Lusitanian Republic

For my first real TL as a member of these forums, I am planning to have Quintus Sertorius succeed in his revolution against Rome, because Marcus Perpenna Vento was executed by his army before he joined up with Sertorius and never had a chance to organize his assassination. Sertorius continues to win victory after victory, eventually killing Pompey the Great in the Pyrenees, and succeeds in building an independant republic along Roman lines that holds Spain, Mauritania, and the lower portions of Gaul.

Anyone's implausometer beeping? Or do you think this has potential? Please, comments I need. I'll offer any explanations I can for a rather obscure subject, while greatfully accepting any advice.
 

Rockingham

Banned
For my first real TL as a member of these forums, I am planning to have Quintus Sertorius succeed in his revolution against Rome, because Marcus Perpenna Vento was executed by his army before he joined up with Sertorius and never had a chance to organize his assassination. Sertorius continues to win victory after victory, eventually killing Pompey the Great in the Pyrenees, and succeeds in building an independant republic along Roman lines that holds Spain, Mauritania, and the lower portions of Gaul.

Anyone's implausometer beeping? Or do you think this has potential? Please, comments I need. I'll offer any explanations I can for a rather obscure subject, while greatfully accepting any advice.
Can't say much on the subject.....

My only thought:Might it set a precedent:D...so we might see rebels establish Greek, Egyptian, British and Gaullian republics as well[drools very heavily]

Please do this TL.....:cool:
 
But why would he name it Lusitanian Republic? The Lusitanians were one of the native tribes of Hispania. It would be Republic of Hispania.
 
But why would he name it Lusitanian Republic? The Lusitanians were one of the native tribes of Hispania. It would be Republic of Hispania.

Well, there's a story behind that. Sertorius had started out as a governor in Spain, but was driven into Africa by the faction that controlled Rome at the time, which happened to be a faction he was opposed to. After several adventures in Africa, the Lusitanians invited him back into Spain to help them resist Rome. Using Lusitania as his power base, he conquered the entire peninsula, and that is how he got to be in the position of declaring independance from Rome. But I digress a bit.

Anyway, I figure the first installment will be out pretty soon, maybe later tonight or tomorrow. I'd've thrown it up by now if I didn't have too much damn homework.
 
a very interesting idea, I look forward to reading it.

but why would the Romans allow the state to survive, once it had declared independence from the Republic? it would still be somewhat chaotic in its first years, and Rome probably wouldn't be too happy about a breakaway state.
 
Hmm, very interesting. I agree, a precedent might be set if he does this successfully. However, he might use the Pyreenes as the border, holding southern Gaul might be too much...
 
I would just like to say that Sertorius is one of my favorite Roman historical figures.

As to the question of why would Rome let it survive, the answer to that lies in the fact that there were a few... domestic squabbles in the SPQR at the time.
 
POD - 77 BC. Marcus Perpenna Vento, an elitist commanding an army of the now-defunct Populares faction in Hispania, announces to his soldiers that he would die before serving under the commoner Quintus Sertorius, a more skilled member of the faction who had managed to conquer most of Hispania. His soldiers took him up on his promise. After delivering Vento to Pompeius Magnus, who had a merry time executing him, they trudged out to join Sertorius's forces. When they arrive, Sertorius welcomes them but duly punishes the traitors who deliverd Vento into the hands of the enemy commander.

Several years pass, and Sertorius grows stronger. Though rising tensions between the Hispanic nobles and his Roman advisors appear, he manages to sooth them without undue fuss. He defeats Pompey on the field over and over again, until...

Early February, 71 BC. Sertorius leads a brilliant assault against the remnants of Pompey's forces, killing Pompey himself and capturing another of Rome's best generals, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius. In disarray, the Roman army flees into Gaul, where it is harrassed by the local tribes allied to Sertorius until if finally reaches Italy, exhausted, pathetic, and stripped of anything that might possibly be of value. Rome is shocked at its defeat, and Sertorius takes the opportunity to declare a new Republic of Lusitania...

I would have posted more, but I'm stripped for time.
 
70 BC. With his territories in Hispania secured, Quintus Sertorius began to look outward from the Iberian Peninsula. In Italy, a massive slave revolt armed by the Lusitanians began, temporarily paralyzing Roman commerce, while several Celtic tribes allied to Lusitania rise up and burn Roman Gaul. Meanwhile, to the east, Mithrades IV of Pontus, the only other state capable of challenging Rome in this period finalized his alliance treaty with Sertorius, and began his own assault on the Asian provinces. Beset from all sides, Rome falters and her power declines futher.

69 BC. As the next year begins, Rome remains in terrible danger, though she has managed to improve her lot somewhat. Lusitania, however, is flourishing; many rich Hispanian merchants moved out of Rome and back to their homeland, and the fragments of many other Populares armies flocked to Sertorius's control. By the end of the year, Sertorius has decided to expand his territories, and began a short campaign against independent Gallaecia in the north. Despite their ferocity, the Gallaecians are quickly overcome by the Lusitanians, and finding them far more hospitable than Rome, would never revolt seriously in the years to come.
 
68 BC. Rome was returning to her former position of power slowly, but surely. With the slave rebellion in Italy crushed the Gauls turning on each other as they are wont to do when conquering, and a recent series of stunning victories over the Pontusians engineered by a young commander named Julius Caesar, the lapse of power caused by Sertorius's rebellion wasseen as temporary. However, as they war still at war on multiple fronts, the Romans had a long way to go. Lusitania spent the year mostly occupied with Gaul, recementing alliances and forging new ones. However, the future of most of those alliances looked bleak.

67 BC. Quintus Sertorius began the year with an invasion of Africa. He had already had a few African adventures before being invited into Lusitania, such as capturing the city of Tingis (Tangier) and fathering a child by the local queen. He capitalizes on his previous gains and rapidly sweeps into Roman Africa, moving through Numidia until his army reaches the site of Carthage. Anxious to focus on defeating Pontus, who Rome saw as a greater threat, the Senate begins to consider a peace treaty with Lusitania.
 
Meh. I doubt anyone is still reading this, but I may as well chronologically order the timeline while i'm here...

77 BC:
  • Marcus Perpenna Vento is killed by his soldiers after refusing to join Quintus Sertorius's forces.
71 BC:
  • Quintus Sertorius smashes the remnants of the Roman forces in Hispania, killing Pompey the Great in the process.
  • Lusitania, led by Sertorius and now possessing almost all of old Roman Hispania, declares full independance from Rome.
70 BC:
  • Massive slave uprising in Italy, Corsica, Sardinia, and Sicily.
  • Pontus invades the Roman Asian provinces.
69 BC:
  • The Lusitanians invade and conquer Gallaecia, an independant region along the northern part of Iberia.
68 BC:
  • The slave uprising in Italy is finally crushed.
  • Julius Caesar stops the Pontusian advance and reverses it.
67 BC:
  • The Lustanians invade Africa and reach deep into Roman provinces.
 
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