WI Maxentius manages to defeat Constantine in 312 AD?

Constantine and his army reached Rome at the end of October 312 approaching along the Via Flaminia. He camped at the location of Malborghetto near Prima Porta, where remains of a Constantinian monument in honour of the occasion are still extant.
It was expected that Maxentius would remain within Rome and endure a siege, as he already had successfully employed this strategy during the invasions of Severus and Galerius. He had already brought large amounts of food to the city in preparation. Surprisingly, he decided otherwise and met Constantine in open battle in which he was defeated soundly and killed...
WI Maxentius decided to fortify himself to Rome luring Constantine to a prolonged siege of the city and defeated him there?
How is a Constantinian defeat during the civil war affects History? Any thoughts?
 

Keenir

Banned
Constantine and his army reached Rome at the end of October 312 approaching along the Via Flaminia. He camped at the location of Malborghetto near Prima Porta, where remains of a Constantinian monument in honour of the occasion are still extant.
It was expected that Maxentius would remain within Rome and endure a siege, as he already had successfully employed this strategy during the invasions of Severus and Galerius. He had already brought large amounts of food to the city in preparation. Surprisingly, he decided otherwise and met Constantine in open battle in which he was defeated soundly and killed...
WI Maxentius decided to fortify himself to Rome luring Constantine to a prolonged siege of the city and defeated him there?
How is a Constantinian defeat during the civil war affects History? Any thoughts?

a different Christianity becomes the state religion.
 
In all probability, Christianity will not be adopted as the Roman imperial state religion. Maxentius might also not succeed in finalizing and consolidating Diocletian's reforms as Constantine did, and the Constantinian dynasty would not emerge to guarantee stability in the early 4th century, although these last two possibilities are simply loose speculation.
 
Christianity would not have been adopted as offical state religion yet but it was destined to happen sooner or later. I disagree with the statement that Maxentius would be unable to finalize Diocletian's reforms or form a stable dynasty. He was a competent General and able administator and likely would have been just a slightly less influential Emperor than Constintine. The most important butterfly of this would be the continued importance of Rome. Maxentius would likely have made Rome his offical Capital rather than Constantinople.
 

wormyguy

Banned
Christians formed at most 10% of the empire when Constantine came to power. Without him, there's a good chance that Christianity will end up being a passing fad. However, Roman paganism is going to need to be radically reformed or otherwise replaced as state religion eventually.
 
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