Imperii Occidens - A Roman Timeline

And we never have seen Rome's eastern frontier with Sarmatia. Where exactly IS the border of the Province of Sarmatia? Is it the Dniester? The Southern Bug? The Brysthenes (now Dnieper)? All the way to the Tanais (Don and the Albi (Volga)?
And if the boundary is the Dniester or the Southern Bug will the Sarmatiii be content to guard the Eastern Frontier? Or will they conquer and recruit the Venedi for a rematch?

As far as I understand, nothing changed with the eastern sarmatians. The new province of Sarmatia is the homeland of the Iazyges between Pannonia and Dacia. So the border is still the known eastern border of Dacia (Carpathians) and of Moesia inferior (Lower Danube). The romans sometimes conquered the smaller region between the lower Danube and the Carpathians during campaigns against the Roxolani or Bastarni, but they never really provicialized it.

To conquer entire Sarmatia (todays Ukraine and more) makes probably no sense or is not possible at all, because in this region cavalry armies have major advantages. So everything east of the Dnjestr is secured more appropriately via contracts or client-kings.
 
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It might make sense for the Romans to leave most of their legions in the area at the Danube border and just respond to threats from there- kind of what they did when they conquered Dacia, only leaving one legion there.

Actually there were already some bigger legion camps north of the Danube during Marcus Campaign. I expect that the romans fortify their new "Limes", which just means border, as usual. They will start via establishing auxilia forts along Sudeten and Carpathian mountains, as they did in Dacia in OTL. Most probably focussing on the broad passes mentioned above. The purpose of these forts is to control trade and deal with smaller raids. Perhaps we will even see different kinds of walls where appropriate. Behind this line you have legions in Bohemia. Sarmatia and Dacia acting as a kind of in-depth defense against larger raids. Best locations are near a big tributary river of the Danube due to logistic reasons. The northern Tisia looks perfect for at least one legionary camp.

However I have lately read a theory, that the soldiers would have been not very amused about this idea. Because in the 2nd century, soldiers were mostly recruited locally in the border provinces and prefered to stay in their homelands. Of course this behaviour is not acceptable. But it is another reason, why the romans have to expand carefully and step by step.
 
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Emperors subsequent to Marcus Aurelius must seriously consider conquering and occupying the North European Plain even if it is mainly forest and swamp with only islands of cultivatabe land. Especially now that the Oder and Vistula Rivers offer highways to the Mare Suevi (Baltic Sea).

Romans would surely prefer to consider controlling this area, not necessarily conquer it. The fact, that Elbe, Oder and Vistula now become highways like Rhine or Rhone will surely help. Well not really the same, because the connection to the mediterenean world is still missing or rather costly via the Danube and additional land routes. Anyways, I would expect some tradeposts first along these rivers.

Looking to the map with these new provinces, at least Germania Magna up to the Elbe should be on the agenda again. Hopefully with more patience than last time.
 
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Thanks for all the replies! I know I should not have posted it it without more research, but a man learn from his mistakes so I will be more careful next time.
The inappropriate unit names will be changed accordingly.
Thanks again for all the suggestions, I want make this timeline as plausible as possible.
Also the map :
1159021861marcomannisarmatia_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.png
Note, that this map doesn't show the Roman sphere of influence outside its borders.
 
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Great Map as always.

Could you explain a bit, why you drew the borders exactly the way you did?
It seems, that the homeland of the german Marcomanns and Quadi involved the entire territory of modern Czechia, plus the western part of Slovakia. We know of roman camps at the upper Elbe during Marcus campagn, but this area is not part of your province Marcomannia.

Also the northern edge of the provinces is hard to assess, because you used a satellite-map. A topographic map, might have been more appropriate. It shows the rivers, mountains and passes more clearly

Also it seems, that Marcus gave the western part of Dacia to Sarmatia. Something the Sarmatians required since they supported Trajan during the Dacian wars.

Here is an example, how I expect. the 2 new provinces might look like:

eyfp.png
 
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Could you explain a bit, why you drew the borders exactly the way you did?

These are the borders of the new provinces as of 174, and are expected to change. Especially to the north until the end of the mountain ranges. The next step would be to incorporate the regions of nowadays Bohemia into Marcomannia, or even create further provinces. But I don't think that's necessary.
 
These are the borders of the new provinces as of 174, and are expected to change. Especially to the north until the end of the mountain ranges. The next step would be to incorporate the regions of nowadays Bohemia into Marcomannia, or even create further provinces. But I don't think that's necessary.

Perhaps the Romans will close up along the Main river ITTL, giving them a more defensible Limes Germanicus, than the OTL Agri Decumantes? Maybe even add Frisia (modern day Netherlands) to the Empire?

Edit: BTW, by the sounds of it, Rome doesn't add Osroene to the Empire ITTL?
 
Looking to the map, the Main River looks reasonable now, even if the romans had not such a map. That means, war with the Hermanduri. The Hermanduri, have been friends of Rome since centuries, but supported the Marcomanni during the last war. So there is a clear casus belli.

I am convinced, that a 2nd step (back to the Lippe) and a 3rd one (up to the Elbe) makes sense, too. But step by step.
 
@ Pannonius II

So, Verus and Aurelius are still Co-Emperors; With three Caesars, how do they plan to handle succession? Also, what's the status on Commodus and Pompeianus?
 
That seems far down the road.

Probably you are right. Marcus has much more important things to do, even if the plague does not spread. All the major internal issues of the empire are not solved so far in this timeline. Nevertheless, the increasing external threat at more than one border is an undisputed major reason (of many) for the Fall of Rome.

If the Franks and the Allemanns, the big alliances of the germans in the West are once established, things become much harder, if not impossible. This happened in the 2nd half of the 3rd century, which is unfortunately not that far down the road. Thus I mentioned above, that the age of Marcus is perhaps a bit late, in order to change roman history significantly.

With the conquest of Marcomannia and Sarmatia Marcus took a step into the right direction at the Danube border. If he is able to pacify the tribes fast and convince them to fight on the roman side, he has increased the roman power significantly and more importantly decreased the external pressure, which is now reduced to Elbgermans (Suebi, Vandali, ...), the Goths and the eastern Sarmatian tribes. At the Rhine border, a similar measure is needed: integrate the more romanized west-german tribes into the empire, in order to avoid, that they merge with the more barbarian eastern tribes or start moving west. Or just to reword it in a more positive manner: support the border near german tribes actively, via mutual aid pacts, client kingdoms or provincialization, in order to enable them, to withstand the pressure from the more barbarian eastern tribes.

Again, it is almost high-noon.
 
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So, Verus and Aurelius are still Co-Emperors; With three Caesars, how do they plan to handle succession? Also, what's the status on Commodus and Pompeianus?

Don't worry, the plague will solve this problem, and Pompeianus at this time is the Legate of Pannonia.
Also, Marcus' original heir in OTL was Marcus Annius Verus and only after his death was Commodus made his successor.
 
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