WI: Belisarius Accepts Gothic Offer, Proclaims Himself Emperor of the West?

in 540, at the close of his 1st Italian campaign, the Goths tried to cut the Byzantine general Belisarius a deal: they would recognize his rule, and in exchange she would rebel against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and set himself up as the new Emperor of the West. in OTL, Belisarius accepts the offer, but then betrays the Goths and remains loyal to his liege. what if Belisarius realized how paranoid Justinian was ( he would later imprisoned Belisarius for no reason whatsoever), and accepted the Gothic offer in full faith, proclaiming himself the new Emperor in the West?
 
in 540, at the close of his 1st Italian campaign, the Goths tried to cut the Byzantine general Belisarius a deal: they would recognize his rule, and in exchange she would rebel against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, and set himself up as the new Emperor of the West. in OTL, Belisarius accepts the offer, but then betrays the Goths and remains loyal to his liege. what if Belisarius realized how paranoid Justinian was ( he would later imprisoned Belisarius for no reason whatsoever), and accepted the Gothic offer in full faith, proclaiming himself the new Emperor in the West?

Somebody's been reading "Lest Darkness Fall" by Sprague de Camp and using his imagination.:)
 
What Usertron said. Plus, it's an empty title at this point. Even if his army remains loyal to him, Belisarius would only really have Italy, along with some very dodgy new allies. Justinian would still send Narses and would probably bribe the Franks to invade as well.
 
What Usertron said. Plus, it's an empty title at this point. Even if his army remains loyal to him, Belisarius would only really have Italy, along with some very dodgy new allies. Justinian would still send Narses and would probably bribe the Franks to invade as well.

At this point, I believe Narses was actually with Belisaurius at the time. Even if he wasn't, Narses' only combat experience was on Belisaurius' campaign, so Belisaurius would know his moves inside and out.
 
What Usertron said. Plus, it's an empty title at this point. Even if his army remains loyal to him, Belisarius would only really have Italy, along with some very dodgy new allies. Justinian would still send Narses and would probably bribe the Franks to invade as well.

Italy isn't that bad. Especially because this would avert much of the damage of the Gothic Wars.
 
What Usertron said. Plus, it's an empty title at this point. Even if his army remains loyal to him, Belisarius would only really have Italy, along with some very dodgy new allies. Justinian would still send Narses and would probably bribe the Franks to invade as well.
Ye, having only Italy and having all the world (including Justinian) against you is not a good idea for Belisarius.
If Belisarius had dreamed about the throne he might have tried murdering Justinian and proclaiming himself Emperor of all Roman Empire in Constantinople.
The risks are smaller but the gain is much much bigger.
A good old Roman tradition - the best general assassinates his Emperor and takes his place.
 
Ye, having only Italy and having all the world (including Justinian) against you is not a good idea for Belisarius.
If Belisarius had dreamed about the throne he might have tried murdering Justinian and proclaiming himself Emperor of all Roman Empire in Constantinople.
The risks are smaller but the gain is much much bigger.
A good old Roman tradition - the best general assassinates his Emperor and takes his place.

Justinian was so paranoid there wouldn't have been an opportunity for that.
 
At this time the Eastern Roman Empire had something like 150,000 men manning the galleys and borders, and another 150,000 in mobile armies.

The Goths repelling Belisarius in the initial invasion and Justinian deciding it isn't worth it I could see.

But Belisarius claiming the title of Roman Empire is an insult that won't go unpunished.
 
Justinian was so paranoid there wouldn't have been an opportunity for that.
The list of assassinated paranoid rulers is as long as my arm.

And that might get you by surprise but Justinian was very (and I mean extremely) accessible. Actually any monk say from Egypt had a good chance to meet Justinian in person.
The problem is that this accesability was part of Justinian's charisma; and even Belisarius was charmed by this charisma of Justinian.
 
The only way this works for Belisarius is if he can convince Justinian it is a good idea to have a co-emperor in the west. Without that, Belisarius will not stand a chance. For all of his strategic and tactical genius, he alreayd faced constant trouble with insubordinate officers; that would only get exponentially worse if he were to rebel.

Narses wouldn't even need to bribe the Franks. He could just bribe the officer corps and remind them that their loved ones are far closer to loyal armies than themselves.

Besides, if you're going to change Belisarius' loyalty to Justinian (which seems to have been iron-clad), you may as well change Justinian's paranoia instead.
 
Good points all around. I now agree with DominusNovus in that the only way for Belisarius to survive is to make himself useful to Justinian , since, for all his tactical genius, he can't fight off the entire Byzantine Empire.

the most likely scenario is that the Persians attack, and the whole 3 chapters imbroglio (where Justinian tried to appease both the Monophysite and the Catholics by condemning the teachings of the opposite of the Monophysite, and didn't go too well in our timeline either) is even more nasty.

perhaps Pope Vigilius, in Constantinople at the time and thus Justinian's hostage, dies, and a new pope is elected, who isn't beholden to Imperial interests. he threatens to excommunicate Justinian, and only Belisarius can rein him in. as for why Belisarius accepted the Gothic offer, he should tell Justinian that it was the only possible way to avoid a long-drawnout campaign.

With Justinian occupied both militarily and politically, Belisaurius has more freedom of action, and could slowly become near autonomous. over several centuries, with good luck, an independent "Western Imperial" state Could coalesce.
 
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Justinian was so paranoid there wouldn't have been an opportunity for that.

Belisarius could have done it during the Nikka riots. Hell, Belisarius could have simply turned his own forces against Justinian and in favor of the rioters, rather than saving him, getting the rioters to proclaim himself emperor.

Belisarius didn't really want to be emperor. He was the epitome of the loyal career soldier.
 
Belisarius could have done it during the Nikka riots. Hell, Belisarius could have simply turned his own forces against Justinian and in favor of the rioters, rather than saving him, getting the rioters to proclaim himself emperor.

Belisarius didn't really want to be emperor. He was the epitome of the loyal career soldier.
Well, that was 8 years before POD.
 
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