So I have two third century crisis what it's I was thinking about.
1.) What if the Gallic empire and/or, The palmyrean empire, survived? The Gallic empire had its own senate and two covss elected every year, just as the Roman Empire did. What short term and long term effects would their survival have?
2.) what if the third century crisis was avoided? What of Alexander Severus was not killed, or what if the emperor (forget his name) was not captured by the Persians? This would butterfly away Diocletian's reforms which I'd argue hurt the empire more than it helped it. Henry moss described the economic situation before the crisis:
" Along these roads passed an ever-increasing traffic, not only of troops and officials, but of traders, merchandise and even tourists. An interchange of goods between the various provinces rapidly developed, which soon reached a scale unprecedented in previous history and not repeated until a few centuries ago. Metals mined in the uplands of Western Europe, hides, fleeces, and livestock from the pastoral districts of Britain, Spain, and the shores of the Black Sea, wine and oil from Provence and Aquitaine, timber, pitch and wax from South Russia and northern Anatolia, dried fruits from Syria, marble from the Aegean coasts, and – most important of all – grain from the wheat-growing districts of North Africa, Egypt, and the Danube Valley for the needs of the great cities; all these commodities, under the influence of a highly organized system of transport and marketing, moved freely from one corner of the Empire to the other."