WI Islam's invasion of the ERE is stopped?

An ERE still in possession of its wealthiest provinces in Egypt and Syria would be very different organisationally than OTL - the loss of these areas and subsequent crisis provided much of the impetus for the militarisation of the Empire and reorganisation into the Theme system.
 
An ERE still in possession of its wealthiest provinces in Egypt and Syria would be very different organisationally than OTL - the loss of these areas and subsequent crisis provided much of the impetus for the militarisation of the Empire and reorganisation into the Theme system.

Some such development may happen anyway, as part of keeping the land in the hands of the army and not the aristocracy (in the sense the dynatoi are separate from the peasant-and-gentry soldier base).

The Heraclians were good (if prone to madness) men in a tough situation OTL. With the east more secure in some senses (but problematic in others - monophysites and all), I wonder how they'll address the issues.
 
Some such development may happen anyway, as part of keeping the land in the hands of the army and not the aristocracy (in the sense the dynatoi are separate from the peasant-and-gentry soldier base).

The Heraclians were good (if prone to madness) men in a tough situation OTL. With the east more secure in some senses (but problematic in others - monophysites and all), I wonder how they'll address the issues.

Well in OTL Heraclius tried to compromise things between Orthodoxy and non-Chalkedonians but he made things worse instead by promulgating his "Ecthesis" instituting "Monothelitism" as the official doctrine of the Church thus causing further mayhem expecially in Egypt and Syria which had more monophysitic communities...
 
Well in OTL Heraclius tried to compromise things between Orthodoxy and non-Chalkedonians but he made things worse instead by promulgating his "Ecthesis" instituting "Monothelitism" as the official doctrine of the Church thus causing further mayhem expecially in Egypt and Syria which had more monophysitic communities...

Yep.

I don't know if that's going to be different here or not (I think it happened as of the point of divergence), but his successors, who can focus on this crisis in the East rather than juggling invasions on every front (its just the Avars & Slavs instead) may have an easier time.

Or not. A Syrian revolt seems likely to happen before this gets resolved.
 
Yep.

I don't know if that's going to be different here or not (I think it happened as of the point of divergence), but his successors, who can focus on this crisis in the East rather than juggling invasions on every front (its just the Avars & Slavs instead) may have an easier time.

Or not. A Syrian revolt seems likely to happen before this gets resolved.

If Arabs are pushed back and Persians stay quiet (or busy dealing with the Arabs) then Heraclius and his successors might have some spare time and try to deal with the whole monophysitism/monothelitism thing... But i doubt that they would provide a viable solution and propably they would cause further unrest in Egypt and Syria... So a Syrian or Egyptian revolt is likely on theological reasons... I wouldnt be surprised if the Monophysites invited the Arabs to come and help them...
 
If Arabs are pushed back and Persians stay quiet (or busy dealing with the Arabs) then Heraclius and his successors might have some spare time and try to deal with the whole monophysitism/monothelitism thing... But i doubt that they would provide a viable solution and propably they would cause further unrest in Egypt and Syria... So a Syrian or Egyptian revolt is likely on theological reasons... I wouldnt be surprised if the Monophysites invited the Arabs to come and help them...

Could be.

A lot depends on what kind of revolt we get, I think.

That is, if the Syrians and Egyptians revolt declaring independence, they might make different choices than if the revolt is to force the emperor to submit to their demands or if they revolt with the leader planning to take the throne (a monophysite emperor would be...interesting, but that's not the point).

What those demands would be I don't know, as Heraclius has just tried the opposite of persecution. But given that the places are also feeling overtaxed and underappreciated, the religious card is probably being played if this becomes more than riots in the streets.
 
If revolt breaks out on theological grounds then i guess it would happen in Syria first since that by 518 there were 2 different Patriarchs of Antioch each claiming legitimacy... The Orthodox one loyal to the Emperor Patriarch Macedonius and the Monophysite Patriarch John II...

Egypt had a large monophysite community but it was held firmly by Patriarch of Alexandria Cyrus who reigned unopposed... Also it was appointed sometime during the Arab invasion as Praefectus Augustalis of Egypt if i am not mistaken... A position which gave him absolute power over Egypt along with the office of the Patriarch...
 
If revolt breaks out on theological grounds then i guess it would happen in Syria first since that by 518 there were 2 different Patriarchs of Antioch each claiming legitimacy... The Orthodox one loyal to the Emperor Patriarch Macedonius and the Monophysite Patriarch John II...

Egypt had a large monophysite community but it was held firmly by Patriarch of Alexandria Cyrus who reigned unopposed... Also it was appointed sometime during the Arab invasion as Praefectus Augustalis of Egypt if i am not mistaken... A position which gave him absolute power over Egypt along with the office of the Patriarch...

That (Egypt) will be...interesting. Wonder how The Eagle Forever will handle it.

Syria could probably be handled with some more effective compromises, at least temporally, but Cyrus...we know what ambitious men do in Byzantium. Its a sacred tradition, dammit. :D
 
That (Egypt) will be...interesting. Wonder how The Eagle Forever will handle it.

Syria could probably be handled with some more effective compromises, at least temporally, but Cyrus...we know what ambitious men do in Byzantium. Its a sacred tradition, dammit. :D

Indeed he was an ambitious man and thats why he fell from imperial favour and was stripped from his office as Praefectus Augustalis... But Heraclius reappointed him hastily during the siege of Alexandria in order to deal with it... Without much success though since Alexandria fell and Cyrus died next year...
 
Indeed he was an ambitious man and thats why he fell from imperial favour and was stripped from his office as Praefectus Augustalis... But Heraclius reappointed him hastily during the siege of Alexandria in order to deal with it... Without much success though since Alexandria fell and Cyrus died next year...

Do you think if he'd lived that he would have saved anything of Rome's position in Egypt?
 
Do you think if he'd lived that he would have saved anything of Rome's position in Egypt?

In OTL i highly doubt it... But if the Arabs were pushed back i think that he might have defended Egypt better in case they came back... Cyrus was a good diplomat and could unite (although maybe temporarily) the monophysites and the orthodoxs against the Arab danger... The only problem in that is the Emperor himself... He didnt seem to get along well with Cyrus...
 
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