By all accounts Germanus, a cousin of Justinian, married one of the last members of amal royal line who was the granddaughter of theodoric and was popular among the goths for that reason and was considered a very capable military commander. In OTL he fell ill and died mere days before launching a large scale expedition to retake italy.
What if Germanus survives and does reconcile Goths and Romans in a way that leaves the (eastern) roman empire in a stronger position in Italy. I can imagine Germanus easily doing a better job than Justin II.
What if Germanus survives and does reconcile Goths and Romans in a way that leaves the (eastern) roman empire in a stronger position in Italy. I can imagine Germanus easily doing a better job than Justin II.