WI: Claudius Killed?

After Caligula was assassinated, elements of his guard began killing indiscriminately. Claudius, as the story goes, was found hiding behind a curtain by some Praetorians and they declared him emperor.

But what if Claudius had been killed somehow? Who would be next in line? And what are the possibilities of a non Julio-Claudian coming to the throne? Or is it possible that the Republic makes a return?
 
If republic will back it is very different as before emperor Augustus. My guess is that different factions begin fight against each others and it might lead earlier collapse of RE.
 
There weren't any adult male members of the dynasty around IIRC.

So that would be the end of the Julio-Claudians then. The senate did attempt to get together and restore the republic, but it just broke down into an argument over who was going to be made princeps.

So who would the potential players be? I'm hesitant to say Cassius Chaerea, the praetorian prefect, would make a bid for the purple, but then again...
 
The conspirators hadn't made any plans about what would come next beyond 'kill the whole imperial family and proclaim a republic.' I expect the republic will be proclaimed, as there really isn't any other choice. However I don't expect it to be very stable. Expect a general to be marching on Rome within a few years. Vespasian seems like a prime candidate, especially if the Senate proves itself to be weak and corrupt.
 
The conspirators hadn't made any plans about what would come next beyond 'kill the whole imperial family and proclaim a republic.'

I don't think that was the plan of the conspirators. We don't even know for sure who ordered the killing of Caligula, it may even have been Claudius himself.
 
In 41 AD, there were 3 adult living great-great grandsons of Augustus : Marcus, Decimus and Lucius Junius Silanus.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus#Descendants


The praetorians took Claudius who was not a descendant of Augustus. If a Silanus had been at the right place at the right moment, he would have been an even better (more legitimate) candidate than Claudius.
 
I don't think that was the plan of the conspirators. We don't even know for sure who ordered the killing of Caligula, it may even have been Claudius himself.

Claudius could have been involved in the killings but it is more likely he was a target who happened to get out of Rome just in time. After all, the praetorians who proclaimed him emperor had to first convince him they were not the ones after him...
 
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