WI: Gothic Dominated Eastern Roman Empire?

Gainas is an average military commander, and that's it. He alienated just about everyone he possibly could, and had awful administrative and diplomatic skills. I would say he's going to end up lasting as long as Stilicho at best, but then he was far less skilled than Stilicho and the ERE had much more durable civil institutions at the time that could easily get rid of him. So, not even that long.
 
Gainas is an average military commander, and that's it. He alienated just about everyone he possibly could, and had awful administrative and diplomatic skills. I would say he's going to end up lasting as long as Stilicho at best, but then he was far less skilled than Stilicho and the ERE had much more durable civil institutions at the time that could easily get rid of him. So, not even that long.

Any chance that they could get Alaric's help? Perhaps instead of moving against Italy in 401.
 
Any chance that they could get Alaric's help? Perhaps instead of moving against Italy in 401.
Alaric's smart enough to know that it's simply a waste of his resources. It's a futile endeavor that potentially makes him persona non grata in the east or west if (when) it fails. He's far better off using his position to leverage concessions from both the east and the west, which is what he did successfully for most of his time in power.
 
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