Julian the Apostate Persian campaign was completely successful but he still died

Julian the Apostate campaign in Persia is a complete success with all of his goals being met. But he dies suddenly after his campaign. What results is that Christianity is restored as the state church by his successors but they don't have to give up some holdings on the eastern boarder like in otl. Does anything in Roman history changes after this?
 

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Yes, quite a bit of change actually. The peace huriedly signed by Jovianus put the romans on the back foot and caused a quick retreat. Here there are various points to consider :

- Did Julien take any decisions regarding Procopus before he died ? Otherwise he should be the legitimate heir
- If Julien did not take any measure against Procopus, the him and his army in Armenia are the main issue for the elected emperor (we'll assume he is Jovianus). But here with the east secure he can take a more antagonistic approach. Procopus may cave in as he did OTL but the more secure Jovianus (no shame from the peace treaty attached as OTL) may take more drastic measures against the man (for treason or cowardice ?)
- Butterflies mean that Jovianus will probably not die from excessive drink or food on the road to Constantinople
- With Jovianus living longer, Valens and Valentinian do not divide the Empire between themselve and do thus not take decisions on the reinforcement of the heritage of one's parents condition that is one of the steps toward serfdom.
- After around one year spent reinforcing his power, Jovianus is forced to look toward the West : the frozen Rhine has allowed the Alamans to cross the river and attack the Empire. Due to the threat Jovianus goes to Gaul with his army and succeeds in throwing them back. He then plans a big expedition accross the Rhine to shatter the germanic power for a generation. The peacefulness of the East and the return of Julian's gallic forces has allowed him to mass an impressive army, not seen in a long time in this region.
- While he is heading such a strong force no one dares rise in rebellion, but some are plotting. Chief among them is Valentinian, to whom Jovianus has given a command in the East while his brother Valens serves alongside the emperor in Gaul.
- The offensive is a success because it had not been expected : no one since Maximian the Tracian had dare mount such an attack against Germany itself. A lot of slaves are taken and the whole south of Germania is devastated, with the refugees seeking protection amongst the Franks, whom Julien had defeated some years earlier. Afraid they might be the next target, the Franks decide to take the refugee captives and deliver them to Rome as a guarantee. Jovianus, anxious to get back to more sunny regions, quickly agrees. The Rhine guarisons are restaured and reinforced while the slaves are sent to Hispania and to Britannia to work the mines and the fields.
Jovianus decides to cross over to Britannia before heading back south, both to make clear that the Empire stays interested in the area and to see if it might be possible to lower the cost of administration. An early winter will keep him in the island for a few crucial months that he will use to make many decisions regarding its management but which will also leave room for his enemies.
The situation in Britannia was dangerous : the northern Picts were numerous famished and armed, and the coasts were victims of raids by naval germanic tribes such as the Saxons. Jovianus thus decided to build a strong cavalry force on the island as well as a network of coastal watches and communication fires coming from the Wall to call those cavalrymen before any invader has too much force. He hopes that this heavy cavalry force will help lower the number of infantry units on the island and limit any raid from either the north or the coast.
The plan will survive his death but he'll never see it come to fruition as just before the start of the sailing season he is killed by a servant widely assumed to be in the pay of a certain younger brother...
A new reign and a new era is about to begin...
 
Julian the Apostate campaign in Persia is a complete success with all of his goals being met. But he dies suddenly after his campaign. What results is that Christianity is restored as the state church by his successors but they don't have to give up some holdings on the eastern boarder like in otl. Does anything in Roman history changes after this?

This topic his funny is funny because my first Real TL was about a, relatively, successful Persian Campaign.

The Romans don't really have to be successful against the Persians, all they need to do is to go back to Roman territory with their armies intact and that would change much.

But let's go to your scenario.

First the problem would be where Julian dies. If he dies while with the Army, they are bound to chose one of their own leaders as Emperor, but if he dies after returning to Antioch, shit is bound to happen.

In the first scenario you could see a more experienced officer than Jovian to be chosen as Emperor. Another point is that OTL the office was offered to the Perfect of the Orient Salutius, who refused it on the grounds of being old and having bad health. Another point is that if we consider that Ammianus Marcellinus is correct and Jovian was elected incorrectly then the office might go to the chief notary, Jovianus. These are the choices if the army as all the saying.

But in Antioch you have too many possibilities with every men with enough money trying to bribe it's way to the purple. This could easily cause a civil war, that would be more destructive than OTL failed Persian Campaign.

But let's imagine that everything goes well to the Romans and that a experienced men is chosen to the Purple.

Their first act is to choose a successor, and given that we neither know of any sons from either Salutius or Jovianus, then that men must be a outsider that they trust and he must have connections to the army. A possibility could be Theodosius the Elder (The father of Theodosius the Idiot, the destroyer of the West, the son of a ***** that should had been drowned at birth... you get my drift) that was by all accounts a loyal and brilliant general. Another possibility could be one of the sons of Gratian the Elder, either Valentinian or Valens, he was a very popular men among the Army and having him as an ally could reinforce the claim of the new Emperor, given that he would have all reasons to support the new Emperor if his son was bound to gain the throne.

This is just a small part of the politics your scenario could create.

On the Religion part it depends what kind of Christian sect the new Emperor follows, is he a Arian or not? That could have many effects on the way Christianity evolves.

On the rest everything would change little.

Rome was still overstretched with too many enemies on too many borders, a successful Persian campaign puts the Sassanids out for a while but they are bound to seek revenge and on the west the Franks, Allemani, Quadii, etc... are all of them looking for a way to gain more lands and riches at the cost of the Empire, you would need, at least, some three good Emperors, both reigning for long times, to change the fate of the Empire, and the intact army would be a bonus for those Emperors, so lets avoid Hadrianopolis and Theodosius the Not so Great and everything could go fine (as long as no idiot reaches the purple, but that is asking too much).
 
Where and how does Julian die? Does he die of battle wounds on campaign? Is he assassinated on campaign? Is he assassinated in Antioch? Does he die naturally in Antioch?


I ask because that determines greatly who succeeds him. If he returns from the campaign and then dies, Procopius has a very good chance at becoming his successor. If he's assassinated, Procopius has a good reason to at least make a bid for the purple and potentially set off a civil war.
 
Jovian only got the job because no one else wanted to deal with the mess of extricating the army from Persia. He was, effectively, the fall guy.

With the army victorious the purple looks a lot more appealing.
 
Where and how does Julian die? Does he die of battle wounds on campaign? Is he assassinated on campaign? Is he assassinated in Antioch? Does he die naturally in Antioch?


I ask because that determines greatly who succeeds him. If he returns from the campaign and then dies, Procopius has a very good chance at becoming his successor. If he's assassinated, Procopius has a good reason to at least make a bid for the purple and potentially set off a civil war.

He dies naturally on the way to Antioch after he successfully completes his campaign
 
Yes, quite a bit of change actually. The peace huriedly signed by Jovianus put the romans on the back foot and caused a quick retreat. Here there are various points to consider :

- Did Julien take any decisions regarding Procopus before he died ? Otherwise he should be the legitimate heir
- If Julien did not take any measure against Procopus, the him and his army in Armenia are the main issue for the elected emperor (we'll assume he is Jovianus). But here with the east secure he can take a more antagonistic approach. Procopus may cave in as he did OTL but the more secure Jovianus (no shame from the peace treaty attached as OTL) may take more drastic measures against the man (for treason or cowardice ?)
- Butterflies mean that Jovianus will probably not die from excessive drink or food on the road to Constantinople
- With Jovianus living longer, Valens and Valentinian do not divide the Empire between themselve and do thus not take decisions on the reinforcement of the heritage of one's parents condition that is one of the steps toward serfdom.
- After around one year spent reinforcing his power, Jovianus is forced to look toward the West : the frozen Rhine has allowed the Alamans to cross the river and attack the Empire. Due to the threat Jovianus goes to Gaul with his army and succeeds in throwing them back. He then plans a big expedition accross the Rhine to shatter the germanic power for a generation. The peacefulness of the East and the return of Julian's gallic forces has allowed him to mass an impressive army, not seen in a long time in this region.
- While he is heading such a strong force no one dares rise in rebellion, but some are plotting. Chief among them is Valentinian, to whom Jovianus has given a command in the East while his brother Valens serves alongside the emperor in Gaul.
- The offensive is a success because it had not been expected : no one since Maximian the Tracian had dare mount such an attack against Germany itself. A lot of slaves are taken and the whole south of Germania is devastated, with the refugees seeking protection amongst the Franks, whom Julien had defeated some years earlier. Afraid they might be the next target, the Franks decide to take the refugee captives and deliver them to Rome as a guarantee. Jovianus, anxious to get back to more sunny regions, quickly agrees. The Rhine guarisons are restaured and reinforced while the slaves are sent to Hispania and to Britannia to work the mines and the fields.
Jovianus decides to cross over to Britannia before heading back south, both to make clear that the Empire stays interested in the area and to see if it might be possible to lower the cost of administration. An early winter will keep him in the island for a few crucial months that he will use to make many decisions regarding its management but which will also leave room for his enemies.
The situation in Britannia was dangerous : the northern Picts were numerous famished and armed, and the coasts were victims of raids by naval germanic tribes such as the Saxons. Jovianus thus decided to build a strong cavalry force on the island as well as a network of coastal watches and communication fires coming from the Wall to call those cavalrymen before any invader has too much force. He hopes that this heavy cavalry force will help lower the number of infantry units on the island and limit any raid from either the north or the coast.
The plan will survive his death but he'll never see it come to fruition as just before the start of the sailing season he is killed by a servant widely assumed to be in the pay of a certain younger brother...
A new reign and a new era is about to begin...
Julian has not chosen an official heir when he died in this scenario
 
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