient slave. The financial crisis occurred due to the construction of docks, factories and auxiliary facilities along kilometers of railway at the same time that several banks were unable to market several million in bonds, which triggered a chain reaction of bank failures and temporarily closed the Civis Lenape Stock Exchange, financial center of the country. As factories began to lay off workers as the Empire fell into depression. The effects of the panic were quickly felt in Civis Lenape, at the same time that the world market that had begun to enter Elysium commercially, was infected by the crisis like a virus of rapid contagion. Panic and depression would affect all industrial nations.
The
Romanist Ultranationalist Movement Aurea Reparatio Imperii Romanorum (
Golden Restoration of the Empire of the Romans) would stand out for raising its popularity levels thanks to Senator Lucius Caninius Rebilus who promoted young students. Some of these would end up being true inventors who would invent the Biplane, the Television (equivalent to 1940) even portable radios. These new inventions would soon end up being applied in civil and military life when the Communist Rebellions began to emerge in Southern Cassiopeia, motivated by European followers of the words of Karl Marx who would end up fleeing to Scandinavia. These Rebellions would end up being especially brutal and large in Nova Macedonia and Fluvius Argentius which created the Communist Roman Republics of Nova Macedonia and Fluvius Argentius, Republics that stood out for creating the first Communist Terror when thousands of Equites and hundreds of Patricians were wounded or killed while fleeing. while the garrisons and Legions quartered in the territories, were overwhelmed.
The Communist Wars that engulfed the world were an immense movement that had a greater impact on countries or nations that stood out for their high rate of workers. Communism was instigated by the German philosopher and sociologist Karl Marx, who lived in England after fleeing from the authorities of the Kingdom of Scandinavia in the German territories, where he was considered a political threat due to his thoughts and theories of class struggles. . As a result, various organizations sprang up throughout Europe. In France, attempts were made to establish a government known as the Paris Commune after the death of Napoleon III in 1871, but they were soon overthrown and many of their members executed by order of Napoleon IV, Prince of France. In Scandinavia, the Communist Party emerged, which was soon banned by order of the Scandinavian government, who considered it a political threat due to its revolutionary nature and the growing number of supporters who had to be arrested by the Governor of Germany, Otto Von Bismarck. .
In Russia and England, Communism did not get as much attention due to the tight control and the poor literacy of the worker who barely had time to think about politics. In Elysium, on the other hand, Communism gained wide acceptance among members of the slaves who listened to extensive speeches by young intellectuals who went to Elysium where they translated and summarized socialist and Marxist ideas. However, this happened on a small scale and had no immediate impact until Lunae obscurum began, where the situation would escalate. Where you would see revolts made up of commoners and slaves confronting the government in Nova Macedonia and Fluvius Argentius which was supported by soldiers from the local Legions, Auxiliarum Militiarum as well as armed civilians. The Communist Armies used troops made up of bandits, to fight against the Empire as it advanced.
Due to the crisis affecting the Empire, Augusta Elysium was slow to deploy troops and this caused the Legions deployed in the conflict zones to be outnumbered, outgunned and low on supply. There were only four Legions between Nova Macedonia and Fluvius Argentius. Each one composed of six thousand two hundred Legionnaires. What started as a slave revolt turned horrific when the slaves paid for years of abuse and mistreatment. A phrase became common among intellectuals: "Spartacus has revived..." In the industrial areas conquered by the Communists, factories dedicated to manufacturing weapons and vehicles were established, creating the first motorized combat vehicles. The vast majority of the refugees were women and children, since almost all the remaining men had enlisted against the communists. The means of transport used ranged from pushcarts and prams, for those on foot, to all kinds of farm carts, pony carts.
At night the columns made their way to wayside villages, where they were often allowed to spend the night in stables and barns. The owners gladly welcomed the Equites or Patricians who fled from the conflict zones, as if they were guests joining a hunting party. Just to tell stories, like the
Rape of Nova Corduba where slaves, looters, criminals and the worst kind that could be tempted by Communism drank and raped mercilessly while from the lampposts hung men including teenagers with beards but disemboweled leaving their intestines hanging, while in the insulas and domus, women under the age of eighteen and the elderly were gang raped. A testimony was given by Antonia Vipsania Alba when the communist front-line combat troops entered the city and took her prisoner, the slaves took turns raping her in groups of twelve, while others did the same to my neighbors. Some to the point of being mutilated when slaves, unable to complete the act of rape, used the bottle as a substitute, with horrible results for the innocent.
In the middle of these combats, the appearance of the imperial aviation must be mentioned, who stood out for the use of Caelus dualae (Biplane) and Caelus tercialae (Triplane) that served as fighters against the rebel airships, highlighting the air battle over Civis Argentarius where the Renamed Airship Hexarema "Karl Marx" it was destroyed when a Caelus tercialae sacrificed itself to destroy it.
The Imperial Army took until 1875 to be ready to go on the offensive. At that time, the Communist Roman Republics of Nova Macedonia and Fluvius Argentarius developed a unified chain of command and logistics made up mostly of a conglomerate of warlords who acted with ad-hoc units made up of slaves, deserters from some military force or even bandits as was the case with Bandit King Marcus Aemilius Lepidus who had a force of 50,000 bandits behind him and stationed in a fortress in the Andes. The Slaves in industrial sectors were organized under Industrial warlords who from their factories manufactured rifles, machine guns, ammunition, barbed wire and armored cars to the point that they sometimes even sold material or plans to representatives of countries such as Iberia, England or Austria to obtain foreign financing. Although that changed when Operation Neptune was applied and a blockade was established.
Operation Neptuno stood out for beginning with the reconquest of the Malvinas Islands, which would serve as a Naval Station to resupply the ships that would apply the blockade. The blockade was unusually restrictive in that even food was considered "contraband of war". Because of this, the Imperial government issued a warning that any non-Imperial ships detected exceeding or within the exclusion area would be sunk. This generated a lot of controversy to the point that several governments protested energetically but it fulfilled the objective of cutting off the flow of arms and material. Although there would be adventurers who would try to bypass the blockade, they would be faced with an unpleasant surprise: The Castrum Maris. The Castrum Maris were artificial naval installations similar in some ways to the first "fixed" offshore oil platforms. They consisted of reinforced concrete superstructures and two hollow towers armed with two naval artillery batteries.
The Castrum Maris represented a new military concept while allowing research into the use of military radio and radar technology. The War allowed the economic sectors to grow because manufacturing and agricultural production doubled. At the same time, the Imperial Production Board coordinated production capacities so that national priorities were met. Consumer products plants were converted to fill military orders. Automakers built tanks and armored cars. In an effort to prevent rising national income and scarce consumer goods from causing inflation, the newly created Price Administration rationed and fixed the prices of consumer items ranging from sugar to meat to clothing to gasoline. , while managing price increases. It also fixed the rent of houses either Insulas (apartments) or Domus.
At the same time that millions of women held jobs in manufacturing and production; most were temporary jobs. Some were replacing men who joined the Legions. The number of Legions saw the need to rise from fifty to two hundred (200) Legions, equivalent to one million two hundred and forty thousand (1,240,000) Legionnaires, with each legion having six thousand two hundred (6,200) legionnaires. At the same time the Polybolum got an upgrade with the Polybolum being the PB-29 (OTL: MG-08) which was easier to carry compared to earlier models. Apart of development weapons like the Contra-Testuda Coclius (OTL: Anti-Tank Rifle).
Perhaps, one of the most innovative inventions in terms of naval vehicles would be the Navis Subaquanea (OTL: Submarines), these would support the mission of the Vastator (Destroyer) and Perditior (Dreadnought) to block the coasts of the rebel territories. But these in mid-1875, tried to evacuate with thirty Ocean liners 500,000 free slaves to flee to Africa. Unfortunately, they were detected by a Falklands maritime reconnaissance flight and in less than twelve hours, the Ocean liners were sinking and hundreds of lifeboats surrounded them, only for vengeful Elysians to use chemical weapons such as mustard gas that was sprayed from airplanes as if they were fumigating the sea. No one survived as "Sacrifice to the Sea God Neptune."
At the beginning of 1876, the Strategic Offensive Operation "Vindicta" began. Vindicta was designed with the goal of breaking through communist lines by forcing them to retreat or destroying them if they chose to stand and fight. But a groundbreaking invention was the use of airborne landing of Legionnaires through the use of parachutes. They would attack and disrupt enemy headquarters, artillery units, and supply depots in the rear areas, as well as quickly occupy territory until relief arrives. The offensive began at the same time by breaking up several communist towns that were barely able to prepare themselves as their militias were made up of a motley mix of militiamen made up of former rustic, domestic slaves and even women, while wearing steel helmets; others, kepis, and others, a cap with a visor. Many had nothing but their home uniforms highlighted by a red ribbon.
These militias were extremely proud of their work, despite the fact that there were not a few who could not even lift a box full of ammunition from the ground and were barely able to hold their rifles against their shoulders properly, since they lacked training. military comparison with his enemies. From the first assault, the Imperial sharpshooters were taking them down with accurate aim while some prisoners were subjected to physical and psychological torture to obtain information and in some cases were raped by an entire Century before being executed due to the "
No prisoners" order. . In some cases, Testuda Industrias appeared carrying infantry units on top to dismount to fight on foot. These tactics were commonly called Mounted Infantry. In the Atacama Desert, highlight the innovative use of motorcycles as cavalry that served when hunting columns of troops or cavalry.
It cannot be denied that the Strategic Offensive Operation "Vindicta" was a military event comparable to the Bellum Appalachia that conquered as far as Hispania Maritimae (OTL:Florida) or the Magnum Bellum Barbarum that conquered almost all of North Cassiopeia or other Imperial campaigns where the Dominarch of the moment, he had total authority and showed why he had that rank of importance. Although the Legions and the Classis had been affected initially by peacetime, which had depleted combat-proven military personnel. That didn't prevent a Legionnaire from still having his 5 years of military training out of a 20 year tour of duty. Something superior to the rebel communist combatant who, depending on the Commander assigned or who followed, gave him a training of several hours or a month. But Elysium did not fight because a slave rebellion had broken out. They fought because this rebellion was guided by thoughts that would endanger the very Empire that for fifteen hundred years had battled in Cassiopeia.
The Imperials knew that Operation "Vindicta" would be met with fierce resistance, not only had the rebels manufactured weapons and supplies for two years in preparation for such an eventuality, but fanaticism spread to the populace, with the line between soldiers and civilians being murky at best and non-existent at worst. The use of chemical weapons would become common against urban centers inhabited by determined and entrenched enemies to the point that the so-called clean-ups of cities became common where thousands of corpses were burned in piles so large that trucks were necessary to transport bodies. The war would not end until 1880 when the last rebel leaders were hunted down and executed by impalement at Civis Argentarius and Nova Pella.
The End of the Communist Wars came with a great depopulation of slaves throughout the southern continent and empire. But that gave space for the military to withdraw, to have land. The idea of the abolition of slavery was raised in a session of the Senate, but was quickly scrapped due to the need for slaves to run the Empire. The 200 Legions remained due to the need for a strong army as the Techneum and Academia Bellica began designing new weapons and Testuda Industria models. The Imperial Army strove for massive investment along with modernization by motorizing its infantry and upgrading its Testuda Industria. At the same time, fields of military technology such as rocketry began to be investigated, to the point that they developed by 1895, the first long-range guided ballistic missiles in the world, which would work to attack cities or fortresses, even static targets.
On the other hand, the Testuda Invicta were upgraded from serving as infantry support to being able to act without the need for infantry even adding the use of a full 360° rotating turret originally equipped with two machine guns in the case of the Testuda. Invicta II (OTL
zKpfw I), ideal for infantry or cavalry suppression. The Testuda Invicta was abbreviated as TI from then on. The TI-III (OTL: PzKpfw II) was equipped with a 20 mm anti-tank gun along with a PB-90 (OTL: MG 34). Although serving as lightly armored cavalry units, the Dominarch was looking for a vehicle that was fast and could fight other armored fighting vehicles. The answer was TI-IV (OTL: PzKpfw III) and TI-V (OTL: PzKpfw IV). The TI-V was designed for infantry support, while the similar TI-IV was for fighting armored fighting vehicles. The TI-V had more development potential, with a larger turret ring to mount more powerful guns, so it could swap roles with the TI-IV.
In weaponry, the Legions saw the need for a weapon that combined a PolyManuBallistula: PMB (OTL: Submachine gun) with a Coclius lubrico (OTL: Bolt-Action Rifle), the result being the PolyCoclius (OTL: Automatic Rifle) abbreviated as PC, the Polycoclius proved to be a valuable weapon, particularly on the Eastern Front, where it was first deployed. A properly trained soldier with the PC-I had a wide tactical repertoire. It could hit targets farther away than a PMB-4 (OTL:MP40), but was more useful than the CL-IV (OTL:K43) at close range during urban combat, as well as providing light machine gun fire. Besides, it was added with a firing selector that allowed to switch between fully automatic or semi-automatic mode, so it could be used as a single-shot precision rifle, or as an efficient assault machine gun with great precision, damage and speed.
Aviation evolved, relegating airships to transportation duties as the first Caelus unicae (OTL: Monoplane) and Caelus deliquia (OTL: Plane Bomber) were created. The first pilots of these aircraft were veterans who flew Caelus tercialae and Caelus dualae during the Communist Wars. Theorists of the newly created Caelum Legion (Air Force) continued to develop strategic theories, but emphasis was placed on supporting the army, as it was expected to face ground operations after any outbreak of hostilities. Air leadership was primarily concerned with tactical and operational methods where air units would join specific army formations and act as close air support and ensure the protection of specific areas. In the midst of this, interest arose in reaching space while the military saw the possible application in intercontinental ballistic missiles.
For the rest of the world, the communist wars did not have the same impact as on Elysium. Although, like Elysium, progress was made in the use of tanks and aviation, which were put into practice in wars against tribes in Africa or confrontations against foreign nations, such as Russia and the Ottomans and their well-known Caucasian Wars. England, for example, expanded its domains into southern Arabia, which profited from the discovery of oil wells in the Persian Gulf and almost caused a clash between the English and the Ottomans when the English expressed interest in expanding into Arabia, but a combination between Mechanized Ottoman forces and indigenous Arab cavalry held off a thirty thousand strong English army under Sir Henry Bartle Edward Frere, 1st Baronet in 1879. The war saw the loss of 5,000 British troops and 10,000 African colonial troops along with several dozen machine guns. and field guns, and an increase in the English and Ottoman military career.