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alternatehistory.com
I am in the early stages of developing a game based on an alternate history timeline. This time line diverges in the year 12AD with the embracing of early steam engine technology by the Roman Empire rather than rejecting. I have compiled this alternate time line through the year 2000. Since it is so long, I have divided it into two threads.
I hope to encourage active debate about alternate history and this time line once the game is further along in development but before that I want to try and make the line as plausible as possible. I would greatly appreciate any comments/suggestions you might have.
Thank you in advance.
12AD- Augustus Cesar is presented with an Aeophile, a small steam driven toy invented by the Greek philosopher Heron. Intrigued, Augustus begins correspondence with Heron (who resides in Egypt), about what else the tiny toy can do.
14AD- Heron presents a series of tiny models demonstrating various uses for the toy, including opening doors, moving the typical “Force Pump” automatically, and traveling across the floor on a ball platform. Impressed, Augustus asks if larger versions were possible. Heron returns to Egypt to consult with other scholars at Library of Alexandria.
17AD- Larger and slightly modified Aeophile is fitted to a “force pump” to pump water as well as to grain and ore crushing mills that are located away from sources of flowing water. A few of these devices as scattered across Gaul, where wood is abundant, and Spain where mining is prevalent.
52AD- Engine operator takes note of the workings of a Force Pump being driven by an Aeophile and wonders if the process could be reversed. After a few months of tinkering he manages to fill the chambers of the pump with steam and force them to move. This rudimentary piston engine produces much more power with less waste.
82AD- Steam piston engine reaches limits of size using available metals. Current models enjoy limited use across Europe, specifically in rural areas, for mill operations and to move water to higher elevations.
95AD- Stronger metals are developed to fill the need created by the engines.
117AD- Emperor Trajan succeeds in conquering all of Mesopotamia and the Parthian winter capitol of Ctesiphon.
120AD- Larger, more powerful engines fitted to rotating paddles on river boats and light rail systems.
135AD- Small examples of utility rail systems spring up to transport ore and wood from locations distant to water.
158AD- Emperor Marcus Aurelius, having to dart from one part of the Empire to another, commissioned official construction of railroads for the transportation of men and material. Engineers devised a cheap, quick and easy method of laying track on top of the existing
roads by pouring cement into forms and then studding them with steel.
176AD- The son of Marcus Aurelius is killed in a boiler explosion, leaving the aging king with no heir. When the Emperor dies on campaign 4 years later, a brief civil war erupted, placing a victorious general on the throne.
212AD- With a system of railways and paddle boats cris-crossing the Empire, communication time from one the furthest extent is cut down from weeks to days. People, cultures and goods begin to permeate formerly isolated regions with regularity.
253AD- Greek dignitaries from Athens propose the Empire utilize an old Greek method of communicating over a long distance by way of fires. Pleased, the Emperor has the system put in place to communicate with key centers throughout Rome. Communication, in short form, drops to a day.
316AD- On the eve of battle with a rival for the Imperial throne, Constantine has a dream professing victory if he displayed the Christian symbol before his army. His subsequent victory leads to the Edict of Aquileia which granted religious freedom to all Romans. (Without the strict persecution of Christians under Diocletian, who never came to power, the restorations of Christians found in the Edict of Milan were not present.)
320AD- Emperor Constantine undertakes a number of reforms in an effort to streamline the battered but still intact Empire. Control over Italy, Sicily, and other nearby lands, is given directly to the Senate. Regional “Caesars” are installed over Gaul, Hispania, Byzantium, Egypt,
and Carthage. These “Caesars” are appointed by the Emperor who maintains direct control over
foreign policy and the military. Legions are reorganized to feature more potent cavalry elements as well as dedicated “light” units (a role formerly held by Auxiliaries). Lower quality troops are stationed along the massive frontier to be reinforced by more competent, heavier, Legions concentrated near railways in the rear.
332AD- seat of Roman power moved to strategic, and centralized, city of Byzantium. Byzantium soon becomes the jewel of the East and is hailed as a “New Rome” while the “old” Rome
goes through an economic down turn. The Senate and the spiritual “soul” of the Empire, remains in the city of Rome. (In much the same way that Moscow and St. Petersburg existed
prior to the Communist Revolution)
340AD- Increased demand for wood (to power steam engines, especially in the East) leads to the development of the automated saw mill. Mills and communities spring up through out Germania and Gaul.
360AD- Julian, Constantine’s lone surviving male descendent, is Caesar over Gaul.
Pushes German attackers across Danube to Oder River. New defensive line established along Oder in the north and Danube in the south. When Augustus Constantius dies in 361, Julian is crowned Augustus of the Roman Empire.
364AD- Julian’s legions push beyond the Tigris River in the Middle East only to be ambushed.
Superior Roman soldiers escape the trap but Julian is severely wounded. Rapid transit to hospitals in the rear save his life.
371AD- Julian establishes colonies in northern Africa to which troublesome Germans and Guals are deported. To begin, only the most troublesome clans are deported but a prescient
is set that later Emperors takes advantage of. Leaders of legions, as well as individual
mandibles, are cross trained with other units and regularly rotated around the Empire. This improved experience in various types of warfare and lessened the chance of military revolt.
382AD- First fully functional steam engine arrives in China. This soon leads to explosive growth of production that far outstrips the tentative steps taken in the Roman Empire.
395AD- Huns assault Roman Empire. Rapid response Legions repulse the attack but assault is but the beginning of many years of continued struggle with northern frontiers.
413AD- Chinese paper making techniques arrive in Rome. Production of inexpensive paper elevates strain of expensive, primitive Roman substitutes on economy and allows a freer flow of information.
450AD- Assault of the Huns climax with the invasion of Attila. Breaking through the garrisons and Legions along the Oder River, Attila was finally halted in the Alps by a hastily assembled Legion of Italians by the Senate. The delay allows more troops to be shipped in from Spain and the East. The Senate refuses to disband its “Legion of the People” and instead tasks it with protecting Italy and the city of Rome. Emperor Theodosius, occupied with the still rampaging Huns and the Persians in the East, allows the Legion to remain.
461AD- After 11 years of struggle, Attila is finally cornered and killed. Gaul and parts of Germania
are devastated. A new Caesar is appointed over Germania and both are divided into a series of Departments with government officials in charge of rebuilding each. New cities are laid out and more Germans are allowed into the area in order to work and live. Italy, who escaped the worst of the attacks, sees a resurgence of population and revitalization of her cities.
500AD- Rome takes advantage of the power vacuum left by the Hun’s disappearance and plunges deeper into Germania, establishing a new line at the Vistula River in the north, and the Dniester in the south. Conquered Germans are scattered throughout the Empire to serve, to work or just to resettle. German populations in Northern Africa begin to grow large and display ill-feelings to the Romans who had deported them.
632-649AD- Islam explodes out of Arab Peninsula. Finding willing supporters in the displaced Germans of North Africa, Islamic armies sweep across Egypt and Palestine, into Turkey and Algeria. Scholars from the Library of Alexandria flea across the sea to the cities of Rome and Constantinople for refuge. Eventually these refugees found centers of learning that are
ancestors to the first Universities. The Empire reels under these unexpected
assaults an is finally able to slow their advances to a stand still by 650.
712AD- Trade with industrialized China, with more or less constant conflict between Rome and the Islamic Empire, is at a stand still. The effort to retake lands lost to the Muslims had hit a wall and both Empires had begun a protracted “trench” war of attrition.