How far could Justinian I have conquered?

(highlights 'could' in thread title)

By this I guess I am assuming if he used all usable resources perfectly, had extremely competent generals, no revolts, and just generally good luck. :p

Personally I think he would not have gotten too much more. The Frankish "infestation" of Gaul was too cemented by then. It would have been a long slog through the countryside, and Justinian does not have the time, money, or supply lines for that IMO.

Perhaps more of Hispania and rest of African coast?

Maybe even some Sassanid land?
 
(highlights 'could' in thread title)

By this I guess I am assuming if he used all usable resources perfectly, had extremely competent generals, no revolts, and just generally good luck. :p

Are we talking about the same army that killed officers when the soldiers got drunk?

Still OTL was probably the max he could get. If he advanced more inland into Hispania he would just be strengthening the power of the shaky Visigothic monarchy and I don't know about advancing more into Africa as OTL they had a hard time holding the coast.

About a invasion of Persia he could try it but either he chooses the Western Empire or Persia both would be hard.
 
He surely could have done more short-term conquests, for example greater parts of Spain.

But the real question is: How bad will the backlash be if he pushes for further conquests without regard for the limited ressources of his empire.
 
Justinian did very well, but was hit by two adverse factors out of his control.

One was the war with Persia -following a Persian-Gothic alliance- that broke out in 540. The other was a plague that devastated the empire shortly later.

Also the arrival of the Avars, but they came late, after the other conquests were pretty much finished, and handled well.

If you keep the Persian war on schedule, then no Justinian can't send reinforcements to Italy. He didn't do this IOTL since the Persian front took strategic priority. Once the war was concluded he DID send a large army to Italy, and even under a unified commander. That is also when he grabbed part of Spain.

The only policy change that Justinian could have done would be to forget about making the conquests paying for themselves, and keeping the taxpayers and bureaucrats away. However, the problem was that they needed the money. That is where having no plague would have been useful.

However, they conquer Italy in the 540s without the Persian war. Since the Persians started the war, the only way you prevent this would be to have the Sassanian Empire collapse into civil war, or somehow have Khusrau not come to the throne or be assassinated and to be replaced by an idiot.
 
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