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In 112 BC, Gnaeus Papirius Carbo led a Roman army into Noricum to aid Rome's allies the Taurisci against the invading Cimbrian (actually a combined force of several German tribes) horde. The Cimbri began to leave peacefully when they fond out that Carbo had set up an ambush, and retaliated against him by attacking and utterly destroying the Roman army, almost killing Carbo in the process. Now, what if:

1. Carbo had sat in his defensive position and just watched the Cimbri go. On the one hand they are free to move around, gather more followers, and attack again...which they did anyway in OTL; on the other hand Rome is richer 24,000 men and Carbo avoids disgrace and eventual suicide. These butterflies definitely effect everything military in Rome and, while probably not preventing Gaius Marius's rise to prominence, change the lives of quite a few people. Carbo's son, who was consul three times during and in between Sulla's civil wars, is definitely changed.

2. The Cimbri had, after defeating Carbo, invaded rich, ripe Italy instead of inexplicably turning back to the colder superalpine land. Though Italy had a population of at least ten million at this time, the Cimbri have with them at least a hundred thousand true and already mobilized warriors who move as one; the Romans would have to recruit, and train, and squabble over such a virtuous and eventually legendary command. The Cimbri could--if not so disciplined--settle into the fertile Padus valley and hinder further Roman expansion, or they could take Rome out and settle in Latium or Campania...or perhaps somewhere else. I don't think that a general ruling class of Germans over the Italians (like Normans over Anglo-Saxons) is ideologically possible at this point in time; the migrating Cimbri were not a centralized state.
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