How could the Romans end the war with the Ostrogoths earlier and what will be the consequences of this? Justinian’s plague will still reek havoc upon the empire but will Italy be better off and strong enough to resist the Lombards?
In spite of what Justinian might have tought after the Vandalic War and the easy campaign against an hilarously incompetent king, Goths weren't pushover as the behaviour of its aristocracy points. If Theodabald surrender his kingdom (as he most probably intended to do IOTL), then he would be overthrown by his own aristocracy. Vitiges and Totila's actions points that it wasn't exactly easy to get rid of Ostrogoths even in the face of utter defeat.1)Mundus is not defeated in Dalmatia during the second year of the war, the gothic king accept to surrender his kingdom and the few goths who refuse to give up are to weak to resist Belisarius, who would stay in Italy until the beginning of the Persian war.
It's really dubious, IMO, that Justinian would have trusted Belisarius (or anyone, to be honest) with even more troops. Keeping throwing soldiers in Italy mostly led to dividing the chain of command, turning it less efficient while more costly.Additional troops would certainly help, while someone else would be sent to deal with the Persians.
There's nothing that really points that Justinian wanted to take back the whole empire as his original and long-lasting program : in fact, the campaign in Italy (while provoked by both the situation in Gothic Italy and political division) might have been directly inspired by the results in Africa, with an envisioned quick collapse of the Gothic kingdom. Apart from that, the control of southern Spain was mostly an "attack of opportunity" to deprive Goths (which had the only noteworthy fleet in the region) to intervene in Africa : Romans could arguably have taken deeper territory in the hinterland, but were satisfied with coastal control supplied by sea (that they never really build fortifications in the region being quite important IMO).-future of the empire
It won’t be easy but what I’m suggesting is that the surrender of the king would certainly help the Romans. The war wouldn’t end immediately but the Romans would be able to easily conquer some strongholds and maybe even the gothic treasure ( assuming that they reach Ravenna before the new king or Theodatus is able to flee from Italy). OTL fall of Ravenna almost brought the Gothic kingdom to its end and here Belisarius would have enough time to deal with the probable gothic resistance/counterattack, before being recalled. Not easy but definitely better than OTL gothic war.In spite of what Justinian might have tought after the Vandalic War and the easy campaign against an hilarously incompetent king, Goths weren't pushover as the behaviour of its aristocracy points. If Theodabald surrender his kingdom (as he most probably intended to do IOTL), then he would be overthrown by his own aristocracy. Vitiges and Totila's actions points that it wasn't exactly easy to get rid of Ostrogoths even in the face of utter defeat.
It's really dubious, IMO, that Justinian would have trusted Belisarius (or anyone, to be honest) with even more troops. Keeping throwing soldiers in Italy mostly led to dividing the chain of command, turning it less efficient while more costly.
There's nothing that really points that Justinian wanted to take back the whole empire as his original and long-lasting program : in fact, the campaign in Italy (while provoked by both the situation in Gothic Italy and political division) might have been directly inspired by the results in Africa, with an envisioned quick collapse of the Gothic kingdom. Apart from that, the control of southern Spain was mostly an "attack of opportunity" to deprive Goths (which had the only noteworthy fleet in the region) to intervene in Africa : Romans could arguably have taken deeper territory in the hinterland, but were satisfied with coastal control supplied by sea (that they never really build fortifications in the region being quite important IMO).
Even Justinian, in his plague-induced fever dreams, probably didn't went as far. Speaking of plague, if he did, the epidemic would really make a number there (remembering that it touched essentially the Mediterranean basin, especially on East, and not much most of northern and western hinterland).